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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/06/2009, C7 - APPROVE SURPLUS DESIGNATION FOR SPARE TROLLEY counat M"""ranuary 6, 2009 j agenda Report �N� � CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO FROM: Jay D. Walter, Public Works Director Prepared By: John Webster,Transit Manager SUBJECT: APPROVE SURPLUS DESIGNATION FOR SPARE TROLLEY RECOMMENDATION Designate the existing spare 1984 gasoline Trolley(T-102) as surplus. DISCUSSION As part of the San Luis Obispo Transit replacement vehicle plan, the City Council at the August 1, 2006 meeting approved allowing the City Manager to negotiate and purchase four buses and one trolley under cooperative agreements with the spending authority not to exceed $1,620,471. At the January 22, 2008 meeting, Council approved the staff recommendations to authorize an Invitation for Bid (IFB) or Sole Source procurement for the previously approved Trolley replacement. They authorized the City Manager to award the bid and issue a purchase order if it was within the Trolley replacement budget of$179,700. The IFB was posted on January 28, 2008 and a contract was awarded on April 24, 2008. A new replacement Trolley "Villager" model from National Bus Sales and Leasing Inc. was delivered and put into service in September 2008. At that time, the existing trolley (T-101) was declared surplus and removed from the active fleet record as per the City's vehicle replacement plan. The remaining 1984 gasoline model trolley (T-102) has also exceeded its useful life and is well beyond the 10-year Federal Transit Administration (FTA) replacement guidelines. Due to its advanced age and problems with availability of parts, it is not cost effective to repair and it is currently only intermittently operable. The outside metal and wood trim is significantly weathered and unsightly and would be very expensive to rehabilitate. Staff therefore recommends that the 1984 gasoline model trolley (T102) be designated as a surplus vehicle for disposal. The retirement of this second vehicle will leave the fleet with one trolley operating, and without a spare trolley. Staff anticipates using one of the newer 2007 30-foot Gillig buses as a route backup in the event of unexpected repairs or maintenance to the new Trolley. Approve Surplus Designation for Spare Trolley Page 2 FISCAL IMPACT There will be no impact to the City's General Fund. Any funds received from the sale of each vehicle above $5,000 will be refunded to FTA at the 80% ratio as per FTA regulations. ALTERNATIVES 1. Deny the surplus designation. The Council could reject the surplus designation request and direct staff to get cost estimates for vehicle rehabilitation and repair in order to put vehicle T=102 back into service. 2. Purchase another new or used Trolley. The Council could instruct staff to explore funding for a new or used Trolley for use as a backup during maintenance or repair of the new Trolley. ATTACHMENTS 1. Council Agenda Report approving purchase, August 1, 2006 2. Council Agenda Report authorizing IFB,January 22, 2008 T:\Council Agenda Reporns\Public Works CAR\TransiACAR-TROLLEY DESIGNATED AS SURPLUS\CAR-TROLLEY DESIGNATED AS SURPLUS DEC-2008.doc C — c3L, f � Attachment 1 council j acEnaa Repom I�N°2 CITY OF SAN LU I S O B I S P O oSs�`LU/g0 FROM: Jay Walter, Public Works Directorr �' . Prepared by: Austin O'Dell, Transit Manager tp :! e -SeUrCEN�EC, SUBJECT: PROCUREMENT OF TRANSIT VEHICLES TO COMPLY WITH CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD EMISSION REQUIREMENTS CAO RECOMMENDATION: 1. Adopt-a,Resolution to approve SLO Transit's vehicle replacement plan to meet California Air Resources Board(CARB) emission requirements. 2. Approve cooperative procurement to purchase up to four buses and one trolley. 3. Authorize the CAO to negotiate and execute a cooperate agreement for transit vehicle replacements in a cumulative amount not to exceed $1,620,471 dollars. DISCUSSION Background The California Air Resources Board (GARB) passed regulations in 2000 that require significant reductions in emissions from public transit vehicles. CARB's requirements concentrate on particulate matter(PM) and oxides of nitrates (NOx) emissions. Engine manufacturers were able to produce a diesel engine to comply with the particulate matter emissions (PM) in 2003; however, they were not able to produce an engine that complied with the NOx requirements. As part of the regulations, CARB provided an opportunity for small transit operators (with less than twenty buses) to file a financial burden waiver. This financial burden waiver allowed small transit operators to delay their compliance with the PM emission requirements until .January 2007. Based on staff recommendation, Council opted for the financial burden waiver. The rationale for this approach was that the City would ultimately save scarce transit dollars by making significant investment in CARB compliance once, instead of twice, and because it was uncertain if engine manufacturers would be able to produce an engine that would meet the .20 gram NOx requirement. Engine manufacturers have not met the CARB 2007 NOx standard for several reasons. One reason was that engine manufacturers could not develop the technology in time for the January 1, 2007 deadline. Another reason was economics. California represents a very small market as compared to the rest of the nation and the CARB requirements were substantially different than the federal requirements. Diesel engine manufacturers are focusing their efforts on the federal deadline in 2010, which represents a much larger market in order to defray the development costs on a national scale. During the fall of 2005, CARB considered the possibility of 0 :7 -3 Attachment 1 Council Agenda Report—Procurement of Transit Vehicles Page 2 eliminating the clean diesel path, modifying the emission standards, or maintaining the status quo. On October 27, 2005, CARB made a compromise by relaxing their standard NOx to the federal standard of 1.2 grams and bringing the two standards much closer into alignment. In 2010, the federal standards will effectively catch-up to the CARB NOx standard of 0.20 grams and the standards should run parallel. Attachment 1 shows the.CARB and Federal new emission standards. The positive impact of this decision is that the City can now purchase new transit vehicles that will meet both standards. Looking back, the City's strategy was correct; however, the City must now move expeditiously to meet the January 2007 PM mandate. Clean Diesel and Gasoline Hybrid—Why is it best for SLO Transit? In 2001, CARB required transit operators to commit to a clean fuel path that would meet their new emission standards. Based upon experience with various fuel types, the City adopted a clean fuel path using clean diesel technology. This fuel path continues to be the recommended fuel of choice for SLO Transit buses. In the past year, there has been a lot of discussion between suppliers and the City regarding fuel type. Many transit operators, including the City of San Luis Obispo, were approached by various fuel vendors offering long-term proposals if they would commit to their particular fuel type. Staff continues to receive materials from fuel suppliers trying to convince the City that their fuel is better and cheaper. However, the emission standards are the same regardless of the fuel and/or technology, and as a small transit operator, staff has significant concerns in committing to only one fuel type. Putting all of our eggs into one basket is risky because it would reduce our ability to choose vehicles based upon the best equipment available then on the market. Also, lower cost alternatives may not be available as they are developed for other fuel options. Some agencies have taken this approach and been successful, and some have not. Based upon our particular needs and working with the CARB, staff is convinced that using the clean diesel/gasoline hybrid path is still the best approach for SLO Transit at this time to meet our bus replacement needs and to meet the CARB requirements. Attachment 2 contains a full description of the issues analyzed in reaching this conclusion. Justification of Piggyback Procurement "Piggyback"purchasing is allowable under FTA guidelines and in essence allows procurements by extending the contract rights to purchase goods and services from one transit agency to another. The initial contract is awarded based on a competitive procurement process with provisions that other agencies may also order transit vehicles from the same contract. Use of cooperative purchasing is also allowed under the City's purchasing ordinance, and the City has used this process in the past to purchase fleet vehicles and buses. In order to meet the pending deadline for CARB purchase requirements, staff is recommending Council approve the use of"piggyback" procurement for the City's transit vehicle replacement Attachment 1 Council Agenda Report—Procurement of Transit Vehicles Page 3 plan. Staff has identified several contracts that are available for piggyback procurements at this time. The City of Elk Grove has a contract with Complete Coach Works for gasoline hybrid buses. The City of Colorado Springs has a contract with Gillig Corporation for 30-foot clean diesel buses. Both contracts include CARB certified buses. Staff has not identified a piggyback contract for the trolley at this time, and will continue esearching for an available contract. If a piggyback contract for the trolley is not available, staff will solicit proposals to purchase the trolley. The City has more time to comply with the emission requirements affecting the trolley, and as such, delaying the delivery for the trolley will not have a negative impact on the City. Use of cooperative purchasing in this case will expedite the delivery of the transit vehicles based on times savings associated with preparing procurement documents and secure placement on the manufacturing production schedule. Vehicle Replacement Plan San Luis Obispo Transit operates some buses that are over 24 years in age, twice their useful life as defined by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). As a result, the City's current bus fleet is expensive to maintain and to operate, and can be unreliable due to breakdowns. In addition, the City has.a limited spare bus fleet because four of the buses are either inoperable or unreliable. As an example, three of the City buses have failing roofs, which rain water penetrates onto passengers during bad weather. New buses will reduce operating and maintenance costs;provide more reliable service, and allow the City to meet the reductions as required by CARB. City staff has been working with CARB staff to determine the best approach to achieve compliance in terms of investment and cost effectiveness. Today, CARB compliance is achievable with a combination of clean diesel and gasoline hybrid buses. The vehicle replacement plan shown in Attachment 3 maintains the current fleet mix in terms of vehicle lengths and size. The vehicle replacement plan also replaces the City's oldest and least compliant vehicles first. Neither CARB nor City staff anticipate delivery of these new vehicles by the January 2007 deadline; however, CARE staff has indicated that they will support an extension to the deadline as long as the City adopts a vehicle replacement plan and orders the vehicles. The following is a brief description of the first five vehicles that are intended to be replaced through cooperative purchasing in the vehicle replacement plan (Attachment 3) in order to meet CARB's requirements: 1. Two Clean Diesel Buses (30 footers). These two new buses will replace two of the three 30 foot 1982 Orion buses. The Orion buses are the oldest and least compliant buses in the City's bus fleet. Working with CARB staff, replacing these vehicles greatly moves the City towards compliance. Staff is proposing to replace the Orion buses with 30-foot clean diesel buses, in order to maintain our 30-foot buses fleet ratio because of their abilities to access Downtown. 2. Two Rebuilt Gasoline Hybrid Buses (40 footers). One of the gasoline hybrid buses will replace the remaining 1982 Orion bus. The other gasoline hybrid bus will replace the CNG bus that is inoperable. Staff will propose a 30-foot bus in a future request to maintain current fleet configuration. C� -5 Attachment 1 Council Agenda Report—Procurement of Transit Vehicles Page 4 3. One Trolley. The current 1992 trolley (green color) is powered by a pre-1993 diesel engine that will no longer be allowed to be used after December 31, 2007. Staff has received numerous complaints about the diesel trolley mostly due to the diesel smoke and fumes emissions. In reviewing the type of engine to be used for trolley replacement, staff analyzed CNG, hybrid and gasoline technologies. While each of these types of engines have their own strengths and weaknesses, using gasoline engine trolleys appears to be the best decision for SLO Transit at this point in time. Gasoline engines are CARB compliant and have shown to be more dependable over time than the other types of engines. Gasoline engines also carry with them the benefit that fuel is readily available. For these reasons staff is recommending the replacement of the existing diesel trolley with one gasoline trolley. Please refer to Attachment 3. It is staff's intention to replace the trolley with a vehicle:that looks very familiar with the I vehicles- being usedby SLO Transit. If similar vehicles are not available- via I contracting or by direct-bid, staff will return to Council with recommendations foil ,Vehicle appearance types after coordinating a stakeholder review and comment process CONCURRENCES California Air Resources Board is considering a time extension for the City to comply to their standards based on the staffs request on March 3, 2006. CARB endorses the City's vehicle replacement plan (July 14, 2006). The Mass Transportation Committee is aware of the need to replace the City's fleet in order to comply with the CARB's emission requirements. Staff has kept the Committee informed of this issue as part of the Transit Manager's Report, and the Transit Manager's update on the 2006-07 Budget process. The Mass Transportation Committee has recommended the approval of these vehicle purchases as part of their review of the 2006 and 2007 Program of Projects. FISCAL ANALYSIS There will be no impact to the City's General Fund. Staff has secured funding from Federal and State transit sources to purchase the vehicles. On a separate agenda itern at the August 1, 2006 meeting, it is recommended Council approve the FTA Program of Projects and necessary budget amendments to support the purchase of these transit vehicles. Future vehicle replacements will also be done using these funding sources along with State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) monies. Figure 1:Project Budget__ Source Amount FTA 5307 & 5336' $1,296,620 TDA LTF $323,851 Total $1,6209471 Attachment 1 I Council Agenda Report—Procurement of Transit Vehicles Page 5 ALTERNATIVES Council could disapprove the cooperative procurement of four buses and potentially one trolley and instead require a direct competitive bid process. The consequence of this alternative would be that the City will not meet the CARB deadlines and will face monetary penalties from CARB. ATTACHMENTS 1. CARB Emission Requirements 2. Fact Sheet 3. Vehicle Replacement Plan 4. Resolution G:\Staff-Repons-Agcndas-Minutes\_CAR\2007\Transit\Transit Piggyback Vchicic Replacement-PRODUCTION.doc Attachment 2 council M dnD� 1/22/08 accnaa RepoRt �N CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO FROM: Jay Walter, Public Works Director Prepared By: John Webster, Transit Manager SUBJECT: IFB FOR TROLLEY REPLACEMENT CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Authorize an Invitation for Bid (IFB) or Sole Source procurement for a previously approved Trolley replacement. 2. Authorize CAO to award bid and issue purchase order if within current Trolley replacement budget of$179,700 DISCUSSION In August 2006, the Council approved Resolution 49824 (2006 series), which in part authorized the CAO to negotiate a cooperative purchase agreement to replace the Trolley. In the August 2006, the Council Agenda report indicated "Staff has not identified a piggyback contract for the trolley at this time, and will continue searching for an available contract. If a piggyback contract for the trolley is not available, staff will solicit proposals to purchase the trolley."This project was delayed due to the Transit Manager vacancy. Staff has been unable to locate an adequate Trolley cooperative purchase agreement (piggyback contract) that meets the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) standards. Due to the advanced age, and rapidly deteriorating mechanical condition of the existing trolleys, we must issue an invitation for bids (IFB) for the trolley to replace this dated equipment. Staff is also investigating low mileage used trolleys (sole source procurement) as the advantage would be a greatly reduced cost and immediate availability as opposed to an expected five (5) month procurement process. The proposed IFB is for a gasoline engine model replacement trolley. Staff has explored the possibility of utilizing alternate fuel such as compressed natural gas (CNG) or Diesel-Electric Hybrid technology but unfortunately the cost of a trolley with a standard emissions compliant Cummins diesel powered engine at approximately $240,000 exceeds our existing budget. Estimated costs (not including tax) for a (CNG) Trolley are in the $330,000-$340,000 range with Hybrid diesel-electric options from $350,000-$430,000. FISCAL IMPACT There will be no impact to the City's General Fund. Staff has secured funding from a Federal Transit Administration 5307 grant to purchase this vehicle. At the August 1, 2006 meeting Council approved the FTA Program of Projects and necessary budget amendments to purchase transit vehicles including the Trolley. The funding for this replacement was originally $195,000 but had to be reduced in the FTA 5307 grant by approx $15,300 to pay for unexpected cost increases associated with one of the new Gillig buses that was delivered in October 2007. The current project budget of $179,700 reflected in Table 1 is sufficient to purchase a new 25 passenger gasoline model or a low mileage used vehicle in excellent condition. Attachment 2 Report Title Page 2 Table 1 Proiect bud et Source Amount FTA 5307 $139,760 TDA-LTF $39,940 Total $179,700 ALTERNATIVES Council could authorize additional funds be added to the project budget in Table 1 to supplement the TDA-LTF local match in the FTA 5307 grant for the purchase of an alternate fuel or hybrid trolley replacement. Approximately $176,000 to $284,000 additional funds (includes sales tax) would be needed to purchase a new CNG or Hybrid Electric model replacement Trolley. Staff is recommending a new or low mileage used trolley be purchased within the existing project budget. READING FILE Invitation for Bid (IFB)-Available for review in the Council Reading File. G:\Staff-Reports-Agendas-Minutes\_CAR\2008\Transit\CAR TROLLEY REPLACMENnCAR-Trolley IFB 90814 final 01-14-07.doc