Pace Development Guidelines

Demand Management Techniques:

*Employers can encourage the use of fixed route, subscription bus and dial-a-ride transit service by informing employees of Pace services, displaying bus schedules and route maps and promoting the purchase of transit passes to employees. Employers can offer transit passes to employees at a discounted rate to encourage use of public transportation and reduce demand for parking space. As a benefit to employers, the federal government permits an employer to pay a portion of a worker's mass transit fares with pretax dollars.

*Employer promotion of vanpools and carpools can encourage employee participation in shared-ride programs. Businesses can aid employees by matching employee addresses and work schedules and distributing lists of carpool or vanpool partners to individuals who reside in close proximity to one another. Employers also can subsidize carpools and vanpools as an incentive to use this form of transportation.

Employers and employees can obtain assistance with vanpool formation through Pace's Vanpool Incentive Program (VIP). Pace will provide appropriately sized vans for the vanpool groups, train and insure drivers and establish a monthly fare schedule. Vanpool fares cover fuel, maintenance and insurance. Vanpool participants identify pickup locations such as transit stations, park-n-ride lots or residential sites and establish travel schedules. A member of the group volunteers to drive the van and pick up fellow riders.

Additional information on the Pace program can be obtained from the Vanpool Services Supervisor at (847)228-4278. Program features like the Guaranteed Ride Home Program and Pace Passport can be further explained.

*Parking controls that decrease parking availability or require user fees can be instituted by employers as a means of reducing traffic and encouraging public transit use or shared-ride programs. Parking fees or the elimination of employee parking subsidies can encourage employees to find alternatives to driving alone.⁽¹⁾ Even before the CAAA, several city and special district ordinances were established thereby requiring developers and employers to institute traffic reduction measures. For example, the Silver Spring district in Maryland imposed restrictions on job growth due to traffic congestion.

Developers/employers are required to convert 30% of the employees to alternative transportation modes.⁽²⁾ Also, Pleasanton, California requires a 45% reduction in single occupant automobile use during peak travel periods over a 4 year period.

To help achieve mandated air emission reductions, employees can and are urged to convert to modes of transportation other than the single occupant automobile. As more individuals participate in ridesharing programs and use public transportation, parking space demand will decrease. Additionally, innovative development designs that incorporate on-site services, such as day-care and dining, further decrease automobile travel and parking space needs.⁽³⁾

As parking demand decreases, parking space construction can be scaled down. Pace recommends an appropriate reduction in parking space requirements based on development design and transit accessibility. Municipal parking requirement standards as well as guidelines used by financial institutions should reflect the availability of alternative forms of transportation and the resulting reduction in parking demand.

Example: Application of Alternative Parking Scenario. The following indicates vehicle occupancy and parking requirements for a five floor office development. These calculations are based on the projected use of alternative forms of transportation such as vanpools and public transportation. Table VI-1 illustrates the need for 251 parking spaces for a 137,127 sq. Ft. development. Under typical standards, 4 spaces per 1000 sq. ft. of office space or 549 spaces are frequently required for this size office building. The elimination of 298 additional parking spaces can increase the amount of buildable or open space area in a development and decrease maintenance costs related to parking facilities.

TABLE VI-1

PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

PARKING NEEDS

*Staggered work hours, flextime and condensed work weeks can be offered to employees to reduce the number of individuals arriving at and departing from a workplace at the same time.

*Transportation Management Associations (TMAs) can be formed among businesses and property owners/developers having a common interest in the transportation problems of a particular area. TMA members work together and, at times, with local transit and government agencies to reduce rush hour traffic and resolve other traffic problems. These groups function either as private sector associations funding their own transportation-related activities or as public-private partnerships that jointly fund traffic programs.

TMAs respond to transit issues in different ways depending on particular circumstances and needs of the locations they serve. At times TMAs take on an advisory role, sharing information about transit problems and needs with public and transit agencies to resolve traffic problems in their particular areas. TMAs often assume a role of initiating and coordinating programs and transit service (eg. shuttles) in their target locations. These associations generally institute demand management strategies that include variable work-hour options, shared-ride programs such as vanpooling and carpooling, subsidized transit costs, designated bicycle lanes and parking management. They also encourage the use of public transit options like reverse commute, subscription bus, local circulator and fixed-route service to reduce congestion.

1. Pleasanton, California, Ordinance Code of the City of Pleasanton (Pleasanton, CA: 1984), chapter 17, pp. 1-17.

2. Montgomery County, MD, Silver Spring, Maryland Special District Ordinance (Montgomery County, MD:1987).

3. Institute of Transportation Engineers, Transportation and Traffic Engineering Handbook, 2^nd ed. (New York: 1982), pp. 647-648.

Revised: November, 1999.

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