Incentives to avoid driving to the arena? Transportation Demand Management Plan expected by mid-December; will it extend beyond Nets games?

The Empire State Development Corporation has posted (also embedded below) 68 questions and responses from the 6/14/11 public meeting on traffic issues.

I've already highlighted some of the questions and responses, including the capacity of sidewalks on Dean Street, plans for the surface parking lot, the impact of traffic on the Dean Street Playground, and a post-arena opening traffic study.

Today's question involves how the developer, city, and state will try to reduce driving to the Atlantic Yards arena.

We've known since 2006 about plans for remote parking and incentives for public transit, but the devil's in the details; note that, in 2006, transportation consultants criticized the plan for focusing on on Nets games rather than the panoply of arena events.

Transportation Demand Management

The question:

41. There is nothing about any type of strategy to control on-street parking by Arena patrons. The potential for a catastrophe of congestion on residential streets is frightening. What is your solution? FCRC and ESD should present a parking plan detailing the locations, number and pricing of spaces where Arena and non-Arena project-generated cars will park, as well as any shuttle services which will be provided. Consider these factors in developing interim traffic mitigations, roadway improvements and the demand management plan.

The response:

The FEIS requires the development and implementation of a Transportation Demand Management program for Arena opening. The Transportation Demand Management Plan under development per this FEIS commitment will include a comprehensive strategy to encourage the use of mass transit (and remote parking) by Arena patrons and a parking management plan for those who do drive. The plan will detail the specific locations of off-site parking garage, pricing of off-site and on-site parking spaces and the mechanisms for encouraging the use of off-site parking garages and remote parking. Remote parking will be encouraged with free shuttle service to the Arena and parking spaces priced at half the price of the market rate at garages closer to the Arena. The plan will also specify the routes by which shuttle buses will travel from remote parking locations to the Arena and the pickup locations for the return shuttle trip to the remote parking location. The Transportation Demand Management Plan will include a cross-marketing program with local businesses that would serve to stagger arrival and departure times, a 400 bike parking area adjacent to the Arena, and a requirement that at least 600 of the on-site parking spaces be HOV parking (requiring the purchase of three or more tickets). The Transportation Demand Management Plan is under development by FCRC, the Nets, and the Arena operations team and FCRC’s traffic and parking consultant Sam Schwartz Engineering (which has prepared these kinds of plans for Citi Field, among others). ESD and NYCDOT will be reviewing the Transportation Demand Management Plan as it is developed. It is anticipated that FCRC will be prepared to present the Transportation Demand Management Plan to the public for comment in about six months.

Surely some restaurants and bars will be eager partners and, thus, arena boosters. But if this covers only Nets games then how can it work?

070811 Response to Questions re Traffic from June 14 Public Meeting