This CIR is being submitted on behalf of a commercial office building located in the Washington DC metro area. The project is approximately 880,000 SF and has approximately 2500 occupants. The building is owner occupied. The ownership is seeking an alternative route for compliance for the LEED EB: O&M Sustainable Site credit Alternative Transportation 4.1 - 4.4. The building utilizes many different incentives and methods to encourage building occupants to use alternative transportation when commuting to and from the property. The ownership has made several programs available to the occupants including reimbursement of mass transit benefits, dedicated carpooling spots, public transportation kiosks throughout the building, an owner funded car share program, its proximity to eight major bus lines, shuttle service to the metro area subway system, and bike racks and showers for employees. All of these elements strongly encourage occupants to use alternative transportation and have been part of the management plan for over two (2) years. Due to the large number of building occupants the project would like to request at least one (1) point be awarded to the project for its efforts to encourage alternative transportation practices and its proximity to public transportation. Based on the project\'s dedication to providing methods and incentives for its occupants to use alternative modes of transportation, we are seeking, through complying with the intent of the credit, to qualify for one or more points within the rating system. The project alternate transportation features include: A total of 28 carpool parking spaces A carpooling information board available for associates to post carpooling destination points to assist in finding matches A total of 60 hybrid parking spaces or A total of 20 bike racks available on site; A total of 12 showers available for employees; A total of 4 vehicles available within the share program (owner funded) A total of 8 bus routes stop at the property with a total 3 bus stops on property The building offers a free shuttle to a subway station 1.8 miles away Telecommuting is encouraged and available to those positions that are able to complete their work offsite The alternate compliance would have the following requirements and submittals: Requirements The project must show the intent of the credit, and make at least six (6) different modes of alternative transportation available to building occupants The project team must provide a narrative describing the difficulties in obtaining survey results Submittal Documentation Documentation regarding the number of mass transit routes, location of stops in proximity to the project site, maps highlighting stops and project main entrance, and frequency of stops Site Plans of building parking layouts with carpool, hybrid and /or car share parking spots highlighted Site Plans highlighting location of bike racks and showers Narrative describing any other project specific modes of alternative transportation, indicating occupant usage Any other helpful information displaying the property\'s features that contribute towards the achieving the intent of the credit
Without an assessment of usership rates, provision of infrastructure alone is not adequate to demonstrate compliance with SSc4. Project teams for buildings with large occupancy numbers are encouraged to use the sampling approach described on p. 65 of the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance Reference Guide to reduce the number of occupants who must be surveyed, or to develop a survey methodology that targets recipients of transit subsidies or other alternative transportation incentives while assuming the worst case scenario (e.g., no use of alternative transportation) for all other occupants. Applicable Internationally.