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CITY OF
PALO
ALTO
Agenda Date:
To:
From:
Department:
Subject:
Architectural Review Board
StaffRe ort
june 21, 2012
Architectural Review Board
Jaime O. Rodriguez, Chief Transportation Official
Planning & Community Development
Regional Bicycle Sharing Program [11PLN-377]: Request by the
Transportation Department -City of Palo Alto, for Architectural Review of
proposed Regional Bike Share station locations within the Downtown and
California Avenue Business Districts. Exempt from the provisions of
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Architectural Review Board (ARB) recommend approval of the proposed
Regional Bike Share Stations including docking stations and bicycle kiosks. The proposed bike share
sites around Palo Alto include Stanford University, University Caltrain Station, and the Downtown
and California Avenue Business Districts. The Downtown locations include 250 Hamilton Avenue at
City Hall, 501 Emerson Street at Lytton Plaza, 528 University near Cowper Street and at 140
California A venue within the Califon-ria A venue/Park Avenue plaza adjacent to the Alma Street
undercrossing.
BACKGROUND
Bike sharing is a system of "smart bikes" designed for public use and that are distributed around
urban c e n t e ~ s to provide alternatives to single-occupant vehicle trips. Bike share programs are
typically membership-based with users registering for short-term use (i.e. while on vacation) or
regular-use through annual memberships. Bike share pr.ograms can be an effective tool to
encourage transit use by providing transit riders an option t ~ help complete a trip that transit-use
alone cannot accommodate.
In 2009, the City Council directed staff to work with the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) on a
regional bike share program. This was chosen over an independent, Palo Alto-only bike program
because it would allow participants in the system to extend their trips beyond just Palo Alto in
conjunction with VT A or Caltrain transit use. Over the past 3 years, Staff has worked with VTA, the
Cities of San Jose and Mountain View, and local advocacy agencies to develop a countywide bicycle
program. In 2011, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) procured a grant to
develop a greater San Francisco Bay Area regional bike share pilot program. The VT A and other
local Santa Clara County cities decided to participate in the BAAQMD pilot program over a county-
specific program to help ensure a larger user base. The pilot program will provide 1,000 bicycles and
approximately 100 bike share stations along the Caltrain corridor in San Jose, Mountain View, Palo
Alto, Redwood City and San Francisco. 400 bikes are being designated for use in Santa Clara County
for use near Caltrain stations and downtown core area. Palo Alto, will receive approximately 100
bikes as part of the pilot program. The BAAQMD pilot progranl is funded through local and regional
grants in combination with a $4.3 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's
(MTC) - Climate Initiatives Grant program. VTA is the project lead in Santa Clara County and is
aiming to launch the pilot program by October 2012.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/ANALYSIS
The VT A has conducted a detailed market research survey and analysis to determine key factors in
launching a successful Bike Share Program including target customers, station location requirements,
facility design and use, and operational functionality.
Within Palo Alto, 100 bikes will be distributed throughout the Downtown and California Avenue
Business Districts, University Caltrain Station, and Stanford University. These three locations
represent the golden triangle of bicycle use within the community and provision of bike share
facilities at each site is necessary to help form the building block of bike share expansion within the
community to private sector campuses and neighborhood focused shopping, or residential facilities
such as Midtown, or senior facilities.
Bike share bicycles are distributed with two types of stations; Full hub stations that house up to 40
bicycles, and Pod Stations that support up to 20 bicycles. Full hub stations are appropriate at
locations where major transit transfers areas, and where space limitations are not an overriding factor
in placement selection. Pod Stations are appropriate generally in satellite locations where bike share
use is desired but space accommodations and demand may not warrant a full hub station. Each station
includes modular elements that both the BAAQMD and VT A are seeking to help encourage future
expansion of the program. These elements include:
(1) solar modules to make the facilities independent of adjacent power grids and to reduce
capital and on-going operations costs;
(2) kiosks to provide critical bicycle facility and destination interest information within each
specific community and the region; and
(3) low-scale corporate branding options to fund the program.
Corporate branding will be limited to station sponsor logos on the stations. Anchoring of the stations
is generally not required since the facility would be anchored predominantly by the weight of the
stations. Bike share stations are considered free-standing temporary structures that can be moved to
different locations as necessary. See Attachment A for an example diagram of the bicycle sharing
pods and examples from Denver, Colorado and Montreal, Canada.
Caltrain is sponsoring the primary local hub at the University Avenue Station, and has completed the
review process through their board. Caltrain staffhas coordinated with VT A to identify the approved
locations within the transit center (as well as other jurisdictions) to satisfy functionality and historical
and visual impacts to their stations. Caltrain is not currently supporting a bike share station at the
California Avenue Station with the pilot implementation; however Caltrain has expressed interest if
and when the pilot progranl expands. City staff has supported a facility at the Calif o TIli a Avenue
Regional Bike Sharing Program Page 2
Caltrain station but the VTA expressed a preference in identifying a site adjacent to the California
Avenue Caltrain Station, given to the lack of support by Caltrain.
The currently proposed locations for inlplementation of the pilot bike share program include:
University Avenue Caltrain Station
250 Hamilton Avenue- City Hall, Martin Luther King Plaza
501 Emerson Street - On-Street near Lytton Plaza
528 University Avenue - near Cowper Street
140 California Avenue - California Avenue Plaza adjacent to Undercrossing
Stanford University (3 locations)
250 Hamilton Avenue: The City Hall location is proposed to include a bike share pod on the plaza
above the steps fronting Ramona Street. Two benches currently occupy the space, and would be
shifted to the south to accommodate the pod station (see Attachment B).
501 Emerson - Lytton Plaza: The bicycle station at this location is proposed to occupy to the two
on-street parking spaces on Lytton Avenue immediately south of University Avenue and adjacent to
Lytton Plaza. On-street parking spaces between pod station and Lot N will be modified to reduce the
parking impact and the pod station mounted onto a new parklet facility. Alternative locations may
include 500 Emerson immediately across the street or 265 University Avenue immediately in front of
Palo Alto Bicycles (see Attachment C).
528 University Avenue: This location represents the eastern portion of the Downtown Business
District and is adjacent to large employment centers. One on-street parking space may be impacted to
accommodate the pod station in front of The Play Store (see Attachment D).
140 California Avenue: The California Avenue Business district is a desired location for the bike
share program as it is within reasonable cycling distance from the Downtown area and University
Avenue Caltrain Station. For the initial implementation, a pod station within the California
AvenuelPark Boulevard plaza adjacent to the California Avenue underpass is recommended. Two
rows of existing bike lockers will be removed to accommodate the pod station installation. Tenants
of the bike lockers will be redistributed to vacant lockers within the plaza (see Attachment E).
Stanford University: There will be three additional bike stations installed around the campus; these
locations are being reviewed independently in coordination with VT A, and are outside Palo Alto's
permitting jurisdiction, therefore not included in this ARB review. The three locations within
Stanford University include (see Attachment F):
Campus Drive and Galvez Street
Campus Drive and Serra Street
Mayfield Avenue and Lagunita Drive
Potential Locations: Several other locations were also considered for the pilot program but not
included in the current recommendation. Each of those locations would be reconsidered if and when
the bike share program is to expand. These potential locations include:
South of Forest Area (SOFA) near 801 Alma Street and the Homer Tunnel
Regional Bike Sharing Program Page 3
California Avenue / EI Camino Real replacing the existing bike racks in front of Citibank
Main Library / Lucie Stem
Town and Country and Midtown Shopping Centers
Various private employment campuses
NEXT STEPS
VT A intends to begin the final bike share station designs immediately with the selected vendor, and
begin implementation and operation in October, 2012.
Staffwill be taking this item to the Planning and Transportation Commission in July and to the City
Council in either July or September 2012.
TIME LINE
Action:
Planning & Transportation Commission:
City Council Study Session:
ARB Second Hearing
ATTACHMENTS
Date:
July 2012
July/September 2012
August 2012
Attachment A:
Attachment B:
Bicycle Share Loading dock Sample And University Avenue Caltrain
Site Plan for 250 Hanlilton Avenue location
Attachment C: Site Plan for 501 Emerson Street location
Attachment D: Site Plan for 480 Cowper Street location
Attachment E: Site Plan for 140 California Avenue location
Attachment F: Stanford University Pod Locations
PREPARED BY: Jaime O. Rodriguez, Chief Transportation O f f i c e r ~
REVIEWED BY: Amy French, Acting Assistant Planning Directorb'
Regional Bike Sharing Program Page 4
Attachment A
Guidelines (From SFMTA):
Bike Sharing Station should be placed in a visible place whenever possible.
Provide 6 feet of sidewalk clearance
Stations should be placed
18 inches from face of curb (if sidewalk or parking lane installation)
8 feet from fire escape/exit
5 feet from any fire hydrant, MUNI shelter and any advertising kiosks
3 feet from any driveway or wheelchair ramp
2 feet from any standpipe, parking meter, mailboxes, light posts, planter box, in-ground utility
vault, such as PG&E, garbage can, news rack
5 feet from fire hydrant, driveway, curb ramp or blue zone
5 feet from crosswalk
60 feet from public art
~ f i (
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Station Lengths by Dock Count
# of Docks # of Docks Length (Bixi) Length (Bcyde)
(single sided) (double sided)
11 23** 31'0" 31'6"
13 27** 39'9"
lS 31** 40'11" 41'10"
17 35** 47'0"
19 55'10" 52'2"
21 57'4"
23 60'9" 62'6"
27 70'8"
31 80'7"
*note: lengths do not include minimum 1 ft. buffer at each end of station.
** only Bcycle offers double sided docks; double-sided requires 8'6" depth
11' 3" (Height)
Attachment A: B-Cycle Bike Share System - Denver, Colorado
Attachment A: Bixi Bike Share System - Montreal, Canada
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ENGINEER'S STAMP
Attach ment B
Bike Share Pod Location
501 Emerson Street
Lytton Plaza
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ENGINEER'S STAMP
Attach ment C
Bike Share Pod Location
250 Hamilton Avenue
City Hall Plaza
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Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Service and Delivery Only
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Truc;k Route Info and Map
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Unlver:s:lty Operator
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