FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   Contact: Derrick Stokes

Date:  June 11, 2008                                                 Phone: 610-993-0911

TMACC IMPLEMENTS NEW ONLINE TOOLS TO HELP MOTORISTS CALCULATE COMMUTING COSTS

MALVERN, PA – The Transportation Management Association of Chester County (TMACC) has implemented two new online tools to help motorists calculate their commuting costs.

On the TMACC website, www.tmacc.org, commuters can click on the Commuter Costs tab and enter data in the Commuter Cost Calculator.  The calculator computes a motorist’s monthly and yearly commuting costs based on a round-trip commute, the vehicle’s average miles per gallon, monthly car payment and insurance and the price of a gallon of gasoline.

To find the lowest price of gas in the Philadelphia metro area, motorists could use GasBuddy.com portal on the TMACC homepage for real-time gas price information.

“Rising gas prices and traffic congestion have made commuting to work a quality of life issue for many people,” said Michael E. Herron, TMACC Executive Director.  “We are hoping that the sticker shock of gas prices and their own commuting costs will persuade some motorists to consider public transit and ridesharing programs, such as carpools and vanpools.”

Employers should also be wary of this new quality of life issue, Herron explained.

“Recruiting and retention efforts of some companies will be affected by the cost of commuting,” he explained.  “Companies should develop a strategy to attract and retain the best and the brightest candidates in this new economic climate of high gas prices and long, arduous, congested commutes.”

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