How GreenTRIP Helps Successful Transit-Oriented Development Come to Life: Evaluation of GreenTRIP's Pilot Project

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Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) can have a myriad of social, environmental and economic benefits for people and communities, especially if designed well and for a broad mix of incomes.

But the obstacles to fully realizing these benefits are daunting, including opposition from local groups and outdated city codes that vastly overestimate how many cars people will own and how much they will drive in walkable communities near transit.  These codes require excessive amounts of parking, which reduces the number of homes or other beneficial uses that can be provided in a given building envelope.  It often leads to expensive traffic mitigations, which further increases the costs of homes or the subsidy needed to make them affordable.

Direct Impacts of Pilot Project

1. Easier Approvals for 1,970 Cutting-Edge TOD Homes

Concerns about traffic are the top reason that communities oppose new development. Opponents don’t trust city staff, and they trust developers even less when they claim that a development will be low-traffic and a good neighbor.  The greatest benefit of GreenTRIP, according to city staff and developers involved in the pilot project, was the ability of an independent non-profit to clearly and credibly explain why their project is low-traffic.   In San Leandro, residents actually broke into applause as the GreenTRIP certificate was handed to the Mayor. 

2.    More Affordable Homes

In San Leandro, GreenTRIP supported the reduction of parking requirements in "The Crossings” to 1.1 spaces per unit (it would have been 2.2 under the old code).  With 300 total units this change in parking:

• Saved the developer $3.9 million by eliminating one floor of parking.
• Allowed a pedestrian friendly ground floor with a childcare center and additional walk-up units, instead of a garage.
• Reduced the cost of subsidizing each affordable unit by nearly $40,000, allowing them to provide 30 more affordable units, for a total of 100.

As GreenTRIP standards are considered even earlier in the design phase these types of benefits and the potential for broader and deeper levels of housing affordability and/or other community benefits will become more widespread.  Also, affordable homes are given a trip reduction benefit in GreenTRIP modeling, which helps reduce mitigation costs and build community support.

3. 80,000 Years of Transit Passes and 24,000 Years of CarShare…

Developers will distribute 2,010 transit passes annually for 40 years.  The vast majority of these will be free for residents. (A small number require a $5 per month match, a very deep discount from the $70 fee for an individual monthly pass.)   One project committed 600 car share memberships and is providing the cars. 

4. … Which Is $7,000,000 for Transit Agencies

Over $7 million will be paid by the developers to two transit systems, VTA and AC Transit, over the next 40 years.  Previously these “eco-passes” were bought by just a few building managers and usually for just one year, generating little revenue.

5. Expansion of Trip Reduction Programs

GreenTRIP may unleash the tremendous untapped potential of Transportation Demand Management programs. After just the first pilot project:

• Caltrain announced that they would begin accepting residential applicants to the GO! Pass program, which is currently open only to employers.
• SamTrans will maintain the pass program they were about to shut down for lack of participation.
• CarSharing will come to San Mateo County in two ways: as part of a 600-unit GreenTRIP certified project, and through a successful climate grant proposal that GreenTRIP staff worked on with county leaders.
• VTA, in the South Bay, is considering reducing the cost of passes for GreenTRIP buildings since the 40-year commitment significantly reduces their marketing and administrative costs.  City CarShare is also considering a lower membership fee for GreenTRIP buildings. 

Projected Outcomes of Pilot Project

As people move into the first five GreenTRIP certified projects, the direct impacts noted above will create impressive environmental and social outcomes.

1. Less Driving and CO2, More Transit

Households in these buildings are predicted to drive an average of 19.8 miles vs. the regional average of 50.  That adds up to 59,400 less miles of vehicle travel each day and 10,857 fewer tons of CO2 per year.   And it is possible the results will be even better; in a pilot project of over 3,500 homes, AC Transit found that distributing free transit passes more than doubled the number of market rate participants who used the bus daily.

2. Lower Car Ownership

While vehicle use and ownership levels are dramatically lower in transit districts, a growing body of empirical evidence show that it can go down even further with carsharing and unbundling. On average, about 20% of car-sharing households give up their car or a second or third vehicle, and an even higher percentage avoid buying or replacing a car.  This translates into a reduction of at least 120 additional vehicles in a building that includes 600 car share memberships.

3. Deep Affordability for Families

Recent research by the Center for Transit Oriented Development has shown TOD’s potential to create “affordable living” with lower housing and lower transportation costs.  GreenTRIP offers to take this concept further to one of “deep affordability” by making it even easier to live with one less vehicle and by covering the cost of transit passes and carshare memberships.

Bringing GreenTRIP to Scale

With these dramatic impacts from the first pilot project, TransForm (the non-profit that initiated GreenTRIP) is working to bring it to scale as quickly as possible.  Another round of certifications are now underway in the Bay Area.  The goal is to expand to an additional region in 2011, potentially San Diego, and then work with a national partner to bring GreenTRIP to other states while expanding it throughout California.

There are numerous ways that the benefits of GreenTRIP can spread quickly.  A couple of cities are already interested in requiring certification in their transit areas.  Several agencies said they will consider including GreenTRIP in their list of suggested project mitigations, including the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Caltrans.  Additionally, expanding GreenTRIP to certify existing buildings that add innovative traffic reduction strategies would open a huge market, and will be attempted this year as part of the City of Berkeley’s climate program.

If brought to scale GreenTRIP could begin a host of beneficial cycles such as increased revenue and ridership for transit that then supports higher transit frequencies.  Similarly, expansion and greater concentrations of carsharing allows all neighbors, not just those in GreenTRIP buildings, to shed a vehicle.  And most importantly, transit districts with strong trip reductions strategies, a higher ratio of affordable homes and better design will generate less traffic, helping overcome the number one rationale for rejecting additional growth in these areas.

TransForm has worked with Calthorpe Associates to quantify the ultimate 25 year outcomes of bringing GreenTRIP to scale in California.  Those results are available upon request.   For more information or to become a partner please contact Ann Cheng.