Title
Continuation of Employee Bus Pass Programs (B)
This item involves a request for the City Commission to authorize the City Manager to execute interlocal agreements with the University of Florida (UF), Alachua County, Alachua/Bradford Regional Workforce Board, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Administration Health System (VA), and Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc. (Shands), for continuation of these employee bus pass programs.
Explanation
The employee bus pass program was created to alleviate traffic and parking problems, particularly at the University of Florida and Downtown. The program has been in effect since January 24, 2000, with University of Florida employees being the first to participate. Downtown City employees began riding on April 3, 2000, Alachua County employees on July 24, 2000, Alachua/Bradford Regional Workforce Board on September 11, 2000, VA employees on May 2, 2005, and most recently to join was Shands on February 1, 2006. The ridership is estimated at 719,978 for UF employees, 152,278 for Workforce Board and Shands, and a combined total of almost 126,800 for the City, County, and VA through November 30, 2006.
Use of public transportation continues to increase for all agencies participating in the program. This program is now available to 1,786 City (including 420 Gainesville Regional Utilities employees), 1,000 County, 1,000 Workforce Board, 2,000 VA, 7,949 Shands, and 13,000 UF employees. The monthly passenger averages for 2006 employee ridership for the City, County, and VA was almost 3,400, 4,400 for the Workforce Board and Shands, and over 10,100 for UF. The total number of employees benefiting from all these programs is 25,735 with an average cost per trip of $0.54.
Fiscal Note
At the current rate of $4.50 per rider, revenue in the amount of $115,807.50 will be collected for the continuation of these programs with the following contributions by each participating agency: University of Florida will provide $58,500; the City will provide $8,037 of which Gainesville Regional Utilities will fund $1,890; the County will provide $4,500; the VA will provide $9,000; and Shands will provide $35,770.50.
Recommendation
Recommended Motion: The City Commission: 1) approve the annual contract for continuation of the Employee Bus Pass Program for City employees through January 2008; and 2) authorize the City Manager to execute interlocal agreements with the University of Florida, Alachua County, Alachua/Bradford Regional Workforce Board, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Administration Health System, and Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc., for continuation of these employee bus pass programs.
Alternative Recommendation A: The City Commission can deny continuation of the annual contracts and the resulting fiscal impact is that the Regional Transit System will lose the $115,807.50 generated by the employee bus pass program.