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Report on Effectiveness of Voluntary Ridesharing and Other Emission Reduction Options

SYNOPSIS: 

The exemption of Rule 2202 employer worksites with 100-249 employees, as required by Senate Bill 432 (Lewis) has resulted in an emission reduction shortfall. To determine the shortfall, the AQMD commissioned a study to evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary ridesharing. This report summarizes the study results and identifies the Rule 2202 emission reduction shortfall for 1999.

COMMITTEE: 

Mobile Source, May 26, 2000, Reviewed

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

Senate Bill 836 (Lewis) enacted in September 1996, exempted worksites of 100-249 employees from Rule 2202 -- On-Road Motor Vehicle Mitigation Options from January 1, 1997 through December 31, 1997. This bill required a subsequent study to evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary ridesharing and other emission reduction options. The study, completed and issued in March 1998, showed an emission reduction shortfall to Rule 2202 during 1997.

On June 19, 1998, Senate Bill 432 (Lewis) was signed into law and took effect immediately. SB 432 permanently changed the compliance threshold of Rule 2202 from 100 employees per worksite to 250.

To track the potential emission reduction shortfall as a result of the SB 432 exemption, AQMD commissioned a 1998 study to evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary ridesharing and other emission reduction options during the year. A similar study was recently completed for 1999.

Objectives

The objectives of the study were (1) to determine the level of voluntary implementation of emission reduction options among the exempted employers, and (2) to assess employee travel behavior among employees at the exempted worksites. The 1999 study achieved its objectives through an Employer Activity Survey and an Employee Travel Behavior Survey.

Specifically, the objective of the Employer Activity Survey was to collect information on the degree to which exempted employer worksites participated in voluntary ridesharing and emission reduction programs in 1999. Those programs include Employee Commute Reduction Programs (ECRPs), the Air Quality Investment Program (AQIP), and Emission Reduction Strategies (ERS).

The objective of the Employee Travel Behavior Survey was to collect commute travel behavior information from employees working at exempted worksites. This information was utilized to estimate the 1999 Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) at the exempted worksites.

Findings

1999 AVR

The actual AVR for 1999 was obtained from the Employee Travel Behavior Survey. The target AVR for employers who previously filed ECRPs under Rule 2202 was estimated based on the same annual growth rate (compounded) as was used in the 1997 and 1998 studies, 0.8 percent per year. The AVR target for employers who chose the AQIP and ERS options was 1.5, the same as in past years. The actual AVR and target AVR for 1999 by program type are shown in the following table.

Table 1
1999 Actual AVR and Target AVR at Deregulated Worksites
(100 - 249 Employees)

¹ Target as established by the SB 836 Oversight Committee

As shown in the above table, the weighted average actual and target AVRs for 1999 were 1.26 and 1.37, respectively.

Average AVR

AVR in 1996 was obtained from AQMD's Rule 2202 Database. AVRs in 1997, 1998, and 1999 were estimated from employee AVR sampling surveys. The AVRs for the employers who chose the AQIP and ERS options in 1996 were not available from the Rule 2202 database. In 1997, the survey of deregulated employers did not include employers who had previously chosen the ERS or AQIP options. At worksites where employers had chosen the ECRP option, there was previously a declining trend in AVR, of -2.7 percent per year, from 1996 through 1998. Since the 1999 survey indicated that AVR increased, rather than following the declining trend, an average AVR was calculated over the entire 1997-99 period that worksites have been deregulated.

Table 2
AVR at Deregulated Worksites
(100 - 249 Employees)

1999 Emission Reduction Shortfall

The following table indicates the estimated 1999 emission reduction shortfall by program type and pollutant. The largest shortfall among the three options (ECRP, AQIP, and ERS) was for those employers who had previously chosen the AQIP. This is primarily because the differential between their actual 1999 AVR (1.13) and their target AVR (1.50) was greater than the differential of the other two groups (see Table 1).

Table 3
1999 Emission Reduction Shortfall from Deregulated Worksites
(100 - 249 Employees)
(tons/day)

As Table 4 indicates, from 1997 to 1998, the shortfall rose. From 1998 to 1999 the shortfall decreased for all pollutants. The decrease in the shortfall can be explained by the improvement in AVR, and the improved emissions performance of the basin's light duty auto and truck fleet between 1998 and 1999. The emission reduction shortfall figures in Table 4 were calculated with a simplified methodology using CARB's vehicle fleet emission inventory.

Table 4
1997-99 Emission Reduction Shortfall at Deregulated Worksites
(100 - 249 Employees)
(tons/day)

Summary

In summary, the emission reduction shortfall in 1999 was less than the 1998 shortfall by 0.20 tons per day for VOC, 0.29 tons per day for NOx, and 2.05 tons per day for CO. The net shortfall for 1999 was 0.38 tons per day for VOC, 0.55 tons per day of NOx and 3.92 tons per day of CO. The adopted 1997 AQMP, as well as its 1999 amendments, includes the emission reductions from Rule 2202-regulated worksites, including those which were deregulated in 1997. As a result of these worksites having been deregulated, their AVR has dropped and there has been an emissions reduction shortfall. This shortfall will be offset with surplus emissions reductions from other programs such as the Rule 2202 Air Quality Investment Program and the AB2766 Discretionary Program.

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