The Level of Service Metric and. Alternatives for Multi-Modal Transportation. in Oakland

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1 The Level of Service Metric and Alternatives for Multi-Modal Transportation in Oakland By Jill Nevins For the City of Oakland, Public Works Agency Mills College Public Policy Program May 2012

2 Executive Summary The City of Oakland should adopt and implement Net Motorized Trips Generated (MTG) + Fee, a traffic impact measurement to be used under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Net MTG + Fee measures net new automobile and transit trips generated by a project. The policy includes a fee paid to the City by project sponsors to mitigate environmental impacts. This measurement would replace the current traffic impact metric automobile Level of Service (LOS) which measures auto delay. Multi-modal transportation refers to all modes of travel including walking, bicycling, and transit. LOS is a barrier to multi-modal transportation projects in Oakland. The City is missing out on an opportunity to provide the safety, health and environmental benefits of multi-modal travel to the public. LOS is used under CEQA in order to determine how projects will affect auto congestion and if these delays will be a significant negative impact on the environment. If a project is not exempt under CEQA and pushes LOS beyond an acceptable threshold, the lead agency can either mitigate the environmental impacts or conduct an environmental impact report (EIR). Usually, LOS mitigations involve widening traffic lanes, which can be counterproductive to multi-modal projects and an EIR adds a least one year and $200,000 to a project. This can cause project sponsors to drop proposed multi-modal projects or not attempt these projects at all. Several factors have created reliance on the car; however, recently in California and in Oakland there has been a push towards increasing travel by other modes. There have been laws passed in an attempt to decrease vehicle miles traveled (VMT) which is used to measure pollution caused by vehicle emissions. Figure 1 shows the legislation addressing the environment and VMT in California. ii

3 Figure 1: California Legislation Legislation California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Year Passed 1970 Assembly Bill 32: The Global Warming Solutions Act 2006 Senate Bill 375: The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act Assembly Bill 1358: The California Complete Streets Act Description Requires agencies within California to follow a protocol of analysis and public disclosure of environmental impacts of proposed projects and adopt all feasible measures to mitigate those impacts. Established a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state. Instructs the California Air Resources Board to set regional emissions reduction targets from passenger vehicles. Requires updates to city s circulation elements to incorporate a multimodal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of the streets, roads, and highways. In addition to the state legislation, the City of Oakland has policy goals to encourage multimodal transportation. Below are the policy goals stated in Oakland s General Plan and Bicycle Master Plan: Policy T2.1 Encouraging Transit Oriented Development: Transit oriented development should be encouraged at existing or proposed transit nodes, defined by the convergence of two or more modes of public transit such as Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), bus, shuttle service, light rail or electric trolley, ferry, and inter-city or commuter rail (LUTE, 51). Objective T4 Alternative Modes of Transportation: Increase use of alternative modes of transportation (LUTE, 58). Policy T4.6 Making Transportation Accessible for Everyone: Alternative modes of transportation should be accessible for all of Oakland s population. Including the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged (LUTE, 58). Objective T4.10 Converting Underused Travel Lanes: Take advantage of existing transportation infrastructure and capacity that is underutilized. For example, where possible and desirable, convert underused travel lanes to bicycle or pedestrian paths or amenities (LUTE, 59). Action 1C.1 Bikeways to Transit Stations: Prioritize bicycle access to major transit facilities from four directions, integrating bicycle access into the station design and connecting that station to the surrounding neighborhoods (BMP, 56). iii

4 The MacArthur Transit Village is an example of a project in which multi-modal access was diminished due to the use of LOS. Bike lanes on MacArthur Blvd. were not pursued due to the analysis that concluded the LOS would be at an unacceptable threshold in the year % of the people driving from home to the MacArthur BART station live within 1.34 miles of the station (Corey, Canapary and Galanis Research, 2008). There is great potential for decreasing VMT and increasing multi-modal travel to the Transit Village given how many people are currently driving short distances to this BART station. The proper multi-modal infrastructure must be provided. However, the LOS decades into the future would be beyond an acceptable threshold, therefore multi-modal access to the MacArthur Transit Village was diminished. The analysis was conducted by evaluating the status quo and two alternative policies using effectiveness, efficiency, equity and political feasibility. Figure 2 describes the status quo and alternative policies: Figure 2: Policy Alternatives and Descriptions Policy Status Quo: LOS Alternative 1: Net MTG + Fee Alternative 2: Multi-modal LOS Description The current metric used to measure auto delay on roadways. Gives a letter grade A-F, where A is no delay and F is very heavy traffic congestion. Used to assess traffic impacts for the environmental review process. Measures project impacts my assessing how many new net motorized (car and transit) trips will be added to the transportation network. Project sponsors pay a fee to mitigate impacts. Measures LOS for cars, transit, bicycling and walking. Allows for analysis of multiple modes of travel. Alternative 1 is highly effective because it creates an incentive for multi-modal transportation projects since the fee is associated with motorized trips generated. This policy also moves away from the status quo which prioritizes the automobile. Net MTG + Fee is more effective than multi-modal LOS because this policy increases available information about all modes but does not necessarily re-prioritize modes. Alternative 1 is highly efficient; it streamlines the environmental review process by increasing certainty. The fee can be anticipated by the City and project sponsors prior to the environmental review process. Multi-modal LOS would significantly increase the staff time, iv

5 dollars spent per project and project delay due to the increased time it would take to conduct LOS analysis for all modes, making this alternative very inefficient. Net MTG + Fee is highly equitable; the City of Oakland and project sponsors benefit from the streamlined environmental review process and the public benefits from decreasing barriers to multi-modal transportation. The political feasibility of Net MTG + Fee is low to moderate. This policy is the most extreme change from the status quo. The use of LOS is highly ingrained in current practices. Multimodal LOS is more politically feasible since it is most similar to the status quo. Figure 3 shows each policy and its ranking for each criterion. Figure 3: Policy-Criteria Matrix Effectiveness Efficiency Equity Political Feasibility The Status Quo: Level of Service Low Low Low High Alternative 1: Net Motorized Trips Generated Alternative 2: Multi-Modal Level of Service High High High Low/Moderate Moderate Low Moderate Moderate Net MTG + Fee will require decisions regarding how the fee will be calculated and how the funds will be used. The benefit of the streamlined environmental review process leans on the fact that it is a single fee paid by project sponsors. This element of the policy will need to be maintained to gain support from sponsors. Additionally, this policy could result in an increase in the use of the public transportation system. Capacity issues may need to be addressed with Alameda County. The City of Oakland will significantly benefit from changing the current practices of traffic analysis during the environmental review process from auto LOS to Net MTG + Fee. v

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