Agenda Item #5.2.

Council Agenda Report

SUBJECT: TRANSIT SYSTEM CONTRACT FOR 2012 TO 2015 WITH PARKING CONCEPTS, INC. (aka TRANSPORTATION CONCEPTS)

MEETING DATE: JUNE 7, 2012

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the City Council of the City of Rio Vista consider adopting Resolution No. 2012-051, “Authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement to operate the Rio Vista Delta Breeze transit system from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015 with two one year options upon City Attorney concurrence.”

BACKGROUND

The City of Rio Vista operates a transit system that includes a deviated demand responsive fixed route to regional destinations and a general public demand responsive service within the City limits known to the public as Rio Vista Delta Breeze. This system is predominately funded with Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds received via an application submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) on an annual basis and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds.

The City Council awarded a two-year and a half contract to Storer Transit Systems in December 17, 2009. Previously, MV Transportation, Inc operated the City’s transit system from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009 and Trans Metro Express from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006 and from 1978 to December 2005, the transit system was operated with City employees. The City elected to contract out the transit operations and then maintenance in September 2006 to reduce the costs and the City’s role associated with provision of transit operations and maintenance.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Operation and Maintenance of Rio Vista Delta Breeze Transit Services was issued in March 2012. Only one proposal was received, from Coach America. That proposal was deemed non-responsive, as it did not meet the terms of the RFP. Staff issued an addendum to the RFP and also contacted prospective bidders to advise them of the RFP addendum. Staff from this additional addendum, received three proposal from:

Page 1 of 8 1. Parking Concepts, Inc (aka Transportation Concepts) 2. First Transit, Inc 3. Ride Right, LLC In addition, proposals and/or inquires were received from Bauer Transportation of San Francisco, California, Coach America of Sacramento, California and Keolis Transit America of Los Angeles, California, but were not rated due to not receiving a proposal or they were rated out of the competitive range. City staff provided an initial review of the proposals submitted to ensure compliance with the RFP prior to the full and complete review of by the review committee. A community and professional panel consisting of the City’s Transit and Airport Coordinator, an Associate Civil Engineer, a local Rio Vista Delta Breeze rider and the City’s Public Works Director thoroughly reviewed and score the proposals based on what was submitted on the following criteria:  Management, Technical Competence (25 points)  Operations, Maintenance Capability, Quality of Plans and Submittals (35 points)  Cost (20 points)  Financial Viability (20 points) o Total (100 points)

Staff also conducted reference checks on each of the companies that submitted a proposal to understand their performance. Based on the scoring, the reference checks and the proposal submitted, the review committee ranked Transportation Concepts as the lowest responsive bidder. In the interest of time an interview was not conducted, nor was it required as stated in the RFP. REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

Transportation Concepts

Transportation Concepts, a division of Parking Concepts, Inc of Irvine, CA. They operate over ten contracts in Southern California, which are generally the size of the City’s transit operation. When staff conducted a reference check on Transportation Concepts, there were good reviews on their performance and two of their references are looking to renew agreements with them. Majority of their contracts have been in place since 1999, including their original contract operating shuttles for Ontario International Airport. Transportation Concepts pricing is within the City’s operating budget.

Through a review of their proposal, they intend to recruit locally for a project manager, their operations and maintenance plan is detailed, they have the lowest start up costs and they intend to retain the employees (as long as they meet their hiring requirements in accordance with California Labor Code Section 1070-1074).

As a cost savings measure to the City, Transportation Concepts is proposing a pass-thru variable rate, with a not to exceed amount. This means that any cost savings achieved can be retained by

Page 2 of 8 the City. If the costs exceed the operating budget, Transportation Concepts is responsible for those costs.

Ride Right

Ride Right, LLC, a division of Medical Transportation Management, Inc (MTM) is based in St. Louis, Missouri. They have approximately seven transit contracts similar in size to the City’s transit operation. Their nearest contract to Rio Vista is in Indiana, however, they do have many Medicare/Medicaid transportation contracts in the west, including California, Nevada and Oregon. Ride Right prides themselves as being a small responsive transit contracting company and as an alternative to the larger transportation contractors. Ride Right has the second lowest proposal that is approximately $28,000 more than Transportation Concepts. When staff conducted reference checks on Ride Right, there were good reviews on their responsiveness and approach to operations.

Through a review of their proposal, they intend to recruit locally for a project manager, their operations and maintenance plan is detailed, they propose to spread the start up costs over the course of five years and they intend to retain the employees (as long as they meet their hiring requirements in accordance with California Labor Code Section 1070-1074).

Ride Right is proposing a fixed and variable rate for the operation of the City’s transit system.

First Transit

First Transit is locally based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They have approximately two hundred and thirty five transit contracts throughout the United States. They are a division of First Group America, which is owned by First Group, based in the United Kingdom. They also own First Student and Greyhound Lines, Inc. They have three contracts near Rio Vista, City Coach in Vacaville, Tri Delta Transit in Antioch and The County Connection Link in Concord. They have experience in operating small, medium and large transit contracts, while most of their contracts are in the medium to large size.

First Transit, while the most experienced transit contractor, are also the most expensive and the costs proposed are equivalent to what the City is paying to Storer Transit Systems for 1,200 more revenue vehicle service hours than what is proposed. Staff contacted First Transit’s references and received a good review on their performance and abilities to maintain and operate their transit systems.

It should be noted that First Transit proposed a lower proposal, which includes closing Suisun City Transit Store and outsourcing maintenance to Rio Vista Ford. This would eliminate a part time dispatcher and mechanic, which would result the transit maintenance facility going unused. If the City went with this option, the annualized rate over five years with First Transit is $1,255,268, plus a start up cost of $8,674.

Page 3 of 8 Other Proposals

Staff also received inquires/other proposals from Bauer Transportation of San Francisco, California, Coach America of Sacramento, California and Keolis Transit America of Los Angeles, California. There proposals and/or inquires were not rated due to not receiving a full proposal or the proposal was out of competitive range for consideration due to the limited nature of the City’s transit operating budget.

Review Committee Findings

Based on the scoring, the interview, the reference checks and the proposal submitted, the review committee ranked Transportation Concepts as the lowest and most responsive bidder and felt that Transportation Concepts would meet the necessary requirements to operate and maintain the Rio Vista Delta Breeze transit system. Since Storer Transit Systems did not submit a proposal, there will be a transition start up cost of $10,918.00 that would be paid to Transportation Concepts to set up there operation in Rio Vista. All of the start up costs paid would result in the City owning what they purchase. First Transit was ranked the second responsive bidder, however, depending on the option selected; their pricing is either the lowest or the highest.

The summary of ranking and pricing is listed below:

Vendor Year 1 Price Score (Average) Score Price (5 Year Average) (Total) Parking Concepts, Inc $263,999 $1,351,764 65 260 (Transportation Concepts) Ride Right, LLC $281,709 $1,486,860 55 218 First Transit, Inc $308,242 $1,627,145 49 198

It should be noted that all of the potential contractors are fully capable and competent to provide Rio Vista Delta Breeze transit services, which the review committee took into full consideration prior to recommending their selected choice. Staff believes that regardless of the operator, the level of service to the passengers will remain the same; it is about how each contractor elects to carry out their selected option.

For the Rio Vista Delta Breeze Transit Services the following terms are in the Agreement:  Fixed fee, plus a variable pass through rate to provide up to 4,200 annual revenue hours in fiscal years 2013 through fiscal year 2017. In a pass thru arrangement, the City will pay up to the maximum obligation. If the costs exceed the maximum obligation, Transportation Concepts is responsible for the costs through the end of the fiscal year. If the costs come in less, the City achieves savings. The City will also be responsible for the payment of a fixed cost for administrative expenses outside the variable pass thru rate.  All pricing has been evaluated by City staff to ensure the ability to meet available revenues for the next five years. These costs have been incorporated into the Short Range Transit Plan.  City will retain the farebox revenue to reapply back into the service.

Page 4 of 8  City will include performance incentives and liquidated damages in this Agreement.  City will provide fuel for the buses, exempt from taxes.  City will provide up to five buses/vans (over the life of the Agreement), a maintenance bay, drivers lounge and parking for the buses at the Northwest Wastewater Treatment Plant  City will provide office space at Suisun/Fairfield Amtrak Station.  Transportation Concepts will provide a project manager, part time mechanic, uniformed bus operators, maintenance of the vehicles and part time dispatcher during service hours; training of the bus operators and liability insurance for the vehicles.  Employees working for Storer Transit Systems are retained under California Labor Code 1070-1074 as long as they meet Transportation Concepts requirements.

The new Agreement will begin on Monday, July 2, 2012 and continue until Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Future option years would be brought back to the City Council in March 2015 and March 2016.

It should be noted that staff is analyzing the potential to join the Solano County Transit (SolTrans) Joint Powers Agreement, as SolTrans is the newly formed consolidated transit operator for Solano County with the Cities of Vallejo and Benicia participating at this time. Once the evaluation is completed and it is in the best interest for the City to join SolTrans, this operating agreement, funding and assets would formally transfer to SolTrans and the City would have no further obligations to this Agreement and operating public transit directly.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Regarding pricing, staff had to analyze the costs over the life of the five year agreement to understand the overall City cost to operate the system. Based on the proposals received, Transportation Concepts has the lowest pricing over the span of five years at $1,351,764. Ride Right had the second lowest pricing over the span of five years at $1,486,860. First Transit had the highest pricing at $1,627,145. If you include their alternative proposal, the five year price drops to $1,255,268.

The source of funding for this contract extension is the City’s Transit Fund (32), which is fully funded by grants from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Caltrans along with farebox, advertising and miscellaneous revenues.

It should be noted that the City’s transit budget is approximately $450,000 per year with over half of the budget attributed to operational costs paid to the Contractor. The proposals received takes into account the reduction in service hours from 5,500 to 4,200 annualized. Under the Transportation Concepts proposal, staff is able to operate the revised transit system without adding anymore funding or reducing any services beyond 4,200 revenue vehicle service hours. Using the other contractors will result in additional Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds allocated to the transit system or a further reduction in service hours will be required.

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There is no financial impact to the General Fund for the purposes of this Agreement.

Attachments: 1. Resolution 2. Transportation Concepts Proposal 3. Draft Contract Agreement

______Transit & Airport Coordinator

______Public Works Director

______Roger L. Wong, Interim City Manager

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RESOLUTION NO. 2012-051

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIO VISTA AUTHORIZING THE INTERIM CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH TRANSPORTATION CONCEPTS TO OPERATE THE RIO VISTA DELTA BREEZE TRANSIT SYSTEM FROM JULY 1, 2012 TO JUNE 30, 2015 WITH TWO ONE YEAR OPTIONS

WHEREAS, the City of Rio Vista operates Rio Vista Delta Breeze as its transit service which provides for the safe, economical and efficient transportation of local residents; and

WHEREAS, the City has chosen to contract for transit operations and maintenance services by written agreement to the successful bidder; and

WHEREAS, on the basis of a Request for Proposal titled “Request for Proposal for the Operations and Maintenance of the Rio Vista Delta Breeze Transit System” formally issued on March 5, 2012, interested contractors were requested to submit proposals bidding for the award of an agreement; and

WHEREAS, one proposal was received, which was ruled non-responsive and as a result, an addendum was issued and three responsive proposal was received from Parking Concepts, Inc (d.b.a. Transportation Concepts), Ride Right, LLC and First Transit, Inc; and

WHEREAS, based on the evaluation of the review committee recommendation, and the pricing that would result in the sustainability of the present levels of service without any reductions beyond 4,200 revenue vehicle service hours, Transportation Concepts is being recommended to operate the Rio Vista Delta Breeze transit system for the next three years with two one year options to be exercised at the sole description of City Council with a recommendation from staff; and

WHEREAS, that the contractual amount paid to Transportation Concepts as part of this Agreement shall not exceed to$1,362,688;

WHEREAS, that the funding source for this Agreement shall come from the Transit Fund 32 utilizing Transportation Development Act (TDA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and miscellaneous/fare revenues and that no General Fund subsidy shall be used.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIO VISTA that the City Council does hereby authorize the Interim City Manager to execute an agreement with Transportation Concepts to operate and maintain Rio Vista Delta Breeze transit services commencing on July 2, 2012, subject to City Attorney concurrence with the Agreement and that a notice to proceed is issued to

Page 7 of 8 Transportation Concepts on Friday, June 8, 2012 conditional upon approval of an Agreement.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the approval of the award of an Agreement with Transportation Concepts is conditional upon receiving approval of the bid award from California Department of Transportation - Division of Mass Transportation.

PASSED, ADOPTED AND APPROVED this 7th day of June, 2012 by the following roll call vote:

AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN:

ATTEST:

______Anna Olea-Moger, CMC, City Clerk

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