DATE:
June 24, 2025
CATEGORY:
Consent
DEPT.:
Public Works
TITLE: 2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap
Monitoring Reports
RECOMMENDATION
Review and accept the fall 2024 and spring 2025 North Bayshore Trip Cap Reports.
BACKGROUND
The City began monitoring the vehicle volumes at each of the three North Bayshore gateways in February 2014 as part of the North Bayshore Precise Plan (NBPP). This monitoring occurs in fall
and spring of each year to ensure compliance with the maximum allowed number of trips during the a.m. and p.m. peak period. Annual reports are generally submitted to the City Council in late spring. Past monitoring reports are available on the City’s North Bayshore Precise Plan webpage.
North Bayshore Precise Plan
In December 2017, the City Council adopted an updated NBPP, including the following key policies:
• North Bayshore Gateway Peak -Hour Vehicle Trip Cap: The District Vehicle Trip Cap was established as the maximum allowed number of trips at the three North Bayshore gateways (San Antonio Road, Rengstorff Avenue, and Shoreline Boulevard) during morning and evening peak -hour periods. The cap was established by the 2014 Precise Plan at 18,850 vehicles in the a.m. and 16,630 in the p.m. In December 2021, the City Council approved the North Bayshore Circulation Feasibility Study ( Circulation Study ) (discussed
below) to modify the Trip Cap policy to include directional monitoring for both inbound and outbound trips. As part of required monitoring activities, City staff collects traffic volumes and observes transportation mode share at the three major entry points into North Bayshore.
• Vehicle Trip Cap Penalties: Based on the NBPP, if monitoring data sho ws that the trip cap is exceeded at any of the three gateway locations for two consecutive monitoring periods, the City may cease granting any new building permits for net new square footage in the NBPP area until the number of peak-hour vehicle trips is reduced below the trip cap.
2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
As an alternative to withholding building permits, the City can request an applicant propose trip reduction strategies, including, but not limited to, physical improvements to the transportation network and /or additional Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures. The proposed strategies would include traffic analysis demonstrating that the proposed strategies and/or improvements will achieve the adequate levels of effectiveness for trip reduction to comply with the District Vehicle Trip Cap prior to project entitlement.
The developer-proposed strategies and/or improvements shall be implemented prior to building occupancy, unless deemed otherwise by the City Council or designee. Council will consider applications proposing improvements to the transportation network and/or additional TDM measures according to the review process established by Council policy.
North Bayshore Circulation Feasibility Study
The Circulation Study developed updated transportation strategies for the full development of the North Bayshore Precise Plan. The City Council initially reviewed the Circulation Study recommendations on June 8, 2021
and approved the final study and recommendations on
December 7, 2021. The Circulation Study recommendations were developed to manage vehicle capacity at the gateways through a combination of travel demand management, modal shift, and limited infrastructure strategies.
The recommendations included an updated list of Priority Transportation Improvement projects
and a requirement that future office development achieve a lower single -occupancy vehicle (SOV) rate in the range of 35% to 40% for both existing and future employees, which is lower than the NBPP’s current 45% SOV target.
The Circulation Study approved by Council included modified gateway trip cap policies to revise the time period and locations for compliance and to update gateway capacity estimates as follows:
• Continue the twice-yearly gateway monitoring program to track post-COVID traffic patterns and compliance trends. The monitoring should measure three -hour peak-period trips in both directions at each gateway and mode-share trends.
• Expand the monitoring program as new growth occurs to better understand characteristics of peak traffic, use of non-SOV modes, and trip characteristics of new residents.
• Measure compliance by comparing actual peak direction trips (a.m. inbound and p.m. outbound) with the gateway capacity for both the a.m. and p.m. three -hour peak periods as opposed to just the peak hour.
• Measure compliance by combining the Shoreline Boulevard and Rengstorff Avenue gateways. The San Antonio Road gateway should continue to be measured separately. 2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
• Adjust the Shoreline Boulevard and Rengstorff Avenue gateway capacities as new infrastructure projects are completed.
Staff issued an RFP on March 31, 2023 and Council approved a professional services agreement with Fehr and Peers, Inc, on May 9, 2023
, to provide consultant services for the North Bayshore District Transportation Monitoring in the amount of $160,400. Staff executed the agreement with Fehr and Peers on July 20, 2023, with the option to extend for an additional three-year term at the discretion of the City. Staff extended the contract with Fehr and Peers for Fiscal Year 2024-25.
ANALYSIS
The following analysis focuses on the key findings from the fall 2024 and spring 2025 North Bayshore District: Transportation Monitor Report of gateway peak-hour and peak period vehicle trip volumes and transportation mode share, such as SOV, high occupancy vehicle, transit, biking, and walking. The main reports are included as Attachments 1 and 2, with appendices to the reports located on the City’s North Bayshore Precise Plan webpage .
While trips at the gateways are increasing , they are still below pre -pandemic levels and comply with the established gateway trip caps. Additionally, SOV mode share has returned to record highs of 70% exceeding the Precise Plan’s 45% SOV target. There are several potential drivers of current SOV levels during what is still seen as a transitionary period. Staff will continue to conduct and report on trip counts and will, as part of the next Fiscal Year’s 2025 -26 monitoring reports, evaluate whether current North Bayshore development and travel behavior are conforming to North Bayshore Precise Plan policy goals and objectives.
Post-COVID Observations
The fall 2024 observations , collected during September and October 2024, continue to reflect travel patterns that are different from typical pre -COVID conditions, likely due to hybrid work models. Additionally, economic headwinds, recent layoffs, and uncertainty surrounding future demand for real estate holdings may reflect lower office occupancy rates following the pandemic.
During this period, observed travel behavior includes a higher share of employees coming to the workplace during the midweek peak (Tuesday through Thursday) and a high SOV rate of 64% for those commuting to the workplace.
The spring 2025 observations, collected in February 2025, also reflected similar patterns as in the fall. While the vehicle volumes into the district have steadily increased post-COVID, the rate of increase has somewhat stabilized as people have settled into new travel patterns. Since monitoring activities resumed in 2021, traffic at the North Bayshore gateways has rebounded to approximately 80% of pre -COVID levels (spring 2020) . Subsequent monitoring efforts will 2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
continue to assess the impacts of ongoing return to work policies and effects of economic policy at the local, state, and federal level.
For both fall and spring monitoring periods, travel volumes continue to rise incrementally toward their prepandemic levels yet reflect compliance with the trip cap policy. However, the SOV rate of those commuting into the workplace remains well above the Precise Plan’s target of 45%. For example, the SOV rate was 64% in the fall and climbed to 70% in the spring.
Combined Gateway Mode Share
Table 1 shows the historical trend for all mode s of travel, including SOVs, High-Occupancy Vehicles (HOV), transit, bicycle, and walking, since monitoring began 2014. The gateway counts include Stevens Creek Trail and Permanente Creek Trail gateways into North Bayshore to determine mode shares.
Table 1: Inbound Morning Peak-Hour Mode Split for Combined Gateways, 2014-2025 1 1 * TNC—Transportation Network Company (i.e., Uber, Lyft). The City started monitoring TNCs in spring 2019. A one-person TNC (driver only) was included in the SOV category, while two -or-more-person TNC (driver plus passenger(s)) vehicles were categorized as HOV.
** Since fall 2019, TNC drivers have been excluded from the mode-share summary. The emergence of TNC vehicles has resulted in an alternative accounting of vehicle occupancy that excludes TNC drivers from the vehicle occupancy observations because they are providing a service and are not part of the traveling public with an origin or destination in North Bayshore.
*** Due to COVID-19 and the dramatic decrease in traffic in Mountain View , and throughout the Bay Area , during this period, the City did not prepare monitoring reports for fall 2020 and spring 2021.
S
'14
S
'15
F
'15
S
'16
F
'16
S
'17
F
'17
S
'18
F
'18
S
'19
*
F
'19
**
S
'20
**
F
'20
***
S
'21
***
F
'21
S
'22
F
'22
S
'23
F
'23
S
'24
F
'24
S
'25
Ped 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 1% 1% 0 0 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% Bike 3% 6% 6% 5% 6% 6% 3% 3% 3% 2% 4% 3% 0 0 4% 3% 3% 1% 3% 3% 3% 2% Transit 33% 26% 26% 17% 23% 28% 32% 30% 32% 31% 37% 28% 0 0 11% 15% 17% 23% 20% 16% 16% 16% HOV 13% 12% 14% 17% 14% 13% 15% 14% 12% 12% 8% 11% 0 0 13% 18% 10% 10% 12% 17% 16% 11% SOV 51% 55% 53% 60% 56% 52% 49% 52% 52% 55% 50% 57% 0 0 70% 62% 69% 64% 64% 63% 64% 70% 0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%Mode share
SOV HOV Transit Bike Ped
2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
Key findings include:
• The morning inbound peak -hour SOV mode share has varied since monitoring began in 2014, ranging from as low as 49% in fall 2017 to as high as 70% in fall 2021, when monitoring resumed. The spring 202 5 count observations reported an inbound a.m. peak -hour SOV mode share of 70 %, a 6 % increase from fall 202 4, which is significantly higher than the prepandemic SOV rate of approximately 49%. NOTE: T he 70% SOV rate in the spring returned to its record high first observed in 2021, yet traffic volumes are 67% higher than when monitoring activities resumed in 2021. The morning peak-hour SOV mode share has averaged 6 6% since fall 2021 —well above the North Bayshore Precise Plan’s 45% SOV target.
• Both public and private t ransit mode share declined significantly following the pandemic and has been slow to recover, mirroring similar ridership trends on local and regional transit agencies. Transit saw approximately 30% mode share pre -COVID but has hovered around roughly half at 16% since fall 2021. Ongoing monitoring will assess the impact of Caltrain electrification and further enforcement of return-to-work policies.
• Utilization of HOVs continues to see wide variations in mode split where it vied with transit for the second most preferred transportation option to SOVs. In spring 2025, HOV mode share returned to its pre-COVID baseline of 11%, falling by 5% from the previous monitoring cycle in the fall.
• Bike share ranged from 3% in the fall to 2% in the spring, mirroring similar utilization rates prepandemic. Starting in fall 2023, three additional days of bike and pedestrian counts were collected to better understand the evolving active transportation patterns.
Additionally, seasonality and rainy weather conditions may explain the lower share of bike commuting in spring 2025, when counts were collected in February.
The 2024-25 monitoring data reflects the normalization of return -to-office hybrid models that were implemented by large employers in 2021 and continue to be refined . For example, a minimum standard for hybrid work has largely formed around two to three days in-office, which reflects the bulk of traffic volumes during the midweek peak of Tuesday through Thursda y.
Recent announcements by large employers have also signaled requiring a minimum of three days in-office, which could result in the gateway capacities returning sooner to prepandemic levels during the midweek. The Mountain View Transportation Management Association (TMA), employers, and transit operators all recognize the importance of providing convenient and efficient service to bring commuters back to transit. In addition, economic uncertainty, major decisions over transit fiscal policy, and return-to-work developments may further impact travel behavior—providing the basis for ongoing monitoring in North Bayshore. Such data will be important to informing the status of existing capital improvement projects planned in the district.
2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
Fall 2024 Combined and Individual Gateway Peak-Period Trip Cap Comparison
The fall 2024 total traffic volumes at the three gateways (San Antonio Road, Rengstorff Avenue, and Shoreline Boulevard) combined and individually are lower than the total gateway vehicle limits and comply with the North Bayshore Gateway Vehicle Trip Cap Policy (Table 2).
Table 2: Fall 2024 Gateway Trip Cap Performance—A.M. and P.M. Peak Period
Gateway
Morning Inbound Evening outbound
Volume Trip Cap
Remaining
Gateway
Capacity
Percent of
Gateway
Capacity
Remaining
Volume Trip Cap
Remaining
Gateway
Capacity
Percent of
Gateway
Capacity
Remaining
San Antonio
Road 1,670 4,590 2,920 64% 1,370 4,020 2,650 66%
Rengstorff
Avenue 4,680 8,880 4,200 47% 3,980 7,140 3,160 44%
Shoreline
Boulevard 6,170 7,470 1,300 17% 6,080 8,190 2,110 26%
Total 12,520 20,940 8,420 40% 11,430 19,350 7,920 41%
Combined
Gateways
Shoreline
Boulevard and
Rengstorff
Avenue
Combined
10,850 16,350 5,500 34% 10,060 15,330 5,270 34%
Spring 2024 Combined and Individual Gateway Peak-Period Trip Cap Comparison
Total traffic volumes in spring 2025 increased by 4% from fall 2024 during the morning peak period but remained below the gateway trip cap (Table 3 below). Since spring 2022, traffic volumes have rebounded to 78% of prepandemic levels.
Furthermore, the spring traffic counts show that 6 2% of the total allowable gateway capacity in the morning was used, which is up 2% from the monitoring period last fall . The Fiscal Year 2025-26 monitoring reports will be important to gauge stabilizing travel patterns postpandemic.
2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
Table 3: Spring 2024 Gateway Trip Cap Policy Evaluation—A.M. and P.M. Peak Periods
Gateway
Morning Inbound Evening outbound
Volume Trip Cap
Remaining
Gateway
Capacity
Percent of
Gateway
Capacity
Remaining
Volume Trip Cap
Remaining
Gateway
Capacity
Percent of
Gateway
Capacity
Remaining
San
Antonio
Road
1,800 4,590 2,790 61% 1,530 4,020 2,490 62%
Rengstorff
Avenue 5,040 8,880 3,840 43% 4,200 7,140 2,940 41%
Shoreline
Boulevard 6,120 7,470 1,350 18% 5,800 8,190 2,390 29%
Total 12,960 20,940 7,980 38% 11,530 19,350 7,820 40%
Combined
Gateways
Shoreline
Boulevard
and
Rengstorff
Avenue
Combined
11,160 16,350 5,190 32% 10,000 15,330 5,330 35%
CONCLUSION
The 2024-25 North Bayshore monitoring reports present the findings that the observed North Bayshore gateway trip volumes complied with the North Bayshore Precise Plan and Circulation Study Trip Cap policies in Fiscal Year 2024-25. Since late spring 2022, vehicle trip volumes and associated travel patterns continued to shift as growing numbers of employees returned to work sites under hybrid work schedules, employer TDM programs pivoted their transportation strategies, and transit agencies responded to varying levels of demand. During this transitionary period, the observed travel behavior indicated a higher -than-typical SOV rate that has returned to its record high of 70% when monitoring activities resumed—yet traffic volumes are 67% higher than when monitoring activities resumed in 2021 . The next Fiscal Year’s 202 5-26 monitoring reports will serve to support ongoing City efforts at evaluating whether current North Bayshore development and travel behavior is conforming to North Bayshore Precise Plan policy goals and objectives.
2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact as a result of accepting the fall 2024 and spring 2025 North Bayshore Trip Cap Reports.
LEVINE ACT
California Government Code Section 84308 (also known as the Levine Act) prohibits city officials from participating in any proceeding involving a “license, permit, or other entitlement for use” if the official has received a campaign contribution exceeding $500 from a party, participant, or agent of a party or participant within the last 12 months. The Levine Act is intended to prevent financial influence on decisions that affect specific, identifiable persons or participants. For more information see the Fair Political Practices Commission website:
www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/pay-to-
play-limits-and-prohibitions.html
Please see below for information about whether the recommended action for this agenda item is subject to or exempt from the Levine Act.
EXEMPT FROM THE LEVINE ACT
☒ General policy and legislative actions
ALTERNATIVES
1. Do not accept the North Bayshore Trip Cap reports.
2. Ask staff to return to Council with the fall counts, earlier than the typical reporting cadence, showing continued trend data, rather than providing the fall data as an off- agenda informational item.
3. Provide other direction.
2024-25 North Bayshore Trip Cap Monitoring Reports
June 24, 2025
PUBLIC NOTICING
Agenda posting and email notifications were sent to interested North Bayshore stakeholders.
Prepared by:
Ben Pacho
Transportation Planner
Reviewed by:
Allison Boyer
Assistant Public Works Director
Approved by:
Jennifer Ng
Public Works Director
Audrey Seymour Ramberg
Assistant City Manager
BP/LL/4/CAM
902-06-24-25CR
205012
Attachments: 1. Fall 2024 NBS Monitoring Report
2. Spring 2025 NBS Monitoring Report