A Guide to Climate-Friendly Policies in Your Community

(This entire guide can also be downloaded in a printable form as the Cool New Jersey Handbook)

Introduction | Smart Growth and Planning | Alternative Energy | Bikeable and Walkable Communities
Resource Management and Waste | Transportation and Transit | Local Agriculture, Gardens, and Trees

 

Motor Vehicles and Traffic Management

Transportation policy is a central element of any municipal effort to address climate change. A large portion of our climate-changing emissions in New Jersey come from transportation. In some suburban developments, transportation is the source of a full third of all greenhouse emissions from that community.  Because so many creative options exist to lessen the climate impact of transportation, and because local governments have a large hand in defining key elements of transportation policy, this may also be one of the more immediate ways to reduce your city or town’s climate impact.

Climate friendly transportation demand management (TDM) can include policies that encourage alternative transportation such as bicycling, build walkable communities to minimize short trips, and municipal policies that encourage ridesharing and the use of public transportation. Local governments can also do a lot to encourage alternative fuel and fuel-efficient vehicles.

 

 

Vehicle Use 

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♦ Municipal purchases of SULEV.
Some fuel-efficient hybrids are designated as meeting California emissions requirements for super or ultra low emissions vehicle (SULEV). These cars get more than fifty miles to the gallon and have significantly lower polluting emissions overall. But be careful, not every ‘hybrid’ is fuel efficient. Some models barely get better gas mileage than their standard equivalent. Polices should specify SULEV designation or a fuel efficiency requirement. Many municipalities have adopted these cars for routine transportation needs and reaped considerable savings through lower fuel use.

 

New York City operates a fleet of more than 300 hybrid Toyota Prius vehicles. At 50 miles per gallon, the city will save more than thirty thousand dollars annually in fuel cost alone .

 

♦ Ensure municipalities purchase and use the smallest vehicle necessary for the task.
Often municipal vehicle purchasing tends toward large vehicles. For example, local police departments may use SUVs even for routine transportation needs. By determining the need of the vehicle and purchasing the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets that need, municipalities can reduce their climate impact and save money.

♦ Offer preferential parking for SULEV hybrid vehicles in municipal lots.
Any town or city can encourage the purchase and use of SULEV vehicles by granting them preferential parking in municipal lots.

♦ Offer preferential carpool parking
Preferential parking spaces can help encourage and reward carpooling. Carpooling decals can be issues by employers to help enforce these policies when parking lots are not staffed. 

♦ Publicize New Jersey’s existing anti-idling laws with signage and enforce with penalties
Unnecessary idling can be a major problem. It presents a public health hazard in parking areas and increases our emissions of greenhouse gases. The average American needlessly idles their vehicle five to ten minutes each day. That’s millions of pounds of carbon pumped into the atmosphere unnecessarily each year. New Jersey has a clear anti-idling law; but few local authorities enforce it aggressively. Enforcing this law can reduce needless emission and encourage climate-friendly behavior.

♦ Establish a trip reduction program with local businesses
Voluntary (and mandatory) programs can be developed with local businesses to establish trip reduction programs, carpooling incentives, staggered work hours, no-drive days, park and ride facilities, vanpools, ride matching efforts, and a number of other creative ways to make commuting more climate friendly.

 

           

 

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♦ Offer free parking (or exemption from parking meter requirement) for designated SULEV vehicles.
Free parking at meters can be a major incentive for the purchase or use of SULEVs. Municipalities can issue decals to residents with SULEV vehicles to facilitate enforcement. Notable and visible decals, even if small, can also help advertise the advantages of SULEVs to the public.

♦ Link cost of municipal parking decals or permits to fuel efficiency and increase fees for second or third cars.
For those areas with required permits for on-street parking, a stepped fee based on fuel efficiency and the number of cars per household can help encourage the use of fewer and more efficient vehicles.

♦ Develop transit and ridesharing facilities into multiuse areas.
Municipalities can encourage the development of convenience stores, dry cleaners, video stores, bakeries, banks, and similar businesses near park-and-ride lots or transit stations, or establishing lots and stations near these businesses. This allows commuters to complete errands without taking additional trips or significant detours during high traffic periods.

 

Redevelopment of New Jersey Transit stations across the state has improved their appearance, convenience, and use. The transit station in Maplewood has a concierge service to take care of errands for commuters and ensure a safe and friendly transit environment.

 

 

 

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♦ Consider special commuter and toll lanes for SELEV hybrid vehicles.
In larger municipalities or where appropriate, special access to SELEV or carpool vehicles can provide a major incentive for their use. In the California Bay Area, such policies have led to a significant increase in the sale of hybrid vehicles. Municipalities can work with state officials and other municipalities to move toward such projects.

♦ Consider variable pricing options for roadways.
Variable tolls for roadways and bridges can include discounted or free passage for high occupancy vehicles and, in contrast, increased tolls during peak congestion times. Such policies decrease congestion as well as greenhouse gas emissions.

♦ Municipalities may purchase electric vehicles where appropriate.
While electric vehicles may not be effective for all municipal uses, several models are used by towns and cities throughout the country for maintenance, parking enforcement, and other uses that do not require an extended range or high speeds. While the upfront cost are higher than conventional vehicles, the payback time is well within the life of the vehicle, making them a wise investment.

 

Fort Collins, Colorado reduced vehicle miles traveled by four million last year with its VanGo program.  The city uses twenty-eight vans to transport two hundred or more passengers each day from surrounding communities into town. Of course, a project like this could be even more effective if the vans ran on biofuel.

 

♦ Develop programs and policies that support car sharing.
Car sharing programs provide a small fleet of fuel-efficient cars that members can use for short periods. This is a nice solution for people in walkable communities that may need a car infrequently to shop, for example, or for a family that may be considering a second car. While the initial impact of a carshare program is to increase driving, by providing cars to people who previously did not have one. Once established, they allow individuals to not own cars, thus reducing overall car use and parking congestion; they replace old privately owned cars with new, cleaner running cars; and, by using SELEVs, they promote efficiency. Local governments can promote carshare programs in multiple ways. The most common way is to provide preferred parking spaces or off street parking for a carshare fleet.

 

Zipcar, a national car sharing service that operates in cities from Hoboken to San Francisco, provides vehicle access to tens of thousands of Americans. About a third of its members have either sold their vehicle or stopped their purchase plans as a result of this service. The organization claims that each of it’s cars replaces twenty individually-owned cars in the community, and that members reduce their car usage by as much as fifty percent and are more likely to take advantage of public transit once they are members.

 

                              

       

 

Transit Efficiency 

The most effective means of addressing transportation needs in a climate-friendly way is though effective public transit. One bus can take twenty cars off the road and produce one tenth the climate changing emissions. Buses that run on alternative fuels, CNG or biodiesels, produce even less emissions. Light rail can be even more effective, both because it is a more efficient mode of transportation and because rail is able to more effectively draw white-collar drivers out of their cars. Up to thirty percent of drivers can be diverted to rail travel when a new line is established. Local municipalities can do much to promote public transit and cooperate with state agencies and other municipalities to develop and expand public transit options.
Public transit is also cheaper. When all the costs to municipal and state authorities of supporting auto transportation are tallied, the costs are fifty to one hundred percent higher than the cost of a comparable public transit network. The total cost of car transportation averages around $1.00 per passenger mile. Light rail averages about thirty-five cents a mile and the cost of bus transportation is even lower. In cities with light rail, drivers use over one hundred gallons of gasoline less each year. This is good for the pocketbook of community members and good for the planet.
An effective public transit system utilizes both buses and rail to complement each other. Rail can be seen to serve as the major arteries of the network, serving major corridors of movement with high-speed access. Buses feed into these corridors, connecting major residential areas, town centers, schools, and commercial centers to each other and to the rail artery.

 

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♦ Adopt alternative fuel vehicles or biofuels for municipal mass transit and school transportation.
Many municipalities already use cleaner burning fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG). Biofuels such as biodiesel are now available in New Jersey and, with available subsidies, cost roughly the same as traditional diesel. B100, a fuel derived entirely from vegetable oil, contributes significantly less to climate change. Mixtures of biofuel with fossil fuels, such as B20 or B80 (20 and 80 percent vegetable based respectively), offer some reduction in climate changing emissions. No alternation of a diesel vehicle is necessary to allow it to run on biodiesel.

 

 

        

The federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides incentives for the purchase of alternative energy vehicles. Depending on the weight class of the vehicle, from $4,000 to $32,000 in federal credits is available through 2010.

 

♦ Ensure attractive, safe, and convenient transit stops with shelter.
A key element in encouraging the use of public transit is the public perception of the facilities and the pleasantness of the ride. Safe, creative, and sheltered stops for local buses and trains helps promote a favorable image of public transit and makes each trip more pleasant.

♦ Establish a ride sharing website and ride-sharing-designated free parking at municipal facilities.
Rideshare facilitation is a low cost way to get an immediate boost in transit efficiency. A proactive system of information sharing, combined with incentives by employers and municipalities, can reduce car traffic by five to ten percent. In New Jersey, that would mean five million tons less greenhouse emissions every year.

 

The Atlantic County Utilities Authority purchases four Ford
hybrids in 2004 and runs its entire diesel fleet on B20 biodiesel.

 

The New Jersey Diesel Risk Reduction Law of 2005 already requires cleaner fuels and retrofits to existing diesel vehicles. So, this may be a good time for municipalities to switch their fleets to cleaner biofuels as well. Any diesel vehicle may be run on biodeisel without conversion. Because no major equipment change is required, a municipal shift to biodiesel is relatively easily done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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♦ Establish commuter financial incentives for municipal employees.
Several alternative commuter incentive options are available to public and private employers to encourage walking, biking, or ridesharing to work. A typical parking spot in an urban area can be worth $50-100 or more per month. Employees who don’t use this resource can be rewarded in several ways, and thus encouraged to use more climate-friendly commute modes. Parking cash out means employees are offered the cash equivalent of their subsidized parking space if they use alternative commute modes. Travel allowances are payments made to all employees instead of parking subsidies. Employees can choose to use the money to pay for parking, or they can choose to save the money and take advantage of ridesharing opportunities. Free or discounted transit fares can also encourage alternatives to auto use. Commuter checks allow employees to pay their transit cost from their pre-tax pay (up to $100 per month); this can save the typical New Jersey employee about $300 a year.
Critics argue that these programs are unlikely to inspire a major shift toward alternative transportation. Employees who have never biked to work are unlikely to take up biking as a regular commuting mode as a result of these relatively small incentives. However, these incentives do make walking and biking more regular among those who initially did so infrequently; and they effectively signal the advantage of finding climate-friendly alternatives. Research shows that a monthly incentive of $100 can reduce single occupancy car commuting by a full thirty-five percent in some instances.

♦ Consider bus bulges in urban and town centers.
A bus bulge is an extension of the sidewalk and curb that allows busses to pick up and discharge passengers without pulling in and out of the traffic lane. Bulges allow for safer, faster bus transportation in urban areas and town centers, and they are an effective traffic-calming device, making the town safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

♦ Set low cost public transit fares.
Affordable fares, or fares tied to income or need, can be combined with parking fees in urban centers and towns to encourage the use of public transit and ensure that every community member can afford safe transportation.

♦ Provide discounted private parking for rideshare participants.
As previously mentioned, municipal lots can make free or low cost parking available to the public to encourage ridesharing. In addition, the municipality may acquire local parking passes from commercial lots at discount rates to make available to rideshare participants.

♦ Work collaboratively with county and state officials to promote investment in public transit.
Effective public transit in New Jersey cannot be addressed solely as a local issue. Municipal policymakers and citizens need to champion the expansion and enrichment of the state’s public transit network.

♦ Establish a minimum price for private parking to encourage transit use.
Higher parking rates make the use of public transit and other rideshare options more appealing. Minimum pricing or additional municipal fees for parking facilities can help encourage alternatives to single occupancy vehicles. These rate changes should be couples with efforts to simultaneously reduce the costs and improve the convenience of mass transit.

 

 

When the city of Chattanooga adopted electric buses for its downtown shuttle it facilitated the creation of a new company, Advanced Vehicle Systems, that now manufactures electric and hybrid vehicles for the Chattanooga and other cities.

 

 

 

 

 

The newest addition to New Jersey’s light rail network is the Riverline, serving communities from Camden to Trenton along the Delaware.

 

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♦ Establish physically separated designated bus lanes in high traffic areas.
The speed and efficiency of bus transportation increases significantly when buses have established lanes separated from other vehicles, particularly on high-traffic routes. This improvement will encourage greater ridership and reduce fuel use. For communities that cannot invest in light rail, segregated bus lanes can provide a lower cost alterative that approaches light rail in efficiency.

The city of Eugene Oregon is developing a unique bus-based rapid transit network that is intended to provide the efficiency and high speed service of lightrail with much lower startup costs.

 

The New Jersey Department of Transportation and NJ Transit are leading a community revitalization partnership known as the Transit Village Initiative. The aim is to help revitalize neighborhoods around rail and bus stations to help reduce car dependency and improve urban centers. Communities have received up to $100,000 to support their planning efforts.

 

	Rahway Transit Station in New Jersey is one of several transit oriented developments in the state

 

♦ Establish a community shuttle for high traffic routes.
Smaller communities can often establish a dedicated shuttle service for a high travel route. Often, even a single fifteen-passenger van route can displace a hundred single-passenger car trips daily. Once again, if this vehicle runs on a cleaner burning alternative fuel, the climate benefits are even greater.

 

The Advanced Transit bus shuttle in New Hampshire and Vermont was established with the help of federal grants from the Federal Transit Administration and state programs. This support has allowed the program to be free to riders. Since the implementation of the fare free policy, ridership has doubled.

 

 

 

 

 

♦ Establish rideshare obligations for local employers.
Municipalities can define rideshare targets for local employers with a set minimum number of employees. Targets can be set at a percentage of employee participation. Less contentious targets focus on policies, requiring employers to facilitate and encourage ridesharing through defined policies but not requiring a set rate of participation. Incentives, ranging from public recognition to tax benefits, can be attached to success. Disincentives and penalties can also be established for noncompliance.

♦ Establish a regular citizen review process for transit options.
Public participation and regular reviews can help ensure the development and maintenance of safe and pleasant transit facilities near commercial and residential centers. An accountable citizens committee or taskforce, working with the cooperation with municipal officials, can regularly review public transit services and offer innovative solutions to municipal transit needs.