Georgia's Clean Air Campaign, which has been setting up car pools for Atlanta commuters for over a decade is setting their sites on another target: The soldiers and civilians packing state military bases.
Military officials at Warner Robins Air Force Base near Macon, and at Fort Benning near Columbus say the response to the new RideShare program has been strong.
Polly Gustafson of Fort Benning’s Public Directorate, which administers the program says they are looking ahead to the over 30,000 personnel due as a part of a nationwide base relocation program:
"Fort Benning, of course, is going to grow because of BRAC and the coming of the armor school, and so we need to work on our transportation demand and get some of these cars off the road which will, in turn benefit our air quality here by reducing our air emissions."Gustafson says 115 of Fort Benning’s civilian commuters signed up with the program this month, and that they intend to expand the program to military personnel in January. Over 1,500 soldiers and employees at Robins signed on during a weeklong event in October.
Clean Air Campaign spokesman Candace Mccaffery says the RideShare program pays carpoolers three dollars a day, up to $180 over three months.
(With The Associated Press)
Click here for more GPB News coverage of military affairs.
