We have a project which a bus line provides (15) trips on a Saturday and (11) trips on a Sunday, with an average of (13) trips between the (2) days. The credit language states that an average may be used when the number of weekend trips differs per day. Would the average of (13) be used for the entire weekend across the (2) days (Saturday and Sunday) or is it an average of (13) trips per day for each day of the weekend?
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Paula Melton
Editorial DirectorBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
183 thumbs up
January 18, 2018 - 11:23 am
It makes sense to me that it would be the average of 13 per day. An average of 13 for both days would not seem to reflect the reality here.
Do you have other transit options to help you meet the minimum thresholds?
Brendan Isard
January 18, 2018 - 3:06 pm
I heard back from a LEED coach about this and was informed that it should be (13) for the entire weekend, not for each day of the weekend. I agree on your assessment as I've been under the impression this was how the credit was interpreted, but I was told this was incorrect. The project has other public transportation options to meet the credit, but I was confused by the response as it was inconsistent with approvals we've received for previous projects that we've worked on.
Paula Melton
Editorial DirectorBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
183 thumbs up
January 19, 2018 - 10:12 am
That makes no sense, as you have 26 trips over the entire weekend. I am skeptical.
Kristina Bach
VP of InnovationSustainable Investment Group
151 thumbs up
January 19, 2018 - 10:28 am
That makes complete sense to me. Remember, you're reporting the DAILY average for both weekend and weekday trips, not the total trips over the whole period.
It might help to think about it more in terms of weekday service. If your bus stopped at your site 70 times/day Monday thru Friday, that's a total of 350 trips over the entire work-week. However, the bus obviously doesn't stop 350 times each day - you'd report that as 70 daily weekday trips. Similarly, the weekend daily trips would need to be averaged between the weekend days. So having 15 trips on Saturday and 11 trips on Sunday, definitely averages out to 13 daily average weekend trips.
This method for daily average trips is consistent with how it was always to be calculated in v2009 - the only new piece here is that you have to look at both weekday and weekend service (with both having their own new credit minimums for compliance).
Brendan Isard
January 19, 2018 - 10:45 am
This is what we were told by the LEED coaches/reviewer. I've attempted to explain this but was told that the correct way to interpret the credit is provide an average of weekend trips over the (2) days not for each day of the weekend. Once again, I agree with what you are saying but the inconsistency we are facing with the review of this credit is rather confusing.
Paula Melton
Editorial DirectorBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
183 thumbs up
January 19, 2018 - 11:05 am
Am I misunderstanding what your LEED coach is saying? I agree with Kristina here: you have 13 DAILY trips on average. Not 13 trips over the entire weekend.
Brendan Isard
January 19, 2018 - 11:25 am
What we were told was that we have to report that there (13) trips over the entire weekend, not for each day of the weekend. It doesn't make sense to me either, but I'm not sure how much further up the chain I can run this without submitting a CIR.
Kristina Bach
VP of InnovationSustainable Investment Group
151 thumbs up
January 19, 2018 - 12:01 pm
I'm struggling a little with where the confusion is. I think maybe the confusion is that you are thinking you are to report the total (i.e. Sat+Sun) whereas the form and calculation requires the Daily Average number. You never report the total trips across the entire period; just report the daily average for each type (Weekday vs. Weekend). So you have total up your service by each type and then average based on the days in each type to come up with the Daily Average value to report in the form for each bus route. The form even specifically calls out that it's looking for the Daily Value (not the total).
A more detailed example if that helps: Bus A provides the following trips each day:
-Monday: 70
-Tuesday: 70
-Wednesday: 70
-Thursday: 70
-Friday: 55
-Saturday: 15
-Sunday: 11
Across the Weekday period (Mon-Fri), you have a total of 335 trips over a 5 day period. As such, your reported Weekday Daily Average would be 67 (335 total trips / 5 days). For the Weekend period (Sat-Sun), you have a total of 26 trips over a 2 day period. As such, your reported Weekend Daily Average would be 13 (26 total trips / 2 days).
Does that help clarify?