COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
GREENDOT OFFICE
GreenDOT Advisory Group
Meeting Notes
December 15, 2014
10 Park Plaza, 2nd Floor Transportation Library, Boston, MA
Welcome and Introductions
The GreenDOT Report: 2014 Status Update – Report overview by Ned Codd
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Report overview
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The GreenDOT Report was released on the MassDOT website on December 9,
2014. It is a comprehensive summary of MassDOT’s achievements in the
area of sustainability since its inception in 2009, and it establishes a
comprehensive performance management system for sustainability data and
performance measures.
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While the 2012 GreenDOT Implementation Plan focused largely on MassDOT
internal operations and specific actions that MassDOT to enhance transportation
system sustainability, the 2014 GreenDOT Report represents a shift in focus to
emphasize transportation sector concerns and higher level outcomes, along with
MassDOT internal agency activities.
Key challenges. The following are some of the key challenges facing MassDOT in implementing
many of the sustainability initiatives included in the 2014 GreenDOT Report:
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Funding for incremental costs of sustainability investments, such as energy efficiency
retrofits and renewable energy installations.
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Influencing individuals’ travel behavior and mode choice are important challenges.
MassDOT undertakes significant investments in healthy modes, as well as traveler outreach
through MassRIDES, Complete Streets trainings, support for smart growth development,
and other initiatives. However, other levers that could help to make the transportation
system more sustainable, such as land use policies and pricing strategies, are not controlled
by MassDOT.
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The report focuses on developing a performance management system and identifying data
sources to support the performance measures. However, certain types and sources of data
are difficult to obtain. A particular challenge is in measuring pedestrian and bicycle travel.
While motor vehicle travel and public transit travel have established and robust
measurement systems, pedestrian and bicycle travel do not. This is a significant challenge
relative to developing good measures of mode split.
Comments and discussion
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Targets
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Susan Rasmussen, City of Cambridge. The fact sheet details achievements rather than
discussing targets. Some conclusions would be useful about whether we are on target or
not. Sustainability includes economic and social dimensions, and these should be part of
GreenDOT.
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Steven Nutter, Livable Streets Alliance. Some interim milestones would be beneficial with
respect to mode share and the mode shift target (i.e. where Massachusetts should be at
certain times).
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Some targets, like LEED certification, may become less meaningful over time as minimum
standards improve.
Private shuttles and TDM requirements for developers
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Wendy Landman, WalkBoston. There is a proliferation of private shuttles that are not
necessarily coordinated providing service in the same area. As such, better coordination
among these shuttles could offer more regular service or increase utilization, for example in
South Boston. Currently, there is no centralized mapping of private shuttle provision. There
would be some incentive for coordination if permitting decisions encouraged improving
shuttle frequency. TMAs already advocate for coordination of private shuttle services, and
they submit ridership data for the TMA-operated shuttles to the US Department of
Transportation. History has shown that the earlier steps are taken to ensure coordination the
better.
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Ned Codd. MassDOT promotes transportation demand management (TDM) through our
MassRIDES travel options program, and we also coordinate with and provide financial
support for TMAs. This includes coordination on shuttle services, but employers and TMAs
often have specific needs aimed at their own employees. MassDOT is also trying to support
TDM efforts through the recent release of updated guidelines for development review of
projects that require MassDOT permits. These guidelines include more rigorous TDM
requirements for new developments.
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Measuring pedestrian and bicycle movements – Ned Codd. Availability of travel choice and
mode split are key measures in the GreenDOT Report. Pedestrian and bicycle travel data,
however, are not as robust or available as are data on vehicle travel and transit travel. This is a
widely recognized shortcoming in transportation data; addressing it is important for
measurement of sustainability outcomes in Massachusetts.
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Sonia Hamel, Hamel Environmental Consulting. There are a number of providers that claim
to be able to measure pedestrian and bicycle movements but these are expensive options.
However, there may be alternatives that MassDOT could pursue that would scale up quickly.
These could include the crowdsourcing approach used by Placemeter to measure
pedestrian counts, and developing predictive correlations between bike and pedestrian
movements and economic data.
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Steven Nutter, Livable Streets Alliance. Towns would like to have data available on vehicle
miles traveled on a town-by-town basis. This includes having Highway Performance
Monitoring System (HPMS) data disaggregated by town as well as having the total vehicle
miles traveled by vehicles registered in each town (using Registry of Motor Vehicles data).
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Ned Codd. Extracting data from the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) is challenging
because the RMV uses older data technology, but the planned modernization of the registry
should improve prospects for useful data extraction.
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Alexander Epstein, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. Parking is also an
important element of sustainable transportation. Strategies such as parking cash-out can be
effective; statewide implementation of this could have a significant impact.
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Wendy Landman, WalkBoston. Walking and bicycling are not the same. There is value in
addressing walking and cycling as separate modes, even if the data cannot be separated by
mode.
Distribution of the report
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All advisory group members are encouraged to distribute links to the GreenDOT Report to
their networks.
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The GreenDOT Office has presented a summary of the report to the House Joint Committee
on Transportation.
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The four page fact sheet will be added to the GreenDOT website.
Draft transportation regulation under Global Warming Solutions Act – Ned Codd. This regulation, which
the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has released in draft form, will
regulate certain activities of MassDOT and other agencies, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions in the transportation sector. It specifically requires that the calculation of the GHG
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emission impacts of all regional transportation plan (RTP), Transportation Improvement Program (TIP),
State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), and other MassDOT projects; that GHG reductions
be considered in the MassDOT and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) project selection
processes; and that MassDOT annually report on these emissions and other MassDOT activities
affecting GHG emissions.
Work Group Meeting Reports – GreenDOT staff
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Data and Performance Measures. At a meeting on November 18, 2014, the work group
discussed the outcomes model and proposed performance measures that were included in
the 2014 GreenDOT Report and will be used by the GreenDOT Office going forward. The
group agreed that for developing missing measures, GreenDOT staff should complete the
easiest measures first and work with MassDOT staff and other stakeholders to continue to
develop desired measure. In the absence of industry standard efficiency metrics, a
technology measure is the most feasible approach for tracking efficiency of new vehicles in
the revenue fleet. The GreenDOT Office will work with the Office of Performance
Management & Innovation (OPM&I) on integrating the collection of data as part of the
existing MassDOT performance management system. This will include documenting the
underlying data sources and calculation methodologies for each measure. The GreenDOT
Office will work with MassDOT’s operating divisions to finalize remaining metrics, and
methods for communicating baselines and changes in performance will be developed.
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Mode Shift and Travel Choices. This work group began the meeting on November 21, 2014,
with a debrief of the Moving Together conference, and feedback was shared with the
conference organizers. Following this discussion, David Straus (A Better City TMA) and
Steven Nutter (Livable Streets Alliance) each gave a presentation. David Straus presented
on how Transportation Management Associations (TMAs) can impact mode shift and what
initiatives ABC is employing to develop commuter offerings such as the Guaranteed Ride
Home and the Workout to Work programs. Steven Nutter provided an overview of how the
Livable Streets Alliance approaches mode shift, how infrastructure changes in the metroBoston area have influenced mode shift (as measured by commuting modes from 1960 to
2010), and an overview of recent projects in which Livable Streets has been active. The
presentations sparked a group discussion on the role of private shuttles and the ways in
which they can provide more convenient and efficient service to their customers.
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The Sustainable DOT/Leading by Example. The Sustainable DOT work group met to
discuss various methods for measuring and tracking the sustainability of MassDOT facilities
and their activities. These methods included the Accelerated Energy Program (AEP),
MBTA’s State of Good Repair database, GreenDOT’s draft Green Facility Checklist, facility
audits, Leading by Example questionnaires, and the Mass Energy Insight (MEI) database.
GreenDOT staff will identify facility sustainability data that is already being collected by such
systems and this data will be used to both inform and supplement the final version of the
Green Facilities Checklist.
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Communications. During its November 19, 2014 meeting, the group discussed
communication options for the GreenDOT Report and future performance measure reporting
in the form of ‘scorecards.’ Suggestions for disseminating the GreenDOT Report included
sending the Report directly to legislators and taking advantage of presentation opportunities
at area conferences/meetings. Suggestions for future performance measure ‘scorecards’
included disaggregating information by town or region and communicating information in
easy to understand terms (for example, gallons of gas saved, money saved, hours saved,
cars removed from the road, etc.). Priority performance measures for inclusion in the
scorecard were vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per capita broken down by location, so as to
see trends over time (e.g. Does VMT decrease after program to encourage kids to take
school bus or walk/bike to school?) and aggregate value of GreenDOT initiatives.
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