Title
Continuation of Employee Bus Pass Program (B)
This item is a request for the City Commission to authorize the City Manager to execute service agreements with local agencies and increase the cost of the pass for the Employee Bus Pass Program.
Explanation
The Employee Bus Pass Program was created to alleviate traffic and parking problems, particularly at the University of Florida (UF) and Downtown. The program has been in effect since January 24, 2000, with UF employees being the first to participate. The program now represents approximately 30,000 employees from UF, Santa Fe College, the City of Gainesville, Alachua County, Shands Hospital, North Florida and South Georgia Veterans Health System (VA), Alachua/Bradford Regional Workforce Board, Oaks Mall, Job Corps, and Skanska.
Regional Transit System (RTS) has completed a study of the program for calendar year 2013. Based on passes sold and projected ridership for the remainder of the calendar year, the revenue collected per trip by RTS is $0.42; alternatively the cost per trip for participants is $0.42. The general goal of the program, which is to provide participants with unlimited access to the transit system at a reduced rate relative to the current one-way adult fare of $1.50, is being met. However, because of the increasing popularity of the program RTS recommends that the current $6.75 pass cost per employee be raised to $7.50 so the rate of return will increase to $0.46. The expectation is that this information will be reviewed annually with costs per employee increasing at a modest rate so that the revenue generated by RTS per trip is approximately one-half of the regular adult fare.
RTS desires to continue the Employee Bus Pass Program and increase the cost of an employee pass from $6.75 per employee to $7.50 per employee, with the exception of Santa Fe College (SF) who is under contract for $7.00 per employee through June 30, 2015.
Fiscal Note
At the rate of $7.50 per employee per year...
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