Posts about TDM
Budget
Wells would keep Circulator fare, expand CaBi, and more
Tommy Wells would like to keep the Circulator fare at $1, add 40 more Capital Bikeshare stations, hire needed people at DDOT including a parking czar, set up performance parking on H Street, fund green alleys, and more. Increased residential parking fees, including for households with extra vehicles, and some higher fines will pay for these priorities.
Photo by DDOTDC on Flickr.
These are some of the recommendations in the draft budget report from the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, which Wells chairs. The committee oversees DDOT, the Department of Public Works, the DMV, WMATA, and a few others, and the report covers budget changes to those programs.
The recommendations include:
Expand CaBi faster. $2 million in capital funding would fund 40 more Capital Bikeshare stations in the core and in more peripheral neighborhoods.
This would add to the 25 already planned and other stations that private developers or federal agencies will pay for. In total, DDOT says this will allow the system to double from its original size within 2 years of the September 2010 launch.
Fund green alleys. Many alleys have crumbling surfaces and greatly need repair, but there hasn't been much money for this in recent years. $1 million would fund a new Green Alleys program, picking some alleys to rebuild with permeable paving, energy-efficient LED lighting, trees, and more.
Keep Circulator fare. Wells is proposing to keep the Circulator fare at $1, rolling back Mayor Gray's proposal to make it $2 cash and $1.50 with SmarTrip. Downtown businesses argued that it would cut ridership substantially, perhaps even reversing all or most of the expected revenue gain. The Circulator is also going east of the river, and some felt it wasn't right for it to finally go there and double in price at the same time.
The funding for this comes partly through use of one-time funds at WMATA, so the Council will have to look at the Circulator fare again next year. Wells wants that to happen once the Council has reviewed and approved DDOT's plans for longer-term Circulator expansion.
Semi-replace 7th Street Circulator. The north-south Circulator is still going away. To partly make up for it, WMATA is creating a 74 bus to travel between I Street NW and the Southwest Waterfront along a route similar to that part of the Circulator's, and extending the V8 bus, which connects Minnesota Avenue to Southwest, along 7th Street to downtown as well.
Hire ward planners, development reviewers, and parking czar. Wells also wants to restore six positions at DDOT which have been vacant for some time. Gray's budget cut most vacant positions entirely. The six positions include three ward planners, for wards 2, 3, and 5. The ward planners made sure that all DDOT projects in a ward fit together well, and provided useful points of contact for the communities involved.
DDOT also needs to staff up its development review department, which looks at planned developments and zoning filings and encourage developers to effectively accommodate pedestrians and bicycles, consider good stormwater management, and include Transportation Demand Management programs. Wells would add 2 positions for this.
The final and most exciting staff position is a parking program manager, or "parking czar." DDOT's parking program has been a tremendous disappointment for years. The performance parking pilot zones didn't see the kind of experimentation that the legislation asked for. Some neighborhoods have wanted performance parking but haven't been able to get it.
DDOT has been mailing out free visitor parking passes in several wards, which leaves large opportunities for abuse. They have promised for years to set up a better system, but haven't. If they can get a good parking program manager, DDOT can finally be the national leader in parking policies they once seemed to be, but got eclipsed by San Francisco and other cities.
Start performance parking on H Street. Wells would create a third performance parking zone, around H Street NE (G to I Streets from 3rd to 15th). Residential streets in the area would become resident-only for one side of the street, as in the other zones, and meters set to achieve 10-20% available spaces.
Protect neighborhood RPP funds. The performance parking pilot zones dedicate most of the revenue raised to local neighborhood improvements, giving residents a stake in the success of performance parking. Gray's budget took this money away to use as general revenue; Wells wants to restore it.
Maintain traffic enforcement officers. The proposal would restore 5 traffic enforcement officers cut in Gray's budget. There are plenty of places where enforcement can make pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers all safer by stopping dangerous behavior. Also, DDOT wants to do more to stop parking in loading zones, bus stops, and handicap placard abuse.
Keep "sweepercam" tickets. Gray's budget eliminated the "sweepercam" system, where street sweeping trucks automatically photograph vehicles illegally blocking sweeping and DPW can send them tickets. Without this, DPW would have to have people manually enforce the sweeping.
Also, as the report points out, the cameras allow DPW not to ticket anyone parked in a sweeping zone after the actual sweeping has finished, whereas if officers did it manually, they wouldn't know and would still ticket those cars. The committee report restores $300,000 for this program.
Create a DDOT enterprise fund. When DDOT lost its "unified fund," it lost some ability to dynamically fund innovations without going through the Council first. Budget staff at that time talked about creating a special fund with some money that can go to such programs. Wells' proposal moves Capital Bikeshare advertising revenue into this fund, along with truck weight fees, multispace meter advertising, car sharing fees, loading zone permit fees, and a few others.
And more. Wells' proposal also funds a "bait bike" where officers place a bike which looks ripe to steal, and watch to catch people who try to steal it. $50,000 will also go to the Committee on Libraries, Parks and Recreation for neighborhood parks. Gray's budget cut the $10,000 annual funding each for the Bicycle Advisory Council and the Pedestrian Advisory Council; Wells is restoring both.
Revenue
How will Wells and his committee pay for all this?
Errors in the budget. Some money comes from finding mistakes in the budget. For example, Gray's budget office moved a lot of DDOT positions from the capital budget over to the operating budget. That's mainly an accounting issue; the jobs are still there, but some categories of spending went from large amounts to zero and other categories went from zero to big. Upon scrutinizing all of this, Council staff realized that some of the jobs had been moved over twice, leading to double-funding in the budget.
Higher and graduated RPP fees. A big part of the increase comes from a longtime GGW recommendation: increasing RPP fees, especially for households with multiple cars. DC's fees for resident parking permits are remarkably low, at $15/year. Renting any other chunk of space anywhere in the city costs far more. San Francisco charges $98/year, for example.
Under Wells' proposal, RPP fees will increase to $35/year, except for seniors 65 and older who will only pay $25/year. Once the DMV finishes a computer upgrade to support it, additional permits for each household will cost $50/year for the second and $100/year for additional permits beyond that.
Fines for repeat parking offenders. Fines for parking in residential areas beyond the 2 hours allowed, or for parking in resident-only areas, would increase for repeat offenders. The fine now is $30, except $60 around the ballpark during games only. The $30 fines would remain $30 for the 1st and 2nd tickets someone receives in a single calendar year, but become $60 beyond that.
Reciprocity fees. Congressional, military, Presidental appointees, and some others are allowed to have reciprocity permits, getting the benefits of registering cars in DC including RPP permits but without actually becoming DC residents. They pay $10 annually for this, while students have to pay $338 and temporary residents $250. Wells proposes increasing the reciprocity fee to $50.
What's not included
WMATA, fully. Gray's budget slightly increased DC's contributions to WMATA, but DC was still $10.422 million short of the level needed to avoid service cuts. Wells found another $6.265 million, and is asking the Council to consider the other $4.157 million as a council-wide priority in the next phase of the budget process.
Each committee first considers its own budget, and moves around money within that area, raising related revenues if desired to restore programs. Then, the whole Council looks at further cuts or restorations broadly; the remaining WMATA gap will be one of them.
Street sweeping inspectors. Gray's budget cuts the numbers of officers enforcing street sweeping rules. Wells said in this morning's markup that he wanted to increase the numbers, but unlike with the DDOT traffic officers, the CFO wouldn't certify revenue from these officers, so the Council would have to come up with more revenue to restore them.
Policies
The committee report also touches on some other topics which aren't line items in the budget, but which have budgetary implications. It asks DDOT to organize a task force to look at long-term transportation funding as gas taxes decline; to try to implement Circulator expansions even sooner than proposed; to add more efficient streetlights; and more. DDOT has also promised to conduct a transportation study on M Street SE/SW.
For DPW, the committee asks them to aggressively push fleet sharing, especially to replace older vehicles; to come up with a strategy to increase recycling; and to publish more information on costs that Wells has been asking for.
The committee had its markup session scheduled for 10 am, but as of this writing didn't have enough Councilmembers present to make up a quorum. Assuming it passes the markup, this will get agglomerated with the budget reports from the other committees.
The full Council will then take up the WMATA funding issue and other larger priorities from other areas. Issues outside of transportation, like the proposed income tax increase for people making over $200,000 and cuts to human services, will be debated at the full Council level.
Parking
DDOT releases TDM recommendations for new development
When any new building appears in the city, its residents, office workers and/or shoppers have to travel to and from the building. The traditional planning approach is to require enough parking so that all of the users could drive there. But that's not the ideal outcome, since our roads can't handle more traffic. Instead, many cities now push for other elements that make it easier for people to travel by other modes. These elements are called Transportation Demand Management strategies.
Photo by nicholi57 on Flickr.
At the Board of Zoning Adjustment hearing for the Whitman-Walker project at 14th and S, DDOT planner Chris Ziemann proposed several TDM strategies, including bicycle parking, car sharing spaces, free initial Zipcar or SmartBike memberships, and free SmarTrip cards for new residents. These come from a September DDOT memo on TDM which I was able to obtain.
These are the TDM strategies DDOT considers when looking at a new project:
- Bicycle parking: One space for each 20 car spaces, locked bicycle storage, and shower facilities for workers. That can include facilities for workers at residential buildings as well as office workers.
- Carpools: Reserved spaces in good locations for carpools and vanpools, and discounts against parking rates in pay garages.
- Parking costs: Ensure that the garage charges market rates for parking. If employees or residents get free parking, allow them to take a payment ("cash-out") for the market value of their space instead.
- Car sharing: Free parking spaces(s) for carsharing vehicles, accessible 24-7 to the public. Also, cover the initiation fee and first year membership fees for initial residents.
- Bike sharing: Allocate space for a SmartBike station, or possibly fund the station entirely.
- SmarTrip: Give new residents and building employees complimentary SmarTrip cards. DDOT suggests $20 for residential tenants and $60 for employees of residential buildings.
- Information: Put links on buildings' Web site to CommuterConnections.com and goDCgo.com. Include signs or brochures in lobby kiosks, information in welcome packets, or bulletin boards with information on transportation options.
- Technology: Have a business center in residential buildings with a copier, fax, and Internet access. This makes it easier for people to telecommute.
Keep in mind that this is just a menu of possibilities, not rules. DDOT can decide which are most appropriate for each project. The developers can voluntarily agree to implement some, and if not, BZA or Zoning Commission ultimately decides whether to impose any as conditions of approvals. Some, like bicycle parking, are also part of draft future zoning rules, but these may go beyond the absolute requirements of zoning.
Parking
TDM strategies help reduce car dependence
At yesterday's Whitman-Walker BZA hearing, one of the neighbors opposing the project challenged the notion of building less parking than the current zoning regulations require. "Where will those cars park?" he asked.
Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr.
That question assumes that the cars exist at all. But there's no fixed set of cars out there in search of spaces. Instead, the number of cars depends entirely on the people living in the building, or shopping or eating there. Some will drive. Some will walk, bike, or ride Metro or the bus. Some of "those cars" will turn into walkers, bikers, or transit riders instead.
We can do more to ensure that residents and shoppers really can travel without driving. In their comments, DDOT endorses the special exception to build fewer spaces than zoning demands, but recommends a set of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies alongside. They suggest that JBG:
- Provide bicycle parking in the garage (accessible to residents and retail employees) and exterior bike racks for the public
- Give all initial residents a $60 SmartTrip card
- Provide car sharing space(s) in the garage
- Pay for the application fee and a one-year membership to Zipcar for all initial residents and business owners
- Pay for a one-year SmartBike membership for all initial residents and business owners
These represent a great step and are not very expensive for the developer. Each of them simplifies living in the building or working in one of the retail stores without a car.
DDOT also recommends two elements on which I'm not completely sold:
- If people can buy the spaces permanently (instead of just renting them), include a deed restriction prohibiting residents from buying parking spaces and then reselling them to commuters
- Make residents of this building ineligible for RPP stickers
The deed restriction is probably moot, since this building will be rental apartments and thus I assume the garage would likewise rent rather than sell the spaces. But once we've built spaces, it's good to have a free market in those spaces, so that those who really do need parking for any reason (frequent transporting of large items, difficulty walking) can choose to pay for one.
Excluding buildings from RPP is very controversial. On the one hand, it ensures that new development won't create "spillover" competing with residents for spaces. But it's also unfair. An existing resident isn't more entitled to space on the street than a new resident. And if existing residents have a special right to public space, there's less of an incentive to choose to forego the car (and save money) so someone more needy can use the spaces. Better to use performance parking to allocate the limited space to those who value it most, not those who've been around a long time.
Cheryl Cort, of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, testified at the hearing with even more great suggestions. Her recommendations:
- Bicycle shower facilities for employees of the retail businesses
- An on-street Zipcar space instead of one in the garage. The revenue from one more pay garage space not used by the Zipcar could go to DDOT to make up for lost meter revenue.
- Having the developer guarantee a certain amount of revenue to Zipcar for the space, to ensure that they can put a car in the building (or in front) and not lose money. If they made more than the minimum, the developer would pay nothing.
- Taxi vouchers for people who reach the stores by transit and buy large goods in the stores
- A little bit of affordable housing, perhaps for someone who works in one of the retail stores
Finally, on the limitation of restaurants to 25% in the ARTS overlay, the Office of Planning recommended that BZA allow restaurants in the new development, but only up to 50% of the frontage of the building. That's a good compromise. Most of the restaurants in the ARTS overlay are on U Street, 9th Street, or P Street, not right in this area, so it's silly to prohibit restaurants here. And limiting it to 50% will encourage more, smaller businesses (at least two) instead of one, huge, block-encompassing restaurant or store.
JBG agreed at the hearing to implement some of DDOT's recommendations. They will put bicycle racks in the garage and on the street (facing both 14th and S streets, since S will be the main residential entrance), set aside one space for a Zipcar, and pay for Zipcar memberships for initial residents who don't rent a garage space. That's a good start, though they could also institute some TDM practices for the retail employees beyond simple bike racks.
"I'm happy to hear you're not overparking the site," said Zoning Commissioner Gregory Jeffries, "but I want to make sure there are all the other bells and whistles as it relates to having less parking." Jeffries talked about the importance of development that enables more people without also bringing more cars.
Most of all, it's great to see DDOT recommending these progressive policies in new development. All large, new development projects should include similar best practices. And when developers propose a Planned Unit Development (PUD), where the Zoning Commission gives them greater density and flexibility in exchange for community amenities, similar TDM practices ought to be some of the amenities we require.
In the past, unfortunately, the Zoning Commission has sometimes gone the opposite direction, demanding more parking to protect neighbors' on-street spaces. That only creates gridlock and doesn't even effectively protect on-street parking. Instead, new development should build only the parking the market would support, and with the money they save from fewer underground levels, fund TDM strategies to reduce car dependence for residents and employees.
@ggwash
- Successful speed cameras require fair speed limits
- Amid scandal, don't lose sight of Gray's policy achievements
- Montgomery plans 160-mile, "gold standard" BRT system
- VDOT ignores own data, pushes widening I-66
- DC's parks are 5th best in the nation, says "Park Score"
- Bethesda gets new but terrible bike racks
- DC's divide need not be black and white
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