Work in Redmond, WA at Microsoft?    “Come on and Take a Free Ride” ( Edgar Winters Group).   Every time I turned a corner last week there was a Microsoft Connector vehicle whizzing by.  I’ve been over by  Microsoft’s Redwest and main campus off 156th Ave NE in Redmond meeting with some buyers and sellers from the neighborhoods around the Redmond campuses a lot lately.  There seems to be a Connector vehicle on every corner. 

  The Connector Service has vehicles of all sizes, from eco-friendly Priuses

 to shuttle buses

 to standard sized buses.  The system was started last fall, in September to be exact, and Microsoft announced just last month that the Connector service is expanding. 

 As someone who doesn’t work at Microsoft, but who works in the neighborhoods all around Microsoft, I personally am thrilled to see the service.  For years, I’ve had to schedule appointments in Redmond around the major “Microsoft commuting” times.  I knew to steer clear of the campuses around 9:30 to 9:45 every morning.  Traffic was brutal. 

When I first moved to Redmond in 1986, Microsoft had just moved over to what is their main campus, with 10 buildings,  and had just gone public.    There was no overpass at NE 40th, something many of you probably still remember, since it has not been there all that long.  But I doubt many of you remember the time before an overpass existed at NE 51st.  Seems like there’s been an overpass at NE 51st forever, but not so.  When I first moved to Redmond, NE 51st crossed highway 520, at a traffic light!  I moved into my first house in the area in August of 1986 and shortly thereafter, the NE 51st overpass was constructed.   By the way, how many of you remember when there was a stop light at Redmond Way and 520?

Kudos to Microsoft for cutting down on traffic and the carbon foot-print of its employees and the company.

From Microsoft Environment’s web page:

“Private Bus System (“Connector”). To improve commuting opportunities and to reduce environmental impact of commuting, Microsoft has created and manages its own transportation bus system. For campus commuters who found public transportation wasn’t satisfying their needs, Microsoft invested in the creation of one of the world’s largest private bus systems. Employees can use the Connector, a free express bus service during morning and evening commute times between residential neighborhoods and the Redmond campus. With this system, Microsoft aims to reduce car traffic in the area by over 250,000 miles per week.”

“A survey of riders on the Microsoft bus service, Connector, in November 2007 showed that 61 percent of passengers previously used a single occupancy vehicle for their commuting needs, which suggests that the Connector program results in a reduction of about 800 vehicle trips and 32,200 miles of travel each day.”