VTA board considers transit passes for residents of apartments on agency land
At its January 12 board meeting, VTA will consider providing transit passes to people who live in apartments on land owned by the agency, as part of a broader Transportation Demand Management program. The concept was suggested by outgoing San Jose Mayor Liccardo with a goal of increasing transit ridership and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently, several developments on VTA land offer SmartPasses to residents, providing access to VTA local transit. In developments that offer SmartPasses, approximately 21 percent of market-rate residents and 27 percent of affordable housing residents currently use their SmartPasses and average about 12 one-way trips per month. Until now, transit passes have been required by city governments as conditions of approval at some developments in San Jose and Mountain View, but not in other cities, and there has been no requirement for transit passes by the transit agency.
In recent years, the agency has been encouraging development on land VTA owns. Currently, VTA’s plans anticipates over 7,000 homes to be built in developments on VTA land.
VTA staff estimate that a two-year requirement could generate approximately 1,800 net new daily transit riders for all VTA transit-oriented development (TOD) sites, a 31 percent increase compared to no requirement, and generate up to $4.3 million in cumulative revenue from SmartPass sales.
Staff recommends providing the transit passes as a component of a broader transportation demand management program that supports first and last mile services such as bicycle parking, car-share parking, and reduced parking supply
Transit passes or car parking?
As a result of concerns from housing developers about the budget impacts of requiring ongoing costs, VTA staff are recommending a requirement to provide passes for two years only. This required period aligns with the affordable housing funding source for transit passes through the state Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) grant program and can be paid as a one-time up front capital contribution as a part of market rate projects which will not result in reduction of ground lease payments to VTA over time.
In public comment at the December 15th meeting of VTA’s Administration and Finance Committee, , Alex Shoor and Lalo Mendez of Catalyze SV urged VTA to consider longer duration passes.
In Seamless’s observation, the developers’ concerns about cost seem at odds with VTA’s data about the cost of providing parking instead. Most of VTA’s future TOD projects are expected to meet their parking needs with structured parking spaces which can cost $50,000 or more per space. For these developments, savings from reduced parking could be used to offset some or much of the cost of ongoing SmartPasses purchases.
Opportunities for all-agency passes
The initial VTA staff recommendation is to distribute VTA SmartPasses, which provide access to VTA local transit but not to services including BART and Caltrain that serve Santa Clara County. Meanwhile, the region is piloting all-agency passes, in the BayPass pilot program starting with public colleges and universities and affordable housing. The goal of the pilot is to craft a broader program for more organizations and for individuals.
In public comment at the December 15th meeting, Christine Fitzgerald of the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center urged VTA to consider distributing all-agency passes when they become available as well. Board member Chavez encouraged staff to consider the potential for the all-agency passes when they become available.
VTA to decide on Thursday, January 12
The VTA board will vote on the policy on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at the meeting beginning at 5:30pm. If you have time, send a note to VTA or zoom in to support this good policy and encourage VTA to consider expanding to all-agency passes at such time that they become available, to provide even more mobility for people and less traffic and pollution impacts from driving.