COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
GREENDOT OFFICE
Meetings notes
DATE:
September 9, 2014
SUBJECT:
GreenDOT Data and Performance Measures Work Group
Attendees:
Ned Codd, MassDOT- GreenDOT
Steven Nutter, Livable Streets
Brian Kane, MassDOT – MBTA
Jamal Scoby, MassDOT – MBTA
Rachel Bain, MassDOT – Performance Management and Innovation
David Strauss,A Better City
Jules Williams, MassDOT - GreenDOT
Mark Carmichael, MassDOT - Highways Division
Heather Hamilton, MassDOT - Highways Division
Bill Hurton, MassDOT - Highways Division
Katherine Knapp, MassDOT - GreenDOT
Shannon Greenwell, MassDOT - GreenDOT
Key points

Context

The GreenDOT Policy statement focuses on policy goals of reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, promoting healthy modes and smart growth.

As the policy statement was translated into the the Implementation Plan, then
new tasks emerged that expanded the scope of GreenDOT to include
environmental stewardship.

The 2012 GreenDOT Implementation Plan contains several hundred tasks
organized into seven principal themes. These themes map onto the three
GreenDOT policy goals as illustrated in the attached.

A key priority for the GreenDOT Office is establishing a mechanism that can be
used to efficienctly monitor progress towards GreenDOT policy outcomes, and to
evaluate and describe causal relationships between MassDOT actions, key
performance metrics, and meaningful sustainability-related outcomes.


Role of Data & Performance Measures working group

Core role of the group is working on the development of a framework for
monitoring GreenDOT outcomes.

Establishing measures leads to establishing baselines. The ideal baseline year is
2010 as this matches with the development of the GreenDOT policy, however,
baseline years will ultimately depend on data availability.

The ambition is that measures can will be used to guide the direction of ongoing
implementation of GreenDOT and to communicate progress both internally and
externally.
Discussion of potential measures

GreenDOT team has identified a number of potential measures based on the
content of the implementation plan as attached. However, this a very long list and
there is a need to have a sense of structure or priority to the measures as well as
a small number of measures that capture and communicate progress.

Developing measures based on an outcomes hierarcy as illustrated in the
attached would help to give a sense of why individual measures matter. Not all
measures matter equally.

There are potential opportunities in using information from private sector
investment towards GreenDOT goals. This could include large organisations’
TDM measures, MassRides Partners, advocacy groups’ work (i.e. Livable Streets
and Northeastern’s Green Routes project), and investments in EV infrastructure.

A potential measure relating to mode shift would be the participation in
monthly/corporate pass programs including those sold for the MBTA and through
RTAs.

Measures that contribute to the mode shift goal could include availability of
multiple modes.

There are some drawbacks to using congestion as a measure, this could
encourage perverse outcomes of building more roads in an effort to reduce
congestion, leadfing to more VMT, leading to more GHG emissions.

There are limitations especially on walking and biking data. There may be
opportunities to use “big-data” to improve this.

A level of service metric for non-motorized transportation would be useful but this
does not exist yet.
GreenDOT Data and Performance Measures Work Group
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

There would be benefit in being consistent with MAP21 metrics once these are
released.

FHWA hosted a conversation last year about options for measuring roadway
capacity/usage. Looking at those suggestions might be useful for us.

The MIT transport research group has a transport model that may be useful in
generating data and measures.

Attendees asked to provide input prior to the next meeting on the main impacts
GreenDOT needs to have to reach policy goals; potential measures (“core
measures”); and potential data sources. One way of approaching this is to
imagine if we could monitor just 10 things to track overall progress towards
GreenDOT objectives what would they be?

The more suggestions the better as some measures may be limited by data
availability.
Actions/Next steps

All attendees are asked to send through suggested on key impacts, associated
measures and data sources to jules.williams@state.ma.us by 25 September.

GreenDOT Office will collate feedback and produce a draft framework of
measures.

Next meeting of this workgroup targeted for week of 5 October and will discuss
draft framework.

GreenDOT Office will contact MIT transport research group regarding
applicability of their transport model to monitoring.
GreenDOT Data and Performance Measures Work Group
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