Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
OCTOBER 18, 2017
Preamble
Revised Motion by:
Garcetti, Dupont-Walker and Butts
October 18, 2017
Countywide Transportation Demand Management
MTA should be a national leader in working with local jurisdictions to promote transit use, active transportation, and other multi-modal travel.
MTA is leading a great expansion of mobility options in Los Angeles County, including the rail and bus transit system, bikeshare, first-last mile links, and groundbreaking technology-based new mobility services, including U-Pass and On-demand Microtransit Pilot Programs. A robust and comprehensive countywide Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program would maximize the benefits of these investments in LA County’s transportation systems.
TDM focuses on reducing single-occupancy vehicle trips by making other transportation options more attractive. TDM promotes sustainable transportation options such as transit, carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling and walking. TDM strategies boost transit ridership, promote telecommuting, reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. MTA can serve as the facilitator of a countywide TDM program that encourages and supports local jurisdictions in initiating, developing, and implementing their own TDM initiatives.
Currently, there is an absence of a robust and comprehensive countywide TDM promotion and coordination program in Los Angeles County. As the countywide transportation agency, MTA is ideally suited to lead this effort. A robust TDM program will enable MTA to leverage its historic transportation investments to further change travel behavior and help the region ease congestion and meet statewide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. This would build on MTA’s ongoing Congestion Reduction activities, including 511, promoting carpooling through ExpressLanes, creating vanpools, etc.
MTA can promote TDM strategies through many different methods--by coordinating local TDM objectives, creating a comprehensive TDM marketing strategy, measuring the effectiveness of multi-modal solutions, and other strategies. While some cities already have existing TDM programs or initiated efforts to establish TDM programs, many more cities in LA County could implement effective TDM programs with support from MTA.
Some jurisdictions, including the City of Los Angeles, have identified a need to make major updates to their TDM ordinances to incentivize sustainable transportation solutions more broadly through their development review processes and establish more robust monitoring and evaluation protocols.
The goal of the State of California is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Currently, automobiles are the single largest source of emissions in Los Angeles. Los Angeles County residents approved Measure M in November 2016 to create more mobility options. MTA can do more to support local jurisdictions to meet state goals, and to create a seamless user experience throughout Los Angeles County that will create more MTA rail and bus riders, encourage carpooling and vanpooling, and boost countywide active transportation usage.
Subject
SUBJECT: REVISED MOTION BY DIRECTORS GARCETTI AND
DUPONT-WALKER AND BUTTS
Heading
TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT
Title
WE, THEREFORE, MOVE that the Board direct the CEO to:
A. Prepare a list of TDM best practices of California agencies and jurisdictions, including but not limited to the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission;
B. Inventory current MTA funding sources for planning or implementing TDM programs and projects at the county or local level;
C. Recommend how MTA can establish a robust and comprehensive countywide TDM program, including but not limited to:
1. Countywide TDM guidelines to help municipalities create and implement TDM policies by establishing best practices for TDM application, monitoring, and evaluation, and allowing for flexibility to innovate beyond countywide standards;
2. Countywide TDM marketing, outreach, and engagement campaign that targets potential users through a compelling and recognizable brand available to local cities and jurisdictions to promote multi-modal travel choices such as transit, vanpooling, carpooling, walking, and bicycling;
3. Facilitating regular discussions between Transportation Management Organizations in the region to coordinate countywide and local TDM ordinance implementation activities and share best practices;
4. Working with major trip generators, major employers, and business community representatives to develop and implement tax incentives and other state legislation necessary for MTA to effectively promote and coordinate TDM strategies in Los Angeles County;
5. Expanding U-Pass, the Employer Annual Pass Program (EAPP), the Bikeshare for Business Program, and other TAP purchase programs to allow Transportation Management Organizations (TMOs), telework centers, tourism organizations, residential and other non-employer entities to purchase bulk-rate transit and bike share passes;
6. Strategies to promote telecommuting;
7. Establishing a Countywide Commuter Tax Benefit Ordinance to provide incentives for non-single occupancy vehicle travel;
a. Seeking legislation to enable Los Angeles County to implement the nation’s most aggressive commuter tax benefits program to reimburse and credit the cost of sustainable transportation options. This legislation should explore ways to provide significant tax-credit benefits for the use of transit, vanpooling, bicycling, and all other sustainable transportation modes;
b. Should legislation be successfully secured, a first priority for resources created by this program would be the establishment of an MTA TDM Implementation Demonstration Program. The TDM Demonstration Program would target selected jurisdictions for early implementation of best-practice TDM strategies, along with appropriate financial incentives. MTA may give special priority to any multi-jurisdictional TDM program proposal.
8. Managing compliance with the State of California’s Parking Cash-Out law for worksites within Los Angeles County;
9. Considering consolidation of MTA’s various TDM functions into a single group and/or creating a Countywide TDM Coordinator position tasked with coordinating MTA’s TDM efforts, including identifying additional staffing needs;
D. Incorporate into MTA’s 2018 state legislative program for MTA to seek legislation that would strengthen MTA’s ability to carry out a countywide TDM program; and
E. Report back to the Planning and Programming Committee on all the above in 120 150 days.
KUEHL AMENDMENT: to include that the EAPP Program (which includes ATAP and BTAP) be amended to include a pay-per-boarding model similar to the U-Pass Program at a fare-per-boarding (FPB) rate approved by the Office of Management and Budget (either as a pilot program or as a new payment option under BTAP)