Sacramento Transportation Choices, a new advocacy organization in the region, developed a set of principles for transportation, shown below (and as a pdf). The principles will be rolled out to the public at the Community Forum: Leading the Way to Carbon Zero on May 13 during the transportation breakout. Expect posts about the forum and more about the organization soon.

Sacramento Transportation Choices is dedicated to bringing groups together that will work to prioritize transportation choices in the region that promote environment and health, accountability, equity and accessibility, and transit ridership. Transportation principles will be used to improve expenditures and priorities in the next transportation tax measure, as well as existing and future transportation projects.

Transportation Principles [Draft 2017-04-27]

A. Environment and Health

Transportation is responsible for 37% of greenhouse gas emissions in California and about half of “criteria” air pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Transportation agencies must make choices to mitigate climate change by reducing GHG emissions, as well as reduce ozone, fine particles, and toxic air pollutants. Urban sprawl directly impacts the environment through the removal of open space and habitat, and increased use of automobiles compared to infill development. Better choices lead to a healthier Sacramento.

• Climate Change and air pollutants – Transportation choices must mitigate climate change by reducing GHG emissions, and improve health by reducing air pollutants
• Eliminate the use of fossil fuels in transportation
• Promote and support active modes of transportations (walking and bicycling)
• Electrify public transit, garbage and delivery trucks and autos  (batteries and fuel cells)
• Reduce fine particulates in populated areas
• Reduce Sprawl, Increase Infill
• Development sprawl must be inhibited to reduce vehicular travel (VMT)
• Transportation must support and encourage smart growth development (mixed-use, infill)
• Transportation projects should preserve habitat and open space

B. Accountability

The three core principles of open government are transparency, public engagement, and accountability. Transparency in transportation agencies promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing. Public engagement enhances transportation agency effectiveness and improves the quality of decisions.
Increased Public Participation

• A Citizens Advisory Committee will assist decision making by reflecting community values and communicating information about the agency’s mission and programs back to the community.
• Appoint public members to transportation boards to ensure direct input in developing goals, objectives and performance measures.
• Increased Transparency. The public deserves greater transparency and information about the budget process and how transportation projects are selected and funded. Data collection, management and analysis are the tools used to assess and plan projects. This information must be published online as open data, readily available to the public.

C. Equity and Accessibility

Access to transit, walking and bicycling is a economic, moral, and social imperative. Public transit benefits all people in Sacramento, directly or by reducing traffic congestion. This means that transportation agencies will prioritize access to healthcare, education, food (groceries / restaurants), entertainment and work. To ensure everyone receives this benefit the Sacramento transit system need to serve vulnerable populations, low-income communities, and those that are commonly disengaged from the public arena, as well as those citizens that choose public transportation as a first choice.

Accessibility means:

• Smart growth that enables transportation choices
• Walking and bicycling, and Paratransit access to destinations including transit stops
• Fares that are affordable, competitive and subsidized where needed
• Transit stops that are ADA-compliant, maintained and welcoming
• Better availability and connectivity between all modes of transportation
• Low-floor rail car

D. Transit Ridership

Without good ridership, most of the environmental and transit goals cannot be achieved. There are trade-offs between frequency and coverage.  Exceptions from maximizing ridership for the sake of coverage should be made consciously. Public participation is imperative to making decisions about balancing frequency and coverage. Transit should be developed to achieve the highest ridership possible within the region for a given budget.

• Transfers: Establish a transfer system that benefits the rider and encourages increased ridership locally and regionally.
• Frequency: Establish high frequency, high productivity service. Though frequency costs money, it usually also promotes higher ridership and fare income.

• Sacramento Transportation Choices
• transportation funding