For its innovative attempt to reduce traffic, Pleasanton received honors recently from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Vice Mayor Frank Brandes accepted the trophy with a ball bearing on top, during a special ceremony on September 27 at the MetroCenter in Oakland. The ball bearing symbolizes the ongoing improvements in Bay Area transportation.

Adopted in 1984, the city's Transportation Systems Management ordinance is the Bay Area's first comprehensive traffic control ordinance.

Under the ordinance, employers in Pleasanton are required to reduce traffic during peak commute hours by 45 percent over four years. Employers of 50 or more people must appoint transportation coordinators to promote alternative forms of commuting, such as bicycling, carpooling, walking, vanpooling and riding the bus.

Pleasanton won the Award of Merit, one of four presented by the commission, for its attempt to control traffic while accommodating increased development, according to city transportation coordinator Gail Gilpin.

"I'm pleased with what's happening in Pleasanton," she said. "And I'm finding that employers' (TSM) programs are more ambitious."

Ms. Gilpin said an increasing number of in-house newsletters are emphasizing the need for alternative modes of transportation since the ordinance went into effect. Large companies are also beginning to include TSM information in their recruitment programs and new employee orientations, she added.

Since local businesses and developers worked jointly with the city to develop the TSM ordinance, she noted that the process was unique. She lauded Hacienda Business Park for its active role in that development, and for establishing an employee shuttle bus system.

To see a reproduction of the original article and edition of Pleasanton Pathways, visit: October 14, 1985 Pathways.