We're going to start this the distance advisory on transit uh meeting.

We don't currently have quorum, but in efforts of the time, we will be having our presenter begin his presentation, and that's Matt Lynch.

And as we uh if more advisory committee members come, we can um start the meeting officially.

So, Matt, uh the floor is yours.

Thank you.

And uh as Rachel said, my name is Matt Lynch.

My title is Mode Shift Coordinator.

I report to community development on behalf of the city of Rochester.

And I want to thank you for the opportunity to present to Cis and Advisory and Transit in the public.

And first I'd like to update the Citizen Advisory Own Transit that City of Rochester was awarded a MINDAT Act Transportation Planning Assistance Grant and support from MINDAC consultants to complete that work.

So thank you for the letter of support that was approved several meetings ago.

That was a successful grant uh application.

And what I'd like to focus on in today's presentation is how mode shift and transportation demand management abbreviated as TBM support a stronger transit system and better access for destinations across Rochester.

So for this audience, uh what I want to be clear is that I'm not telling people uh is that this presentation is not telling people how they should travel.

Driving remains an important and will remain important for many trips.

Uh this is about whether Rochester as a city we can give people real workable options for how they move about the city, especially when transit could serve a trip well.

And so I want to ground uh this presentation in adopted direction and the ideas that I'm sharing today are not new policy direction.

They are about implementation and about making our transit uh and access investments work better together for a more efficient system overall.

So I just like to ask that you might consider uh recent transit trip or even a trip that could have been taken by transit.

What would have made it easier?

Um would it have been uh safer to walk to the staff, a shorter weight, easier information to gather and understand the trip uh overall, maybe more comfortable transfer or perhaps even a lower cost.

So I want to start there because transportation can become abstract very quickly.

And this uh is about uh this this thought keeps us grounded in lived experience, how we travel and what in what makes a trip actually usable for real people in real needs.

So this the reason this work exists is that Rochester already recognized the need to improve how people access downtown and major destinations or activity centers.

And Rochester's growth and constrained downtown access is a key issue uh that's guiding these these initiatives.

So transit is part of the solution as you see here in the targets uh for mode shift and link and fixed uh local transit investments, they all need to work as intended.

So downtown planning, destination medical center, and link all reflect this very same underlying reality that in a growing city, especially in a constrained downtown environment, we cannot rely only on everyone driving alone for every trip and still expect the system to work well.

Um so for this this group, I just want to emphasize that the conversation is really about access.

How do we help more people reach uh jobs, uh healthcare services and daily destinations in ways that are practical, uh affordable, uh, and transit is a key part of that answer.

So I want to define these two terms more simply.

Mode shift is what we want to see as an outcome.

It is uh more people have the option to walk, roll, bicycle, take transit, or share rides for trips where those options make sense.

And so transportation management or TDM is the tool set.

It includes these policies, programs, it could be pricing, the information, the design of the facilities, the maintenance choices that make those options options practical, uh reliable and attractive.

So for this group, TDM is not about it's not separate from transit, it is one of the ways to help transit succeed.

So TDM can support things like employer transit benefits, better wayfinding to transit access, first and last mile connections, uh, parking management, and coordination with major destinations so that transit is more competitive for all the options available and easier to use.

So the progress I'll show here is is mixed.

And I do want to be careful not to overplay precision here where the data is merely directional.

Uh the big takeaway is that Rochester still very much relies heavily on driving.

You could see that in the top yellow line.

Uh that means that transit and other options still have significant room to grow, but only if they're useful, connected, and durable to different uh issues or pressures.

That means that transit and other options still have significant room to grow, but only if they're useful, connected, and durable to different uh issues or pressures.

So we're consistently hearing through planning efforts and engagement that people want more practical choices beyond driving.

So the question is not whether there is interest, the question is whether the system supports that interest enough for people to actually act on it and have that be a viable option.

So by the data from the American Community Survey that we see here from the Census Bureau, you see two statistics that we can take here is in 2019 remote work or worked at home did increase substantially.

And then the drove alone rates did decrease slightly, but they still remain quite plateaued.

Uh still about 65.5% of the drove alone in 2023.

And then the remainder of the uh legend that we see the different modes that were taken in the survey, there was too small of a uh sample taken on those modes that we can't the margin of error was too great for us to be able to take statistics from those alone.

So the next few maps that I'll share use replica model data, and that is a strategic planning tool.

It's not a direct count of uses, it should just simply be used with judgment alongside operations, safety, and design context.

And so, what this helps us do is understand where track where access demand is concentrated, and where some trips may have realistic potential to be served differently for the network, if only if the network works.

And so uh for this group, I think these maps are useful because they do help us improve and move beyond a narrow commute lens.

They almost think about how people access downtown and major destinations more broadly throughout the community.

That could be for appointments, it could be for errands, school, work, or just everyday life.

And so I start with this map intentionally because it does show the motorized access and circulation where they're concentrated today.

You see that these are all trips that work to the downtown area drawn just about in this general area.

And so uh this matters because downtown Rochester have has we can't we have to acknowledge it.

It has real uh motor vehicle access needs, including patient visitor service, freight, and pickup and drop-off activity on a routine basis.

So the goal is not to deny that reality, the goal is just simply to understand where vehicle access will matter, continue to matter, and where some trips might be better served by transit and connected low stress multimodal networks.

So where the question that the citizens value in transit can routinely ask is where can transit realistically carrying more of the access burden, especially where street and parking space may be limited.