Agenda Item Wording:
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Authorization for payment to the California Vanpool Authority (CalVans) - Authorize the payment of California Vanpool Authority (CalVans) invoices for the Visalia Transit contributions to the Authority’s vanpool program.
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Agenda Date: 08/03/2026
Prepared by:
Angelina Baker, Transit Manager, Angelina.Baker@visalia.gov, (559)713-4591
John Lollis, Assistant City Manager, John.Lollis@visalia.gov, (559)713-4323
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the continued payment of invoices through January 2027 to the California Vanpool Authority (Calvans) until a Request for Proposals (RFP) is released to the public and a contract issued based on the RFP.
Summary:
At its meeting on August 4, 2025, the Council authorized the continued payment of monthly CalVans invoices until a new contract with Calvans was awarded or a RFP was released to the public and a contract issued based on the RFP by June 1, 2026. Over the past year, since the Council’s action, staff explored multiple options including whether the contract can be sole sourced, and whether all potential vendors would be qualified to provide the service that the Visalia vanpool program requires. Additionally, staff has been exploring the option of establishing its own vanpool service operated by Visalia Transit. Staff determined that the RFP process was the best course of action at this time, which the RFP has been developed and is being prepared for release to the public. While the RFP process is completed, staff requests authority to continue payment of invoices through January 2027. Pursuant to the current agreement, the City pays $300/month per vanpool, and the number of vanpools for Visalia over the last year is shown in the table below:
|
MONTH |
COUNT |
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JUL 2025 |
33 |
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AUG 2025 |
33 |
|
SEP 2025 |
33 |
|
OCT 2025 |
29 |
|
NOV 2025 |
29 |
|
DEC 2025 |
27 |
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JAN 2026 |
28 |
|
FEB 2026 |
28 |
|
MAR 2026 |
28 |
|
APR 2026 |
28 |
|
MAY 2026 |
10 |
|
JUN 2026 |
9 |
Background Discussion:
In May 2016, the City of Visalia entered into a five-year Agreement with the California Vanpool Authority (CalVans), which expired in May 2021. At its meeting on April 14, 2023, the City Council approved entering into a one-year Agreement, which expired in May 2024. At its meeting on August 4, 2025, the Council authorized continued participation in the Calvans vanpool program and the payment of invoices through June 2026.
History: CalVans is a Joint Power Authority (JPA) public transportation agency, sponsored by the California Vanpool Authority, with membership of eleven (11) Municipal Planning Organizations across the state of California, including the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG). CalVans offers employers and their employees a reliable, cost-effective, alternative mode of transportation to the single occupant vehicle (SOV) in areas or on routes that are not efficiently served by public transit. Typically, this is for groups of employees that work for the same employer or employer location and usually travel across city and county lines. CalVans provides the vehicle, maintenance, and insurance as a turnkey operation. Riders pay a flat fee for an 8-, 10-, or 12-passenger van; and one, or more, employees are certified as the driver.
Transit agencies located in an Urbanized Area (UZA) receive a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5307 apportionment based on its annual reporting into the National Transit Database (NTD) system. This reporting includes how far transit vehicles travel, how long they spend traveling, how many riders are carried, and the cost to provide the service. Generally, the larger the system, the more Section 5307 funds are received. Transit agencies outside of a UZA, but serving the UZA area, may also report passenger data related to trips that began or ended in the UZA. Vanpool trips are an example of a type of transit trip that may contribute substantial ridership data to a UZA. The reporting of the trips is done by the vanpool provided on behalf of the UZA. These Section 5307 funds generated by the additional reporting stay with the transit agency serving the UZA, it does not return to the agency that reported the passenger data. The reported miles do not impact the Section 5307 apportionment for two (2) years, i.e. the FY 2024-25 miles will count towards FY 2026-27.
CalVans has been reporting these miles on behalf of Visalia Transit for several years, which has resulted in an increase in Section 5307 federal transit funding. Beginning in FY 2022-23 based upon the 2020 Census, the Visalia UZA was reclassified from a “Large UZA” (200,000+ population) to a “Small UZA” (<200,000 population) given the removal of Exeter and Tulare resulting in the Visalia UZA popular dropping beneath 200,000. Given the 2-year lag in FTA 5307 funding, starting in FY 2024-25 the City began to receive Small Transit Incentive Cities (STIC) funds as a Small UZA for transit performance metrics that exceeded industry averages of Large UZA transit agencies. There are six (6) STIC performance metrics of which each is worth approximately $500,000 if achieved, which in FY 2024-25 the City received two (2) STIC factors based upon FY 2022-23 performance that resulted in $1,006,772 of additional Section 5307 funding. For FY 2025-26, the City received four (4) STIC factors based upon FY 2023-24 performance that resulted in $2,169,648 of additional Section 5307 funding - the passenger and vehicles miles reported by the CalVans vanpool program directly contributed to the City receiving two (2) of the four (4) STIC factor funds.
It should be noted that the number of vanpools invoiced to the City and other participating transit agencies has decreased significantly beginning in May 2026, which is due to vanpools being self-terminated after CalVans implemented an emergency rate increase by removing the paid fuel benefit beginning in April 2026 due to escalating fuel costs and other budgetary and fiscal challenges. Staff believes that working with Cal Vans and other partners, additional outreach, education and reformatting of some parts of the program should lead to increased usage of the program.
Fiscal Impact including annual maintenance and operating costs:
The funding for the contracted vanpool service is an ongoing operational expense for the Transit Division budgeted under 4551-55375. The Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) has offered federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) grant funds to help fund the Visalia vanpool program. The existing Transit Division budget currently has an annual budget of $132,000 in Local Transportation Funds (LTF) for the vanpool program which could alternatively be used to support other transportation needs with the utilization of CMAQ funds from TCAG. The primary funding source of Visalia Transit is the Section 5307 federal transit grant funds, combined with match Local Transportation Funds (LTF) is used to pay the Operations and Maintenance contract. The more Section 5307 funding the City receives for operations equates to less LTF funds necessary to fund operations and that can be used for other transportation needs.
Prior Council Action:
August 4, 2025: Authorization for Payment to the California Vanpool Authority (25-0325)
Alternatives:
The Council could deny the recommendation and not participate in a vanpool program until the RFP process is completed and a new contract initiated, resulting in an expected loss in Section 5307 STIC factor funding in FY 2028-29.
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the continued participation in the CalVans program and payment of monthly invoices until the RFP process has been completed and a new contract established.
Environmental Assessment Status: N/A
CEQA Review: N/A
Deadline for Action: 08/03/2026
Attachments:
City Council Agenda Staff Report: 25-0325
Agreement for Services: May 24, 2023
Strategic Goal: Indicates which City Strategic Goal(s) this item supports. Check all that apply.
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☒  Fiscal Strength |
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