HomeMy WebLinkAboutREDlichtigwalterph3October 4, 201 0
TO :
City Counci l
FROM :
Prepared by :
SUBJECT :
Double Deck Bus Operational update
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The City's new Double Deck Bus (DD) has been in operation for about a month, and staff would like t o
share some good news with the City Council on ridership numbers . First, some background information .
Katie Lichtig, City Manage r
Jay Walter, Public Works Direct r
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The City began investigating the idea of purchasing the DD to replace two old, worn out, polluting buses .
We also had a problem because we were leaving students behind, morning and afternoon on our busies t
routes . They could not rely on our system to get them to class on time and ridership suffered as a result .
With Federal grant funding available for capital purchases, staff researched all the angles and propose d
buying the DD, rather than two regular buses . Operating this bus requires one driver, not two . The D D
produces far less emissions than two buses . In our view, the DD was a good, prudent buy, bot h
economically and environmentally for the city . Plus, ridership is way, way up as the following statistic s
confirm :
•Route 4A (DD) up 22 .4 % all riders (+1,986 )
•Route 4A (DD) up 23 .8% Cal Poly riders (1,476 )
•Route 5A (DD) up 31% all riders (+2,003 )
•Route 5A (DD) up 38% Cal Poly riders (+1,736 )
In addition, looking at the short span of service from September 20-October 1 S`(Cal Poly in session) on
trips where the DD was used :
•Riders carried exceeded the 36 seating capacity of a 40' bus on 82% of trips (115 of 140 )
•30% of the trips exceeded 70 passengers per trip (42 of 140 )
•4 trips exceeded 90 passengers per trip and one trip had 107 riders
Overall System Ridership (month):
RED FIL E
•Total fixed ridership up 9 .7% (+6,723)MEETING AGEND A
•Cal Poly riders up 16 .9% (+6,235) DATE /2//ii _ ITEM #P/t3
•General Public riders (No CP or Trolley) up 1 .5% (+488 )
•Trolley riders up 41 .4% (+645 )
Staff continues to monitor the occupancy of the DD in its use on Routes 4 & 5 and will make adjustment s
to increase ridership based upon demand of the riders at peak times of the day .
RECEIVE D
OCT05201 0
SLO CITY CLERK