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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-07-2012 C2 SLO Transit Op & Maintenancec o u n c i l L Meeting Date February 7, 2012 NcenoN nepom Ituei Number C2 CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO FROM: Jay D. Walter, Director of Public Works Prepared By: John Webster, Sr., Transit Manager SUBJECT: SLO TRANSIT OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH FIRST TRANSIT RECOMMENDATION Authorize the City Manager to approve a one -year contract extension with First Transit, Inc. to perform transit operations and maintenance for the 2012 -13 fiscal year. DISCUSSION Background The City of San Luis Obispo operates a fixed -route public transit system within the City limits, and serving nearby County areas such as California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Vehicle operations and vehicle maintenance are provided under contract by a private transit company, First Transit, Inc. Non - vehicle - related support and administrative services are provided by City staff. Under the terms , of the existing First Transit agreement, staff has negotiated a one -year service contract extension for operation and maintenance; with a 4.22% cost increase to the City in the 2012 -13 fiscal year. This cost increase is considered reasonable and allows expenditures to stay within the Transit Enterprise Fund budget for the 2012 -13 fiscal year. The Transit fund is an enterprise fund of the City, created to account for the revenues received pursuant to State funding (Transportation Development Act), Federal funding (Federal Transit Administration) and other grant funding received for providing transit services to the community. Overall, it is anticipated that revenues will meet expenditures for the next year and that ridership rates will grow slightly, consistent with current trends. The current fare rates and revenues are adequate to support current operations, and no increase in fares is anticipated. First Transit Contract On June 6, 2006, the City Council approved a three -year contract with First Transit, Inc. to provide transit operations and maintenance services for SLO Transit for the period July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2009. This contract included the option of seven one -year extensions and authorized the City Manager to execute the agreement. Council previously approved three of the one -year extensions with the current contract extension set to expire on June 30, 2012. These one -year contract extensions have been successful in keeping contract costs for these services within our annual budget forecasts. Request for Proposal Deliberation After carefully considering the options, staff is recommending not to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) at this time for the following reasons: C2 -1 First Transit Operations and Maintenance Extension Paqe 2 • Established relationship. Since 2001, a very solid relationship has developed between City staff and First Transit. City staff and First Transit meet on a regular basis to discuss and resolve issues as needed. • Unknown Service Impact. It would take a period of adjustment for a new contractor to move in and fully understand the local service issues and unique challenges of our City's transit service. Service impacts to SLO Transit's services would be likely during this period of adjustment. • Option extensions are standard. Extension clauses are common in the transit industry and within our contracting authority. Exercising the option term avoids having to invest staff and vendor time in the long RFP process and was considered a strategy for the upcoming year. • Unknown RFP award cost. There are no guarantees that the new cost proposal associated with a RFP process will be lower than First Transit. First Transit's contract prices have remained stable with only minor increases over the past six years as a result of the negotiated one -year contract extensions. A new RFP and the associated cost proposal could be considerably higher than the First Transit proposal for the one year extension. • Unknown Service provider. A new RFP may bring in a new contractor that does not perform over the long -term like First Transit has. During these times of uncertain funding, the City needs to be able to rely on the unquestioned quality of service provision. • Federal Funding. Final Federal grant apportionments will not be determined until March for the 2012 -13 fiscal year, but staff has a preliminary indication of what the funding level will be. As such, retaining the contract with a vendor familiar with our City's transit system and flexible in negotiations would make renegotiating pricing easier if Federal funding is less than anticipated. The timing of final Federal apportionments could have a drastic impact on an RFP schedule. A delay in schedule could result in a services gap between the end of the current contract agreement and approval of a new one. Under Federal regulations, the City cannot award option years beyond the seven contained in the original agreement and therefore, a new RFP will be required prior to June 30, 2016. Staff recommends deferring the REP process until 2016 for the reasons as stated above but will return each year to the City Council for consideration of extensions until that time. Benefits of the First Transit Proposal for Contract Extension Overall, the City is very satisfied with the level of service and professionalism that First Transit has provided the City since first contracting with them in 2001. First Transit has been a fair and responsive contractor, as well as a safe operator of the City's bus fleet. The First Transit approach to its work contains many principles that have allowed it to be the consensus candidate for SLO transit services the last two times it has been bid. Highlights of these principles are: • Passenger Attitude and Service. Based on our long term experience along with passenger feedback and surveys, the performance of First Transit overall has demonstrated their commitment to the philosophy of making passenger safety and satisfaction their number one priority. • Driver Attitude and Service. First Transit recognizes the value of its experienced drivers. First Transit has innovative employee incentive programs that are designed to increase morale of the employees. First Transit continues to proactively hire and train new drivers and also retain quality drivers that perform the City's transit service. C2 -2 First Transit Operations and Maintenance Extension Page 3 • Maintenance Tracking Software and Hardware. First Transit is an industry leader in the use of innovative techniques and information services to keep costs low. First Transit continues to provide a maintenance software package that monitors the preventative maintenance and overall health of each SLO Transit vehicle. This software is proven and tested and is used by First Transit nationwide to track vehicle performance and optimize parts distribution and cost recovery. In addition, First Transit continues to make the information and reports available to the City so that vehicle replacement and performance monitoring can be closely tracked. This information continues to help the City to better schedule major vehicle rehabilitation and replacement. CONCURRENCES The Mass Transportation Committee (MTC) at its regular meeting on January 11, 2012 recommended that the extension agreement be forwarded to City Council for review and approval. FISCAL IMPACT The First Transit proposal is an increase over the current contract cost for transit services and also recognizes the financially difficult times the City is facing. The proposal reflects an effort to continue to provide excellent services at the lowest possible cost. As part of the Transit Enterprise Fund review in June 2011, the 2012 -13 purchased transportation costs were estimated at $2,001,800 of the total Transit operating budget of $2,886,700. The recommended contract agreement with First Transit remains within budgeted amounts. In addition, other transit revenue projections are consistent with forecast. As this time, there is no action required by Council for budget adjustments in order to approve the contract extension with First Transit, Inc. Since 2005 -06, the average annual increase has been approximately 3.61 %, which includes the period when the City circulated the last Request for Bids in 2005. As indicated in the table, the transition from one agreement to another (2005 -06 to 2006 -07) resulted in a significant increase in annual costs. The annual average increase in cost from 2007 -08 through 2011 -12, where a one -year contract extension was in place, was 2.38 %, which included one year with no increase. The City of Santa Maria contracts with First Transit and their contract is similar in nature to ours consisting of three base years with seven one year options. The Santa Maria contract increased five (5 %) percent in FY 2010 -11(2" d year) and eight (8 %) percent in FY 2011 -12 the third and final base year. Santa Maria staff stated they anticipate an increase of at least three (3 %) or more in FY 2012- 13 but the option year has not been negotiated at this writing. Staff believes that the requested increase is reasonable and similar in amount to other extensions for similar size transit systems, given the increases to the cost of operations to the contractor. The annual cost of providing transit service is also reflected below in Table 1. C2 -3 First Transit Operations and Maintenance Extension Table 1: Annual Contract Costs Page 4 ALTERNATIVE Deny Contract Extension. The Council could decide to deny the award of a contract extension for operations and maintenance of public transit fixed -route services and direct staff to issue a formal Request for Proposals. This delay, however, might result in not having an executed contract by July 1, 2012 when the existing agreement expires. Staff is not recommending this option because it could result in higher operational costs or service interruptions. ATTACHMENT DRAFT MTC REGULAR MEETING MINUTES, 1 -11 -12 AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE 1. First Transit, Inc. Contract Agreement 2. Contract Scope- Exhibit A hmunal agenda reportsl201Z2012- (rMPc2•slo transit agrearnent [w aller•websteo*411- Transit car first transit cnnlrad opW42- 07.20170nal,docx C2 -4 Year Not to Exceed Cost Administrative Rate Per mi Not to Exceed Cost Per Mile i Total Cost % Increase FY 2005 -06 $785,783 $1.997 $726,908 $1,5121691 2.00% FY 2006 -07 809,532 $2.293 $834,652 $1,644,184 8.69 %, FY 2007 -08 $846.924 $2.392 $870,688 $1,717,612 4.47% FY 2008 -09 $886,646 $2.496 $908,544 $1,795,188 4.52% FY 2009 -10 $843,600 $2.461 $951,900 $1,795,500 0.02% FY 2010 -11 $860,452 $2.510 $970,903 $1,831,355 2.00% FY 2011 -12 $886,266 $2.585 $1,000,031 $1,886,297 3.00% FY2012 -13 $932,513 $2.672 $1,003,377 $1,965,890 4.22% 8 year average 3.61% ALTERNATIVE Deny Contract Extension. The Council could decide to deny the award of a contract extension for operations and maintenance of public transit fixed -route services and direct staff to issue a formal Request for Proposals. This delay, however, might result in not having an executed contract by July 1, 2012 when the existing agreement expires. Staff is not recommending this option because it could result in higher operational costs or service interruptions. ATTACHMENT DRAFT MTC REGULAR MEETING MINUTES, 1 -11 -12 AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE 1. First Transit, Inc. Contract Agreement 2. Contract Scope- Exhibit A hmunal agenda reportsl201Z2012- (rMPc2•slo transit agrearnent [w aller•websteo*411- Transit car first transit cnnlrad opW42- 07.20170nal,docx C2 -4 Attachment 1 CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO MASS TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE CITY LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2012 DRAFT MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Elizabeth Thyne called the meeting to order at 2:50 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Elizabeth Thyne, Susan Rains, Art Apruzzese, Louise Justice, Jonathan Ellis, Jean Long, Stanley Yucikas and Todd Katz Absent: Jody Frey Staff: John Webster ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements at this time. PUBLIC COMMENTS Jan Marx, SLO Mayor, thanked the MTC for their time and service. She discussed the Downtown Transit Center's problems with issues such as excessive loitering, alcohol, smoking, and fighting occurring within the shelter. She felt the improper behavior of a few abusers was deterring from public use of the shelter and /or the transit system. Mark Keenan, First Transit representative, discussed the DTC issues and also similar problems at the Prado Road shelter. He shared a strong concern for passengers and drivers and cited many instances when the police have been called. Ms. Thyne noted there was a loitering issue at the Scolari's shelter bus stop as well. Mr. Webster noted that a staff meeting was set for January 18`h to discuss possible solutions to address on the issues of improper behavior and that SLO PD representatives would be attending. He reported that the DTA downtown/parking structure patrol will now include a sweep of the DTC, but acknowledged enforcement of the ordinance rules was lacking, due to insufficient funding available for patrolling. C2 -5 Attachment 1 Mr. Yucikas felt that there were a myriad of policies in place to address these problems and enforcement was the key. He also suggested that the proposed Consolidated Transit Center might mitigate some of the obvious issues. Mr. Webster suggested ways of finding some additional funds to increase specific DTC patrols such as seeking STA discretionary from SLOCOG for operations funding. Mr. Yucikas moved to put said discussion item on the next agenda for further review and input. Mr. Apruzzese seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Fred Munroe discussed the senior and /or disabled associations that were interested in volunteering and learning more about transit to increase ridership of those populations. He presented some promotional material samples. A. CONSENT ITEMS A -1. Approval of November 9, 2011 Regular Meeting Mr. Katz moved to approve the November 9, 2011 meeting minutes as submitted. Mr. Apruzzese seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. B. DISCUSSION ITEMS There were no discussion items. C. ACTION ITEMS C -1. SLO Transit FY 2011 -12 Program of Projects (POP) Mr. Webster discussed the annual projects ranking tentatively set to go before Council on February 21, 2012. He noted that since the 1990 census, the City of San Luis Obispo has been classified as an Urbanized Zone Area by the federal government and is eligible to receive Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants for transit operating and capital assistance. He noted that the apportionment estimate for the SLO UZA for this fiscal year is approximately $1,719,382 and discussed the category breakdowns, various projects and outlining the process to move towards approval of the draft POP and its funding. He also noted that the final POP might have to be revised depending on the final FTA C2 -6 Attachment 1 apportionment and that some discretionary projects might have to be deferred or reduced in scope. Mr. Katz moved to recommend that Council approve the draft POP as submitted. Mr, Yucikas seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. C -2. SLO Transit O/M Agreement with First Transit Mr. Webster reported that a tentative agreement had been reached for a 1- year option in FY 2012 -13 with First Transit Inc. for the operations and maintenance contract for SLO Transit and represented a 4.22% over FY 2011 -12. He noted that there were three option years left on the contract before it has to go out to bid again. He also discussed the possibility of contracting out the operations and maintenance of SLO Transit to SLORTA and that they have a new Executive Director arriving later this month. Mr. Apruzzese moved to recommend that Council approve the draft agreement as submitted. Mr. Katz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. D. INFORMATION ITEMS D -1. Transit Manager's Report D -2. Operating- Performance Reports Mr. Webster presented highlight discussion on the reports as presented. He reported that system ridership was continuing to increase and that we are on track to exceed the record set in FY 2010 -11 of 1,045,000 riders and that the next milestone of 1.1 million passengers certainly seemed within reach. MEMBER COMMENTS Ms. Justice had questions regarding the SLO Parking fund and the proposed Palm/Nipomo parking structure and if it would have any impact on transit funding. Mr. Webster noted that both the parking and transit were `Enterprise" funds but transit only receives funding for the Downtown Access Pass (DAP) from the parking fund and would not be affected by this project. Mr. Yucikas felt the traffic at Los Osos Valley Road and Madonna Road had become very heavy and was concerned that the increase was being monitored. Mr. Webster C2 -7 Attachment 1 suggested that Mr. Yucikas contact Jake Hudson in the PW traffic division to better discuss and comment regarding the Circulation planning. Mr. Yucikas mentioned that new paint scheme that replaced the art bus style on one of the 2001 models looked very good. Mr. Webster noted that since two side panels on the bus had been damaged in an accident it seemed like a good time to consider rebranding to the new paint scheme instead of trying to match the art bus paint style. He also noted that the two remaining art bus models may also be upgraded to the new paint scheme when funding becomes available. Mr. Apruzzese asked about the status of the marketing meetings with Cal Poly students in February and Mr. Webster stated that he would send out an email on the dates and times for the ad hoc committee meetings. There was some discussion regarding quorum issues if all members attended the Cal Poly meeting and Mr. Webster noted it might be easier just to post as a public meeting but would confer with the city legal staff on the best approach. The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. to the regular meeting March 14, 2012 at 2:45 p.m. in the Council Hearing Room. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Woske, Recording Secretary