HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/05/2000, C8 - STATE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (STIP) GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE FARE REVENUE SECURITY PROJECT council 09 05-00
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C I T Y OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Mike McCluskey,Director of Public Works
Prepared By: Austin O'Dell,Transit Manager
SUBJECT: STATE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (STIP)
GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE FARE REVENUE SECURITY
PROJECT
CAO RECOMMENDATION: Approve the filing of a STIP Grant Application with the
San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) for
the Fare Revenue Security Project.
DISCUSSION:
On March 21, 2000, the City approved the filing of ten applications for the upcoming SLOCOG
call-for-projects regarding discretionary STIP grant funds. Subsequent to that date, the City's new
Transit Manager began service and has had the opportunity to review the City's bus system and
make initial recommendations for improvements. One area that the Transit Manager has identified
as needing immediate attention is farebox security. The current fare equipment on the SLO Transit
System is antiquated and needs to be updated to ensure fare security. To elaborate, the current
system for processing fare revenue requires human contact during every step of the process. Thus,
the current system is not secure and provides the unfortunate potential of theft. In addition, the
current fare revenue process is labor intensive.
The STIP call-for-projects provides the City the opportunity to access state funds and leverage local
revenue at an 88.5/11.5 ratio. This additional grant application for the State Transportation
Improvement Program (STIP) will increase the security of fare revenue collected on SLO Transit
System. This project would include the purchase and installation of electronic registering
fareboxes, computer data management system, and vault system. The benefits of this project
include the following: minimizing human contact with fare revenue; accurate accounting of fare
revenue and ridership data; and minimizing the time that is consumed processing fare revenue.
Because the deadline for submitting all grant materials to SLOCOG is August 28, 2000, staff has
prepared all necessary documentation in advance and received SLOCOG assurances that, with
positive council action on Sept. 5's,the application will be accepted.
FISCAL IMPACTS
There is no fiscal impact of filing this STIP Application with SLOCOG at this time. However, if
successful,the City of San Luis Obispo would need to provide the transit local match at a maximum
of 11.5% (estimated at $42,000) from the City's Transit Enterprise Fund. The funding request for
the STIP is $318,000. The total project budget is $360,000.
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Council Agenda Report—STIP Transit Application Page 2
ALTERNATIVE
The Council, at its discretion may determine not to apply for these grant funds at this time. The
Council may instead opt to program a future CIP project using City funds or some other
resources during the next two year capital improvement programming process.
Another alternative that the Council may consider is contracting directly for an independent
security company to oversee farebox collection and revenue handling for the City's transit
operation. In comparison, the Parking Enterprise fund spends approximately $40,000 in
operating costs per year to collect, handle and process the loose coins in its system. While this
type of revenue security system fits well for the parking operations it requires a minimum of two
staff persons to oversee the daily bagging and storage of the money. This type of collection is not
being recommended for the City transit system due to the various hours of collection and sorting
of the farebox, difficulty in securing fareboxes on the individual buses and the increase in annual
operating costs to the system. If these automated features of the GFI equipment are to be
performed by City personnel, a number of part time employees would need to be hired to
perform the duties. Further, because TDA requires that 20% of operating costs be recovered
through the farebox, any increase in operating expenses will reduce the fare/cost ratio (currently
at 19.8%).
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