Best Practices Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ii Florida Department of Transportation Public Transit Office 605 Suwannee Street, MS 26 Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450 (850) 414-4500 Project Manager: Michael Wright NATIONAL SMART TRANSPORTATION ARCHIVE RESEARCHER BEST PRACTICES FINAL REPORT BD549-20 Final Report December 2006 Disclaimer The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the State of Florida Department of Transportation. iii National Center for Transit Research at the Center for Urban Transportation Research University of South Florida, College of Engineering 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CUT100 Tampa, FL 33620-5375 (813) 974-3120 Edward Mierzejewski, CUTR Director Joel Volinski, NCTR Director Philip Winters, TDM Program Director, National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse Principal Research Contributors: Sara Hendricks Christopher Hagelin Graduate Student Assistants: Liren Zhou Stephanie Bromfield iv Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. BD 549-20 NCTR 77604-00 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date National Smart Transportation Archive Researcher December 2006 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Sara Hendricks, Liren Zhou, Christopher Hagelin 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) National Center for Transit Research University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620 11. Contract or Grant No. DTRS98-G-0032 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Office of Research and Special Programs (RSPA) U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC 20590 Florida Department of Transportation 14. Sponsoring Agency Code 605 Suwannee Street, MS26, Tallahassee, FL 32399 15. Supplementary Notes Supported by a grant from the USDOT Office of Research and Innovative Technology (RITA) and the Florida Department of Transportation. 16. Abstract The objective of the National Smart Transportation Archive Researcher (NSTAR) is to develop an online, updatable, easily searchable database of case studies reliably documenting the effective use of transportation demand management (TDM) strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and single occupant vehicle (SOV) mode share. The database is intended for use by transportation professionals and worksite employee transportation coordinators to develop and improve the effectiveness of their own programs for the purposes of reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality. The database is located on the Help Desk of the National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse at http://www.nctr.usf.edu/clearinghouse. A Best Practices Guide was also prepared, which features 12 in-depth case studies of some of the most effective worksite trip reduction programs. These worksites are located in Washington State and the case studies were developed from data of the Washington State Department of Transportation Commute Trip Reduction Program and interviews with worksite employee transportation coordinators. These 12 worksites were selected from among 56 worksites that demonstrate a continuing performance trend of reduced VMT and SOV during the program years. The development of these worksite profiles employed a qualitative exploratory case study approach, which seeks to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of a given worksite trip reduction program taken as a whole and in its context. The case studies identified external factors, which are outside the control of the worksite, and internal factors, which are within the control of the worksite, that influenced program success. The study hypothesis was that internal worksite conditions can overcome adverse or unsupportive external conditions if the worksite trip reduction program is explicitly supported by the worksite management and the nature of the business also supports program success. All case studies were located within a mandatory regulatory environment requiring worksites to participate and produce results. This had the effect of guaranteeing some degree of management support to compare against generally adverse conditions of limited transit opportunities and plentiful parking conditions. Study results found evidence to suggest that worksite management support can overcome adverse external conditions; however, this support is more forthcoming when the outcome of a trip reduction program is aligned with business objectives. 17. Key Word 18. Distribution Statement Transportation Demand Available to the public through the National Technical Information Management, Transit, Qualitative Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22181, ph. Analysis, TDM Performance (703) 487-4650, http://www.ntis.gov/ and through the NCTR web site at http://www.nctr.usf.edu/ 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 192 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized v Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance and case study contributions of the Washington State Department of Transportation, Best Workplaces for Commuters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Highway Administration and all other individual contributors to the National Smart Transportation Archive Researcher. The authors would also like to acknowledge the helpful assistance of a panel of expert peer reviewers, including: Rhonda Danielson, Marketing Representative, Portland Tri-Met Lori Diggins, Principal, LDA Consulting and Chair, TDM Institute Brian Lagerberg, Manager, Public Transportation and Rail Division, Washington State Department of Transportation Sandra Moody, Executive Director, Bay Area Commuter Services, Tampa Kevin Shannon, Executive Director, Association for Commuter Transportation vi Executive Summary The purpose of the National Smart Transportation Archive Researcher (NSTAR) Best Practices Guide is to provide detailed documentation of 12 worksite trip reduction programs that have effectively used transportation demand management (TDM) strategies. NSTAR was undertaken in response to the request by surveyed members of the Association for Commuter Transportation to provide reliable case studies and TDM-oriented statistics. These 12 worksites were carefully selected from over 1,300 worksites in the database of the Washington State Department of Transportation Commute Trip Reduction Program. They were selected based upon their documented continuing trends in program improvement as measured by decreases in vehicle miles traveled and single occupancy mode share over time. It is intended that these case studies and the study findings be used by others to create and modify their own trip reduction programs to make them cost effective and more beneficial to employees. This study was sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation and funded by the National Center for Transit Research at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. This research employed an exploratory case study approach as used generally in the social sciences and by the United States General Accounting Office in particular. The purpose of this study method is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of a given worksite trip reduction program taken as a whole and in its context. The case study analysis focuses upon separating out external factors, or circumstances outside the control of the worksite, from internal factors, which are within the control of the worksite. External factors are of interest in determining beforehand the likely ease or difficulty of implementing a worksite trip reduction program in its physical and political environment. External factors include the presence of mandatory regulation, access to quality public transit service and the availability of public parking. Internal factors are of interest because worksite management can choose to manipulate these factors to improve the success of their worksite trip reduction programs. Internal factors include work scheduling flexibility and not using single occupant vehicle parking privileges as a perk for good performance. In general, external conditions are more powerful than internal conditions in affecting the success of a worksite trip reduction program. The hypothesis of the study is that internal worksite conditions can overcome adverse or unsupportive external conditions if the trip reduction program is explicitly supported by worksite management and the nature of the business also supports program success. Half of the worksites featured in the NSTAR archive, and now located for public use in the Help Desk of the National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse, were selected based upon the use of three sets of criteria, which were applied successively to the worksites to identify the best candidates for in-depth case study analysis. The worksites featured in the case studies include three hospitals, two colleges, a linen rental service, a public utility, a human resources consulting firm, a computer software research and development company, a correctional facility, and the administrative office for a lumber company. Each case study contains information about worksite characteristics, trip reduction program elements, performance trends, external traffic and parking conditions, availability of outside programmatic support, worksite access to alternative transportation, characteristics of the business, and elements of organizational