CTroyMathis
01 January 2003, 05:03 PM
Light rail's arrival also brings education campaign
Plano Star-Courier
By PAUL MEYER , Staff writer 12/11/2002
The trains have arrived, but attempts to change the traveling habits of Plano residents are only just beginning.
"A critical point of our plan is developing a comprehensive education program to change the culture of one-person vehicles," Plano
Planning and Information Manager Jeff Zimmerman told the Plano City Council Monday.
Arrival of DART light rail is part of the solution, Zimmerman explained, "but we have to continue to work to take people out of cars and get them into mass transit."
Zimmerman and members of Plano's Transition and Revitalization Commission are continuing to work on a report on the impact of a housing slowdown, changing demographics, and declining revenues on long-term city planning.
On Monday, the focus was transportation when the group released its quarterly report, calling for stepped-up education and alternative transportation to remedy projected traffic woes.
The renewed city focus also comes as regional transportation planners say North Texas commutes are growing at an unsustainable rate.
"We think the growth in the vehicle miles per employee is at an alarming rate that's unsustainable," Michael Morris of the North Central Texas Council of Governments said last week at a Regional Transportation Council hearing in Plano.
"The funding from Washington, D.C., and Austin simply won't support the amount of increase," Morris said.
Transportation planners are beginning to update the region's strategic plan for 2003 to 2007 by soliciting public input in cities across North Central Texas on how best to allocate the billions in state and federal funding.
For Plano, caught between explosive growth to the north and job centers to the south, officials say it will take more than the rail to mitigate expected levels of congestion from drivers passing through the city.
"We will always be the major employer in Collin County even when we aren't the largest population-wise," Plano City Councilman Jim McGee, an RTC member, said last week. "We're going to have a lot of cars on our roads that aren't citizens, and the result is that you have a lot of pass-through traffic from north to south and south to north."
Collin County is one of four regional counties that have failed to meet federal clean air standards. The region has until 2007 to come into compliance or face sanctions.
"The rail will help, but the problem with rail is it doesn't serve an entire community," Plano Councilman Ken Lambert said. "The rail will be helpful where it's close and convenient. But if you live in Willow Bend, you're not going to take a bus across town to get on a train to go downtown."
Lambert, formerly on the RTC, was part of a delegation that met last week with U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of House Transportation Committee, to discuss the region's transportation needs.
Apart from trying to secure more federal funds, Lambert can envision a time when minimum numbers of passengers per car will be required for freeway travel.
"Our biggest problem is that we have fewer people riding in car pools," Lambert said. "One of these days we will have to find a way to force people to get two people per car because I don't know if we can build our way out of the problem. We are as good as it's going to get overall in the region as far as congestion, and one solution would be to tell people you can't get on a freeway during certain hours of day with fewer than two people per car."
The solutions to the region's transportation woes are easy in theory -- double the number of people per car, encourage employers to let employees telecommute and work from home, increase rail ridership, and promote the use of fuel-efficient vehicles.
But when it comes to reality, officials say that a financial incentive has to exist for people to abandon their cars or modify their travel routines.
"The city of Plano is working with employers and residents to encourage carpooling, using DART rail, using the bus system, and moving toward hybrid vehicles. But unless there's a financial incentive, they're not going to do it," Plano Transportation Manager Lloyd Neal said Thursday.
Education alone, McGee said, won't be enough to motivate substantial change from those entrenched in their driving ways.
"It's not going to happen through education without hitting people in their pocketbooks," McGee said Monday.
Morris and McGee say that the future may also hold some innovative incentive programs to encourage car pools, including giving frequent flier miles to car pool participants and using a dual toll system where carpools would pay less than single drivers.
"Many of us do stupid things to get frequent flier miles," Morris said by way of explanation.
The number of passengers per car is now down to 1.09, according to RTC statistics, leading Morris to call on employers to take the lead in allowing employees to work from home and telecommute to the office.
Absent telecommuting, planners also hope to encourage even greater transportation-related development.
Wednesday's hearing coincided with Monday's opening of two new Plano rail stations, and Morris praised the city for its work in promoting new residential and commercial development around the stations.
"Sustainable development is well-represented in what is going on in the part of Plano where you combine development and transportation," Morris said. "Land use and transportation are hooked at the hip forever now."
Transportation planners hope for even greater mixed-use residential and commercial development along mass transit corridors, reducing need for cars to get from home to work.
"When we're projected as a region to bring in 80 percent more population, we're not going to be able to build 80 percent more capacity," Morris said.
Plano Star-Courier
By PAUL MEYER , Staff writer 12/11/2002
The trains have arrived, but attempts to change the traveling habits of Plano residents are only just beginning.
"A critical point of our plan is developing a comprehensive education program to change the culture of one-person vehicles," Plano
Planning and Information Manager Jeff Zimmerman told the Plano City Council Monday.
Arrival of DART light rail is part of the solution, Zimmerman explained, "but we have to continue to work to take people out of cars and get them into mass transit."
Zimmerman and members of Plano's Transition and Revitalization Commission are continuing to work on a report on the impact of a housing slowdown, changing demographics, and declining revenues on long-term city planning.
On Monday, the focus was transportation when the group released its quarterly report, calling for stepped-up education and alternative transportation to remedy projected traffic woes.
The renewed city focus also comes as regional transportation planners say North Texas commutes are growing at an unsustainable rate.
"We think the growth in the vehicle miles per employee is at an alarming rate that's unsustainable," Michael Morris of the North Central Texas Council of Governments said last week at a Regional Transportation Council hearing in Plano.
"The funding from Washington, D.C., and Austin simply won't support the amount of increase," Morris said.
Transportation planners are beginning to update the region's strategic plan for 2003 to 2007 by soliciting public input in cities across North Central Texas on how best to allocate the billions in state and federal funding.
For Plano, caught between explosive growth to the north and job centers to the south, officials say it will take more than the rail to mitigate expected levels of congestion from drivers passing through the city.
"We will always be the major employer in Collin County even when we aren't the largest population-wise," Plano City Councilman Jim McGee, an RTC member, said last week. "We're going to have a lot of cars on our roads that aren't citizens, and the result is that you have a lot of pass-through traffic from north to south and south to north."
Collin County is one of four regional counties that have failed to meet federal clean air standards. The region has until 2007 to come into compliance or face sanctions.
"The rail will help, but the problem with rail is it doesn't serve an entire community," Plano Councilman Ken Lambert said. "The rail will be helpful where it's close and convenient. But if you live in Willow Bend, you're not going to take a bus across town to get on a train to go downtown."
Lambert, formerly on the RTC, was part of a delegation that met last week with U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of House Transportation Committee, to discuss the region's transportation needs.
Apart from trying to secure more federal funds, Lambert can envision a time when minimum numbers of passengers per car will be required for freeway travel.
"Our biggest problem is that we have fewer people riding in car pools," Lambert said. "One of these days we will have to find a way to force people to get two people per car because I don't know if we can build our way out of the problem. We are as good as it's going to get overall in the region as far as congestion, and one solution would be to tell people you can't get on a freeway during certain hours of day with fewer than two people per car."
The solutions to the region's transportation woes are easy in theory -- double the number of people per car, encourage employers to let employees telecommute and work from home, increase rail ridership, and promote the use of fuel-efficient vehicles.
But when it comes to reality, officials say that a financial incentive has to exist for people to abandon their cars or modify their travel routines.
"The city of Plano is working with employers and residents to encourage carpooling, using DART rail, using the bus system, and moving toward hybrid vehicles. But unless there's a financial incentive, they're not going to do it," Plano Transportation Manager Lloyd Neal said Thursday.
Education alone, McGee said, won't be enough to motivate substantial change from those entrenched in their driving ways.
"It's not going to happen through education without hitting people in their pocketbooks," McGee said Monday.
Morris and McGee say that the future may also hold some innovative incentive programs to encourage car pools, including giving frequent flier miles to car pool participants and using a dual toll system where carpools would pay less than single drivers.
"Many of us do stupid things to get frequent flier miles," Morris said by way of explanation.
The number of passengers per car is now down to 1.09, according to RTC statistics, leading Morris to call on employers to take the lead in allowing employees to work from home and telecommute to the office.
Absent telecommuting, planners also hope to encourage even greater transportation-related development.
Wednesday's hearing coincided with Monday's opening of two new Plano rail stations, and Morris praised the city for its work in promoting new residential and commercial development around the stations.
"Sustainable development is well-represented in what is going on in the part of Plano where you combine development and transportation," Morris said. "Land use and transportation are hooked at the hip forever now."
Transportation planners hope for even greater mixed-use residential and commercial development along mass transit corridors, reducing need for cars to get from home to work.
"When we're projected as a region to bring in 80 percent more population, we're not going to be able to build 80 percent more capacity," Morris said.