At its October meeting the TPB approved the update to its Participation Plan and approved goals to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions in the region. The meeting also included briefings on the Regional Travel Survey, a High Capacity Transit mapping tool, and restructuring the Citizens Advisory Committee.

Action Items

An update to the Participation Plan

The latest plan update extends the idea that different groups need to be reached in different ways. While a list of tools and techniques are included, the 2020 update also includes, in the Staff Guide, more considerations that can help staff reach the public. Prior to approval staff took time to review the comments submitted by the public and stakeholders. In all there were four comments on the plan. In response to these comments, staff made some changes to the plan to clarify points, or enhance some of the content and presented this update to the board.

Watch and listen to the presentation and approval of the Participation Plan. 

Interim 2030 regional greenhouse gas reduction goal

At its October meeting, the COG Board approved a new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal for the region. The new goal calls for a 50% reduction in GHG emissions below baseline levels—or 2005 emission levels—by 2030. This new goal serves as an interim milestone between the region’s 2020 and 2050 goals that were adopted by the COG Board in 2008 and subsequently endorsed by the TPB.

Board members asked a few questions about the Greenhouse Gas goals. Board member Carol Krimm from Maryland asked if teleworking was one the of transportation strategies being considered in the action plan to achieve the 2030 goals. TPB Director Kanti Srikanth explained that it was one of the strategies along with other travel demand management strategies that help people find alternatives to driving alone.  Krimm asked TPB staff to assist the federal Office of Personal Management with efforts to sustain the increased teleworking by federal agencies during the pandemic into the future.

Board member Kacy Kostiuk from Takoma Park said that the along with its Aspirational Initiatives and other regional transportation priorities the TPB should include Climate Change mitigation in the decisions it makes on the region’s long range transportation plan.

While, Board member Dave Snyder from the City of Falls Church said that while he appreciated adopting an aspirational goal for reducing greenhouse gas reductions he said that the focus should be on actions to help achieve these goals.  He said that we should look at the factors that keep the region from attaining its 2020 goals and address them along with working to get federal and state actions to compliment local and regional actions. 

Get the full presentation.

Watch and listen to the presentation and board discussion. 

Learn more about the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goal.

Informational Items

Regional Travel Survey

Staff briefed the board on the TPB’s once-in-a-decade Regional Travel Survey. The survey offers a detailed look at the 17.1 million trips—commute and non-commute—taken on a typical weekday in Washington region, including information on travel mode, origin, and destination. Although the survey of nearly 16,000 area residents was conducted pre-COVID, it provides the most recent and comprehensive picture of travel in the region.

The Regional Travel Survey has been conducted approximately every ten years since 1968, and collects demographic and travel information from a randomly-selected representative sample of households in the region and adjacent areas. It is the primary source of observed data used to estimate, calibrate, and validate the region’s travel demand model, which is used for developing elements of the region’s long-range transportation plan, Visualize 2045.

Some highlights from the briefing included travel behavior of people who live in different parts of the region, how people of different incomes and age groups travel and more.

Learn more about how the RTS can help decision makers consider equity.

Get the full presentation.

Watch and listen to the presentation and board discussion.

Citizens Advisory Committee Updates

Staff are recommending some changes to the TPB’s Citizens Advisory Committee. The first change is to change the committee’s name by changing the word, “citizen” to “community.” The committee will still be referred to as the CAC but its name will be more inclusive of all residents of the region. Second, an equity focus will be added to the committee’s mission statement. The third recommended change is to change how committee members will be selected. Currently, committee members are selected to represent the three states in the region, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. The recommendation is to add more members to the committee and for them to represent areas of the region that are similar to one another, the regional core, the inner suburbs, and the outer suburbs and have at-large members to enhance the regional focus. In discussion, some board members encouraged staff to think about how to maintain the same levels of representation as it is currently.

Learn more about staff recommendations for the CAC. 

Watch and listen to the presentation and board discussion.

Other Items

High Capacity Transit mapping tool: TPB staff demonstrated an interactive map that identifies high-capacity transit station areas, classifies them according to various geographic filters, and summarizes selected planning data. This planning tool can support local planning agencies’ efforts to identify opportunities for projects, programs, and policies that support the development of transit-oriented communities in the region. Learn more and explore the map. Watch and listen to the presentation.

Citizens Advisory Committee: CAC Chair Nancy Abeles presented the CAC report. The CAC met on Oct 15. The Committee received briefings on restructuring the CAC, the Regional Travel Survey findings, and the Transit Safety Targets. CAC members gave feedback on the CAC restructuring with mostly positive comments though they expressed some concerns about ensuring there would be enough representation from the region’s core. Read the CAC report. Watch and Listen to the presentation.

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