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Memorandum

12.05.13 Citizens Advisory Committee

December 10, 2013

Plans and Programs Committee: Commissioners Mar (Chair), Kim (Vice Chair), Breed, Campos, Yee and Avalos (Ex Officio)

Elizabeth Sall – Interim Deputy Director for Planning

Tilly Chang – Executive Director

– Recommend Approval of the 2013 San Francisco Congestion Management Program

As the Congestion Management Agency (CMA) for San Francisco, the Transportation Authority is responsible for developing and adopting a Congestion Management Program (CMP) for San Francisco on a biennial basis. The CMP is the principal policy and technical document that guides the Transportation Authority’s CMA activities and demonstrates conformity with state congestion management law. The 2013 CMP incorporates several substantive updates, including 2013 system performance monitoring results; the updated CMP Capital Improvement Program; development of the San Francisco Transportation Plan; updates on initiatives to manage demand through pricing, incentives, and other strategies; approval of Plan Bay Area and the Priority Development Areas at the regional level; Transportation Authority and City efforts to integrate land use and transportation planning in key locations; passage of legislation reforming some aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act; and other significant policy and planning progress since 2011. We are seeking a recommendation for approval of the 2013 San Francisco CMP.

As the Congestion Management Agency (CMA) for San Francisco, the Transportation Authority is responsible for developing and adopting a Congestion Management Program (CMP) for San Francisco, which must be updated every two years. The inaugural CMP was adopted in 1991, and the Transportation Authority Board has approved subsequent updates on a biennial basis. The CMP is the principal policy and technical document that guides the Transportation Authority’s CMA activities. Through the CMP, the Transportation Authority also monitors the City’s conformity with CMP requirements, per state congestion management law.

Conformance with the CMP is a requirement for the City to receive state fuel tax subventions and for the City’s transportation projects to qualify for state and federal funding. State congestion management statutes aim to tie transportation project funding decisions to measurable improvement in mobility and access, while taking into account the impacts of land use decisions on local and regional transportation systems. CMPs also help to implement, at the local level, transportation measures that improve regional air quality.

The original CMP laws were enacted in 1989; since then, multiple legislative actions have amended the CMP requirements. For instance, Senate Bill (SB) 1636 (Figueroa), passed in 2002, granted local jurisdictions the authority to designate Infill Opportunity Zones (IOZs) in areas meeting certain requirements. Within a designated IOZ, the CMA is not required to maintain traffic conditions to the adopted automobile level of service (LOS) standard. Most recently, SB 743 (Steiner) modified the

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criteria for local jurisdictions to designate IOZs and eliminated the previous December 2009 deadline to do so. The San Francisco IOZ, covering most of San Francisco based on transit frequency and land use criteria (Attachment A), was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in December 2009, but additional areas may now qualify for designation under the new legislation.

The purpose of this memorandum is to present an overview of the 2013 CMP update and seek a recommendation for its approval.

The CMP has several required elements, including:

A designated congestion management network and biennial monitoring of automobile LOS on this network;

Assessment of multimodal system performance, including transit measures;

A land use impact analysis methodology for estimating the transportation impacts of land use changes; and

A multimodal Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

The CMP also contains the Transportation Authority’s technical and policy guidelines for implementing CMP requirements, including deficiency plans, travel demand forecasting, and transportation fund programming.

The 2013 CMP is a substantive update, reflecting new data collection, activities related to important policy developments at various levels, and significant planning progress since 2011. The CMP has also been updated to reflect the analysis and recommendations of the San Francisco Transportation Plan, scheduled for adoption concurrently in December 2013. Key updates include the following:

Roadway LOS Results: Average traffic speeds on the city’s CMP network streets and freeways increased from 2011 to 2013. Possible explanations include reduced construction activities on the road network as well as transit ridership increases, potentially resulting in fewer vehicles on the road. For the first time, we conducted roadway LOS monitoring on the designated CMP network in 2013 primarily using commercial speed data, which provides much larger sample sizes and is more cost-effective than the previously used “floating car” method. Weekday peak-period traffic conditions have slightly improved on the city’s arterial streets since the 2011 monitoring cycle and improved even more significantly on freeway segments, as shown in Figure 1.

Transit Performance: Conversely, average Muni bus speeds on the CMP network fell between 2011 and 2013, likely due to a combination of increasing congestion on some routes and higher bus ridership, which results in additional dwell delays at stops as buses wait to let passengers on and off. CMP data indicate that, on average, buses spend about 40 percent of their travel time at stops, half of which is spent letting passengers on and off, with the other half spent waiting to pull back into traffic.

Facility Type Spring 2011 Spring 2013

Arterial AM 17.5 mph 18.4 mph

Arterial PM 16.6 mph 17.1 mph

Freeway AM 39.4 mph 45.4 mph

Freeway PM 31.3 mph 36.1 mph

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We performed an analysis of Muni bus speeds using data provided by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) from on-vehicle Automatic Passenger Counters (APCs). Average bus speeds on the CMP network during the 2013 monitoring period were 8.8 mph in the AM peak period and 8.1 mph in the PM peak. Transit speeds were also monitored in the PM peak in 2011. Speeds declined by approximately three percent on segments that were monitored in both years. During weekday peak periods, bus travel times in many corridors exceed auto travel times by a factor of two or more, and the percentage of CMP network segments with transit-to-auto time ratios of two or more increased from 2011 to 2013.

On about 40 percent of the segments where transit speeds fell, auto speeds also declined, indicating that greater congestion is the probable cause for the reduced speeds. On the remaining segments with slower transit speeds, increased bus dwell times at stops due to higher bus ridership during the 2013 monitoring period likely caused the slower transit speeds.

Lastly, for the first time, this CMP monitoring effort included travel time variability as a measure of transit reliability, finding that bus travel times commonly vary from their averages by 20 percent or more. Anecdotal feedback from San Francisco Transportation Plan outreach also highlights the rise of bus and rail turn backs during this period. This metric will provide a useful baseline to compare reliability over time on specific streets in future CMP cycles.

Transportation Demand Management (TDM): The TDM Element has been updated to reflect advancements in the TDM Partnership Project, including policy development and pilot program implementation. Also included are updates on carsharing and bikesharing programs in the city. This chapter reflects forward movements in congestion management planning and pricing including support from represented business groups through the Congestion Management Working Group, the undertaking of the Parking Pricing and Regulation Study, and a comprehensive look at downtown congestion management through the Core Network Circulation Study. Finally, this chapter notes the TDM policy and investment plan recommendations of San Francisco Transportation Plan (anticipated to be adopted in December 2013) and updates to the SFpark program and Treasure Island Transportation Program.

Land Use Impacts Analysis Program: This chapter has been updated to reflect the region’s recently adopted Plan Bay Area and the Priority Development Areas (PDAs) identified in San Francisco, development of the Transportation Investment and Growth Strategy (TIGS), and also to highlight key planning efforts that link land use and development with transportation improvements. For example, we are collaborating with the SFMTA on the Waterfront Transportation Assessment to analyze the baseline transportation needs of the waterfront area and potential cumulative impacts of several proposed developments. This chapter also notes the impact of SB 743, which revised California Environmental Quality Act requirements such that automobile delay, as measured by LOS or otherwise, and parking impacts are specifically eliminated as criteria for determining a significant impact on the environment.

CIP: The CMP must contain a seven-year CIP that identifies investments that maintain or improve transportation system performance. The CMP’s CIP is amended concurrently with relevant Transportation Authority Board programming actions. Thus, the 2013 CMP reflects program updates since adoption of the 2011 CMP, most notably the 2012 and 2013 Transportation Fund for Clean Air county programs, Cycle 3 of the Lifeline Transportation Program, the first OneBayArea Grant funding cycle, and the 2012 Prop AA Strategic Plan. Also, as required by state law, the CMP confirms San Francisco’s project priorities for the Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP), which is adopted by MTC for submission to the

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state. In October 2013, the Transportation Authority Board approved San Francisco’s 2013 RTIP priorities, which MTC will act on in December 2013 before forwarding to the State for final approval.

Over the next two years, we will continue to coordinate transportation investments and support all aspects of project delivery across multiple agencies and programs, from smaller neighborhood pedestrian, bicycle and traffic calming projects to major projects including the Presidio Parkway, the Transbay Transit Center and Caltrain Downtown Extension, Caltrain Electrification, the Central Subway, and proposed bus rapid transit improvements on Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard.

Modeling: State law requires CMAs to develop, maintain, and utilize a computer model to analyze transportation system performance, assess land use impacts on transportation networks, and evaluate potential transportation investments and policies. The Transportation Authority’s activity-based travel demand model, SF-CHAMP, has been updated since 2011, and model enhancements are discussed in the 2013 CMP, along with required documentation of consistency with MTC modeling practices. MTC staff have confirmed through a separate process that the SF-CHAMP meets the model consistency requirements for 2013.

We are seeking a recommendation for approval of the 2013 San Francisco CMP.

1. Recommend approval of the 2013 San Francisco CMP, as requested.

2. Recommend approval of the 2013 San Francisco CMP, with modifications.

3. Defer action, pending additional information or further staff analysis.

The CAC was briefed on this item at its December 4, 2013 meeting, and unanimously adopted a motion of support for the staff recommendation.

While there is no direct impact on the Transportation Authority’s adopted budget, adoption of the 2013 CMP is needed to ensure the City’s continued eligibility for the state gas tax revenues authorized by CMP legislation. Leveraging of these other funds is essential in order to deliver the Prop K and Prop AA Expenditure Plans, as well as other San Francisco projects citywide.

Recommend approval of the 2013 San Francisco CMP. Attachment:

A. Map of San Francisco Infill Opportunity Zones

Enclosures: A. Draft 2013 San Francisco Congestion Management Program B. CMP Technical Appendices

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© 2013, San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. This map is for planning purposes only.

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San Francisco CMP Network and Infill Opportunity Zone

CMP Segments

Parks and Open SpaceInfill Opportunity Zones