Agenda Item Wording:
title
Memorandum of Understanding - Authorize the City Manager to enter into a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Visalia and the Tulare County Regional Transit Agency (TCRTA) to partner on a three-year micro transit pilot project.
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Deadline for Action: 12/4/2023
Submitting Department: Administration - Transit Division
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Angelina DeRossett, Transit Manager,
Angelina.DeRossett@Visalia.City, (559) 713-4591
John Lollis, Assistant City Manager, john.lollis@visalia.city <mailto:john.lollis@visalia.city> (559) 713-4323
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to enter into a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Visalia’s Transit Division and the TCRTA to partner on a three-year micro transit pilot project.
Summary:
City Transit staff brought this project to the City Council at its meeting on April 17, 2023, and Council gave authorization to advance by working through a joint micro transit project and received instruction to bring a cooperative agreement back to Council at a later date. Attached is the draft Memorandum of Understanding for a five-year term that identifies the City of Visalia as a partner with Tulare County Regional Transit Agency (TCRTA) to establish and operate a pilot program that will provide micro transit services.
Background Discussion:
Transit ridership numbers across the nation have suffered as a result of the pandemic. Like many other agencies, the ridership numbers at Visalia Transit are still hovering around fifty-five percent (55%) of pre-pandemic ridership numbers. Prior to the pandemic, a farebox recovery ratio was the performance metric that measured the efficiency of transit. As an agency, the City was required to recover twenty percent (20%) of the operating costs through fares. While City staff and the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) are working on revamping and revising the current performance metrics, transit is typically funded based on a number of metrics that could and will likely include ridership efficiency.
In October 2022, the City was approached by TCRTA with an opportunity to partner in a Micro Transit option like what has been offered within the City of Porterville. Visalia Transit has been working with the TCRTA to obtain specifics on operations, software use, as well as assets and logistics. What has developed is potentially a three-year pilot in partnership with the TCRTA for most of urbanized areas of Tulare County and the rural areas between. The need for a five-year agreement is to allow both TCRTA and the City to prepare for the pilot and then at the end have time to evaluate if necessary.
Request for Proposals:
Over the last three months, Visalia Transit and TCRTA staff have vetted micro transit vendors through a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) process, and based on the system capabilities, experience and proven track record, staff will partner with Via Transportation to provide service during the course of this pilot. Operations of this pilot will be handled by the TCRTA operations contract, while the software and support is provided by Via. In the event that there is a driver shortage or service disruption, Via is equipped to quickly take over operations of this pilot project for the region.
Micro transit systems are emerging throughout the nation in an effort to create more efficiencies and direct connections within existing transit systems. Micro transit is a system comprised of smaller passenger vehicles, rather than large buses, that passengers can access by utilizing an application on their phone or accessible web portal, and booking trips that will get them from point A to point B within a specified region. Passengers will also be offered intermodal trips for itineraries that can take advantage of the existing fixed route service and connect to neighboring communities. For this particular project, the TCRTA is procuring minivans through an attachment option on the CalAct contract. These vehicles have a five passenger per vehicle capacity. These rides are still meant to be shared with other passengers, so trips are planned in an automated software system in a more efficient way and the smaller vehicles require a lot less time, money and resources to maintain. Furthermore, this micro transit system becomes an ’On Demand’ service where the users experience a similar service that is provided by a shared Uber or Lyft.
During this pilot, Visalia Transit and the TCRTA will work together to analyze the data that the system collects in order to establish performance metrics that can assist in creating a more efficient system. The system is flexible and customizable and is designed with the ability to make real time adjustments. This will help the City to understand the successes and failures of the pilot and assist with potential plans to recreate the City’s system in a more efficient way. Data from the pilot will also be used starting in year two of the program to assist with a Reimagining study performed by a consultant. TCAG has already set aside money in the budget to pay for Visalia Transit to pay for this study.
Data that will be collected:
The data will be monitored to determine the popularity and utilization of the service. Transit Staff will review total miles traveled, the most popular days, times and destinations that the service is used, and any other metrics collected from the Via software. With the collected data, staff will be able to determine if the popularity of the service is from new riders or previous fixed route riders. It is anticipated that there will be some cannibalization of the current fixed route system. This pilot will be placed as a supplement to the existing fixed route system for comparison purposes. The system will be fine-tuned and adjustments made to the pilot program as it progresses.
Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact to the City. The pilot is being supported by funding provided by the TCRTA and TCAG to cover the costs of a region-wide micro transit pilot.
Prior Council Action:
At its meeting on April 17, 2023, the Council authorized staff to work on micro transit project with the TCRTA and bring an agreement for approval.
Alternatives:
Do not operate a pilot project with TCRTA and secure a consultant to help establish a program that can be implemented and paid for solely by the City.
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the City Manager to enter into a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Visalia and the Tulare County Regional Transit Agency (TCRTA) to partner on a three-year micro transit pilot.
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Environmental Assessment Status:
N/A
CEQA Review:
N/A
Attachments:
1. Draft Memorandum of Understanding