Chapter 10.70 — VEHICLE TRIP REDUCTION PROGRAM

Article 1. - General Provisions

The City Council finds that: A. The adoption of this chapter assists in the promotion of public transportation systems; B. There has been a significant increase in new employment and housing opportunities in the county and the cities in the county. This trend will continue during the next twenty (20) years; C.

Recent growth and increased development and redevelopment within the county will lead to increased traffic in the county and the city; D. Transportation demand management (TDM) programs reduce vehicle trips and increase vehicle occupancy rates. A TDM program is simple, effective and cheaper than major road improvements; E. Decreasing the number of vehicular trips, both absolutely and within peak traffic periods, will help alleviate traffic congestion, energy consumption, and noise levels and will help improve and maintain air quality. These improvements contribute to making the city an attractive and convenient place to live, work, visit and do business, and will help employers recruit and retain a qualified work force; F. Cooperation with and coordination of TDM programs with other cities, counties, transit agencies, other agencies in the region, and the private sector will assist the city in meeting the purposes of this chapter; G. Adoption of this chapter is one component of implementing a comprehensive approach to TDM that should be supported by complementary land use policies, residential TDM strategies, and transportation and transit improvements; and H. Adoption of this chapter is in the best interest of the public health, safety and general welfare within the city and the region, and is consistent with the city's General Plan. (Ord. 00-06 § 2 (part))

This chapter is enacted to: A. Improve ambient air quality by reducing air pollutant emissions from vehicle commute trips to work sites located within the city with one hundred (100) or more employees; B. Promote and encourage the use of alternatives to commuting by single occupant vehicle among Orinda residents and individuals working in the city; C. Support local and regional efforts to relieve traffic congestion in and around the city, thereby reducing noise, pollution and energy consumption;

D. Implement Regulation 13 of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District; and E. Implement the requirement of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority that employment complexes with one hundred (100) or more employees develop trip reduction programs. (Ord. 00-06 § 2 (part))

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: "AVR" (average vehicle ridership) is the average number of employees who starts work at a work site during the peak period divided by the number of vehicles those employees use to arrive at the work site. "Carpool" means a vehicle occupied by two to six people traveling together between their residence and their work site or destination for most of the total trip distance. Employees who work for different employers, as well as non-employed people, are included as long as they are in the vehicle for the majority of the total trip. "Commute trip" means the trip made by an employee from home to the work site. The commute trip may include stops between home and the work site. "Complex" means any multi-tenant building or group of buildings located on a single parcel or group of contiguous parcels under common ownership or common management with a total of one hundred (100) or more non-retail employees working at the building or group of buildings. "Compressed work week" means a regular full-time schedule which eliminates at least one round-trip commute trip at least once every two-week period. "Employee" is a person working for twenty (20) or more hours per week on a regular basis, including independent contractors, but excluding field construction workers, field personnel, seasonal or temporary employees, and volunteers. "ETC" (Employee Transportation Coordinator) is a person or entity appointed by an employer or complex to develop, market, administer and monitor the employer trip reduction plan on a full or part-time basis. "Employee transportation survey" means a city approved questionnaire distributed by employers and complexes to employees designated to provide sufficient information to calculate AVR or VER for the work site. "Employer" is a person, trust, firm, business, joint stock company, corporation, partnership, association, nonprofit agency or corporation, educational institution, city, county, school district, hospital or health care facility, federal or state government department, agency or district with one hundred (100) or more employees at a permanent work site within the city. A city or county is considered the employer, not an individual department or agency of the state of California, and the federal government is considered a

separate employer. "Employer" includes for-profit, not-for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. Subsidiaries or units that occupy the same work site and report to one common governing board or governing entity or that function as one corporate unit constitute one employer. "Employer trip reduction plan" is the document which describes the employer trip reduction program and includes an implementation schedule and other required elements. "Field construction worker" is an employee who reports for work at a temporary field construction site. "Field personnel" means an employee who spends twenty (20) percent or less of work-time at the work site and who does not report to the work site during the peak period for pickup and dispatch of an employer- provided vehicle. "Independent contractor" means an individual who enters into a written agreement with an employer to perform services for at least ninety (90) days or is open-ended. "Non-retail employees" means an employee not employed in a retail business. "Peak period" means six a.m. through ten a.m. Monday through Friday inclusive. "Seasonal or temporary employee" means an employee who works for the employer for less than ninety (90) days within a calendar year. "Single-occupant vehicle" means a vehicle occupied by one employee. "Survey week" is a regular five-day Monday through Friday (inclusive) workweek selected by the city during January through May, or September through November for an employee transportation survey. The survey week for a work site with Saturday and Sunday work schedules will include only those work days Monday through Friday. The survey week may not contain a federal, state, or local holiday, regardless of whether the holiday is observed by the employer. The survey week may not be Rideshare Week or contain any other rideshare or transit promotional event. "SWAT" means the Southwest Area Transportation Committee, a regional transportation planning committee of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. "TDM Program Manager" means an employee of SWAT or a public entity hired to perform the following: oversee the regional TDM program development and implementation; develop and recommend existing programs and services; facilitate TDM training programs; prepare a marketing plan; produce promotional and informational events.; facilitate ride-matching and shuttle service programs; provide TDM information to employers and complex sponsors; assist employer and complex Employee Transportation Coordinators with preparation of TDM programs, employee transportation surveys, employer trip reduction plans; develop standard survey forms and employer trip reduction plan forms; review TDM programs and survey reports; determine compliance with program requirements; submit summary reports to SWAT and other responsible agencies which evaluate program compliance and accomplishments; participate in efforts towards county-wide TDM coordination; work with designated city representatives on enforcement issues; and recommend revisions to TDM programs and ordinances to meet established goals and objectives, or other legal requirements.

"Telecommuting" means a system of working at home or at an off-site, non-home telecommute facility for the full workday on a regular basis of at least one day per week. "Transportation management association" means an organization through which developers, property managers, employers or local jurisdictions cooperate in designing, implementing, and assessing employer trip reduction programs or other transportation demand or system management programs and measures. "Vanpool" means a vehicle occupied by seven to fifteen (15) employees including the driver who commute together to work for the majority of their individual commute trip distance. Employees who work for different employers are included within this definition as long as they are in the vehicle for the majority of their individual trip distance. "Vehicle" means a device by which any person or property may be moved upon a street or highway, except the following: (1) a device moved exclusively by human power; (2) a device used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks; (3) a bus used for public or private transit. "Vehicle" may include but is not limited to, a passenger car, motorcycle, van or pickup truck. "VER (vehicle employee ratio)" means the number of vehicles used by employees who start work at a work site during the peak period divided by the number of those employees averaged over the survey week. "Volunteer" means an individual who does not receive wages, salary or other form of remuneration (other than reimbursement for expenses) from the employer for services provided. "Work activity" means an activity for which an employee receives remuneration from an employer. Telecommuting is a work activity. "Work site" means real or personal property which is operated, utilized, maintained or owned by an employer as part of an identifiable enterprise. All property on contiguous, adjacent or proximate sites separated only by a private or public roadway or other private or public right-of-way, served by a common circulation or access system, and not separated by an impassable barrier to bicycle or pedestrian travel such as a freeway or flood control channel is included as part of this work site. If two or more employers work at a single work site, then that work site is considered a separate work site for each employer. (Ord. 00-06 § 2 (part))

A. This chapter applies to all employers with one hundred (100) or more employees at a single work site and all complexes with one hundred (100) or more non-retail employees. If an employer has one hundred (100) or more employees but no single work site with one hundred (100) or more employees, the employer is not subject to this chapter. B. For purposes of determining the applicability of this chapter, the number of employees at a work site or a complex is the maximum number of employees reporting to that work site or complex during an average day, Monday through Friday, in the calendar year.

C. This chapter also applies to the city. (Ord. 00-06 § 2 (part))

This chapter does not require an employer or owner or manager of a complex to use TDM techniques which would violate a labor agreement, constitute a breach of an existing lease or require a structural modification or addition to property, the nature of which would require the issuance of a building permit. (Ord. 00-06 § 2 (part))

A. The city may form, independently, or in conjunction with other jurisdictions, a TDM Advisory Committee. The TDM Advisory Committee shall: 1. Make recommendations on each appeal from the decision of the TDM Program Manager on TDM programs; 2. Advise the City Council and the TDM Program Manager on a TDM matter brought to its attention; 3. Recommend changes to this chapter as may be necessary to meet its purposes and objectives; 4. Recommend to the City Council boundaries and representation for the formation of Transportation Management Associations within the city or with neighboring jurisdictions to help employers and sponsors comply with locally adopted TDM ordinances; 5. Perform such other duties as the City Council prescribes. B. As an alternative to forming a new TDM Advisory Committee, the city may designate an existing committee as a TDM implementing body to perform the functions described in subsection A of this section. (Ord. 00-06 § 2 (part))