City of Lawrence

Public Transit

 

TO:

Dave Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Cliff Galante, Public Transit Administrator

 

CC:

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager

 

DATE:

May 23, 2008

 

RE:

Obligate Awarded Job Access Reverse Commute Grant for Transit Vehicle Replacement

 

Please place the following item on the City Commission agenda for consideration at their June 3, 2008 meeting:

 

Authorize staff to obligate the Federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) grant recently awarded by KDOT in the amount of $496,817.50 for transit vehicle replacement.  Staff will need to apply for the approved funding through the Federal Transit Administration, as KDOT will not be applying for these awarded funds on the City’s behalf.

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

In January, upon receiving City Commission approval, staff submitted a Job Access Reverse Commute grant application in the amount of $520,000 to the Kansas Department of Transportation for fixed-route vehicle replacement to support ongoing efforts by the City to transport low to moderate income residents to and from employment.  On May 6, staff was notified by KDOT that was awarded $496,817.50 in JARC funding.   

 

The Federal Transit Administration has requested that staff obligate the awarded JARC funds in June since they are older funds that are scheduled to lapse.  Obligating the funds prevents them from lapsing and becoming unavailable. 

 

To obligate the available funds the Federal Transit Administration requires that the vehicle type and unit cost be identified.  

 

Staff is not seeking to acquire vehicles using these funds at this time, and would be seeking City Commission approval when such procurement is initiated.   Once grant funds are obligated, there is no specific requirement that they be spent within a certain period of time.  However, FTA encourages grantees to spend the awarded funds as quickly as possible since it could adversely impact future awards.  Spending money slowly implies that the grant funds were not needed immediately and could have been provided to others with more pressing needs.

 

Staff Recommendation:

Staff recommends that the available funds be used to acquire two (2) 30ft heavy-duty, low-floor, transit vehicles at a unit cost of $320,000 each.  These vehicles will be used to replace vehicles currently operating in T fixed-route service that will fulfill their useful service life

requirements at the end of this year.  The $143,182.50 local match needed to acquire the vehicles and spend the grant funds would be covered using available funds in the transit system’s equipment reserve. 

 

Staff believes, based on a variety of factors listed below, that the City of Lawrence would be best served by operating heavy-duty transit vehicles for fixed-route service.  Staff’s professional experience as well as research conducted by speaking with many peers, maintenance professionals, and vehicle manufacturers throughout the transit industry reinforces this recommendation.  This recommendation is based upon the conditions T vehicles are placed under, operating 14 hours a day, 6 days a week and traveling on average 55,000 miles per year.  A heavy-duty vehicle has a useful service life of 12 years or 500,000 miles.  

 

A bus is nothing more than a tool.  In order to make the wisest investment possible with limited resources, it is important to obtain the right tool for the right job. 

 

The smallest heavy-duty transit vehicle that is manufactured is 30ft in length.  The buses currently operated in T fixed-route service are 30ft in length.  By comparison, the buses operated by the University of Kansas for their fixed-route service are 35ft and 40ft in length.  If the City and University are to increase coordination of service in the future it will be important that the City operate the appropriate size vehicles.  The City may want to explore using different sized-vehicles based on certain applications.  One-size fits all approach does not necessarily need to apply.

 

The current T buses are rated through Altoona bus testing as medium-duty vehicles with a manufacturer’s useful service life of 10-years or 350,000 miles (whichever comes first).  They have a seating capacity of 25.  When the two wheelchair securements are used, the seating capacity is reduced to 18.  On some routes at certain peak times, this capacity is reached.

 

Transit vehicles used to operate T Lift service are 25ft in length and are rated as light-duty vehicles with a 5 year or 100,000 mile service life. These vehicles have a seating capacity of 10 with 2 wheelchair securements.  Vehicles 30ft in length or greater, as compared to vehicles less than 30ft in length in terms of how they are manufactured and their overall durability is comparing “apples and oranges”, thus justifying the large difference in acquisition price.  Vehicles less than 30ft are referred to cutaways since they are bus bodies installed on truck chassis.  Vehicles 30ft or greater are built specifically for mass transit purposes.

 

See attached photo that compares the length of a 25ft T Lift bus, 30ft T bus, and 40ft KU bus.

 

Main factors to consider when acquiring vehicles are:

(1)   Safety; (2) Reliability; (3) Accessibility; (4) Efficiency; and (5) Capacity

 

Other important factors to consider include: turning radius, ride quality, public acceptance, visual impact, route flexibility, legal liability, adequacy of maintenance and storage facilities, training needs, and fleet standardization.         

 

See attached for analysis completed by staff with the assistance of MV Transportation in comparing life-cycle costs of heavy-duty vehicles to light-duty vehicles.

 

Action Required:

City Commission direction on the vehicle type and unit cost for staff to submit to the Federal Government to obligate available grant funds.