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Making Commutes Better

Grantor
• Federal Transit Administration (FTA)

Recipient
• City of Palo Alto

Duration
• 2016–2020
• 4-year project

Project Highlights
• Prime investigator
• Supported the City of Palo Alto with Employer Pilot recruitment and coordination
• Data collection and analysis
• Knowledge transfer

The Bay Area Fair Value Commuting Demonstration aimed to reduce Bay Area the single-occupancy vehicle commute share by implementing FVC solutions. The project explored an integrated “Commuter Wallet” software platform that maximized convenience for commuters to plan and compare alternative transportation modes.  It also demonstrated a “feebate” or “cash-out” system to assess commuter fees and redirect the income received to fund incentives for using alternative transportation modes, creating a self-sustaining commute program. The project aimed to collaborate directly with top vendors by enhancing software/hardware feature sets and interoperability, pilots at four employer sites, commute pattern analysis, and developing/piloting new gap-fillers such as low-income subsidies and loan-to-own programs.