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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - No. 85-30RESOLUTION NO. 85-30 RESOLUTION ADOPTING CITY OF LODI FIVE YEAR TRANSIT PLAN FOR F.Y. 84-85 THROUGH F.Y. 88-89 RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Lodi does hereby adopt the City of Lodi Five Year Transit Plan for F. Y. 84-85 through F. Y. 88-89, a copy of which is attached hereto, identified as Exhibit "A" and thereby made a part hereof. Dated: February 6, 1985 I hereby certify that Resolution No. 85-30 was passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Lodi in a regular meeting held February 6, 1985 by the following vote: Ayes: Council Members - Hinchman, Olson, Reid, and Snider (Mayor) Noes: Council Members - None Absent: Council Members - Pinkerton Attest: Alice M. Reimche City Clerk 85-30 14 AXI-libi, 'A" LODI FIVE YEAR TRANSIT PLAN INTRODUCTION/SERVICE DESCRIPTION This plan discusses current transit issues in the City of Lodi, and lists the objectives of the Lodi City Council in providing for public transit. Also identified are the actions which the City intends to take over the next five years to meet these objectives, as well as estimates of the funding which will be needed. The Lodi Dial -A -Ride currently operates 12 hours a day, five days a week. Service is provided in six City -owned Chevrolet station wagons. Daily operation is contracted to the City Cab Company, which also provides (in seperate vehicles) a private taxi service. The area served is the City of Lodi, plus Woodbridge and the Arbor Mobile Home Park in Acampo. Dial -A -Ride fares are paid by prepurchased tickets only, and cost $.50 for seniors and handicapped, and $2.00 for regular passengers within City limits. County service costs $.50 additional. Up to three may ride for the price of one, if travelling from the same origin point to the same destination point. Dial -A -Ride users must be willing to share the vehicle with others. Service is available on call, but ` subscription service (i.e., pickup at a prearranged future date / and time) is not available. Contractual arrangements require all normal operating expenses, including fuel, insurance, and maintenance costs, to be borne by the cab company. In turn, the City pays $3.00 to the cab company for each passenger ticket submitted ($3.50 for County tickets). In recent years, the Lodi Dial -A -Ride has become very popular with local seniors, who comprise the large majority of the ridership. The business community has also responded, enthusiastically supporting the current second annual Rotary Club promotion. Last year, the Rotary Club supplied 8,844 free Dial -A -Ride tickets to local seniors, from November, 1983 - February, 1984. C CURRENT ISSUES 1. Possible need for additional Dial -A -Ride service (weekends and evenings); 2. Apparent increase in passenger waiting times; 3. Possible need for scheduled or prearranged service; 4. Possible need for lower general public fares; 5. Need to adopt a policy on coordination with the County of San Joaquin. By law, the San Joaquin County Council of Governments is empowered -to make the final decision concerning reasonable unmet transit needs in the City of Lodi and elsewhere in the County. One purpose of this plan is to inform the COG of the City's position on the above and related issues. By presenting the COG with an adopted transit plan which shows a commitment to local transit development, it is felt that the City's own interests _ will best be served. The City of Lodi is comrffitted to meeting the reasonable transit needs of all City residents. However, the City feels that the requests for weekend and extended weekday Dial -A -Ride service go beyond basic needs. In particular, the current 12 -hour service day is felt to be sufficient. Concerning potential weekend service, the City is not prepared to transport the large number of passengers who, might be expected to request travel to religious services - it is felt this function is properly the responsibility of the churches and their congregations. The City may be willing, however, to experiment with limited weekend service, say from 9:90 a.m. to 5:99 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoons. First, though, discussions must be held with the contractor to determine impacts on driver work rules and hours. The apparent increase in passenger waiting times may indicate that an additional vehicle or vehicles are needed. Alternately, more efficient utilization of the existing equipment may be the answer. The City stands ready to furnish additional equipment if necessary to insure a smooth transit operation. The possible need for scheduled or prearranged transit service is highlighted by the recent petition calling for a fixed route sys- tem. The City's position is that fixed route transit is a method of service delivery, rather than a transit need. The potential need is for users to arrange scheduled service in advance. The City is reluctant to implement such a change because it may favor only a few individuals at the expense of the system as a whole. Also, the current contractor may be unable to adapt its operation to include subscription or prearranged service. More information is needed about the extent of this potential need and the implications of initiating subscription service. It has been noted that the $2.00 per person regular Dial -A -Ride fare may be too high. The recent reduction in the required farebox recovery ratio to 10% does open the door to renewed consideration of lower general public fares by the City. The City Council will consider this issue during 1985. The final issue is one of increasing concern to the City. Over the past two years, the Lodi Dial -A -Ride has been expanded to serve first Woodbridge and then the Arbor Mobile Home Park in Acampo. In both cases, the expansion was triggered by a COG finding of reasonable transit needs for County residents. However, the resulting ridership has been marignal at best. The City wishes to put the COG and the County on notice that it does not wish to further dilute a. successful City system to serve marginal County transit needs. POLICY SECTION The following service objectives have been developed for the Lodi Dial -A -Ride. 1. Meet the reasonable transit needs of all City residents. 2. Minimize system operating costs. 3. Operate an efficient transit system: meet the required 10% farebox recovery ratio. 4. Foster community awareness and support for the Lodi Dial -A - Ride: strive to increase system ridership. 5. Assure the provision of a quality transit service: a. vehicles will be kept clean and properly maintained; b. drivers will be courteous and properly trained; c. service will be provided within 30-45 minutes of telephone call. 6. Assure that contractor carries necessary liability insurance to protect the City from accident liability to riders and third parties. 7. Provide service to County residents only if the following conditions are fully met: a. it is demonstrated to the City's satisfaction that the County service in question will not adversely impact the quality of service provided to City residents; b. there is a clear and demonstrated need for the service; C. the County pays the full cost of the service. ACTION SECTION The Lodi Five Year Transit Plan consists of implementing the service objectives to the maximum extent feasible. To achieve this, a number of actions have been identified, including the primary action, which is to continue the existing service, upgrading as necessary. All actions are to be implemented in 1985 and continued in later years, unless otherwise indicated. 1. To meet the reasonable transit needs of all City residents (service objective #1), the City of Lodi will: Continue the existing Dial -A -Ride service, upgrading where necessary. Specific capital improvements which have been programmed include: a.' purchase of a new or replacement vehicle in FY 85-86; b. purchase of a new or.replacement vehicle in FY 87-88; The function of these new vehicles (expansion or replacement) will be determined by the condition of the fleet and extent of transit needs at the time of purchase. Hold and advertise the annual unmet transit needs public hearings in November or December of each year. The present policy of holding two hearings will be continued. All hearings will be advertised by legal notice and by notifying persons and organizations known to have an interest in the subject of the hearings, including the Loel Center, the Lodi Service Center, and the Senior Citizens Center. Explore the feasibility of implementing weekend and subscription service. For this purpose, a report will be prepared for the City Council before July 1, 1985. The San Joaquin County Council of Governments may be solicited to provide technical assistance in the preparation of this report. 2. To minimize operating costs (service objective #2), the City of Lodi will: Request for proposals for service before July 1, 1986, to insure the provision of the most cost effective purchased transportation service possible. Such an action should not be viewed as indicating dissatisfaction with the current contractor, only as sound business practice. Continue to work with the COG to insure that the City's position is fully communicated prior to future findings of unmet transit needs which are reasonable to meet. Hold the required annual Productivity Improvement Committee meeting, in November or December of each year, to discuss productivity improvements and explore ways to reduce system operating costs. 3. To insure operating an efficient transit system (service /j objective 1#3), the City of Lodi will: Continue to monitor system performance on a monthly basis. Any problem areas will be promptly brought to the attention of the contractor, with adjustments being made as warranted. 4. To foster community support and improve ridership (service objective #4), the City of Lodi will: Advertise the service. Specific methods will include, but not be limited to, cable TV and advertisements and/or articles in the Lodi News -Sentinel. Support the possible renewal of the annual Rotary Club promotion, if requested by the Rotary Club. In addition to providing free Dial -A -Ride tickets to local seniors, this promotion fosters positive perceptions of the Dial -A -Ride service by the business community and the news media. Consider reducing the $2.00 general public fare. A recom- mendation on this action will be brought to the City Council by July 1, 1985. 5. To assure the provision of a quality transit service (service Cobjective #5), the City of Lodi will: j Determine the extent of deviation from the 30-45 minute service standard - implement system improvements as warranted. This action will be performed by reviewing recently -submitted taxi company log sheets. Improvements - up to and including an additional vehicle or vehicles - will be made as warranted to insure meeting the service standard. Maintain a record of transit complaints and review with the contractor on a regular basis. 6. To assure that the contractor maintains the necessary amount of liability insurance (service objective #6), the City of Lodi will be named in the insurance policy as co-insured, and will be notified when the policy coverage is reduced or cancelled for any reason. 7. To insure that the conditions for providing County service are fully met (service objective #7), the City of Lodi will: Annually evaluate the impacts of County service_, when negotiating a new contract with the County. SUMMARY OF ACTIONS The chart below summarizes the actions identified in the Action Section by service objective. All actions are to be implemented in 1985 and continued in later years, unless otherwise indicated. Service Objective Action to se Taken 1 Continue existing Dial -A -Ride service 1 . Hold and advertise annual transit "needs" hearings 1 . Explore feasibility of weekend and subscription service: implement if warranted (report by July 1, 1985) 2 . Request for proposals for service before July 1, 1986 2 . Continue to work with COG on + potential transit "needs" findings 2 . Hold annual Productivity Improvement Committee meeting 3 . Continue to monitor performance on monthly basis 4 Advertise transit service 4 Support possible renewal of the annual Rotary Club promotion, if requested by the Rotary Club 4 Consider reducing $2.00 general public fare (recommendation due by July 1, 1985) 5 Determine extent of deviation from 30-45 minute service standard - make changes as necessary 5 Maintain record of complaints - regularly review with contractor 6 . Name City as co-insured 7 .'Annually evaluate impacts of County service C \; POTENTIAL FUTURE ISSUES The previous sections have outlined the service objectives and the actions needed to implement them. The purpose of this section is to briefly discuss some issues which are not now of concern, but may become a concern as the five year period encompassed by this plan progresses. The Lodi Dial -A -Ride is currently operating at close to capacity. The possibility of adding new vehicles has been discussed. As an alternative to adding more station wagons (capacity = 5), it is possible that one or more vans or minibuses might be needed (capacity = 9-16). This option would become attractive if greater vehicle capacity is needed. If desired, such a vehicle could be equipped with a wheelchair lift for handicapped accessi- bility. Offsetting the capacity and possible accessibility gain would be the cost - approximately $35,000 (in 1985 dollars) for a lift -equipped minibus. Operating costs would also increase, due to higher maintenance and insurance, and lower fuel economy. A final potential future issue involves the possibility of intercity service to Stockton. The recent COG draft Transit Development Plan identifies such service as a potential future unmet need.* Discussions with COG staff reveal their thinking - a Lodi -Stockton fixed route loop, making the circuit possibly four times per day, stopping at key locations in Lodi and Stockton. Such a route would double as a partial fixed route local service, and could be operated for $60,000 to $80,000 per year (less fares), according to COG staff. Alleged benefits aside, it is the position of the City of Lodi NOT to fund intercity transit out of local LTF and STA funds. - Such funds are properly reserved for purely local Lodi needs. *the same document also projects a potential future need for transit service to the whole of the Acampo community. FINANCIAL SECTION In this section, the costs of implementing the Lodi Five Year Transit Plan are discussed. For financial planning purposes, it is assumed that the conditional actions identified in this plan will be implemented (exception: no vans or minibuses are pro- grammed). Specifically, it is assumed that subscription service, lower general public fares, and reduced waiting times will be implemented. Collectively, these actions will make the system more attractive to riders, and hence, can be expected to increase ridership. Since the current system is operating at or close to capacity, an additional vehicle will be needed. Therefore, the vehicle currently programmed for FY 85-86 becomes an expansion vehicle. The vehicle programmed for FY 87-88 remains a replacement vehicle. F4 The projected operating and capital expenses to implement the above are given below. A relatively low basic escalation rate of 5% per year is assumed. The exception occurs in FY 85-86, when the new vehicle is added. It is anticipated that this new vehicle will be fully utilized in meeting the increased ridership _ projected above. Lodi's Projected Transit Costs, FY 85 -FY 89 (City Service Only) Operating FY 1985 199,850 FY 1986 FY 1987 FY 1988 FY 1989 291,500 251,890* 264,400 277,600 Capital -0- 12,000* -0- 14,000** -0- Total 199,850 263,800 264,400 291,000 291,500 *reflects addition of new fully utilized station wagon **reflects addition of replacement station wagon A brief glance at the past operating history of the Lodi Dial -A - Ride reveals steady increases in both ridership and system operating costs over the period FY 81 - FY 84 (see chart below). Not shown by the chart is the fact that ridership (and expendi- tures) have finally started to level off. For example, the six month period ending in September, 1984 actually witnessed a slight decline in ridership over the six month period ending in September 1983 (29,019 passengers vs. 30,933). Therefore the basic escalation rate of 5% per year which has been programmed seems reasonable, even given the larger historical increases. Lodi Dial -A -Ride Operating Costs and Other Selected Statistics, FY 81 - FY 84 FY 1981 FY 1982 FY 1983 FY 1984(est.) Operating Costs 88,732 127,703 _ 177,971 191,636 Fare Revenue 21,388 23,480 32,409 33,393 Passengers 35,903 43,661 56,650_ 63,100 Fares/Costs (%} 24.1% 18.40 18.2% 17.4% Cost/Passenger 2.47 2.92 3.14 3.94