I've been attempting to discover the number of times, or if there is a minimum number, that a bus must serve the stop in a day to count for this credit. Have I missed someone else asking this question? I can't seem to find anything beyond a vague "consistent access at peak times" (http://www.leeduser.com/credit/NC-2009/SSc4.1#gid-tab). Has anyone attempted to earn this credit and been denied due to the route not running by the site enough?
We've got one route which runs by the site but only stops once-per-day. We're working with the Owner to develop a "shuttle" program for anyone who works down in the Port but we would still need to address the second transporation option. This means we must approach the local transportation provider but we want to better understand how many more runs they would need to provide!
Thank you
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1980 thumbs up
February 28, 2011 - 10:48 pm
Hi Caroline,
I've seen a threshold of 50 rides per day at the particular stop as what LEED considers adequate service. There was a CIR from pre 2009 that set the threshold for exemplary performance at 4 times that, 200 rides per day, based on a transit research survey that found it was necessary to quadruple the level of service to double the ridership. Does that answer your question?
Caroline O'Leary
Architectstudio point253
99 thumbs up
March 1, 2011 - 2:17 am
Hey David,
The 50 rides per day I believe would answer my question. Our problem is that the project is in a small city in the state with a population of approximately 12,000 people. Due to budget cuts, the one busline that now serves the project within the 1/4 mile radius only stops in the area one time per day. We're considering ways we may be able to increase public transportation access to the site but I'm not sure we can hit the 50 rides per day regardless of how many times the line runs through the area.
If anyone has successfully worked with the USGBC on this or something similar it would be great to hear the experience. Due to the nature of the project, losing these 6 points has dropped us down to the level of Certification and the funding agency requires Silver. If the project doesn't meet Silver they lose their funding. We're looking at other ways to make up for this loss but as it sits, the other options are way out of the budget range it seems.
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1980 thumbs up
March 1, 2011 - 3:02 pm
Caroline,
That's a difficult situation given the population and density. If you search the new Interpretations database for NC2009 SSc4.1 you can find a few past rulings that can be applied here.
Inquiry # 1596 gives the 50 rides guidance ("Rides" confuses people; it's the number of times a bus stops at that stop). Inquiries 615, 618, and 476 may help if you're considering a shuttle service to count as a bus line, where it connects your site with other transit lines/ hub. A shuttle would have to run pretty frequently to count.
It might be difficult to get a high enough level of public transit service for your project given the local infrastructure, so you may also want to consider a multi-pronged Transit Management Plan to provide measureable reductions in single occupant vehicle use (shuttles, car pools, zip cars, fleet vehicles, web-based tools, magic carpets, etc.) It's important to provide alternative transit not just for employees, but also for visitors to the building.
This may not be relevant to your situation, but I've seen the ruling on inquiry #1596 used to establish an alternative compliance path for SSc4.1 when a project only had one bus line within the 1/4 mile radius, but it had very frequent service - just over 200 rides per day. (There were several other bus lines just outside the radius.) Since 200 rides had earned exemplary performance for an ID credit, the reviewers accepted that as a way to demonstrate alternative compliance for the basic credit level.
It would be great to hear from others on any other alternative strategies or Transit Management Plans they've used for this!
Michelle Teague
Architect, LEED ConsultantPolk Stanley Wilcox Architects
39 thumbs up
May 4, 2011 - 6:58 pm
Transit Ride definition: I'm looking for the inquiry you mentioned at the usgbc website LEED interpretations database and I'm not finding it. Where is the definition of "transit ride"?
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1980 thumbs up
May 17, 2011 - 5:21 pm
Michelle -
Funny, I can't find inquiry number 1596 either, but find what I recall as being that ruling now numbered #5020, a CIR Ruling posted on 9/11/2006. The specific wording is:
"This strategy is based on the assumption that the threshold of the base credit would provide, in most cases, at least 50 transit rides per day (half-hourly service 24 hours per day or more frequent service for less than 24 hours per day."
Hope that makes sense.
Robert Millspaugh
April 22, 2013 - 4:31 pm
Has Caroline or anyone else had any success in scenarios where 50 rides per day is not achievable as a result of community size/funding. If so what was the approach?
Matthew Cunha-Rigby
Sustainable LeaderHDR, Inc.
25 thumbs up
April 22, 2013 - 6:44 pm
Our project submitted a CIR for this credit and received the following response: "if the project team can justify the existing frequency meets the commuting needs of the project, lower frequencies may be acceptable."
That said, we did not end up pursuing this credit because we were not able to get the local transit agency to extend the bus route to our site - so we never submitted a narrative showing that frequencies less thn 50 rides/day met the commuting needs of the project. This response was also a CIR for our project and not a LEED interpretation, so it is not directly applicable to other projects.