Transportation Tomorrow Forum: December 9

• What is multi-modality?
• Multi-modality is the idea of using a variety of transportation modes instead of just one. For example, if you drive alone to campus some days, carpool on others, and then telework from home once per week, you are multi-modal (using more than one mode to commute or get to your destinations). You change your commute mode as you see fit and are not restricted to a single commute option.
• How do daily parking rates work with multi-modality?
• Wonderfully, in fact. Consider the description of multi-modality above--sometimes driving alone, sometimes carpooling, sometimes working from home. You would pay for parking each time you drive alone. If you’re carpooling with another person, you take turns paying for parking. When you telework (work from home, don’t come to campus), you don’t pay. With daily parking rates, you see immediate savings the day you chose not to drive to campus.
• I’ve heard Transportation Services use the term “daily choice” when referring to introducing daily rates. Can you explain what it means to have a daily choice?
• When we say “Daily Choice” we mean that you won’t be locked into an A-, C-, or L-level monthly pricing. If you as a staff member want to park close today, you can pay the A rate on that day. If you are otherwise OK walking a bit more after you park, you can choose to park in a C stall or L stall on other days.
• Commuting programs don’t seem to include commute options for out-of-town parents with kids. How can daily parking work for working families?

• As much as we would like to, we can’t guarantee that all commute options are tenable for all people. For example, transit commutes require that you surrender your “on-demand” transportation habits for a cheaper, low-stress commute. You can keep that on-demand feature if you ride a bike to work, but you’ll also travel a lot slower than a motor vehicle, and you may not want to connect multiple errands on a bike commute. For this reason, a lot of parents and caregivers find that their life simply requires them to drive for their commute. And that is OK!
  
  Our toolbox for sustainability is full of transportation options, but your toolbox includes energy usage, waste management, water usage, and even encouraging others to be more sustainable. If you are the “energy dictator” of your household because you replace incandescent bulbs with LEDs and you tweak the thermostat, you are contributing to the solution! We don’t ever want people to feel ashamed that they’re not commuting in the most sustainable way imaginable. We would only ask that you consider an EV in your next vehicle purchase and appeal to the general understanding that all of your sustainability efforts matter.

• For electric vehicles paying for daily parking--will there be a separate fee-charging fee applied (similar to the monthly permits)?
• Electric vehicle drivers may pay the posted daily rate for EV vehicles. The daily rate includes the time to charge (up to 4 hours) as well as daily parking access in either a C or L zone. No need to pay twice.
  Note: If a charging stall is not available when you need to pay for parking and you pay through ParkMobile, you will see a 4-hour timer. Until further notice, you may ignore this timer and park in a C or L stall until a charging stall becomes available. 
• Will the Causeway Connection expand its hours of operation?
• This is our hope and expectation. Due to the pandemic, the Causeway Connection launched with only a 10-trip per day schedule (out of the intended 52 trips per day!). As utilization increased, so did the trips. We are now at 30 trips per day.
• Are there plans to offer a light-rail connection between Sacramento and Davis? 
• We know that SacRT is planning to expand its light rail system into Yolo County, and there is little question that we would welcome its arrival in Davis or at the UC Davis Campus, but we don’t know any immediate plan to connect Sacramento and Davis via light rail.
• Will pre-tax deduction be available to employees who want to pay for daily parking? 
• Yes, more information about the exact process will be coming out in Spring 2021.
• My job and those of most of my coworkers cannot be done remotely. What happens for those of us who cannot (or will not) bike or use carpool or transit options?
• The daily rate pricing has been initially based on the monthly permit fees. So those who cannot participate in alternative transportation modes would not be penalized by daily fees. However, one would still reap the benefits of not having to pay to park when they take a day off or are not able to come to campus (i.e. you pay to park per day, not per month).
  
  Further, the majority of our Transportation Tomorrow Forum discussion focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from commuter travel via vehicle trip reduction. What we didn’t cover in the forum (and we hope we can in the future) is the role of using sustainable fuels in a sustainable commute. We see a hierarchy of preferred commute options:
  
  Remote Work
  Walk
  Bike
  Bus/train
  Vanpool
  EV Carpool
  Any other carpool
  EV Drive Alone
  
  Drive alone​​Notice the addition of EV (Electric Vehicles). If you must drive to work, have the ability to charge an EV at home, and are in the market for a new vehicle, we ask that you consider going with an EV or at least a plug-in hybrid as your new vehicle. The UC Davis Plugin-Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Research Center lists a number of purchase and lease incentives for UC Davis affiliates and also has a wonderful utility to help you decide if such a vehicle is right for you. 

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