Item 6 - School Bus
PREPARED BY: YING SMITH
Transportation and Mobility Manager
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Town Attorney, and Parks and Public Works
Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 406-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 09/17/2019 ITEM NO: 6
DATE: September 12, 2019
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Laurel Prevetti, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Adopt Performance Metrics for the School Bus Pilot Program and Authorize
the Town Manager to Issue a Request for Qualifications for Outsourcing
Operations Oversight and Customer Service Functions
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt performance metrics for the School Bus Pilot Program and authorize the Town Manager
to issue a Request for Qualifications for outsourcing operations oversight and customer service
functions
BACKGROUND:
The Town has identified a school busing program as one piece of a multi-faceted approach
towards relieving congestion around schools. Upon completion of a Congestion Relief School
Bus Feasibility Study, the Town Council, at its June 5, 2018 meeting, authorized staff to proceed
with a school bus pilot program. At its September 18, 2018 meeting, the Town Council
authorized funding to provide a pilot service consisting of two routes for 18 months of service.
The two-route pilot service started on January 7, 2019. At the March 19, 2019 meeting, the
Town Council received the School Bus Program Business Plan and provided direction to staff for
the ongoing program. The first half year of service (second half of the 2018-19 school year)
ended with a total of 118 paid passengers, slightly exceeding original expressed level of
interest.
The pilot service continued into its second year with service delivery aligned with the start of
school on August 15, 2019. The current year service includes the original two routes (A and B)
and a new afternoon- only Route C from the High School, all within the approved budget. The
second year of the pilot also allows for the purchase of one-way passes either to school or
PAGE 2 OF 5 SUBJECT: Adopt Performance Metrics for the School Bus Pilot Program and Authorize the Town Manager to issue a Request for Qualifications for Outsourcing Operations Oversight and Customer Service Functions DATE: September 12, 2019
BACKGROUND (continued):
home from school. One-way passes are tracked as part of a full day equivalent pass in
reporting. As of the end of August, there were 116 full day equivalent passengers on Routes A
and B and 21 passengers on Route C.
DISCUSSION:
In response to some of the issues analyzed in the Business Plan, staff is bringing several
proposed performance metrics for the Council’s consideration. In addition, staff is proposing
an approach for more effective management of the service by soliciting qualified consultants to
fulfill the operations oversight and customer service functions.
Performance Metrics
Based on the Council and other stakeholder input, staff is proposing three primary performance
metrics.
Subscriptions: This metric measures a level of interest in the program and demonstrates
potential ridership measured by full day equivalent passes sold.
Ridership: This metric balances the subscriptions metric by measuring the number of
passengers actually on the bus on a regular basis. The measure provides specific data
towards the goal of the program to reduce traffic around schools and is measured as a
percentage of actual riders to passes sold.
Funding: This metric captures the amount of funding the program has that is not
directly Town funds. This includes grant funds and fares and is measured by the
percentage of non-Town funds compared to total program cost.
The evaluation will also include target milestones to monitor the program’s growth over a
period of three years. Table 1 shows details of the performance metrics and the target
milestones over three years, should the Council at a future date decide to extend the service for
an additional year (FY 2020/21).
PAGE 3 OF 5 SUBJECT: Adopt Performance Metrics for the School Bus Pilot Program and Authorize the Town Manager to issue a Request for Qualifications for Outsourcing Operations Oversight and Customer Service Functions DATE: September 12, 2019
DISCUSSION (continued):
Table 1 - Performance Metrics and Target Milestones
Year ½ (FY18/19) Year 2 (FY19/20) Year 3 (FY20/21) Baseline Target Target
Subscriptions 59 62 65
Ridership 47% 65% 75%
Funding 10% 35% 60%
These performance metrics provide a simple and yet comprehensive structure to evaluate the
program as they help evaluate effectiveness of different aspects of the program. The number
of subscriptions metric is most achievable, as indicated by the current school year’s sign ups.
The Town’s experience thus far indicates that to achieve the target subscriptions, there needs
to be corresponding high levels of service quality and customer care.
Although the passenger sign ups aligned with the original expressed level of interest, the actual
day to day ridership has been lower than anticipated and as a result, the program’s
effectiveness in traffic reduction is much less than its potential. Funding has also been
challenging as subscribers appear to have fare price sensitivity which limits cost recovery
efforts.
Several alternative funding options may help bolster the program. Staff is pursuing a
Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA) grant and funds from the upcoming Measure B
program. Table 2 shows the financial details based on actual and projected revenues and
potential grant funding. Both the TFCA grant and Measure B are competitive programs, with
changing project eligibility requirements and scoring criteria. These sources should not be
considered dedicated ongoing funding sources so the Town may still face revenue challenges
for this program beyond the near-term time frame.
PAGE 4 OF 5 SUBJECT: Adopt Performance Metrics for the School Bus Pilot Program and Authorize the Town Manager to issue a Request for Qualifications for Outsourcing Operations Oversight and Customer Service Functions DATE: September 12, 2019
DISCUSSION (continued):
Table 2 – Funding Projections
Year ½ (FY18/19) Year 2 (FY19/20) Year 3 (FY20/21)
Cost $167,528 $285,563 $294,130
Fare $ 180 10% $ 350 15.0% $ 385 16.0%
TFCA -- 0% $ 87,000 30.5% $ 87,000 29.6%
Measure B -- 0% -- 0.0% $100,000 34.0%
Total other contribution 10.0% 45.5% 79.6%
Town contribution 90.0% 54.5% 20.4%
Notes to Table 2:
The projections are based on actual and projected revenues.
Fare: A 10% increase in Year 3 is assumed. The fare is subject to future Council
approval.
TFCA: Award is pending VTA Board approval on October 3, 2019.
Measure B: Program guidelines are under development.
Among the three metrics, the ridership target has garnered high focus as this demonstrates the
success of the program and may impact future grant funding. As directed by the Council, staff
conducted a subscriber survey and included questions to understand the low ridership. When
asked the primary reason that students didn’t ride the bus on a particular day, more than 80%
of the respondents cited reasons that were beyond the Town’s control, including schedule
conflicts (such as doctor’s appointments) and before or after school activities. Only 16% of the
respondents attributed the low ridership to service quality, such as bus schedule and travel
time.
Although the survey revealed good information, the results don’t necessarily lead to any
obvious solutions to improve ridership. Anecdotal evidence also shows that some families who
purchased the passes do not intend to use the bus service as a regular way to transport their
children to school, which leads to an inherent low ridership outcome. Staff believes ridership
will continue to be an area of challenge.
Operations Oversight and Customer Service
Another topic raised in the business plan are program management and organizational
structure. The business plan presented four options of how a program could be managed,
PAGE 5 OF 5 SUBJECT: Adopt Performance Metrics for the School Bus Pilot Program and Authorize the Town Manager to issue a Request for Qualifications for Outsourcing Operations Oversight and Customer Service Functions DATE: September 12, 2019
DISCUSSION (continued):
exploring the pros and cons of each option. Two options, Town-managed and outsourced
program management, are the most realistic for consideration at this time.
The staffing resources required to operate the program remain high as currently structured,
creating competition with other workplan priorities and job duties. The most evident trade-off
in the current Town-managed model is diversion of staff resources away from pursuing grants
for other Town Council priorities. While the Parks and Public Works Department has hired a
part time Intern to augment staff resources, it is unrealistic for an Intern to assume the day to
day responsibilities of this program. In addition, the program may benefit from the expertise of
outside consultants in areas of system safety, operations, and customer care management.
As an alternative to the current Town-managed structure, staff is exploring an approach that
would outsource the operations oversight and customer service functions, while retaining
higher-level in-house responsibilities for contract management, policy oversight, and budget
management. This solution aims to meet the high day to day operational needs of the
program.
Staff is proposing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) as a means for identifying interested
service providers, if they exist. Staff would return to Council at a future date with any potential
service agreement and cost considerations. The initial contract would have a termination date
of June 30, 2020, aligned with the pilot duration.
COORDINATION:
This report was coordinated with the Transportation and Parking Commission.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact as a result of this report. Through the RFQ process, the Town will
obtain cost information that would inform potential future budget adjustments for the Town
Council’s future consideration.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT:
This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required.