Mobility: Reduced Car Dependency

How to use this interactive graph:

Hover over the graph to reveal more details. If you’re on a mobile device, hold your finger on the graph.
Right click or press on the graph and select “Show as a table” to see a table with all the data.
Use the arrows in the bottom bar of the graph to see more graphs.
Press the icon in the bottom bar of the graph that looks like an arrow coming out of a box to share the graph on social media or copy its URL.
Press the icon in the bottom bar that looks like a double-pointed arrow to view the graph full-screen.

Why is this a Climate Smart indicator?

Transportation generates over half of city-wide greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2024 communitywide inventory. Reducing the number of miles driven by cars in San José is key to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
This is why one of the four key strategies in the 2025 Climate Smart Plan Update is to move to reduce the miles we travel in our vehicles by at least 20%.
If fewer people traveled by driving alone and instead used more climate-friendly modes of transportation, this would help reduce our emissions. It would also reduce traffic, air pollution, stormwater pollution and crashes.

What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator?

To reduce webpage clutter, some progress related to this metric is not included on this webpage but can be found on other dashboard webpages. Visit our Public Transit or Complete Streets dashboard pages for information on progress specific to each of these types of strategies.

Completed

Complete public bike share system with 83 stations and 1,100 bikes, including 100 dockless electric-assist bikes (2018-2019)
Transportation Analysis Policy to shift the focus of developments’ transportation improvements to pedestrian, bicycle and transit facilities (adopted in 2018, updated in 2022)
Ordinance and permit system to address safety and operational issues of e-scooters while facilitating their growth; 1,000 scooters currently permitted (2019-2025)
Emerging Mobility Action Plan (adopted April 2022)
Move San José, a citywide Access and Mobility Plan that includes multiple strategies to make it easier for people to travel using transit and alternative modes (adopted October 2022)
Downtown Transportation Plan, which includes 17 transportation strategies to assist the city in designing, securing funding, and delivering key downtown improvements (adopted November 2022)
Parking and Transportation Demand Management Ordinance update (adopted December 2022, effective April 2023)
Hire the City’s first Transportation Demand Management coordinator to manage the City’s existing employee commute programs, such as VTA’s Smart Pass Program, as well as expand and improve the program (2022)
West San José Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (adopted December 2022)
Walk Safe San José Plan (completed 2024)
Employee Commute Survey for all City employees to analyze commute patterns across the City (2024)
Connect North San José: The North San José Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (adopted April 2026)

In Progress / Ongoing

Implementation of the following:
- Emerging Mobility Action Plan
- Downtown Better BikewaySJ Network
- Parking and Transportation Demand (TDM) Ordinance Update to encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation such as transit, walking, and biking
- Promote Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) through implementation of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan and urban village plans
- Connect North San José
LED Streetlight Conversion Program to make streets feel safer for pedestrians (2009-present)
Development of the Diridon Integrated Station Concept plan (with regional partners)
Walk n’ Roll program to increase the number of kids walking and biking to school
Bikeshare Subsidy Program for City employees
Bikeway Network Expansion: The City of San José has installed 100 miles of new on-street bikeways and upgraded 82.1 miles of existing bikeways—totaling 182.1 miles of bikeway improvements across the City
East San José initiatives:
- The Mobility Equity Project: Launched in 2025 to support various programs, including a $1.3M Mobility Wallet Pilot for 350 low-income families, school-based bike programs, Viva Calle and Viva Escuela events, workforce development (Promotoras) and electric microtransit planning.
- East San José Bikeway Expansion: Working with Lyft, MTC and Clean Air Resource Board to deploy 500 new e-bikes, 32 new stations, and promote ridership in East San José
Climate Smart Challenge and GoGreen Teams programs for San José residents, which encourage carpooling and other alternatives to driving alone

Planned

Evaluating

Consider increasing maximum acceptable densities so that land resources are not locked into low-density patterns of development

Regulation to get the most benefits from autonomous vehicles (AVs) by making driving alone in AVs more expensive
Discounted or free transit for students, seniors and lower income residents
Prioritize active transportation projects to leverage local and regional funding opportunities
Microtransit co-op feasibility study

ABOUT THE DATA

Sources & Methods

The transportation mode share data used to calculate this metric is derived from Replica. Replica mode share data is generated using a combination of mobile location data, land use information, and travel behavior models to estimate the number of trips taken in San José via various transportation modes (such as auto person trips) within a given region. The data is calibrated against “ground truth” observations—such as traffic counts, transit ridership, economic activity reports, and other public datasets—to improve accuracy.

SOV trips are derived from Replica using US Census data. Replica reports data on auto person trips but does not differentiate between SOV and carpool trips. To reconcile this, US Census data on the average occupancy of carpool trips (table S0801) was used to separate SOV trips from carpool trips.

Last updated

May 2026