TO: Transportation Commission
FROM: C.E. DeLeuw Jr. Traffic Engineer
February 22, 1995

SUBJECT: CORPORATION YARD IMPROVEMENTS -

The purpose of this memorandum is to present a status report on various items regarding improvements to the Corporation Yard in response to a proposal submitted to the City clerk on December 7, 1994 and subsequently presented to the Transportation Commission by L A Wood. The Commission also viewed a video tape (Traffic In Transit, West Berkeley SUDS traffic plan) which visually showed examples of some of the neighbors concerns.

Traffic Plan

Traffic circulation within the Corporation Yard is being reviewed by staff. Location of access gates and direction of travel through those gates are issues being evaluated. Internal congestion points and parking arrangements are also being considered. Decisions regarding these matters will be concluded in March 1995. The gate location recommendations will serve as input into the ongoing design of the WALL to be installed along the Bancroft frontage of the Corporation Yard. Corporation Yard management has also curtailed traffic on Acton Street by large vehicles (greater than 3/4 tons) in the vicinity of the Corporation Yard.

Trip Reduction

The City is required by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to evaluate work trip travel modes for all sites which employ 100 or more people. The Corporation Yard is one of these sites. As part of this effort the City conducted a travel survey of employee work trips during a regular work week in November, 1994. Some 130 of 178 Corporation Yard employees responded. The site just missed meeting the 1994 Air District trip reduction goal. Therefore, the City is required to prepare a trip reduction plan for the Corporation Yard.

Air District work trip travel goals become progressively more strict between 1994 and 1999. For instance, the 1994 goal was 0.87 compared to 0.83 in 1995 and 0.74 in 1999. The ratio represents number of cars driven to work per 100 employees.

The travel survey data are being forwarded to the Air District. The Air District will officially notify the City where the survey data does not meet the 1994 travel goals. The City will then be given 120 days to prepare a trip reduction plan for those sites which did not meet these goals. The plan is then submitted to the Air District for review and comment. Once a final trip reduction plan is approved implementation will follow.

Some examples of type of strategies that the Air District suggests might be used in a trip reduction plan to reduce the number of single occupant vehicles include the following:

• Transit Ticket sales
• Van Pools Assistance
• Preferential parking for car and van pools
• Ride Matching
• Guaranteed ride home program
• Parking charges
• Compressed work week
• Vehicle buy back
• Marketing
• Shuttles

During the development a trip reduction plan for the Corp Yard, the City will determine which strategies will and will not be effective and feasible.

Alternate Fueling Schemes

The City has a variety of fueling strategies and is actively pursuing the potentials. Currently, 14 of 30 parking enforcement scooters are electric powered. Credit card fueling at regular gas stations is used but for emergencies only since the difference in fuel cost is substantially higher than available through the City.

The City has been evaluating potential sites to locate a compressed natural gas fueling facility. It is estimated that such a site might be available in the 1996/97 fiscal year. This facility would not be located in the existing Corporation Yard. Creation of a compressed natural gas fueling facility would facilitate the conversion of more vehicles to that type of fuel.

There are existing policies regarding where vehicles are to be fueled such as at the Transfer Station or the Corporation Yard as well as policies regarding fueling at the end of the work day. These policies will be restated so that all employees are made aware of the goals. Practice will be monitored to assure reasonable compliance.