HomeMy WebLinkAbout08 18 21 TAB Staff AgendaPlease contact the Transit Advisory Board at TAB@ci.oshkosh.wi.us with any questions or concerns
TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD
STAFF AGENDA ITEMS
August 18, 2021
PUBLIC COMMENT
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
1. Review complementary paratransit hours and days of service for next request
for proposal.
Our contracts for complementary paratransit services expire at the end of this year.
We currently have two contracts (one for ambulatory and one for non-ambulatory
service) with separate vendors. We are drafting a request for proposal (RFP) for the next
contract which will include paratransit services and access to jobs service.
Winnebago County helps fund our paratransit programs. They have been mandated
to cut all their budgets for next year. We have asked them for increased funding as we
anticipate our paratransit contracted rates increasing with the new RFP. They have asked
us what we can do to decrease costs.
Go Transit is required to offer complementary paratransit service during the same
hours as fixed route service which currently are 6:15 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. (Monday through
Saturday); Go Transit currently offers 24/7 paratransit service. Go Transit began offering
24/7 paratransit service at some point in the past due to the service being provided by a
local cab company that was open 24/7. We are the only transit system in the state that
offers this. Historically, we have had trouble attracting service providers to submit
proposals for our service. We generally only receive one or two proposals. We have
heard some vendors do not submit proposals due to the 24/7 service requirement,
causing those service hours to limit competition. Additionally, our current vendor for
non-ambulatory paratransit service has informed us there are very few rides overnight
TAB AGENDA ITEMS 2 AUG 18, 2021
and they have a very difficult time hiring drivers to work overnight. It is probable that
offering 24/7 service also affects the rates we receive from our contractors. We have
attached an analysis of after hour rides over the last 3.5 years. We have noticed that rides
are particularly low after 10 p.m. and before 5 a.m., although we do get some rides
between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.
We believe that we would receive better competition and rates and still offer service
above and beyond what is required if we no longer offer paratransit service from 10 p.m.
to 5 a.m. We would still be providing service well beyond what is required. Offering
24/7 paratransit service is also an equity issue as we do not offer 24/7 transit service.
As we include the access to jobs service in this RFP, we may need to reduce access to
jobs hours to match paratransit to accomplish the goals of offering a more desirable RFP
and manageable service or we would need to separate out this service in the RFP or issue
a separate RFP for the ATJ service.
Holiday hours – We also plan to spell out in the next contract that we will be matching
the paratransit holidays with the fixed route transit holidays and not be offering
paratransit service on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Memorial
Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.
If there were some unique circumstances where people needed service from 10 p.m. to
5 a.m., it is possible Winnebago Catch-A- Ride or Making the Ride Happen could help.
We would like the Boards opinions on this topic before we proceed further.
STAFF STATEMENTS
2. Ridership Update – Regular & EAA
3. Procurement Updates
FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS
ADJOURNMENT
TAB AGENDA ITEMS 3 AUG 18, 2021