Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

 

TO:

Dave Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Cliff Galante, Public Transit Administrator

 

CC:

Debbie Van Saun, Assistant City Manager

 

Date:

March 22, 2007

 

RE:

Agenda Item:

Increasing T Lift Paratransit Service Hours

 

 

Please place the following item on the City Commission consent agenda for consideration at their March 27, 2007 meeting:

 

Approve change order to increase service hours for T-Lift paratransit service to meet the needs for existing demand for service and avoid patterns of denial.

 

Background Information:

In the month of January, ridership on T-Lift paratransit service increased 16% as compared with January, 2006.  In February, ridership increased 11% as compared to the same period a year ago.  So far in March, demand for service continues to increase.  Due to rising demand for service, patterns of denials have formed during certain days and times of the service week.

 

Staff is researching this double digit demand for service is spiking in 2007.  Conversations with various social service agencies that provide transportation services in our community indicate that they have not reduced or eliminated service.  The average number of new people certified for T-Lift paratransit service each month has steadily increased from early last year when an average of 11 new people were certified each month to an average of 25 a month this year.  It is likely that the increase in demand for service is caused by more of the public with disabilities discovering the availability of T-Lift service in our community and existing riders using the service more.  Staff has been aggressively marketing the use of public transportation in the community as well as conducting travel training and community outreach whenever possible.  Another possible cause for spiking demand could be weather related.  However, the normal trend in the cold winter months is for less people to utilize transit service, since people tend to stay indoors rather than traveling on snow or ice covered roads.  Growing health related issues in our community could also be another possible cause as our population continues to age, although that phenomenon is more likely a long-term trend rather than a service spike.  This is a trend that our community should begin to prepare for as the baby-boomer generation, the largest segment of the nation’s population, continues to age.

 

Staff has notified the Federal Transit Administration regional office to keep them informed of the situation as well as to obtain guidance on how best to resolve the issue.  The FTA supports staff’s proposed plan to resolve the issue.

 

 

Proposed Plan:

Long-term Solution - Currently, staff is working with the Public Transit Advisory Committee (PTAC) on reviewing and revising certification, conditional-use eligibility, fare and advanced reservation policies to help better manage the growing demand and cost for ADA paratransit service in the long-term.  Revising and implementing all these policies will be necessary to have a measurable impact.

 

Short-term Solution - In the short-term, to address the growing issue of trip denials, additional service hours are needed to keep pace with demand.  When patterns begin to develop, caused by increasing demand for service, the Transit Department has historically increased service hours to eliminate any patterns and avoid any possible ADA violations.  Increasing service hours has become increasingly difficult since the budget has limited funding flexibility in 2007.

 

Current patterns of weekday demand will require an additional 24 hours of service weekly. The total amount of hours needed to address growing demand for service is 336 hours based on adding service on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings and Wednesday and Friday evenings until July 1, 2007.  Staff is optimistic that increasing service hours now will provide the timeframe necessary to revise current policies, obtain public feedback, and obtain approval for implementation by the City Commission.  Once service and fare policies are revised and implemented, it is anticipated that a measurable impact can be made on both demand and cost for service during the remainder of the year.    

 

The cost of an additional 336 service hours through July 1st is $10,218 based on 14 weeks of service and an hourly cost of $30.41, as outlined in contractual terms with MV Transportation, Inc.  Staff was informed this week that Federal transit funding levels for FY07 received by the City increased by $48,877 or 3.7%.  A portion of these newly available funds could be allocated to operate transit service by increasing service hours for T Lift on weekdays.  Specifically, $5,109 of Federal funds could be used with a $5,109 or 50% local match to total $10,218.  Available CTP funds budgeted for operating could be used as the local match.

 

Note: although federal funding levels for 2007, as noted above, came in higher than anticipated, staff anticipates budget challenges for 2008 which may necessitate additional adjustments in both fixed route and paratransit operations.

 

Recommendation:

PTAC, when made aware of this issue, unanimously recommended that funding be made available to increase service hours for paratransit.  Staff considered other options, such as reduction in service options and an option to defer a vehicle replacement but our analysis concludes that these options are detrimental to the mission of the department and are not reasonable alternatives for consideration.  To that end, staff agrees with the PTAC recommendation to allocate additional funding to increase service hours.

 

Action Request:

Staff seeks City Commission approval of a change order with MV Transportation, Inc. in the amount of $10,218 to increase service hours for T Lift paratransit service until July 1, 2007 to address the needs for existing demand for service and avoid patterns of denial.