Guest Column by Zachary Hilton: City promotes alternative modes of transportation

While there might be portions of our city that are isolated from transit, there are many ways to continue to draw residents toward transit.

Image by http://www.saferoutestoschools.org/

By Zachary Hilton

Zachary Hilton

I’d first like to start off with a message to the youth. Welcome back to school! We are encouraging our school community to leave the car at home and choose to walk/bike/roll to school. This helps teach our children safe walking and biking skills, reduces traffic and air pollution near our schools, and helps children get more physical activity. There will be incentive days on Walk-n-Roll Wednesdays at your local schools. If you need suggested walk/bike routes, then ask your school or a member of the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission for their official map that was created by the Safe Routes to School Task Force.

As a Gilroy City councilmember I’d like to show how we are able to shift to alternate modes of transportation by legislating policy. In August the Gilroy City Council approved The Kern Cottages, a 29 single-family home development near Mantelli Drive and Kern Avenue. For the first time we approved a recommendation that each new residence be given a $100 pre-loaded Clipper card. Clipper is the all-in-one transit card used for contactless fare payments throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. After the first year these cards will be auto-loaded annually by the HOA. Within .32 miles is the 85 VTA bus stop that serves the Gilroy Transit Center. Within .67 miles there is the 68 VTA bus stop that serves Morgan Hill and San Jose. All VTA buses that serve Gilroy have front loading bike racks. The Gilroy Transit Center is located 2.05 miles away and has long/short-term bicycle parking facilities. It connects to the 168 VTA Express Bus to San Jose, and three Caltrain connections to San Jose, the Peninsula, and San Francisco. This is just one way in which we will be reducing vehicle miles traveled by cars from the development.

With its convenient location to transit, shopping, schools, and off street bike/ped facilities there are few barriers to reducing vehicle miles traveled at The Kern Cottages. In our city’s General Plan 2040, we as a community called for bold actions that include providing high density housing options, affordable housing for all, and continuing to promote cleaner modes of transportation. We encourage existing and proposed development to incorporate Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures such as car-sharing, transit passes, and unbundling of parking (requiring separate purchase or lease of a parking space) where such measures will result in a reduction in vehicle miles traveled, reduction of required amount of parking or an increase in the use of alternate transportation modes.

Gilroy’s multi-modal transportation infrastructure consists of buses, trains, bikes, scooters, and walking. While there might be portions of our city that are isolated from transit, there are many ways to continue to draw residents toward transit. Gilroy has a fully connected bike network and transit options. Many residents are employed outside of Gilroy, but we have a large population that work and attend school in Gilroy. They benefit from local transit and rideshare. Gilroy has the vision that the glass is half full, and we have the ability to innovate and adapt to programs that will further reduce our vehicle miles traveled.

Outthink LLC is piloting a TDM program in the city that will completely mitigate The Cottages at Kern’s project vehicle miles traveled. The program uses transportation impact fees to fund e-bike programs for residents, particularly income-qualified residents, said Brian Barnacle, founder of Outthink.

My office and others will work with the HOA to develop a voluntary TDM travel behavior change program for residents. This would include monthly language in their communications to HOA members that promote the city of Gilroy work plans that focus on active transportation, current transit options, bike/walk infrastructure, bike/walk events, and safe routes to school. Including an annual presentation from our city’s Bicycle Pedestrian Commission.

The city also has work plans and incentive funding that is available through Santa Clara County’s Measure B Education & Encouragement Program.

We are actively advancing ideas and projects that promote the concept of free-range people in the city of Gilroy. We advocate for building and planning that considers future generations as well as current residents who don’t own cars. Advancing mobility options reflects what we are teaching the youth in our community through Safe Routes to School and why we are nationally recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists, as well as recognized by the World Health Organization as an Age-Friendly Community. If you haven’t taken the Gilroy Bike Pledge yet, you still can! See you on the road.

Zach Hilton is a Gilroy City councilmember.