Community members have the opportunity, through Oct. 6, to tell city planners exactly what standards should be used to measure TransPlan’s effectiveness in reducing dependency on automobiles.
TransPlan is the city’s 20-year public transportation plan, which has been in the development stage for seven years. The standards TransPlan officials adopt will gauge the city’s success in reducing the use of single-occupancy vehicles and promoting alternative transportation, such as buses, bicycles and carpools.
The state has another standard — miles traveled in cars per capita — but the TransPlan standards will be more complex. The standards include the increased percentages per capita of non-automobile trips, households with access to rapid bus transit systems, miles of rapid transit bus routes, acres of bike paths, and development in densely populated communities.
“What we are asking the public is whether or not they think these standards go far enough and whether they feel the measures are realistic,” said Lee Shoemaker, a senior project member for TransPlan. “The state has a regulation that we reduce vehicle miles traveled by five percent. We believe that this plan will keep vehicle miles traveled flat, while increasing the availability of alternative forms of transportation.”
In order for TransPlan’s alternative measures to be affirmed, state and local officials must approve them.
“The state is certainly going to hold our feet over the fire to make sure we are tracking our progress,” said Peter Watt, a TransPlan committee member. “My feeling is that we’ve done a good job of coming up with alternative measures, and the state will see that we have made a sincere effort to come up with alternative ways to track progress. I think the measures will pass.”
According to Watt and Shoemaker, there hasn’t been much public response to the measures. People have shown more interest in TransPlan itself than in how the city will track its effectiveness, they said.
“I think that these measures seem pretty effective because it looks at other ways of getting around — not just one thing,” said University student Alicia Lorenzetti. “Also, checking to see how many cars are left at home because people have another way; basically seeing how many people don’t have another way to get around.”
Comments on the alternative plan performance measures must be submitted in writing. For more information call Shoemaker at 682-4355 or e-mail him at [email protected].