Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Jonathan Douglass, Assistant to the City Manager
CC:	Bob Nugent, Transit Administrator
DATE:	August 6, 2009
RE:	Football Shuttle Contract Recommendation

Please place this item on the August 11, 2009, City Commission meeting agenda for consideration.

Per City Commission authorization, staff prepared and released a Request for Proposals seeking vendors to provide a shuttle service from Downtown Lawrence to KU’s Memorial Stadium on home football game days in 2009, with an option to provide a non-downtown route also. The city received one response, from University of Kansas Parking and Transit. Staff is comfortable that the proposal is reasonable, as we received only two responses last year and the per bus hour rate quoted in this year’s proposal is the same as last year.

Non-downtown route

The Commission previously directed staff to explore the feasibility of adding a non-downtown route to the shuttle service. Staff had conversations with Doug Holiday, owner of Bigg’s BBQ, who had suggested a non-downtown route, regarding his ideas. Mr. Holiday suggested a route that would serve South Iowa Street, possibly with pickups/drop-offs at hotels and restaurants along that commercial corridor.

KU Parking and Transit, the only vendor to offer a proposal for this service, has informed us that they do not have the resources to operate an additional non-downtown route. If awarded this contract they will be providing two separate game day shuttle services (from downtown and from on-campus parking lots), thus operating at a higher volume than normal KU Transit service days, and would not have adequate fleet, drivers or supervisors to cover another route.

In order to meet passenger demand from the South Iowa area, staff is exploring options for using the newly coordinated KU/City transit Route 11, which will connect South Iowa Street to campus and downtown, to move additional riders. Some reroutes of that route are generally required on game days anyway due to congestion of traffic coming to and leaving the game. Fares on this route would have to remain at $1.00 per one way trip, because the federal charter rules disallow the charging of a different fare for service associated with an event.

Fare recommendation and cost estimates

Staff recommends charging a $1.00 roundtrip fare for the downtown route, and a $1.00 one way fare for any service provided by the normal transit service of the city and KU (as explained above). Staff does not recommend waiving fares with the presentation of a Lawrence receipt/hotel key, etc., because of the administrative difficulty of examining receipts, etc. and collecting fares quickly enough to efficiently board the buses. Based on the price quoted by KU Parking and Transit, and the ridership and bus hours of the average game last year, staff estimates that the total net cost of the service for the entire 2009 season will be approximately $10,961.   

ACTION:       Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with KU Parking and Transit to provide game day shuttle service for the 2009 KU Football season.