SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 2
T&T COMMITTEE AGENDA
MARCH 11, 1997
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: February 11, 1997
File No. H626-2
CC File1307-1/5653-1
TO: Standing Committee on Transportation and Traffic
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services, Director of
Human Resource Services, General Manager of Corporate
Services, and General Manager of Community Services.
SUBJECT: City Hall Pay Parking Proposal to Reduce Auto Commuting
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the implementation of a pay-parking program for
employee parking facilities at City Hall be approved, for
the City Square parkade and 10th Avenue surface lot.
B. THAT Council approve an initial rate of $2.00 per day and
$35.00 per month for the pay-parking program and that the
rate be reviewed on an annual basis.
C. THAT up to $20,000 be allocated for equipment for the
pay-parking program, to be funded through revenues
generated by the program.
D. THAT staff report back on the results of the pay-parking
program, the disposition of surplus parking revenue, and
further steps in the program to reduce auto-dependent
commuting.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council policy, as stated in the Clouds of Change report, and
approved as part of Transport 2021, is to encourage commuter
alternatives to single-occupant vehicles for City employees.
PURPOSE
This report outlines the measures required to implement a
pay-parking system for the approximately 1060 City Hall precinct
employees. The motivation to implement this system comes from the
Clouds of Change report, in which steps were recommended to reduce
automobile emissions. A pay parking program will encourage civic
employees to commute by means other than single-occupant vehicles,
as part of an overall Travel Demand Management program (TDM).
BACKGROUND
In the Clouds of Change report of October 1990, Council directed
staff to address automobile usage among City employees. An
Employee Transportation Administrator (ETA) was designated in 1991
to coordinate a program designed specifically to encourage
commuting to and from work by means other than single-occupant
vehicles. Under the ETA s direction, a successful car-pool program
for civic staff in the precinct was developed. To date, there are
67 registered car-pools of two or more passengers, who use the 61
designated spaces (about one fifth of the total employee spaces).
Bicycle parking showers and lockers have also been expanded. The
presence of a day care facility, availability of bus tickets for
work-day trips, a fleet van-pool, and a guaranteed-ride-home
program have also contributed to commute alternatives. More
recently, civic unions have been notified that a pay-parking
program is being developed.
In 1996, the GVRD began charging for employee parking at its 2 main
Burnaby sites. This has been generally accepted by employees, on
the understanding that revenues are redirected to other commuting
alternatives.
CURRENT PRECINCT PARKING DISTRIBUTION
Parking facilities in the precinct area include parkades at City
Square, surface parking adjacent to City Hall, the East Wing
parkades, the 10th Avenue surface lot, and, most recently, the Van
City Building. A total of 609 spaces are used for City functions.
Of these, 265 unreserved spaces and 61 carpool spaces are available
to employees on a first-come, first-served basis. An outline of
the distribution of spaces in provided in Table 1.
CURRENT DEMAND
Of the 1060 precinct employees, approximately 450 drive alone and
compete for the 265 unreserved City parking spaces on a typical
Tuesday to Thursday. The excess vehicles generally park in metered
spaces on-street or on unregulated on-street spaces in the
neighbourhood. On Mondays and Fridays, there are sufficient
parking spaces because many staff are off due to compressed work
weeks. Of those who drive, some are auto-captive either because
they use their vehicles for City work-related purposes or because
they need a car for other functions before and/or after work (e.g.,
drop off and pick up children at day-care or school).
It is a central part of the City's operations that staff must visit
different sites throughout the day and evening. These include
building and public-works inspectors, persons attending public
meetings, and those delivering direct services to the public.
Measures have been provided, such as bus tickets and passes (and
bicycles in some cases) to encourage alternative modes, but the
majority of these trips still require vehicles. To meet this need,
the City operates a number of fleet vehicles. Most are stored at
the precinct, but in some cases may be taken home by employees.
There are also employee and Councillor vehicles used for City
purposes: it is often less expensive for employees to use their own
vehicles, rather than for the City to purchase additional fleet
vehicles. When the City requires employees to use their own
vehicles for this purpose, they are reimbursed for the proportioned
costs. Some form of auto allowance is paid to approximately 276
employees who use their own vehicles for work-related duties. The
implementation of a pay-parking system should not change the
ability of staff to use their own vehicles for work, since this is
an essential part of the City's operations.
Table 1. Parking Supply and Allocation in the Precinct Vicinity
(Spaces affected by pay-parking are shown in bold italics)
Location Employees Fleet Public Other Total
Single Car Pool
Occ
CH Upper Deck 51 0 1 57 102 73
CH Lower Deck 0 0 7 0 122 19
Yukon Exec.
Parkade 104 0 4 0 0 14
Yukon Public
Parkade 31 0 7 26 0 36
10th Ave.
Parkade 294 0 21 0 0 50
10th Ave.
Surface Lot 1261 48 0 0 0 174
City Square
Parkade P1 1151 13 0 0 73 135
City Square
Parkade P2 24 0 74 0 0 98
Van City 104 0 0 0 0 10
Total 3225 61 114 83 29 609
NOTES: 1 includes Disabled parking / 2Councillors, Mayor's office,
Loading Zones,
press / 3Day-care / 4Mixed fleet and auto allowance
SPACES TO BE DESIGNATED AS PAY PARKING
The focus of this initiative is to encourage as many employees as
possible to use alternative modes of travel to work rather than
single-occupant vehicles. Therefore, the only exceptions to the
employee pay-parking program would be vehicles used for work
purposes including fleet vehicles, personal vehicles on City work
and Councillor vehicles.
While car-poolers are not exempt from the program, their efforts
would be rewarded by the continued allocation of reserved stalls,
and by the sharing of costs. The current allocation of 61 stalls
should be maintained and expanded as the program is evaluated in
the future.
In summary, the stalls for employee use found in the 10th Avenue
surface lot (174 stalls) and the two levels of the City Square
parkade (152 stalls) should be included at the start of this
program. This is a total of 326 stalls. Any private vehicle
parking in the City-owned parkade currently must display a City
permit, which is provided to any staff who requests one. This
practice would continue in order to ensure that the City lots are
only used by City employees during work hours. However, staff
would also be required to purchase a ticket as noted in this
report.
RATES
A survey of parking facilities was undertaken to determine the
market value of parking in the precinct area. In the Central
Broadway corridor to the west, most of the facilities surveyed were
covered parkades with reserved stalls. The monthly rate for this
type of parking stall ranged from $55.00 to $85.00, with an average
of $70.00. City Hall is peripheral to this corridor, and adjacent
to an area of Mount Pleasant where parking is low-cost or free.
Initially, it is proposed to set a monthly rate of $35.00 and to
evaluate that rate on an annual basis.
One principle of TDM is that drivers should understand the marginal
cost of using their vehicles. Therefore, monthly passes would not
be available. Instead, employees would pre-purchase and validate
tickets at a rate of $2.00 per day. Except for carpools, this
parking would not be reserved or guaranteed. Based on a 4 or 5
day week, the resulting monthly rate would be $35 or $42.
A magnetic pass system is currently being considered for the
precinct. If incorporated with pay parking, this would permit
direct charge of the daily fee without the congestion of selling
and validating tickets at the start of the shift. It could also
cap the cost at the specified monthly rate, thereby removing the
inequity between full and compressed-week employees.
It would also be possible to open the 10th Avenue lot to use by the
public on evenings and weekends, in order to generate additional
revenue. Before this could proceed, however, the lighting needs
to be improved and "ticket spitters" would have to be installed.
This subject can be covered in a report back on the program.
CAPITAL COST, ENFORCEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
There are three areas that will be converted to daily parking, the
10th Avenue surface lot, and each level of the City Square parkade.
The supply of ticket validators, spare batteries, and additional
signage, including installation, would cost approximately $20,000
(first year) and depreciation at $4000 per year thereafter.
The administration of the program will be carried out by existing
cashier and security staff. Based on the method outlined, there
will be an annual cost of approximately $10,000 for ticket printing
and administration.
REVENUES
Assuming the demand for daily parking does not fall far below the
supply of 326 stalls, it can be expected that 95% of the stalls
will be occupied from Tuesday to Thursday.
The following analysis estimates the annual revenues from the
proposed pay-parking system:
326 stalls x $2.00 @ 95% occupancy
* 17 days/month $ 620.day
* 52 wks/year, less holidays $ 120,000.00/yr
Costs for vehicles used on City business can be addressed in one of
two ways. Either the costs can be taken directly from the
revenues generated by the program, or the calculated rates for auto
allowance could be adjusted. Initially, the former is proposed.
An estimate of the cost of pay parking for vehicles used on City
business is $55,000 per year. In the longer term, Departments
should fully recognize the costs of their travel activities so
these amounts should be incorporated into Departmental budgets.
For 1997 the program should generate a small surplus. In
subsequent years, there will be a stream of surplus revenue that
could be applied to provide additional incentives to alternative
transportation modes such as bus pass subsidies, enhanced service,
or improved facilities. These options should be considered
separately by Council following further analysis.
1997 Subsequent Years
Gross revenue $ 89,000 $120,000
Less:
GST & PST $ 11,000 $ 15,000
equipment installation/depreciation 20,000 4,000
management 7,500 10,000
offset to vehicles used for City work $ 41,500 $ 55,000
Net revenue $ 9,000 $ 36,000
MONITORING
The use of parking areas, revenues and expenditures, and effects on
employee commuting habits will be monitored. These results will
be reported back to Council so that future adjustments on the
program and further TDM measures can be introduced.
UNION NOTIFICATION
The affected employee Unions have been supplied with a copy of this
report.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The pay-parking system is an initiative to advance the City's
Transportation Demand Management objectives. By discouraging
employees from driving to work and offering incentives encouraging
alternative modes of travel, such as reserved carpool spaces,
guaranteed ride home program, improved cycling facilities, etc.,
the City continues to lead by example towards reducing traffic
volume and encouraging environmental awareness by the public.
With the exception of vehicles required for City work purposes, all
vehicles in specified lots will pay a rate of $2.00 per day for
parking. This amount is reasonable given market rates in
adjoining areas. The program should be monitored and reviewed on
an annual basis.
The projected annual gross revenues would be approximately $120,000
with potential additional revenues being generated from transient
parking after hours and on weekends if the lot is suitably
equipped. The capital cost for installation of the facility is
approximately $20,000. Annual expenses are estimated to be
approximately $85,000, for a net annual surplus of $36,000
beginning in 1998. A future study should address this future
revenue surplus, and other ways to further encourage alternative
modes to the single occupant vehicle.
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