Pleasanton, whose  Transportation Ordinance has received national acclaim through articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and John (Megatrends) Nesbitt's newsletter, was recently represented at an International Transportation Conference.

Karen Fraser-Middleton, Transportation Manager for Hacienda Business Park, was asked to share Pleasanton's transportation program at the Toronto, Canada conference, held at the end of April, for nearly 200 people. 

Local organizations in attendance included Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, RIDES for Bay Area Commuters and the Santa Clara County Transit Agency. Other conference delegates represented corporations such as AT&T Communications and Xerox; local, county, state and federal transportation agencies; developers and consultants from Canada, France and the United States.

The Pleasanton Ordinance and Hacienda's Transportation program were discussed at a session entitled, ''Ridesharing Programs: Have they been successful?" Fraser-Middleton described the requirements of the Ordinance and then used Hacienda as an example of how the Transportation Systems Management (TSM) program is being implemented.

Much progress has been made since the Pleasanton Transportation Ordinance went into effect. Since her appointment as the City's Transportation Coordinator,  Gail Gilpin has made contact with all the employers in town, explaining the requirements of the or ordinance and providing materials to help simplify compliance with the Ordinance. As a result of her personal efforts, 64 of the 67 mid-sized employers (those with 10 to 40 employees) have completed worksheets identifying how they will distribute information on car pooling, bicycling, transit riding and other alternatives to driving to work alone. Of the larger employers and business complexes, 29 of 32 have developed plans showing how they intend to promote ridesharing, and provide incentives to reduce the number of employees driving alone.     

Two training courses for company appointed transportation coordinators have been held, with another workshop scheduled for May. In addition, three meetings of the corporate sponsored Transportation Task Force have further served to orient employers and developers to their role in managing the success of the Ordinance. Finally, a second city-wide transportation survey will be distributed next month. The city's accomplishments speak for themselves. Those attending the Toronto Transportation conference were overwhelmed by Pleasanton's rapid achievement.  

Conference delegates found Hacienda Business Park's implementation of the Ordinance equally exciting. The Park's preferential parking program, providing special, convenient parking spaces for carpools and vanpools, has been particularly successful. Of the 3,000 Park employees, 600 are currently in registered carpools. As incentives to those who choose not to drive alone to work, Hacienda Design Guidelines now require that all buildings provide bicycle and carpool parking, and shower facilities.

The Park has found that meeting personally with employees is the most effective means of promoting the transportation program. Nearly 300 employees attended last summer's carpool meetings and 35 people participated in the vanpool meeting held last month which focused on the Tracy/Manteca area.

AT&T Communication's transportation information table, held at a building with many recently hired employees, attracted 300 employees.

Hacienda's transportation program also includes selling transit tickets to employees, preparing computer match-lists for those interested in carpooling, providing materials for the commute information centers at each company, drafting articles for employers' newsletters, and meeting monthly with the company transportation coordinators.

The community transportation poster contest, sponsored by the Park, generated artwork that has been used by Pleasanton's Coordinator, Gail Gilpin; Clorox's coordinator, Joyce Turner as well as Hacienda's coordinators.

With these successes under her belt, Fraser-Middleton looks forward to implementing the shuttle bus program this month, reviewing the results of the 1985 transportation survey and planning the employee transportation fair to be held in June. She reports, "It was a pleasure to review the steps we have taken to get Hacienda's TSM program and the City Ordinance underway, and then share our results with the transportation professionals at the conference. The American Association for Commuter Transportation's decision to cosponsor the conference with the Canadian Association of Vanpool Operators provided a unique opportunity to gain an international perspective and to learn of different approaches to handling transportation needs."