HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 02-05-16 Special MeetingMINUTES OF
COUNCIL CITY OF OF DOWNEY
SPECIAL MEETING
FEBRU4RY 5, 2015
The City Council of the City of Downey held a Special City Council Meeting at 4:02 p.m.,
February 5, 2015, 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
Roger C. Brossmer
Fernando Vasquez
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
Carl Charles, Chief of Police
Mark Gillaspie, Fire Chief
Mohammad Mostahkami, Public Works Director
Arlene Salazar, Parks & Recreation Director
Aldo Schindler, Community Development Director
Anil Gandhy, Finance Director
PUBLIC COMMENT"
Mayor Marquez opened the meeting for Public Comment.
Marco Flores commented on his company's card swipe payment systems for use with
taxi and DAR services.
Having no one else come forward, Mayor Marquez closed Public Comment.
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DOWNEY TRANSIT SERVICE ANALYSIS REPORT: Parks & Recreation.
City Manager Livas advised Mr. Stanley will provide the City Council with an analysis
report on the City's DAR (DAR) and fixed route bus services. The amount of money the City is
investing is substantial, including monies from Proposition A funds. The consultant will answer
questions the Council may have.
Mark Stanley, consultant, stated he will be providing the Council with his analysis of
Transit Services in Downey. There are four alternative service operations for City Council's
consideration: 1) Constant State: keep current operations; 2) Amalgamated: in -house DAR,
contract fixed route, contract taxi, combined in -house management oversight; 3) Contract
Operations; reclassify management, in -house dispatch and reporting, and outsource operations;
4) Outsource; manage a turnkey system (fixed route, DAR, dispatching, reporting, operations,
and maintenance). He will be reviewing each of the alternatives in detail and service areas,
fares, passenger trends, and operational costs.
City Council Minutes
Special Meeting — February 2, 2015
Mr. -- Stanley - reviewed the current service structure: the City currently operates service
weekdays between the hours of 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with four circulating routes. Service
begins and ends for each of the four routes at the Transportation Center. The service is
dispatched approximately every 52 minutes. Each route provides transit service within four
quadrants: northwest, northeast, southwest, and "southeast routes. Service is provided year
around with the exception of some holidays. In August 2010, the fare was increased from $0.25
to $0.50 cents. _Customers can transfer free to other DowneyLINK routes when transfers are
sequential. MTA transfers or passes are not accepted on DowneyLINK and DowneyLINK
transfers are not valid for use on MTA. The route that provides service to the southeast
connects DowneyLINK passengers to the Lakewood Green Line Station. The current operations
is contracted to MV Transit. Downey DAR service operates seven days a week. The current
service structure of the system was established prior to the last fare change in August 2010.
DAR is managed by the City of Downey and operates independently of the fixed route service.
The other public transit service in the area includes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA), complimentary City DAR, and Access Services, which provides
regional paratransit connections. The Downey DAR service operates throughout the City with
limited service to locations outside the City. Operations total 42 hours of service on a typical
weekday. The number of passengers per hour averages over 3.9, 1.7 passengers above the
industry average of 2.2 passengers per hour.
Mayor Pro Tern Saab asked how many passengers ride the City's DAR.
Mr. Stanley referred to the presentation noting for Fiscal Year 2013/14, there was a total of
35,536 passengers; an increase from FY 11/12 and FY 12/13. Mayor Pro Tern Saab confirmed
it costs the City $28.46 for each DAR passenger. Mr. Stanley responded in the affirmative.
Mr. Stanley reviewed the cost information for the Fixed Route noting for FY 13/14 there
was ;a total of 221,079 passengers, .a decrease from FY 12/13 and FY 11/12. Due to the slight
decrease, the cost per passenger has increased to $6.35 for FY 13/14. The fixed route service
is contracted to a third party operator. The number of personnel employed to operate the
service includes a Transit Coordinator, four full-time and three part-time drivers.
Fares for the City of Downey were reviewed` the DAR fare is half the cost per single ride
on fixed 'route services provided on the DowneyLINK system. Nearly 100% of the DAR service
is subsidized by Prop A funds. The fare for Access Services starts at $2.50 for the first 19 miles
and increases to a maximum of $3.25 for 20 or more miles. The DAR fares in the area are
comparable ranging from free to $1.00 per trip. Per City they are: Bellflower $0.50 each way
and $2.00 outside the City; Bell Gardens is $0.50 each way, $0.25 for DAR; Cudahy is $0.50
each way and $0.25 for DAR; Lynwood is $0.50 round trip; Norwalk is $1.00 each way;
Paramount is $0.50 each way; Pico Rivera is free; and, South Gate is $1.00 per trip with a $10
registration fee for 26 one -way trips.
Mr. Stanley continued reviewing operational costs, noting service cost over $1,300,000
per year and has fluctuated over the last three years. Components of the cost include the direct
operations, maintenance, administration, management and bus leases. The most expensive line
item in the budget is contract services with operation and maintenance contracted to a third
party. The fixed route service is less expensive per hour to operate than curb -to -curb service.
There are a total of 13,978 DowneyLink hours operated in FY 2013/14 at a cost per hour of
$100.39 compared to 8,084 DAR hours, 42% less, operated at $125.10 in FY 2013/14. In
comparison to the cost of a fixed - route passenger trip, DAR trips are seven to ten times more
expensive per trip._ Components of DAR service continue to increase faster than the Consumer
Price Index. The most significant impacts on DAR service are wages and benefits, and the
increasing cost of fuel Downey's DAR service cost is above industry average. The average
DAR service is between $40 to $46 per hour; in Los Angeles County the costs are higher. Small
operator average cost per revenue hour in Los Angeles County is $70.34. In FY 2011/12,
Downey DAR spent $1,219,647 on 7,984 hours or $150 per hour. When nonessential
operational costs are removed for reporting, the cost decreased to $875,703, or $109.68 per
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Special Meeting — February 2, 2015
hour. The trend in the high cost of DAR in Downey has been over the last several years. Total
hours of service, which includes both deadhead and in- service hours, is above $133 per hour in
FY 2011/12. The per passenger cost in FY 2013/14 was $30. The high cost of the service
reflects some inefficiency in the service delivery and cost associated with DAR service in
general.
Reservations for the City's DAR service can be made Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m._
to 4:00 p.m. and. on Saturdays between 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Reservations are made by the
Transit Coordinator with the assistance of drivers and staff members. Administrative tasks in
the office include dispatching, accepting reservations, scheduling drivers, and bookkeeping.
Occasionally, coach operators have been used for office support, which has worked well in the
absence of the managers. They are in the office when customers call to schedule reservations
and when additional assistance is needed for dispatching busses. When analyzed in 2012, the
total number of hours the coach drivers spent in the office was more than 579 hours on average
that totaled approximately 869 hours for a fiscal year. The use of coach drivers should continue
to be monitored for reduction. DAR's systems operation analysis revealed an increase in
service since FY 09/10. In FY 13/14 revenue hours were 8,084 with translates to 35,536
boarding, 2.62 passengers per mile and 4.40 passengers per hour. In FY 09/10 there were
8,375 revenue hours, 28,605 passenger hoardings, 3.66 passengers per mile; and 3.42
passengers per hour.
Mr. Stanley reviewed ADA requirements: the increase in demand for paratransit service
has impacted operating cost. Most practices used by paratransit managers follow two
strategies: (1) Strictly enforce the requirements set out by ADA paratransit regulations and (2)
Implement measures aimed at promoting and encouraging the use of less expensive fixed -route
bus service. Another practice is to change the service delivery structure to reshape the system
to control cost and slow down factors that contribute to increases. Federal regulations are very
specific regarding ADA paratransit requirements: and require a public entity operating a fixed
route system to provide paratransit or other special service to individuals with disabilities that is
comparable to the level of service provided to individuals without disabilities.
An analysis of the system operations for DowneyLink revealed the service operated a
total of 13,978 revenue hours in FY 13/14 which translates into 221,079 passenger boardings,
which is the lowest fixed route ridership in the last 10 years. This also equates to 1.49
passengers per mile and 15.82 passengers per hour. The highest numbers in ridership for
DowneyLink were seen in FY 09/10 with 13,177 revenue hours, 317,159 passenger boardings,
1.9 passengers per mile, and 24.07 passengers per hour. In terms of service policy, Mr.
Stanely noted that DowneyLink is similar in operational characteristics as the regional transit
service (MTA); many of the rules and regulations are the same. The difference is in fare
collection and data collection. DowneyLink does not accept regional Transit Access Pass (TAP)
cards because the busses are not equipped with electronic fareboxes. TAP cards are used
throughout Los Angeles transit service and some city operations such as Torrance, Norwalk,
Montebello, Culver City, and Gardena. Because DowneyLink does have electronic fareboxes,
passengers are not able to use transfers between LA Metro and DowneyLink. There is no
operating agreement with neighboring community transit system operators to create a
convenience link to areas bordering outside of Downey; however, this is not uncommon in Los
Angeles County.
Alternative 1: Constant State. This maintains the service as it operates currently. For
DowneyLink there are route restructuring suggestions, but essential services stay constant.
There is no cost savings with this option. The route restructuring consists of a two -way bus
service in lieu of circulating routes. Two -way bus routing will provide a quicker connection to the
transit center, benefiting customers by making it more convenient to transfer to another bus and
travel further. One possibility as to why there is little transferring between buses is the perceived
longer waits given the misdirection of travel on a circulator. Having two -way routes increases
familiarity with bus routing. Passengers may get confused by circulators that travel in one
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Special Meeting — February 2, 2015
direction. With two -way bus routing, passengers understand the bus goes in one direction on
the street and will comeback in the opposite direction along the same street. Restructuring
provides the opportunity to increase access, travel to new destinations, and attract new
customers. This alternative does not provide any saving over the current service.
Council Member Brossmer asked Mr. Stanley if restructuring the route would limit the
number of stops near the schools. Mr. Stanley stated restructuring the route would include new
destinations that are currently being missed, for example, the Promenade and Downey
Gateway. He directed Council Members to the presentation for examples and noted this is the
recommendation for Alternative 1 — Constant State.
Mr. Stanley noted each route was analyzed to determine whether routing and stop
locations can be modified for greater productivity. To reduce cost, routes could be shorten and
operated more directly from one point to another. This scenario would reduce route coverage,
and may result in longer walks to stops for customers. Bus service does overlap with regional
routes on the main corridors, Paramount Blvd., Lakewood Blvd., Telegraph Rd., Florence Ave.,
Firestone Blvd., and Imperial Hwy. This overlap makes it convenient to transfer to regional
routes and allows DowneyLink service the ability to maintain on -time performance. For the
Northeast Route, -a consideration is given whether there is duplication with regional service and
could it be eliminated and if there is also a potential to eliminate non - productive turn locations.
For example, on Lakewood Blvd. the route duplicates MIA's Pasadena to Lakewood route. To
make the route more productive, routing service on west Gallatin Rd., south on Brookshire Ave.
will eliminate most of the duplication and add new service to Brookshire Ave. above Cherokee
Dr. This new route takes service off Cherokee Dr., which for customer is still within a block
away. Another example is the turn to travel back to the transit center on Passons Blvd. to
Cedartree Rd. to Serapis Ave. A more efficient turning movement would be north on Lakewood
Blvd., west on Vista Del Rosa St., north on Manzanar Ave. to east on Telegraph Rd. then back
to Lakewood Blvd. However, during the passenger survey, use of the bus stops on
Serapis Ave. and Passons Ave. showed some of the heaviest use on the route. Additional
analysis of the bus stops in the area is recommended before changed. The Northeast Route
receives the second highest ridership of all four bus routes. The Northwest Route has the least
boarding and is the only route without tripper service. Two stops in the bus route had no
passenger activity: La Reina and 3"; Ave. and Gainford Pl. The stop at La Reina
at 3d is used by passengers traveling on the Southwest Route. It is not recommended this
route be restructured. The Brookshire Ave. at Gainford Pl. bus stop could get use if the
Northeast Route is rerouted on to Brookshire Ave. The reroute of Northeast Route would share
this stretch of Brookshire Ave. unless the Northwest route is move to Downey Ave., providing for
coverage on Downey by Northwest Route, Brookshire Ave. Northeast Route and Lakewood
MTA Route. The reach to the Rio Hondo River creates a connection for bicyclist who use the
river trail. This area of the route does represent some of the more significant ridership on the
route. The Southeast Route has the highest passenger boarding. It operates in the most
commercially dense areas of the City, connects with regional MTA service at several points, and
it provides the connection to MTA Green Line light rail service. Streamline service from the
Metro Station to employment sites is an opportunity to explore. The route also services Downey
High School. Ridership increases to the level that tripper service is included. Tripper service on
this route is the most popular of all the routes. The route is the most convenient, along with the
Northeast and provides service to and from Stonewood Shopping Center. Other major
connections include Kaiser Permanente and Columbia Memorial Space Center. Other major
employers not identified may include Unified California Corporation and the Los Angeles County
Office of Education. These locations offer the opportunity to include service that provides a
connection to and from the Green Line. The Southwest Route is the second most popular
passenger route. The heaviest on and off location is around the northern end of the route. Other
points on the route with the highest boarding include Gardendale at Downey, the location of the
Super -A -Foods and some multi - family housing in the area. Rancho Los Amigos Hospital and
Apollo Park is one of the heavier stop locations. The other relatively heavy stop location is
Stewart & Gray at Old River School Rd., the closest stops to West Middle School and single
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Special Meeting — February 2, 2015
family residential community. The route would be the most "likely to provide service to Warren
High School, which it does not currently do. To serve the high school there are two options:
Option 1, bring service across Stewart & Gray Rd. towards Paramount Blvd., then north on
Paramount Blvd. to Brookmill Rd. to Old River School Rd. This would add some additional
running time of 2 to 4 minutes to the route, but not significant enough to end the pulsing of trips
at the Transit Depot. Option 2 is the route services on Melva St. between Rives Ave. and
Paramount Blvd., north on Paramount Blvd., west on Stewart & Gray Rd., service would be one
block south of Warren High School and would allow the route to continue to serve Old River
School Rd. Together the routes could benefit from some modifications as a way to increase
ridership. The fixed routes are least productive during the midday. The types of improvement
that would enhance ridership would be during the peak hour. The changes not only open
service up to attracting new riders, but has the potential to create increased use among existing
riders. Removing routes to create two -way straight -line trips would be at the expense of possibly
losing existing riders. Again, the total annual operating costs remain the same.
Alternative 2: Amalgamated. Alternative _2 uses both DowneyLink service and DAR to
increase productivity of both operations and creates a central point of management.
There is no significant change in routes under this option. This alternative is the one that
considers maintaining the systems current customers. The service covers all four quadrants of
the City in relative efficiency. Where the service becomes inefficient is during periods of low
ridership which occur midday. Current ridership reflects passenger, travel between the hours of
9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Ridership on the Southeast Route could potentially be the exception to
the midday low in the noon to 2:00 p.m. hours. While there are no periods during the day of
ridership on average exceeding 60% of capacity, the customer base does represent practical
use of the service. During the midday ridership level drops significantly, to the point that it
becomes very inefficient for operation of a full size fixed route bus. There is little customer
demand along the routes, which result from a change in trip purpose during the day. In the peak
hours, which in the morning is between the 8:12 a.m. and 9:50 a.m. and the afternoon peak trips
between 2:16 p.m. and 4:50 p.m., ridership is increased by students using the service as an
option to get to and from their destinations. Service reduction during the midday would help to
eliminate the inefficiency and could be accomplished by removing fixed route buses from
service and opting to continue the limited trip demand with general public DAR service. It should
be noted that this service may gain popularity overtime triggering the need to go back to fixed
route buses. Knowing this, the midday should be monitored for ridership levels and destinations
traveled to and from. Customers who use midday service are likely to find it more favorable than
riding on the current fixed route buses. This alternative will include the addition of taxi service
which will be overseen by a Operations Manager of third party contracts and provide direct
overishgt of in -house DAR service. The goal is to provide more service contract and
containment of costs. Taxi service average cost per passenger for small operators in Los
Angeles County is $12.60 compared to the average costs for small operators in Los Angeles
County of $20.06 for general demand response service. Several DAR operators have
implemented same day taxi programs as a supplement to their ADA paratransit service and
result in cost savings and increased flexibility for the riders. Same -day taxi service allows
eligible riders to reserve and take trips with a taxi company on the day of travel, as opposed to
the next -day, advance reservation requirement by DAR. The taxi programs typically have
restrictions on use. For example, limits on the amount of subsidy per taxi trip and a limit on the
number of taxi trips that can be taken through the program during periods of time such as per
day or per month. The restrictions serve as budgetary controls on the programs. Typically, the
DAR systems of smaller Cities subsidize a trip based on the distance traveled or by fixed
boundaries, such as the city limits, or provide service to destinations beyond the City
boundaries based on predetermined fare rates. Service beyond the city limits are at an
additional cost to the passenger. Another form of subsidy is by maximum amount on the
taximeter with the rider paying a pre - determined fare at the start of the trip. If the rider's taxi trip
exceeds that maximum amount on the meter, the rider is responsible for paying the amount
over the maximum. For example, one of the same day taxi programs reviewed in this research
allows a DAR rider to take a trip up to $10 on the meter for a fare of $2.25. A $10 taxi trip is
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Special Meeting — February 2, 2015
approximately two to three miles. If the taxi trip exceeds $10 on the meter, the rider must pay
the additional amount as well as the initial fare of $2.25. If same -day taxi service is
implemented, several issues should be addressed such as whether local taxi companies have
any accessible taxi vehicles, ensure procedures are in place to closely monitor ridership and
reduce possible fraud possibly with the use of swipe card services, and Federal requirements
for drug and alcohol testing of city contracted taxi drivers. In terms of cost savings, the
transition year includes the cost for startup and the initial year of contract service based on the
assumption that not more than six months of contract service is in effect, at a maximum cost of
$150,000. There is little to no savings in the transition year. The first full year of service is
estimated at a rate of $330,538 or a savings low of 23.4% to a high of 30.8 %. This saving trend
continues through the next four years, to a possible high of 57.1 %. The low rate of savings show
a plateau in FY 2017/2018, 37.1 % and could possibly show less of a savings percentage the
following year, 33.9 %, due to rising cost in FY 2018/2019.
Alternative 3 = Contract Operations. This alternative would use management staff to
oversee the operations of complete contract services which include fixed route operations, DAR
service and taxi service. Contractors provide the operations while management, City personnel,
provide administrative tasks. The maintenance of vehicles would be the contractor's
responsibility. The vehicles used are either purchased by the City or supplied by the contractor.
The best option is a city -owned vehicle maintained by the contractor. Contractor -owned
vehicles should have specific liquidated damages policies that not only ensure good
maintenance but also ensure aesthetically pleasing vehicles that are clean and cosmetically
maintained and reflect positively on the City. This service includes a Points of Interest Option
that is a specific location that someone may find useful of interesting. The points of interest for
Downey include: Columbia Memorial Space Center, Discovery Sports Complex, Downey High
School, Downey Landing, PIH Health Hospital, Downtown Downey, Kaiser Permanente
Downey, Rancho Los Amigos Nat'l Rehab Center, Stonewood Center, Downey Landing,
Warren High School, Apollo Park, Independence Park, Brookshire Children's Park, Downey
Adult School, Rio San Gabriel Park, Wilderness Park, Dennis the Menace Park, Treasure Island
Park, Furman Park and, and Golden Park. Offering service to points of interest could be the
most economical, but does not guarantee mass ridership. Points of Interest service can be
operated based on need or dispatched from a single location such as the Downey Depot or
Green Line Station. An example of how this service would operate is a peak hour AM trip from
Lakewood Green Line Station to Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center continue on to Los
Angeles County Office of Education with a final stop at Kaiser Permanente. The route would
either continue on serving another Point of Interest trip or travel back to the Green Line for
another trip. There is no requirement that this service run on a fixed schedule. There are three
possible routes that would reach the Points of Interest destinations in the City. Line1 (blueline)
and Line 2 (redline) would serve industry: Rancho Los Amigos, Kirk - Xpedx, Kaiser Permanente,
Office of Education, United California, PIH Health Hospital, Coke Cola, Downey Unified School
District and City of Downey. The two routes represent just under 5 miles of one -way service.
Line 3 (red line) is from Rancho Los Amigos to City Hall and is designed to offer high frequency
service during midday to connect worker with dining and shopping locations. An extension
(orange line) gives recognition to new development in the City. Line 3 represents just over 3.5
miles of one -way service. In order to be attractive, Line 3 would need to operate in sequence of
roughly five minutes to attract consistent ridership. Running Line 1 through 3 would cost just
under $700,000 per year. DAR service savings are greater than Alternative 2 savings, without
the implementation of midday general purpose shared ride service._ The change in operating
costs would be realized in five years after bus purchase at 31.1 %.
Alternative 4: Outsource. This alternative is a turnkey operation where the entire
operations is provided by a third party. Management oversees the contract with the third party
and implements performance measure to account for the assurance of satisfactory service.
The most significant reason to outsource is to receive volume discounts which result in cost
efficiency. Other considerations when outsourcing should include Information technology and
keeping up with new development; infrastructure and maintaining an operating facility will assist
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Special Meeting — February 2, 2015
in keeping cost Tow; management team that will have specialized transit knowledge and under
the operations; customer success; financial stability of the provider, on- demand transportation,
services that are not planned or known beforehand. The annual operating costs of outsourcing
services realizes a 31.1 %cost reduction five years after.bu!� purchase.
Mr. Stanely reviewed marketing strategy recommendations he observed while analyzing
the City's services: bus stop and schedule information ease of use; packaging which includes
graphics, amenities, and availability; community .2vents and information locations; and
opportunities for social media accessibility.
After further discussion, the City Council agreed to have Mr. Stanley return with
additional information on Alternative 2,— Amalgamated. Alternative 2 will reduce cost by 40 %,
focus on efficiency, and integrate all services and consists of Fixed Route peak periods, general
midday DAR, all day senior and disable DAR, taxi service, and operation hours.
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City Council Minutes
Special Meeting — February 2, 2015