One of the large tenants in the project building provides a shuttle from their main campus to this satellite location (in a mixed tenant commercial building). The shuttle makes 6 roundtrips on a regular schedule throughout the day, and does not begin or end it's day at this location. A number of the regular building occupants get themselves to the main campus in various ways and then ride the shuttle to and from this location similar to a park and ride lot.
My question is: would you count this mode like you would public transit- zero trips; or would you make some assumption about ridership and treat it like a vanpool? Thanks in advance.
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Dan Ackerstein
PrincipalAckerstein Sustainability, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
819 thumbs up
December 8, 2010 - 2:49 pm
That's a tough one Lisa. If this were my client, I think I would want to learn as much as I could about the subgroup of folks that use the shuttle bus as the last link in their commute. The two things that would most interest me are a) How they get to the main campus and b) For occupants arriving at the main campus by conventional means, what distance is the trip from home to the main campus. Occupants arriving at the main campus by alternative means would be considered zero trips (unless its a carpool of course). But for occupants arriving at the main campus by conventional means, it would be really helpful to have some sense as to the portion of their daily commute that the shuttle represents. If I'm commuting 30 miles and only the last 5 is by shuttle, that's very different than the inverse, or even a 15/15 mile split. I think I would try to get a handle on those average distances, then assign a trip reduction accordingly. Does that help at all?
Lisa Tholen
FounderTholen Sustainability Group
21 thumbs up
December 9, 2010 - 3:09 pm
Yes, I think we are on the same track. The main campus and this satellite location are about 18 miles apart. I worded the question to require that they list the *longest* part of their commute if it was mixed. So, if they drove 5 miles to campus, parked and then took the shuttle the 18 miles they can claim the shuttle. Just to be sure, I'll go back and look at the zip codes of the shuttle riders to see the possible distance from home to the main campus. And FYI, I contacted ACEEE about when they'll be adding the 2011 cars to "the list," and they said not before February.
Lisa Tholen
FounderTholen Sustainability Group
21 thumbs up
December 9, 2010 - 3:26 pm
And the answer is that all but one of them live on or around the main campus! So, as far as I am concerned, that constitues zero trips! The other person's first leg of the trip is shorter than the second.