Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
Date:	November 10, 2010
RE:	Request to Purchase Three (3) Fixed Route Buses Off of State of Minnesota Contract -$940,539

Please place the following item on the agenda for the November 16, 2010 City Commission meeting:

Background:

The T currently uses twelve (12) 30-foot vehicles for providing fixed route service. The service life of these vehicles was rated at ten years or 350,000 miles. As of January 2010 the entire fleet has well exceeded their service life.

Bus Number	Year	Mfg.	Model #	Acquisition Date	Lifetime	Mileage	% Life Miles
718	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	9/5/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	364,777	104.22%
719	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	9/5/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	384,816	109.95%
720	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	9/21/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	366,508	104.72%
721	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	9/21/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	391,181	111.77%
722	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	9/21/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	391,410	111.83%
723	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	9/21/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	369,072	105.45%
725	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	10/15/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	399,624	114.18%
726	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	10/20/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	425,866	121.68%
727	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	10/23/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	403,394	115.26%
728	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	10/29/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	407,501	116.43%
729	2002	El Dorado	Transmark RE 29	10/25/01	10 years or 350,000 miles	378,932	108.27%

Recognizing this, the department developed a vehicle replacement plan in October 2009. This plan was developed prior to receiving consultant recommendations pertaining to the type and level of service that may be implemented in August 2010. Therefore the plan was based on several assumptions and had to anticipate accommodating both high volumes of passengers, as well as, vehicle maneuverability that would be necessary in non-traditional service.

With the completion of the consultant recommendations some adjustments to the initial plan became necessary. The initial plan anticipated a considerable amount of intermingling of both City and KU on combined or coordinated routes. This intermingling would have justified larger medium-duty vehicles to deal the rigors of the service and to accommodate higher passenger activity. Instead several of the routes were designed to take advantage of smaller vehicle size and thus there was less need for medium-duty buses. 

The adjusted plan called for a mix of three vehicle types to replace the twelve (12) bus fleet as follows:

• 3 Heavy-Duty 40’ Hybrid Buses
• 3 Heavy-Duty or Medium-Duty 30’ Buses
• 6 Light-Duty 25” Buses

Of these twelve (12) fixed route vehicles only three (3) vehicles have not been ordered. The nine (9) that have been ordered include three (3) heavy-duty 40’ hybrid buses and six (6) light duty buses.

Commission approved the purchase of the three (3) heavy-duty 40’ hybrid buses late last year. These vehicles were ordered and should be delivered in mid 2011. The Commission also approved the purchase of six (6) light-duty 25’ (cut-away) buses earlier this year. These vehicles have been delivered and are currently being prepared for service.

In our efforts to acquire the last three replacement vehicles we decided to utilize a “piggyback” opportunity from an existing contract. ElDorado National – California, Inc. was able to locate an option with the State of Minnesota.

ElDorado National started building commercial buses in California over 30 years ago.  Since then, ElDorado National has grown to become the largest volume producer of commercial buses in North America.  To help accommodate continued growth, in 2004 they moved into a new state-of-the-art bus manufacturing facility in Riverside, California.  The facility encompasses over 220,000 square feet on 17 acres and is purpose built for the production of commercial buses. They manufacture five lines of commercial vehicles.

Recommendation:

Over the last few months we have worked with ElDorado National to define vehicle design and option parts that would work best for our service environment. In doing so we decided to pursue 31’ heavy-duty low-floor biodiesel buses. These three (3) buses will ultimately be used on higher capacity routes since they have a maximum seated capacity of thirty (30) passengers. These buses have been FTA/Altoona tested for 12 year/500,000 miles. They will be fully accessible and will be equipped with bicycle racks.

Staff recommends the purchase of three (3) heavy-duty 31’ buses (as described above) to replace the balance of the fixed route fleet. In order to expedite our efforts to acquire replacement vehicles staff decided to utilize the current State of Minnesota Bid Contract with ElDorado National.

Funding and Cost:

Funding for the purchase of these vehicles will come from existing FTA formula allocation grants (5307) and FTA earmark grants (5309). These buses are $313,513 a unit. The total estimated cost to purchase these three buses is $940,539. In order to fully utilize the FTA funds it is necessary for a local match of $159,892. We plan to utilize the Transit Equipment .05 Sales Tax Revenues for the local match.

Action Request:

If appropriate, authorize staff to acquire three (3) fixed-route vehicles as replacements for three (3) existing fixed-route transit vehicles which have surpassed both the manufacturer and Federal Transit Administration useful life requirements. These vehicles would be purchased off of the existing State of Minnesota Bid Contract (#442664) with ElDorado National. The total cost for the three vehicles is $940,539 which requires $159,892 in local match.