How to create a more sustainable transportation future - SVBC's ask to cities
SVBC recently followed up on the letter that we sent in April by sending a second letter to every city in our two counties with new recommendations as the area emerges from shelter in place. While the first letter focused on short term actions that cities should take, the second letter centers on long term planning for a more sustainable transportation future.
Cities have moved quickly to ensure safe streets during this crisis by creating slow streets networks, changing pedestrian buttons, and slowing speeds. A survey of over 300 people showed that during this time, people are walking and biking more and driving less, and they love it! Now is the time to think about how we get the future of transportation right – what decisions could be made now that shape the next decades, and centuries.
Full text of the letter is below. SVBC is currently meeting with elected officials and city staff to discuss the future. This will also be a topic at the Silicon Valley Bike Summit August 6 & 7. Find out more and register here.
June 19, 2020
Re: Working towards a post-C-19 transportation system
Dear Mayor, Members of the City Council, and City Manager:
In the midst of society’s management of COVID-19, I am writing to implore you to position your city to build a transportation system that is resilient, affordable, equitable, accessible, environmentally sustainable, and safe.
First, it is important to acknowledge that C-19 has been a blow to the economy. It has illuminated many iniquities in Silicon Valley and has caused much pain. The killing of George Floyd and others as well as the protests against police brutality and systemic racism has further outlined issues that exist in our region. Fortunately, Santa Clara and San Mateo County residents, decision makers, and business leaders have come together to respond professionally and with the community’s best interests at heart. Thank you for your leadership in these difficult times.
There is also a nexus with health, equity, and transportation. We are now at a juncture where we can work together to get the future of transportation right. What world do we want to build as we move forward? How do we pursue policy and funding decisions that lead us to the future we want? The old system rendered the car king, which led to:
Environmental degradation from air pollution
Decreased economic productivity due to traffic congestion
Reduced physical and mental health
Urban sprawl, which only furthers car supremacy
Inequities between haves and have-nots due to an inaccessible and unaffordable transportation. All the above impacts also disproportionately affect low income communities and communizes of color.
Today, shelter at home restrictions have led to record numbers of people walking and biking for transportation and recreation. The change was immediate. Why? What have we learned from this change? And how do we ensure that the transportation choices being made today stick long term?
In February, SVBC, in partnership with the Mineta Transportation Institute, commissioned a public opinion poll. The intent of the poll was to understand the factors that cause people to choose how they transport themselves. Not surprisingly, the number one factor across all demographics is speed. People want to get to where they are going quickly.
With that in mind, C-19 has helped to surface the elements of an ideal transportation system - resiliency, affordability, accessibility, sustainability, safety, and health. Bicycles, feet, and public transit are the winning transportation equation, yet they do not meet the number one factor upon which people make their transportation choice – speed.
Shelter in place is proving this. Life is slower for many and as a result, people are making different transportation decisions. According to an SVBC survey of 300 people[1]:
42% are biking more, 61% are walking more, and 88% are driving less
70% of people feel safer on the streets because there is less traffic on major roads
91% of respondents would like to see Slow Streets in their city
At the same time, essential workers - who are often of lower income and people of color - are still going to work and are forced to drive, because safe and convenient alternatives do not exist.In order to get to the world that we all want to live in, we must shape policy and funding to support:
Speeding up transit and bikes
Slowing down cars
Changing the economic system and culture so that speed is less important, and people focus on what brings true happiness: friends, family, and doing good for each other
With each recommendation, we also included examples from around the world of where this has been done. We recognize that many local cities have implemented some of these measures – we’ve highlighted a few in the footnotes.
Speed up transit and bikes: Local governments are already moving along this path. Bike plans, increased investment in transit, reclaiming streets for people, not just cars, and complete streets policies will result in a built environment that makes space for bikes and creates a better transit system. That said, we must move faster and resource these elements at much greater levels. Specifically:
Transit should be free[2]
Transit service should be improved dramatically & given priority on streets and highways
Bike and scooter share should be aggressively deployed and subsidized in a coordinated manner (ideally led regionally by county transit agencies)[3]
Similar to Oakland’s 74 miles of slow streets,[4] restrict residential streets to those who live there and implement 20 mile per hour speed limits.[5] Prioritize areas where access to parks and individual yard space is limited.
Expedite building out your city’s bike and pedestrian plans to create more low stress walking and biking networks sooner.[6]
Identify some quick build projects for bikes and pedestrians and build them quickly![7]
Slow down cars: As long as we subsidize free parking and give away vast swaths of public land to cars in the form of streets and parking lots, cars will be unfairly advantaged. If cities really want to change transportation habits, they must adopt measures that make it difficult for single occupancy vehicles. These measures include disinvesting in freeway/road expansions and parking lots and making sure that vehicle speed doesn’t get higher priority than safety for people. Increased car capacity only encourages more driving and we need less of that, not more.
Deprioritize projects that increase car capacity. Shift resources from land use patterns that force increased car throughput and spend that money on projects that will create affordable 10-minute neighborhoods where people can live, walk, play, work, shop, all in the same place without being shackled to a car.
Adjust parking requirements so that other modes of transportation are encouraged.
Charge for parking (with a means-based program for people of low income).[8]
Adopt Single Occupancy Vehicle trip caps.[9]
Change the economic system and culture: As long as society places greater emphasis on economic progress and work productivity over family and community, speed will remain a priority. While broader reform to the economic system to focus on what is important is outside the purview of a bike coalition, one measure that can help people gain time is encouraging telework to allow people to continue working at home to lessen commuting time/expense.[10] This isn’t an option for all jobs, however, and resources should be directed to make trips shorter and easier for those going to essential workplaces.
Beyond these specific recommendations, we have three additional overarching thoughts:
Make Difficult Decisions Now: Up until now, public agencies have welcomed biking and transit at a theoretical level. However, when it comes to the difficult decisions, the car continues to win. That must stop. Prioritize investments that advantage walking, biking and transit now. Don’t be afraid of making the difficult decisions to restrict cars for the benefit of the future, even though it will mean the community will be angry in the short term.
Rely on City/Agency Staff Bike/Transit and Complete Streets Specialists: Cities and agencies in Silicon Valley are full of talented, smart and passionate professionals. That is why we believe an important step is for you to empower your staff to work towards the goals of this letter. Look to them for bold recommendations, new ways of doing, to uncover the specific projects, policies, pots of funding, grants, shortcuts, pilots, and ideas that can move forward quickly. Also, invest in additional training and hiring for the technical expertise needed to implement complete streets projects.
Center Community Based Outreach: Planning our transportation future must be an inclusive process, listening carefully to those who are most likely to be impacted by each decision. These steps cannot be made from the top down. Cities must perform inclusive public engagement on transportation and street changes, emphasizing those who have been historically excluded from public planning processes (communities of color and low-income communities as well as people with disabilities). These communities experience streets and public space differently and have often been left out of the conversation. To that end, we recommend:
Work with local community-based organizations that serve people of different backgrounds[11]
Show up where people already are - schools, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, community events, etc. so that people with limited time don’t need to go out of their way to learn about a proposed project
Thank you for your role in bringing us all together to solve this problem. As we look at what life will be like post-virus, SVBC welcomes the opportunity to work with you to make sure that the new transportation normal is a system that builds a better community and works for all.
Sincerely,
Shiloh BallardPresident & Executive Director
[1] https://bikesiliconvalley.org/2020/06/street-survey-results-support-for-slow-streets/
[2] https://sf.streetsblog.org/2020/06/17/spur-talk-should-transit-abandon-fares/#new_tabAnd check out Kansas City https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/12/09/kansas-city-moves-ahead-with-free-buses/
[3] Washington, DC https://ddot.dc.gov/capitalbikeshare and Austin, TX https://austin.bcycle.com/about/who-is-austin-bcycle
[4] https://www.oaklandca.gov/projects/oakland-slow-streets
[5] Boston https://www.boston.gov/transportation/neighborhood-slow-streets and Portland https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/669625
[6] Austin http://www.austintexas.gov/page/big-jump-project-austin
[7] San Jose https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments/transportation/biking/better-bikeways and San Francisco https://www.sfmta.com/vision-zero-quick-build-projects
[8] Cophenhagen https://www.eltis.org/in-brief/news/copenhagen-increase-parking-costs-100-times-reducing-cars-city
[9] Mountain View https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/planning/activeprojects/northbayshore_/nbpptripcap.asp
[10] Facebook https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/21/zuckerberg-50-of-facebook-employees-may-soon-permanently-work-remotely/
[11] From policy director of mobility and interagency relations for the mayor’s office of Oakland, Warren Logan, “Another way we advance equity is by including the voices of community members where we are working. Through our consultancy work, we have hired on community-based groups and advocacy groups that reflect the hearts and minds of community members.” https://chi.streetsblog.org/2020/05/28/oaklands-warren-logan-on-pursuing-racial-equity-within-a-mobility-framework/#new_tab