Commission hears city and regional plans to scale sustainable trips and fund transit expansion

The San Francisco Commission on the Environment spent the main portion of its July 24, 2018 meeting on the city's climate action strategy for transportation, hearing three presentations on outreach, agency progress and regional funding.

Sarah Peters, outreach communications assistant with the Department of the Environment, described a January'February "Carpool to School" advertising campaign run as part of the city's Safe Routes to School partnership. The outreach used 75 bus ads, 25 neighborhood billboards focused around 12 target schools, a Pandora radio spot, and social media posts including parent "influencer" stories. Peters reported campaign results of more than 1,200 face-to-face conversations with parents and caregivers, about 21 million impressions, 2,700 social reactions and 11,000 page views during the campaign window; 68% of those visits went to the carpool landing page. Peters said evaluation of whether the ads produced measurable increases in carpooling is still in progress and that the Department of Public Health leads Safe Routes evaluation.

Tim Doherty, senior planner with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, reviewed mode-share data from MTA's annual travel-decision survey (sample ~800). Doherty said San Francisco has already passed its earlier 50% sustainable-trip goal and the city and agencies have adopted a new 80% sustainable-trip target. He emphasized the transportation sector accounts for roughly 46% of the city's greenhouse gas emissions and that private vehicles are the dominant source. Doherty described capital investments he said would help achieve mode shift, including the central subway, Bus Rapid Transit (Van Ness), and the planned Caltrain downtown extension, and discussed policy tools such as curb pricing (SF Park) and electrification of transit vehicles.

Tilly Chang, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, described Regional Measure 3 (RM3), which Bay Area voters approved in June 2018. RM3 raises tolls on state-owned bridges in three $1 increments (2019, 2022, 2025) to fund a $4.5 billion program of regional capital and some operating investments. Chang listed projects expected to receive funding or coordination: BART fleet expansion, expanded ferry service, Muni vehicle and maintenance investments, Caltrain's downtown extension to Salesforce Transit Center, and active-transportation connections such as a proposed West Bay pedestrian/bicycle link. She emphasized RM3 complements state funding (Senate Bill 1) and noted the CTA will begin programming projects next year with the first collections starting in 2019.

Commissioners asked follow-up questions about SF Park dynamic curb pricing rollout and performance, whether the carpool campaign's advertising translated into measurable mode shift (evaluation is ongoing), and the timeline for electric-bus pilots and SFMTA's commitment to an all-electric fleet by 2035. Presenters said SF Park has expanded citywide after its pilot; evaluation data for the carpool campaign was still being compiled; and MTA is piloting zero-emission buses and has set a 2035 target for full electrification, acknowledging procurement cycles and vehicle life spans drive the transition.