The Advanced Arterial Corridor Sweep
Short-distance Microsoft Solo Driving Commute Reduction
Initial focus on 148th Avenue, South of MS Campus
The Problem: Redmond has experienced explosive job growth. Approximately
75% of workers have short, zero to eight mile commutes. Redmond's streets were never designed to carry so much
commute traffic. The four-lane arterial streets like 148th Avenue are overburdened.
The Solution: Currently, there is no solution. Nationwide, 90% of suburban commuters who commute over short
distances drive alone. Few alternatives (bus, carpool, vanpool, bike, scooter, and walk) to solo driving compete
well over short commutes. We are addressing a problem that is believed unsolvable; we hope to reduce solo commuting
to 50%.
The "Corridor Sweep" Concept: There are two main alternatives: A) a combination of bus service
and "casual carpooling" (where rides are dynamically matched), and B) electric bike commutes. We'll work
individually with commuters, and examine any promising alternative. If a pilot project succeeds, then we'll expand
to serve more short-distance commutes. "Corridor" stands for the area within 1/3 mile of 148th Avenue.
"Sweep" stands for sweeping away traffic congestion via any means possible.
Tree Analogy
A tree has leaves, a trunk, and roots. A MS Corridor Sweep pilot project (featuring casual carpooling and electric biking) for 148th Avenue South of MS campus can be described in the same way.
The leaves are the MS Main Campus buildings that are very close to the Overlake Transit Center, Buildings 25, 21, 19, 18, 16, 17, 35, 34, and 33. There are more than 4,500 employees in these nine buildings. All these buildings have an entrance that is within 2,000 feet of the Transit Center. In addition, a carpool vehicle can make a SINGLE drop in the middle of these buildings, and all passengers are within 1,000 feet of an entrance to their building. These leaves were chosen because they are easily accessible by walking, biking, scootering, and MS Campus Shuttle buses. In addition, these buildings have ready access to Flexcar loaner vehicles at the Transit Center.
The trunk is the four-mile stretch of 148th Avenue from Highway 90 to Highway 520. There are numerous dedicated bus pullout lanes for bus stops along this route. Casual carpool drivers (and vanpools) may safely pick up MS employees at these bus stops. King County Metro Route 222 bus service plies this corridor, with roughly 30-minute frequency. By combining bus and casual carpooling, more frequent service may be provided. Passengers may choose to ride the bus or carpool, based on whichever is most convenient. Web/cellular software will assist this connection making and will provide safety verification to ensure that drivers and passengers are vetted MS employees. Carpool passengers will be expected to traverse from residence to bus stop by foot, bike, or foldable scooter. Buses and carpool vehicles will be equipped with bike racks, and rack space may be reserved via the web/cellular software. IE bikers will not be scheduled for an unsuccessful pickup where bike rack space is not available.
Biking and electric biking will also be encouraged for MS employees living near this trunk. Bellevue permits bike riding on the sidewalks of 148th Avenue. The sidewalks are pleasant for biking, as a six-foot strip of grass provides a safety barrier between bikers and car traffic. Bike commuting is dangerous in this area, and new bikers will be given safety training to anticipate "bike-blind" auto drivers at driveways and intersections. Electric bikes offer "sweat-free" commuting at a very competitive speed compared to fighting 148th Avenue stoplights by car. Full bike rainsuits normally induce sweaty commutes, but electric bikes with rainsuits are sweat-free. The electric motor may be turned off provide a good workout on the ride home.
The roots are car commuters and vanpools originating from South of Highway 90, from areas such as Eastgate, Newcastle, Somerset, Hilltop, Horizon View, and Newport Hills. MS commuters driving West on Highway 90 from Issaquah and beyond should also be amenable to casual carpooling along 148th (although Sammamish Parkway is probably faster than 148th). In additiion, MS commuters driving East from Seattle on Highway 90 also frequently take 148th.
It was appealing to consider coordinating morning departures of drivers from the roots, to provide optimal spacing among these carpooling drivers and the bus system along 148th. However, interviews showed that this was asking too much. Instead, the plan is to attract a sufficiently high number of roots drivers to provide frequent pickup of trunk passengers.
Roots cars will be equipped with "toll tag transponders," branded as FastPass, and EZ-Pass in various U.S. locations. These small devices affix to the front windshield (lower left corner). They allow roadside transponder readers to determine the number of roots cars that are about to enter the trunk. This information is relayed to the cell phones of trunk riders, who can better guage when to leave their house.
The program will coordinate evening departures similar to the existing Montlake vanpool dynamic seat allocation system that has arisen at MS. Drivers will not be expected to make excessively many casual carpooling pickups during their commute. An upper limit of three pickups should be sufficient, with the average number of daily stops being less.
For a pilot program, carpool passengers should work in the nine buildings close to the Transit Center. Carpool drivers can work anywhere at MS, provided they are willing to drop folks off by Building 17.
Below is a map showing leaves, trunk, and roots:
Comprehensive Services: All Corridor Sweep participants may make free use of Flexcar loaner cars, deluxe personal transportation concierge, taxis for late night ride home, and Corridor Sweep community chat board.
MS CTR (Commute Trip Reduction) funding: Some companies have recently found out that parking cash out programs (where employers pay employees not to park on site) are too successful - the companies de-generate too many solo commutes and end up spending more than their CTR budget allows. MS funds various CTR programs (including their extensive campus bus shuttle system and FlexPass program), paying slightly different amounts for employees who ride bus, versus those who vanpool. We would hope that MS would fund Corridor Sweep CTR at some monetary level per employee.
Trunk Incentives: For carpool passengers, the commute will be about 30% slower than solo driving. To compensate for this time increase, carpool passengers will increase their productivity during commuting by A) napping, B) reading, and C) the use of cellular PDAs for Instant Messaging and e-mail. They will obtain a net daily productivity increase. We expect to provide coupons from retailers to these passengers, to pay them to get out of their car. The kinds of retail stores that employees are interested in are: {outdoor gear, cell phones/PDAs, consumer electronics, coffee, home improvement, clothing, mass retail, sandwiches, on-site chair massage, and gasoline.}
For electric bike users, Giant's electric bike retails for $1,100, a significant amount. We will attempt to arrange a leasing program, to reduce the one-time budget hit, and will attempt to negotiate both a discount and a subsidy on these bikes. For more information on the bike, please see information on the Giant: http://www.electricvehiclesnw.com/main/lite.htm and on the electric assisted bicycling concept: http://www.electricvehiclesnw.com/index.htm.
Roots Incentives: A) We expect to provide retail coupons as incentives to drivers, based on the number of rides provided. B) Nextbus (bus connection-making technology) founder Ken Schmier believes in a latent "Good Samaritan" motivation. Drivers will feel good about reducing pollution and traffic congestion. University of California researcher (car sharing pioneer) Susan Shaheen also believes there is a latent "psychic benefit" to making a "green" contribution. C) The corridor sweep program will have "catchy" branding. Drivers will proudly affix this branding to their vehicles (which is also important for safety signaling to passengers) to indicate that they are part of a leading-edge movement to reduce auto dependency. D) Preferred MS on-campus carpool parking could be provided on the days roots employees pick up trunk employees.
Carpool drivers "have the heaviest load to carry" to make this scheme work. A formerly-solo driver misses having a peaceful solo commute with private time to "psych up" at the start of the day and wind down at the end of the day. In addition, commute time increases slightly, based on the number of pickups, and bike rack loading slows things down even further. Where a solo driver used to make cellular phone calls, the ability to convey sensitive information while other MS employees share the car is greatly reduced. Assuredly, there is some price point where a substantial number of drivers would be motivated to make as many pickups as possible, such as $2.00 per passenger per direction, but this level of financial incentive may not be possible.
Rainy, cold, and dark Days: It is expected that carpool drivers will make more stops and drop passengers closer to their buildings under conditions of pouring rain. MS has a parking shortage. If a permanent, 365 days a year (rain or shine) parking space demand reduction can be brought about, then MS will achieve significant, quantifiable real-estate development benefits. These benefits can then be used to motivate further investment in Commute Trip Reduction. If it appears that the Corridor Sweep scheme will stop working when the weather gets really bad, then there will not be sufficient incentive to try out a pilot project.
What is Redmond weather like? See http://www.city-data.com/city/Redmond-Washington.html.
|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
| Avg. Temp |
40.4 |
42.8 |
45.9 |
50.2 |
55.9 |
60.6 |
65.1 |
65.92 |
61.2 |
52.8 |
45.3 |
40.3 |
| Inches Rain |
4.9 |
4.0 |
4.1 |
3.0 |
2.3 |
1.9 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
1.9 |
3.6 |
5.5 |
5.7 |
Bellevue sunrise / sunset (from 15th of the month from http://www.sunrisesunset.com)
|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
| sunrise |
7:53 |
7:16 |
6:21 |
6:21 |
|
5:10 |
|
6:04 |
6:46 |
7:27 |
7:13 |
7:50 |
| sunset |
4:42 |
5:29 |
6:13 |
7:56 |
|
9:08 |
|
8:22 |
7:22 |
6:21 |
4:32 |
4:17 |