Hacienda is served by four separate transportation corridors, and each of these has its own distinct set of commuting alternatives. Generally marked by the intersection of Interstate 580 and Interstate 680, these routes are the primary paths of travel for people commuting to and from Hacienda. Hacienda has developed partnerships with a number of transportation agencies and services to create transit-related Special Offers that make commutes more cost-effective and, in many cases, help to recapture time in your day. Hacienda has also developed a Commuter Resource Center to help employees and residents plan their commute or other trips from or to Hacienda. There is also a Rideshare Tool that helps match people who want to carpool or vanpool.

Hacienda's Special Offers program provides a wide range of benefits for the people who work and live in the development. To access those benefits, you must have a current and active Employee or Resident user account on the Hacienda website. If you do not have an account, simply go to www.hacienda.org and click on Sign Up at the top right corner of any page. Click on the link below the login information to create an account.

To take advantage of Special Offers and other benefits, you must have an active Employee or Resident account. To check your account status, select My Profile in your account then Manage Roles in the list below your name. If there are Assigned Roles of Employee or Resident listed, you can view the entry to make sure the current contact information is correct. If there is no entry, scroll down to Unassigned Roles and choose Employee or Resident as appropriate, fill out the form that follows, and then submit the form. You will receive a notification once your account has been authorized. Please note that all information submitted on our site is managed in conformance with our Privacy Policy, which can be viewed at www.hacienda.org/footer/privacy-policy.

Below is a sample of the Commute Special Offers available to those who live and work within Hacienda. By far the most popular offer is the free Wheels Eco Pass. This special Hacienda pass gives you access to Wheels bus travel at no charge. The pass will cover rides on all Wheels buses in and around the Tri-Valley at any time, as well as access to the Interstate 680 express bus, shuttles to and from BART and ACE stations, and special school services.

If you are new to the ACE commuter rail system, the BART rail system, or the Contra Costa County Connection bus system, you can take a trial ride on each of them at no charge. The Hacienda Free Ride Special Offers also apply to the MAX express bus from Modesto to Hacienda and the San Joaquin Regional Transit District bus service between San Joaquin County and Hacienda.

Hacienda also coordinates access to Alameda County’s Guaranteed Ride Home program, which will reimburse registered users for the cost of getting home by public transit or a rideshare service in the event of an emergency. This offers commuters who use public transit a margin of safety if something unexpected interferes with their ability to leave work at Hacienda and return home the usual way.

Hacienda’s Commuter Benefit Solutions Special Offer gives all employers a special discount for implementing the Commuter Choice Tax Benefit for their employees. This allows employees to set aside money as a benefit, or pre-tax payroll allocation, for transit via buses, trains, ferries, or vanpools. By using tax-free money for qualified commuting costs, employees may save up to 40 percent on those costs from lowered income taxes.

Commuter Resource Center

Hacienda's Commuter Resource Center is three tools in one. It allows you to plan your commute using a variety of modes. Details on commute options available to you based on your unique commuting needs are right at your fingertips. Whether you are traveling to Hacienda for work or from Hacienda as a resident to another destination, the custom tool can help. Find it at www.hacienda.org/commuter-resource-center.

The Commuter Resource Center not only combines the latest information about commute modes available, but also provides information about the different programs available to make your commute more efficient, more productive, and less expensive. The cost calculator gives you the ability to compare commute choices to better understand both the time and expense elements of using different ways to get to and from Hacienda.

For basic trip planning, simply enter your starting and ending locations in the Trip Planner tool. The results will help you determine the best route from Point A to Point B by comparing driving, public transit, biking, and walking routes. If there is more than one option for each mode, such as public transit, those options will be shown. In addition, any critical travel alerts for the region will appear on the bottom of the website page as well as on the map of your travel plan if you print it out.

If your travel plan includes more than one stop, you can create a master travel plan by adding trip segments to the My Trip panel. To do this, simply choose '+ADD ROUTE TO TRIP PLANNER' in the Trip Planner, and your selected trip will be added to the My Trip panel. The Trip Planner tool will reset and allow you to add a new trip segment. You can add as many travel segments to the My Trip panel as you like.

You can also use the Trip Planner to compare different ways of getting from Point A to Point B. To do this, enter the origin and destination in the Trip Planner pane, select a mode and the preferred option for that mode, and then select '+ADD ROUTE TO TRIP PLANNER'. The Trip Planner panel will clear and you can enter the same origin and destination but with a different mode and preferred option. Selecting '+ADD ROUTE TO TRIP PLANNER' adds each new segment to the My Trip panel so that you can compare the time and cost involved with each option. This can be done for as many options as you would like to evaluate. Please note that trip costs are estimated based on the best available information for usage, fares, and typical travel but may not reflect transfer discounts, special pricing, corridor surcharges, or other unique components related to a particular location or service.

You can learn more about your travel options by visiting the Tips & Benefits panel. This special view allows you to see incentive programs and benefits that you may want to consider as you plan and think about your commute, including Hacienda's Special Offers program. Information will appear that is specific to your origin and destination.

Rideshare Tool

Ridesharing has been a popular mode of travel at Hacienda for more than three decades. Whether carpooling or vanpooling, routinely or on demand, finding someone to help share your commute has many advantages. National studies conducted in September 2021 place the cost of driving at over $0.64 a mile based on 15,000 miles of annual travel. Sharing your ride immediately reduces this expense. In addition, shared ride vehicles travel for free in the region's ever-expanding network of express lanes with a FasTrak Flex toll tag. This means a shared ride can be a very fast and inexpensive commuting option.

Hacienda has developed its own system to facilitate ridematching exclusively between Hacienda employees and residents. A component of the Hacienda website allows employees and residents to post information about where they work and where they live, along with their work schedules. This information can be shared with other employees and residents to see if a good rideshare opportunity is available.

To take advantage of this opportunity, log in to your Employee or Resident account. Click on the Commute Manager menu item just below Dashboard at the top left of the screen and then select Commuting. Enter any missing information on your home and work profiles into the Commuting form. Then provide the details of your daily commute. Choose which pieces of information you wish to be visible to other Hacienda employees and residents. Finally, determine whether you want matches close to home or to work, how far away matches can be located, and whether you prefer being a rideshare driver, rider, or both. Once the form is completed, click on the Submit Commute Profile Changes button.

With your commute profile established, you can now request commute matches based on your profile by selecting Search under the Find Commuters headline. The Hacienda rideshare system will match you to other commuters based on physical proximity. If you review the search results and find a good match, select Request Connection to send a note to the match indicating your interest.

Commuters that you are either attempting to connect with or who have accepted requests are shown in the Connections section. All that remains is for you to contact one another and make your ride arrangements directly. These connections can be removed when they are no longer valid.

Hacienda encourages employees and residents to pass along this information and help let others at Hacienda learn the many commute Special Offers and tools that are available. Everyone who uses the free Wheels Eco Pass, no-cost trial rides on other systems, the Trip Planner, or the Rideshare Tool contributes to a healthier planet and an easier commute.