Jobs Access Reverse Communte (JARC) Grant ApplicationMasterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: JARC- Funded Evening Transportation Service
DATE: September 1, 2011
Dubuque
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Housing and Community Development Department Director David Harris and Human
Rights Director Kelly Larson are recommending approval of a partnership with the
Regional Transit Authority to apply for a Federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC)
grant to create evening routes that will operate from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday
through Thursday.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
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Mi ael C. Van Milligen
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Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Barbara Morck, Director of Transit
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM:
CC:
SUBJECT:
DATE:
PURPOSE
The purpose of this memo is to recommend partnering with the Regional Transit
Authority (RTA) in the creation of evening routes that will operate from 5:30 p.m. to
11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Barbara Morck, Director of Transit Operations
David Heiar, Economic Development Director
Kelley Deutmeyer, Executive Director of ECIA
JARC- funded Evening Transportation Service
August 30, 2011
The Jule
BACKGROUND
Since ECIA took over management of The Jule we have received numerous comments
about the need for transit services after 5:45 p.m., which is when our routes cease
operation. The comments have come through e.g. the Transit Advisory Board, the
Transit Action Group (TAG), Project HOPE, local cab companies, citizen inquiries, local
hotels and motels, and most recently through the public input meeting held jointly held
with the City of Dubuque Human Rights and Housing Commissions. The Regional
Transit Authority (RTA) currently runs a 2 hour shift in Dubuque on an evening route as
part of its contract with Area Residential Care (ARC), and has the capacity to expand
this in order to provide evening services for The Jule through a Job Access Reverse •
Commute (JARC) grant.
DISCUSSION
Currently The Jule's daily route service ends at/around 5:45 p.m. daily, Monday through
Saturday. The State of Iowa has a grant round coming for October 1, 2011 for the Job
Access - Reverse Commute (JARC) funding. JARC provides funding at 50% of cost for
services targeted for persons traveling to and from employment and /or employment
related activities, e.g. dropping off or picking up children from daycare, attending
classes to further their employment or employability, etc. For urban systems such as
The Jule, the JARC (and the New Freedoms) grant funds have been over - subscribed,
leaving no funding left for the October 1st application deadline. However, because there
is still plenty of JARC funding available for rural public transit providers, the RTA can
apply for the grant. With the RTA already offering subscription service in the City of
Dubuque Monday through Sunday through it's contract with ARC and because it has
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the capacity to add more passengers as well as additional hours of service, it could be
of great benefit to the citizens of Dubuque to partnered with them. RTA would expand
their evening operation to include service to all residents and visitors of Dubuque
between the hours of 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
The proposed service will be open to the general public with the emphasis on persons
needing transportation for employment and employment- related purposes, which
include to /from work, childcare or evening classes, etc. The fare for all passengers
using the evening service (provided by RTA) would be $3 per ride. There would be an
application process for passengers needing to use the service under the JARC grant
which, once their application has been approved, will make their ride eligible for the
50% subsidized JARC funding. All rides will need to be pre - scheduled through the RTA
dispatch office, which will allow better tracking of the employment - related rides versus
rides for miscellaneous purposes. And, because cab companies operate on- demand
and because the FTA does not approve of public transit services acting in competition
with private transportation companies, having passengers schedule their rides in
advance eliminates any potential conflict of interest in this area. And because none of
the local cab companies have accessible vehicles, having RTA provide the service with
their fully accessible vehicles increases access to city's amenities for persons who use
wheelchairs or scooters or who otherwise find it difficult to get in and out of automobiles.
It would also addresses any need for complementary paratransit service, as this service
would be combined with the "regular" evening service.
FINANCIAL
The provision of the evening service would add an additional 2,100 hours of revenue
service in Dubuque. The FY 2011 cost of hourly operation for a Jule fixed route bus is
$66 per hour and for a Jule mini -bus $44 per hour. If The Jule were to provide this
service without JARC funds, the total budget impact would be $138,600 for one fixed
route bus or $94,500 for one paratransit bus. If we were to contract with RTA for the
evening JARC service, since they already has a bus in service during this time, they
would charge their marginal hourly rate of $30 per hour (versus their fully allocated rate
of $43 per hour). The lower rate would also enable them to have two buses in service,
thus allowing better respond to passenger's needs.
RTA's total cost for operating two buses on the evening service, which is based on their
marginal rate of $30 per hour times 2,100 service hours and includes marketing, an
outreach campaign, would be $84,550 annually (see attachment). For this service RTA
would show an annual in -kind match of $27,300 (again, based on their fully allocated
rate verses their marginal cost), which would bring down the actual cost of the service to
$57,250 annually. The JARC grant provides a 50% match for the service, which would
be $28,625, and the local match provided by the City would be $28,625.
RECOMMENDATION /ACTION STEP
I would recommend we partner with the RTA to apply for JARC funding for the provision
of Monday through Thursday evening service, and continue to look for efficiencies in our
current system that would provide the balance of the local match.
Thank you for your consideration.
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ATTACHMENT
JARC RTA Evening Service Transit Plan as of: 8/30/2011
Assumptions:
all costs are based on 2 buses running on demand with pre - scheduled trips
RTA Bus 1 running 6 hours per night and RTA Bus 2 running 4 additional hours per night
all costs are based on a 51 week schedule
Assumes 4 rides per hour at $3.00 hour for the 10 additional hours per night of service
all routes have 15 minutes prep and 15 min cleanup
2 Scenarios with fully allocated and marginal costs
FULLY ALLOCATED
RTA Bus 1 6 hrs /night
RTA Bus 2 4 hrs night
Monday through Thursday
10 hrs /night x $43 /hour x 210
Cleaning (1 hr /night x $15 /hour x 210)
Radio, print, employers, emails, etc.
3 rides /hour x 2100 hrs x $3 /ride
$30 /hr marginal cost = $13 /hr discount x 2100 hours
Annual JARC Request
Local Match
10.0
4.0
$90,300.00
$3,150.00
$10,000.00
$18,900.00
$27,300.00
$28,625.00
$28,625.00
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