Ride-Share Plan Faces Major Test : AQMD Board to Vote on New Rules

A far-reaching ride-sharing program to reduce commuter traffic--and with it air pollution in Southern California--faces a crucial vote today) by the South Coast Air Quality Management District board.

An estimated 8,000 companies employing 40% of the 3.5 million daily commuters in the South Coast Air Basin would be required to offer employees incentives to voluntarily share rides and reduce the number of trips between home and work if the program is approved. Incentives could range from company-subsidized parking for van pools to showers for workers who ride bikes to work. Other trip reduction strategies include a four-day, 40-hour work week and “telecommuting,” which involves the employee working at home on a computer linked to the office.

Up to Companies

Individual companies would be left to decide for themselves which programs to undertake to meet the district’s goal of increasing the number of commuting passengers in each vehicle.

“We think certainly from the prospect of congestion and the air pollution that it’s the single most important rule the district’s ever proposed,” AQMD Executive Officer James Lents said Thursday. Another district official compared the proposal’s significance to the rule mandating gasoline vapor recovery systems at service station pumps.

Today’s vote will mark the first major decision to be made by the AQMD board since it was granted new authority by the Legislature to crack down on air pollution in the nation’s smoggiest urban area. The public hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. at district headquarters, 9150 Flair Drive, El Monte.

Clean Air Years Away

The South Coast Air Basin, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, will not meet clean air standards for another 15 years or longer, even though federal law set a Dec. 31 deadline.

The district’s ride-sharing proposal is being closely watched by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the plan could become a model for other smoggy urban areas across the United States, AQMD officials said.

Companies have been required by the AQMD since 1977 to urge employees to share rides or use public transit during second- and third-stage smog alerts. And, on Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to require 225 companies within the city limits that employ at least 500 to file ride-sharing plans by next May.

In addition, a number of firms encourage and financially support ride-sharing programs as company policy. About 1,000 employers have set up employee transportation programs through Commuter Computer, a voluntary ride-sharing program funded jointly by public and private sources. Commuter Computer President Tad Widby said 250,000 employees are registered in the program.

But today’s proposal before the AQMD board, if approved, would mark the first time that a comprehensive sharing program, operating on a daily basis, would be in effect throughout the four-county region. It would double the 4,000 businesses covered by the present second- and third-stage smog alert rule.

It comes at a time when traffic congestion has reached a “critical” level, the AQMD said. Moreover, there is concern that gains made against air pollution may be offset and even reversed by a growing population.

Arguments Strengthened

Business leaders interviewed by The Times said that traffic congestion and air pollution can only serve to fortify the arguments of those who advocate slow-growth or no-growth policies. That is one reason why the basic thrust of the ride-sharing proposal has won support from major employers and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce as well as environmental groups. The AQMD board rejected a similar ride-sharing program in October, 1985, claiming that it had no authority to impose the program, despite an opinion from the district’s legal counsel that it could.

When the Legislature earlier this year approved a bill by Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) to reorganize the board and give the district more authority to regulate air pollution, the legislation specifically authorized programs such as the one before the board today.

The AQMD estimates that if the number of people in a single vehicle increased to an average of 1.5 from the current 1.13, there would be 740,000 fewer daily vehicle trips between home and work, and somewhat cleaner air. Said differently, there would be 14.8 million fewer vehicle miles traveled daily, a 25% cut during the 6 a.m.-to-10 a.m. rush hour.

Aside from the obvious benefits to travelers of less traffic congestion, the AQMD said reduced traffic congestion would assist clean air efforts in two ways. First, there would be fewer polluting vehicles on the road. Second, those that remain would presumably travel at higher speeds. Vehicles traveling at higher speeds emit less pollution than they do at lower speeds.

Emissions of carbon monoxide from mobile sources would be reduced as much as 216 tons a day--a 3.4% reduction. Emissions of nitrogen oxides from vehicles could be cut by 4.3%, or 34 tons a day. Hydrocarbon emissions would drop by as much as 3.3%, or 24 tons a day. Nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons form ozone in the presence of sunlight. Ozone composes about 95% of what is commonly known as photochemical smog.

Reducing Trips

Under the proposal--which could be altered by the board today--the trip reduction program would be phased in over two years. It would cover an estimated 8,000 companies that employ 100 or more workers. Employees who commute during the morning rush hours would have to be offered incentives to voluntarily participate in van pools, car pools, take public transit or otherwise help reduce the number of trips between home and work.

Companies that are covered by other ride-sharing programs, such as the one in Los Angeles, would be exempted from the AQMD’s rules, provided that the city’s program was at least as stringent. In addition, companies that already meet the 1.5 average vehicle ridership goal set by the new rule would not be required to do more.

Lents said that firms with 500 to 700 employees would be the first to be asked to prepare trip reduction programs, beginning six months from now. They would be followed by smaller firms. The program will be phased in over a two-year period.