POLICY REPORT
URBAN STRUCTURE
Date: March 25, 1997
Dept. File No.CD
C.C. File: 5340-1/5555-1
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of City Plans, in consultation with the General
Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: Model TDM Program at University of Washington (U-Pass) and
presentation by William Roach, Supervisor of Market and
Service Development, Metro Transit Seattle
INFORMATION
The General Manager of Engineering Services submits this report for
INFORMATION.
COUNCIL POLICY
Existing Council policy on supporting transit initiatives is extensive
and includes CityPlan policies (1995), Clouds Of Change (1990) and
regional transportation policies.
On October 10, 1996, Council recommended that the proposals of the Task
force on Transportation Access to UBC and UEL be incorporated to the
greatest extent possible into the UBC OCP. Council also proposed to the
GVRD that the OCP include preparation of an access plan demonstrating a
firm commitment by UBC to a strengthened Transportation Demand
Management program and implementation of a U-Pass system, with the
measures required to accommodate the OCP housing and job targets with an
overall 20% reduction of 24-hour vehicle traffic to and from UBC and the
UEL community.
On November 1, 1996, the GVRD Board passed the following recommendation
"UBC will need to continue to develop, communicate and pursue a
transportation demand management plan that will include increasing
parking costs and measures to reduce single occupant vehicle travel from
1996 levels by 20%, continuing to reduce the amount of commuter
parking... and UBC will need to investigate and pursue a 'U-Pass'
program as part of transportation demand management."
On March 25, 1997, Council approved recommendations on regional
Transportation Demand Management strategies that stipulate that revenues
raised from tolls and road pricing be spent directly on transit and
transportation improvements to the transportation system.
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
This report provides a summary of the University of Washington U-Pass
program. It also documents the possible relevance of this program to the
UBC OCP process.
BACKGROUND
U-Pass is one of the most successful and comprehensive transportation
demand management programs in the United States. It is an excellent
example of "carrots and sticks" working together to encourage people to
travel less by car.
Over the last two years the City of Vancouver has taken an active
interest in minimizing the potential impacts of the proposed new
development at UBC. Among their actions, Council established a Citizens
Task Force on Access to UBC. In October 1996, Council passed
recommendations calling for an overall reduction in car volumes and the
implementation of a U-Pass system at UBC. The GVRD Board, in its review
of the OCP supported the reduction in vehicle travel and stated that
"UBC will need to investigate and pursue a U-Pass program as part of
Transportation Demand Management."
The UBC OCP is scheduled for its fourth and final reading by the GVRD
Board in late May. In order to pass the fourth reading, the University
was asked to investigate and pursue U-Pass. A transportation committee
chaired by UBC and made up of community, City, and GVRD representatives
has been assisting UBC in examining the feasibility of U-Pass.
Technical work and discussions are not yet advanced enough to determine
if UBC and BC Transit will initiate a U-Pass program. The committee is
scheduled to meet once more on April 7. The City and GVRD will need to
see how much revenue UBC is willing to commit from parking fees and
parking fines. In the absence of a U-Pass type program, it is unlikely
that the target of reduced vehicle traffic adopted by the City and GVRD
can be met.
DISCUSSION
1. The U-Pass Program In Seattle
Information on the University of Washington U-Pass program is provided
as background to a presentation by Bill Roach, Supervisor of Market and
Service Development from Metro Transit in Seattle.
In 1991, the University of Washington in cooperation with the City of
Seattle and Metro Transit implemented U-Pass. This program was developed
in response to a long standing agreement with the City of Seattle that
the University would prepare a Transportation Master Plan to ensure
campus expansion would not increase vehicle trips to the University
beyond 1983 levels.
In 1989, the University began an expansion program which involved the
addition of 4,300 new faculty and staff. The estimated traffic impact
was an increase in daily volumes of 10,000 vehicles and the need for
four new parking garages.
Given the commitment to not increase vehicle trips, the University had
to find a way to accommodate increased travel without adding cars on the
road. They decided that they would have to offer a range of viable
alternatives such as better transit as well as disincentives to single
occupant drivers such as increased parking fees.
The idea that emerged was to treat transportation like a health benefit,
where everyone would share the costs and benefits. A "universal pass"
would provide access to a range of transportation benefits, and most
importantly provide a monthly low-cost bus pass. The motto of the U-Pass
campaign was "For You and the U".
The complete transportation benefit package includes a night shuttle
around campus, guaranteed ride home for faculty and staff, free parking
for carpools, vanpools operated by Metro Transit, bike lockers, and a
disabled persons shuttle. U-Pass holders also get a discount at a range
of businesses around Seattle.
2. U-Pass Funding
The U-Pass budget is approximately $7,200,000 ($US) a year. The revenue
sources are as follows:
Sale of U-Pass: $3.5 million (49%)
Parking fees: $2.7 million (37.5%)
Parking Fines: $0.4 million (5.5%)
State Subsidy: $0.6 million (8.3%)
The cost of the pass is $9.00 per month for students and $12.50 a month
for faculty. This entitles the pass holder to unlimited use of the
Seattle transit system. The fees are collected from students through the
tuition bill.
Prior to U-Pass, monthly parking permits costed $24.00 ($US). Post
U-Pass, monthly parking fees rose to $36.00 per month in 1991 and are
now $42.00 a month [or $56.00 ($CAN) compared to $44.00 presently
charged at UBC]. All monthly parking permit holders also get a free
U-Pass. The number of monthly parking permits sold to faculty has
decreased by 24% since U-Pass was initiated. Student daily parking rates
have doubled from 0.75 to $1.50 per day (compared to $3.00 per day at
UBC).
The bulk of the revenues ($6.0 million) is spent on contracting bus
services from Metro Transit at the marginal hourly cost. Transit service
was increased by 20% over the first three years, an increase in 57,000
service hours. In addition to adding new services on existing routes,
Metro Transit created three new routes for the U-Pass program. A
contract between Metro Transit and the University sets out all details
on routes and costs. This contract was recently renewed for a second
three year term.
No new capital funding was required by Metro Transit to institute U-Pass
because they were able to free up buses from other routes, ie by
substituting a cheaper vanpool system for conventional bus routes. It is
BC Transit s view that new buses would have to be purchased to implement
U-Pass.
3. U-Pass Results
(a) Mode Choice
The following table shows which transportation mode faculty and students
took to get to the university before and five years after U-Pass was
established. Transit use for students increased from 21% to 34% for
students and from 11% to 19% for faculty. The number of students driving
alone decreased by 40% and the number of faculty driving alone decreased
by 5%.
Between 1990 and 1995, total campus transit ridership grew from 4.7
million trips per year to 7.4 million trips per year, a 60% increase.
Mode Students Faculty
Pre Post Percent Pre Post Percent
U-Pass U-Pass Change U-pass U-pass Change
(1989) (1996) (1989) (1996)
Drive Alone 25% 15% -40% 60% 57% -5%
Transit 21% 34% +54% 11% 19% +82%
Carpool/ 9% 11% 22% 11% 12% +1%
Vanpool
Bicycle 10% 9% -10% 9% 8% -9%
Walk 31% 30% -3% 7% 3% -57%
Other 4% 1% -75% 2% 1% -50%
Note: Source of 1996 data from U-Pass Annual Report, September 1995
to September 1996. Data is based on surveys; mode question
based on a typical commute week.
(b) Vehicle Trips
The number of vehicle trips during the morning peak (7:00 a.m. to 9:00
a.m.) decreased from 7,800 in 1990 to 6,770 trips in 1996, about a 13%
decrease. Twenty-four hour vehicle trips decreased by 1%.
4. Applicability of U-Pass to UBC
The enrollment at UBC is 23,359 full time students and 7,200 part-time
students, and there are about 7,500 faculty and staff. The University
of Washington student enrollment is 34,000 and there are about 17,000
staff and faculty. Both campuses have hospitals and a number of sports
and entertainment facilities. The main difference is geographic
location. University of Washington is situated just a couple of
kilometres north of downtown Seattle and many bus routes from the north
conveniently pass through the campus en route to downtown.
The U-Pass appears to provide an excellent solution to managing traffic
impacts and providing a much improved transit service for the university
community. The present cost of a monthly parking pass at UBC is $44.00
and daily parking is $0.35 an hour to a maximum of $3.00 a day in the
B-lots. If, for example, a levy of $1.00 day was implemented on every
parking space, approximately $2.5 million could be raised per annum from
the 10,700 parking places.
Considerable revenues could also be obtained from the sale of U-Passes.
BC Transit believes that the U of W U-Pass is underpriced. A UBC
student now pays the one zone pass price $54.00 a month for a BC Transit
pass for unlimited travel across all zones. This provides a subsidy only
for students travelling long distances, ie 2 or 3 zones. Approximately
10% of the UBC student population now buys a pass.
If the U-Pass sold for $25.00 a month (rather than the U-Pass price of
$9.00 US), revenues could approach $4 million, assuming 80% of UBC
students subscribed to the pass for 8 months of the year (81% of
students subscribe at U of W). At the University of Washington, 64% of
faculty and staff purchase the pass. If this rate of subscribership was
reached at UBC, an additional $2.4 million could be raised from pass
sales. This would result in approximately $6.4 million over the course
of the academic year.
The revenues from parking and pass sales could then be put into
increasing service hours and/or bus purchases. The injection of new
services would mean that the new residential community at UBC could also
be well served by these buses and therefore further reduce the
transportation impacts on nearby neighbourhoods.
5. Issues Raised Concerning the U-Pass Program
Preliminary discussions on the feasibility of U-Pass have been initiated
between BC Transit staff and UBC staff. UBC officials have expressed
concern that they need to increase parking fees to pay for the debt load
on their newly constructed parking structures. Consequently parking fees
may not provide as much revenue as obtained by the University of
Washington. (By initiating U-Pass, the University of Washington saved
themselves the costs of building new parking structures.) They have also
raised the equity issue of asking car drivers to subsidize transit
users.
BC Transit officials have concerns around the capital required to
institute U-Pass. Unlike Metro Transit in Seattle, BC Transit does not
have buses that can be freed up to use for improved UBC services. BC
Transit has made a preliminary estimation that approximately 30 buses
would be needed to provide bus service levels to achieve GVRD targets.
They estimate a one to two year delivery time for new bus orders. They
also believe an extra SkyTrain (four-car), extra bus barn space,
expanded bus loop at UBC, and priority measures along bus routes are
needed.
BC Transit officials have said that significant savings in capital costs
are possible by shifting student timetables outside the am peak. There
are extra buses available now outside peak hours that could be used to
enhance UBC services. The possibilities of student timetable shifts are
currently being investigated.
In terms of operating costs, BC Transit has noted that the costs per
hour of service will be higher for UBC than University of Washington due
to the geographic location of UBC at the western extremity of the city.
This cost factor could be reflected in the price of the U-Pass.
Increased parking fees may result in students looking for free parking
in adjacent neighbourhoods. If this occurs, "resident parking only"
zones may have to be implemented.
7. Other Applications of U-Pass
Camosun College in Victoria and University of Victoria offer subsidized
bus passes, with the funds coming from parking fees. These programs,
however, do not have service contracts guaranteeing enhanced bus
services. Private firms in Seattle as well as many other institutions
are entering into custom-made contracts with Metro Transit. The U-Pass
model could be applied to the City of Vancouver and other large employer
concentrations.
CONCLUSION
U-Pass is an example of a TDM program of carrots and sticks working
together in a way that makes sense for consumers. In Seattle, this
program has resulted in significant shifts from car driving to transit
riding as well as significant improvements to the transit system. It
provides a model for universities, colleges, and other large employers.
It also provides an example of innovative ways to provide transit
financing.
The GVRD's current TDM policies focus on road pricing and tolls and are
not expected to provide funds for transit for at least six years.
U-Pass type programs provide an immediate funding mechanism for transit
while giving people a viable alternative to car travel for many of their
trips.
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