City of Menlo Park TDM Existing Conditions
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City of Menlo Park TMA Options Analysis Study: Existing Conditions ___ Client: City of Menlo Park January 2020 Our ref: 23642101 Content 3 Introduction 4 Existing Travel Options 4 Rail and Transit 5 Public and Private Shuttles 6 Existing TDM Programming 8 Travel Patterns 9 Northern Menlo Park 10 Central Menlo Park 11 Downtown Menlo Park 12 Southern Menlo Park 13 Stakeholder Outreach 13 Interviews 16 Small Business Drop Ins 18 Employee Survey 22 Conclusions 23 Next Steps 2 | January 2020 City of Menlo Park: TDM Existing Conditions Introduction TMA Options Analysis for Menlo Park Menlo Park Focus Area Zones The four zones include: The City of Menlo Park has commissioned an Options This Existing Conditions Report (and subsequent 1. Northern Menlo Park (including Bohannon Dr. Analysis for establishing a Transportation reports and analyses) focuses on four areas or area) Management Association (TMA). “zones” within the City of Menlo Park. Each zone 2. Central Menlo Park faces unique challenges due to both its location and As has been seen across Silicon Valley and generally the specific land uses and industry housed within it. 3. Downtown Menlo Park the Bay Area, recent years have brought an increase 4. Southern Menlo Park (including SLAC area) in congestion in the City of Menlo Park. Transportation Demand Management (TDM) has Figure 1: Map of Menlo Park Zone Analysis been utilized for years to curb congestion by encouraging non single-occupancy vehicle travel across worksites, cities and counties in the Bay Area and beyond. As TDM is implemented in Menlo Park at a variety of levels, the City hopes that a TMA may help to better coordinate the efforts between public and private entities in the city, and potentially region-wide. Work on the Options Analysis began in August, 2019 with a research phase. Through the first months of the Study, the project team conducted outreach to local employees and business groups. This was done through interviews, local business ‘drop-ins,’ and the distribution of a travel survey, which ultimately provided the team with a combination of both qualitative and quantitative information from which to lay out a description of TDM “Existing Conditions” within the City. This report lays out these existing conditions and draws conclusions that will help set up the subsequent phases of the Options Analysis. 3 | January 2020 City of Menlo Park: TDM Existing Conditions Existing Travel Options Figure 2: Map of Rail, Transit and Shuttle Options in Menlo Park Rail and Transit Transit riders to and from Menlo Park have multiple rail and transit options providing service connections to the Peninsula and the East Bay. Caltrain Commuter Rail: Caltrain provides regional commuter rail service from San Francisco to Gilroy. Menlo Park and nearby Palo Alto and Redwood City Stations have weekday and weekend service. Service to/from Menlo Park is limited, however. Some commuters may choose to use the Redwood City or Palo Alto Stations for more frequent or bullet train service. Figure 2 shows a map of rail, transit and shuttle options around Menlo Park. Many of the local transit and shuttle services connect commercial centers and office parks with the stations in Menlo Park and Palo Alto. Public Transit San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) provides transit service in San Mateo County in the northern peninsula. SamTrans operates three bus routes serving the Menlo Park station: • Route 296 connecting Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City Caltrain Stations • Route 286 connecting Menlo Park with points south in Atherton and Portola Valley • ECR connecting all local Caltrain stations with SFO International Airport and BART Service 4 | January 2020 City of Menlo Park: TDM Existing Conditions Existing Travel Options Figure 3: Rail and Transit Options Rail and Transit (Cont.) Valley Transit Authority (VTA) The VTA provides rail and bus service in the southern peninsula region. VTA does not provide service to/from Menlo Park, however several local and rapid routes connect to the neighboring Palo Alto Caltrain station: • Rapid Route 522 and Local 22 connecting the Palo Alto Transit Center to Eastridge Transit Center • Express 102/103 connecting Stanford Research Park to Eastridge and San Jose Alameda Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) AC Transit provides service primarily in the East Bay with a few transbay routes. Line U provides a transbay connection from Palo Alto (Stanford University) to Fremont via the Dumbarton Bridge. AC Transit does not provide service directly to Menlo Park. Public and Private Shuttles Several public and private shuttles provide Menlo Park rail and transit riders with connections to commercial and employment centers. Menlo Park Shuttles The City of Menlo Park operates three shuttle routes in the City of Menlo Park that are free and open to the public 5 | January 2020 City of Menlo Park: TDM Existing Conditions Existing Travel Options Figure 4: Public and Private Shuttle Options • Belle Haven route serves key civic destination in Menlo Park. • Marsh Road route connects employment centers near Bayfront Expressway and Bohannan Drive with the Caltrain Station. • Willow Road route connects destinations such as the Caltrain Station with the Civic Center and Northern Menlo Park areas as well as the VA Medical Center and O’Brien Drive. Private Shuttles Several private shuttles are operated by local developer/property managers and large employers. These shuttles are typically free to member employees only. • Tarlton operates three shuttles from Menlo Park Labs on O’Brien Drive to Palo Alto Caltrain Station, Union City BART, and San Francisco respectively. • The Stanford Bohannon (“BOH”) Shuttle provides free service from the Medical Complex on Bohannan Drive to the Menlo Park Caltrain Station to the Stanford medical campus in Palo Alto. • Facebook operates shuttles from their campus in the Northern Menlo Park area to San Francisco and the East Bay (not shown). Facebook estimates that these shuttles, which are rerouted frequently, serve up to 60,000 passengers per day. 6 | January 2020 City of Menlo Park: TDM Existing Conditions Existing TDM Programming TDM Programming in Menlo Park information daily and demonstrate that trip a shuttle system that spans the entire county. Menlo reduction goals are met. Park’s shuttles are similarly branded to In addition to encouraging non-SOV travel through Commute.org’s due to a joint contract, but they are Beyond Menlo Park the provision of transit options, the City of Menlo managed by the City of Menlo Park. Park requires that developers and property owners Of course, the City of Menlo Park does not exist in a develop programs to shift behavior among their Manzanita Talks bubble, and many trips that contribute to congestion tenants and site users. within the city start or end elsewhere. In addition to Manzanita Talks is a new symposium/partnership of Currently, the City requires that developers of new site-based and municipal programs, TMAs and similar public and private entities in Silicon Valley. While this projects work with the Transportation Division to put organizations provide services across the Bay Area. organization is still in its infancy, it ultimately hopes together TDM plans guided by the City/County to provide coordination and support to the many TMAs Association of Government’s (C/CAG) TDM Program agencies and organizations providing TDM service Guidelines, which include both site and The Bay Area is home to several official TMAs, all of across the area. programmatic elements. These plans are then meant whom serve differing groups of core constituents and to be reviewed periodically by City staff in order to offer different key services. Closest in proximity to ensure that current owners and managers are Menlo Park are the Palo Alto TMA, which focuses operating the agreed upon programs, but the City primarily on providing transit subsidies to small does not have resources or a formal mechanism in downtown businesses, and the Stanford Research place for regular review or monitoring. Park’s SRPGO program which provides shuttle service The City’s policies are more comprehensive for and other TDM programs to their tenants. Also projects located within the Bayfront Area, where nearby is the Mountain View TMA, and neighboring developers are required to submit TDM Plans and Redwood City is exploring the idea of developing a reduce trips by 25% in order to simplify their TMA as well. permitting and approvals on projects. On a case by Commute.org case basis, City staff work with developers to agree upon TDM services and programs that will be Commute.org is the TDM agency serving San Mateo offered. These may include the requirement of County. They offer services such as an online first/last mile shuttles to and from transit stations, or, commuter platform, non-SOV trip incentives and a in the case of the City’s largest employer (Facebook), guaranteed ride home program for all commuters requirements to provide them with traffic count who travel to or from the county. They also operate 7 | January 2020 City of Menlo Park: TDM Existing Conditions Travel Patterns StreetLight Data For this report, StreetLight data was pulled for The City of Menlo Park purchased access to the each of the four Focus Area Zones referenced in the Introduction, and analyzed for trip origin and StreetLight Dataset, which utilizes anonymized data destination by Census Block Group. This report from smartphones and navigation devices to display analyzes only vehicle trip data. StreetLight does travel networks, routes, and volume across North provide bicycle data, but these datasets are still in America. their infancy and are not guaranteed to be StreetLight provides what they refer to as an Origin- reliable for this purpose. The datasets have been Destination Traffic Index (O-D Index). This is a ratio of pulled, however, so the Project Team may make use of them in future stages of the project.