City of San José
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68℉Mobility: Public Transit
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Why is this a Climate Smart indicator?
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Transportation creates almost half of our city's greenhouse gas emissions. If more people commuted by public transit, this would help reduce our emissions. It would also reduce traffic, air and stormwater pollution and crashes.
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One of our Bold Goals is to reduce the number of drive-alone commute trips to only 40 percent of all commute trips by 2040. This is only achievable if other ways of commuting, such as public transit, become more common.
What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator?
Completed
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San José Complete Streets Design Standards & Guidelines, describing a vision and best available practices for designing streets that are comfortable, safe and welcoming for all modes of travel (adopted 2018)
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Transportation Analysis Policy to shift the focus of developments’ transportation improvements to pedestrian, bicycle and transit facilities (adopted in 2018, updated in 2022)
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Sustainable Commute Incentive Pilot program to test the effectiveness of various incentive strategies for reducing drive-alone automobile trips
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Vision Zero Action Plan (adopted 2020) and Quick Build team
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BART Silicon Valley Phase I (began service in 2020)
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East San José Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (En Movimiento; adopted 2/2/21)
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Move San José, a new transportation strategy for San José (adopted 8/9/22)
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Transit First Policy (adopted 8/9/22)
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Downtown Transportation Plan, which includes 17 transportation strategies to assist the city in designing, securing funding, and delivering key downtown improvements (adopted 11/15/22)
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West San José Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (adopted 12/6/22)
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Parking and Transportation Demand Management Ordinance update (adopted 12/6/22, effective 4/10/23)
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Hire the City’s first Transportation Demand Management coordinator to manage the City’s existing employee commute programs, such as VTA’s Smart Pass Program, as well as expand and improve the program
In Progress / Ongoing
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Implement the Vision Zero Action Plan
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Implement En Movimiento projects
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Advance long-range transit projects that serve growth areas by developing plans and implementing them in conjunction with the VTA and other cities
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Promote Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) through implementation of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan and urban village plans
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Partner with regional agencies on regional transportation solutions
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Develop the Diridon Integrated Station Concept plan with regional partners
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Climate Smart Challenge and GoGreen Teams programs for San José residents, which encourage taking transit
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LED Streetlight Conversion Program to make streets feel safer for transit riders (2009-present)
Planned
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North San Jose Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (expected 2025)
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BART Silicon Valley Route Phase II (expected 2029-2030)
Evaluating
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Consider increasing maximum acceptable densities so that land resources are not locked into low-density patterns of development
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Explore discounted or free transit for students, seniors and lower income residents
About the data
Sources
The percentage of commute journeys by public transit is obtained from the American Community Survey, a yearly survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that provides detailed population and housing information including commuting data. The data shown here are 5-year estimates from the Commuting Characteristics by Sex table.
Last updated
August 2023