Park South Parking and Transportation Demand Management Study Report

Park South Neighborhood
PTDM Peer Review

FINAL REPORT

June 2014

PARK SOUTH NEIGHBORHOOD PTDM PEER REVIEW
City of Albany
Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | i
Table of Contents
Page
Background ................................................................................................................................ 1
Key Findings .............................................................................................................................. 1
Todays Parking System ........................................................................................................................... 2
Todays Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Measures ..................................................... 4
Key Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 5
Parking Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 5
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Recommendations ..................................................... 7
Site and Garage Design Recommendations ........................................................................................ 9
Appendix A Methodological Approach ............................................................................... 1
Parking Demand ........................................................................................................................................ 1
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) ....................................................................................... 1
Appendix B Existing Parking and TDM ............................................................................... 1
Todays Parking System ........................................................................................................................... 1
Todays TDM Measures .......................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix C Parking Analysis ............................................................................................. 1
Off-Street Parking Management ........................................................................................................... 1
On-Street Parking Management ............................................................................................................ 9
Appendix D TDM Analysis .................................................................................................. 1
Unbundling of Parking and Parking Cash-Out Programs.................................................................. 3
Universal Access Passes ............................................................................................................................ 4
Ridesharing ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Guaranteed Ride Home ........................................................................................................................... 5
Car Sharing ................................................................................................................................................. 6
On-Site Bicycle Accommodation ............................................................................................................. 7
Transit Enhancements ................................................................................................................................. 7
Monitoring and Evaluation ....................................................................................................................... 8
Appendix E Site Recommendations .................................................................................... 1
Site Design .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Garage Design .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Appendix F Peer Best Practices ........................................................................................... 1
Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT ......................................................................................... 2
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN ..................................................................................................................... 3
Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME .................................................................................................... 5
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY ..................................................................... 6
Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Buffalo, NY .................................................................................. 7
Seattle Childrens Hospital, Seattle, WA ............................................................................................ 10
University of Maryland-Baltimore, Baltimore, MD ............................................................................ 12

City of Albany
Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 1
BACKGROUND
The City of Albany contracted Nelson\Nygaard to provide an evaluation and analysis of the parking impacts and
transportation demand management (TDM) opportunities associated with the proposed Albany Medical Center
(AMC)/Tri-City development proposal.
The team took a two-pronged approach: 1) examine the proposed development site in isolation; and 2) consider
the site in the context of the Park South neighborhood and infrastructure that exists nearby. As observed
repeatedly around the county, in mixed-use, urban environments, development projects do not exist in isolation:
they are impacted by their surrounding land uses, transportation systems, and other factors.
In support of this, the sites location within the City's Park South Urban Renewal Plan (PSURP) will benefit from
that plans neighborhood-wide goals. Plan objectives include the creation of residential housing, an increase in the
sense of community and place, the elimination of conditions which are detrimental to health and safety, the
reduction of the neighborhoods isolation by creating safe and public linkages, and more.
The City of Albany is trying to think holistically about new development and
infrastructure opportunities in Park South as such, this review seeks to understand
the proposed development as part of a greater neighborhood.
KEY FINDINGS
Nelson\Nygaard reviewed the proposed plans dated January 27, 2014 and site plan from June 2, 2014,
information provided by the City, CDTA, and the Albany Medical Center, and conducted field observations and
counts in April and May 2014. The main findings are:
Proposed Site
The proposed parking ratios for the development site exceed national parking industry standards
1
. The
Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)s standards are considered very conservative because they do not
account for development in mixed-use locations that experience lower parking demand, higher Internal
Capture
2
, and natural shared parking
3
effects.
The proposed parking ratios for the development site also exceed the minimums proposed in the PSURP,
resulting in 200 extra proposed spaces.
Assuming conventional co-mingling of users within the proposed garage
4
, the staggered peak demand hours
of different uses (especially residential and medical office) would be for only 657 spaces. With a typical 10%
search margin or reserve capacity of 66 spaces, the on-site supply could be only 800 spaces. With an
improved TDM program and site amenities, that supply could reduce to only 640 spaces.
Neighborhood Context
Within a five-minute walk of the site, there are over 6,000 parking spaces (see Appendix B for more details) ,
and at least 200 on-street and 600 off-street spaces remain available at the point of highest parking demand
(11am on a weekday).

1
The most thoroughly research and accepted national standards are those promulgated by the Institute of Transportation Engineers in its
Parking General Manual.
2
Internal capture is the rate at which an individual parker might also walk to another use on the same trip, i.e. visiting the coffee shop after
parking and before starting work, which requires only one parking space instead of two a 50% internal capture rate.
3
Absent any walking or internal capture, different uses have their peak demand at different times of day. When parking is shared such
as with street parking or large garages the peaks of different users stagger, so that the maximum accumulation of cars is lower than the
sum of their individual peaks.
4
Except valet parking, which will have its own field and entrance into the garage.
City of Albany
The surrounding land uses are already utilizing fewer spaces than expected due to Internal Capture (observed
as 28%). ITE suggests that there should be about 7,500 spaces for the area; at peak, about 6,000 are used
(and nearly 7,700 are provided).
Existing measures to reduce parking demand have been minimally used to date. Additional measures (as
outlined in Appendix D) and more coordinating advertizing might help reduce demand further, as has been
documented in numerous case studies of similar medical centers around the United States (see Appendix F).
TODAYS PARKING SYSTEM
In order to accurately estimate rates of Internal Capture and use of alternative
modes for those who come to the Park South neighborhood, a five-minute walk
radius
6
of the site was drawn, in which there are 7,686 spaces
7
. A majority of
the on-street parking is unregulated; several streets are time-limited during the
day on weekdays only; and there are meters along New Scotland Avenue near
the Albany Medical Center. The majority of the off-street parking in the study area is devoted to either the Albany
Medical Center or the Veterans Affairs Hospital.

6
A five-minute walk radius is a recognized method to understand a site context and immediate surroundings, representing a reasonable
walking distance (1/4 mile).
7
This includes AMCs remote lots in their South Campus, from which many main campus employees are shuttled daily. Including these facilities
ensures a complete picture of parking activity for the hospital. To be conservative, we assumed all employees parking there are shuttled to
the hospital when in fact many walk to South Campus buildings. As a result, hospital parking demand is somewhat overestimated.
Parking
Location
Number
of Spaces
Percent
of Total
On-Street 1,175 15%
Off-Street 6,511 85%
Total 7,686 100%

City of Albany
Parking utilization counts indicate that:
11:00 a.m. is much busier than 4:00 p.m. overall, particularly at the VA and AMC facilities
AMC facilities closest to the hospital have the most availability
The AMC remote lots have some capacity at all times
On-street parking utilization is higher at 11:00 a.m. but remains busy at the northeastern edge of the study
area after the hospital demand decreases; however, there is overall availability on-street
Despite the Thursday morning No Parking restriction, many parkers still use those on-street segments
Valet lots are underutilized

City of Albany
TODAYS TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT (TDM) MEASURES
Overall, there are some TDM measures in place in the Park South neighborhood:
iPool2, managed by CDTC, offers a free carpool ridematching service.
It includes Park and Ride, a Guaranteed Ride Home program, and
vanpools of 5-15 people. To date, AMC has about 200 employees that
have registered on iPool2, and AMC is seeking more participants.
AMC provides a shuttle that serves its remote lots. Annual shuttle
ridership in 2013 was about 375,000 passengers.
Outdoor bicycle racks are provided at AMC in a few locations and
there are secure indoor bike rooms for employees.
The Capital District Transit Authority (CDTA) operates five bus routes that serve the Albany Medical
Center/Park South area. Today, only two-percent of AMC employees ride the bus, though several hundred
employees live within a short walk of a single-seat ride to the hospital suggesting additional TDM incentives
can boost ridership. The AMC/Tri-City development will have a Universal Access Pass agreement providing
reduced-cost transit options to tenants.

City of Albany
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS
The development provides more dedicated on-site parking than national guidelines
would suggest are needed, and national guidelines estimate parking ratios based on
single-use, suburban-type developments. Incorporating conservative reductions for
Internal Capture and TDM would produce a greater gap. If future demand indeed is
lower than the proposed supply, there is a great opportunity to accommodate the
parking for other future uses at this site. Parking use should be monitored and
flexibility to share spare supply ensured in the future.
The developer should consider operational flexibility for their proposed supply, such as:
Ensuring future nearby uses can utilize the garage, as anywhere from 100 to 250 spaces may be vacant at full
occupancy, representing a great opportunity to add new development nearby without new parking
Not restrict spaces by user group to manage the parking supply efficiently
Discussion
The table below shows parking ratios proposed by the developer (Site Parking Ratio), industry guidelines (ITE
Parking Ratio), and the neighborhood plan (PSURP Parking Ratio).
Use Size Site Parking Ratio ITE Parking Ratio PSURP Parking Ratio
Mid to Low Rise Apartment 268 units 1.00 per unit 1.20 per unit 0.75 per unit
Medical Office 135,000 SF 3.89 per ksf 3.20 per ksf 3.00 per ksf
Retail 27,000 SF 2.00 per ksf 2.55 per ksf 2.00 ksf
Valet Parking* 73 spaces
Total On-Site Parking 920 spaces 847 + 73 valet 822 + 73 valet 660 + 73 valet
*From document titled Developer Parking Calculations2, December 20, 2013
Parking Demand by Time of Day
Using a peak period parking ratio per use essentially locks up that supply for the land use(s) throughout the
course of an entire day. Instead, the team applied the methodology contained in Shared Parking by the Urban
Land Institute (ULI), which accounts for the staggered peaks of actual time-of-day demand by use to show that
if the developer managed parking in a shared environment where the parking supply would be open to all users
of the site, regardless of parking purpose (medical, residential, retail) the estimated parking demand would be
substantially lower than what is being provided. Using this model, peak demand is 657 parking spaces (plus valet),
rather than the AMC/Tri-City estimate of 847 (plus valet), resulting in a needed on-site supply of about 800
spaces about 120 less than proposed. This assumes no internal capture
8
.

8
Note that the observed Internal Capture rate for the five-minute walk study area only is 28%, which was calculated by comparing
observed demand to modeled demand. The Internal Capture rate for the five-minute walk boundary plus AMCs remote parking is 10%.
This lower Internal Capture rate was used to conservatively calibrate the parking demand model, resulting in higher demand projections than
would be found with the more locally-observed rate.
City of Albany
Parking Demand by Time of Day Using AMC/Tri-City Parking Ratios (No Internal Capture)

Parking Demand by Time of Day plus Internal Capture and TDM
Mixed-use, urban environments offer the opportunity to patronize multiple destinations with just one parking
space. If the development has a TDM program (as recommended below), the parking demand would be about 515
parking spaces (plus valet), which would translate to a supply of about 640 spaces about 280 less than
proposed. This assumes a 20% internal capture rate and a 15% TDM program reduction.

Parking Demand by Time of Day Using AMC/Tri-City Parking Ratios Plus 20% Internal Capture and 15% TDM

847 spaces total
762 spaces (10% reserve)
105 spaces
847 spaces total
247 spaces
City of Albany
TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT (TDM) RECOMMENDATIONS
The developer is implementing a TDM program for tenants of the site. There is an
opportunity to expand this program to substantially reduce parking demand and
provide employees with even better commuting options.
Key TDM Recommendations:
Implementation of more robust TDM programs have the potential to substantially reduce parking demand:
Many employees live close to existing transit services that provide a single-seat ride to work
Funding TDM incentives cost less than building structured parking
The City and Capital District Transit Authority (CDTA) are willing partners in providing TDM programs
TDM programs will work best if they are:
Integrated and visible through normal Human Resources functions that include descriptions of employee
benefits for leaving the car at home, financial incentives, and attractive amenities for walking, biking & busing
Marketed and promoted both internally and externally
Measurable and monitored regularly to be able to evaluate, assess, and adjust TDM investments
Discussion
Opportunities for further reducing parking and travel demand can be achieved through using TDM strategies.
TDM programs also tend to have a greater overall effect on regional commuting patterns when they are applied
and coordinated at larger scales. This not only allows economies of scale to be achieved, leveraging a larger travel
market to negotiate costlier travel enhancements, but it also increases opportunities for more inexpensive TDM
approaches that rely on a critical mass of participants.
With this and the growing trend toward public agency guidance and assistance in mind, the City of Albany may
wish to take a proactive position in helping to coordinate demand management strategies between the proposed
AMC/Tri-City development and the existing AMC and Albany Stratton VA Hospital facilities. To help illustrate the
potential increases in TDM-related commute trip reduction, we have estimated effects on both the scale of the
AMC/Tri-City development exclusively (the Basic approach) and on the scale of a combined Medical District that
comprises this development along with AMCs facilities and the Albany Stratton VA hospital (the Advanced
approach/Combined Medical District).
These calculations are offered to demonstrate the potentially reduced parking demand at the AMC/Tri-City
Development, which can open up substantial supply for future shared uses in the district to be built without
parking. Many precedents exist, especially at similar medical centers around the county. The TDM programs and
their impacts are described in Appendix D.
City of Albany
Parking and TDM Program Elements and Reductions

City of Albany
SITE AND GARAGE DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
With minimal enhancements, the sites design can be enhanced further to
reflect urban conditions with improved pedestrian access and safety
while minimizing the impact of the parking facilities.
Key Site Design Recommendations:
The sites design could be further enhanced to reflect urban conditions:
Some streetwall gaps are excessive and attempts should be made to minimize them to a
maximum of 50 feet if possible
Proposed curb cuts appear wide and should be no more than 20-feet wide for a two-way cut
Sidewalks should be extended across driveways for a level pedestrian/ wheelchair crossing
Curb extensions should be added at all intersection and mid-block on Dana
The long block dimension is twice the ideal walk distance and opportunities to create mid-
block connectivity should be explored
A wider sidewalk should be built on Myrtle to off-set the lack of sidewalk on its south side
Consider adding another floor of wrapped housing to screen the taller protruding garage
Key Garage Design Recommendations:
There are several ways to improve the current design of the garage:
The single-loaded parking bay is inefficient, driving up the per-space cost of the garage
Garage deck/ramp slopes should be verified to ensure they are shallow enough for safe walking
Ensure that entry gates are far enough within the garage to avoid queues across the sidewalk
Exiting drivers can have clear sightlines to crossing pedestrians with appropriate garage
openings or setback
Natural garage ventilation should be considered to substantially reduce cost if there is
sufficient gap between the garage and residential units
Discussion
Many elements of the built environment impact individuals desires to walk between uses or
consider commuting by alternatives to the automobile. Safety, security, directness, and comfort of
sidewalks, crosswalks, intersections, bike facilities, and other non-auto facilities directly impact
parking demand by enhancing or degrading opportunities for Internal Capture and mode shift.
Certain treatments should be considered at the development site to further enhance walking and
biking accommodation cost-effectively.
The map on the next page summarizes the proposed site design recommendations. All
improvements must be ADA compliant, particularly curb ramps and bus shelters.
City of Albany
Site Design Recommendations

City of Albany
Appendix A Methodological Approach
The team took a two-pronged approach with its parking and TDM analysis: the first was
examining the proposed development site; the second was examining the proposed site plus all
land uses and infrastructure that exists within a five minute walk from the site boundary. In
mixed-use, urban environments, development projects do not exist in isolation: they are impacted
by the surrounding land uses, transportation systems, and other factors.
PARKING DEMAND
Park Souths walkable environment inherently allows for a shared parking environment,
regardless of privately regulated facilities. Visitors can park once and visit multiple destinations;
employees can park once for the day and walk to run errands; and residents can eat, shop, and
work locally without using their car. Each land use does not need its own dedicated supply of
parking, yet that is exactly what typical zoning codes indicate is needed. In addition, throughout
the day, different uses have different peak demands: for example, a medical office may have a
high demand until 5pm, and a restaurant may have a high demand only after 5pm.
The medical area today already shares parking; for example, a student may park once and then
walk to a rotation at the hospital, or a guest at the Hilton Hotel may park once at the hotel garage
and then walk to the hospital. Whether formal or informal, shared parking opportunities use
available parking resources more efficiently and can allow for additional development.
To model the proposed development in the context of the Park South neighborhood,
Nelson\Nygaard used an adapted shared parking model using inputs from the Urban Land
Institute's (ULI) Shared Parking Manual (2nd Edition, 2005) and ITE's Parking Generation (4th
Edition, 2010). In addition to calculating demand by time of day by specific uses, the Park South
model tailored the shared parking model to account for internal capture, meaning that there are
trips in the neighborhood that are made by patrons who, having already parked, travel between
separate uses by foot and only use one parking space. The shared parking model also factored in
TDM reductions, based on a recommended set of strategies outlined below.
TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT (TDM)
Transportation demand management (TDM) measures are many and vary in complexity and cost,
but all work collectively to change how, when, where, and why people travel. All TDM measures
are designed to promote the use of alternative modescycling, walking, transit, and carpooling
by giving employees, residents, and visitors incentives to reduce reliance on the single-occupant
vehicle. TDM approaches can be an important, cost-effective solution to overall transportation
challenges, both reducing vehicular impact and parking demand, while improving accessibility
and sustainability of a development. The TDM approach includes a variety of strategies that work
together to achieve a more sustainable system by making the most of the existing infrastructure.
Nelson\Nygaard identified a series of demand management scenarios that would demonstrate the
full range of potential for reducing the required amounts of parking associated with the AMC/Tri-
City development program. Many of these TDM strategies are universal approaches and can be
applied with specific program refinements. In addition, these programs are even more cost-
effective and impactful when integrated into a larger district-wide TDM plan and program, such
as the medical district and/or the Park South neighborhood.
City of Albany
Appendix B Existing Parking and TDM
This section provides data and analysis to understand the existing transportation and parking
conditions in Albany Park South at the proposed development site.
TODAYS PARKING SYSTEM
The existing parking conditions data summarized in this section were collected in early May 2014.
This includes:
Parking Inventory A review of all parking spaces, public and private, by location and
regulation.
Parking Utilization Observed use of existing parking through the course of a typical
weekday. Includes utilization profiles of "core" areas, general and restricted access lots, and
publicly and privately owned lots.
Study Area
This project is focused on the proposed development of two blocks bounded by New Scotland
Avenue, Robin Street, Dana Avenue, and Myrtle Avenue. The team analyzed this site in context of
its surroundingsa five-minute walk radius of the siteshown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1 Study Area

City of Albany
Parking Inventory and Regulations
A complete understanding of parking supply and regulations are the necessary base components
to interpreting parking patterns and behaviors in the study area. The inventory includes all
parking within the defined study area, excluding small private driveways. This inventory was
compiled and used to create a complete parking database of all parking facilities in the study area.
The database was geo-coded to spatially display the existing parking facilities (see Figure 3),
which remained as the base information that was used throughout the analysis.
Within the five-minute walk radius, there are 6,248 parking spaces. However, because the Albany
Medical Center and the VA Hospital are located within the five-minute walk radius, the team
analyzed all parking spaces affiliated with the main Albany Medical Center and VA Hospital
12
. For
the Medical Center, this included remote shuttle lots but excluded lots affiliated with separate
buildings. This expanded the five-minute walk radius inventory to a total of 7,686 spaces,
referred to in this analysis as the Study Area parking supply
13
.
Figure 2 Parking Inventory Overview Study Area
Parking Location
Number of
Spaces
Percent of
Total
On-Street 1,175 15%
Off-Street 6,511 85%
Total 7,686

12
The inclusion of the VA parking where employees have few off-site destinations that might capture trips internally
results in a more conservative estimate for internal capture at the development site.
13
AMC parking supply includes a total of 5,287 spaces derived from field data for AMC and affiliated facilities:
Eden Park Lot (E3): 53; Notre Dame Lot (E1): 175; Princeton Lot (E2): 425; 60 NS Garage (G1): 1,300; 40 NS Garage
(G2): 1,550; Alzheimers Center (S5): 33; CDPC Garage (G3): 900; CMS Garage (G4): 385; 16 NS Lot (S2): 50;
Center Building Lot (S8): 80; Myrtle Valet Lot (S7): 54; AMC Additional Valet (Myrtle Street at New Scotland Street):
64; Physicians Pavilion (S1): 218
City of Albany
On-Street Parking
Figure 3 includes all on-street regulations in the study area. A majority of the on-street parking is
unregulated, particularly to the northwest. Although these streets are unregulated during the day,
some have parking restrictions on Thursday mornings. A few on-street segments have overnight
parking restrictions.
To the southeast, on-street parking is time-limited during the day on weekdays only. Several of
these spaces have parking restrictions one day per week in the morning (typically a Wednesday or
a Thursday).
Outside of the residential neighborhoods, there are meters along New Scotland Avenue near the
Albany Medical Center. Metered parking consists of 2-hour, 10-hour, and 20-minute meters with
varying rates. For an eight-hour stay, a motorist might pay anywhere from $6.00 to $10.00.
Off-Street Parking
The majority of the off-street parking in the study area is devoted to either the Albany Medical
Center or the Veterans Affairs Hospital. Albany Medical Center provides parking for its employees
at multiple lots and garages, including several remote shuttle lots to the south. There are also
multiple valet lots throughout the study area that the AMC uses for vehicle storage. The VA
Hospital has parking adjacent to the building in two large lots.
AMC permit parking rates (shown in terms of approximate daily parking cost) are shown in
Figure 4; rates vary based on location from $0.48 per day to $2.38 per day.
City of Albany
Figure 3 Parking Inventory

City of Albany
Figure 4 Off-Street Parking Permit Rates (approximate Daily User Fee)

City of Albany
Parking Utilization
Parking utilization counts provide a snapshot of typical parking use for a typical day in an area. To
gather this data, the team counted parked cars in each on-street segment, lot, and garage at pre-
determined time intervals. Land usage, regulation, price, and signage can drastically influence
how even adjoining parking assets are utilized. By compiling parking utilization spatially, one can
begin to clearly identify patterns of high or low usage, the impact of regulations, and assess how
much of the parking supply is actually utilized throughout a typical day.
The consultant team conducted parking utilization counts on a Thursday
14
in early May. Data
collectors captured weekday parking demand for the traditional daytime peak at 11:00 a.m. and
after the shift change at 4:00 p.m.
The analysis on the following pages show the parking utilization profiles for the two time points in
the study area. They are displayed in a variety of sub-sets: the entire study area, particular blocks
and lots, and core areas of demand. The red lines indicate functional capacity of parking
15
, i.e. a
vacancy of 15-percent on-streetabout 1 out of 8 on-street spaces is availableand ninety-
percent for off-street lotsa recognized national standard of when a parking facility is
functionally full.
Key Findings
11:00 a.m. is much busier than 4:00 p.m. overall, particularly at the VA and AMC facilities
The AMC remote lots have capacity at all times
On-street parking utilization is higher at 11:00 a.m. but remains busy at the northeastern
edge of the study area after the hospital demand decreases. However, there is overall capacity
on-street
Despite the Thursday morning No Parking restriction, many parkers still use those on-street
segments

14
According to Visitor garage counts from 3/31/14 - 4/11/14 in 40 and 60 New Scotland, Thursdays represent a
typical weekday for parking volume (Wednesdays are the highest visitor volumes and are 3.1% more busy than a
Thursday).
15
Best national parking management practice suggests that parking is functionally full at 85% on-street (about one of
every seven spaces is available) and 90% off-street.
City of Albany
Figure 5 Parking Utilization - 11:00 a.m. Weekday

City of Albany

Figure 6 Parking Utilization 4:00 p.m. Weekday

City of Albany
As shown in Figure 7, parking utilization is much higher at 11:00 a.m. than later in the day.
However, there is still significant capacity overall. Even assuming that parking restrictions took
500 spaces offline, there are still at least 1,200 available parking spaces. At 4:00 p.m., many of the
large parking facilities have substantially more availability than during the day.
The following charts show the five-minute walk boundary only; they exclude the remote lots.
Figure 7 Study Area Parking Utilization

Figure 8 and Figure 9 show parking utilization by on- and off-street. While the off-street parking
capacity is well-used (approximately 80%) at 11:00 a.m., there are at least 600 empty spaces at
peak before reaching functional 90% capacity. While up to 500 on-street spaces were offline
during morning restrictions, dozens of cars remained in those spaces, and there was still
significant availability on-street.
Figure 8 On-Street Parking Utilization Figure 9 Off-Street Parking Utilization

The metered spaces near the hospital are underutilized at both 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., as
shown in Figure 10.
City of Albany
Figure 10 Metered Parking Utilization

This analysis indicates that although the AMC and the VA generate high parking demand, there is
still capacity both on- and off-street.
TODAYS TDM MEASURES
Overall, there are already some TDM measures in place in the Park South neighborhood. The
following summarizes these efforts, as well as the transit routes serving the area.
iPool2
iPool2, managed by CDTC, offers a free carpool ridematching service for anyone who lives or
works in the Capital Region. In addition, iPool2 offers information about free Park and Rides, a
Guaranteed Ride Home program (eligible for up to six uses per year), and vanpools of 5-15
people.
AMC has about 200 employees that have registered on iPool2, but the actual participation rate is
unknown. AMC does not offer any incentives to use a carpool (e.g. premium parking spaces,
discounted parking permit rates, guaranteed rides home, etc.), nor is the program well-advertised
at this stage, but the hospital is committed to getting more employees to participate.
Other TDM
AMC provides a shuttle that serves its
remote lots. Annual shuttle ridership in
2013 was about 375,000 passengers. This
service helps reduce driving demand to
the hospitals front door, though users are
still driving to the remote lot locations.
Outdoor bicycle racks are provided at
AMC in a few locations, though the
quantity and quality of these racks is not
notable. Few of these racks appear to be
covered, but indoor secure bicycle storage
rooms exist at AMC for employees.
20
17
22
25
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
11:00 AM 4:00 PM
Occupied Vacant
City of Albany
CDTA Transit Service
According to a 2008 AMC employee survey, 2% of employees took transit to work (99 employees
out of 6,434 respondents). Today, the Capital District Transit Authority (CDTA) operates five bus
routes that serve the Albany Medical Center/Park South area:
#13-New Scotland Ave operates as a trunk route, running 7 days a week and most hours of the
day
#100-Mid-City Belt and #114-Madison/Washington are neighborhood routes, which run 6-7
days a week
734-Hackett Boulevard and 763-Schenectady/Albany via Route 20 are commuter routes,
running weekdays only with limited mid-day service
The base fare for all five routes is $1.50, with no free transfers between routes.
Route 100 has the highest annual ridership of these routes with close to 700,000 passengers
riding in a year. It operates as an in-town circulator with service every 30 minutes. This route
serves a number of destinations beyond Albany Medical Center, including the Palace Theatre,
Times Union Center Arena, Lincoln Park, Sage College, the VA Medical Center, and more.
Route 13 has the second highest annual ridership, serving around 450,000 passengers a year,
traveling between the riverfront and just outside the western border of the city. This route runs
every 20 minutes through the morning and evening peak hours, but changes to 30 minute
headways between 9am and 3pm. There are many destinations that lie along this route as well,
including the New York State Capitol, St. Peters Hospital, the main branch of the Albany Public
Library, the VA Medical Center, Singerlands Medical, and more.
Route 114 carries nearly 300,000 passengers a year between the Rensselaer Rail Station and
Crossgates Mall, running approximately every 35 minutes. This route also serves the New York
State Library, Empire Center at the EGG, Washington Park, the State University of New York at
Albany R.A.C.C., Empire State Plaza, and more.
Routes 734 and 763 travel the farthest distances but have the lowest annual ridership of the five
bus routes serving the Albany Medical Center/Park South area. As commuter routes, each of these
services only run during the morning and evening peak hours, serving passengers commuting into
town for the day and leaving town in the evenings. These services do not operate on the weekends.
Route 734 also serves the New York State Capitol, Ohav Shalom, and Stonehenge Apartments.
Route 763 serves the Guilderland Public Library, Washington Park, Stuyvesant Plaza, Twenty
Mall, and Downtown Schenectady.
Today's route characteristics are summarized below.

City of Albany
Figure 11 CDTA Characteristics that Serve AMC
Route Name
Route
Classification
1

AMC / Park
South
Riders
2

(Daily)
Route
Ridership
(Annual)
Max
Load
3

%
Capacity
4

13 New Scotland Avenue Trunk 92 450,933 49 111%
100 Mid-City Belt Neighborhood 77 683,359 67 152%
114 Madison / Washington Neighborhood 45 295,449 46 105%
734 Hackett / Buckingham Commuter 13 30,922 9 20%
763 Albany / Schenectady
via Rt 20
Commuter 15 71,859 34 77%
1
Classifications based on level of service and ability to attract ridership.

Trunks = 7 days/week, high frequency, early AM to late night

Neighborhoods = 6-7 days/week, 30 minute frequency

Commuter = Weekdays only, 3-5 trips in the morning and evening with limited mid-day service
2
Current ridership for all stops from Madison & New Scotland to New Scotland & Holland
3
Maximum load during peak periods
4
Capacity based on 39 seats + 5 standees

The map below shows the relationship between CDTA transit service and AMC employee home
locations. Several hundred employees live within a short walk of a single-seat ride to the hospital,
however an AMC reports that it sells only about 45 bus passes per month through pre-tax payroll
deduction or discounted cash purchase. This is a decrease from 125 employees that purchased a
pass before the most recent transit fare increase.
CDTA also offers a Guaranteed Ride Home program (iRide). Eligible participants must have a
monthly Swiper card. Participants can use this service up to six days per calendar year or $300
worth of rides. Rides must originate at work or school location.
City of Albany
Figure 12 Home Locations of AMC Employees with CDTA Overlays

City of Albany
Appendix C Parking Analysis
OFF-STREET PARKING MANAGEMENT
This section demonstrates the expected parking demand generated by 1) the proposed site and 2)
the proposed site in relation to the five-minute walk boundary.
The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) produces a periodic report titled Parking
Generation, which is the prevailing national standard in determining parking demand for a
development. ITE standards are based on parking demand studies submitted to ITE by a variety
of parties, including public agencies, developers and consulting firms. A majority of the data
contained in ITE is from single-use, suburban developments. The most recent Parking Generation
manual available is the 4th edition (2010) and is a comparative starting point to determine
baseline assumptions.
Proposed Development
The proposed development provides more dedicated on-site parking than national guidelines
would suggest. As noted above, the national guidelines estimate parking ratios based on single-
use, suburban-type developments. The development also proposes more parking than the Park
South Renewal Plan parking minimums. This comparison is shown below in Figure 13.
Figure 13 Proposed Development Parking Provided vs. ITE Standards
Use Size Site Parking Ratio ITE Parking Ratio PSURP Parking Ratio
Mid to Low Rise Apartment 268 units 1.00 per unit 1.20 per unit 0.75 per unit
Medical Office 135,000 SF 3.89 per ksf 3.20 per ksf 3.00 per ksf
Retail 27,000 SF 2.00 per ksf 2.55 per ksf 2.00 ksf
Valet Parking* 73 spaces
Total On-Site Parking 920 spaces 847 + 73 valet 822 + 73 valet 660 + 73 valet
*From document titled Developer Parking Calculations2, December 20, 2013

Using a peak period parking ratio like any in Figure 13 essentially locks up that supply for the land
use(s) throughout the course of an entire day. This is visualized in Figure 14. Parking provided
using the site ratios is shown in the left chart from 6 a.m. until midnight; ITE guidelines are
shown in the right chart.

City of Albany
Figure 14 Site Parking Requirements Compared to ITE
Site Ratios: Total 847 (plus valet) Spaces ITE Ratios: Total 822 (plus valet) Spaces

Using the peak ratios suggested by the AMC/Tri-City development proposal, the team applied the
methodology contained in Shared Parking by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), which accounts
for the staggered peaks of actual time-of-day demand by use to show that if the developer
managed parking in a shared environment where the parking supply would be open to all users
of the site, regardless of parking purpose (medical, residential, retail) the estimated parking
demand would be substantially lower than what is being provided.
Below, Figure 15 shows what happens when these uses are shared peak demand is 657 parking
spaces (plus valet), rather than the AMC/Tri-City estimate of 847 (plus valet). Assuming that the
site should maintain a 10% reserve capacity, the resulting supply of this means that the site is
providing about 120 extra parking spaces when parking is shared. This assumes that
100% of employees and visitors are driving to the site and that there is no internal capture. In
other words, this estimate assumes that a person who works in the medical office uses one
parking space for work and then uses another parking space at the on-site retail.
Mixed-use, urban environments offer the opportunity to patronize multiple destinations with just
one parking space. Figure 16 below shows the impact of this mixed-use effect, which adjusts the
parking by time of day with a standard 15% internal capture rate for complimentary land uses
(retail with medical office and retail with residential). This analysis suggests that demand would
be only 559 parking spaces (plus valet), which translates into a supply of 680 spaces with reserve
capacity or about 240 spaces less than proposed.
City of Albany
Figure 15 Site Parking Demand using AMC/Tri-City Parking Ratios - Shared by Time of Day (no Internal
Capture)

Figure 16 Site Parking Demand using AMC/Tri-City Parking Ratios - Shared by Time of Day
plus 15% Internal Capture

Finally, the AMC/Tri-City proposed development is already providing some accommodations for
transportation demand management, including Universal Transit Access passes for CDTA.
847 spaces total
847 spaces total
105 spaces
203 spaces
City of Albany
Assuming that the development implements this TDM program and others as recommended
further below, the parking demand would be lower as shown below in Figure 17. This shows a
demand of about 515 parking spaces (plus valet) for the site. With reserve capacity, this would
translate to a supply of about 640 spaces, which is about 280 fewer spaces than being
proposed. This model adjusts parking by time of day with a 20% internal capture rate for
complimentary land uses and a 15% adjustment for TDM programs.
Figure 17 Site Parking Demand using AMC/Tri-City Parking Ratios - Shared by Time of Day plus 20%
Internal Capture and 15% TDM

Proposed Development within Surrounding Context: Existing
The proposed development will not function in isolation and will be part of a larger context. The
site will be physically connected to the Albany Medical Center via a pedestrian skybridge, and the
site will be within a short walk of many neighborhood destinations and amenities retail, a hotel,
medical facilities, residences, and more. Unlike traditional suburban development where it is
faster for one to drive around the block and re-park, the Park South neighborhood's fine-grain
connected grid of sidewalks and on-street parking pricing suggest that most park once and walk
to multiple destinations. For this reason, the team analyzed the five-minute walk boundary
(Figure 1) to understand today's adjacent parking environment.
The existing land uses within a five-minute walk boundary are categorized and shown below
(Figure 18). The table below makes some assumptions about the site: the two blocks for the
proposed development are 100% vacant; single-family homes have their own private driveways
and are not included in this analysis; and the remainder of the land uses are 100% occupied.
The land use data used in this analysis are from the City's assessors database, which may not
accurately reflect true occupancy and vacancy conditions on the ground.

847 spaces total
247 spaces
City of Albany
Figure 18 ITE Parking Demand Rates for Study Area Land Uses
Land Use SF or Units
ITE Parking Ratio
(spaces per SF or unit) Parking Spaces
Apartments
608 units 1.2 730
General Retail
25,887 sq ft 2.55 66
Medical/Dental Office
279,094 sq ft 3.2 893
Restaurant
3,952 sq ft 5.55 22
Hotel
126 rooms 0.64 81
Fast Food
4,000 sq ft 8.2 33
College/University 800 students/faculty/staff 0.22 176
Hospital
1,568 beds 3.47 5,441
Government Office
4,232 4.15 18
TOTAL
7,460

According to national parking standard calculations, the needed number of parking spaces for
this area of Park South is about 7,500 parking spaces. The five minute walking area has 6,248
parking spaces, but when including the remote lots associated with the AMC and VA Hospital,
there is a total of 7,686 parking spaces. This means that within a five-minute walk, the
neighborhood has about 1,200 fewer spaces than expected (according to national suburban
standards), but when including the hospitals remote parking lots, the site has more parking than
ITE ratios would estimate.
Figure 19 Study Area Parking Supply Compared to ITE

City of Albany
Similar to the proposed development, today's environment suggests that parking is shared among
uses
16
. Figure 20 shows the estimated parking demand based on today's land uses, which
estimates total parking demand at only about 6,000 parking spaces with a 10% internal capture
rate.
This indicates that based on the existing land uses, the study area with remote parking has
sufficient supply to satisfy demand (based on ITE parking rates, not observation). Based on ITE
rates (not observation), parking supply in the study area (not including remote parking) is not
enough supply to accommodate today's demand with sufficient reserve capacity. This analysis
assumes no TDM program adjustments.
The actual parking demand (as observed in early May 2014) was used to calibrate the shared
parking model, and the real demand is overlaid on the model results in Figure 21. This shows that
in the study area including remote parking, there is more than 900 spaces available at peak, and
within the five-minute walking boundary study area only, there is also about 900 spaces available.
This indicates that there is some availability during the peak of a typical weekday, and there is
substantial availability in late afternoon.
Figure 20 Study Area - Shared by Time of Day plus 10% Internal Capture

16
This doesn't necessarily mean that parking regulations permit users to park in one location to visit others, but this is the
way that parkers use the system today.
City of Albany

Figure 21 Study Area - Shared by Time of Day plus 10% Internal Capture - Compared to Observed
Demand

Proposed Development within Surrounding Context: Future (Build)
This section explores the impact of the proposed development within the context of the study
area.
Figure 22 shows that adding the site to the existing land uses increases the expected parking
supply from 7,686 parking spaces to about 8,400 parking spaces
17
.
Assuming that the study area plus the proposed development benefits from 10% internal
capture plus the effect of the TDM strategies presented in this report, assuming a conservative 5%
TDM program reduction rate, the parking demand would be about 6,500 parking spaces.
Figure 23 shows this demand by use. When compared to the study area and remote parking
supply, this indicates that about 1,100 parking spaces would be available at peak adding
another 200 empty parking spaces to the 900 empty spaces at peak today.

17
Note that this number includes the loss of 118 spaces associated with surface parking currently on the site. It does not
include the additional valet parking associated with the development.
935 spaces
918 spaces
City of Albany
Figure 22 Future Study Area Parking Supply Compared to ITE

Figure 23 Future Study Area Parking Demand - Shared by Time of Day plus 10% Internal Capture and 5%
TDM

-
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
P
a
r
k
i
n
g

D
e
m
a
n
d
Time of Day
Low to Mid Rise Apartment
Government Office
Office
Hospital
College/University
Warehouse
Fast Food
Restaurant
Drive-In Bank
Hotel/Inn
General Retail
8415
7574
6977
Study Area + Remote
Study Area + RemoteReserve
Study Area
Study Area Reserve 6279
-
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
P
a
r
k
i
n
g

D
e
m
a
n
d
Time of Day
Low to Mid Rise Apartment
Government Office
Office
Hospital
College/University
Warehouse
Fast Food
Restaurant
Drive-In Bank
Hotel/Inn
General Retail
8415
7574
6977
6279
Study Area + Remote
Study Area + Remote Reserve
5-Minute Walk Supply
5-Minute Walk Reserve
1,083 spaces
City of Albany
ON-STREET PARKING MANAGEMENT
The site is currently mostly surrounded by unregulated on-street parking, with the only
exceptions being No Parking between 9 a.m. and noon for street cleaning on Wednesdays or
Thursdays, plus 90-minute time-limits along New Scotland Ave. Parking is allowed on both sides
of every surrounding street plus Morris Street, with the exception of Robin Street which has
one-sided parking and Myrtle Avenue which has no parking in only the block adjacent to the
site.
These street regulations are generally appropriate for the uses on and near the site today, with
residential uses having primarily unregulated parking out front and commercial uses having time-
limited customer parking. However, the impact of on-street parking demand from the hospital is
evident, as Morris Street and Dana Ave. are heavily parked upon, even though most of the
adjacent residential structures are now vacant in anticipation of the proposed redevelopment.
This demand to park on-street by hospital users is not expected to decline, especially since these
spaces are free as compared to on- and off-street daily rates that range from $1.19/day to
$10/day.
The proposed use mix will add additional retail and medical office space to the site, in addition to
replacement residential units. Current unregulated on-street parking will likely be in high
demand from existing hospital users, new retail patrons, new medical office users, and many of
the new residents. While on-site off-street supply is intended for all of the new users, existing on-
street demand from the nearby hospital which has ample off-street supply demonstrates that
other users will be attracted to the streets as well. This is exacerbated both by the front-door
convenience of on-street spaces versus off-street facilities, as well as the free cost to park on-street
versus garage pricing and permitting. A number of on-street regulatory approaches are
recommended.
Retail patrons typically seek the most convenient front-door parking for their short-term visits.
New Scotland Ave. is already heavily utilized, so patrons of the new retail are likely to seek
parking on Morris and Dana, as well as within the surface lots behind the proposed retail
buildings. Given most retail employees will seek to park in the lots first, the first 5-10 parking
stalls on both sides of Morris and Dana should be regulated similar to New Scotland Ave. likely
with 90 minute time-limits. Myrtle has sufficient cross-section to add one side of on-street
parking as well.
With the increased retail demand in the area, the City may consider extending price parking
which now occurs further west on New Scotland to this stretch of New Scotland Ave. to
encourage sufficient parking availability for retail customers. On-street competition for the
remaining unregulated spaces is likely to remain high, impacting the ability for residents to
receive visitors, so limited time-limit zones may be appropriate near building entrances. It may
also be appropriate to consider installing 10-hour meters similar to those found elsewhere near
the hospital on Morris, Dana and other streets, as long as a system to accommodate local
residents is included. Many communities exempt cars with approved residential stickers, while
others strictly use an on-street permitting system without meters. Many successful jurisdictions
also sell an acceptable number of on-street permits to area employees, with net revenues
dedicated to streetscape improvements along the residential streets to off-set the impact of
commuters. While this may not be possible today in Albany, it is something to possibly explore in
the future.
City of Albany
Meanwhile, valet parking into a garage is often not easily managed, with operators tempted to
park vehicles in spaces that are more quickly accessed typically on-street or in surface lots. The
proposal to include valet parking within the garage should be reconsidered. The operation might
be able to take advantage of other nearby resources, especially the Center Building Lot at Morris
& Robin. Alternatively, on-street spaces might be used permissibly with a permit system like that
suggested above.
City of Albany
Appendix D TDM Analysis
In addition to shared parking and the internal capture of trips that the AMC/Tri-City
developments mix of uses offers, opportunities for further reducing parking and travel demand
can be achieved through using transportation demand management (TDM) strategies. A suite of
TDM strategies focused on offsetting the need or desire to commute by driving alone can be
developed, reducing peak-hour traffic impacts and parking need.
Using TDM at the proposed development would not be without precedent in Albany, although it
might make important contributions by introducing new TDM approaches to the region. A more
comprehensive set of measures would allow the City of Albany and its partner agencies to take a
leading role in coordinating TDM between the many employers in the Park South area to leverage
inherent savings on parking construction and road capacity. As TDM has emerged as a
transportation policy approach, public agency involvement has grown from simply enforcing
transportation-based regulations to proactively supporting and promoting TDM programs as a
way for private developers and employers to meet regulatory requirements in a cost-effective way.
Early research into employer-based TDM programs identified several recurring reasons why TDM
programs were implemented, including: the need to comply with legal requirements and
regulations especially those mitigating traffic impacts; to offer employee assistance and extend
benefits; to satisfy economic considerations such as the need to provide more parking to meet
new employee demand from business expansion; and to facilitate significant worksite relocation
and consolidation. In many of these early examples studied, local governments or other public
agencies only engaged in developer or employer actions insofar as they involved their regulatory
and oversight authorityin other words, if TDM programs allowed a new development or
worksite consolidation to lessen traffic impact to acceptable levels or meet a state-mandated
commute reduction law, public agencies simply confirmed that their outcomes meant compliance
with regulations.
With TDM programs becoming more widespread as competing needs for transportation
improvement dollars increases, local governments and other public agencies have begun to
develop the potential for TDM through more proactive guidance and administrative assistance.
Albany may have an opportunity to take this kind of a leading role and increase the potential for
TDM-based travel and parking demand reduction by leveraging the much larger combined
employment base of the overall Park South district.
It is conventional wisdom in the transportation industry that TDM programs are more effective
when they are composed of multiple strategic approaches and actions, giving commuters and
residents increased confidence in a more extensive array of travel options to serve their needs and
allow them to forgo driving alone. Likewise, TDM programs also tend to have a greater overall
effect on regional commuting patterns when they are applied and coordinated at larger scales.
This not only allows economies of scale to be achieved, leveraging a larger travel market to
negotiate costlier travel enhancements, such as increases to transit service or investment in
bicycle storage, but it also increases opportunities for more inexpensive TDM approaches, such as
ridesharing and telecommuting, that rely on a critical mass of employees or residents.
With this and the growing trend toward public agency guidance and assistance in mind, the City
of Albany may wish to take a proactive position in helping to coordinate demand management
strategies between the proposed AMC/Tri-City development and the existing AMC and Albany
Stratton VA Hospital facilities. To help illustrate the potential increases in TDM-related commute
City of Albany
trip reduction, we have estimated effects on both the scale of the AMC/Tri-City development
exclusively (the Basic approach) and on the scale of a combined Medical District that comprises
this development along with AMCs facilities and the Albany Stratton VA hospital (the Advanced
approach).
The diagram in Figure 24 illustrates how this two-tiered structure could offer a greater level of
effectiveness in overall commute reduction, allowing AMC employees to take advantage of TDM
measures being encouraged for the AMC/Tri-City development. We have calculated an estimated
level of travel and parking demand offset for the development when each of the two scales is
applied. These effects correlate respectively to estimates shown earlier in Figures 15 through 18.
Figure 24 PTDM Program Elements and Reductions

These calculations are offered to demonstrate the potential for reducing parking supply proposed
for the AMC/Tri-City Development. Many precedents exist, especially at similar medical centers
around the county. A number of valuable peer TDM case studies are detailed in Appendix F.
Below is further description of some of the terms and programs in Figure 24 above, many of
which have been implemented quite successfully at the peers in Appendix F, as well as many other
locations in New York, the northeast, and around the United States.
City of Albany
UNBUNDLING OF PARKING AND PARKING CASH-OUT
PROGRAMS
Separating the cost of parking from building cost is a strategy used to 1) increase housing
affordability and housing choice, and 2) reveal the true cost of parking to employers and their
employees, allowing greater transparency in making decisions on driving or using other forms of
transportation for commuting. With awareness of the need to pay for parking every day or month
as opposed to receiving it for free (or as a sunk cost assumed with a lease or property ownership),
residents and employees are more likely to travel without a car. Studies have demonstrated that
increasing the cost of parking is the single most effective strategy to encourage households to own
fewer cars, and rely more on walking, cycling and transit; unbundling parking from leases is a way
of instituting a tangible cost to parking.
Common outcomes of residential unbundling include:
providing a financial reward to households who decide to dispense with one of their cars
helping to attract that market of households who wish to live in a walkable, transit-oriented
neighborhood where it is possible to live well with only one car (or even no car) per household
changing parking from a required purchase to an optional amenity, thus lowering the baseline
cost of housing
Unbundling for commercial uses allows businesses to reduce costs from not having to subsidize as
much parking, as well as typically leading to reduced employee parking demand. Strategies
include providing an option for commercial tenants to either minimize or not include the parking
in a commercial space lease. Parking could be leased to tenants or employees separately, with
employers having the option of changing their supply as needed or at least when the lease is
renewed.
The companion approach to unbundling parking is parking cash-out, where an employer with
control over parking supply can essentially pay employees not to use parking. Because it often
involves a fixed supply instead of the amount of parking that would be included in a lease
arrangement, cash-outs are usually used in employment-based parking and not residential.
Successful cash-out programs have been popular among employees for increased freedom of
choice and the opportunity additional income, and surveys and studies have repeatedly found that
users appreciate the fairness of the program. In addition, employers can offset the need for
parking spaces, especially when they expand their employee base but do not or cannot provide
additional parking.
Effectiveness
Basic (Proposed AMC/Tri-City Development only): 2-5 percent
Advanced: (Combined Medical District): 5-10 percent
Research on parking incentive programs such as unbundling and parking cash-out typically
involves dynamics of parking pricing, which is generally agreed to be the single most effective and
impactful factor in changing parking demand and reducing demand for parking and single
occupant vehicle commuting. With this in mind, unbundling and cash-out programs can vary in
effectiveness based on typical market pricing (and especially based on this as a factor of typical
market wages).
City of Albany
A study surveying multiple employers in Southern California with expected workforce sizes
similar to those expected at Park South (120 to 300 employees) reported vehicle trip reduction
rates from 5 to 24 percent, with a decrease in the average share of drive-along commuters from 76
percent to 67 percent (California Environmental Protection Agency, 1998). The study further
notes that average commuter parking demand at the study sites decreased by 11 percent.
As the most extensive reductions were in downtown Los Angeles, a high-density urban
environment that is the center of a major regional transit system, we have used more conservative
reduction estimates closer to the 5 to 10 percent that the study observed among smaller
employers in less transit-rich areas. We use a greater figure of 5 to 10 percent for a larger area
combining the Albany Medical Center and the Albany Stratton VA Hospital, as the more extensive
parking at these locations, combined with longer distances to some parking lots, offers a greater
potential for employees to take advantage of cash-out programs or forgo driving and parking if it
were not assumed as part of their lease.
UNIVERSAL ACCESS PASSES
Reduced price passes have been shown to increase transit ridership and provide an incentive to
reduce vehicle ownership. They offer a direct incentive to employees and residents to whom they
are offered in that they reduce the out-of-pocket cost of transit use, but establishment of these
programs also offers a source of revenue for transit agencies that can be used to enhance transit
service, rider amenities, or both. In recent years, increasing numbers of transit agencies have
teamed with local governments, employers, operators of multi-family residential complexes and
even with entire residential neighborhoods to provide transit pass programs. The ability to
purchase in bulk typically allows deep discounts on the price of individual passes; the universal
enrollment on the basis that not all those offered the pass will actually use them regularly means
that transit agencies may not need to greatly increase operating costs by increasing levels of
transit service.
Effectiveness
Studies have shown that reduced transit passes result in reductions from 4 to 22 percent in the
overall share of commute trips made by private vehicle, with an average reduction of 11 percent.
Many of these reductions have occurred in areas with very limited transit service.
To select a recommended range of trip reduction, we used comparable sites/employers and
estimated effectiveness, but also assumed an increase in potential ridership due to transit service
improvements that the Park South and potentially combined Medical District agreements with
the Capital District Transit Authority would allow.
City of Albany
RIDESHARING
Ridesharing refers to the combined
use of carpools and vanpools along
with ride-matching services that help
to form these passenger groups
among commuters with comparable
travel route and time characteristics.
A key complement to these services
and a way that many employers have
encouraged their use as a commute
benefitis the dedication of parking
spaces for carpool and vanpool
vehicles. If a larger TDM program
uses parking cash-out incentives or
unbundles the cost of a parking space
from commercial or residential leases
or property titles, these spaces may be
exempted from any direct cost assigned to the driver, in effect constituting an employer or
property manager subsidy for ridesharing vehicles.
Effectiveness
These programs tend to be less effective than other TDM measures, often because of the difficulty
or impracticality of finding candidates who share commute characteristics enough to take the
potential incentives that ridesharing offers, itself often a cause of the dispersed nature of modern
American communities and the greater geographic area in which employees reside. They also
tend to work best when they have a rideshare coordinatorusually an individual or organization
performing other TDM-related functions as a transportation management coordinator, or, in the
case of an individual employer, a staff person charged with this responsibility. In the absence of
such a dedicated facilitator position, carpooling and ridesharing are likely to have less effect on
overall commute demand.
GUARANTEED RIDE HOME
Guaranteed Ride Home (GRH) services are the backstop of TDM programsthey provide a
means of critical relief for employees, commuters and residents who choose not to drive but may
occasionally face circumstances where their traditional commuting means is unavailable.
Examples of this include employees who end up working past transit service hours or whose
carpool driver needs to leave work early due to emergency circumstances. The typical format of
this employer- or association-provided benefit is to allow a set amount of free taxi rides or use of
car-share vehicles for unplanned trips home that cannot be accommodated by the employees
normal commute mode. Statistics on such programs indicate that although they tend to have
relatively low employee utilization rates, they have very high satisfaction rates from participants
providing a high benefit for a low cost to employers.

Employee Vanpool
City of Albany
Effectiveness
Because GRH programs tend to be used only occasionally, we have not assigned them their own
credit for offsetting demand to drive alone. However, it is worth noting that they are instrumental
in building commuter confidence in TDM programs.
A recent Nelson\Nygaard study evaluating the effectiveness of a regional GRH program in
Alameda, California found that 95% of program participants felt that the GRH program did
encourage non-SOV mode use. Another study found that 15-25% of program enrollees would
otherwise drive to work if the GRH program did not exist.
CAR SHARING
Car-sharing programs allow people to have on-demand access to a shared fleet of vehicles on an
as-needed basis. Usage charges are assessed at an hourly and/or mileage rate, in addition to a
refundable deposit and/or a low annual membership fee. Car-sharing is similar to conventional
car rental programs, although it is typically controlled through membership of an organization
and based on fee structures that emphasize short-term rentals (a number of hours) over daily or
weekly rentals. Reserving and accessing vehicles typically takes more of a self-service approach
than conventional car rental, with phone- or web-based reservations made entirely by the user
and access to the vehicles controlled by a smartcard, fob or other device that the user keeps
between car uses.
Car-sharing has sometimes been referred to as the missing link in the package of alternatives to
the private automobile. For example, vehicles available near a persons workplace or school can
enable them to commute to work via transit or other means, knowing that theyll have a car-share
vehicle available during the day only if needed for work or personal trips. It has proven successful
in reducing both household vehicle ownership and the percentage of employees who drive alone
because of the need to have a car for errands during the workday.
Effectiveness
Industry research suggests that one car-share vehicle provided can reduce demand for 10 to 25
vehicles, although this has focused on the number of vehicles in household ownership and not a
number of vehicles accessing an employment site (and thus needing parking). In the San
Francisco Bay Area, recent surveys have shown that more than half of car-share users have sold at
least one vehicle since joining the City CarShare program in San Francisco.
As it is difficult to equate household travel and car ownership characteristics with commuting, we
have assumed conservative levels of effectiveness for this strategy. It is likely to be most effective
in the AMC/Tri-City developments residential component, as the proximity to employment and
retail may help to offset the need for households to own a vehicle (or at least the same number of
vehicles in the absence of car sharing). We estimate that one car-share vehicle will offset a need
for five owned vehicles, resulting in four parking spaces not needed for every shared vehicle
provided (assuming development parking will need to provided a dedicated space for the shared
vehicle).
City of Albany
ON-SITE BICYCLE ACCOMMODATION
Providing sheltered or indoor bicycle parking for long-term parkers, such as residents and
employees as well as many convenient short-term racks on-street and near entries helps treat
bicycling as a serious commuting option by providing the same level of access, security and
amenity that a car gets.
Covered or sheltered bicycle parking should be located in areas suitable for longer-term stays. The
bicycle parking will:
Be able to be accessed 24 hours a day
Be clearly signed
Have convenient access to surrounding streets
Be safe and secure
The proportion of short and long term spaces provided varies depending on the type of building
use (e.g. retail uses have predominantly short-term spaces, where as office and residential
buildings need more long-term parking). In the case of the AMC/Tri-City proposed development,
an interior bicycle storage room will likely offer the most effective means of reducing the need for
driving trips, especially as short-term visitors to a medical office complex (patients and their
companions) are more likely to be ill, injured or in a general condition that keeps them from
bicycling. Offering showers and locker rooms for cyclists also greatly increases the impact of
providing just bicycle parking facilities; providing these types of facilities is required by code for
new developments in some major US cities.
Effectiveness
TRANSIT ENHANCEMENTS
The Capital District Transit Authority has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with
both Tri-City and the Albany Medical Center to undertake enhancements to transit service and
provide universal access passes to employees in exchange for monetary contributions. Although
the MOUs do not define the specific nature of the service enhancements, these could generally be
in the form of enhancements to operations, investment in new capital resources, or some
combination of the two. In addition to the transit passes potential reduction in driving and
parking demand discussed previously, transportation industry research has found a positive
elasticity in the relationship between transit service levels and ridership. Typically speaking, for
every 10 percent that service frequency is increased, ridership will increase 5 percent.
Proposed changes to the CDTA bus routes include re-routing of Route 734 and Route 13 near the
Albany Medical Center development site. Route 13 will be re-routed to travel directly adjacent the
Park South site along New Scotland Ave, down Madison Ave, and back onto Lark St. Route 734
will be re-routed away from New Scotland Ave, to instead follow Delaware Ave and continue
along Lark St as it currently operates. Bus stops along New Scotland Ave will be relocated, new
shelters will be provided at existing stops, and new stops will be added.
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Effectiveness
In the absence of more detailed ridership data, it is not practical to determine what share of
ridership increases could be attributed solely to the AMC/Tri-City development or the Albany
Medical Center. However, some transit service enhancements could be oriented more closely to
the employment-based travel needs of the area, and as such we have estimated that these options
could provide a greater reduction in vehicular trips, based on three options detailed below.
Option 1: Use MOU-based contributions entirely on Route 13 bus operations in the
afternoon peak/hospital shift change period
Option 2: Use MOU-based contributions to fund bus shelters in the AMC area
Option 3: A combination of the two allowing additional service and some improvement to
shelters
Based on the combined total of $70,000 that AMC and Tri-City have agreed to in their MOUs
with CDTA, enhancements to service at current hourly service costs (approximately $95 per
vehicle operating hour, according to 2012 National Transit Database information) could allow
approximately 730 additional service hours in a year, or roughly two per day assuming that this
service would be applied throughout the year, including weekends and holidays. Operational
enhancements in Option 1 described above would allow two additional buses to operate during a
two hour peak period, assuming Route 13 has an overall running time of sixty minutes. Option 2
would simply add additional bus service on Route 13 beyond its current service span during the
day but would not increase frequencies in or around the peak.
What may work to be most feasible is a compromise between these two, providing shelters at key
locations and offering a service increase to help offset peak-period travel demand, expressed as
Option 3 in the list above. We have assumed that this will use enough of the MOU-based funding
to provide one additional bus in the shift-change peak period while using the balance to fund
shelter enhancements.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
To ensure benefits of TDM programs, an ongoing monitoring program should be conducted with
the results shared with the City. As with other elements of the TDM program, this portion of the
plan should be implemented upon project completion.
The monitoring program should include:
An initial employee survey to assist in determining the need for additional PTDM programs
Refinements to PTDM activities and programs to promote the measures that have the
greatest success
An annual mode split and parking survey
The City and the development should develop both quantitative and qualitative measures to be
monitored and evaluated on an annual basis.
TDM Costs and Relationship to Parking
The primary TDM measures proposed in this plan do not carry significant capital or
administrative costs and are simply matters of policy in how parking is managed. These costs also
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do not assume the cost of entering into the Universal Pass program, which has already been
assumed in the existing MOU with CDTA.
These costs are offered as a comparison to the cost of providing parking, estimated at $25,000
per space in initial cost calculations associated with the development application.
Bicycle Storage: $15,000 - $20,000, assuming $15-20 per square foot in equipping a room and
purchasing tools and other items for repair business. Also assumed are 15 SF per bicycle for
storage space, 30 SF per bicycle for repair/servicing space, storage capacity for 50 bikes and
repair/servicing capacity for 5 bikes.
Bicycle Shower and Changing Facilities: $30,000 - $60,000, depending on regional
construction costs (although costs associated with new construction are typically lower than those
associated with retrofits). This assumes one accessible shower facility for the new medical office
portion of the development.
Informational Materials Costs: $2,500 to $5,000 for printing and design services for
informational materials promoting TDM services.
Other promotional and administrative costs (includes Guaranteed Ride Home):
$20,000 - $30,000 per year. These types of costs are often based on a set number of guaranteed
rides home per employee and other administrative costs. This assumes $20 per ride-home in a
negotiated arrangement with a taxi company, 6 rides home per employee per year, 200 employees
in the medical office space, and an additional amount under $5,000 for administrative assistance.
With all of the measures implemented, approximately $50,000 to $90,000 in up-front capital
costs, with an additional cost of $20,000 to $30,000 per year in guaranteed ride home programs
and other administrative costs. At current construction cost estimates, this is two to four parking
spaces, with an additional amount in TDM operating costs equal to between one and two parking
spaces per year.
A district-wide transportation demand management program is best coordinated through a
Transportation Management Association (TMA) and a dedicated staff person, or a Transportation
Demand Management Coordinator.
TMA/mobility coordinators or ambassadors have been used to great success throughout the
United States to help administer transportation demand management programs at specific
businesses, developments, and districts/neighborhoods. The tailored individual perspective of an
on-site, live resource greatly improves the efficiency of getting travelers to use non-SOV modes.
One of the greatest cost benefits of a TMA Coordinator is the ability to appoint or assign this role
to an assisting staff member, and incorporates the details of this position within their job
responsibilities.
TMA Coordinators administer and actively market demand management programs. They also
serve as a facility-wide concierge, providing personalized information on transit routes and
schedules, ridesharing information, bicycle routes and facilities, and other transportation options
available to residents, employees and customers. The Coordinator also negotiates with transit
agencies for low cost transit passes/universal access agreements.
Typical charges of a TMA or Mobility Coordinator include:
Providing information about monthly transit passes
Marketing, including distribution of new employee/tenant orientation materials
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Distribution of transportation news and commuter alerts
Assisting with rideshare matching
Providing Guaranteed Ride Home vouchers
Audit and review corporate/building transportation needs
Regularly evaluate/monitor program

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Appendix E Site Recommendations
Many elements of the built environment impact individuals desire to walk between uses or
consider commuting by alternatives to the automobile. Safety, security, directness, and comfort of
sidewalks, crosswalks, intersections, bike facilities, and other non-auto facilities directly impact
parking demand by enhancing or degrading opportunities for internal capture and mode shift.
The proposed design of the AMC/Tri-City development introduces very high quality elements into
the Park South neighborhood, along with appropriate streetscape improvements designed to
encourage a more walkable lifestyle in the district. However, certain treatments should be
considered to further enhance walking and biking accommodation cost-effectively.
SITE DESIGN
A walkable and bikable environment gives people more transportation choices and improves
quality of life. A well-designed network of streets and pedestrian ways is key to pedestrian
accessibility, and includes streets, alleys, paths, midblock crossings and pedestrian pass-throughs.
These amenities can alleviate traffic congestion. In particular, improving the walkability and
pedestrian orientation of mixed-use neighborhoods encourages an increase in physical activity
and health of users.
Promoting bicycle and pedestrian transport modes can be accomplished through simple design
changes, some of which can be implemented at no additional cost.
Bicycle Accommodation
Major east-west bicyclist routes extend through and adjacent to the site: Myrtle and Morris act as
east-west connections from Lark Street to South Main Ave and South Manning. Morris and
Myrtle should both be striped with sharrows through the site.
The City of Albany should expect that no less than 50-percent of the residential units will have a
bicycle, so 135 or more long-term secure and covered bicycle parking spaces should be provided
on-site in well-lit areas, with additional short-term racks near public entries. All racks should be
compliant with the latest standards of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.
Outdoor Covered Bicycle Parking

Indoor Covered Bicycle Parking

Outdoor Covered Bicycle Parking Indoor Covered Bicycle Parking
City of Albany

Northern Block Treatments
Streetwall Gaps
The design of the northern lot is primarily residential in nature, with some local-serving retail
included in the ground floor of the six-story buildings facing New Scotland Avenue. The building
architecture is generally very urban and reflective of the general size and massing of downtown
residences in Albany. However, the building placement and driveway locations interrupt this
otherwise walking-friendly character. The surface parking behind the New Scotland-facing
building creates a 90-foot gap in the street wall of Morris. While the surface parking is a benefit to
the retail operations, given that many retail patrons will simply be walking from other uses or
parking on-street, the size of this lot may be negatively impacting the potential of the site
especially with regard to residents walking easily on Morris to their local retailers and New
Scotland Avenue. Gaps of 50-feet or less are more appropriate in urban environments to avoid a
sense of insecurity and/or exposure. Single-loaded or parallel parking for the first 50-60 feet of
the parking lot would allow the residential building to expand or move closer to the New Scotland
building. At the very least, well-designed screening or landscaping, plaza space, a wider sidewalk,
or all of the above would help.
This gap is substantially worse on Dana, where a second curb cut for residential surface parking is
placed northwest of the retail curb cut, producing a long 160-foot or greater gap between
buildings. Screening and landscaping cannot overcome the impact of this distance on the walking
environment, warranting consideration of a combined curb cut for both parking fields
potentially with an internal break if separation of resident parking is desired. Meanwhile, Dana is
again broken by a driveway to another residential lot further northwest.
Curb Cut Widths
The design of the curb cuts on this block suggests a very suburban orientation with each driveway
being at least 22-feet wide. While a wider 20-foot two-way driveway is not uncommon for urban
retail, urban residential driveways can easily be 16-feet wide or less while maintaining two-way
movement. Such dimensions are intended to keep vehicles moving cautiously when crossing the
sidewalk, while reducing the distance that a pedestrian is exposed to vehicular conflict.
Regardless of the width, all urban driveways should have urban curb cuts whereby the driveway
quickly slopes to sidewalk elevation off of the street edge to ensure a level crossing of the driveway
by pedestrians and particularly wheelchairs.
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Curb Extensions
Additionally, while the existing curb extension into Robin Street at Morris is maintained
helping to buffer on-street parking and shorten the crossing distance no additional curb
extensions are shown around the remainder of this block. Curb extensions are warranted at all
corners of all four surrounding intersections where crossings exist today. Curb extensions are
particularly valuable at the new mid-block crossing of Dana this is proposed, as pedestrian
visibility at an uncontrolled street crossing is essential for safety.
Block Connectivity
Finally, connectivity through this particularly long block is not well-maintained by the building
placement. At about 700-feet in length, this and other Park South blocks are over twice the
desirable 300-foot block distance that is best for urban walking connectivity. Given an
opportunity to redevelop such a long block where through block desire to connect to residences
and the hospital will be strong, the development should seek better penetration at smaller
intervals. While a nice mid-block break is provided on Morris, it is obstructed by a building along
Dana, terminating the connectivity potential. If parking is reconfigured to eliminate walking
concerns on Dana, the Dana-facing building might be relocated or reconfigured to allow better
block penetration.
Southern Block Treatments
The same concerns with regards to the retail driveway and parking lot found on the northern
block are continued on the southern block, though the gap on both Dana and Myrtle may be only
70-feet, which is easier to mitigate through screening and landscaping. And again, the need for
curb extensions prevails on all four corners of the site and mid-block on Dana.
Myrtle Sidewalk Impacts
Additionally, the drop-off area along Myrtle Street occurs at the expense of the sidewalk, which is
routed around the drop-off lane. A significantly wider sidewalk in this stretch would mitigate the
impact of the drop-off lane, especially if it were continuously straight with another retail patio
placed on the southern edge of the New Scotland building, similar to the treatment on the
northern block. This wider sidewalk should continue at least to the garages pedestrian entry if
not for the length of the block, especially since the shadows of the hospital may not allow for good
flora growth in the planting strip that is currently depicted. Intervening elements such as the
protruding transformer northwest of the main garage entrance should be relocated.
Block Connectivity
Of greater concern on this block is the 550-600 foot long building wall along both Dana and
Myrtle. The large garage sizing seems to have driven the need for such a long dimension that does
not work very well for pedestrians and compromises the potential mid-block crossing to the
adjacent northern block.
Alternative site layout options exist that could mitigate this condition, however each would
require substantial modification to the existing site plan. Unless the extra single-loaded aisle of
the proposed garage is reconsidered and that impacts massing decisions, there are few options
available to enhance connectivity. To the extent possible, the developer should consider efforts to
allow tenants to connect through the garage and an adjacent mid-block residential lobby, which
helps to break up the block.
City of Albany
Residential Wrap Design
While the residential wrap on the southern block is scaled to the existing neighborhood to its
northwest, the garage the wrap intends to hide still protrudes above the residences, creating an
awkward condition that is not only aesthetically odd, the incompatible sights and sounds of a
garage are allowed to carry into the neighborhood west and north of the site. Adding another floor
to the housing that wraps the garage should be considered. This will allow for less money spent on
the garage faades that currently loom over the housing. We assume that the reason for only
going up three floors currently is that there appear to be no elevators on the walk-up units. Two
means of egress are required whether the units are point-load walk-ups or are organized off of a
single-loaded corridor with elevators at the corners. If elevator access is provided, the housing can
be as tall as five stories, if stick built. Adding more quality residential units to the mix adds vitality
to this neighborhood, and their parking demand impact if shared is negligible at the midday
peak when residents are off to work.
GARAGE DESIGN
There are several concerns about the current design of the garage:
Parking space layout: The extra single-loaded bay layout on the garages northeast edge is
inefficient. This bay provides parking stalls along only one side (the parking is not double
loaded), thus reducing the overall efficiency of the garage.
Ramp slope: The garage designer should verify that the slope of the internal ramps are
shallow enough to park on, while also considering the need for transitions at the top and
bottom of the ramps.
Reduce the vehicle queuing across sidewalks at garage entries. There must be
pedestrian path continuity across any of the garage gates controlling entry to parking areas.
The renderings suggest that this may be an issue because the access gate is placed close to the
sidewalk, allowing queued vehicles to wait in the pedestrian path. This gate should be moved
further into the garage. Meanwhile, the design of the median islands that hold the gates
should allow for a safe pedestrian refuge when crossing the garage mouth, which should
include ADA-compliant detectable warning strips.
Ventilation: There may need to be up to 10 of space between the garage and the housing
that wraps the garage to avoid the need to mechanically ventilate the garage structure.
Currently, only the short leg of the housing is separated from the garage, suggesting the need
for expensive mechanical ventilation systems.

City of Albany
Appendix F Peer Best Practices
This section presents a series of case studies in medical district-based TDM best practices and
programs. These overviews identify several potential TDM investments and strategies AMC may
consider to further reduce auto-commute rates and parking demand across its campus. Effective
TDM strategies are essential to developing, maintaining, and expanding urban campuses. These
programs, therefore, should be viewed as not merely seeking commute-behavior changes, but as
part of each organization's efforts to attract and retain students, faculty, and staff by making it
easier to access campus destinations without a car.
Some of the most common objectives for these programs are highly relevant to the AMC context.
Reducing the cost of providing parking
Facilitating campus expansion approvals by reducing trip-generation and environmental
impacts
Enhancing employee benefits packages through commuter benefits (transit subsidies, bike
parking, car-share access, etc.)
Maintaining the viability of urban medical districts and enjoying the many employee
attraction and retention benefits
Increasingly, medical centers in particular are also seeking to better align their transportation and
parking policies with their healthcare mission, by promoting more active and sustainable modes
of commuting. The following case studies from peer campuses incorporate many innovative,
effective, and results-focused TDM strategies.

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YALE-NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL, NEW HAVEN, CT

Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is the fourth largest hospital in the United States and the
largest in New England. With more than 3,600 physicians, YNHH is the primary teaching
hospital for the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Nursing. With nearly 8,500
employees, it is the second largest employer in New Haven. In 2012, YNHH had more than
800,000 outpatient and emergency visits and 59,000 inpatient discharges.
The Yale-New Haven Hospital TDM program encourages the use of alternative modes to reduce
parking demand, minimize congestion, improve air quality, and respond to rising fuel costs.
YNHHs program received the Innovative New Transportation Demand Management Program
Award at the New England Transportation Demand Management Conference in fall 2010.
YNHH is required to submit an annual progress report on its TDM efforts. Its most recent report
(2011) indicates that the TDM program reduced employee car usage by at least 460 cars per day.
The most effective benefits of the program include:
60% subsidy for the cost of monthly train and bus passes, up to $50 per month
Pre-tax payroll deductions for transit
Shuttle system to commuter parking lots and medical campus buildings
Bicycle racks and showers
Guaranteed Ride Home
Free parking passes for transit users (every six months, employees in TDM program can
receive 12 free passes to Dwight/Orchard parking lot for scheduling flexibility)
City of Albany
MAYO CLINIC, ROCHESTER, MN

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota is the largest integrated medical center in the world. It
has a flagship presence with approximately 34,000 employees. In 2010, the City of Rochester
adopted a comprehensive mobility plan that included aggressive mode split goals for 2030: 50%
drive alone, 23% transit, 13% walk and bike, 14% carpool.
Recognizing the value of these goals, and their significant role in helping achieve them, the
Mayo Clinic partnered with the city to establish a transportation management association (TMA)
to implement programs including expanded TDM offerings at the clinic and an extensive bus
system from outlying areas. The Mayo Clinics TDM program includes:
Clinic subsidized bus routes at park and ride lots
Discounted and free bus passes used by more than 12,000 employees
Parking priority for carpool vehicles, bicycles and motorcycles
Shuttles carrying 4,000 daily riders between campuses (Mayo operates remote lots for
employees, and shuttle buses circulate during peak shift change periods to transport
employees to and from lots. Mayo also operates frequent employee and patient shuttle
between downtown Mayo campus and the St. Marys Hospital campus to accommodate the
daily demand for movement of staff and patients between these sites and reduce congestion.)
Park and ride facilities used by 1,600 employees
Over 173 active carpools with 669 participants
Guaranteed Ride Home program for employees
City of Albany
Staggered shifts and spread out start times in coordination with other large employers to help
alleviate peak period and localized traffic congestion
Pedestrian improvements, including connections between the systems of downtown skyways
and underground walkways to provide weather protected pedestrian travel between major
destinations uninterrupted by vehicular traffic.
There are approximately 12,800 off street parking spaces managed by the Mayo Clinic,
representing approximately 82% of the downtown off street inventory. Utilization rates
average about 95% in Mayo facilities, with approximately half of employees using daily
parking privileges due to varying shift schedules.

City of Albany
MAINE MEDICAL CENTER, PORTLAND, ME

With 4,500 employees, Maine Medical Center (MMC) is the largest employer in Portland. As a
condition of their 2008 expansion, the Medical Center was required to complete a TDM plan.
Building on this plan, MMC began enrolling employees into a voluntary program aimed to reduce
the costs and impacts of transportation. Among the program benefits are:
Free carpool parking at the best parking location, which is used by 9% of employees
Guaranteed ride home for employees who do not drive to work
Bus tickets discounted 50% and sold on-site via payroll deduction
Bike lockers and tool shed installed for 131 registered participants. Bike racks installed based
on survey demand. The bicycle commuter program exceeded targets of 1% enrollment.
Drive-alone commuters park further away and use shuttle service
As a result of this effort, MMC enrolled 734 employees in the first year of the TDM program,
exceeding the goal of 675.

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UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER, ROCHESTER, NY

Anchored by the 800-bed Strong Memorial Hospital, the University of Rochester Medical Center
(URMC) has 20,000 staff. Also accompanying its massive campus are 7,630 parking spaces. In
2008, URMC underwent a massive strategic planning process that included expansion in research
practices and teaching hospital space.
Among the TDM programs and strategies at URMC are:
Bus riders and carpoolers get 26 free supplementary daily parking passes on an annual
basis.
URMC hosts a rideshare service.
The University of Rochester transit system operates employee shuttles.
Parking permit fee rates are based on proximity to the facility with shuttle service
available at outlying lots.
URMC partnered with the local transit agency to create a new bus route that connects to the
Medical Center campus, which now cuts travel time via transit from 48 minutes to 25 minutes. To
jumpstart the route, 100 free passes were distributed for UMRC employees who parked their cars
at the time. Since then, the bus route averages of 147 boardings each weekday.

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BUFFALO NIAGARA MEDICAL CAMPUS, BUFFALO, NY

Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) is a consortium of nine healthcare, research and
educational institutions located on a 120-acre campus in downtown Buffalo.
18

In 2012, BNMC had added over 2 million square feet of new development and 3,500 employees
over one year, totaling 12,000 employees. The campus is projected to grow to 17,000 employed by
2017 as a result of the relocation of Childrens Hospital of Buffalo and the University at Buffalo
(UB) School of Medicine. More than 88% of employees drove alone to work in 2012, while
approximately 12% used alternative modes. With approximately 7,100 parking spaces for 12,000
employees and more than 1.5 million annual patient visits, employee parking demand could not
be accommodated cost-effectively with limited developable space and additional demand parking
demand for patients and visitors.
BNMC conducted a comprehensive study to identify ways to reduce employee parking demand,
including creating a campus parking and transportation system, creating a Transportation
Management Association (TMA), and implementing TDM measures. In 2012, BNMC created a
TMA with $121,000 support by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
(NYSDERA) and New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), to implement TDM
initiatives on the medical campus, including:

18
"Advancing Transportation Demand Management Strategies at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus." Buffalo
Niagara Medical Campus. http://www.bnmc.org/wp-content/uploads/BNMC-NYSERDA-Agreement-25730-Final-
Report-11-14-13.pdf (accessed May 1, 2014).
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Marketing active transportation through events, promotional materials, and an online TDM
toolkit. The GO BNMC website provides detailed information about all transportation options
and incentive programs, a carpool matching system, a commute-cost calculator, and a transit
trip planner.
Enhancing transit service to BNMC by working with Niagara Frontier Transportation
Authority (NFTA) to add secure bicycle parking at park-and-ride lots to improve access for
employees that do not live within walking distance to bicycle. NFTA also created two new
express bus routes that serve BNMC and two suburban communities where a high number of
employees live without adequate access to non-driving alternatives.
Incentivizing transit through the ongoing development of discounted commuter pass
program for BNMC employees. BNMC implemented a program that provided free two-week
transit passes for participants to try transit, as well as a three-month program that allowed
employees to purchase heavily subsidized monthly passes at an increasing rate.
Market-rate parking system and reduced subsidies
Parking cash-out, implemented by Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center (BHSC) to reward
employees who do not commute by single-occupancy vehicle with a $20 monthly bonus
Partnership with Buffalo CarShare and BikeShare on campus to provide employees with
shared vehicles and shared bicycles to perform job-related duties without driving a car to
work.
Improving bicycle routes through the advocacy work of the TMA that resulted in four
complete street projects that added bike lanes to major streets accessing the campus.
Guaranteed ride home program, which provides employees who do not drive alone to work
with a free taxi-ride home in case of emergency. Participants are allowed to use up to four free
rides home per year.
Promote ridesharing through carpool preferred parking spaces, an online carpool-matching
program, and a carpool-account, which allows drivers to easily share costs with ride share
partners.
After one year, the TDM measures resulted in:
6% of drive alone commuters switched to other modes.
Parking demand for the new UB School of Medicine reduced from 1,103 to 534 spaces.
Existing parking facilities running significantly below total capacity, creating availability to
accommodate future employees of future development on campus.
112 employees signed up for the three-month subsidized transit pass program, with
approximately 60% of employees continuing to take public transit afterwards. Most
participants who did not continue using transit after the program cited the real cost of a
monthly pass was too high.
The adoption of TDM strategies varied among employers as BNMC does not have complete
control for individual transportation policies and programs of individual member organizations.
Examples include:
Varying degree of parking subsidy among member organizations.
Union agreements regarding parking and transportation policies. Free parking has been
viewed as an employee benefit, and the discontinuation of parking subsidies for 3,900
employees led to arbitration. The University of Buffalo avoided removing free or subsidized
City of Albany
parking to avoid potential labor disputes. For one member organization, nearly 30% of
employees are ineligible for pre-tax savings on transit savings because it is considered an
employee benefit that must be sanctioned by the union.
Organizations using free parking as a recruitment tool to compete with suburban locations
where parking is often free and abundant.
Reluctance to invest in TDM strategies until they have been tested and proven, or until
parking and transportation problems become abundantly obvious.
BNMC-TMA staff plan to meet more frequently with over 100 identified champions of GO
BNMC to create a more formalized structure and begin advocating for more overall access
improvements to the campus. The use of employees and alternative commuters to spread the
message about TDM programs was a key to their success.

BNMC Employee Travel Mode to Work
Mode 2012 2013 Shift
Drive Alone 88.42% 82.80% -5.62%
Carpool 4.60% 8.22% 3.62%
Metro Rail 1.81% 2.03% 0.22%
Metro Bus 2.23% 3.90% 1.67%
Shuttle 0.42% 0.44% 0.02%
Bike 0.70% 1.34% 0.64%
Walk 1.81% 1.21% -0.60%
Survey Respondents 725 795
Source: BNMC
City of Albany
SEATTLE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL, SEATTLE, WA

Seattle Childrens Hospital is the leading childrens hospital in the northwestern United States,
and is consistently ranked among the top ten pediatric hospitals nationwide by a number of
published sources.
Currently, Childrens has 250 beds with over 11,000 annual admissions. To meet the rapidly
increasing need for pediatric care, Childrens plan adds 250 to 350 beds over the next 20 years,
bringing its total bed count to around 600 and total hospital square footage to 2.4 million.
Located in a very constrained urban location with no capacity for traffic growth, Childrens
Hospital developed a very aggressive TDM plan to continue the hospitals reputation in reducing
auto travel to campus and promoting active transportation.
In 2008, fewer than 38% of day-shift staff employees drove alone to work. To achieve this
impressive mode split, Childrens offers a variety of TDM benefits to serve diverse transportation
needs, including a fully subsidized regional transit pass, on-site car share vehicles, carpool and
vanpool formation, priority HOV parking, Guaranteed Ride Home, bicycle parking and
shower/locker facilities, parking charges and commute bonus incentives for alternative
commuters.
To better manage growth and encourage employees to give up driving to campus, Childrens
recently employed Goose Networks to develop a personalized commute program. The program,
called MyCommute, provides each employee a personalized intranet page where they can track
their commute behavior and receive instant feedback about their project month end parking cost
or cash-out benefit. As part of the MyCommute implementation all employee parking was priced
City of Albany
at $5 per day, where previously some
employees paid for parking and many
physicians and tenured employees did
not. Additionally, an equitable
commute bonus is credited for each
day the employee does not drive. At
months end, fees and benefits are
tallied and either credited or debited
from the employees paycheck.
MyCommute provides a monthly
calendar that can be completed each
month by the employee, but is
adjusted automatically based on
actual use. Each employees ID badge
services as their parking and shuttle
smart card. Each garage entry is
tracked as are shuttle boardings at remote parking lots. Parking charges are assessed
automatically. Carpoolers have the option to swipe multiple cars, which provides them with a
commute bonus credit.
MyCommute offers a dashboard to
employees to interested in tracking the
impacts of their commute activities. This
conscious-raising feature has been a hit
with employees and helps the hospital to
further its goals of bettering human health
and reducing environmental impacts.

The MyCommute individual calendar tracks daily commute activity.

MyCommute dashboard tracks employee vehicle miles traveled (VMT),
number of auto trips reduced, personal cost savings from reduced
vehicle operations, CO2 reduction and gas saved.
City of Albany
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND-BALTIMORE, BALTIMORE, MD

The University of Maryland-Baltimore (UMB) is a 61-acre campus on Baltimores Westside.
Comprise of 65 buildings, the University is populated by over 6,300 students and 6,700 faculty
and staff. The Baltimore location is the founding campus of the University of Maryland system
and is well recognized as a leader in research and technology. The campus has a total of 11,354
parking spaces. 10,163 for the general campus and the balance associated with the BioPark or
reserved for Medical Center patients. The University assumes that the current surplus of 500
parking spaces will be used up by 2015. To address this shortage and minimize parking demand,
multiple TDM benefits were implemented on UMB's Westside campus.
Car Share
UMB Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) has partnered with Hertz on Demand to provide
three low-emission, fuel-efficient, rental vehicles, as part of its efforts to provide the University
community with more transit options. Members who take transit, bike, walk, or carpool will have
access to these for any short term-transportation needs that arise while on campus; thus making
it easier for campus commuters to leave their cars at home. The vehicles are located on campus at
various garages. Hourly rates start at $6.50, with a max rate of $9.50. There are 329 members
with a 16% vehicle utilization.
City of Albany
Discounted Transit Passes
UMB also offers discounted, unlimited-ride monthly transit passes. The All Access College Transit
Pass is offered to UMB students directly through the MTA for $39, and is valid on all MTA
services (light rail, subway, bus). Additionally, PTS offers faculty and staff discounted, unlimited,
and monthly transit passes for standard, express and premium-zone MTA services.
Carpool Program
UMB currently uses AlternetRides as its rideshare matching program of choice, and will also be
integrating Zimride as a primary rideshare database to manage the carpool program. No
discounted parking rates or locations for carpool vehicles are provided.
Guaranteed Ride Home
Guaranteed ride home is provided through the regional Metropolitan Planning Organization
(MPO) and can provide travel options for unexpected changes to work schedules such as early or
late departures covering a nearly 60 mile radius of the campus. In order to qualify for this
program, commuters who regularly (twice a week) carpool, vanpool , bike, walk or take transit to
work are eligible for a free reliable ride home when an unexpected change to work schedule
occurs typically provided by a taxi, rental car or paratransit.
Secure, Indoor Bike Parking
PTS has constructed a 44-space bicycle cage at its Pratt Street Garage. Individuals using this
secure and monitored cage register at the PTS office to receive an access card for entry. The cost
to use this parking is $25.00 per year or $10.00 per semester. Bicycle commuters also have access
to showers and lockers nearby.
Priced Auto Parking
The most powerful and direct means of reducing parking demand is charging for parking. Price is
a very intuitive means of affecting demand for any product or service and maintains a relative
balance between demand and supply. The fact that nearly all trips in the UA currently terminate
in a free parking space, however, frequently makes businesses reluctant to charge their employees
or visitors for parking. The fact that UMB charges all of its students, faculty, and staff for the
parking it provides, therefore, is a significant TDM resource for managing its current and future
demand/ supply balance. The current parking rates are:
Dorm Students: $300/ semester, or $550/year
Commuter Students: $5/day
BioPark Student: $175/semester
Staff: $6/day
Carpool: $100/month or $900/year
Visitors: $5 minimum, $13 maximum (patients' maximum is capped at $7)
By comparison, public rates at area commercial garages run from $5-14 per day and $70-179 per
month.
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