Bell Atlantic Honors TransAction Associates With Environmental Award

Bell Atlantic Honors TransAction Associates With Environmental Award

TransAction and Others to be Honored at New York City Celebration

27 de abril de 2000

NEW YORK - The air in Massachusetts and Rhode Island is cleaner thanks to an innovative commuter program for Bell Atlantic employees developed by TransAction Associates of Waltham, Mass.

The program cut employee commutes by millions of miles and as a result, Bell Atlantic will give TransAction the company's fifth annual John S. Balaguer Environmental Excellence Award in the supplier category.

TransAction's commuter program developed for Bell Atlantic has reduced the number of annual, round-trip miles traveled by the company's employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island by more than nine million.

The award, which honors significant environmental achievements of Bell Atlantic suppliers and employees, will be presented at a celebration at Bell Atlantic's headquarters, 1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, at 10 a.m., May 4. (Members of the media are invited.)

Adnan Amin, director of the United Nations Environment Programme, New York Office, will speak at the celebration. Amin, a Kenyan national, plays a key role in facilitating the development of international environmental policy with a particular interest in sustainable development-highlighting the links between the environment, the economy and society.

The commuter program TransAction Associates developed for Bell Atlantic promotes commuting alternatives, such as public transit, bicycling, vanpooling and walking, through creative communications and marketing techniques. In addition, the company ridematches Bell Atlantic employees through sophisticated software that factors in variables, such as travel route, work hours and smoking preference. As a result of TransAction's unique approach, the program in Massachusetts has encouraged an additional 200 people to use public transportation; has formed about 40, two- and three-person carpools, and registered 970 employees into a ridesharing database for carpool matching.

"Bell Atlantic is proud to do business with TransAction Associates, a supplier whose creativity helps us meet and exceed our environmental requirements," said Bell Atlantic Executive Director-Safety, Health & Environment Stephen Henry. "This award provides Bell Atlantic a unique opportunity to acknowledge a company whose innovation has improved air quality in our region."

TransAction has also gone beyond the scope of its original plan and has created an on-line commuter resource website for employees. The funding for its development is the direct result of a cost savings idea generated by TransAction.

"As a small firm providing specialized services, winning this award from Bell Atlantic is a special honor," said Cindy Frene, president, TransAction Associates. "We are grateful to Bell Atlantic for affording us the creativity and flexibility we need to be effective, and we are delighted to be recognized for our results."

The John S. Balaguer Environmental Excellence Award is named in honor of the first director of Environmental Issues in the directory publishing organization, who was a pioneer in recycling phone directories. Balaguer is nationally credited with recognizing early on that environmental leadership is a corporate responsibility. This award recognizes significant environmental achievement consistent with Bell Atlantic's corporate environmental policy and is given in three categories: Bell Atlantic Employee-Bell Atlantic Activities, Bell Atlantic Employee-Community Activities, and Bell Atlantic Supplier.

In separate announcements, Bell Atlantic named Robert Carter, a Bell Atlantic central office technician, winner in the Community Activities category for his work in establishing the Heizer/Manila Watershed Organization, Inc. And, in the Bell Atlantic Activities category, Bell Atlantic named Team Energy, a 14-person employee team that worked to reduce energy use in Bell Atlantic buildings throughout its Northeast and mid-Atlantic service area.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 44 million telephone access lines and more than 20 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.