10.52.050 Requirements.

(A) Applicability. This chapter requires covered employers to do the following:

(1) Designate a commuter benefits coordinator (as defined in Sections 14-1-204 and 14-1-403 of Regulation 14 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction) to implement the employer's commuter benefits program and comply with the requirements of this chapter.

(2) Select one of the commuter benefit options defined in Section 14-1-300 of Regulation 14 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction.

(3) Submit a registration form to the BAAQMD specifying which commuter benefit option the employer will provide.

(4) Notify employees of the commuter benefit option selected and make the benefit available to all eligible employees.

(5) Update the registration information on an annual basis.

(6) Maintain records to document implementation of the commuter benefit.

(7) Provide information requested by the BAAQMD for program evaluation purposes.

(B) Exemptions. Pursuant to SB 1339, if an employer participates in a transportation management association (TMA) that provides commuter benefits that comply with this chapter, the TMA may represent the employer for purposes of fulfilling the requirements defined in the rule.

(C) Effective Dates. Employers become subject to this chapter three to six months after final adoption. But be aware of the air district deadlines: Begin enforcing rule in area with no TRO — July 1, 1993; Employer registration deadline — September 30, 1993; over four hundred employees survey due November 30, 1993; etc. Note that the required survey dates are contained in subsection (G)(7) of this section along with an assumption of when employers become subject to the rule. Note that (G)(7) is a required section. The dates therein are not alterable if one wishes to maintain conformance with the board.

(D) Performance Objectives. Performance objectives are expressed in terms of AVR and VER. Employers have the option of reporting performance in terms of either AVR or VER or both. The performance objectives for (jurisdiction), by year, by type, follow: (BAAQMD Section 13-1-301)

(E) Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC). Employers must have an ETC(s) as specified within this section. (BAAQMD Section 13-1-403)

(1) Employers shall appoint an ETC for each affected work site. Employers with multiple affected work sites within the city may appoint one ETC for more than one work site, even when these work sites are located in different zones.

(2) ETCs must complete a training curriculum certified by the Bay Area Pollution Control District Air Pollution Control Officer within nine months of the effective dates of this chapter as specified in subsection C of this section, or within six months of appointment when appointed after the initial nine-month time frame.

(3) The employer may apply to the city for a waiver from the training requirement of subsection (E)(2) of this section when an ETC has one or more years of experience in trip reduction of equivalent skills.

(4) An ETC may also serve as the employer program manager provided that the individual meets the criteria specified Section 10.52.040.

(F) Employer Program Manager. Employers must have an employer program manager as specified in this section.

(1) Employers shall appoint an employer program manager. Employers with multiple affected work-sites within the city may appoint an employer program manager for more than one work site, even when these work sites are located in different zones.

(G) Employee Transportation Surveys. Employers must conduct employee transportation surveys as specified in this section to establish whether the performance objectives listed in subsection D of this section have been achieved. (BAAQMD Section 131-406)

(1) An employer shall conduct an employee transportation survey consistent with the procedure contained in subsection K of this section and submit the survey responses to the city in accordance with the schedule contained in subsection (G)(7) of this section;

(2) An employer has the option of processing the employee transportation surveys on-site or having the surveys processed by an outside entity. Survey processing must be consistent with the procedures contained in subsection K of this section, verifiable records must be maintained, and the survey results are to be submitted to the city in accordance with the schedule contained in subsection (G)(7) of this section;

(3) An employer may use a random sample employee survey method consistent with subsection L of this section for work sites where four hundred or more employees start work during the peak period;

(4) The city will notify employers of the due date for subsequent year surveys;

(5) Employee transportation surveys are to be conducted annually unless a work site demonstrates that a further year performance objective is achieved. These work sites are required to survey every other year as long as future year performance objectives continue to be achieved;

(6) An employer shall not offer any special incentives or disincentives in addition to its regular employer trip reduction program during the survey week. This limitation does not apply to activities undertaken by an employer in response to a Bay Area Air Quality Management District forecast exceedance day, e.g. the "Spare the Air" campaign;

(7) Employee transportation surveys are to be conducted as follows:

(a) Employers subject to this chapter July 1,

1993, with work sites of five hundred or more employees must conduct an employee transportation

survey at those work sites by November 30, 1993.

Note that the entire section is required (including the dates) if one wishes to maintain conformance with the BAAQMD. Also, it ties back to nonrequired subsection C of this section.

(b) Employers subject to this chapter July 1,

1993, with work sites of one hundred to four hundred ninety-nine employees must conduct an employee transportation survey at those work sites by May 31, 1994.

(c) Employers subject to this chapter July 1,

1994, with work sites of five hundred or more employees must conduct an employee transportation survey at those work sites by November 30, 1994.

(d) Employers subject to this chapter July 1,

1994, with work sites of one hundred to four hundred ninety-nine employees must conduct an employee transportation survey of those work sites by May 31, 1995.

(e) Employee transportation survey results are to be submitted to the city within ninety days of the survey week.

(f) Subject to city approval, an employee transportation survey conducted prior to the effective dates of this chapter may be submitted to fulfill the requirements of this subsection provided that (1) the survey was conducted within six months of this submittal date. and (2) it provides sufficient data to calculate the performance objective pursuant to subsection K of this section.

(8) Employers who become subject to this chapter subsequent to the schedule above, due to an increase in employees or the establishment of a new or expanded work site shall conduct an employee transportation survey within six months after meeting the requirements of subsection A of this section. The dates in subsection (G)(7)(e) of this section apply regarding submittal to the city.

(H) Requirement to Submit Employer Trip Reduction Plan. Employers that do not achieve the performance objectives established in subsection D of this section for the applicable year at any work site subject to this chapter shall prepare and submit an employer trip reduction plan for that work site to the city within one hundred twenty days of a determination that the performance objective was not achieved. An employer may submit a consolidated plan that covers multiple work sites. The city will issue a determination that the performance objective has not been achieved based upon information received pursuant to subsection G of this section.

(1) The employer trip reduction plan shall contain the following:

(a) A detailed description and inventory of trip reduction measures including a list of specific trip reduction measures already implemented,

(b) A description, schedule, and commitment to implement additional or enhanced measures which includes all reasonable, feasible, and cost effective trip reduction measures that can be expected to bring about significant progress toward achievement of the performance objectives. The plan should include appropriate measures designed to address unique characteristics of the work site,

(c) Summary and discussion of the results of an attitudinal survey of employees or an employer/employee work group designed to ascertain employee attitudes toward various incentive and disincentive measures,

(d) A discussion of the progress achieved to date and an analysis of why the worksite(s) did not achieve the performance objective including special issues, circumstances, or conditions at the work site,

(e) A budget indicating all current and projected expenditures for the trip reduction measures.

(2) The plan shall be submitted by the highest ranking responsible official of the employer at the work site or each work site when a consolidated plan is submitted that covers multiple work sites.

(3) At the option of an employer, the employer trip reduction plan may include an alternative emission reduction program that demonstrates that the measures included in such program will achieve emission reductions equal to or greater than those that would have been realized if the performance objectives were achieved, and that these alternative measures are not required by any other federal, state or local control measure or regulatory requirement. Such an alternative emission reduction program shall include an update or progress monitoring report to be submitted at least every two years to fulfill the requirements of subsection (H)(7) of this section.

(4) The city shall approve and the employer shall implement an employer trip reduction plan that includes all reasonable, feasible and cost effective trip reduction measures that can be expected to bring about significant progress toward achievement of the performance objectives given the constraints of the work site, the nature of the work activity and the geographical distribution of employees relative to the work site; or the city shall approve an alternative demonstration pursuant to subsection (H)(3) of this section. The city shall disapprove any plan that does not meet the above specified approval criteria.

(5) An employer shall revise and resubmit to the city any disapproved plan within ninety days of the disapproval. If the revised plan is disapproved, the employer has one additional ninety-day opportunity to revise and resubmit a plan before final disapproval. Final disapproval is a violation of the chapter subject to penalty.

(6) An employer may appeal any city disapproval of its employer trip reduction plan pursuant to subsection I of this section.

(7) An employer subject to this section shall update its employer trip reduction plan once every two years after plan approval until such time as the performance objective is achieved. Such plan updates are to be submitted every two years to the city on or before the anniversary date of plan approval.

(8) An employer subject to this section shall continue to meet the requirements of subsection G of this section.

(9) An employer shall revise and resubmit its employer trip reduction plan within ninety days of a final determination that an element of an approved employer trip reduction plan violates any provision of law is issued by an agency or court with jurisdiction to make such determination.

(I) Appeal of Plan Disapproval. An employer may appeal a plan disapproval made pursuant to subsection H of this section to the city through the procedure listed below:

(1) The employer submits a written notice of appeal to the city within thirty days of plan disapproval.

(2) The council of the city will convene to hear the appeal.

(3) The council of the city shall issue its decision on the appeal within thirty days after the close of the hearing.

(4) The due date for revised employer trip reduction plans pursuant to subsection (H)(5) of this section will be suspended during the appeal process authorized by this section.

(J) Confidentiality. The city will treat the information and data specified in this section as confidential.

(1) The city shall treat individual employee transportation survey responses, records and results submitted pursuant to subsection G of this section in a confidential manner and shall not release any information about individual employees to the public. Both aggregate and work site performance objective results for an employer shall be within the public domain.

(2) The city shall treat employer budget information submitted pursuant to subsection (H)(1)(e) of this section in a confidential manner and shall not release any budget information about individual employers to the public. Aggregate and generic budget information for trip reduction programs and measures shall be within the public domain.

(K) Performance Objective Calculation. AVR or VER for each affected work site is to be computed in a manner consistent with the following method.

(1) The employer conducts an employee transportation survey during a survey week.

(2) AVR is calculated only for' those employees who start work or are assigned to the work site during the peak period.

(3) If less than sixty percent of the survey forms are returned for processing from those employees who start work during the peak period, all survey forms not returned from those employees who start work during the peak period shall be counted as single occupant vehicles for purposes of calculating AVR or VER.

(4) If sixty percent or more of the survey forms are returned for processing from those employees who start work during the peak period, one-half of those survey forms not returned from those employees who start work during the peak period shall be assumed to have the same AVR or VER as that calculated from the responses to the surveys returned, and one-half shall be counted as single occupant vehicles for purposes of calculating AVR or VER.

(5) AVR for the work site shall be calculated by dividing the total "employee-days" for the survey week by the total "vehicle trip-days" for the survey week.

(6) VER for the work site shall be calculated by dividing the total "vehicle trip-days" for the survey week by the total "employee-days" for the survey week.

(a) Employee-days shall be determined as follows: the, total number of employees who start work or are assigned to a work site during the peak period each work day Monday through Friday of the survey week. Each day of the survey week that an employee starts work during the peak period counts as one employee-day. For example, an employee who starts work each day Monday through Friday of the survey week between six a.m. and ten a.m. counts as five employee-days. The following procedures are used in totaling employee-days:

(i) Employees telecommuting or are off due to a compressed work week schedule are counted as reporting to the work site in calculating the total employee-days.

(ii) The following employees are not included in the employee-days total:

(A) Employees not working because of vacation, sickness or other time-off,

(B) Employees who report to a different work site or an off-site work related activity,

(C) Disabled employees.

(b) Vehicle trip-days shall be determined as follows: the total number of vehicles used by employees who start work or are assigned to the worksite each work day Monday through Friday of the survey week. A vehicle trip-day is based on the means of transportation used for the greatest distance of an employee's home to work commute trip. An employee who starts work during the peak period and arrives at the work site each day of the survey week Monday through Friday in a single occupant vehicle counts as five vehicle trip-days. The following numerical values are used in calculating the total vehicle trip-days:

(i) Single occupant vehicle (drive alone) equals one,

(ii) Carpool equals one divided by the number of people in the carpool,

(iii) Vanpool equals one divided by the number of employees in the vanpool,

(iv) Motorcycle, moped, motorized scooter, or motor bike equal one,

(v) Clean-fueled vehicles are counted as follows:

(A) Electric vehicle equals zero,

(B) Compressed natural gas vehicle equals one-fourth (0.25),

(C) Propane vehicle equals one-half (0.50),

(D) Dual or flexible fueled vehicle equals three-fourths (0.75).

(vi) The following all equal zero vehicle trip-days:

(A) Public transit (bus, light rail, ferry, Caltrain, BART),

(B) Private buspool or club bus,

(C) Bicycle,

(D) Walking and other nonmotorized transportation modes,

(E) Employees telecommuting (only on the days those employees are telecommuting for the entire day),

(F) Employees who work a compressed work week schedule (only on their compressed day(s) off),

(G) Disabled employee vehicles at all times.

(vii) Employers with multiple work sites within the city have the option to average individual work site AVR or VER to demonstrate that the performance objectives are achieved on an aggregate basis for those work sites when the city is implementing the chapter. If the employer demonstrates that the performance objectives (subsection D of this section) are achieved using the averaging methodology, then those work sites included in the averaging are not subject to the requirements of subsection H of this section.

(A) The weighted AVR average for the multiple work sites is calculated by (1) adding together the "employee-days" for each work site (2) adding together the "vehicle trip-days" for each work site, then (3) dividing the aggregate "employee-days" by the aggregate "vehicle trip-days" to obtain the weighted AVR average.

(B) The weighted VER average for the multiple work sites is calculated by dividing the aggregate "vehicle trip-days" by the aggregate "employee-days."

(C) The weighted VER average for multiple work sites can also be calculated as the number of peak period employees multiplied by VER (Site 1) plus the number of peak period employees multiplied by VER (Site 2) divided by the total peak period employees (Sites 1 and 2).

(L) Random Sample Method. The method described in this section must be followed when an employer chooses to use a random sample to meet the requirements of subsection K of this section.

(1) Summary.

(a) Subsection (G)(3) of this section provides for an option for larger work sites to calculate AVR or VER based upon a random sample of the employee population. The random sample option is available only for work sites where four hundred or more employees start work during the peak period (six a.m. through ten a.m.).

(b) The size of the random sample depends upon the number of employees who start work during the peak period at the work site. The means to determine the minimum size of the random sample is described in subsection (L)(2)(b) of this section.

(c) The sample must be selected as described in subsection (L)(2)(d) of this section. Once the sample group has been selected, the employer is not permitted to send additional survey forms to employees beyond the original sample group. This will invalidate the results of the survey and void the employer's option to utilize the random sample method.

(d) A high response rate is critical to ensure that the random sample produces an accurate AVR or VER for the work site. The employer should make a concerted effort to obtain a completed survey from each employee in the sample. All nonrespondents in the sample will be treated as drive along commuters (i.e. commuting in a single occupant vehicle) for purposes of calculating the work site AVR or VER.

(2) Basic Random Sample Selection Methodology.

(a) The employer shall compile a complete list of employees at the work site, in alphabetical order, and assign a consecutive number to each employee. The employer shall exclude from the list employees who are known to regularly start work outside the six am. through ten a.m. peak period.

(b) The employer shall determine the number of employees to be included in the random sample using the following formula, where n is the sample size and N is the number of employees who start work between six am and ten a.m.

A sample size of "n" based on this formula should produce an AVR or VER with a sampling error of at most plus or minus 0.05, with ninety-five percent probability. The sample size based on this formula is displayed in the table below:

(c) In no case can the random sample size be less than indicated in the above table. The employer may choose to include a larger number of employees in the survey. A larger sample group should more accurately represent the entire employee population, provided that the employer obtains a high response rate.

(d) After the sample size has been determined, the employer has two options for selecting the sample.

(i) Use a computer program to select distinct random numbers from the employee list (e.g., two hundred seventy-eight distinct random numbers between one and one thousand, where one thousand employees start working during the peak period).

(ii) Select employees from the list based upon a sampling interval and random starting number.

To determine the sample interval, the employer shall divide the total population of employees who start work during the six a.m. through ten am. peak period by the sample size and round the result down to the nearest integer.

Example: If a work site has one thousand employees who start work during the peak period and the sample size is two hundred seventy-eight, then the sampling interval equals 1,000 divided by 278 = 3.6. The 3.6 is rounded down to 3 to produce the sampling interval. Therefore, every third name on the list shall be selected beginning at a random starting number X where X is between 1 and 3. If X equals 3, then the sample would include numbers 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, etc., until the required 278 numbers have been selected.

(e) The methodology described in subsection (L)(2)(d) of this section will eliminate potential bias that could result from choosing survey participants on the basis of department, rank, income level, home code, or other demographic factors, or from excluding certain segments of the employee population.

(3) Selection Process for Subsequent Surveys.

(a) In subsequent surveys, the employer may select the random sample using the method described in subsection (L)(2) of this section or the employer may choose to survey the same employees that were included in the previous random sample. Employees in the previous random sample group who have left the orgrni7ation shall be replaced in the new sample by employees selected per subsection (L)(2) of this section. The latter approach may enable the employer to more accurately track changes in commute mode from one survey to next.

(b) If the number of employees who start work between six a.m. and ten a.m. has increased or decreased by more than twenty percent since last survey, the employer shall select a completely new random sample group using the methodology describe in subsection (L)(2) of this section.

(4) Performance Objective Calculation, Reporting and Recordkeeping.

(a) AVR or VER must be calculated according to the methodology describe in subsection K of this section. Notwithstanding, the provision of subsection (K)(4) of this section, any employee in the random sample group who fails to submit a completed survey form shall be included in the performance objective calculation as a drive long commuter (single occupant vehicle).

(b) The employer shall submit to the city: (1) the completed survey forms for processing or the results of the survey, according to the subsection (G)(7) or (G)(8) of this section; (2) a description of the methodology used to select the random sample; and (3) a tally showing the number of surveys distributed, the number completed, and the number of nonrespondents.

(c) The employer shall retain records needed to document adherence to this protocol for a period of at least three years, including the master list used to generate the random sample and the names and numbers selected from that list. Such records, files and documentation shall be made available to the city during any on-site audit conducted by the city.