Agenda - 10-21-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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I He said because more money is put into the budget for the northeastern, northwestern 2 zonal routes, as well as the southern expansion, money is then taken away from the Efland- 3 Hillsborough Commuter Service, and this service would not exist. 4 Bret Martin reviewed the chart titled Mix and Match: Option #3 and he said all of the 5 chart items highlighted in Orange are mix and match options. 6 He said this plan has been put together very conservatively, only assuming revenue 7 made available by Triangle Transit. He referenced the ranked chart of unfunded concepts that 8 might be implemented in the event of additional funding. 9 Craig Benedict said this proposal assumes 100 percent funding from the Orange County 10 Bus and Rail Investment Plan, and it is not using other sources that will likely be available. He 11 said this means that perhaps there will not be so many unfunded priorities. 12 Bret Martin said that Commissioner Gordon had posed some questions regarding 13 assumed costs built into the program. He said Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan, 14 when it was developed, assumed an OPT operating cost of $58 per hour. He said he has gone 15 back and looked at OPT's budget for the past two fiscal years, as well as the County's indirect 16 cost allocation plan. He said the $58 per hour figure was developed based on everything, 17 including overhead, and operating costs. He said when talking about adding new service, the 18 concern is about isolating the marginal costs of providing that service, which came out to be 19 $45 per hour. 20 Craig Benedict said this item will come back on a regular meeting agenda to proceed 21 toward finite marketing of a program that would likely start in February of 2015. 22 Commissioner Rich asked for more explanation of the demand response versus the 23 deviated route. She said the demand response is an expensive trip. She asked if a bus is 24 actually held for demand response use. 25 Peter Murphy said all demand response trips are booked two days in advance and no 26 buses are held. He said the two day notice allows for scheduling of drivers one day in advance. 27 He said the difference between the demand and deviated routes is that you can put fixed route 28 stops out there for deviated route service, and if there are no calls the bus only runs to those 29 fixed stops. He said you can deviate off of this based off of calls that do come in. 30 Commissioner Rich asked how much the deviated route costs versus the demand route. 31 Peter Murphy said a price has not been set, but right now the charge for demand 32 response services is $3 for those who are eligible. He said this is a subsidized service, and the 33 cost that Medicaid and the general public pay is $12.75. 34 Bret Martin said there is no true deviated fixed route for the general public now, so no 35 fare is being charged. He said the idea of the program is to charge a higher fare for those who 36 request a deviation than for those who are picked up at fixed stops. 37 Craig Benedict reviewed the routes on a map. 38 Commissioner Gordon referred to the public comments and noted that option 2 was in 39 response to option 1. 40 Bret Martin said additional comments had been received on the difference between 41 option 1 and option 2, as it relates to the zonal routes. He said comments were focused on the 42 availability and user friendliness of the US Highway 70 mid day service. 43 Commissioner Gordon asked when staff will get the full cost and revenue picture. 44 Commissioner Gordon said the importance of the $58 versus $45 is that in the bus and 45 rail plan Orange County received a certain number of hours over a certain amount of time. She 46 said this amount was based on the cost of $58 per hour. She said the question is whether this 47 number of hours changes based on cost effectiveness. She wants to know if they will get the 48 hours they were promised. 49 Bret Martin referred to her first question about revenue sources. He believes some 50 5307 funding will be available through the Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning