HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 06-01-15 Special MeetingMINUTES OF
COUNCIL CITY OF OF DOWNEY
SPECIAL MEETING
JUNE 1, t
The City Council of the City of Downey held a Special City Council Meeting on June 1,
2015, at 4:38 p.m., in the Council Chamber of the Downey City Hall, 11111 Brookshire Avenue,
Downey, California, Mayor Marquez presiding.
PRESENT: Council Members:'
Luis H. Marquez Mayor
Alex Saab Mayor Pro Tern
Sean Ashton Council Member
Roger C. Brossmer Council Member (arrived at 4:40 p.m.)
Fernando Vasquez Council Member (arrived at 4:40 p.m.)
ALSO PRESENT: Gilbert Livas, City Manager
Yvette M. Abich Garcia, City Attorney
Adria M. Jimenez, CMC, City Clerk
John Oskoui, Assistant City Manager
Shannon DeLong, Assistant to the City Manager
Mohammad Mostahkami, Public Works Director
Arlene Salazar, Parks & Recreation Director
Anil Gandhy, Finance Director
Mayor Marquez opened the meeting for Public Comment. Having no one come forward,
Mayor Marquez closed Public Comment.
1 DOWNEY TRANSIT SERVIECE ANALYSIS REPORT: RECEIVE AND FILE AND
PROVIDE SUBSEQUENT DIRECTION TO STAFF: Parks & Recreation.
City Manager Livas advised the previous time the City Council met was to receive a
report on the Dial -a -Ride (DAR) and fixed route options. The amount of money the City is
investing is substantial, including monies from Proposition A funds. There were a number of
items requested by the Council to return with information for an amalgamated option of in- house
DAR, contract fixed route, taxi service, with in -house oversight management. The consultant will
answer those questions and any additional questions the Council may have.
Mark Stanley, consultant, stated today recommendations will be made based on the
amalgamated approach. Three documents were produced: DAR service _analysis, service
analysis including both the fixed route and DAR, and the supplemental document based on
questions received in February. The study includes different components: operations (fixed
route, DAR, taxi service, and regional operation service); service days (weekday, weekends,
peak hours, trippers, general public taxi service, ambulatory service, and assisted services);
planning elements (fares, management, and contact); policies (regional service, local systems,
and national characteristics); and, operational analysis (passenger trips, stop locations,
operations, costs). There are four alternatives: constant state (keep current operating
characteristics); amalgamated (in -house DAR, contract fixed route, contract taxi service,
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Special Meeting — June 1, 2015 1
combined in -house management oversight); contract operations (reclassify management, in-
house dispatch and reporting, outsource operations); and, outsource (manage a turnkey
system). The Council requested to explore the amalgamated system more closely. The
amalgamated system estimated revenues at approximately $222,500; adds taxi at a cost of
$462,400; DAR $335,000, _adds general public DAR midday at $223,800; and, DowneyLink at
$746,700, for total operations cost of approximately $1.5 million a year. Mr. Stanley referred to
the presentation, Components of Services, which depicts the elements included in the operation
of service to reach those costs. The top line is how much money is needed to fund the different
operations, and includes the fare revenue. It begins with DAR, includes taxi services, DAR
operated in -house today would continue to provide assisted trips, particularly to those who are
disabled or seniors. Taxi service would be for ambulatory trips and would run the same hours
as DAR. Estimate of fares evaluates the total number of passengers and then discounts the
fare revenue because some of the DAR riders are assisted trips and are not paying a fare. The
next column is general public midday service, operating between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., and
would add two additional taxis with the taxi service already being operated throughout the day.
Across the top, the four routes are broken down along with the tripper service, which would
remain unchanged in this scenario and includes the DowneyLink service. The fare revenue is
also included in the $1.5 million. The fare is discounted based on the ridership as some trips
are not collecting fares. The other thing to note is the fares do change to create this operating
scenario. DAR increases to a $1.00, midday taxi services for those whom are not senior or
disabled would pay $4.00 per trip, not per passenger. Recommendation for the DowneyLink is
to continue to charge $0.50. There is still some consideration on whether or not to raise the
DowneyLink fare as well to $0.75 which would bring in an added $56,000 for a total fare
revenue of $168,000. It would lower operating costs from $1.5 million to $1.4 million.
Council Member Brossmer asked what is the City currently paying for all transportation
services. Mr. Stanley advised the City is currently paying over $3 million. Council Member
Brossmer confirmed this option would save approximately 50% and asked what the City is
paying for DAR. Mr. Stanley stated the City is paying approximately $1 million for DAR.
Council Member Brossmer stated the new proposal is approximately $800,000, saving
$200,000. Mr. Stanley confirmed the information, noting the City will still be providing some
DAR_ service. Council Member Brossmer asked why the City continues to run DAR and not
transition to all taxi. Mr. Stanley stated DAR can provide assisted service trips and can be
booked in advance; taxis do not have to accept advanced reservations and the City currently
owns a fleet of buses. The general public DAR is off - setting and is now two additional taxis that
would operate to cover for the reduction in DowneyLink activity during midday. Council Member
Brossmer asked what is the City currently spending on DowneyLink. Mr. Stanley stated $1.4
million; the City would be saving approximately $400,000. Council Member Brossmer asked
why is the recommendation to continue the general public taxi with midday ridership so low.
Mr. Stanley stated there is some ridership, approximately 23% of the overall fixed route,
approximately 60 people a day, five days a week. Council Member Brossmer asked if DAR
busses are disabled- friendly. Mr. Stanley responded in the affirmative, noting taxis may provide
disable Vehicles and it could be negotiated in the agreement. _Council Member Brossmer asked
who is riding the bus midday. Mr. Stanley stated based on the survey there is no ridership
pattern. The destinations are scattered and the riders are various age groups; some students,
some seniors, people with kids and the trips are flexible. Peaks hours are from 9:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m., ridership changes at approximately 9:00 a.m., and picks back up at 2:00 p.m.
Approximately 24% are riding midday. Northeast route is only 9 %, compared to during peak
hours of 91 %.
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Special Meeting — June 1, 2015 2
Council Member Brossmer asked if $223,000 is a cost the City wants to incur based on
this information.
Mayor Marquez asked if there is a comparison for taxi service only and if there is a
difference in the amount. Mr. Stanley referred to the presentation, midday operating a taxi
versus a bus.
Council Member Brossmer asked what the cost would be if the City went to all taxi
service and eliminated DAR. Mr. Stanley stated the cost would be less, because cost for taxi is
slightly cheaper than in -house DAR. The numbers in the presentation are based on small
operators within Los Angeles County. The City would need to go through a negotiation process.
City Manager Livas asked what is the distinct advantage of keeping the DAR versus tax
service. Mr. Stanley stated the operators will be experienced, the City has an invested fleet of
vehicles, and the City would have to find other positions for current employees.
Mayor Pro Tern Saab asked if there is a reduction in ridership for Cities that transition to
taxi service. Mr. Stanley stated it varies by City as the costs vary by City. No City has a specific
model on how they operate taxi service. Some split up service like today's recommendation,
some operate in house, and some operate taxi service. In terms of ridership, it comes down to
the management of the operator and how good negotiations are with the original contract. The
City does want to provide sufficient oversight for the operations to continue with customer
service.
Council Member Brossmer confirmed in the proposal the recommendation is to reduce
the number of busses from nine to six vehicles and -asked what is the staffing impact on the
proposal. Mr. Stanley noted staff reductions would be approximately two to three in- service
during the day bus drivers. Assistant City Manager Oskoui stated in Transportation there are
five full -time drivers, 1 full -time driver dispatcher, 1 full -time coordinator, and 8 part -time
employees.
Council Member Brossmer confirmed the Current hours of Downey DAR: Monday
through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mr. Stanley stated the proposed hours are 6:30 a.m. to
6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the same hours on the weekend.
Assistant City Manager Oskoui stated the presentation only reflects the operational
costs. Although the City has the assets (busses), at some point the City will have to replace
those assets and they will cost money and there will be a sharp increase over $1.5 million. Just
recently the City submitted a grant to replace seven of the busses.
Council Member Brossmer asked what the age of the current DAR bus fleet is and what
the`lifespan is. City Manager Livas stated all of the buses are currently beyond their lifespan.
Council Member Vasquez asked what the fair market value of current fleet is. Assistant
City Manager Oskoui stated the City would be lucky if it received $2,000 to $3,000 for each bus.
Mayor Pro Tem Saab confirmed the loss of staff positions. Mr. Stanley stated he has not
done an analysis of administrative staff; the reduction would be two to three full -time employee
equivalents.
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Special Meeting — June `1, 2015 3
Council Member Brossmer confirmed the taxi fee for DAR riders. Mr. Stanley stated it
would be at the same fare, $1.00. General public is $4.00 per trip. Council Member Brossmer
stated currently the public does not have access, so it would be a new program. Mr. Stanley
stated in terms of fares there is a recommendation to raise DAR fare to $1.00 from $0.25 cents
over time and place the City in line with other operators in the area.
Council Member Vasquez asked what Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA)
fares are. Mr. Stanley stated MTA operates Access at $2.75 and goes as high as $3.75
depending on the length of the trip. The area operators require residential requirements. For
fixed route and DAR the fares are approximately $1.00 and some are $0.50. There are slight
fare variations for cities.
Mayor Pro Tern Saab asked if the taxi service would be dispatched through the current
dispatch center. Mr. Stanley stated the general public DAR is through the taxi service; disabled
service would be dispatch through the current dispatch system. The reason for that
recommendation is for the general public could request same day service; seniors and disabled
would follow the same policy in making advanced reservations.
Mr. Stanley continued reviewing the coverage in the area: there are several operators
providing fixed route service: regional service is provided by Access Services. MTA provides a
number of routes in the City and is covering the major corridors: Rosecrans Blvd. and Easton
on the edge of the City; Long Beach to the south; Montebello to the north; and, Norwalk to the
southeast. MTA does go all the way through Downey. Many of the area operators operate a
mix of taxi and DAR service. He reviewed the presentation noting the cost in the presentation is
based on the MTA and small operators average cost for the County. $83.90 cost per revenue
hour is the amount for the taxi service and it is likely the City could negotiate an agreement for
less than that amount. In terms of fares, the percentage of revenue that is returned varies; it
could be as low as 2% and go up to 20% and is based on how much the City wants to charge.
In terms of revenue sources, there are Federal, State, and Local funds. Federal and State
revenue sources pass through MTA and the City would coordinate with MTA and Map 21, the
Federal Highway Transportation Administration. There is hope there will be a six -year
transportation bill; however, _a lot of the funding for transportation goes through 5300 programs.
Transportation incentives do not go directly to the bus, but is targeted towards the passenger
such as community college subsidies. The City also has active transportation grants it may
want to take advantage of for other facilities. He reviewed the fare structure: currently, the
DowneyLink is $0.50; DAR is $.025. If the City continues with that structure, DowneyLink fare
higher than DAR, the Council can explore raising DowneyLink to $1.00 and keep DAR at $0.50.
With the insertion of taxi service, the seniors and disabled would continue to pay the same rate
even in a taxi cab. The taxi cab fee is recommended at $4.00 per trip for the general public. The
industry standard is for DAR to be higher than fixed route service, which is a reflection of what it
cost to operate the service. The recommendation is for the DowneyLink fare to be $0.50, or
raise it to $0.75,; and offer service to seniors and disabled on fixed route for free. Raise the DAR
fare from $0.25 to $1,00 and increase taxi service to mirror DAR service to $1.00, and general
public DAR would be $4.00.
Mr. Stanley presented an option to midday taxi based on one of the questions the
Council had at the previous meeting. The option is to combine the fixed routes. Mr. Stanley
reviewed the analysis of the northern route with the southern route. Combining the routes
would increase the trips from a one hour headway to a two hour headway and would result in
less service to the public. Another question was what if service was provided directly to the
Green Line. Service can be provided on the southeast; route; however, it would omit 1.5 miles
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Special Meeting — June 1, 2015 4
of service which is currently provided to the Green Line connection. Mr. Stanley noted ridership
overall all day including trippers12 -18 years of age is the biggest percentage of ridership at over
50 %; 25 -64 years of age is 1/3 of ridership and specific patterns are not set; 19 -24 years of age
riders are either going to school or entering the workforce, 11%-12% of ridership; seniors are
not riding fixed route very much. He reviewed the chart on the presentation, noting passengers
per hour in the northern route are less passengers per hour, while the southern route has higher
passengers per hour. Midday passengers to hours drop from peak hours to non -peak hours in
terms of passengers per hour. He reviewed the analysis of the other two alternatives:
Alternative #3, which oriented service more towards businesses and provided a lunch time
shuttle at a cost of over $2.5 million. Outsourcing the service would not be able to occur for a
couple of years because there are assets to dispose of, and outsourcing the service and still
operating a similar model and it is still $2.5 million to outsource.
Council Member Brossmer confirmed the proposal for DowneyLink is to eliminate all day
service and include taxi service. Mr. Stanley responded in the affirmative.
Mr. Stanley continued, in terms of transitioning service a few elements are involved: first,
the City needs to do a bus procurement. The model is based on no longer leasing fixed route
busses in order to achieve the savings. The operational savings can go towards the purchase of
the busses, and the City would also receive an incentive of 80 % from the Federal government.
The out -of- pocket amount is approximately $700,070 and will receive over $3 million in grants,
for seven 35 foot busses. The City will be reducing operating costs but still running the service
on peak hours so the City will need the same number of busses on the road.
City Manager Livas stated for the first year the City will save 50% of the amount and
every year after the City would save the entire $1.5 million.
Mr. Stanley stated the City does need to notify MTA that the City plans to modify the
service, make a plan adoption at a public hearing, contract for the taxi service and negotiate the
service through the procurement process, continue to operate the DAR service, implement the
modifications moving forward, implement modifications to fixed route, and build in performance
measures. The process will take approximately six to twelve months.
City Manager Livas stated this proposed model saves the most amount of money. The
question is whether to switch to a midday taxi service or transition completely to a taxi service
and eliminate DAR. One of the things the City is doing is achieving quite a bit of savings and
making a big change. The recommendation is to go with the report as outlined by Mr. Stanley,
keep DAR, achieve savings and then see how it goes. We do not know how it is going to go
when changing the system that quickly. This model is the least shocking to the system.
Council Member Brossmer stated he agrees and would like staff to return one year from
implementation to re- evaluate the system and modify if necessary.
Mayor Pro Ter Saab asked how long has the existing model been in place. Parks &
Recreation Director Salazar stated DowneyLink has been in existence since 1990 -1991, with
minor modifications.-
Council Member Brossmer stated he would like to gradually increase fares. Mr. Stanley
proposed DowneyLink increase the fare to $0.75.
City Council Minutes
Special Meeting — June 1, 2015
Mayor Marquez confirmed the recommendation is to contract out fixed route service for
the drivers and not the busses. Mr. Stanley responded in the affirmative, noting the City could
contract to have the busses maintained or it can be done in- house. Cost for maintenance of the
busses is in operational costs and was outsourced in the proposed model.
Council Member Vasquez asked if the City has a current ordinance for taxi service. City
Manager Livas stated staff would return to Council for information related to taxi service
ordinances. Council Member Vasquez asked what most Cities do in terms of taxi service.
Mr. Stanley stated Cities develop a contract similar to the fixed route contract the City currently
has.
Council Member Brossmer asked how often the City issues a Request for Proposals
(RFP) for DowneyLink. Director Salazar stated every five years the City issues an RFP for
service. Council Member Brossmer stated for DAR he does not want to purchase additional
busses or replace existing fleet and make a big investment. City Manager Livas stated the City
submitted a grant for DAR busses. Director Salazar stated it is a $475,000 grant for seven DAR
busses with a 20% match or approximately $100,000.
Assistant City Manager Oskoui stated if the City goes full taxi service in the future, it can
be negotiated that the contractors use those busses. City Manager Livas stated the details of
the grant are unknown, but the vehicles can be assigned to the contractor to use those vehicles.
Mayor Marquez opened this item for public comment. Having no one come forward,
Mayor Marquez closed public comment.
The City Council agreed to move forward with the recommendation of an amalgamated
service: in -house Dial -a -Ride, contract fixed route, contract taxi, combined in- house
management oversight.
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Special Meeting — June 1, 2015 6