AGENDA #17f
BUDGET WORKING PAPER
TO: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
FROM: Mary Lou Kuschatka, Transportation Director
SUBJECT: Cost of Additional Bus Service
DATE: April 27, 2005
The Transportation Board requested that Council consider an increase in Chapel Hill Transit evening and weekend service.
BACKGROUND
Every year the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Transportation Boards host a transportation forum to allow people to voice their concerns about transportation in the community and as a part of this outreach receive requests for additional service. Every year citizens request Sunday bus service and later service on Saturday and weekday evenings.
DISCUSSION
The Chapel Hill Transit system is experiencing steady ridership increases since implementing the fare free service in January 2002. Ridership prior to 2002 was averaging at about 3 million riders. Ridership for the calendar year 2004 was 5.3 million riders and in each month of 2005 the ridership continues to grow. This continuing growth of the system requires that any additional service requests during peak service hours include additional buses added to the fleet. The increase in evening or weekend service would not require an increase in the number of buses.
Saturday Evening Service
Currently, the Saturday bus service ends between 5:30 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. If we continued bus service until 9:00 p.m. on Saturday this would add 15.9 hours to the service day.
Routes Current Hours Proposed Extended Hours
CM/CW 10.4 3.4
DM 8.0 3.5
FG 9.95 3.0
JN 8.93 3.0
T 10.22 3.0
47.5 hours 15.9 additional hours
15.9 hours x 52 Saturdays x $56.00/hour = $46,300
Partner’s Share
Chapel Hill at 45.84% = $21,220
University at 38.51% = $17,830
Carrboro at 15.66% = $ 7,250
The partner’s share split would apply if the 3 partners agreed to implement the service. If the partners don’t agree to share the cost, the sponsoring partner would be responsible for the additional cost for the first year. There would also be an increase in EZ Rider cost as ADA requires that complementary van service be available at the same hours as the fixed route.
Saturday Service on Sunday
If Sunday service was implemented similar to the Saturday service now provided this would add 47.5 hours of service.
Routes Hours
CM/CW 10.4
DM 8.0
FG 9.95
JN 8.93
T 10.22
47.5 hours
47.5 hours x 52 Sundays x $56.00/hour = $138,320
Partner’s Share
Chapel Hill at 45.84% = $63,400
University at 38.51% = $53,260
Carrboro at 15.66% = $21,660
The partner’s share split would apply if the 3 partners agreed to implement the service. If the partners don’t agree to share the cost, the sponsoring partner would be responsible for the additional cost for the first year. There would not be an increase in EZ Rider cost as we offer Shared Ride services on Sunday that could be converted to EZ Rider services.
Extended Weekday Evening Service
Chapel Hill Transit provides weekday evening service on most routes until 8:00 p.m., night service on the major corridors that ends between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. depending on the route. The transit also provides Shared Ride services to locations not served by a bus until 12:45 a.m. on weekday evenings. If any service was increased on weekday evenings, the Shared Ride service should be increased by one driver to serve more requests.
RECOMMENDATION
If the Council would like to increase Chapel Hill Transit service on nights and/or weekends, we recommend this be referred to the next Partners Transit Policy meeting for review.