Healthpeak Vantage
Transportation Demand Management Plan
Prepared for:
Healthpeak Properties
City of South San Francisco
August 2023
SF21-1159
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Background
This report presents a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program for the proposed Healthpeak development located at 420-490 Forbes Boulevard in South San Francisco, California (“Project”) consistent with Chapter 20.400 of the City’s Zoning Amendment Ordinance. The proposed TDM plan is intended to apply to Phase I of the Project, which has been approved and consists of two buildings with 326,020 square feet of Office and R&D land use and 40,600 square feet of amenity space, qualifying it as a Tier 3 project, requiring 40 points worth of TDM measures.
Additional measures will be added upon submittal of the application for remaining phases, which will include an additional 1.28 million square feet of Office and R&D land use, and will therefore be subject to Tier 4 requirements.
Purpose and Goals
The Project is proposing a life science development in South San Francisco at a total floor-area of
1.65 million square feet at full buildout. Under the City of South San Francisco’s TDM Ordinance, this constitutes a Tier 4 project, which is required to result in at least 50 percent of employees commuting via driving alone (i.e., achieve a commute mode share of 50 percent or more alternative mode use). In addition, the Project is required to implement TDM measures from a list provided by the City.
However, implementation of the Project is phased. Phase I is approved and consists of 326,020 square feet of Office and R&D land use, qualifying it as a Tier 3 project. For Tier 3 projects, the target drive alone mode share is 60 percent rather than 50 percent, and fewer points are required under the ordinance.
The Phase 1 Project will implement 40 points worth of TDM Measures as a Tier 3 project. Each of the TDM measures provides options to future employers and employees to allow use of non-auto modes, strategies to encourage carpooling, biking, walking, and transit use; and site design features to promote the same.
This TDM strategy also includes all trip reduction measures that are mandatory for the Phase I Project, as included in section 20.400.004 of the South San Francisco Zoning Code.
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Transportation Systems Overview
The Project is located in the East of 101 area of South San Francisco, approximately ¾ of a mile from the South San Francisco Caltrain Station. This equates to a 5 to 9-minute bicycle ride, or a 12 to 20-minute walk. The surrounding area consists largely of office, biotech R&D space, and light industrial land use, and is connected to both Caltrain and BART primarily by commute shuttles. A map of the Project’s location and transportation context is included as Figure A, and a site plan including access points for all modes is included as Figure B.
Bicycle Circulation
Project bicycle access will be from both the north and south site frontages. Along the north frontage, access will be provided from the planned Forbes Boulevard Class II buffered bicycle lanes. This bicycle facility will provide a continuous bikeway between the Project site and the rehabilitated South San Francisco Caltrain station. Along the south frontage, bicycle access will be provided via an already completed “rails-to-trails” Class I pathway that runs between Roebling Road and the Genentech campus. The Project will provide multiple on-site access pathways to provide direct connectivity to the Class I trail.
Transit Circulation
The Project site is approximately 0.75 miles from the South San Francisco Caltrain station, and approximately 1.0 miles from the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal, which is served by SF Bay Ferry’s Oakland/Alameda-South San Francisco route. The nearest Commute.org shuttle stops to the project are located at Cabot Road and Allerton Avenue (approximately 500 feet from the Project site) and at Oyster Point Boulevard and Gull Drive (approximately ½ mile from the project site). The Allerton Avenue stop is served by shuttles connecting to the South Francisco BART and Caltrain stations, while the Oyster Point Boulevard stop is served by shuttles connecting with the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal.
In addition, the Project will partner with Genentech as part of its overall TDM strategy to allow employees to use the existing Genenbus Last Mile Shuttles connecting to the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal, the Glen Park BART Station in San Francisco and the Millbrae BART/Caltrain Station in Millbrae. This provides an additional transit option to commuters to and from the site.
This service currently stops at Cabot Road and Allerton Avenue, but will provide outbound service (towards BART/Caltrain) on Forbes Boulevard in the future following construction of the planned shuttle stop at 499 Forbes Boulevard. Shuttle services operate every fifteen minutes from 6:00am to 10:00am and from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, with additional outbound mid-day service every thirty minutes from 10:30am to 3:00pm. On-site walkways will be oriented toward the shuttle stops to encourage employees to commute by transit.
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Pedestrian Circulation
The north side of the Project site currently lacks sidewalks; the Project will fund and provide new sidewalks along its frontage facing Forbes Boulevard, and a planned crosswalk associated with the 499 Forbes project will provide additional access crossing Forbes Boulevard at Allerton Avenue.
However, there is no planned or existing marked crosswalk from the sidewalk on the north side of Forbes Boulevard to the Project Site west of Allerton Avenue, requiring pedestrians approaching from the Caltrain Station to potentially divert up to ½ mile if they desire to cross at a marked or signalized crossing. To avoid this, the Project team will work with the City to provide convenient and safe access to the site from Forbes with improvements which support a north-south crosswalk at Allerton such as signage, lighting, and traffic signals. Additional pedestrian access is provided to the site via the Class I mixed-use facility south of the project site, which can be accessed via Roebling Road via a route with uninterrupted sidewalks from the Caltrain Station.
The proposed buildings’ footprints and lobbies are oriented around a central east-west pedestrian corridor that connects the building entrances to the parking structures, and amenity building. A series of north-south pathways intersect the east-west corridor and connect to the transit, pedestrian, and bicycle facilities along Forbes Boulevard to the north and the Class I trail to the south.
Vehicle Circulation
Both Forbes Boulevard and Allerton Avenue provide primary vehicle access via a perimeter roadway that traverses the south and west edges of the project site and connects to the parking garage access points. This perimeter roadway intersects both Forbes Boulevard and Allerton Avenue at the northwest and southeast edges of the site, respectively, to minimize vehicle volumes within the central pedestrian campus area. To improve safety and promote pedestrian experience, there is only one vehicular crossing in the main east-west pedestrian pathway directly adjacent to the amenity building. Secondary vehicle access is provided along Forbes Boulevard to serve passenger and freight loading zones that are distributed between building clusters.
Compared to the primary access points, these driveways will serve primarily visitors and commercial vehicles.
Project Setting
Figure A
N:\Projects\2021_Projects\SF21-1159_HealthpeakGallo\Graphics\AI £[101 DOWNTOWN
EAST OF
101
Oyster Point Blvd
Gateway Blvd
Roebling Rd
Forbes Blvd
Mitchell Ave
East Grand Ave
Rail to Trail Airport Blvd
Linden Ave
Grand Ave
Allerton Ave
Eccles Ave
Marina Blvd
South
Airport Blvd
DNA Way
Dubuque
Ave
Harbor Way
Littlefield Ave
Poletti Way
Project Site
Caltrain Station
Ferry Terminal
5 minutes bicycling
15 - 20 minutes walking
Existing Shuttle Stop
Future Shuttle Stop
Bicycle and Pedestrian Access
\\Fpsf03.fpainc.local\data\Projects\2021_Projects\SF21-1159_HealthpeakGallo\Graphics\AI Site Circulation
Figure B
Vehicle Access and Circulation
Bicycle & Pedestrian Site Access and Circulation
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Transportation Demand
Management Program
The TDM program elements for the Phase I Project include incentive programs, subsidies, marketing, site enhancements, and contributions to transportation facilities. Fehr & Peers identified an appropriate list of TDM program elements that meets the requirements of the TDM ordinance in conjunction with the Project team, summarized in Table 1. The measures described below would be monitored to demonstrate compliance with the 40 percent non-drive-alone mode share required by the ordinance; failure to reach this goal would result in implementation of additional measures as shown in Table 2. Failure to reach this goal for three consecutive years may result in assessment of a penalty from the City.
Table 1: TDM Measure Summary Table
Type TDM Measure Points VMT Reduction
Potential
Required
Measures
(20 Points)
50% Transit Pass Subsidies and Pre-Tax Transit
Benefits 7 0.8% to 2.8%
Participation in Commute.org Programs 5 4.0%
Carpool/ Vanpool Programs and Parking 3 8.0%
Bicycle Storage, Showers, and Lockers 2 2.7%
Designated TDM Coordinator 1 Supportive
Bicycle and Pedestrian-Oriented Site Access 1 Up to 3.0%1 Encourage Telecommuting & Flexible Work
Schedules 1 Up to 5.5%2
Optional
Measures
(Description
Required as
Attachment)
Enhanced Shuttle Commitment 10 0.5% to 2.0%
Active Transportation Gap Closure 6 Up to 2.0%3
On-Site Pedestrian-Oriented Amenities 3 Up to 5.0%4
On-Site Carshare 2 Up to 0.1%
Bicycle Repair Station 1 Supportive
Totals 42 15% to 30%
Source: Handbook for Analyzing Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions, Assessing Climate Vulnerabilities, and Advancing Health and Equity, California Air Pollution Control Officer’s Association (CAPCOA), 2021 unless otherwise noted.
1. Upper limit to reduction potential estimated using Measure SDT-8: Improve Design of Development, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Measures, CAPCOA, 2010
2. Upper limit to reduction potential estimated using Measure TRT-6: Provide Pedestrian Network Improvements, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Measures, CAPCOA, 2010
3. Upper limit to reduction potential estimated using Measure SDT-1: Provide Pedestrian Network Improvements, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Measures, CAPCOA, 2010
4. Upper limit to reduction potential estimated using Measure LUT-3: Increase Diversity of Development, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Measures, CAPCOA, 2010
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
The Phase I Project will implement each of the TDM measures listed in Table 1 at the time of occupancy. Each measure is described in additional detail below. 50% Transit Pass Subsidies and Pre-Tax Transit Benefits The Project will offer public transit passes or subsidies equivalent to at least 50% of the cost of a monthly two-zone Caltrain pass to incentivize transit use. This may be implemented through lease terms obligating employers to provide said subsidies. Since the measure will be implemented through lease obligations, the designated TDM coordinator will be responsible for confirming that all employers are offering said benefits as part of the annual monitoring and reporting process.
Participation in Commute.org Programs
The Project will partner with Commute.org to provide TDM marketing services and promotions.
Commute.org offers a wide array of programs and marketing support to all eligible employers, property managers, and cities within San Mateo County. Key services that the Project will participate in include the Commute.org ride-matching program (designed to aid in carpool and vanpool formation); funding of shuttle services connecting East of 101 with regional transit; Guaranteed Ride Home services; a try transit program, bicycle and vanpool incentives, and general educational and promotional programs and materials. The Project’s designated TDM coordinator will obtain a certificate of participation from Commute.org each year as part of the annual monitoring and reporting process.
Carpool/ Vanpool Programs and Parking
The Project will ensure that employer tenants offer carpool and vanpool programs that include commuter allowances or other monetary incentives (e.g., gas card after carpooling for a given amount of time), dedicated carpool and vanpool parking, as well as ride-matching services to help facilitate these shared trips. Elements of the carpool program (such as use of the regional ride-matching program) will be provided in partnership with Commute.org.
Bicycle Storage, Showers, and Lockers
The Project will provide safe and convenient bicycle parking per City code requirements, as well as showers, changing rooms, and lockers. In Phase I, this includes 16 short term and 54 long-term bicycle parking spaces across two bike rooms. An additional 247 parking spaces will be provided in Phase II, for a total of 317 spaces.
Designated TDM Coordinator
The Project will designate a TDM coordinator. At time of submittal, the applicant has contracted with TDM Specialists, Inc. as a third-party consultant to act in this capacity. The TDM coordinator shall provide oversight and management of the program’s implementation.
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
In addition, the TDM coordinator will provide lists of mandatory and optional measures to all individual businesses. Tenants will be obligated (via lease language) to provide a point of contact for the Designated TDM Coordinator. The TDM Coordinator, in turn, will verify that tenants are implementing all required measures as part of the annual monitoring and reporting process.
Bicycle and Pedestrian-Oriented Site Access
The Project site shall enable safe bicycle and pedestrian access for all users of all ages and abilities. Phase I is designed with a well-lit pedestrian walkway between the two buildings for pedestrian comfort. Along the south frontage, bicycle access will be provided via an existing “rails-to-trails” Class I pathway that runs between Roebling Road and the Genentech campus. The Project will provide multiple on-site access pathways to provide direct connectivity to the Class I trail. All bicycle and pedestrian facilities will be lit with appropriate lighting, and will include wayfinding signage directing cyclists and pedestrians to locations within the site, as well as to Caltrain.
Encourage Telecommuting & Flexible Work Schedules
Employers leasing space at the Project will be required to participate in the Project-wide TDM Plan as administered by the TDM Coordinator. This shall include direct outreach to tenants related to telecommuting and flexible work schedules. The TDM Coordinator will actively encourage tenants to allow employees to work remotely at least one day per week unless an employee’s job functions cannot be performed from a remote location. When employees commute to work, the TDM Coordinator will encourage employers to allow for flexible work schedules that help shift travel outside of peak hours. Uptake of remote work, telecommuting, and flexible work schedules will be monitored via survey.
Enhanced Shuttle Commitment
In addition to regular participation in the Commute.org shuttle consortium, the Project will partner with Genentech to contribute additional funding to allow employees working at the site to utilize the last-mile Genenbus shuttles. Under future phasing, a shuttle stop will be provided adjacent to the Project site. Final location of the proposed shuttle stop, including the proposed infrastructure, will be determined based on shuttle routing and service following initiation of Phase II construction.
Active Transportation Gap Closure
The Project has significantly funded the completion of the Rails to Trails pathway south of the project site, which represents a major gap closure near transit, allowing for up to six points. In addition to its past funding contribution, the Project will establish pedestrian and bicycle connections from the Project site to both the Rails to Trails pathway and the existing bicycle lanes on Forbes Boulevard and Allerton Avenue. The Project will review with the City opportunities to Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
further close active transportation gaps, to meet the allocated number of points (i.e., six total points worth of improvements).
On-Site Pedestrian-Oriented Amenities
The Project will include active, pedestrian-oriented commercial uses in an amenity center designed to be implemented in Phase 2. The Amenity Center is oriented along the pedestrian walkways running through the Project site and connecting all proposed buildings. It will include fitness facilities, additional meeting spaces, as well as a café where food and sundries may be purchased.
On-Site Carshare
The Project will dedicate two parking spaces for use by carshare vehicles, and shall seek a partnership with a third-party carshare vendor such as ZipCar.
Bicycle Repair Station
The Project will offer two bicycle repair stations that will include a toolkit and air pump within a designated secure area of a building to encourage bicycling and support employees and residents. One such bicycle repair station will be located in each of the two buildings included in Phase I.
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Performance and Monitoring
As noted above, the Phase I Project must achieve a 40 percent alternative mode share to comply with the City’s ordinance. Buildout of Phases 2 and 3 is designed to achieve a 50 percent alternative mode share. Existing drive alone mode share for employees in South San Francisco is currently 80 percent. A 15 to 30 percent reduction, as shown in Table 1, would result in a drive alone mode share of 56 to 68 percent. Thus, implementation of the TDM program described in Table 1 has the potential to meet this trip reduction goal.
Mode share will be monitored via an annual survey to all employees to ensure the Project is meeting its target goal. Each year, the survey will achieve a response rate equal to either 51 percent of employees or large enough to identify the current drive alone mode share +/- 3 percentage points, at 90% confidence.
An example of a typical commute survey is included as Appendix A; note that the City of South San Francisco (or a designated agent) shall ultimately prepare the final surveys and work with the designated TDM Coordinator to distribute surveys and coordinate with employer tenants.
Findings and results from surveys, as well as an updated report on implementation efforts at the Project, will be presented to the City via the required annual report along with historical survey data.
The TDM Coordinator may use information from the employee surveys to adjust existing or implement new TDM program measures. If the alternative mode use goals are not achieved, the TDM Coordinator will provide an explanation of how and why the goal has not been reached and a detailed description of additional measures (or intensified marketing or implementation of existing measures) that will be adopted to reach the required mode use. Following three consecutive years of failure to meet the performance target, the Project shall pay any noncompliance fees and fines assessed by the City, as well as continue to make changes to the TDM program in an effort to reach compliance.
Future Compliance with Tier 4 Requirements
The TDM Plan presented above is intended for deployment with Phase I of the Project, which meets the requirements for a Tier 3 project under the TDM Ordinance. Phase II of the Project will be subject to the requirements for Tier 4 projects, which include the following:
• Increased TDM Strategy commitments, totaling 50 points rather than 40 points • Target single-occupancy vehicle mode share decreases from 60 percent to 50 percent Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
• Additional monitoring including driveway counts to monitor compliance with a sitespecific trip cap The Project will leverage information concerning the most successful elements of the Phase I TDM Program to determine which additional measures are most appropriate and effective.
Potential Additional Measures
To meet Tier 4 requirements, Phase II of the Project will be required to implement additional measures, totaling 50 points (8 additional points beyond the 42 points included in the Tier 3 TDM Plan). Table 2 presents additional TDM measures for consideration. While these measures are not recommended for the Project site at this time, they could be implemented in the future if the mode share target is not met. This also includes the potential measures that will be considered in the updated version of this TDM Plan that incorporates Tier 4 requirements, and includes development that will occur under Phase II of the Project.
The parking cash-out measure would provide 10 points; as such, it alone would fully meet the additional points requirements under Tier 4. However, the Project may also choose to fund shuttle stop infrastructure, participate in a bikeshare program, and provide additional cash subsidies for non-drivers as an alternative. Ultimately, the Project will monitor the effectiveness of the TDM measures proposed in Phase I to determine which of the measures in Table 2 are most appropriate for the site.
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Table 2: Additional TDM Measures for Consideration
TDM Measure Description Points
Potential
Additional
SOV
Reduction
Offer Parking Cash-out
Incentive
Require employers to provide a parking
cash-out incentive through terms of lease.
Employees receive the cash equivalent of
employer-provided parking if they elect to
forgo parking, which provides a financial
incentive to use a mode other than driving
alone to work. Requires a parking permit
system to ensure recipients of benefit are
not using parking facilities, and also requires
that tenants pay to lease parking for their
employees.
10 Up to 12%
Transit Capital
Improvements
The Project will fund infrastructure
supporting shuttles serving the site, such as
high quality transit shelters, bulb-outs and
boarding islands, or dedicated transit
loading zones. This will include wayfinding
signage.
Up to 6 Up to 0.6%
Bikeshare Program
Should the City allow operation of a thirdparty bikeshare or scooter share service, the Project will coordinate to host a station that
includes docks for the service.
3 Up to 0.1%
Cash Incentives
Provide cash incentives to employees who
commit to using transit, or for new carpools
and vanpools. This may include providing a
cash / gift card award for new vanpoolers or
carpoolers, individuals who pledge to bicycle
to work at least twice a week, or new transit
users.
2 Up to 2%
Total Potential Additional Reduction 14%
Reduction from Tier 3 Strategies 15% to 30%
Total Potential Tier 4 Reduction 27% to 40%
Source: Fehr & Peers, 2022.
As shown in Table 2, the additional strategies have the potential to result in a total reduction in trip-making to the site of 27 to 40 percent. Based on a background drive alone mode share of 80 percent, this would lead to an overall expected drive alone mode share of 48 to 58 percent, indicating that some combination of the above strategies will be sufficient to meet the Tier 4 drive alone mode share target of 50 percent. In addition, there may be an opportunity for further Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
shuttle partnerships and shuttle service improvements in the future which would have an additional mode shift effect beyond the reductions shown in Table 2.
Site-Specific Trip Cap
Tier 4 projects are subject to additional monitoring in the form of a site-specific trip cap.
Following occupancy of Phase II of the Project, the Project will conduct annual vehicle counts at all project driveways during the weekday peak periods (i.e., inbound trips during the AM peak period from 6:00am to 10:00am, and outbound trips during the PM peak period from 3:00pm to 7:00pm). The applicant will work with the Planning Department during the development review process to calculate an appropriate trip cap for full occupancy. The trip cap will reflect the target drive alone mode share (50 percent), the anticipated employee population, and allowances for carpool, vanpool, visitor, and delivery trips in accordance with the City’s TDM Ordinance.
As an initial estimate of the final trip cap, the applicant estimates that full occupancy of the site will include 5,975 employees, provided that space is leased as 50 percent R&D and 50 percent office. Table 3 shows that the estimated trip cap would be 3,823 peak period, peak direction trips at the assumed level of employment.
Table 3: Estimated Trip Cap at Build-Out: 5,975 Employees Trip Type Rate Vehicle Trips
Employees Driving Alone 50% 2,987
Employees Carpooling and Vanpooling 12%, at 3.0 persons per vehicle 239 Visitors, Loading, and Service Vehicles 10% 597
Total 3,823
Source: Fehr & Peers, 2022
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Appendix A. Sample Survey
1. Which of the following best represents your employment at 430 -490 Forbes Boulevard? (check one)
o Full-time Employee
o Part-time Employee
o Contract Employee
2. In what ZIP code is your home located? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 94901) ___[Fill in the blank]_______
o Prefer Not to Answer
o If prefer not to answer: Approximately how many miles is it from your home to your office in South San Francisco?
3. In the past week, what time did you usually arrive to work (check one)? ____[Drop down in increments of 30 minutes, from 6 AM – 10AM, before 6AM, or after 10AM]_____
4. In the past week, what time did you usually leave work (check one)? ____[Drop down in increments of 30 minutes, from 3 PM – 7PM, before 3PM, or after 7PM]_______
5. In the past week, on which days did you use each of the following transportation modes to travel to work? If you used more than one mode, (e.g. you take Caltrain and then bicycle), identify the mode that was the longest part of your trip.
Transportation Mode Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Drove a car or
motorcycle alone
Rode as a carpool
passenger
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
Drove a carpool with
one or more other
adults
Vanpooled or carpooled
with 6 or more people
Rode a bus, shuttle train,
ferry, or other public
transit
Rode a Commuter Bus
(private services such as
Genentech’s bus)
Rode a Bicycle or
Scooter all the way
Walked all the way
Carpooled with and
dropped off a
friend/family member
Dropped off by Uber,
Lyft, taxi, etc.
Worked from home /
telecommuted / worked
offsite
Did not work this day
Other (please specify)
Healthpeak Vantage TDM Plan
6. [Only ask if respondent answered transit] Which of the following services did you use last week? (Check all that apply)
□ Caltrain
□ BART
□ SamTrans
□ Ferry
□ Last-mile Shuttle (such as to/from BART, Caltrain, or ferry) □ Commuter bus (point-to-point service from near my home)
7. [Only ask if respondent answered carpool or vanpool] If you travel by carpool or vanpool, how many total adult people traveled with you to work (not including yourself)?
___[Fill in the blank with number]_______
8. [Only ask if respondent answered drive alone] What is the primary reason you choose to drive alone?
___[Fill in the blank]_______