ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA. County Board Agenda Item Meeting of February 22, 2014

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA. County Board Agenda Item Meeting of February 22, 2014"

Martin Dawson
5 years ago
Views:

ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA County Board Agenda Item Meeting of February 22, 2014 DATE: January 23, 2014 SUBJECT: Request to authorize advertisement of a public hearing to consider an ordinance

RECOMMENDATION: Authorize advertising a public hearing to be held on March 27, 2014, to consider an ordinance to revise the Arlington Transit (ART) and Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents

ISSUES: As a part of the regular budget process, authorization from the County Board is requested to advertise a public hearing to consider an increase in Arlington Transit (ART) fares consistent

1 ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA County Board Agenda Item Meeting of February 22, 2014 DATE: January 23, 2014 SUBJECT: Request to authorize advertisement of a public hearing to consider an ordinance amending the Arlington Transit (ART) and Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR) Cash and Token Fares. C. M. RECOMMENDATION: Authorize advertising a public hearing to be held on March 27, 2014, to consider an ordinance to revise the Arlington Transit (ART) and Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR) fares by adoption of a non-codified ordinance amending and reenacting such fares, effective July 1, 2014 (Attachment A). ISSUES: As a part of the regular budget process, authorization from the County Board is requested to advertise a public hearing to consider an increase in Arlington Transit (ART) fares consistent with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and the STAR Zone 1 fare to remain double the ART adult fare. SUMMARY: ART bus fares have typically coincided with the WMATA Metrobus rate by regional convention concerning fare simplification and cross-honoring. With WMATA preparing to raise rates, Arlington Transit proposes a fare increase to help offset the cost of providing these transportation services, including increased contractual costs for operation and maintenance and the cost of cash revenue collection, and to remain consistent with WMATA fares. The County did not raise ART fares when WMATA last increased fares two years ago. For Paratransit services, the Zone 1 STAR fare historically coincides with WMATA base MetroAccess rate, set at double the Metrobus rate. STAR provides a local alternative to WMATA s MetroAccess ADA paratransit service. The Zone 1 STAR fare for trips within Arlington is currently $3.00, set at double the ART full fare. The County Manager has proposed raising the ART adult fare from $1.50 to $1.75, the ART discount fare for seniors, students, and people with disabilities from $0.75 to $0.85, and the STAR Zone 1 fare from $3.00 to $3.50. These fare increases would offset increases in ART County Manager: ##### County Attorney: ***** 20. G. Staff: Stephen Del Giudice, Department of Environmental Services

2 operating costs due to implementation of new services and increases in STAR services due to contractual increases. All of the proposed fare increases would be effective July 1, 2014 (Attachment A). The STAR Zone 2 and Zone 3 fares would remain at $5.00 and $9.00, respectively. BACKGROUND: Arlington County has operated a transit system since Fiscal Year 1987 when State Transit Funds were approved for an eight-month pilot period to operate the Arlington Trolley in Crystal City. In FY 1989, the County Board approved annual funding for ART mass transportation service. All ART and STAR service changes and fare increases have since been approved by the County Board. DISCUSSION: The current ART adult fare of $1.50 is less than the WMATA Metrobus fare of $1.60 for passengers paying with a SmarTrip card and $1.80 for those paying with cash. WMATA is considering a proposal to implement a Metrobus fare of $1.85 for SmarTrip users and $2.00 for cash users. However, a lower fare of $1.75 for all Metrobus riders may be chosen. The proposed non-codified ordinance (Attachment A) addresses the amount of ART fares. An ART adult fare of $1.75 for current ART service and the proposed service enhancements would generate approximately $339,977 in additional revenue, which would partially offset the cost of the proposed service enhancements. These service enhancements include a new peak period route connecting Crystal City with Rosslyn and Courthouse, a new weekday route connecting Crystal City with the new Boeing offices, Long Bridge Park, and the Pentagon and later weeknight service on the ART 45, connecting Columbia Pike, County Human Services and Public Schools offices, and Rosslyn. Since the last ART fare increase effective in Fiscal Year 2011, ART has introduced and then extended the ART 45 route, expanded the span and frequency of services on the ART 45 and numerous other routes (ART 41, 42, and 53), and reorganized two routes improving service frequency and performance (ART 74 and 84). Ridership has grown from 1.9 million to 2.6 million annual passengers (Fiscal Year 2013 actual). These increases in services have brought corresponding increases in maintenance and operating costs. Increased ridership and greater efficiency, however, have raised revenues and lowered the cost per ride and the subsidy per ride system-wide. The proposed non-codified ordinance (Attachment A) addresses the amount of STAR fares for trips outside Arlington County. All STAR riders are certified eligible for MetroAccess rides and thereby may ride ART, Metrorail, and all other local transit services, except Alexandria DASH, at no charge. They may also choose to ride MetroAccess. The current STAR Zone 1 fare of $3.00 is double the ART base fare of $1.50. STAR Zone 1 fares are proposed to increase by $0.50 up to $3.50 for a one-way trip. STAR Zone 1 has 43 percent of all STAR trips. The current STAR Zone 2 and Zone 3 fares are and would remain $5.00 and $9.00 respectively. The STAR operating budget has absorbed increases in costs as a result of increased ridership, increases in taxicab fares, and annual contractual increases. Contractual rate increases for the transportation vendors are expected to become effective in Fiscal Year 2015 as the result of new - 2 -

3 contract procurements. The proposed fare increase for Zone 1 will generate approximately $16,750 to help offset these operating cost increases. A summary of the existing and proposed fares, including Metrobus and MetroAccess for comparison purposes, is set forth in the table below. Service Existing Fare Proposed/Advertised ART ART base fare $1.50 $1.75 Transfer from Metrorail with SmarTrip $0.75* $1.25 Senior/Disabled $0.75 $0.85 i-ride $0.75 $0.85 i-ride bulk discount (10 tokens) $6.50 $7.50 STAR Zone 1 $3.00 $3.50 Zone 2 $5.00 $5.00 Zone 3 $9.00 $9.00 WMATA Metrobus base fare SmarTrip $1.60 $1.85 Metrobus cash $1.80 $2.00 MetroAccess Minimum $3.20 $3.50 Maximum $7.00 $7.00 *Ordinance should have been amended in 2010 to reflect a transfer fare of $1.00 ($0.50 discount from full fare with SmarTrip). Additionally, an administrative change is included in the ordinance (Attachment A) to reflect that WMATA has abolished the flash pass. Transit Staff has developed an outreach plan for informing ART and STAR patrons of the proposed rate increases. Transit staff will be presenting information to the following Commissions and Committees: Transportation Commission (February 27, 2014), Disability Advisory Commission (February 18, 2014), Commission on Aging (March 11, 2014), Transit Advisory Committee (February 11, 2014), and the Accessibility Sub-Committee (February 19, 2014). Information about the proposed fare increases will be distributed to ART and STAR users via newsletters, alerts, social media, and web pages. An ART Forum newsletter will be distributed on all ART buses and a STAR Points newsletter will be mailed to all STAR users. Notifications of the public hearing date will be sent to registered users via ART and STAR alerts, and posted on buses, social media, and web pages. A telephonic message will be added to the STAR Call Center message board

4 FISCAL IMPACT: The fare increases proposed for advertisement are projected to produce $339,977 in additional ART revenue and the increase in STAR Zone 1 fare will reduce STAR operating expenses by an estimated $16,750. These fee changes are included in the County Manager s Proposed FY 2015 Budget

5 Attachment A AMENDMENT AND RENACTMENT OF A NON-CODIFIED ORDINANCE REVISING THE PASSENGER FARE SCHEDULE FOR THE ARLINGTON TRANSIT ( ART ) TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND THE SPECIALIZED TRANSIT FOR ARLINGTON RESIDENTS ( STAR ) PROGRAM, TO BECOME EFFECTIVE ON JULY 1, I. BE IT ORDAINED by the County Board of Arlington County, Virginia, that the following non-codified ordinance is amended and reenacted to revise the passenger fare schedule for the Arlington Transit ( ART ) Transportation System and the Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents ( Star ) Program, to become effective on July 1, 2014: ARLINGTON TRANSIT ( ART ) PASSENGER FARE SCHEDULE One-way base fare-cash/token and SmarTrip Card... $1.50 $1.75 One-way base fare discount with a SmarTrip Card... $1.50 One-way base fare discount discounted fare with a SmarTrip Card after transferring from Metrorail $0.75 $1.25 One-way base fare upon presentation of valid Metrobus Flash Pass... free One-way base fare upon presentation of valid Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington employees with hospital ID... free One-way base fare for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, upon presentation of valid WMATA ID or Medicare card... $0.75 $0.85 One-way base fare for persons with disabilities, upon presentation of valid WMATA MetroAccess card... $0.00 One-way base fare for students with a valid Arlington school ID.... $0.75 $0.85, or i-ride token or i-ride Smartrip Card Bulk Discount for i-ride tokens, packet of ten... $6.50 $

6 SPECIALIZED TRANSIT FOR ARLINGTON RESIDENTS ( STAR ) PASSENGER FARE SCHEDULE Zone $3.00 $3.50 Zone $5.00 Zone $9.00 II. The remaining portions of the Non-Codified Ordinance Amending and Reenacting a Passenger Fare Schedule for the Arlington Transit ( ART ) Transportation System, enacted by the County Board on December 13, 2008, and effective on July 1, 2010, as amended, not amended hereby shall remain in effect as previously enacted

Quarterly Report Transit Bureau, Local Transit Operations. First Quarter, Fiscal Year 2015 (July 2014 September 2014) ART & STAR

Quarterly Report Transit Bureau, Local Transit Operations First Quarter, Fiscal Year 2015 (July 2014 September 2014) ART & STAR A Arlington Transit ART 1) Introduction The purpose of ART is to provide