Title
First Amendment to Master Services Agreement with the University of Florida Board of Trustees (UF) and the City of Gainesville (B)
This is a request for the City Commission to authorize the City Manager to execute the First Amendment to the Master Services Agreement with the University of Florida Board of Trustees and the City of Gainesville for Regional Transit System.
Explanation
For more than a decade, there has been a partnership between the University of Florida Board of Trustees (UF) and the City of Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS) to provide public transit services to the UF community (including students, employees, spouses, and retirees).
COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on transit across the nation and here in our own community. RTS has seen an unprecedented drop in ridership since March; monthly ridership dropped as much as 88% when compared to the monthly average of the last 3 years in the same month. As a result, service hours were reduced to account for anticipated revenue reductions. RTS projects that at least $4.4 million worth of service revenue normally provided by the UF Master Service Agreement will be lost due to the pandemic between March 2020 and December 2020. In support of the City’s efforts to battle the spread of COVID-19, UF has once again become a valued partner in our community.
The proposed amendment provides $2,977,000 in funding for the period of March 2020 through December 2020 to pay for special cleaning and disinfecting activities related to COVID-19 to ensure safe, accessible and sufficient RTS transportation service, including a full complement of RTS drivers, for the 2020 Fall Semester. The remaining difference of approximately $1.4 million between lost service revenue and the COVID-19 prevention assistance provided by UF will be offset by a combination of a reduction in operating expenses and the FTA CARES funds.
Fiscal Note
The total anticipated revenue for these additional services...
Click here for full text