ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORTATION & PUBLIC SAFETY STANDING COMMITTEE CONSOLIDATED AGENDA

Transcription

1 Members: ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORTATION & PUBLIC SAFETY STANDING COMMITTEE CONSOLIDATED AGENDA (available also at Wednesday, September 27, :30 o clock p.m. Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, Windsor City Hall UPDATED: Friday, September 22, 2017 Ward 1 - Councillor Fred Francis Ward 4 - Councillor Chris Holt Ward 9 - Councillor Hilary Payne Ward 10 - Councillor Paul Borrelli Ward 8 Councillor Bill Marra (Chairperson) 1. CALL TO ORDER Page 1 of 10

2 E n v i r o n m e n t, T r a n s p o r t a t i o n & P u b l i c S a f e t y S t a n d i n g C o m m i t t e e P a g e 2 Wednesday, September 27, DISCLOSURE OF PECUNIARY INTEREST AND THE GENERAL NATURE THEREOF 3. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE ETPS STANDING COMMITTEE 3.1. Minutes of the Environment, Transportation & Public Safety Standing Committee meeting (excluding Transit matter items) held August 23, 2017 (SCM 162/2017) Minutes of the Environment, Transportation & Public Safety Standing Committee meeting (Transit matter items only) held August 23, 2017 (SCM 162/2017) 4. REQUEST FOR DEFERRALS, REFERRALS OR WITHDRAWALS 5. COMMUNICATIONS 6. PRESENTATIONS AND DELEGATIONS 7. COMMITTEE MATTERS 7.1. Town and Gown Committee 2015/2016 Annual Report (SCM 170/2017) 8. ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS 8.1. Supplementary Report to CQ Devonwood at Division - Traffic Signals (S 164/2017) Flooding Event Follow-up Report (S 165/2017) 8.3. Earth Hour Celebration Update - City Wide (SCM 167/2017) Report on the State of our Environment - city wide (S 147/2017) 8.5. Review of Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association's Request for a Two Year Pilot Project to Licence Buskers and Street Performers - Ward 3 (S 169/2017) Page 2 of 10

3 E n v i r o n m e n t, T r a n s p o r t a t i o n & P u b l i c S a f e t y S t a n d i n g C o m m i t t e e P a g e 3 Wednesday, September 27, TRANSIT BOARD ITEMS Bus Procurement Update (S 171/2017) Tunnel Bus and Special Events Service during Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Construction Closures (Ward 3) (S 180/2017) (attached) 10. ADOPTION OF TRANSIT BOARD MINUTES 11. QUESTION PERIOD 12. ADJOURNMENT Page 3 of 10

4 Transit Windsor Item No. 9.2 MISSION STATEMENT Our City is built on relationships between citizens and their government, businesses and public institutions, city and region all interconnected, mutually supportive, and focused on the brightest future we can create together REPORT #: S 180/2017 Report Date: 9/19/2017 Author s Contact: Date to Council: 9/27/2017 Patrick Delmore Clerk s File #: MT2017 Executive Director, Transit Windsor X 2232 pdelmore@citywindsor.ca To: Mayor and Members of City Council Subject: Tunnel Bus and Special Events Service During Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Construction Closures - Ward 3 RECOMMENDATION: THAT the report regarding Tunnel Bus service and Special Events service during the Windsor Detroit Tunnel Ceiling Construction Project be RECEIVED for information. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: N/A BACKGROUND: The purpose of this report is to bring forward the operational impact that the Tunnel ceiling construction will have on the Tunnel Bus and Special Events services that are provided by Transit Windsor. The Tunnel ceiling construction project is slated to begin on October 20, The project will begin with a full 10-day closure for the demolition of the river section of the ceiling. Following the demolition phase, there will be weeknight closures (Sunday-Thursday) each week of the project. These weeknight closures are anticipated to last approximately 8 months. The tunnel construction schedule will be as follows: October 20 to 30: The Tunnel will be closed for 9 days from 8:00 p.m. on October 20 to 5:30 a.m. on October 30. Page 1 of 7 Page 4 of 10

5 October 30 to November 21: The Tunnel will be closed from 8:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. each Sunday through Thursday night. November 23 to 26: The Tunnel will be open to traffic. November 27 to December 23: The Tunnel will be closed from 8:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. each Sunday through Thursday night. December 23 to January 1, 2018: The Tunnel will be open to traffic. January 2 to Mid June: The Tunnel will be closed from 8:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. each Sunday through Thursday night. Transit Windsor operates the Tunnel Bus service along with a Special Events service for all sporting events and concerts in downtown Detroit. The regular Tunnel Bus service operates 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The weeknight closures for the ceiling construction will commence at 8:00 p.m. and the Tunnel will reopen at 5:30 a.m. the following day. During these closures, all vehicular traffic will be diverted to the Ambassador Bridge. This construction project will affect Transit Windsor s ability to provide the scheduled Tunnel Bus service along with the Special Events service. Due to the lack of a bus passenger processing area on the U.S. Customs Plaza of the Ambassador Bridge, Transit Windsor will not use the bridge for the regular Tunnel Bus service or Special Events service to bring patrons to Detroit. Service will be provided for evening events using the Tunnel to bring passengers to Detroit and return trips will be via the Ambassador Bridge due to the ability to process bus passengers on the Canadian side of the bridge. DISCUSSION: The Tunnel Bus currently operates 36 round trips from 5:30am 12:30am Monday to Friday, 37 round trips from 5:30am-12:30am on Saturday and 27 trips from 8:00am 12:00am on Sunday. Annually, the Special Event service is provided to all pre-season, regular season home games for the Detroit Tigers (81 home games), Lions (10 home games), Red Wings (45 home games), and new for 2017, the Detroit Pistons (46 home games). Home playoff games are also serviced. The service is also provided for all concerts at Comerica Park, Ford Field and the new Little. In addition, service is provided for the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall every January. Beginning in September 2017, due to the opening of the new Little for the Detroit Red Wings, Transit Windsor will experience a large increase in special events than in years past. This increase is the result of the Detroit Pistons moving back downtown along with a number of popular concerts and similar events that will be at the new arena. Page 2 of 7 Page 5 of 10

6 The service impact on Transit Windsor will be as follows: October 20 beginning at 8 p.m. October 30, 2017 at 5:30 a.m. Full Tunnel closure. During this time, there will be no Tunnel Bus service or Special Event services. Due to the issue of the lack of processing facilities in Detroit at the Ambassador Bridge, it is not possible for a transit service to be provided. Regular riders who utilize the Tunnel Bus daily or on a regular basis will be required to find alternative transportation during this closure. As well, during this scheduled closure, there are a number of Special Events that will not have service to and from the event. Those events include: Date Location Event Type Event October 22 Little October 23 Little October 24 Little October 25 Little October 27 Little October 29 Little NHL NBA Concert NBA Concert Concert Detroit vs Vancouver Detroit vs Philadelphia Fall Out Boy Detroit vs Minnesota The Eagles + Vince Gill Janet Jackson October 29 Ford Field NFL Detroit vs Pittsburgh There is a Detroit Red Wings game on October 20 th to which Transit Windsor will provide service. For this game, we will follow the process set out for the upcoming nightly closures as follows; Transit Windsor will bring any passengers attending the game to the arena using the Tunnel. Following the event, all buses will return to Windsor via the Ambassador Bridge. All passengers must return to buses immediately following the game as there will be no additional service provided throughout the remainder of the evening. Page 3 of 7 Page 6 of 10

7 Oct 30, 2017 June Nightly closures (Sunday Thursday) from 8 p.m. 5:30 a. m. the next morning. When the Tunnel closes in the evenings at 8:00 p.m. during the weeknight closure phase of the project, the Tunnel Bus will end its service with the 7:00 p.m round trip from Windsor and resume once the Tunnel reopens the following morning. This closure will affect a number of commuters and passengers who utilize the service in the evenings. The Special Events service will be affected for the return trips back to Windsor once the events are completed. Since most evening events start no later than 8:30pm, the buses can utilize the Tunnel to get passengers to the events. For the end of the event, empty buses will head to Detroit using the Ambassador Bridge, pick up passengers and return to Windsor the same way (via the bridge). It should be noted that, with all vehicular traffic diverted to the bridge, there is an expectation that there may be extensive delays more than currently experienced when the Tunnel is fully operational. It is our understanding the border staff will be relocated from the Tunnel to the bridge to assist at this time. While mileage will be saved on the Tunnel bus service during the closures, it will increase for the Special Events buses as the distance travelled to and from the downtown terminal to the event locations increase by using the bridge. The plan for the use of the Ambassador Bridge for the return trips during Special Events, will require operating approvals of the Bridge, as well as Canada Border Services Agency and United States Customs and Border Protection. NOTE: It is expected there will be no weeknight closures around the U.S.Thanksgiving as well as the week between Christmas and New Years. RISK ANALYSIS: During the ten day Tunnel closure, Transit Windsor will not operate the Tunnel Bus service or provide the Special Events service for the duration. There will be an impact in revenue for that time as Transit Windsor is still responsible for the costs for the operators that are scheduled for that service. This situation will occur for the daily evening closures as well, where at least 7 evening round trips will be missed along with a few in the early mornings depending on when the Tunnel re-opens. These operators will be reassigned to other work if available to reduce the impact on salaries. Transit Windsor is going to attempt to continue to provide the Special Events service during the regular evening Tunnel closures. Due to the Ambassador Bridge s lack of bus passenger processing facilities on the U.S. side, we cannot travel to the U.S. via the bridge with full buses. Meetings have taken place with Canadian Customs to determine the processing of Special Events buses at their secondary inspection facility. The plan to operate Special Events buses during normal nightly closures is to bring passengers Page 4 of 7 Page 7 of 10

8 to the event via the Tunnel, as the closures are scheduled to occur at 8:00 p.m. daily with the latest event starting at 8:30pm. Empty buses would then use the bridge to pick passengers up following the event and return to Windsor via the bridge. The added distance and time required for a special event round trip using the bridge, along with anticipated delays due to all vehicular traffic being diverted to the bridge, could result in some challenges to providing a reliable and efficient special events service. With the federal hours of work legislation that Transit Windsor is required to comply, the potential for delays at the bridge and the increased travel time could result in a lack of operator resources. This would result in longer delays for passengers getting back to Windsor after the event if Transit Windsor cannot get all passengers back without having to send buses back to Detroit to do additional trips. Currently when an event occurs in Detroit, many passengers go over early or stay later after the event finishes. If they do, they utilize the Tunnel Bus post event as they can walk down to the Mariner s Church bus stop on the Tunnel Plaza, as that is the last stop for the Tunnel Bus prior to entering the Tunnel back to Windsor. With the Tunnel closures, this will not be an option. Despite the communication plan that Transit Windsor will put in place, passengers are used to going over early or staying late and would then run the risk of being stranded in Detroit after an event. To mitigate this risk, Transit Windsor will communicate as best as possible the need to return immediately after the event. Additional advertising, brochures and verbal announcements will be provided to inform all passengers of this change during the construction period. Communication to the public is also a risk especially with out of town Transit customers attending cross border events. These customers may arrive at the downtown bus terminal and realize there is no service during the initial closure. Transit Windsor will have to alter the Special Event departure times back to Windsor to allow for more time to make sure everyone gets on the buses to return to Windsor. Rather than the last bus leaving 30 minutes after the event finishes, it is expected the service will continue to 60 minutes after the event to ensure that all passengers have had the opportunity to return to the pickup spot. The brochure created will provide alternative travel options if passengers miss the last bus or decide to return on their own. In addition to the foregoing, DWT has devloped a comprehensive communications plan, that will commence with a media release issued on September 19, 2017 outlining the scope of work, cost, schedule and impact on travel. The release will be sent to print and broadcast media in Windsor and Ontario, metro Detroit and Michigan, covering transportation, business and city beats. Tunnel customers will receive a similar notification on that same date. A further media release will be issued one month prior to the closure in order to give the media ample time to communicate the closure to the regional audience. Further media advisories will be issued each week that a closure is in effect and to report on key updates during the construction process. Page 5 of 7 Page 8 of 10

9 DWT will also be adding a page to its website specific to the renovation, where more detailed updates, key facts, media releases and news can be posted and will also post social media content specific to the ceiling construction and closures. With Little opening on September 12 th and being home to the Red Wings and now the Detroit Pistons, along with being seen as the premier concert and event venue in the region, Transit Windsor will see increased numbers of events which will have direct ridership effects on the Special Events service. We project to carry more passengers than in past years for hockey games as the Red Wings are playing in a new arena and many people will want to see the venue paired with the new arena district that is built alongside. While there will be a savings in time and distance costs with the Tunnel Bus as it will stop operating earlier in the evening on weekday event nights, that savings will not offset the time and distance for each bus to complete a round trip via the bridge. Transit Windsor still bears the cost of the Tunnel Bus operator s wages as well as any extra operators that may be needed above current staffing levels to properly service the special events. There is a risk associated with the construction work taking place if, for example the Tunnel cannot re-open as scheduled each morning at 5:30 a.m. however, as is the norm for construction projects of this type, the onus rests with the general contractor, via financial penalties, to restore the Tunnel to regular operating conditions by 5:30 a.m. on October 30, 2017 following the initial closure of ten days and following each nightly closure. In addition to which, Transit Windsor is putting in place a contingency plan to provide Tunnel Bus service via the Ambassador Bridge in the event of unscheduled closures. This would be done in cooperation with CBSA, CBP and the Ambassador Bridge until the Tunnel is able to re-open. FINANCIAL MATTERS: Financial impact is unknown at this time and will be monitored and reported during the anticipated eight month project. CONSULTATIONS: Jason Scott, Planning Analyst at Transit Windsor Page 6 of 7 Page 9 of 10

10 CONCLUSION: Transit Windsor will continue to work with all parties involved to attempt to provide an acceptable level of service for Special Event Service during the Tunnel Construction Project. Administration will report back on the impact for Tunnel Bus riders. PLANNING ACT MATTERS: N/A APPROVALS: Name Patrick Delmore Mark Winterton Carolyn Brown Title Executive Director, Transit Windsor City Engineer/ Corporate Leader Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Services Corporate Leader Transportation Services & CEO Windsor Detroit Tunnel Corporation Onorio Colucci Chief Administrative Officer NOTIFICATIONS: Name Address APPENDICES: Page 7 of 7 Page 10 of 10