(a) The Department of Transportation shall assist all employers in the state who employ or provide parking facilities for one hundred or more employees in one location, in establishing a commuter, trip-to-work program. The Department of Transportation, working in coordination with the Office of Policy and Management, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Department of Economic and Community Development, shall provide to such employers information for commuting to work, which information shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) Schedules and types of available modes of public transportation in the employer’s region; (2) maps and listings of state commuter parking lot locations; (3) estimates of cost savings to individual employees where determinable; (4) sources of available federal and state funds, including subsidies, to aid in the implementation of employee commuter, trip-to-work programs; (5) available tax incentives to employers for participation in such program; (6) lists of state, regional and local officials operating transit districts, who may assist the employer in such a program; and (7) literature, posters, pamphlets and cost savings charts. All employers in the state who employ or provide parking facilities to one hundred or more employees in one location, who wish to participate in a commuter, trip-to-work program, shall submit to the Department of Transportation on forms provided by the commissioner, the work schedules, residence addresses and usual mode of transportation of their employees. Following an employer’s request for a commuter, trip-to-work program, the department, in conjunction with any other state agency having jurisdiction, shall render necessary assistance in the implementation of the program. Based upon information received from the employer and in the order received, the Department of Transportation shall furnish to such employers a proposed commuter, trip-to-work program for their employees. Said program shall include at no cost to the employer: (A) A computer matching of employees for potential carpool, vanpool and buspool services; (B) technical assistance to the employer in implementing carpools, vanpools and buspools and utilizing existing transit systems at the employer’s work location.

(b) Any traffic management plan shall be created in conjunction with business firms and community and commuter groups and each plan shall be designed to alleviate traffic congestion by encouraging the use of mass transportation and promoting the establishment of programs as described in subsection (c) of this section. Any municipality, transit district or regional ride-sharing entity which is developing or creating a traffic management plan, either individually or in conjunction with other such entities may submit an application for a grant in accordance with the provisions of this section. The amount of such grant to any participating entity for any year may not exceed seventy per cent of the total amount expended by any such entity with respect to such year for the purposes of developing and administering such plan. Any application for a grant under the provisions of this section shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) The population of the municipality or the population of the regions covered by the transit district or regional ride-sharing entity; (2) a description of all aspects of the manner in which the proposed plan will alleviate traffic congestion; (3) the name of and manner in which each business firm is participating in the plan; (4) the name of and manner in which each community group and commuter group is participating in the plan; (5) the total proposed expenditures for the development and administration of the plan in the year in which such application is submitted and a certification that not less than thirty per cent of the plan’s funding will be provided by the grantee. Grants made for the purposes of this section shall not be expended for any other purpose.

(c) Any traffic management plan established in a municipality, transit district or regional ride-sharing entity shall be designed to encourage implementation of the following programs, to the extent that such program is a part of any such plan: (1) A ride-sharing incentive program, in which a business firm encourages employees through fiscal or other incentives to make their commute to work by any means other than a single occupant vehicle, including rail, bus or van sharing; (2) a vanpool or company shuttle program, in which a business firm purchases or assists in the purchase of a vanpool to be used by employees for ride-sharing or provides a company shuttle van for its employees; (3) preferential parking programs for ride-sharing employees; (4) employee transportation coordinating programs, in which an employer designates an employee as an employee transportation coordinator who shall assist in ride-sharing matching, publicizing and promoting alternate means of commuting, analyzing and advocating for company-provided commutation incentives or managing, implementing and monitoring existing company commutation incentives; (5) commuter allowance programs, in which an employer provides an employee with a commuter allowance based on the amount an employer expends to provide such employee with free parking; (6) flexible work hours for employees, allowing employees to work flexible hours to alleviate rush hour traffic congestion; and (7) satellite parking, in which a business firm provides shuttle bus service from commuter parking lots outside urban areas.