2013 Annual Report from the North Natomas Transportation Management Association
North Natomas As ridesharing technology and new forms of travel make their mark on our country and communities, it’s not a secret that 2014 is on its way to being a hallmark year in the way people re-think transportation. Our mission has always been to be one step ahead of the crowd by keeping our neighborhood moving forward with as much efficiency – and as little environmental impact – as possible.
In 2013, the NNTMA, in partnership with our community, ran several programs that enabled families to walk and cycle to school; and to forgo the car in the nine-to-five commute. Such programs included our new #goTOGETHER video series highlighting teachers, parents and children who champion our Walk to School programs in numerous North Natomas elementary schools; and our 1st Annual 50 Bikes for 50 Kids event, which transformed our community into a volunteer work force that assembled new bikes for deserving youth in our area. Last year we also received the National Association for Commuter Transportation’s TMA Marketing Award for our outreach efforts to help launch a new fleet of natural gas powered shuttles, called ShuttleUp! So whether it’s our Flyer Shuttle Service, Neighborhood Bike Rides, Bike Doc events or much needed transportation initiatives, you will find us here, there and just about everywhere serving North Natomas and acting as a voice for our neighbors. We are committed to practicing fiscal responsibility, which means that each project and service we put forth undergoes strict cost-benefit scrutiny and has full approval from our board. In these pages, we hope you find inspiration and new ways to navigate your world. Sincerely,
Derek Chernow President of the Board
Becky Heieck Executive Director
Livable Sustainable Connected. Our Mission: The North Natomas Transportation Management Association fosters transportation behaviors that enhance our community through advocacy, programs, education, and services.
A Better Future
Advocacy
The NNTMA knows that it takes tireless work from dedicated advocates to strengthen our community. We are happy to support initiatives and host programs that improve transportation options throughout North Natomas, and we strive to build partnerships and civic engagement through our innovative programs and projects. To ensure that we are keeping abreast of community needs, we partner with local representatives, conduct surveys, connect with industry groups, engage with the public through social media, and interact with individuals, businesses, and schools in our office and at special events. The NNTMA is proud to actively promote these efforts: • Construction of RT’s Green Line to the Airport light rail project • TransitRenewal, RT’s five-year transit improvement plan • Completion of planned pedestrian and bike infrastructure and bike path connectivity • Programs to encourage walking and biking, in partnership with local schools
Ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of RT’s new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling facility at McClellan Business Park.
Shuttle 2013 marked our first full year of shuttle service through Sacramento Regional Transit and ridership has only grown to match the spacious new shuttles – the 90,261 passenger trips represent an 18% jump over 2012! Our ongoing partnership with RT also brings with it exciting new features as their services grow. Our Natomas Flyer shuttles run clean natural gas and were the first in the fleet to offer free Wi-Fi. That’s not all; each bus hosts a rack accommodating three bicycles, can be tracked over the web, and will be compatible with the regionwide transit ConnectCard.
The Flyer Shuttle
Shuttle In 2013, our 6,000 Natomas Flyer shuttle trips helped North Natomas residents… • Replace over 800,000 miles of commuter driving • Save over 32,000 gallons of gasoline, worth $124,000* • Spare our air from over 625,000 pounds of CO2 and other pollutants • Bring their bikes along for 1,400 multi-modal trips • Use their commute to relax with a book or catch up on e-mail * Gasoline prices calculated using AAA figures for California in 2013 ($3.89/gallon)
Biking 50 Bikes for 50 Kids
New for 2013, the NNTMA held its first 50 Bikes for 50 Kids event. Community volunteers teamed up with well-deserving local children to build bikes, providing transportation options, recreation, and valuable hands-on experience.
Bike Doc
Mechanics from our unique Bike Doc bike-shop-on-wheels service showed up at 22 library, business, school, and community events, where they helped maintain 766 bikes, fixing everything from flat tires to bottom brackets.
May is Bike Month The NNTMA is a proud partner of May Is Bike Month, a regionwide campaign to promote bicycling through rewards, incentives, events, and resources such as a special Bike to Work Day breakfast, “Top Rider� prizes, and trip logging tools. Our 2013 campaign helped encourage local residents and commuters to log over 48,000 miles in the saddle rather than their bucket seats.
Biking Neighborhood Rides
To help get people on bikes directly, the NNTMA also hosted four Neighborhood Rides in 2013 to give residents the opportunity to ride as a group. These rides featured tours of caviar and organic farms, went around Sac State, through Yolo County from Davis to Winters, and down south through West Sacramento.
Bike Rebate & Bike Clinic We also continued our Bike Rebate program, giving out nearly $7,000 in rebates for bikes and bike accessories to local residents to assist them in vehicle trip reduction, and provided cycling instruction to recipients via our Bike Clinic courses: three classes offered for free to local residents and employees. These clinics covered routine maintenance, rules of the road, and safe riding, taught by instructors certified by the League of American Bicyclists.
Schools
Walk and Bike
The NNTMA is getting kids interested in active transportation with our comprehensive Walk and Bike to School programs, encouraging kids to establish healthy transportation habits, improve air quality, reduce traffic volumes, and improve their social interaction – after all, riding or walking together was the original “social network”! These programs allow students to use punch cards, raffle tickets and barcode scanner technology to earn charms and prizes by riding bikes, pushing scooters, skating, or walking to school. They also encourage parents to help out by supervising Walking School Buses, where groups of kids walk together from a meeting point right to the school’s front door. For the 2012/2013 school year, an average of 933 students – as much as 20% of the student body at our seven partner schools – participated weekly in our walking programs.
Schools Walktober
At the start of the school year, we focused on trips specifically to and from school with Walktober. At five partner schools, 478 students spent the month of October logging 16,524 trips, whether in Walking School Buses on foot, or using pedal power.
Project Ride Smart
Project Ride Smart continued its success this year. In this comprehensive ten hour 5th grade driver’s education program for bikes, certified Bicycling Instructors taught 354 students at three schools. Students learned the rules of the road and applied what they learned about traffic principles and handling skills first-hand on neighborhood street rides.
School Bike Month
The school year ended with a wildly successful School Bike Month in May. 3,436 students at ten North Natomas schools logged a total of 50,394 miles. Nine North Natomas schools ranked in the top fifteen for the schools with the most miles ridden in the region.
Connectivity Keeping Us Linked Bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure does little good if it leads nowhere or ends abruptly. North Natomas has many bikeway and pedestrian connectivity gaps and the NNTMA has partnered with the city to address those holes in our active transportation network. We are proud to announce that of a laundry list of 39 such gaps, all but one are now fixed. Social connections are just as important to us. Many of our programs partner with schools, businesses, organizations, volunteers, and residents in the area. Whether we are connecting parents and their kids as part of our Walk to School campaigns, connecting fellow cyclists through our Neighborhood Rides, connecting commuters to Wi-Fi on their shuttle commutes, or just connecting with the greater community through social media, we know that the core of a sustainable community is maintaining these connections.
Financials
North Natomas TMA Profit & Loss
January – December 2013 Ordinary Income/Expense Income CFD Funds Grant Shuttle Revenue Other Income Sponsor Program Total Income Expense PROGRAMS Bike Schools Shuttle/Transit Emergency Ride Home Programs & Outreach Program Staff Total PROGRAMS Administrative Expense Total Expense Net Ordinary Income Net Income *
1,089,839 80,168 109,104 23,902 132,800 1,435,813 217,983 144,210 363,040 433 76,579 274,617 1,076,862 166,510 1,243,372 192,441 192,441
*Net income is the result of budget reductions in an attempt to create a surplus. This will preserve services in the event of further reductions due to a building moratorium.
Officers Derek Chernow – President, North Natomas resident Greg Guardino – Vice President, Alleghany Properties, LLC Phil Rodriguez – Treasurer, Lewis Operating Corporation Chris Holm – Secretary, North Natomas resident
Directors RoseMary Covington – Sacramento Regional Transit Scott Dosick – North Natomas resident Patricia Hoffman – North Natomas resident Bruce Roberts – North Natomas resident Randy Standiford – Raley’s Distribution Center
Staff Becky Heieck – Executive Director Mellissa Meng – School Programs Manager Abbey Harding – Program and Communications Coordinator Ryan Sharpe – Program Coordinator
North Natomas Transportation Management Association • 1960 Del Paso Road, Suite 146, Sacramento, CA 95834 • 916.419.9955 • NNTMA.org