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HomeMy WebLinkAbout30. 12-487 OCTOBER 23, 2012 12-487 RECONSIDERED SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 RESOLUTION (CARRIED__6-1____ LOST_______ LAID OVER_______ WITHDRAWN_______) PURPOSE: ADOPT REVISED GO TRANSIT ROUTE 10 INITIATED BY: TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT (TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD RECOMMENDS 5-0) WHEREAS the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh adopted the 2011 GO Transit (formerly Oshkosh Transit System) Transit Development Plan on July 13, 2011 (Resolution 11-294) with the understanding that the major route system changes from the current system be approved by Common Council following a recommendation from the Transit Advisory Board; and WHEREAS the Common Council’s approval of a new route system on June 12, 2012 (effective January 2013) included only the City routes (Routes 1-9) and not Route 10, which connects Oshkosh and Neenah; and WHEREAS a public hearing was held at the Transit Advisory Board on September 19, 2012 to provide an opportunity for passengers and interested parties to comment on two potential service alternatives for Route 10, and the Board made a recommendation with respect to future Route 10 service; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh, that a revised Go Transit Route 10 be implemented according to staff’s recommendation, in January 2013 when other route system changes are implemented. City of Oshkosh - Trans ortation De artment 926 Dempsey Trail, Oshkosh, WI 54902 (920) 232 -5342 MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: Christopher Strong, P.E., Director of Transportation DATE: October 18, 2012 RE: RECONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 12 -487 4 O WO-f H ON THE WATER At its September 25, 2012 meeting, the Common Council laid over a resolution that would change the alignment of GO Transit Route 10. The Council referred the matter to the Transit Advisory Board for further discussion. At its October 17, 2012 meeting, the Transit Advisory Board recommended keeping Route 10 on its current alignment for the time being, in order to expedite implementation of rest of GO Transit's new routes. To accept the Board's recommendation, the Council should do the following: • Vote to reconsider Resolution 12 -487. Since the Council voted in favor of laying over Resolution 12 -487 by a 7 -0 vote, any Council member could make the motion to reconsider. • Vote against the reconsidered resolution. This would keep Route 10 on its current alignment until future Council action directs otherwise. Respectfully submitted, /iiristopher Strong, P.E. Director of Transportation Approved: Mark A. Rohloff City Manager City of Oshkosh — Department of Transportation (0 11 of Oshkosh - Transportation Department ON THE WRIER )empsey Trail, Oslikosli, WI 54902 (920) 232 -5342 (920) 232 -5343 fax MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: Christopher Strong, P.E., Director of Transportation DATE: October 12, 2012 RE: BACKGROUND ON TRANSIT ACCESS TO JAIL This memo is provided to address comments received at the September 25, 2012 Council meeting, along with Council member inquiries and e- mails, regarding providing bus service to the Winnebago County Jail on Jackson Street. The memo summarizes how routes were timed for the new route system, provides some additional context on Route 10, and discusses recommendations for moving forward. Route 4 Timing There was some discussion as to how transit routes are tinted, and whether GO Transit can accommodate access to the jail within one of the City routes (Routes 1 through 9, as approved by the Common Council on June 12, 2012). Route timing is as much of an art as it is a science. The amount of time it takes to run a route can vary considerably based on traffic volumes, the time of day and day of week, the frequency of stops, the time required to secure mobility devices, extra boarding time for young children or people with mobility challenges, traffic signals encountered, railroad crossings, bridge crossings, vehicle /pedestrian congestion in parking lots, school zones, even individual driving styles. Because of this routine variation, the industry standard is to add 10 percent to a round -trip running time. This prevents delays on early trips from having ripple effects throughout the course of the day that undermine the reliability of the service. Staff reviewed all of the proposed routes within these parameters to make sure that they could be safely operated on a 30- minute cycle. After the July 2011 Council meeting where the new routes were first discussed, staff performed additional checks on Route 4's timing to see whether it could safely accommodate going into the Community Pantry and Piggly Wiggly parking lots and still maintain the 30- minute round trip schedule while meeting the route's other service objectives, including transfer opportunities with other routes, additional service to North High School, and regular service to Logan Drive, Lakeside Packaging, and ADVOCAP, Going into a parking lot can add a non - trivial 1 -2 minutes every trip, depending on how long it takes to travel through a parking lot and enter back into traffic. After re- timing these routes, staff felt comfortable that the parking lot deviations could be accommodated. City of Oshkosh -- Department of Transportation Background on Transit Access to Jail/ October 12, 2012 The length of the new Route 4 was measured using GIS at 6.63 miles; the parking lot deviations will add a couple of tenths of a mile. A bus's average travel speed (factoring in all of the factors above) is often estimated at just under 14 miles per hour. Under this standard, the bus's round trip would take 30 minutes without the recovery time mentioned earlier. Based on her field experience in driving transit and supervising routes, our supervisor is confident that this route can be covered safely and reliably in the 30- minute window with recovery time. If passenger volumes exceed expectations, staff may need to consider adjustments to this route, such as changing parking lot access, reducing stop frequency, or other options. Given the timing constraints on this route and this route's other service objectives, staff did not time a version of Route 4 which included jail access. According to Google Maps, the distance between the north part of Logan Drive and the jail's driveway is 1 mile, so adding the jail would add roughly 2 miles to this route. Assuming no stops are allowed between Logan Drive and the jail, this would be expected to add 5 -6 minutes to this, due to the time to enter traffic on Jackson Street, potential traffic signal delays, and turnaround time at the jail. This cannot be supported in the basic 30- minute frequency that characterizes both our current service and the service under the proposed route system. Route 10 Studies After Council approved the City routes in June, staff focused more effort on Route 10. As background, Route 10 has never met the ridership goals targeted by staff, and has had documented problems with decreasing ridership. The drop in ridership is primarily coincident with a 2008 service change which increased the travel time from a 60- rninue round trip to a 90- minute round trip. Our 2012 ridership statistics show that 70 percent of the ridership on that route is local (i.e. to /from destinations south of County Highway Y, so this would include trips from the jail to downtown, for example). Based on data collected from several sources, most of the local ridership comes from locations that will be served by the new Route 4. We did not receive a high volume on input in the TDP process suggesting that there were some unserved local destinations in the northern part of the City, such as Parkview, which could make up the difference in ridership. Therefore, staff focused on alternatives that would make the intercity aspect of the service more attractive, such as faster and more reliable service. (Route t0's reliability problems were cited as a concern in the September 19 Transit Advisory Board public hearing.) This has meant trying to bring Route 10 back to a 60- minute round trip from its current 90 minutes. Staff has examined numerous options in the last few years to try to restore Route 10 to a 60- minute service, including different starting and ending locations as well as different route alignments. None of these options showed a clear way to provide local service and sustain ridership levels oil a 60- minute cycle. (Some of these alternatives were described in the September 20 memo to Council included in the September 25 meeting packet.) A Route 10 alignment on Highway 41 has been appealing for years because it could keep the 60- minute cycle, due to having much of its mileage on an expressway with no signals and no bus stops. However, this could not be considered until we found an effective way to serve our local City of Oshkosh — Department of Transportation Background on Transit Access to Jail / October 12, 2012 ridership. The proposed new route system captures the vast majority of that local ridership. Since the last Council meeting, staff timed a limited stops alternative for Route 10 that would go on Jackson Street, offer one stop opportunity at the jail, and continue to Neenah. Without boardings or alightings, this route was timed at 61 minutes. A Jackson Street alternative cannot be safely done in 60 minutes with allowances for passenger boarding activity and other factors which could influence route timing. Jail Ridership Data Staff does not continuously collect data on ridership by stop, Instead, staff relies on periodic data collection efforts supplemented by anecdotal information. The data with respect to jail ridership are as follows: • Typical service day data collected in the 2011 TDP showed a combined boarding and alighting total of 1 at the jail, By comparison, Logan Drive had a combined total of 19, and Lakeside Packaging had a combined total of 40. • Staff talked with Route 10 drivers about the types of ridership patterns they see at the jail. They indicated that there are times when multiple passengers board. • Staff conducted Section 15 ridership counts (in compliance with FTA regulations) last year, which includes a random sampling of stop -by -stop boarding and alighting information. This study found an average of 10 passengers at Logan Drive, 20 at Lakeside Packaging, and 1 at the jail. • Staff met with jail staff to discuss their transportation needs, including those related to work release, sobriety checks and visitation, In interpreting their educated guesses, it sounded like there could be some days where there are 3 -5 passengers. Staff is working with Route 10 drivers to collect some additional, supplemental ridership data. Fiscal Impact, The current funding for Route 10 is as follows: Estimated 2012 Cost $136,000 Federal/State Operating Assistance $75,500 Winnebago County DHS Funding $30,000 Farebox Revenue Estimate* $33,100 Difference (City Share) ($3,000) (* estimate reflects allocating a proportionate amount of revenue from pass sales to Route 10) This leaves the route operating on a slight apparent cash surplus. However, the City faces different types of expenses with this service, including a higher customer call volume, Federal Transit Administration contractor compliance requirements, marketing and coordination, and other factors. These non -cash costs increase the City's level of support beyond the 55 percent currently provided through our leveraging of Federal and State operating assistance. Under the City of Oshkosh — Department of Transportation Background on Transit Access to Jail / October 12, 2012 route's current funding, any drop in farebox revenue will need to be backfilled with local tax levy dollars, which will increase the City's cost of supporting this route. Route 10 will stay on its current alignment (including local service along Jackson Street) unless the Council passes a resolution otherwise. Since the Council has passed a resolution authorizing implementation of new City routes, the next route system includes a local alignment for Route 10 combined with a revised system of City routes. We anticipate that this combination of routes would result in a significant drop in farebox revenue on Route 10, because much of the local ridership on Route 10 will be served by the higher frequency service of the new Route d. While it is impossible to estimate with precision, current ridership trends suggest that the route's revenue will be reduced by $1,000 per month. Over the course of a year, this would lead to the City paying an additional $12,000 toward the cost of this route's operation. Estimated 2012 Cost $136,000 Federal /State Operating Assistance $75,900 Winnebago County DHS Funding $30,000 Farebox Revenue Estimate* $21,100 Difference (City Share) $9,000 (* estimate reflects reduced revenue estimate, based on local ridership using Route 4) At its October 1 meeting, Winnebago County's Human Services Board passed a resolution that recommends sustaining Route 10 funding only so long as it provides local service on Jackson Street, including access to the jail. However, their financial commitment remains fixed at $30,000. It remains to be seen whether the City's cost of accepting this funding, given that it would work against our service's performance measures and produce greater financial exposure to the City, is greater than the potential ridership benefit. Recommendation In order to move ahead with the new route system while respecting the desire to preserve jail access, staff will recommend at the October 17 Transit Advisory Board keeping Route 10 as is, while adopting the other new routes. This will present an additional cost to the City of an estimated $1,000 per month; however, this will be the best way of accelerating implementation of new routes that respond to the demands of customers that have been expressed over the last several years. It allows for additional data on actual jail ridership as well as trends in intercity ridership. This information will be helpful in making future operational decisions on this route. Respectfully submitted, Approved: /hr Strong, P.E. Mark A. Rohloff Director of Transportation City Manager City of Oshkosh — Department of Transportation TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD AGENDA 2 OCTOBER 2012 For the safety of our contractor's employees and the integrity of our service, staff strongly recommends denying this appeal and, at a minimum, sustaining the suspension at its current duration. 2. Recommendation on Winnebago County Jail Access This is a Council request. At its September meeting, the Board unanimously recommended that Route 10 be converted to an express alignment. This recommendation was forwarded to the Council, which referred it back to the Board over concerns about access to the Winnebago County Jail. The jail is currently served by Route 10, but would not be served by GO Transit bus service under the proposed new route system. Please find attached a memo to the Common Council that provides additional background information. Based on the discussion from the last Council meeting, staff has identified three potential responses: • Option A (staff recommendation): Keep Route 10 on its existing alignment (Jackson Street) and make no changes to the new routes previously approved by Council. This would allow the new routes to be implemented as quickly as possible. • Option B : Continue to support the express Route 10 alternative, which would not provide local service on Jackson Street. This would mean that access to the jail would not be provided by GO Transit bus service. • Option C : Modify the new route system to accommodate service to the jail from one of the City's other routes, in order to allow Route 10 to be kept as an express route. Staff recommends Option A as the best way to accelerate implementation of the new route system. As noted in the attached memo to the Common Council, there is an additional cost to this service. However, this cost may be much smaller than the cost of re- configuring the entire route system, and further delay implementation of key service improvements requested by our customers. Discussion and Possible Action Item on Winnebago County Funding of Route 10 Winnebago County has been a key funding partner for creating and sustaining Route 10. As noted in the December 2007 staff memo (distributed to Board members at last month's meeting): "The majority of the local share for this route is provided by Winnebago County and the elimination of this route will ultimately be their decision. I will not recommend increasing the City subsidy for this route if the County opts out of this agreement." At its October 1 meeting, the Winnebago County Human Services Board passed a resolution that would make its investment in Route 10 contingent upon a local, Jackson Street alignment. The resolution means that the County Human Services Board would recommend the County withdraw its funding if the route's alignment is changed to go away from local service on SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 12 -487 RESOLUTION (CARRIED LOST LAID OVER X WITHDRAWN ) UNTIL 11127/2012 PURPOSE: ADOPT REVISED GO TRANSIT ROUTE 10 INITIATED BY: TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT (TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD RECOMMENDS 5 -0) WHEREAS the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh adopted the 2011 GO Transit (formerly Oshkosh Transit System) Transit Development Plan on July 13, 2011 (Resolution 11294) with the understanding that the major route system changes from the current system be approved by Common Council following a recommendation from the Transit Advisory Board; and WHEREAS the Common Council's approval of a new route system on June 12, 2012 (effective January 2013) included only the City routes (Routes 1 -9) and not Route 10, which connects Oshkosh and Neenah; and WHEREAS a public hearing was held at the Transit Advisory Board on September 19, 2012 to provide an opportunity for passengers and interested parties to comment on two potential service alternatives for Route 10, and the Board made a recommendation with respect to future Route 10 service; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh, that a revised Go Transit Route 10 be implemented according to staff's recommendation, in January 2013 when other route system changes are implemented, City of Oshkosh - Transportation Deparftnent ON THE WATER TER 926 Dempsey `)['rail, Oshkosh, WI 54902 (920) 232 -5342 (920)232 -5343 fax TO: Mark Rohloff, City Manager FROM: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director DATE; September 20, 2012 SUBJECT: Revised Route 10 Earlier this year, the Common Council approved a route re- structure for the Oshkosh Transit System, effective January 2013. The route re- structure approval deferred action on Route 10 due to the need for additional analysis and coordination. After further consultation, staff has recommended two options for the Board to consider with this route. Over the lost several years, the Oshkosh Transit System has provided Intercity service between Oshkosh and Neenah on Route 10. It connects Oshkosh's downtown transit center with the Neenah Transit Center. The Neenah Transit Center is, in turn, served by four Valley Transit routes, which serve Neenah, connect to Valley Transit's transit center in downtown Appleton, and serve much of the western portion of Valley Transit's service area, (neluding Fox River Mail. Route 10 has a two -tier fare structure, with a $1.00 cash fare for trips starting and ending between the Downtown Transit Center and County Highway Y, and $2.00 for trips which cross County Highway Y, Passengers transferring between OTS Route 10 and Valley Transit routes must pay the full fare when switching to the other transit system's service. The route operated on a 60 minute round trip frequency until January 2008 when, due to schedule adherence issues, the frequency was changed to 90 minutes... Ridership statistics for this route are shown in Table 1. The change In service frequency corresponds with a decline in. ridership. In comparison to other OTS routes, this route is an underperformer in terms of the number of passengers per trip. While local ridership numbers have Increased (see Figure 1), it should be noted that much of the local ridership originates from destinations (Logan Drive and Lakeside Packaging) which will have much more frequent service under the new route system. In the mean time, Intercity ridership has been decreasing. In summary, a review of this data and the expected effects of the route re- structure suggest that this route needs to be significantly revised in order to keep it viable. Staff believes that the only way to make this route succeed is to operate It as a limited - stop intercity option which can lead to a shorter trip time which is the best way to improve ridership on this route. 2 Table 1: Route 10 Ridership by Year Year Route 10 Ridershi 2004 34,849 2005 51,828 2006 36,975 2007 40 2008 36,063 2008 29,803 2010 27,385 2011 30 575 3,000 2,500 2,000 a 1,500 a M 0 e 1,000 Soo Figure 1: Route 10 Ridership, Local vs. Intercity Ql Ql �1 O O O Q C7 LY d O O R O O ri t-I s-E rt r1 r1 s-< 1-1 ei rt rd N N I`! tV N N N N �, 4 � M rl rE H H ri r� ri r! rE e-I H r1 et ri rE M ai ci rl s t-i H a-1 ti;F H st N et a; H r Month 3 Working with staff from the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, staff examined several alternatives for this route (beyond the express and no- service alternatives). A summary of these alternatives follows. Status guo, As noted before, keeping the route as is will likely result In continued decreases in ridership. It will also create redundancy with parts of the new route system. Local Alternative. The Winnebago County Human Services Board proposed an alternative which would connect downtown Oshkosh to the Copps grocery store in Neenah, instead of the Neenah Transit Center, In addition, the route would traverse County Highways Y and A in order to preserve access to the Winnebago County Jail (which otherwise will not have fixed -route bus access) and to provide new access to Parkview Health Center and the Winnebago County Park. The model showed weak or no ridership for these intermediate destinations, Moreover, this alternative would require the City to provide complementary ADA paratransit service to residents of the towns of Oshkosh and Vinland who live within 3 / mile of the route. The City cannot support this alternative for these reasons. Hybrid Alternative This alternative would combine the express and local alternatives to offer express service during "peak° periods and local service at other times. This was rejected due to the confusion that it could cause riders. Different End Points in Valley Transit Service Area While It is possible to connect the route to other transfer points in the Valley Transit service area, such as Fox River Mall or downtown Appleton, this would overlap into Valley Transit's service area and as such would not be an efficient use of resources. Different End Points in Oshkosh Transit System Service Area. Staff worked with the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to estimate ridership for different transfer points in the Oshkosh service area, such as Logan Drlvo. Ridership estimates showed very poor performance. Moreover, this would create additional transfers for this trip. Staff believes that the best hope to achieve sustainable ridership numbers is to re -focus this route as an express, intercity route. As has been noted at previous meetings, Winnebago County's Department of Human Services (DHS) provides $30,000 in annual financial support toward operation of.thls route, which is essential to keeping it financially viable for the Oshkosh Transit System. Winnebago County DHS staff have indicated that they support Alternative A. Neither of the alternatives provides bus access to the Winnebago County Jail, As this concern was raised at several venues, City staff visited with jail officials to discuss their current transportation needs. The biggest transportation gap appears to be with. work release trips. The City's Access to Jobs (ATJ) program offers door -to -door subsidized taxi, service between home and work addresses for employees meeting certain income and elig €billty requirements. The service Is available only for trips for home and work destinations in the City, and which cannot be completed on the bus system without excessive walking distance. The elimination of the bus service allows work release inmates to use ATJ for both ends of their work trip. While this is a more expensive trip, the enhanced convenience may be attractive. The jail also has some programs which require some individuals to participate in regular sobriety 4 testing at the jail. These programs are experiencing an increasing number of participants, and some of these participants may use the bus. For both of these programs, other transportation alternatives are availa5le or can be developed. For example, inmates may (and currently do) walk on Jackson Street between the jail and Logan Drive. The new route system increases service frequency to Logan Drive, so this opens up a new level of mobility. Another possible alternative that could be considered is the development of a multi - agency partnership that could pool funding sources in order to provide some discounted, demand - responsive transportation to go between the jail acid Logan Drive, which is the nearest access point on the City's bus system. This partnership approach would be much more cost - effective In meeting these transportation needs. Jail staff indicated that some visitation trips are also conducted by bus. However, they noted that many inmates have visitors from well outside of our bus service area, so they would be unlikely to use Route 10. Moreover, officials are researching the potential for on -line visitation, which may decrease the number of in- person visits that occur, This information, supported by ridership data collected in the Transit Development Plan process and observations from drivers and supervisors, suggests that while there are people who use public transportation options to access the jail, there are not a sufficientonumber to justify the cost of regular, fixed -route bus service, especially when more'cost- effective alternatives may be readily available. PASSED BY TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD (5 -0) 9�l RR�4b d1' f ��`i.{ \ r� ^6^[O��JAtlAG�1/ld'A7z01'.7Jr1 � �. 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