AGENDA #5a

MEMORANDUM

TO: Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager

FROM: J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director

David Bonk, Long Range Planning and Transportation Coordinator

SUBJECT: 2005 Chapel Hill Transportation Management Plan Program Annual Report

DATE: October 23, 2006

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to provide the Council with a summary of the status of the Town Transportation Management Plan Program (Attachment 1). The attached resolution would direct staff to revise the Transportation Management Plan program.

BACKGROUND

In December 1991, the Town Council amended the downtown parking regulations to provide greater flexibility for new development. This change introduced the option of developing a transportation management plan in lieu of providing parking spaces for new development within the Town Center area. Subsequent to the application of the transportation management plan provisions in the Town Center the Town has required non-residential developments throughout Chapel Hill to prepare transportation management plans. The standard transportation management plan stipulations include the following provisions:

Transportation Management Plan: That a Transportation Management Plan be approved by the Town Manager prior to issuance of a Zoning Compliance Permit. This plan shall be updated and approved annually by the Town Manager. The required components of the Transportation Management Plan shall include:

Provision for designation of a Transportation Coordinator;
Provisions for an annual Transportation Survey and Annual Report to the Town Manager;
Quantifiable traffic reduction goals and objectives;
Ridesharing incentives; and
Public transit incentives

These plans are intended to reduce the use of single occupant vehicles and to support the Town’s efforts to promote transit, bicycle and pedestrian alternatives. These plans, developed by the applicants with assistance from Town staff, are also intended to provide employers with information on transportation alternatives and to monitor the travel behavior of employees working at sites with plans.

We have previously prepared transportation management plan reports in 1999, 2001 and 2003. In 2005, approximately 292 employers and 7,962 employees at 74 sites were covered by the transportation management program (Attachment 2). The Town of Chapel Hill’s municipal operations are included in the provisions of the transportation management program. Comparisons of survey results from Town municipal employees and the other respondents is included in the 2005 Survey Results.

DISCUSSION

The transportation management program requires employers and employees to complete biennial surveys. Attachment 1 includes a summary of response from all surveys. We highlight below key results of the 2005 survey.

The total sites surveyed increased to 74 in 2005, up from 61 in 2003. These sites included an estimated 7,962 employees compared to 5,500 in 2003. The total number of employee surveys returned was 3,966 compared to 2,581 in 2003.
34 percent of employees surveyed lived in Chapel Hill. 22.3 percent reported that they lived in Durham and 7.6 percent in Carrboro. These results were generally consistent with the information from the 2003 survey.
The survey indicated that 88.4 percent of the respondents commuted by single occupant vehicle, down from 90 percent in 2003. Reported use of carpools increased from 3.5 percent in 2003 to 6.3 percent in 2005. Transit use increase slightly from 2.1 percent in 2003 to 2.5 percent in 2005.
16.4 percent of surveyed employees indicate they walked or biked on short errands or meetings during the course of their workday.
The reported 88.4 percent of Chapel Hill respondents indicating they used a single occupant vehicle compared closely to 88.6 percent reported by the Triangle Transit Authority in their regional survey. The most recent survey of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill employees found that 69.9 percent commuted by single occupant vehicle.
Only 21.1 percent of Chapel Hill municipal employees reported living in Chapel Hill, while 48.4 percent of other respondents indicated they lived in Town.

Survey results from Blue Cross Blue Shield did not allow us to break down the place of residence responses by individual jurisdictions.

We believe that the Town’s transportation management program has provided useful information on the travel behavior of employees in the community. Improved survey response rates would increase the accuracy and usefulness of the data. In 2005, just under 50 percent of all employees covered by the transportation management program completed surveys.

In the past Town staff has not actively engaged the transportation management plan sites in any activities other than completing the travel survey. During this last survey period we have provided each site with a large display map of the Chapel Hill Transit’s system and related transit schedules. We also provided transit, ridesharing and carpool/vanpool information to over 150 survey respondents that requested additional information.

The transportation management program can provide valuable assistance in ongoing efforts to encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation. Use of single occupant vehicles is a significant factor influencing carbon production and generation of greenhouse gases. Expanded use of the transportation management program could help meet the Town’s CRed pledge for municipal operations as well as a pledge to reduce communitywide carbon and greenhouse gas production.

Staff will continue to identify resources to allow the Town to expanded cooperation with employers and employees. We will also develop programs intended to encourage Town employees to use alternative modes of transportation, including providing regular information through the Town’s newsletter.

ATTACHMENTS

2005 Chapel Hill Transportation Management Plan Travel Survey Results (p. 4).
TMP Sites and Employers (p. 15).