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In 2006, the city exceeded its AVR goal of 1.5
persons per vehicle on average! The AVR rose
from 1.13 to 1.40 between 1993 and 1997. It
stayed at roughly 1.40 until 2005, when it rose
to 1.45. This year the AVR is 1.59 which is the
average of the morning AVR, 1.67, and the
evening AVR of 1.51.
Although this indicator does not specifically
target city employees, the AVR for city
employees is consistently between 1.75 and 1.8. |
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Business
commuters are a target for increased AVR because
many drive alone and because there are
opportunities to provide incentives to
individuals to carpool, ride the bus, or walk to
and from work. It is helpful to look at the
different modes of transit people use for
transportation, or Modal Split. This has been
measured by businesses with more than 50
employees for both morning and evening commutes.
Morning and evening commutes show approximately
the same data: about 69% of commuters drive
alone, while 19% carpool and 12-13% walk, bike
or take the bus. Obviously, encouraging
ridesharing and other transit would improve AVR
further.
The City of
Santa Monica is one of the only cities in the
nation to implement a mandatory Parking Cash Out
Program. Parking Cash Out, or AB2109, is a State
law requiring employers of fifty or more
employees who lease their parking, and subsidize
any part of their employee parking to offer
their employees the opportunity to give up their
parking space and rideshare to work instead. In
return for giving up their parking space, the
employer pays the employee the cost of the
parking space.
It should be
noted that the AVR reported above does not
include some of the largest employers in Santa
Monica, because many of them choose to report to
the Air Quality Management District directly.
Among the large employers whose rideshare
programs are not reflected in our reported AVR
are the U.S. Postal Service, Santa Monica
Hospital, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School
District and other federal and state agencies.
Information about the AVR of these employers was
not sufficiently accessible to include in this
analysis, but will inform the level at which the
city sets the next target for this indicator. |
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