We are building a joint use school and trying to determine the likelihood of achieving 3 credits under SSc4.1 Alternative Transportation: Public Transportation Access - Option 3 (Transportation Demand Management Plan). To do this we have to demonstrate a 25% reduction in SOV trips and the school bus is our only option.
Our school has approximately 1200 FTE so we would require more than 300 students to be using the bus each day to demonstrate a 25% reduction in SOV trips. I believe I read somewhere that you also have to be prepared to prove this is as good or better than other schools in the area.
After speaking to the busing supervisors for each of the schools, I was told that one end user currently has 4 buses servicing the school with approximately 200 students. There is a charge for busing if the student is outside the formation area (kind of the same thing as jurisdiction in public schools) and there is a charge for students who live within walking but want to get on the bus (walking distance is considered under 2.4km from the school.) This would show there is incentive to not take the bus if you don’t have to. It is projected that the new school we are building will have the same number of buses, but will be transporting 230-240 students. This proves better than the first school.
The second end user has confirmed their busing service has approximately 20 buses servicing all the public schools in the town. The buses meet at a common place and students transfer to the bus going to that school. Because of this system, it would probably mean 2 buses will go to this school and as long as those two buses are carrying a reasonable number of students (would need to be 60-70) it would qualify. In fact this would eliminate numerous buses travelling the same roads which greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption, and air & water pollution from vehicle.
We could also include some or all of the following information in a report and/or template:
a) A transportation hierarchy example showing modes of transport, including Walking Bicycling, Bus Service, personal vehicle use to show best type of transportation to worst.
b) The school is located in close proximity to many amenities proving that anyone (bused students, those who walk, anyone who has drove) are within walking distance to a variety of choices for lunch.
c) Sidewalks around the school providing safety and comfort to pedestrians which will be cleared on a regular basis throughout the winter.
d) Bike Racks and Showers onsite
Is there something more that I need to attempt this credit? Is there any cost associated with attempting this credit? Based on the information, what is the likelihood of achieving this credit and is it a worthwhile investment to pursue?
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1980 thumbs up
March 31, 2014 - 6:18 pm
Kelly,
My understanding is LEED Canada has its own NC2009 rating system, reference guides, and review body with some differences from the US-based USGBC, so I can't speak for specific differences between the credit requirements and review process besides noting that the point totals and options are slightly different.
Since CaGBC does have the split review option for a design phase and then the construction phase, you could submit this credit with whatever information you currently have and see from your design phase review response if they ask for additional information. Even if you are not doing a split review you'll still have a chance to respond to the reviewers comments and request for additional information.
For your initial submission, you might not need the all the detailed info you list, so you might start with just the information about the bus services, number of riders expected for each, and the method used to predict usage by the busing coordinators and bus services. Your task is to show that the 25% reduction of SOV use is based on bus ridership alone, so primarily you need to show that 300+ bus riders is realistic to expect for your campus and that this is an improvement over the previous campuses and/ or other local schools.
Since your option is worth 3 points, and there don't appear to be any additional costs involved, it sounds worth pursuing.
Hope that helps!