Climate Action Plan Blog Series: How to Reduce Transportation Emissions

Learn about reducing emissions from transportation, how land use affects transportation emissions, and mobility projects in development

Each month, the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (S/CAP) Ad Hoc Committee will do a deep dive into various topics related to the S/CAP Update — the City’s roadmap of strategies to address climate change and specifically to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80% by 2030 and other community-wide sustainability goals. Read on in this blog series to learn more. December’s blog focus is about mobility and land use, and ways to make an impact and share input.

DECEMBER S/CAP AD HOC COMMITTEE MEETING

At the December 9, 2021, Ad Hoc meeting, Committee members, staff, and the public discussed mobility, reducing emissions from transportation, how land use effects transportation emissions, and upcoming mobility programs. Read on to learn more about these focus areas.

REDUCING TRANSPORTATION EMISSIONS

How do we improve transportation to make not driving more convenient and electrify the driving we need to do? Since the City of Palo Alto has little control over internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle efficiency, City programs focus on reducing vehicle miles traveled and electrifying vehicle travel.

In Palo Alto, a third of our transportation related emissions come from residents, a third from commuters, and a third from visitors, which include delivery vehicles. There are three ways to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT):

1. Improve Land Use. Land use can be improved so that all kinds of trips are shorter. Ways to do this include situating housing closer to jobs and making sure that people can walk or bike to most of the amenities needed.
2. Improve active transportation modes. Walking, biking, and transit can be made more convenient, safer, and easier to use.
3. Promote active transportation. Active transportation can be increased through education, encouragement, employee programs, and pricing.

Reaching our VMT reduction goals will require re-thinking travel choices, judicious investments into the transportation system, and thoughtful land use policies that support population growth so that future residents, commuters, and visitors drive less. According to the California Pollution Control Officers Association, a suburban city like Palo Alto cannot achieve more than 12–15% VMT reductions due to current the low-density land use pattern. The S/CAP impact analysis showed the City’s proposed strategies across all sectors can get us to 71% GHG reductions citywide by 2030. This is 9% short of the 80 x 30 goal. AECOM, the City’s S/CAP consultant, recommended changing land use as one strategy to help bridge this 9% gap.

LAND USE AND EMISSIONS

Land use choices — such as where housing, services, retail, and other destinations are located — determine VMT and, therefore, the amount of GHGs produced by on-road travel. If destinations are closer together, people are more likely to combine multiple errands into one trip and more people might opt to walk or bike. Because of this interaction between land use and transportation mode choice, there is a saying in City Planning: “The best transportation policy is a good land use policy.”

In the short-term, land use is fixed. Homes, offices, workplaces, and retail locations are big projects that require years of planning and investment. In the long-term, as part of the City’s ongoing S/CAP work, the City could explore land use policies and programs, like those in the Housing Element, Land Use Element, and zoning, that could begin to provide a more walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly city that allows residents to rely less on personal automobiles. If the land use rules are altered to facilitate change and the market will bear it, then new development patterns will emerge.

One of many state and regional responses to the climate crisis is to reduce VMT by locating housing closer to jobs. Palo Alto is an employment center with lots of in-commuting and a jobs-housing imbalance. Adding housing to Palo Alto is a way to reduce VMT by reducing the number of in-commuters to Palo Alto. Moreover, providing higher density housing along high frequency transit corridors or at/near train stations is particularly effective as it allows new residents to access public transportation more easily. Recent state legislation and changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) favor placing housing near train stations and high frequency transit corridors to capture these VMT reductions.

Many cities are now working towards becoming what are known as 15-Minute Cities. These are cities made of neighborhoods where basic food and other needs are met within a 15- or 20-minute walk or bike ride. Palo Alto has a good start for this kind of land use pattern, as many residents are already within a 15-minute walk or bike ride to at least a few essential destinations like school, groceries, health care, and work. Staff hope to bring a proposal to the City Council for further discussion toward becoming a 15- or 20- minute City.

EXPANDING TRAVEL OPTIONS

To accommodate future growth and preserve mobility, the City will need to diversify travel options available, build or adjust infrastructure to improve active transportation modes, and improve transit and traffic flow. Research shows that roughly half of all car trips in US cities are under three miles and can be replaced with zero-emissions micromobility options such as scooters and bikes. From an S/CAP cost-benefit perspective, initiatives that help people use active transportation are the most impactful and cheapest transportation programs to fund. The City has several mobility projects planned or in development for the next three years, with some projects pending funding and/or Council approval.

Walking and Biking

The South Palo Alto Bikeways project tentatively begins in 2023. The City will update the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan and schedule launching the micromobility pilot to add bike-share and e-scooters to the transportation mix. An assessment of where to plan for protected bicycle facilities, such as bike lanes or intersections, is expected to be in the Bike Plan update.

Transit and Micromobility

The City will launch an on-demand transit pilot in 2022, a two-year trial of an Uber Pool-type of transit, with an alternative to mobile apps for booking rides for those who don’t use mobile devices. After two years, the City will decide if funding can be found to support continuing the program or if reconstituting the Free Shuttle would be a better investment. A proposed pilot project is to site Mobility Hubs in neighborhoods where bikeshare, e-scooters, and shared cars are centrally located. A Mobility as a Service (Maas) pilot could see residents booking and paying for their scooter ride from Mitchell Park to the Cal Ave Caltrain station and then accessing their employer-provided Caltrain Go Pass all in one app. Finally, Staff started working on the designation of Vehicle Free Streets.

Promote Active Transportation

How we price parking, transit, and micromobility will help create an environment where active transport modes are the rational choice for shorter trips — this is a “right tool for the job” approach to transportation. Managing parking supply so those who need to drive can find parking efficiently is important. The City started installing smart parking infrastructure in public garages to cut down on VMT expended and pollution emitted while idling and circling for spots. Pricing is a powerful tool that supports efficient mode choice. Making monthly parking cost the same as a monthly Caltrain Pass would put the two modes on more equal footing and likely reduce driving into town. Managing the supply of parking required by new developments can also reduce VMT.

Education and encouragement programs could support choosing to walk or bike for trips of 2 miles or less; taking an e-bike, bus, or shuttle for trips 2–5 miles in length; and using Caltrain, BART, other long-haul transit, and electric cars for longer trips. This kind of approach will help reduce both emissions and congestion.

Finally, ensuring that employer commuter programs are comprehensive and enforced will help commuters access active modes.

Another area of work to explore are policies supporting telecommuting and strengthening and enforcing employer Transportation Demand Management plans. While telecommuting has the potential to reduce VMT, the extent of the reduction is unclear. Research finds that telecommuters may compensate by making other non-work trips of longer distances. Telecommuting also has impacts to our local economy, in that missing commuters cannot support local businesses. This is where the addition of housing and a focus on living locally is doubly important to our City’s ability to thrive.

For more information on mobility, go here.

Watch the December 9 meeting on YouTube here; the presentation can be found here. All Ad Hoc Committee meeting materials are posted here.

PARTICIPATE IN THE NEXT S/CAP AD HOC MEETING ON JANUARY 13, 2022

Ad Hoc meetings are open to the public and a good way for staff to hear from the community on specific sustainability related goals and actions.

The next Ad Hoc meeting is January 13, 2022 from 9–11:30 a.m. The focus is on the health impacts of wildfires, wildfire protection, and sea level rise, with guest speakers from Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment as well as the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

Learn more about wildfire protection and sea level rise ahead of the coming meeting here.

Registration is required in advance of the meeting. View past meetings and materials by visiting www.cityofpaloalto.org/climateaction.

MORE ONLINE RESOURCES

• Read the first blog to learn more about the S/CAP Ad Hoc Committee and other sustainability programs available to the community today
• Read the second blog in the series to learn about electrifying appliances in single-family residential buildings
• Read the third blog in the series to learn about non-residential building electrification
• Read the fourth blog in the series to learn about electric vehicles (EVs) and EV Chargers
• Submit your input and feedback on the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan Update Survey
• For details on the City’s Sustainability and Climate Action Plan process go to: www.cityofpaloalto.org/climateaction
• The City’s Sea Level Rise Website can be found here: www.cityofpaloalto.org/sealevelrise
• For more on the City’s Electrification programs, go here: www.cityofpaloalto.org/electrification
• For more on the City’s Green Building Program including Trainings, go here.
• For more on programs focused on Electric Vehicles and Chargers: www.cityofpaloalto.org/electricvehicle
• For the City’s Safe Routes to School programs, go here.
• For more on Zero Waste programs, including tools to avoid food waste, go here.