EasyConnect II: Integrating Transportation, Information, and Energy Technologies at the Pleasant Hill BART Transit Oriented Development

Smart growth policy strategies attempt to control increasing auto travel, congestion, and vehicle emissions by redirecting new development into communities with a high-intensity mix of shopping, jobs, and housing that is served by high-quality modal alternatives to single occupant vehicles. The integration of innovative technologies with traditional modal options in transit-oriented developments (TODs) may be the key to providing the kind of high-quality transit service that can effectively compete with the automobile in suburban transit corridors. A major challenge, however, of such an integration strategy is the facilitation of a well-designed and seamless multi-modal connection infrastructure – both informational and physical. EasyConnect II explored the introduction and integration of multi-modal transportation services, both traditional and innovative technologies, at the Pleasant Hill Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District station during the initial construction phase of the Contra Costa Centre Transit Village (or TOD) in the East San Francisco Bay Area. The project explored the integration of following in this TOD: 1) shared-use, low-speed vehicles, 2) electronic lockers (“eLockers”) with reservation capabilities: smart transit-based parking technology; 3) a protocol for a webbased information system (Mobility Options Protocol or MOP) to obtain information about available modal options and transportation services; and 4) innovative distributed power generation technologies to help meet growing electrical loads associated with the introduction of advanced electronic transportation and information technology systems.