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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-20-17 City Commission Packet Materials - A7. HRDC Funding Request for Streamline Commission Memorandum REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission FROM: Kristin Donald, Finance Director SUBJECT: Streamline Funding Request. AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Action MEETING DATE: November 20, 2017 RECOMMENDATION: Provide the funding to Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) for Streamline Services up to $64,000. BACKGROUND: On June 26, 2017 during the budget adoption, the Commission discussed aiding in Streamline funding. On September 11, 2017, the Commission adopted Resolution No. 4843 amending the General Fund budget to appropriate $64,000 for Streamline Services. At the time, the Commission indicated that they would not release the funding until they had received a proposal from Streamline that detailed what services could be added or assisted with the additional funding. Attached is their proposal to improve Streamline Services with the appropriated $64,000. ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission. FISCAL EFFECTS: The FY18 Approved Budget for the General Fund, as amended in September, included appropriations of $64,000 that are available to Streamline. Approving the request will spend up to $64,000 in the current year’s General Fund. Report compiled on: November 14, 2017 313 Attached: HRDC Request and information regarding the $64,000 314 History of Streamline Since the beginning, the needs of the people in our community have driven the planning process of a Bozeman transportation system. What’s more, those evolving needs will continue to guide us as we expand our routes and services. Funding levels, ridership trends, and the location of new neighborhoods, roads, facilities and public input will all contribute to shaping our future routes and services. Although planning for the new line began in 2001, the genesis of the project goes back to a 1986 study by the College of Engineering at Montana State University that analyzed the possibility of a transit system in Bozeman. The results of much analysis developed the Greater Bozeman Area Transit Development Plan, which laid the foundation for a public bus system and supplied the information needed to request federal funding for a transit system. Also, as a result of that study, the City of Bozeman created a Transit Task Force which studied transit systems across Montana and surrounding regions. The task force then created the Feasibility Report: Bozeman Area Transit. This feasibility report was designed to create opportunities for students to get to school and for workers to get to their jobs, which continues to be our focus. Additional studies were conducted until the cities of Bozeman and Belgrade, along with Gallatin County established the Public Transportation Stakeholders Advisory Board and invested $50,000 for a study to be completed by LSC Transportation Consultants, transportation planning and traffic engineering consultants based in Tahoe City, California. The long term portion of that study is still underway, but the board, with the help of the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) as the interim lead agency, had the information it needed to begin a transit system in Bozeman utilizing existing resources and rental buses until the arrival of the signature classic yellow buses. In August of 2006 Streamline hit the streets of Bozeman with rented white buses and a vision of how we wanted our system to look. Streamline started with three in-town routes and commuter service to and from Belgrade, Montana about ten miles to the west of Bozeman. Within the first year we had purchased our distinctive yellow “bustle back” buses that have become the symbol of our system. We also entered into an agreement with Yellowstone National Park for lease of an additional four buses that were no longer being used within the park. We now run with a fleet of fourteen buses of which eight are used during our peak hours’ service. In the second year of operation Streamline added a late night service three evenings a week focusing on getting students safely from downtown to the college. This service was funded by the students of Montana State University and has become a popular service and has been praised by the Bozeman Police Department and the DUI Taskforce as well. At this time we also began contracting with two local ski areas to provide weekend service to recreational areas. During our third year of operation commuter service to Livingston, a small town to the east of Bozeman, was added. This service provided four trips a day: two each morning 315 with return trips in the evening. Limited Saturday service was also added during our third year of operation. Recently we added another route to our Saturday service so it is very much like the rest of the week. We do run a more limited schedule on the weekend but are looking at increasing our hours to match our week day service. Funding for Streamline Of course, everything is predicated by funding. When it was first determined that HRDC would become the lead agency, it was because of the Galavan para-transit service that was already operating in Gallatin County. The money that our funding partners were giving to Galavan would be used to leverage the federal dollars needed to start and maintain a fixed route system. The cities of Belgrade and Bozeman, Gallatin County, United Way, Area IV Agency on Aging and HRDC all contributed to Galavan and these monies with those offered by the Associated Students of Montana State University (ASMSU) were used to leverage the first federal grant. In Fiscal 2010 Streamline gained the Office of the President of Montana State University as a funding partner for three years. This allotment was extended for another three years in 2013 and has continued to be approved. Although this money is still in place, it is very precarious as it is provided on a year to year basis. The danger of losing any of these funding sources is the reason for always seeking alternative sources of income such as “in bus” advertising and building our base of corporate partners. Our first operating budget was $596,075 of which $433,281 was reimbursed by 5311 funding. We also had a capital grant for $807,237 which was used to purchase our first six yellow buses. We also had local contributions of $137,789 put toward the purchase price. In FY 08 we were granted $400,000 in 5311 monies and $137,789 in JARC funding. New Freedom money was used to bolster our funding in FY09 to a total of $526,595. Our 5311 funding has increased steadily as our ridership has continued to improve each year. Over the years we have also been supplemented by TransAde money as well. Our current budget shows $1,111,651 in 5311 funding for operational costs in addition to $276,000 from MSU and ASMSU, $87,000 in contract income, $128,000 from Bozeman and Belgrade, and $11,400 in miscellaneous income for a total budget of $1,611,551. This is an overall reduction of $41,693 which has put us in a position to ask the City of Bozeman for an additional contribution of $64,000 for Fiscal 18. 316 Success of Streamline Recently named the Montana Transit System of the Year, and the winner of two prestigious national awards, Streamline has been spectacularly successful. When the first study was released Streamline had been predicted to average 198 rides a day. We surpassed that number in the second week of service and have not looked back. During our first partial year of operation we gave a total of 76,303 rides which averaged 252 rides given a day which included all services. Compare that with the total of 272,330 rides given in Fiscal 17 and you can see the impressive growth that has taken place. We are rapidly approaching our 3,000,000 ride given. For a regional system in an area with a population of 75,000, we are proud of what we have been able to accomplish in such a short time. Based on research carried out by HRDC and Montana State University, the majority of our riders are connected with MSU. About 60% of our riders are students with another 10% being faculty and staff. MSU continues to fund our Livingston commuter runs because of the large number of college related riders. Another 10% of our rides are job related. Our Belgrade daily service is designed to bring riders in to Bozeman in time for work and to return to Belgrade in a timely manner for those working there. All of our efforts have focused on the college and educational opportunities as well as making sure that people in low income areas can reach job sites around town. Our Belgrade route also includes a small, non-incorporated town which is a low income area. We have been using the ideas behind “Ladders of Opportunity” since the beginning of our service. Future of Streamline In Fiscal Year 16 we hired the Western Transportation Institute to conduct a review of our system and have tried to incorporate those results in ways to improve our current system and look for new areas of service. Some population areas have developed and we want to make sure that those students and workers have the services they need to reach school or work in a timely manner. The future of Streamline is dependent on HRDC’s willingness to continue to be the lead agency. The initial recommendation was to form an Urban Transit District, which now seems unlikely, or for the City of Bozeman to take the lead and make the system a municipal system as many systems in Montana are. HRDC is also looking at the institutionalization of Streamline which would bring the drivers and maintenance under its umbrella. Those services are currently contracted with Karst Stage of Bozeman. Our futuristic view of Streamline includes at least six in-town routes with service every fifteen minutes starting at six in the morning and running until eight in the evening seven days a week. We would have hourly runs all day to and from Belgrade with commuter runs to Manhattan, Logan, and Three Forks. 317 The Immediate Future Based on the HRDC’s Community Needs Assessment, the recommendations from WTI and rider surveys, we will focus our attention on the following improvements listed in order of perceive need: 1. Re-establishing the peak time frequency on the Blue Line. This could be accomplished beginning in January. The cost of this service piece would be covered with the additional $64,000 from the city. 2. Re-establishing a second noon time route to and from Belgrade. This could also be accomplished by the beginning of second semester. The total cost would be $40,000. 3. Recreating the Blue Line to better serve North 7th and the northwest part of town. This change would necessitate the rewriting of the entire time table to make sure people had access to the college on a half hour basis. This could be accomplished by the start of Fiscal 19. The cost would depend on the frequency our funding partners would like to see. The cost would vary between $0 and $280,000 depending on how the changes would mandate other changes to the system. We have met with the downtown business community about this change and they have been very supportive. We are also reaching out to the Mid-Town group to gauge their willingness to financially supporting this change. 4. *Expanding to offer Sunday service. This change could be added during the current Fiscal Year at a cost of $40,000. This change would also increase the need for Galavan of $30,000 for a total of $70,000. 5. *Increasing service hours. The thing to remember with increasing hours is that a corresponding number of hours must be added to Galavan at the same time. We currently figure the cost of service at $90.00 an hour for Streamline with Galavan slightly less. Because of the tenuous nature of our funding we would hope that the additional $64,000 city contribution would be in the form of ongoing support rather than one time only money. The City of Bozeman has been a very strong partner in the development of the Streamline system. From helping purchases buses to increased funding for operations, Bozeman has stepped up and helped HRDC lead the charge for public transportation. The city can feel very proud of the contributions it has made to the best “large rural” bus system in the state of Montana. 318 For the consideration of funding in the amount of $64,000 Streamline proposes the following route additions for the period of January 1 – June 30, 2018: Sunday Service (Blueline only): $25,000 Sunday Service (Galavan): $15,000 ½ hour frequency Monday – Friday (3 hour duration, AM): $24,000 TOTAL $64,000 These route changes not only provide increased service to one of the fastest growing residential and commercial areas in Bozeman, but will allow for access to Alcohol & Drug Services as well as add transportation to and from the Warming Center on Sundays which has not been available for the past 8 seasons. Please see the attached map for specific route detail. Based on data collected from our needs assessment, the study conducted by the Western Transportation Institute and ridership data, this is the area of first priority. Ridership summary: • Ridership on Blueline has been a steady increase; 26% overall since MSU started this fall (over the same period last year) • The first two weeks of November Blue AM has a 42% increase over last year • Fall 2016 rider counts for Blue AM were around 2,000 per month, Fall 2017 rider counts are pushing 3,000 Please see the annualized costs of this and additional route extensions below: Full North 7th Route (Mon-Fri): $250,000 Full North 7th Route (Mon-Sat): $290,000 these are assuming a completely separate route from the current Blueline Increased Frequency (All in town routes, all day M-F, year round): $770,000 Our needs assessment showed the most interest in expansion to the North side of town (23%) and also specifically along N. 7th Ave (19%). Another 23% of respondents were interested in seeing more service South of 19th Avenue and to the West of Cottonwood. The remaining 35% included more frequency, service to the Food Bank, an additional in town route, having stops in both directions (not a loop shaped route) and more times stopping at the hospital. 319 320