Deric Gruen, Bellevue College’s sustainability and conservation resource manager, has been recognized with a Diamond Award by Commuter Challenge for his successful efforts to reduce commute trips and encourage alternative means of transport. The effort has led to decreases in the college’s carbon emissions and traffic congestion.

Commuter Challenge, an initiative of enterpriseSeattle, is a nonprofit that has worked with King County employers on the region’s transportation issues, including commute reduction, for over 18 years. Winners of Diamond Awards are selected by a review panel of transportation experts.

“This is much-deserved recognition for Deric, who has done a tremendous job making our campus operations in general, and our transportation plan in particular, much more sustainable,” said Interim President Laura Saunders.

Gruen, a resident of Seattle, has implemented and improved upon a variety of programs designed to encourage employees and students to commute to and from campus in more environmentally responsible ways. Notably, he has worked to increase the number of subsidized bus passes while ensuring the financial stability of the program.

He spearheaded the creation of an online ride sharing site for the campus community, www.BCridematch.com, and the college will soon launch a subsidized vanpool program thanks to Gruen.

To increase bicycle ridership, the college improved its bike infrastructure, with more bike racks/parking, access to showers, special bike maps of campus and urban bicycle classes.

With respect to cars, Gruen has helped lessen their impact on campus by supporting the work of a task force that proposed parking fees, which has reduced the number of cars on campus and eliminated the need to add more costly parking.

Additionally, he helped bring a car-sharing program to campus (one vehicle will be an all-electric Nissan Leaf), the first of its kind among Washington community colleges, that is growing in popularity with students and employees. And two electric vehicle charging stations have been installed, with three more on the way, including a rare “super-fast” charger.

Gruen has worked to advocate for Bellevue College’s transit needs in the city of Bellevue’s transit master plan, and has advised students as they lobbied the King County Council to ensure BC’s campus is well-served by transit.

All of these efforts have led to marked decreases in the number of single occupancy cars driving to campus, as well as the number of vehicle miles traveled. The change has contributed to less-congested roads and an estimated annual reduction of 1,114 metric tons of carbon emissions that won’t be polluting the region’s environment.