Part 3. Transportation
Livermore’s consequential 2022 Climate Action Plan (CAP) maps out planned actions to mitigate and adapt to its authors’ expectations of climate change. The city is not strictly acting on its own, but is essentially mandated to do so because of California legislation and executive orders. We are covering CAP’s effects on Livermore citizens and infrastructure in a series of short articles, with the first on the required electrification of buildings and the second on ‘decarbonizing’ electricity. This third article discusses the CAP’s plan to “replace gasoline fueled vehicles with EVs” and transition as much transportation as possible to buses, bicycles, and walking.
The CAP assesses that 59% of Livermore’s carbon emissions are due to on-road transportation and another 4% from off-road. The plan is to reduce this by 38% by 2030 through increased use of electric vehicles (EVs), and by an additional 4% through increased use of alternative transportation, including buses, bicycles, and walking. A relatively small portion of the carbon emission reduction is to be achieved by transitioning the city’s automobile fleet to EVs. However, as Livermore cannot mandate the purchase and use of EVs by citizens and businesses, incentives and public campaigns will be used to nudge EV use in order to meet the 2030 emission reduction goals.
A major incentive is to increase the convenience of EVs through installed supporting infrastructure in the form of public and private EV charging stations. Actions include requiring new gas stations and major remodels to have charging stations; putting charging stations close to entrances of popular destinations such as grocery stores; and coordinating incentives and rebates for at-home charging with builders and energy suppliers. By 2030, an additional 1283 publicly accessible EV chargers will be added to the current 93 (as of November 2022).
They also plan to encourage the conversion of retail delivery vehicles to EVs through the imposition of license fees, which would be discounted for companies that use EVs. Another plan is to develop an EV car-share pilot program, which would be aimed at the economically disadvantaged and those who don’t own vehicles of any kind. To further reduce emissions, ordinances will be instituted to limit new, drive-thru businesses.
Finally, a key goal in the CAP is to reduce driving miles by 2% through increased use of public transportation and facilitating the use of bicycles by expanding and connecting the Livermore Valley Bicycle Trail system. To increase the use of public transportation, the CAP intends to increase access and reduce wait times through the coordination of schedules and routes with Altamont Corridor Express (ACE), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), and the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA).
References
City of Livermore 2022 Climate Action Plan, adopted November 28, 2022, https://livermoreclimateaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-CAP-Final.pdf