Almost 2,500 King County employees who work in downtown Seattle recently had their say on new and existing programs designed to enhance safety at and around county worksites in the downtown campus.

A total of 6,833 employees were invited to take the survey, with 2,491 submitting responses. The key findings were:

• For existing programs, employees were most interested in the Security Escort program (57% very or somewhat interested) followed by Walk-pooling (47%), VanPool (35%), Goat Hill Garage Tunnel (30%), and VanShare (25%). Almost half (42%) of employees were very or somewhat interested in a walking bus program.
• There is a large gap between those that are using safe travel programs and those that are interested. This indicates a lack of awareness in safe travel programs.
• The top thing that employees reported that would help them feel safe traveling to and from work was an increase in security presence in and around county buildings, parking garages, bus stops, and train stations.
• Of those who were interested in a vanpool, carpool, walking bus, or security escort, the average amount of time they would be willing to wait was approximately 13 minutes.

These responses are helping the county provide solutions that help employees commute more safely to and from work. One of the immediate actions in response to the survey was the launch of the Walking Bus pilot program, which leaves the King County Courthouse each weeknight to the King Street Station and the Colman Dock, accompanied by a Facilities Management Division security escort. Watch this video to learn more about this and other programs available to you. You can always find information about safety at work on our Future of Work site.