Eastside Transportation Alliance Katy Taylor Director, Public Transportation Division April 22, 2008

1. Paula Hammond Secretary of Transportation Dave Dye Chief Operating Officer Steve Reinmuth Chief of Staff Eastside Transportation Alliance Katy Taylor Director, Public Transportation Division April 22, 2008

2. Today’s presentation • Moving Washington • Highlights of WSDOT’s demand management programs • Focus on the vanpool program • Future directions for our programs • How you can support vanpooling

3. North Why do we have congestion? Washington’s growing economy and population put increasing demands on the system while there was little growth in supply. Puget Sound highways carry two to five times more traffic than engineers’ anticipated in the 1960 original design. • Between 2004 and 2006, the central Puget Sound population and economy added 107,000 new residents and 91,000 new jobs. What are the causes and impacts of congestion? Demands on the system are increasing What are the impacts of congestion? • Unpredictable travel time for people and freight • Increased travel costs • Direct shipper/recipient and downstream productivity losses • Lost opportunities to attract new businesses • Increased vehicle emissions In 2006, on an average day, the number of hours of delay on state highways was 108,100 hours— an estimated annual cost of $624 million. Most congestion is concentrated in Puget Sound Region

4. Special Events Several factors contribute to congestion 5% Work Zones 10% Bottlenecks 40% Bad Weather 15% 45% of congestion is predictable 55 % of congestion is unpredictable Traffic Incidents 25% 5% Poor signal timing Source: FHWA, 2004. Data reflects national estimate Most congestion is caused by unpredictable events Any one of the factors in this chart can cause congestion. When two or more are combined, delay is compounded. Conditions are dynamic, and are rarely the same from one day to the next, one highway to another or even from one hour to another. The majority of transportation dollars are directed at the right side of the chart. Unpredictable Congestion – Incident induced, such as, accidents, weather, and a work zone Predictable Congestion – Too much demand and not enough capacity (too many people using the system)

5. Congestion requires a balanced management approach What are we doing about congestion? “Moving Washington” The multiple causes of congestion require a balanced approach that uses several strategies. Building more roads alone will not address the problem. Instead, a balanced corridor-based approach is needed that includes operations, safety, and preserving the existing system. 5% • Operating Roadways Efficiently • WSDOT can make the existing system operate more efficiently by using tools such as: • Ramp meters • Synchronized traffic signals • HOV lanes • Incident response trucks to clear traffic incidents • Construction traffic management • Continue to explore emerging practices and technologies such as Active Traffic Management Bottlenecks 40% • Benefits of Moving Washington • Maximizes use of existing infrastructure • Reduces collisions • Smoothes traffic flow • Better roadway productivity (vehicle throughput) • Improves travel reliability • More travel options to reduce traffic demand and reduced greenhouse gas emissions Traffic Incidents 25% • Managing Demand • Providing people choices—WSDOT can reduce demand on the transportation system: • Commute Trip Reduction programs • Transit • Vanpools and Carpool programs • Roadway pricing • Travel information • Telecommuting and flexible work schedules Adding Capacity Strategically Building is part of the solution—capital projects improve congestion and safety by increasing highway capacity to relieve chokepoints that are caused by excess demand.

6. Providing people with choices • WSDOT’s demand management strategies are focused on providing people with choices • We provide funding, technical support and coordination with our partners: local governments, employers, transit agencies, and others • Our programs include: • Commute Trip Reduction • Trip Reduction Performance Program • Vanpool Investment Program • New Growth and Transportation Efficiency Center program • Regional mobility grant program • Construction traffic management • Park and ride program development

7. What drives travel choices • Many factors drive the travel choices that people make every day • Demand management is successful when it is targeted at appropriate segments of the travel market; one size does not fit all • Providing commute options is about the origin and destination, time of day, cost, and time and convenience • For example, commuters tend to choose vanpool for trips of 15 miles or more; the longer the distance, the more commuters are likely to choose vanpool

8. CTR reduces congestion • Commute Trip Reduction • Approximately 570,000 employees commute to about 1,200 CTR worksites on a daily basis • CTR asks employers to give their employees information and support for making transportation decisions and formalizes the relationship of employers as trip generators on the transportation system • CTR measures changes in how people get to work and provides useful data for transportation analysis and decision-making • If CTR program participants returned to driving alone to work at the same time they travel today, the Puget Sound would experience an increase in delay of approximately 18 percent each morning

9. Managing demandthrough innovation • Trip Reduction Performance Program • Created by the legislature in 2003 as a market-driven approach to commute trip reduction • WSDOT takes “bids” from organizations to implement cost-effective strategies to reduce drive-alone commute trips, and project awards are paid based on measured performance • Four projects with destinations in the I-405/167 corridor in the 2007-09 program: • City of Redmond • David Evans and Associates (Bellevue) • City of Renton • REI (Kent) • Five projects in 2003-05 program and four in 2005-07 program with destinations in the I-405/167 corridor • City of Redmond’s Employer Commuter Club was very successful in the 2005-07 program, with 2,815 daily drive-alone commute trips reduced

10. Focus on urban centers • New Growth and Transportation Efficiency Center (GTEC) program • Created by the legislature in 2006 as a pilot program to increase access to employment and residential centers while decreasing the proportion of commuters driving alone during peak periods on the state highway system • Authorizes cities and counties to designate new or existing geographic centers as GTECs and establish TDM programs within those areas; intention is to more closely integrate local land use and transportation planning with mode split goals, while building a stronger partnership with transit agencies • Total of 10 GTECs implementing plans in 2007-2009 • Seven are state-funded (with local match): Bellevue, Redmond, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Spokane, Vancouver • Three are moving forward without state funding: Kirkland, Tukwila, Puyallup

11. Eastside GTECs • The city of Bellevue is focusing on commuters to downtown by working with small employers and implementing service improvements and other strategies • The city of Redmond has set higher goals for its CTR worksites and will enhance existing services and strategies to those employers • The city of Kirkland is moving forward with their program goals through revisions to parking management policies and comprehensive plans

12. Success with thevanpool program • Created by the legislature in 2003 to support expansion of vanpooling statewide • A 10-year, $30 million capital program • Goal is to double vanpooling to about 3,200 operating vans by 2013 • Currently about 2,360 operating vehicles statewide, a 50 percent increase from 2003 • 2,180 vanpools + 180 VanShares (vans limited to connections between a transit center/rail station and a home or worksite) • Those vehicles carry approximately 19,200 riders daily, a 52 percent increase from 2003 • The central Puget Sound contributes 1,928 vehicles and approximately 15,700 daily riders; approximately 475 to 500 vanpools have destinations in east King County

13. What we’ve learned aboutthe vanpool program • What we’ve learned so far: • Vanpools can effectively serve the long-distance, cross-jurisdiction commute • Gas price spikes bring strong interest in ridesharing, particularly vanpooling • Vanpools can only grow at a certain rate • Statewide vanpool growth has averaged about 9% annually since 2003 • Van procurement, while quicker than buses (6 months vs. 2 years), is still not immediate • There must be maintenance space and a replacement plan for new vehicles prior to expansion

14. The future of managing demand • Local governments and regions participating in CTR around the state have set new goals for 2011 • Reduce drive-alone commute trips to CTR worksites by 10 percent • Reduce commute vehicle miles traveled to CTR worksites by 13 percent • The local CTR plans call for new services and strategies and closer integration with local transportation and land use decision-making to achieve these goals • Achieving these goals would provide substantial benefits for the transportation system, local economic development, energy conservation, and air quality • Construction traffic management will help maintain the efficiency of the system during construction, and can build on the employer networks and strategies in CTR and GTEC, while using vanpooling as a key strategy for long-distance commuters

15. The future: GTECs • CTR has a limited scope • Commute trips to major employers are a small portion of the overall peak period travel market • New GTEC program builds on CTR in key urban centers • Some GTECs are focusing on providing services and incentives to smaller employers in their downtown areas to pick up more of the commute market

16. The future of vanpooling • Vanpool program is looking forward to 2020 • New goals focused on ridership growth and reducing VMT • New technologies such as dynamic ridematching and telematics can help support growth in ridesharing • Technology would allow focus on more than just the commute by allowing individuals to dynamically match up with a vehicle going where they want to go, at the time they want to go there • Vanpooling goals being integrated as a key strategy with other demand management program goals • CTR and GTEC goals call for growth in vanpooling • Mitigating for the impacts of construction

17. How can you support vanpooling? • Employers can directly support their employees • State and federal tax credits • Federal pre-tax benefit of up to $115 per month for public transportation • State B&O tax credits for commuting expenses paid by employer • Employee Transportation Coordinators are a resource for information and assistance • How the work location is arranged can encourage ridesharing • Facility improvements like preferential parking or loading areas can raise employee awareness and provide a low-cost incentive • Reduced demand for employee parking can allow for more parking for customers or more on-site productive square footage • Employer support is the key to CTR success

18. Questions or comments? • Katy TaylorDirectortaylork@wsdot.wa.gov, (360) 705-7920 • Keith CottonUrban Programs Managercottonk@wsdot.wa.gov, (360) 705-7910 • Chris SimmonsRideshare Program Managersimmocw@wsdot.wa.gov, (360) 705-7917