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04-28-75 agenda___ _ __ s CITY OF RICHFIELD, MINNESOTA Office of Executive Director HRA Letter No. 9 Agenda April 14, 1975 Deferred April 28, 1975 Housing and Redevelopment Authority Commissioners ' City of Richfield Gentlemen: Subject: Dial-A-Ride Study Earlier this year the housing and redevelopment authority requested that a study be made of a possible dial-a-ride bus service system in the City of Richfield. A preliminary study has been prepared on this matter by one of our interns, Mr. Frank Boyles. A copy is attached. A copy of this report is being submitted to HRA members at this time for information purposes. No specific action is being recommended in view of • the problems of financing any city portion of such experimental program. In- asmuch as its a rather lengthy report perhaps commissioners would like the opportunity to review it and discuss it at a subsequent HRA meeting. Respectfully submitted, ~ ~~~~~ ,fir. ~~ ~; ~ ~ ~ `= Wayne S. Burggraaff ~a3 Executive Director WSB/eja cc: Planning Director Public Works Dire ctor PRELIMINARY DIAL-A-RIDE STUDY • INTRODUCTION At a recent Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting the commissioners expressed interest in obtaining information about the feasibility of operating an experimental Dial-A-Ride project to serve Richfield Senior Citizens, This study contains information on the type of service that such a program should provide, justifications for providing such a program, and operating and funding options which may be available for such a program. The study concludes with a summary of action alternatives. DEFINITION OF DIAL-A-RIDE "Dial-A-Ride is not a substitute or replacement for the taxi, which provides immediate, on call, one-party, door-to-door personalized service. Dial-A-Ride is a flexible, semi-personal transit mode that is not captive to a fixed guideway in a residential neighborhood. It can be dynamically routed over 1 neighborhood streets to fulfill each hour's changing transportation demands." The advantages of such a system are enjoyed by users and non-users alike. Users get a convenient, quick, money-saving transportation system. Both users and non-users enjoy a reduction in automobile noise, air pollution, and traffic. conjestion as a result of the vehicles which such a program might remove from the road. WHY A DIAL-A-RIDE FOR RICHFIELD? • Many factors encourage the establishment of a dial-a-ride program in Richfield. Among them are: 1. Service inadequacies in M,T,C. routes within Richfield, especially as they relate to senior citizens needs. 2. A lack of other private transportation alternatives at an economic price. 3. The distances between major street bus routes and residential property can be considerable. 4. Senior citizens represent a signification proportion of the population which might be attracted by such a program. Other clientele are available in this community who might also be interested, 5. Minnesota climate acts to reinforce the dial-a-ride comcept. 1. "Report on Dial-A-Ride Technology", Metropolitan Transit Commission, July 1973, p. i. -2- 6. Business establishments are available within the community or • near its borders which can provide service for most resident shopping, medical, and recreational needs. 7. l~riva.te transportation firms have indicated interest in such a program, 8. Community organizations are available to support such a program. 9. Businessmen of the community would support a program which could bring them additional business, SERVICE CHARACTERISTICS OF A RICHFIELD DIAL-A-RIDE PROJECT The Dial-A-Ride project should serve the many transportation needs of the elderly. To do so it must provide service to all major medical, commercial, and recreational facilities used by senior citizens within the city, It must also provide an efficient means for delivering senior citizens to major bus stops in the event that they should wish to travel outside of the city limits without the inconvenience of walking to or from a bus stop. To provide adequate service the dial-a-ride program should be operational seven days a week, By doing this, senior citizens can be guaranteed maxi- mum flexibility in their transportation needs. They are also guaranteed the opportunity to attend their church or engage in weekend recreational activities as they wish, • Dial-a-ride operations should be available for a maximum period of time each day. A viable time period might be from 10;00 a.m, until 10:00 p,m. each day, Again, this time period will provide maximum flexibility for the senior citizens` transportation needs, By 10:00 a.m. most doctors have completed their hospital rounds and are available for office appointments. By keeping the service open until 10:00 p.m. the senior citizen is enabled to enjoy a movie, visit a friend, or take in a civic meeting if he or she wishes. This time frame would also minimize dial-a-ride competition with local cab and bus services. By exhibiting a concern for the interest of these private enterprises, cooperation can be encouraged and a good working relationship maintained between the dial-a-ride program and other transportation interests, For the same reason this program would not provide services to and from the airport. This is a traditional area of taxicab operations and should not be infringed upon, It is also likely that very few senior citizens will request such a destination. This program should provide a flexible means by which senior citizens may arrange for a ride. First, the senior should be able to call at any time during business hours and receive service within 20 to 30 minutes regardless of their location within Richfield, Second, the program should also provide for subscription service whereby a senior citizen is able to pre-arrange a particular trip for a particular time on a regular basis. Third, senior • -3- • citizens should be encouraged to call for service the day before their actual service need. Prior arrangements allow the dial-a-ride dispatcher to maxi- mize the routing efficiency during particular periods of time. Discounts should also be offered to groups of seniors who pre-arrange to travel from various sources to a single destination at the same time, Finally, seniors should be encouraged to pre-arrange long distance trips which require co- ordination with other forms of transit. The dial-a-ride dispatcher should attempt to deliver passengers to bus stops at times which minimize the wait for the next scheduled bus. The cost of this service to the passenger must be economical but also sub- stantial enough to provide a significant proportion of the program funding, Many dial-a-ride programs have chosen 50~ per ride to be a reasonable fare, In one city which used a dial-a-ride similar to the one proposed here, the 50~ passenger fee paid one-third of the cost of the entire dial-a-ride program. The dial-a-ride fares should be administered in the form of tickets or coupons, In this way the danger of vandalism can be minimized and program control can be maximized, The tickets will act as an inventory system whereby the number of passengers carried each day can be verified. In addition, local banking institutions., businesses, and community organizations can be encouraged to sell tickets in an effort to encourage residents to shop at their stores, The sale of dial-a-ride tickets by local organizations will increase the community based support for the program as well as provide effective advertising. PROGRAM ALTERNATIVES • Various options are available to the City of Richfield for the operation of, a Dial-A-Ride project. Following is a listing of the three major program options available: Option I. The City would purchase two 15 passenger vans which would be used in a "route deviation" system, This means that the vans would be continually moving over general routes, As ride requests are received they are radioed from the dispatcher to the nearest vehicle and that vehicle then deviates from the route to pick up the passenger, This arrangement would necessitate the purchase of at least two vans (approximately $7,500 each). The private company proposing this arrangement would provide the dispatcher and the drivers. A specific amount per passenger mile would have to be paid to the vendor to offset his casts. This option has the obvious and serious disadvantage of devoting a significant amount of program funds to the purchase of equipment, Although federal funds are available for this purpose, the disadvantages of making such a purchase for an experimental program undermines the viability of this option, Vehicles of this nature could also be leased during the experimental period but this outlay is an inefficient use of funds when compared with other project options available. • s -4- • Another significant disadvantage of this option is that it does not provide for easy program growth, That is, additional vans must be leased or purchased to expand the program or up-grade the service it provides. Finally, vans are uncomfortable and inconvenient for senior citizens to sit in as well as to enter and exit, The nature of the suspension system in this type of vehicle tends to telegraph road noise and pavement imperfections to the passenger, making the vehicle more uncomfortable. Option II. The second option involves using M.T.C. mini-buses in a demon- stration program similar to the model cities project. Here Richfield might fund 50% of the program and the M,T,C, 50%. The major problem with the program is the vehicle need. To begin with, the M.T,C. does not have any mini-buses available for such a purpose at this time. In addition, under this arrangement a dispatch center would have to be established and funded during the duration of the program. The major problem with this option is that project funds are once again devoted to capital outlay items rather than operating expenses, In addition, the size of these vehicles presents problems on residential streets. Their use might result in considerable resident complaints. The large number of seats on these vehicles also tends to de-personalize the program. Option III. The third option involves subsidizing a local cab company to provide the dial-a-ride, program, This option most closely approximates our program • needs. It requires no outlay for equipment and does not require that the city become involved in the business of public transportation. Under this option the city would arrange to supplement a local cab company with a flat fee per passenger mile. The cab company would provide the vehicles, drivers, and dispatchers. In other words, the cab company would be totally responsible for the transportation aspect of the program while the city would take the responsi- bility for marketing, monitoring, and advertising the program. In this way, the city is placed in a better position to evaluate the program and determine its future prospects, This program could be operated with the cab company devoting up to ten cabs to the program. These vehicles would be clearly identified as dial-a-ride vehicles and would be activated by passenger demand (i,e,, they would not travel until passengers requested transportation), This method minimizes fuel consumption and helps to optimize multiple passenger scheduling, Potential passengers would dial a special dial-a-ride number to make transportation arrangements with the dial-a-ride dispatcher at the cab company's terminal. Various types of transportation arrangements would be available to the senior citizen wishing to use this transportation system. The arrangements would include subscription service, dial-a-ride, route deviation, and group rates. In this manner the many different needs of senior citizen passengers can be met. + -5- Using taxicabs allows the program to operate seven days per week from 10:00 a,m, to 10:00 p, m. each day. The service area would consist of all areas within the Richfield city limits and areas of high senior usage on Richfield's border, i.e,, the Southdale Medical Center and hospital facilities. The advantages of using taxicabs for the dial-a-ride program are as follows: 1. Taxicabs are more comfortable to ride than larger vehicles. • 2, The availability of many cabs at any time enchances the program`s flexibility and ability to adapt to fluxuating service demands. 3. Taxicabs provide a more personal atmosphere for riders than vans or buses. 4. Because they are demand activated and paid per passenger mile, they do not use funds unless they are actually carrying dial-a-ride passengers, 5. The use of taxicab personnel and equipment require relatively little training in this field, ` 6. The program is amenable to growth, • INITIATION OF A RICHRIELD DIAL-A-RIDE PROJECT The length of an experimental dial-a-ride for Richfield should be at least six months. The considerable time necessary to reach potential dial-a-ride pass- engers through advertising justifies the length of time for experimentation purposes, During the course of the experimental program various monitoring techniques could be used to determine the sucess of the project, To begin with, the dial-a-ride dispatcher and participating cab drivers would be expected to Iog information about each trip. The cab driver would keep an ongoing log indicating the time and location of the trip and the vehicle's mileage before the trip. This simple entry will provide information about the average trip length, the purpose of the trip, and the daily distribution of paying passengers. In addition to this log, the driver will request that the passenger complete a short question- naire about the quality of service as they perceive it. The dial-a-ride dispatcher will also maintain a log of daily dail-a-ride operations showing the original destination of each trip, the time received, the nature of the transportation request, and the disposition of the request, This log will provide considerable information which can be used to verify driver records and monitor the type of transportation arrangements being made. Through the above mentioned logs the program can be adapted as necessary during the experimentation phase to determine the best method of providing dial-a-ride service. i -6- The operation of the experimental program will generate a significant amount of information about it, Among other things information will be provided about the amounts of money devoted to advertising, printing, supply and actual operations costs, At that time it would also be possible to compare the effectiveness of this program to other options available, A significant amount of advertising would be necessary to make this program work, It will be necessary to contact as many senior citizens as possible, This can be accomplished both by direct contact with senior citizens organi- zations to obtain lists of eligible seniors who might be interested in such a program. Churches could be contacted and asked to aid in the promotion of the program by distributing information or by providing lists of senior citizens who might benefit from the program. General advertising can also be used to reach senior citizens. Advertisements in local necaspapers and in city publications can serve this purpose. The results of these advertising methods would be monitored with the help of the previously mentioned question- naires. In this manner advertising efforts can be redirected in an attempt to gain the maximum results from each advertising dollar, The funds needed to sponsor an experimental project such as the one suggested here are difficult to estimate, To begin with private industry is reluctant to invest significant amounts of time into determining the amount which they would require to participate in such a program unless they are assured that funds are available for the project, In a recently accomplished experimental project in El Cajon, California $25,000 was allocated to fund a dial-a-ride project for six months. Like the program proposed here this project ~perated by subsidizing a private taxicab company 75~ per passenger mile. The cab company ran the trans- portation operations while the city remained responsible for monitoring the accuracy of taxi logs, issuing tickets, and paying the proper subsidy to the cab company on a weekly basis, Ten cabs were employed in this venture and the project proved to be a success, Further parallels can be drawn from the E1 Cajon example. The population and percentage of senior citizens in both cities is similar. The square miles of space occupied by each city is similar. This guarantees the passenger a quick .trip from one side of town to another, These parallels are interesting but do not provide a substantive proof of the success potential that the Richfield program might have. A great majority of the funds devoted to such a program would be used to fund actual dial-a-ride operations. Only a minor percentage would be needed for advertising and printing purposes, In fact, as much as 90% would be used 2. "The Taxi: One City's Transit System", Nations Cities, Manny Cruz, December 1974, p.41. t _7_ for program operations with the remainder used for other purposes. This is a difficult determination to make because the amount that must be directed to each of the program areas depends on the acceptance that the program re- ceives. According to representatives at the Metropolitan Transit Commission, funds may be available to help subsidize such. a program. According to preliminary reports, the M.T.C. has funds available for local demonstration projects. According to past policy, the M.T.C. has been willing to subsidize 50;0 of the funds necessary to operate such a program during the demonstration period. In order to obtain these funds, it is necessary to submit a preliminary outline of the program to the Executive Director of the Government Operating Division. He would then be able to offer advice on the project and assess its potentia]_ for obtaining funds. The primary problem with this entire project is that a major source of city funds is not currently available to match funds which might possibly be provided by some other agency. • .~ r CITY OF RICHFIELD, MINNESOTA i Office of Executive Director HRA Letter No. 8 Agenda April 14, 1975 Deferred April 28, 1975 Housing and Redevelopment Authority Commissioners City of Richfield Gentlemen: Subject: Amendment to the Lyndale/Hub/Nicollet Goals and Objectives This item is placed on the HRA agenda to consider an amendment to the LHN Planning Goals and Objectives . The Planning Commission unanimously recommended adoption of the goals and objectives at the joint Commission/HRA meeting on January 21, 1975. The city council adopted all but one objective on February 10, 1975. The city council referred the objective "work toward the elimination of roof- top signs and overhead utilities" back to the LHN Commercial Improvement Comm- ittee for reconsideration. On February 28, 1975, the LHN Commercial Improvement Committee met to reconsider this objective. The committee amended the objective as follows: 1 . "Work toward the elimination of overhead utilities" . 2 . "Create a signing program which will enhance the LHN commercial area" . The LHN Commercial Improvement Committee recommends the adoption of the amended objective by the Planning Commission and city council. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the amended LHN objective at its March 25, 1975 meeting. The staff concurs with the LHN Commercial Improvement Committee and the Planning Commission in recommending the amended objective. Respectfully submitted, ~. C ._ Wayne S . Burggraaff Executive T~irector WSB/blj cc: Planning Director ~~ ~~ ~> ~ COMMERCIAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM . ~~` ~ . ENV I RONMEfdTAL CREATE A POSITIVE NEW IMAGE FOR THE LYNDALE/NUB/NICOLLET AREA BY IDENTIFYING AND ENHANCING TT-IE DISTINCTIVE QUALITIES OF THE AREA AND BY SETTING APPROPRIATE DESIGN STANDARDS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT . A.1 Renovate existing strong retail corrunercial establishments within the area. * Develop a design framework for building renovation so that a unified image begins to emerge. ~ Improve the design relationship at the boundary of commercial and residential land use. • A.2 Establish a "Design Frame<<•ork" for the public right-of- way to assist in promoting the ne.ti' image of the Lyndale/Hub/Nicollet Area. * Integrate a street signing, lighting, furniture, and planting program to humanize the area. * (Werk-teYards-the-e}gym}xat}ex-e€-ree€- tep-sib s-and-everkead-utilities.) * Create a signing program which titi-ill e lance t le t~ or~u~lercia ea. * Work towards the elimination of overhead utilities. * Transfozm selected areas into pedestrian places and provide for pedestrian access to the area. * Improve the maintenance of "Public" areas - sidewalks, alleys, parking lots, and landscaped areas. •