4-14-09 Village Trolley Update

8/14/2019 4-14-09 Village Trolley Update

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City ofClaremontAgenda Report

TO JEFFREY C PARKER CITYMANAGERFROM SCOTT CARROLL COMMUNITY SERVICESDIRECTORDATE APRIL 14 2009

SUBJECT VILLAGE TROLLEY UPDATE

SUMMARY

On January 22 2008 the City Council approved a pilot program foranoff track trolleyand trolley service commenced October 30 2008 running every fifteen minutes onafixed route through theVillageData from the first five months ofservice has recently been analyzed although industrystandards indicate service should be in place for a minimum ofoneyear to generatereliable feedback Information onthe ridership survey staff conducted in January 2009aswell asotherperformance measurement indicators is included in this report Basedon this preliminary feedback the council may consider options for the future of theprogram

Staff Recommendation

That the City Council choose Option A to continue the trolley service and the Mayorappoint a council adhoccommittee toevaluate possible system changesANALYSIS

Background

On February 27 2007 the City Council directed staff to pursue the concept of atrackless trolley program with input from a citizen s committee The sixteen personcommittee committed to the goal of indentify ing the feasibility and desirability of atrackless trolley shuttle operating within the Village asa meansof promoting economicdevelopment for the City and subsequently analyzed various aspects of such aprogram

The committee returned tothe City Council onJanuary 22 2008 and offered multiplerecommendations The council approved the committee s recommendation toimplement a pilot program for a trackless trolley system and appropriated thenecessary funds for the program

FORCITYCOUNCIL AGENDA ITEM 9


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City CouncilApril 14 2009Page 2 of7

TheClaremontVillage trolley began serviceonOctober 30 2008 The trolley continuestorunThursday through Saturday from 11 amto11 pmona fixed routewith stops atthe following locations

First Street at the DepotMetrolink Parking LotBonitaAvenue at Yale AvenueOberlin Avenue

PerformanceMeasurestoDateStaff has been working towards the performance measurement goals set forth by theTrolley Committeeaspart ofthe programapproved by the CityCouncil Thecommitteeestablished three performancemeasuresfor evaluation ofthe program

1 Passengers perservice hour2 CommunitySatisfaction3 Village Awareness

1 The committee s benchmark for success is 15 passengers per service hourwhich isdouble the reasonable standard for this type ofservice according tothereport published in 2007 by AMMA the consultant who performed a feasibilitystudy for theTrolley Committee

Ridership counts aredescribed in Table 1 Special events in November andDecember suchasFriday Nights Live and the Holiday Promenade drew largecrowds to the Village and contributed to the increased number of riders duringthesemonths It is also important to note that thereareseasonal factors atworkinsofar as the weather shorter daylight hours and absence of events in theVillage which have reduced thenumbers ofpotential riders

Table 1

November08DecemberJanua 09FebruaMarch

1 77311 1

1 188958977

12310 77 16 76 8


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2 Evaluation of Community Satisfactionwasbased onthree groups MerchantsRiders and Non riders The committeedecided that successwith the programwould be determined by 80 ofeach group agreeing to certain standards Todate staff has conducted only a survey of trolley riders The remaining twogroups Merchants and Non riders will besurveyed in thecoming monthsDuring theweekends of January 8 2009 and January 15 2009 staff conducteda survey oftrolley riders togather informationonwho is using the trolley and howthe servicecould be improved Various questions wereasked of riders rangingfrom basicdemographic information tothe convenience of the route days timesand trolley stops General commentswerealsosought A total of 107 surveyswerereceived however somerespondentsdid notanswereveryquestiononthesurvey The results described belowarebased onthe number of responses toeach question not the total number ofsurveys receivedApproximately sixty percent of respondentswerefirst time riders signifying therelative newnessof the trolley program The agesof the surveyed ridersweredistributed fairly evenly indicating there is noone single ridership group thetrolley is servicingNearly two thirds of survey respondents were Claremont residents Theremaining riders were mostly from immediate surrounding areas such asPomona Montclair Upland and Rancho Cucamonga Most riders becameawareof the trolley program by seeing the trolley in the Village orthrough printadvertisements Seventy percent of respondents took a car to the Villageutilizing available street or lot parking Only twenty five percent of surveyrespondents whodrove a cartotheVillage utilized the parking structureTwo of the most commoncommentswererequests for a route expansion ortoadd entertainment elements to the trolley experience such as music orClaremont Village history and trivia toentertain riders Most respondents whomentioned a route expansion specifically requested the route include theClaremont Collegesand Foothill corridor

3 Benchmarks for the final performance measure Village Awareness have beenmet halfway Over fifty percent of businesses have had Trolley posters ondisplay since the inception of the program meeting the first benchmark Thesecond benchmark however hasnowbecome immeasurable due tothe currenteconomic downturn the community is experiencing Business ownersarenolonger in a position tooffer discounts topatronswhohave ridden the trolley


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FutureoftheTrolley ProgramThe committeeoriginally identified several possible usergroups but decided to focusonnonresident visitors and parking structure patrons two groups they thought best metthe goal of promoting economic development in the City However due to thenationwide recession Village merchants have experienced a reduction in customertraffic and a slowdown in sales The declining trolley ridership figures are likelycorrelated with this reduction in customer traffic in theVillageAs a result of the preliminary analysis of information obtained by staff regarding thetrolley service the council must consider the future of the trolley program Threeoptions areavailable to council that address the concernswith the program and arefurther described below

Option A To maintain the committees goal of promoting economic developmentwithin the City staff recommends the council continue the program and the Mayorappoint a Council adhoccommittee toevaluate system changes tothe trolley service tobetter meet the needs of theClaremont community Options to consider might includeschedule changes or route alterations to include the Claremont Colleges ClaremontHigh School Doubletree Hotel orFoothill Corridor This committee will need to meetand bring recommendations back to theMay 12 2009 City Council meetingOption B If the council determines that continuing the trolley program is not viableduring this economic downturn and based onthe availability and obligation of fundsthe program could be concluded at the end of this fiscal year In order for the City toterminate the program for fiscal reasons the council would need to take formal actiononMay 12 2009 tonotify the leasing company prior tothe beginning ofFY 2009 10Option C Continue operations of the trolley asthe system is currently running Whilethe winter months have been slow someof thiscanbe explained due tothe weatherand reduced activity in the Village in addition to the economic situation Staffanticipates that with the extended hours ofdaylight warmerweather and Friday NightsLive starting up again that ridership should increase due tomorepeople being in theVillageFINANCIAL REVIEW

The updated budget below reflects the operating budget for the 3 day service comparedtoactual expenditures projections for the first ninemonthsofservice


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1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year TOTALANNUAL OPERATINGBUDGETTrolley Lease 53129 53129 53129 159387Operation Costs 169000 176000 183000 528 000Bus Stops 65000 303 318 65621Marketing 10000 10000 10 000 30000Consulting 5000 5000 5 000 15 000Contingency 10 24 900 19 130 19 832 63862VehicleReplacement 0 0 25000 25000GRAND TOTAL 327 029 263562 296 279 886870

REVENUEBUDGETProp A FundBalance 1 6 8 92 1 1 571 909 16 2 146Prop A Yr End Ba 76801 50799 60000Prop C 100000 103000 106090P op 1 B 32716MTA FAPOperating 33000

1 898938 1 725708 1 661 236

Revenue 1 898938 1 7 2 50 8 1 661 236Operations 327 029 263562 296279Net Prop A FundBalance 1 571 909 1 462146 1 364957

200809 2009 10 2010 11 TOTALACTUAL OPERATING COSTS

Trolley Lease 40095 0 0 40095Operation Costs 83690 0 0 83690Bus Stops 56667 0 0 56667Marketing 18259 0 0 18259Consulting 0 0 0 0Contingency 10 13 000 0 0 13000VehicleReplacement 0 0 0 0GRAND TOTAL 211 711 0 0 211 711

REVENUEBUDGETProp A Fund Balance 1 6 8 92 1 N A N AProp AYr End Ba 76801 N A N AProp C 100000 N A N AProp 1 B 30722MTA FAPOperating N A

1 896944 0 0


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RevenueOperationsNet Prop A FundBalance

1 896944211 711

00

0

00

1 685233 0

Projected actuals based on9monthsofservice November thru June30Trolley program operational costsarefunded from Proposition A transportation fundsgenerated by a 0 005 sales tax county wide These funds must be used fortransportation purposes TheCity currentlyusesProp A tofund the Dial A Rideand GetAbout programs in addition to the trolley As the budget above shows with the additionof the operations of the trolley program the Citys annual expenditures exceed itsannual allocation This requires funds to be taken from the fund balance to beused tofund the program While useof somefund balancewasanticipated the increase incosts for the Dial A Ride program and reduction of state funding requiresuseof fundbalance for annual operations of the other transit services the City of Claremontprovides Fund balance could be used to fund the trolley program however thedepletion of fund balancemay limit the ability to fund Dial A Ride and Get About in thefuture

Should the council want to look at the options available for the Prop A fund balanceincluding plans for rising costs additional programs and services or selling Prop Afunds tooffset the General Fund additional analysis would need to be completed andbrought forward to theCityCouncil Staff would therefore recommend creating a CityCouncil adhoc subcommitteetolookat all ofthe transit funding optionsLEGAL REVIEW

TheCityAttorney hasreviewed this reportCEQAREVIEW

TheCommunity DevelopmentDirector has determined that thismatter is covered by thegeneral rule that the California Environmental Quality Act applies only toprojects thathave the potential for causing a significant effectonthe environment in accordance withSection 15061 b 3 of the Guidelines This update item will not have a significanteffectontheenvironment because the receipt of information regarding the trolley usagewill not result in or lead to a physical change in Claremont Therefore noadditionalenvironmental review is needed at this time

PUBLICNOTICE PROCESSThis item has been notified through the regular agenda notification process Copies areavailable at the City Hall public counter the Youth Activity Center the Alexander HughesCommunity Center the Citywebsite and the ClaremontPublicLibrary


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City CouncilApril 14 2009Page 7of7

ALTERNATIVES TOSTAFF RECOMMENDATION

In addition tothe staffrecommendation therearethe following alternatives1 Refer thematter back tostaff

Submitted by

ott a rolDirector ofCommunity Services

Prepared by

AnnaSanchezSenior Management Analyst

Prepared by

WElizabeth BretthauerAdministrative Intern

Reviewed Byypv CTudor Council Agenda ReportslTrolley Report414 09doc

AdamPirrieFinance Manager

4-14-09 Village Trolley Update

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Transcript of 4-14-09 Village Trolley Update