Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	David Corliss, City Manager Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
DATE:	May 12, 2015
RE:	Summer Pass Program and Free Fare Possibilities

Summer Pass Program

The Summer Pass program was started in 2013 as a way to promote and market public transit to a new generation of potential passengers. The program also sought to create cooperative opportunities between Lawrence Transit and other entities within our community.

The Summer Pass Program was designed as a long term marketing approach to address negative perceptions and/or misconceptions pertaining to our transit service. Primarily the program was designed to target future “choice” riders. Choice riders would be someone that has access to an automobile but chooses to use public transit instead of driving.  Introducing public transit to a “pre-driving” population provides an opportunity to overcome stereotyped perceptions through real experience.

The summer pass is a low cost single pass that can be used for unlimited rides over a three month period (June-August) in the summer. Students in grades K-12 are eligible to use the Summer Pass. The cost of the pass is $10.

• 2013 - Lawrence Transit partnered with Lawrence Public Library for the rollout of the new program in 2013. Lawrence Public Library had long been interested in working together to increase access to their summer reading program. Lawrence Public Library assumed the lead in providing outreach to over 6,500 students. They also purchased 100 passes that they distributed to students that were participating in the reading program. In total we sold 300 passes for a total of $3,000.

• 2014 - In 2014 Lawrence Transit partnered with Lawrence Parks and Recreation. In an effort to increase access to the numerous summer activities they offer Parks and Recreation began selling Summer Passes at both the Indoor and Outdoor Aquatic Centers. In total 398 passes were sold in 2014 for a total of $3,980.

• 2015 - This year Lawrence Transit worked with Lawrence Parks and Recreation to increase the availability of the Summer Passes by selling them at additional locations like Rock Chalk Park, Holcom Rec Center, East Lawrence Rec Center, and the Community Building. These passes went on sale on May 1, 2015.

In addition to the summer Pass Program there are existing fare options available for those participating in the Summer Food Program. They are as follows:

Reduced Fares for Students

For students using transit throughout the year or for those that do not participate in the Summer Pass Program the standard cash fare is $0.50. Students are also eligible to use a reduced fare monthly pass which is good for one calendar month. This pass is available all year for $17 a month. Monthly passes are generally purchased for two reasons. First is convenience. It is much more convenient to prepay for a pass than to provide exact fares on a daily basis. The second reason is to save money. For passengers that ride the bus frequently (more than 17 round trips a month) buying a monthly pass reduces their cost per trip.

Single Ride Tickets

Single ride tickets are special tickets that were designed for use by agencies. They are available at a cost of $1 per ticket. Agencies usually purchase these in advance and provide them to their clients when needed. These special tickets were designed so that they can be easily monitored and counted after use.

Available Transit Service

We currently provide service within a couple blocks of all seven of the Lawrence Summer Food Program meal sites. This service runs from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday. No additional service will be required in order to accommodate the sites.

Options

In order to assist in the efforts of the Summer Food Program there are two existing options. These options could either be provided through a pre-purchase by the agencies or through donations from the City of Lawrence. The two options are:

Single Ride Tickets - Currently the City of Lawrence is providing over 15,000 single ride tickets to the Lawrence Community Shelter for distribution to their clients so that they can get to and from their facility. In addition numerous agencies also purchased over 9,000 single ride tickets last year. These tickets are not limited by date and can be targeted to individuals for specific trips and purposes.

Summer Bus Pass - The Summer Pass Program could be easily used to support the Summer Food Program. It would also benefit the recipient by providing unlimited transportation to the numerous activities provided by both the Lawrence Public Library and Lawrence Parks and Recreation. 

With both of these approaches staff would recommend that the distribution of the passes of tickets be performed by the individual agencies and not though our sales outlets or central office.