TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR BC’S INDUSTRIAL AREAS AND BUSINESS PARKS (2024)

Issue

Across British Columbia and North America, urban planners are building our future through goals, policies, and land use designations that support complete communities. While offering many successful attributes, this approach inadequately addresses transportation demand management planning for industrial areas and business parks. This resolution calls upon the government to develop a comprehensive public transit service plan for industrial lands and business parks and identify opportunities to trial pilot demand-responsive transit programs in industrial lands and business parks. These investments will collectively benefit specific businesses and workers in industrial lands and business parks, reduce commuter traffic, increase safe travel and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in a fiscally prudent manner.

Background

Regional districts and their comprising jurisdictions across BC are continuing the ongoing process of updating their regional growth strategies.[1] The urban planning concepts of developing goals, land use designations, and policies which support “complete communities” (defined as “communities – or areas within a community – which provide a diversity of housing to meet identified community needs and accommodate people at all stages of life, and provide a wider range of employment opportunities amenities, and services within a 15-20 minute walk.”[2]) are used both in the creation of these regional growth strategies and subsequently as the basis for transportation planning here in BC and across North America.

Within transportation planning processes, public transit is not planned to provide adequate levels of service to industrial areas or business parks,[3] as these are considered lower-density areas and are – by design and zoning requirements – located further away from residential neighbourhoods, resulting in longer commutes with fewer stops and, therefore, lower use. This makes them less financially viable options for regular bus service. As a result, the workers and businesses that operate on Industrial lands do not have equitable access[4] to reliable and timely public transit as workers and businesses operating in sectors within urban centres. Through these practices, we see that the definition of a “complete community” is—in fact—incomplete. It excludes Industrial-zoned businesses and workers whose economic contributions to a region are critical to its health and vitality.

As governments develop strategies to incentivize the use of public transit and active transportation over traditional single-occupant automotive commuting, skilled trades, technical workers, and businesses located within industrial areas and business parks need similar opportunities available for them as those working and operating in commercial centres. Due to the lack of ridership density in industrial areas and business parks, traditional public transit service or infrastructure investment options may not be financially or logistically feasible and, as such, are often excluded from transit-oriented planning.[5]

Transportation demand management solutions, developed in partnership with all levels of government and industry, can mitigate the service needs of businesses and workers in industrial areas and business parks while also supporting programs and activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the efficiency of regional transportation systems in a fiscally responsible manner.

Industrial areas and business parks are zoned to specifically accommodate the needs of manufacturing, processing, warehousing, distribution, repair, and goods-handling businesses of a variety of intensities. Due to the nature of their work, these business uses are zoned for areas away from residential zones, with ‘buffering’ zones of commercial businesses, lengths of highway, and/or agricultural lands located in the areas between these zones and a community’s residential housing.

At the same time, regions and municipalities are planning growth with a greater density of housing and services to surround urban centres.[6] These areas are encouraged to have neighbourhood-serving shops and services, enriched public realms, higher-density office and commercial buildings, educational and public institutions like universities and museums, and all the other amenities that ideally allow most trips to be taken by walking, cycling, and transit.[7]

These planning concepts are of excellent value for residents who live in and commute within or to other urban centres, where frequent transit services are planned, and transit infrastructure investments are made. However, businesses and workers in industrial areas and business parks – intentionally located further away from housing options - place workers at significant distances from their employers. Public transit options, such as regular bus services, are not provided with the same frequency or hours of service for these skilled trades and technical workers, who are therefore required to use their own single occupant vehicle to travel to and from work.

Recognizing the importance of the industrial sector to BC’s economy, some regional districts, such as Metro Vancouver, are beginning to develop specific policies and strategies around protecting their industrial lands and designating more specific uses for business parks. While Metro Vancouver’s Industrial Lands Strategy addresses the importance of protecting the land itself, and it does mention the need to “provide transit for industrial workers,”[8] it goes no further into what changes to services or investments by the government will be made to ensure that these transportation options are available.

As well, both Provincial and Federal Governments have significantly increased efforts and funding to encourage the "inclusion of under-represented groups, including women and members of racialized communities,”[9] who may face additional barriers to participate in top-demand skilled trades[10] careers. As individuals in under-represented populations may face additional intersectional barriers to participation, including only being able to access apprenticeships and jobs via privately-owned vehicles with the industrial-zoned businesses, this creates a conundrum to effective recruitment and retention as equity-deserving groups may be attracted to these fields and be able to access training institutes, but not potential employer locations.

One strategy to address these gaps is Transportation Demand Management (TDM). TDM is a methodology which includes the “development and implementation of a combination of programs, policies, and investments to redistribute travel demand to different, more sustainable modes of travel as well as different times of day to encourage a more sustainable use of limited transportation resources,”[11] and in ways which reduce road congestion. TDM practises include a variety of potential options, such as parking management strategies[12], investments in walking and cycling routes[13], car-pooling and car-sharing programs[14], public transit, and telecommuting/remote work.[15]

For example, if two warehousing facilities within a business park are interested in adding a third shift to increase capacity within their facilities, they may contact their region‘s transportation provider or their municipality‘s TDM[16] team for support in this via coordinating a shuttle bus, vanpool, or car share program to support their efforts to attract/retain their workforce.

However, as Active Transportation (AT) or traditional public transit services may not be logistically or financially feasible in suburban or rural areas, “considering distances, highway conditions, and the lack of transit”[17] available for the First Mile and Last Mile (FLM)[18] of commutes to these areas, communities outside of major urban centres – or those whose economies involve a higher proportion of industrial areas or business parks – will continue to see higher rates of single-occupant vehicle commuting and reduced levels of AT modes of transit used due to concerns from workers about the reasonableness of the length/time of commute, or safety when walking/cycling next to traffic or during inclement weather.[19]

One key strategy to supplement traditional public transit services for those in under-served areas is Demand-Responsive Transit[20] (DRT), which "helps residents travel to less densely populated areas and also connect them to rapid transit services” in the FLM of their commute. DRT is currently integrated into the TDM practices of various communities across North America[21] and in Europe[22], with recent BC pilot projects in Bowen Island[23] (with TransLink), and Kelowna[24] (with BC Transit). It often includes the use of mobile apps or websites through which riders may request transit to/from locations not served by existing transit routes. Riders book their travel via the app/website in a manner comparable to car-share programs such as Uber or Lyft, and the service vehicles are dynamically routed based on passenger location. Unlike car-share programs, the number of riders and size of vehicle used may vary depending on demand and are typically/ideally shared. DRT services may be utilized as a supplement to - or replacement for - traditional bus/shuttle services and can either be operated by the regional transit provider or through public-private partnerships. As DRT services alleviate the typical pressures of FLM commuting, they can enhance ridership and provide a truly viable alternative to single-occupant vehicle travel by linking residents to jobs and thereby creating a truly "complete” community.

Understanding what opportunities are available for workers to safely and effectively commute to and from work requires the investment of time and money - as well as engagement with industry and residents - to assess the viability of TDM options in specific communities. These investments benefit not only the specific businesses and workers in those industrial lands and business parks, but also all those on the road by reducing commuter traffic and increasing travel safety, as well as benefitting our collective effort to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in a fiscally prudent manner.

THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS

That the Provincial Government:

1. Develop a comprehensive public transit service plan for Industrial Lands and Business Parks through active engagement with industry, Chambers/Boards of Trade, regional districts, municipal governments, First Nations, and other stakeholders, particularly TransLink and BC Transit.
2. Update the mandate letters of the ministers responsible for TransLink and BC Transit to include direction that these agencies work with regional districts to identify areas which could benefit from additional pilot projects of DRT (Demand-Responsive Transit) to address the transit needs of underserved areas.