Frequently Asked Questions
Q What's a Smart Trip?
Any trip made by walking, bicycling, rideshare, or bus that replaces a drive-alone vehicle trip. Smart Trips can be recorded by anyone age 18 or older traveling to destinations in Whatcom County.
Walking and bicycling for recreation are not eligible as Smart Trips.
Walking and bicycling to leisure activities are eligible as Smart Trips.
Ridesharing is defined as two or more licensed drivers sharing a ride to the same
destination or separate destinations within a mile of each other.
Q How do I enter?
Complete the New User Registration on this website. Then record your Smart Trips using
the Trip Diary on this website. You may record up to one Smart Trip per day.
A Smart Trip must be made on the stated date.
You can enter Smart Trips for the current calendar month and the previous calendar month using this website.
Paper entry forms are also available for people who do not have internet access.
For information on paper entry forms, contact us.
City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, WTA, WCOG, and other sponsors
are not responsible for technical failures in entry transmission, or lost, late, misdirected,
damaged, incomplete, illegible, or postage due entries. Entry constitutes permission
(except where prohibited by law) to use the winner's name, hometown, and any text submitted
for the purposes of promotion on behalf of Whatcom Smart Trips.
Q How do prize drawings work?
$1,000 cash prize drawings will be held quarterly.
To qualify, participants must record at least 5 Smart Trips per month during the previous three months.
$250 cash prize drawings are held monthly. To qualify, participants must record at least five
Smart Trips during the previous month.
Prize drawings are held at the beginning of each month. Paper entry forms must be received and online trip diaries submitted by the 5th of the month to qualify. Whatcom Smart Trips
staff will contact winners to arrange for prize delivery. If a prize winner cannot be reached after several
reasonable attempts via phone and email, a new winner will be chosen.
Q How do the Auto Fill features work on the Trip Diary?
If you make the same trip weekly, every weekday, or every single day, you only have to enter the trip information one time.
Then you can easily copy it to other days during the calendar month.
Click the calendar on a date you made a Smart Trip and enter the information about that trip.
Check the appropriate Auto Fill box, and then click Submit Trip.
You'll see the trip copied to other days on the calendar. To make adjustments to any of those days,
click on the calendar and edit or delete the day's trip as needed.
Q What situations qualify for Emergency Ride Home?
- You or a family member becomes ill during your work day
- Your supervisor requires you (unexpectedly) to work past your normal quitting time
- Your carpool or vanpool driver experiences any of the above situations
- 8am to 8pm on weekdays
- Up to one brief stop can be made between the worksite and final destination (for example, in the event a family member needs to be pickup up from a school or medical facility and taken home)
- Emergency Ride Home trips CAN NOT be booked for: personal errands, scheduled medical or
other appointments, transit delays, rain or inclement weather, expected or foreseeable overtime
Q Who sponsors Whatcom Smart Trips?
Whatcom Smart Trips is sponsored by the City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, WTA,
Whatcom Council of Governments, the State of Washington, and grants from Puget Sound Energy and ConocoPhillips Ferndale Refinery..
Q What is the purpose of Whatcom Smart Trips?
Whatcom Smart Trips promotes transportation by walking, bicycling, sharing rides, and riding the bus.
These trips reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, and help preserve our
quality of life in Whatcom County.
Whatcom Smart Trips encourages people to try alternatives to driving alone and rewards those
who are already using alternatives.
It applies to all trips, including the trip to work, errands, school, or leisure activities.
Q Are there any tax consequences for being a prize winner?
Whatcom Smart Trips will comply with the IRS reporting requirements for prize winners.
According to the 2006 IRS instructions, a Form 1099-MISC is required for any person receiving
over $600 in prizes and awards. Recipients of prizes qualifying for a 1099-MISC must agree
to provide the information necessary for the 1099-MISC in order to receive their prize;
they should expect to receive their forms in time to file their appropriate tax returns.
Q What if I drive a hybrid vehicle?
If there is more than one person in the car for the commute, then the hybrid vehicle may count as a carpool.
Driving alone in a hybrid vehicle may reduce fuel usage and emissions, but does not reduce traffic congestion.
Therefore, driving alone in a hybrid vehicle is not an eligible Smart Trip.
Q Why are motorcycles not included as an alternative mode?
A goal of the program is to encourage transportation methods that reduce traffic congestion.
Even given the relative size of a motorcycle to a car, they are still a vehicle using our roadways.
We believe that the best way to encourage people to use fewer vehicles overall is to encourage walking, biking, ridesharing, or riding the bus.
Another goal of the program is to reduce air pollution. According to the EPA, current motorcycle engines
pollute at a rate 90 times higher per mile than passenger cars or even a large sport utility vehicle.
More information on this issue may be found through the EPA's
Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
A motorcycle qualifies as a carpool if more than one person is riding the same cycle.
Q What if I use a scooter?
Power-assisted bicycles qualify as a bicycle. Motorized scooters of any type, whether meeting license
requirements or not, count towards the program only when more than one person is sharing the commute,
for the same reasons as listed above for motorcycles.
Q What if I use a wheelchair?
Trips made by wheelchair are eligible in the "walking" category, as long as the trip replaces a drive-alone vehicle trip.
Q Are other types of foot-powered transportation are eligible
under the "walking" category?
Yes, as long as it is a method of transportation where the foot is in contact with the ground,
it is eligible in the "walking" category. This includes skateboards, jogging, rollerblading, and
non-motorized scooters, as long as the trip replaces a drive-alone vehicle trip. It does not include Segways.
Q How did you calculate how much pollution I prevented and how much money
I saved by making Smart Trips?
We used Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Emission Facts (PDF 120K) to calculate
the average emissions and fuel consumption for passenger cars.
The document also contains statistics for SUVs and light trucks. If you drive an SUV or light truck,
and would like calculations based on your personal Smart Trips mileage,
contact us.
We used AAA statistics on average gas prices in Washington State to calculate money saved.
If prices change dramatically, we'll update the price used in our calculation.
Q I'm not interested in prizes or material rewards.
Are there other reasons to record my Smart Trips?
When you record your Smart Trips, you become more aware of your daily transportation choices and patterns.
If you are looking for opportunities to make more Smart Trips, recording your Smart Trips can help you.
We'll also tell you how many vehicle miles you eliminated and how much air pollution you've prevented
from being emitted. Plus, you show support for the program and help encourage others to take part.
Q I liked the old Smart Commuter program.
Can I just get a discount card, but not bother with the rest of the Smart Trips program?
Yes. You can get a discount card in just a few minutes each year.
Visit this website each calendar year and enter 10 trips.
But remember that you’ll miss out on the other benefits of Smart Trips,
like the cash prize drawings, personal milestone thank you gifts, and tracking your environmental contributions.
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Should I turn off my pop-up blocker?
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Please also note that most of the information contained in pop-up windows on this site is also
included in the Frequently Asked Questions.
Blocking Pop-Ups in Windows Explorer
Blocking Pop-ups in Various Web Browsers (PDF 595K)
Q I requested monthly reminders or a new password, but those emails
are getting caught in my spam filter. How can I tell my spam filter to allow the emails?
See instructions (PDF 14K)
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