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Page 2 of 5 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />Provide a 10 percent minimum local match for all projects. <br />This report provides details on a potential transportation program that staff recommend submitting a <br />grant application for SMCTA’s Cycle 3 for the Alternative Congestion Relief and Transportation Demand <br />Management (TDM) Program 2025 call for projects. If approved, staff will prepare and submit a grant <br />application for the proposed program to SMCTA. <br />ANALYSIS <br />Staff requests that the City Council support the grant application for the Long-haul Community Vanpool <br />program. On April 17th, 2025, the Redwood City Transportation and Mobility Council Subcommittee <br />meeting received an update from staff on the potential formation of a Transportation Management <br />Association (TMA). The committee supported the staff's recommendation to conduct a pilot program of <br />potential TMA services for up to two years. <br />One service under consideration for the grant is a vanpool program for essential workers working in <br />Redwood City. Our region's essential workers have been and remain on the frontlines, working to make <br />sure Redwood City’s community and residents are healthy and safe. With the high cost of living in the San <br />Francisco Bay Area, some workers commute great distances between their housing and jobs. With limited <br />access to affordable, convenient, reliable transportation, many essential workers choose to drive solo in <br />their cars on long commutes. These “super-commuters” spend between 2 to 6 hours a day driving - time <br />that could be spent with loved ones, resting, and relaxing. These trips significantly and negatively <br />contribute to the air quality within the Bay Area and traffic congestion on the freeways. <br />The program proposes to tap into economies of scale for employers to sponsor and establish vanpool and <br />shuttle routes with reputable licensed service providers that work for different job types and worker <br />needs within the region's commute shed for the greater Bay Area. <br />The program will develop, implement, and launch a pilot vanpool program to support a gradual and <br />significant transportation mode shift away from automobile use. Redwood City would target an initial 50- <br />75 essential workers (depending on the number of vanpools that can be set up) who work in Redwood <br />City and currently drive alone to their place of employment. <br />Qualified workers in the program would receive free vanpool access for a period of one year. The program <br />will establish at least one fully subsidized route from within the region to depart from and return to a <br />designated origin point, and Redwood City weekday mornings and afternoons. Exact origin and <br />destination of route(s) would be established through collaboration with employers in Redwood City, such <br />as County of San Mateo, Redwood City School District, Sequoia Union High School District, health care <br />providers, family care providers (childcare, elder, dependent), food service workers, and first responders. <br />The goals of the program include providing congestion relief, increasing sustainable transportation <br />options, promoting cost savings for participants with an equity lens, and encouraging economic <br />development opportunities. <br />6.B. - Page 2 of 7 <br />21