Photo courtesy of Elite Casinos

The Riverside Casino and Golf Resort is beginning to test a new source of transportation for employees.

Earlier this summer the casino reached out to Washington Economic Development Group Executive Director Mary Audia about searching for possible solutions to help employees get to work. Audia reached out to the East Central Iowa Council of Governments Transportation Division and found the Commute With Enterprise Program. Based on the zip codes of where employees are commuting from and how many require transportation, a van will be given to them. ECICOG will help offset some funds for the van and the rest of the funds will be divided among the employees using the van. Audia explains another benefit that employees get from this program, “Then the other perk is whoever the designated leader is or the driver of that group will also be able to use that van a certain number of hours a month for personal use. So it’s a really, really neat program and they do most of the leg work for you as far as figuring out what would be most beneficial for the largest numbers in setting up a van pool.”

No public transportation or city sidewalks connecting to the casino lead them to begin the conversation on how to further help their employees. Riverside Casino Facilities Director Brett DeWolf says a control group will test the program to see if the casino wants to move forward.