Champion Commuter

Kristine Graf, City of Spokane – Water Department

Kristine is a Water Quality Analyst for the City of Spokane, Water Dept. and has an 80-mile round trip commute. After moving to Spokane about 18 years ago, Kris and her husband began carpooling, wanting to save gas money and wear & tear on their car. 17 years later, they’re still carpooling and enjoying the extra time together.

Kris has been a long-time user of commute options. Previously living in Beaverton, OR, Kris realized how expensive it was to drive and pay for parking in downtown Portland. She began riding mass transit and enjoyed the relaxing trip downtown. Kris enjoyed that extra time reading books. She was going through so many books, her husband said it was time to quit buying them and get a library card!

The main challenge Kris and her husband face is the fact that their schedules don’t match. So one might end up arriving to work before they would normally need to and the other might have to stay later.

ETC, Karrie Shupe, says “Thank you Kristine for having a great attitude and making choices that are not only great for your gas budget, but also for peak commute hours and the environment”.

Since logging her trips on the commute calendar, Kris has saved over 300,000 miles from being driven on our roads and $85,000 in commuting costs.

Congratulations Kris!