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Washington, D.C.?Federal employee participation in government?wide programs that are strongly supported by federal unions and designed to improve air quality while reducing traffic congestion has more than doubled in the past two years, the General Services Administration (GSA) said today.

In its biennial report to Congress on the impact of the 1993 Federal Employees Clean Air Incentives Act, GSA said that over the past two fiscal years, 1,029,133 employees at 47 agencies participated in commuting programs designed to reduce the number of single?occupancy motor vehicles on the roads.

The cost to agencies was put at about $101 million. In the previous two fiscal years, GSA reported that some 505,000 employees were participating in 32 agencies, at a cost of $61 million.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which has successfully negotiated the existence and expansion of transit?related benefits in a number of agencies, applauded the growth of such programs.

"These are benefits that directly impact in positive ways employee morale and productivity," Kelley said, "and that pay great dividends to America's taxpayers in the improved ability of agencies to provide services. Everyone wins with these kinds of programs."

The GSA report cited among the program's major benefits improvements in employee morale, potential reduction and cost savings in agency space requirements, reduced unsafe vehicle emissions and less traffic congestion.

It focused on the three principal means of accomplishing the goals of the legislation transit passes, including cash reimbursements and vouchers; space, facilities and services for those who bicycle to work; and a wide range of non?monetary incentives, including alternative work schedules (AWS), flexitime, flexiplace, telecommuting, ride?sharing, and the like.

NTEU, which represents 155,000 employees in 26 agencies and departments and is the largest independent federal union, has been the leader in negotiating and expanding such programs throughout the government, particularly AWS and related programs, as well as transit subsidies.

"Everywhere we are successful in negotiating either a new or expanded program of this nature," Kelley said, "we find it has widespread popularity throughout the workplace."

GSA said that in the latest two?year period, 38 agencies spent nearly $54 million on nonmonetary incentives involving more than 755,000 employees. At the same time, 34 agencies reported spending nearly $45 million on transit subsidies for some 262,000 employees; and 40 agencies provided facilities, including bicycle parking racks, lockers and showers, for more than 11,000 employees who bike, or in some cases jog, to work.