MassDOT Honors Draper Laboratory with ECO Award

April 28, 2011 - PRLog -- CAMBRIDGE, MA – The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) honored Draper Laboratory on April 1 for its efforts to provide employees with commuting options that benefit the environment.

MassDOT Secretary Jeffrey Mullan presented the inaugural “Pinnacle Award for Excellence in Commuter Options [ECO]” to Draper, as well as a variety of other companies with Massachusetts facilities, during a ceremony at the State House.

The ECO awards are part of MassDOT’s effort to support Massachusetts employers who are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging commuters to use options including mass transit, carpools, and bicycles. In addition to benefiting the environment, the agency hopes that these options will help ease traffic congestion and promote healthy lifestyles.

Draper qualified for the Pinnacle Award – the top class of honors at the ceremony – by providing its employees with benefits including free MBTA Link Passes that cover unlimited travel on the subway and local busses, shuttle bus service from two T stops, subsidized commuter rail passes, discounted Zipcar rates, and secure bicycle parking. The Laboratory also allows employees to purchase parking passes for commuter rail stations on a pre-tax basis.

Draper has previously been recognized as one of the “Best Workplaces for Commuters” by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) due to the positive environmental impact of its commuting options.

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Draper Laboratory is a not-for-profit, engineering research and development organization dedicated to solving critical national problems in security, space systems, biomedical systems, and energy.