pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf, 5
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-06-08 | 5 | we're working hard to improve our bus system, walking and bicycling. Some of the challenges are that we still have gaps, especially in the bicycling system. We're trying to adapt to new technologies and it's changing daily, it's evolving, so that's hard to figure out. Gail Payne: More people in Alameda are using alternatives to driving than they ever did before. More people are taking the bus, more people are bicycling and walking, and more people are telecommuting from home. So, people are definitely open, more Alamedans are open to commuting in these different ways. Within Alameda, most homes and jobs are located close to a bus stop, there's a 37% increase in bicycle commuting over the past four years. And what's really difficult within Alameda is if you need to get around at about 8:00 AM, before or after, we really have a lot of students here, we have about 1,500 more students than we did a decade ago. And not only that, we have fewer neighborhood schools, we have more magnet schools than we've ever had, more charter schools. And these schools have a city wide enrollment. The neighborhood schools tend to have that catchment area around the neighborhood, around the school. Whereas the magnet schools, charter schools, they get students from all over the city, SO they're more apt to be driven to the school. They even get students from other jurisdictions as well, and more apt too, than local schools. So if you're trying to get around a town around 8:00 AM, you'll notice a difference, it's tough. Gail Payne: Bicycle facilities, we are going to be updating the bike plan soon. We're going to be constructing the Cross Alameda trail next year. And we are currently looking at the potential to have bike share here, like you probably see in other jurisdictions like San Francisco, East Bay is getting it later this year, I think. For transit ridership, most commuters take AC Transit. My favorite is the AC Transit Transbay, they are the work horses of it all, and they don't get enough attention. And the people also take BART, and they also take Ferry. So we're very fortunate we have close access to ferries, BART, and the buses. It's unusual for such a small jurisdiction to have all those options. Granted, we don't have BART nearby, or right in town yet, we have, I think, within about a mile or so radius maybe, I think it's five BART stations. We have two ferry terminals, and shuttle systems, we also have some tech shuttles coming in now, like Google and Facebook. And we're expanding, we recently had improvements to Line 51 A, we're going to be restoring Line 19, along the Northern Waterfront, Buena Vista Avenue. And we're hoping to get a new ferry terminal in Alameda Point, in the Seaplane Lagoon area coming 2019-2020. Gail Payne: AC Transit ridership is on the rise, especially Transbay buses. We had an increase in ridership of 27% since 2010. A lot of that has to do with the BART strikes that happened in 2013. And this next slide shows that BART ridership from Alameda is down. Because after the BART strikes, these commuters discovered the Transbay buses, they discovered the ferries. And ferry ridership is also up, and unfortunately for BART, Alamedans are less apt to take BART, although BART is packed so I don't think they're really missing us. For Paratransit, we are fortunate to have East Bay Paratransit, which is funded by BART and AC Transit, they really carry the bulk of Paratransit riders. They carry 13,000 annually, riders from home base from Alameda. And we also have an Alameda Paratransit shuttle. And we have, because of Measure BB that recently got passed, we're planning on increasing the frequency to run every 30 minutes, and hopeful to Fruitvale BART. Gail Payne: Like I said, ferry ridership has been increasing from the two ferry terminals. And the last of key points, of the key concept is these transportation demand-management strategies improve transportation options, and I had mentioned them before but the idea here is we're trying to make the transportation system more efficient. There's limited space, so let's try to get as many 08/17/16 Page 5 of 19 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf |