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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2022 0302 CCSA REG ITEM 09BCITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting of March 2, 2022 ACTION APPROVED STAFF RECOMMENDATION. (VOICE VOTE: UNANIMOUS). BY A. Hurtado. B. Consider Providing Comments on Possible Unmet Transit Needs to the Ventura County Transportation Commission and Receive Report on Unmet Transit Needs Findings and Goals. Staff Recommendation: Receive public comments concerning Moorpark City Transit and direct staff accordingly. (Staff: Shaun Kroes, Public Works Manager) Item: 9.B. MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Shaun Kroes, Program Manager DATE: 03/02/2022 Regular Meeting SUBJECT: Consider Providing Comments on Possible Unmet Transit Needs to the Ventura County Transportation Commission and Receive Report on Unmet Transit Needs Findings and Goals SUMMARY On April 18, 2002, the City Council directed staff to prepare an annual report on the City’s transit performance regarding the findings and goals that the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) adopts each year at the conclusion of the Unmet Transit Needs process. Attachment 1 serves as this year’s annual report on the City’s performance. The City Council is being asked to review the annual report, provide comments, and direct staff to forward the comments to VCTC. BACKGROUND On December 6, 2013, VCTC approved new Unmet Transit Needs definitions and adjusted its public participation input program. This revision was in response to VCTC’s Regional Transit Study as well as the impacts of Senate Bill (SB) 716 and SB 203 (both of which became effective July 1, 2014). The revised definitions and public participation input program are detailed in Attachment 2 of this report. California Public Utilities Code (PUC) 99401.5(c) requires that VCTC hold at least one public hearing pursuant to PUC Section 99238.5 to solicit comments on Unmet Transit Needs that may exist within the jurisdictions and that may be reasonable to meet by establishing or contracting for new public transportation, or specialized transportation, or by expanding existing services. All Unmet Transit Needs that are reasonable to meet must be funded before any allocation is made from TDA funds to the cities/county for streets and roads pursuant to PUC 99401.5(e). Effective July 1, 2014, the remaining Ventura County cities that this is applicable to are: Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark and Santa Paula (all cities with a population under 100,000 and not a member of the Gold Coast Transit District). On June 11, 2018, legislation allowed the City of Thousand Oaks to spend TDA money on local streets, which means the City of Thousand Oaks now Item: 9.B. 27 Honorable City Council 03/02/2022 Regular Meeting Page 2 returns to the Unmet Transit Needs process. Although there are now a limited number of cities that are affected by PUC 99401.5(e), VCTC must perform a countywide Unmet Transit Needs process. The VCTC may identify an Unmet Transit Need in a service area not affected by PUC 99401.5(e) (such as Gold Coast Transit or the City of Simi Valley); however, it has no ability to require that Unmet Transit Needs be implemented because the agency is already committing 100% of its TDA funding for existing transit services. DISCUSSION The VCTC held its annual public hearing on Unmet Transit Needs on February 4, 2022, (via Zoom) during its regular monthly Commission meeting. The VCTC also normally holds community meetings where the public can meet with VCTC staff to provide comments. This year (as in 2021), the community meetings were performed via Zoom on January 12, January 25, and February 3. City staff attended the January 12 meeting. At the January 12 meeting, only a couple of members of the public attended the meeting and there were no Moorpark-specific comments. In addition to attending an Unmet Transit Needs meeting, the public also has the option of submitting written comments through VCTC’s online Unmet Transit Needs survey, through email, telephone, or mail. Comments were due to VCTC by February 11, 2022. According to the PUC, VCTC must decide, by adopting a resolution, either that: 1. There are no unmet transit needs; 2. There are no unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet; or, 3. There are unmet transit needs, including needs that are reasonable to meet. The resolution must include information that provides the basis for VCTC’s decision. Prior to VCTC’s Fiscal Year 2016/17 Transit Needs Assessment, VCTC would include an extensive list of transit goals that were not considered an Unmet Transit Need, based on comments submitted by the public. Goals that were applicable to Moorpark would be included in the City’s Report of Performance. The VCTC reports since that time have no longer included a list of goals. Consequently, the City’s Report of Performance provides a general report of transit services in Moorpark. The report also addresses any Moorpark- specific comments made during VCTC’s Unmet Transit Needs process. While the comment period for this year’s Unmet Transit Needs process has passed, staff is still presenting to City Council with an opportunity to provide any transit comments that could be forwarded to VCTC or, could be considered internally by the City for its own services. Separate from the regular Unmet Transit Needs advertising process, City staff also provided notices online and on the City buses informing passengers of tonight’s City Council meeting. Members of the public were encouraged to provide comments to the City about any potential improvements they would like to see for Moorpark City Transit. Comments received from the public will be provided to City Council during the meeting. 28 Honorable City Council 03/02/2022 Regular Meeting Page 3 FISCAL IMPACT None. COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE This action does not support a current strategic directive. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Receive public comments concerning Moorpark City Transit and direct staff accordingly. Attachment 1: Report of Performance Attachment 2: Unmet Needs Definition 29 ATTACHMENT 1 Report of Performance 2022/23 Unmet Transit Needs Moorpark City Transit Moorpark City Transit Fiscal Year (FY) 2020/21 Ridership Information: In FY 2020/21, Moorpark City Transit, along with all other transit services in the United States, continued to see the impacts of COVID-19. Ridership levels continued to remain low both nationwide and with Moorpark City Transit. Although Moorpark City Transit implemented reduced bus hours at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, full service hours were back in place by June 2020 and FY 2020/21 had full bus revenue hours along with increased revenue hours beginning in the middle of October 2020 through December 2020 in an effort to provide additional bus service for students traveling to and from Moorpark High School when it implemented tiered part-time in person learning. Also, in FY 2020/21: •Fares on bus and dial-a-ride services remained suspended. •The number of bus passengers per vehicle was increased from no more than 10 passengers at a time to no more than 14 passengers at a time. The City was able to fund bus and dial-a-ride operations with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The City’s allocation was $1,002,706, and reimbursement could be requested for expenditures that took place after January 20, 2020. In FY 2020/21, the City received $654,454 in expenditure reimbursements for bus and dial-a-ride operations, staff costs, and auditing services. Also, as a reminder, Assembly Bill 90 remained effective. This legislation waived penalties on transit operators that did not maintain the required farebox ratio of fare revenues to operating costs during FY 2019/20 and FY 2020/21. This enabled the City to keep fares suspended and reduce demand on the City’s own local revenue sources that were previously used to meet farebox ratio requirements. •In FY 2020/21, bus ridership decreased 62.16%; from 33,913 trips in FY 2019/20 to 14,040 trips in FY 2020/21. •Senior, disabled and personal care attendant (PCA) travel on the bus decreased 82.53% in FY 2020/21 (from 8,588 trips to 1,500). Approximately 10.68% of all passengers on the buses were seniors/disabled/PCAs. •In FY 2020/21 dial-a-ride (DAR) services (both Local and InterCity services) provided 1,588 trips. This is a decrease of 73.64% compared to 6,024 trips in FY 2019/20. Between the two services, trips on the Local DAR service increased 15.75% (from 1,111 trips to 1,286) and InterCity trips decreased 87.71% (from 4,913 trips to 302). •The City’s VCTC audited farebox ratio (including Moorpark City Transit, Beach Bus, and DAR services) was calculated at 0.01% for FY 2020/21. The lack of a farebox ratio in FY 2020/21 is due to both the suspension of fares and not using any local City revenues to fund transit services. As previously mentioned, penalties for not achieving a 20% farebox ratio were suspended for FY 2019/20 and FY 2020/21. 30 Report of Performance 2022/23 Unmet Transit Needs Moorpark City Transit Page 2 Findings adopted by VCTC June 5, 2020. There are no Unmet Transit Needs that are reasonable to meet. During the Unmet Transit Needs process, VCTC presented Findings; some of which included or involved transit service in Moorpark. Those Findings are provided below, with a brief response. In some instances, the response is directly from VCTC. Comment/Service Request Response Service between Fillmore and Moorpark (8 requests) VCTC Response: Additionally, there has been repeat demand expressed for several years regarding connectivity between the cities of Fillmore and Moorpark, including this year where it was the most frequent comment received during the public participation process. As with service to Santa Clarita, issues of feet capacity and needs, route costs and route configuration will need to be addressed as part of the planning process. Planning for these service improvements has been superseded by responding to the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in significant service reductions and uncertain funding for transit. VCTC has been focused on providing transit safely and effectively for essential trips for individuals who continue to rely on public transit. As transit agencies work to recover from the reduced ridership and revenue brought on by COVID- 19, the priority is to reinstate service. VCTC staff intends to restart planning efforts for these routes after reduced transit service has been reinstated and the funding picture is clearer. Moorpark Staff Comments: The City supports the concept of transit service between Fillmore and Moorpark and is happy to work with VCTC and City of Fillmore on potential transfer points and times. Based upon comments submitted from the public; this appears to be demand from Fillmore residents, not Moorpark residents. Funding for the transit service should be from Fillmore/VCTC. Out of 166 comments submitted, there were no comments specific to Moorpark City Transit. 31 ATTACHMENT 2 “UNMET TRANSIT NEED” Public transportation services identified by the public with sufficient broad-based community support that have not been funded or implemented. Unmet transit needs identified in a government-approved plan meet the definition of an unmet transit need. Sufficient broad-based community support means that persons who will likely use the service on a routine basis demonstrate support: at least 15 requests for general public service and 10 requests for disabled service. Includes: Public transit services not currently provided to reach employment, medical assistance, shop for food or clothing, to obtain social services such as health care, county welfare programs and education programs. Service must be needed by and benefit the general public. Service expansions including new routes, significant modifications to existing routes, and major increases in service hours and frequency Excludes: Operational changes such as minor route changes, bus stop changes, or changes in schedule Requests for extended hour (less than one (1) hour) Service for groups or individuals that is not needed by or will not benefit the general public Comments about vehicles, facilities, driver performance and transit organizational structure Requests for better coordination Requests for reduced fares and changes to fare restrictions Improvements funded or scheduled for implementation in the following year Future transportation needs Duplication or replacement of existing service “REASONABLE TO MEET” Outcome Definitions Measures & Criterias Equity The proposed service will not cause reductions in existing transit services that have an equal or higher priority Measures: Vehicle revenue service hours and revenue service miles. Criteria: Transit vehicle service hours and miles will not be reduced on existing routes to fund the proposed service Timing The proposed service is in response to an existing rather than future transit need Criteria: Same as definition that proposed service is in response to an existing rather than future transit need; based on public input Feasibility The proposed service can be provided with the existing fleet or under contract to a private provider Measure: Vehicle spare ratio: Transit system must be able to maintain FTA’s spare ratio requirement of 20% (buses in peak service divided by the total bus fleet cannot fall below 20%). If less than 20%, can additional buses be obtained (purchased or 32 Outcome Definitions Measures & Criterias leased) or can service be provided under contract to a private provider? Feasibility There are adequate roadways to safely accommodate transit vehicles Measure & Criteria: Route inspection to determine adequacy of infrastructure to accommodate transit vehicles and passengers. Cost Effectiveness The proposed service will not unduly affect the operator’s ability to maintain the required passenger fare ratio for its system as a whole Measure: Total estimate annual passenger fare revenue divided by total annual operating cost (the entire service including the proposed service) Criteria: fare revenue/operating cost cannot fall below the operator’s required passenger fare ratio. Cost Effectiveness The proposed service will meet the scheduled passenger fare ratio standards described in Attachment A Measures and criteria in Attachment A. Service Effectiveness Estimated passengers per hour for the proposed service will not be less than the system-wide average after three years. Measure: Passengers per hour. Criteria: Projected passengers per hour for the proposed service is not less than 70% of the system-wide average (without the proposed service) at the end of 12 month of service, 85% at the end of 24 months of service, and 100% at the end of 36 months of service. PASSENGER FARE RATIOS It is desirable for all proposed transit services in urban areas to achieve a 20% passenger fare ratio by the end of the third year of operation. A passenger fare ratio of 10% is desired for special services (i.e., elderly and disabled) and rural area services*. More detailed passenger fare ration standards, which will be used to evaluate services as they are proposed and implemented, are described below. Transit service both urban and rural areas, per state law, may obtain an “intermediate” passenger fare ratio. Urban Service Rural Service Recommended Action New Service Performance Criteria: End of Twelve Months Less than 6% Less than 3% Provider may discontinue service 6% or more 3% or more Provider will continue service, with modifications if needed 33 New Service Performance Criteria: End of Twenty-four Months Less than 10% Less than 5% Provider may discontinue service 10% or more 5% or more Provider will continue service, with modifications if needed New Service Performance Criteria: End of Thirty-Six Months ** Less than 15% Less than 7% Provider may discontinue service 15% to 19% 7% to 9% Provider may consider modifying and continue service 20% or more 10% or more Provider will continue service, with modifications if needed *Per statute the VCTC may establish a lower fare for community transit (dial-a-ride) services. **A review will take place after 30 months to develop a preliminary determination regarding the discontinuation of proposed services 34