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CR 93-207 Hope A Ride Bids " ( . \ --- i "{ Y I ":: ..-:: i ~ ' . _ I .. . i H .. : 1- '0 I , . 0 ~ I . December2, 1993 i P K I I Council Report 93-206 HOP-A-RIDE BIDS Proposed Action: Staff recommends the following motion: Move to award the Hop-A-Ride bid to Suburban Taxi for the 1994 service and to increase the low income ticket price from $.55 to $.85 and regular ticket price from. $1.10 to $2.75. Furthermore. trips to and from the Knollwood Mall area, St. David's School and Park Nicollet Medical Center shall be charged at the rate of $3,00. $3.35. and $6,00 respectively. per one way trip. . Overview: The Hop-A-Ride service is an advance-reservation, shared-ride, door-"to::'door transportation service for anyone who needs transportation within the Hopkins City limits, The Hop-A-Ride service operates Monday through Saturday from 6:00 a.m, to 6:00 p.m. There are four current additional destinations. outside the City limits. They are: 1. Methodist Hospital; 2. Opportunity Workshop in Opus II; 3. Shady Oak Beach; 4. Knollwood Shopping area. . The City of Hopkins contracts with a private taxi opera.torto provide this service. . Every year the City solicits bids from taxi companies to provide service for the program in the upcoming year. CurrentlyYdlow Taxiprovides the 1993 service. The current bid price per ride is $1.73. The service was bid in October and only one bid was received, which was from Suburban Taxi. The bid in October would have substantially increased the. budget from the 1993 budget. As a result of this. situation and other changes staff wished to make to the specifications, staff recommended to the Council that the service be re-bid. . . The re-bidding process did not result in more bids. Suburban Taxi was the only bidder. The bid from Suburban remained the same as their first bid. Staff feels Suburban Taxi is capable of providing a quality service. Analysis of Issues: .. o How is the Hop-A-Ride service funded? o What was the bid from Suburban Taxi? o What is the impact on the budget by awarding the bidto Suburban Taxi without raising ticket prices? o What would the tickets prices have to be raised to compensate for the increase in the base bid? o What increase in ticket prices is the staff recommending? .' . 0 What is the staff recommending regarding the additional destinations? Nanc' . Anderson . Planner -/\ ~" ,- CR93~206 Page 2 . Primary Issues to consider: 0 How is the Hop-A-Ride service funded? The Regional. Transit Board provides. 60% of the funding. for the service. However, because of budget freezes, the RTB has frozen their portion of the budget to $34,800 for the past several years and again this year. The City's general fund and revenue from the ticket sales provide the balance of the funding. . The total 1993 budget is $62,000. 0 What was the bid from Suburb~m Taxi? The bid from Suburban Taxi was as follows: 0' Base bid $2.74 per ride 0 Trip to Knollwood $2.99 per ride .. 0 Trip to St. David's School $3.34 per ride 0 Trip to Park Nicollet Medical Center $5.95 per ride 0 What is the impact on the budget by awarding the bid to Suburban Taxi without raising ticket prices? . If the base bid is awarded to Suburban Taxi, without raising ticket prices, the Hop-A-Ride . program allocation from the general fund would be $34,700. This is an increase of $27,800 over the 1993 budget. Currently the general fundis budgeted to contribute approximately $10,000 in 1993.. but will only probably needto contribute $6,300. The current tickef prices are $.55 for low income and $1.10 for regular income. The Knollwood . ~ , ) trip is charged at $2,00 per ride and is self supporting. 87% of the riders use low income tickets and 13% of the riders use the regular priced ticket. The following is the. current budget and the proposed budget (without raising ticket prices) with the bid from Suburban Taxi: ! 1994 PROPOSED BUDGET CURRENT BUDGET Based on 28,000 riders . Based on 28,000 riders 24,360 riders use $.55 tickets(currrent price) 24,360 riders use $.55tickets(current price) 3,640 riders use $1.10 tickets (current price) 3,640 riders use $1.10 tickets( current price) Totalbudget $86,900 Total budget $58,500 RTB - $34.800 RTB -$34.800 $52,100 $23,700 projected revenue - $17 AOO projected revenue $17AOO General fund $34,700 General fund $ 6,300 . " - ,. "- ~ CR93-206 Page 3 . 0 What would the tickets prices have to be raised to compensate for the increase in the base bid? The following is an example of the budget based on an increase in ticket prices to cover the increased cost to the general fund based upon the base bid from Suburban Taxi: Based on 28,000 riders 24,360 riders use $1.50 tickets (low income) 3,640 riders use $2.75 tickets (regular) Total budget $86,900 RTB -$34.800 $52,100 project revenue -$45.332 General fund $ 6,768 0 What increase in ticket prices is the staff recommending? The staff is recommending the following ticket prices: 0 low income $.85 (increase from $.55 ride) 0 regular income $2.75 (increase from $1.10 ride) . The rational for these recommendations are the following: 0 The .increase in the Hop-A-Ride budget with the new bid will increase approximately 50%. As a result, the low income ticket price is increased about 50%. 0 The regular income individual will pay the contract price since they can afford more. However, it should be noted that, the cost for the Hop-A-Ride service is still significantly lower than a regular taxi and still represents a subsidized price. The following is the proposed Hop-A-Ride budget with the new ticket prices: Based on 28,000 riders 24,360 riders use $.85 ticket 3,640 riders use $2.75 ticket Total budget $86,900 RTB -$34.800 $52,100 project revenue -$30.716 General Fund $21,384 . k,''''-7( ,;"'"ti. ,~ CR93-206 Page 4 . If the City Council feels that the increase in the regular income ticket price is too significant. The following is an example of a smaller increase in the regular ticket price: Based on 28,000 riders 24,360 riders use $.85 tickets 3,640 riders use $1.75 tickets Total budget $86,900 RTB -$34,800 $52,100 projected revenue -$27.076 General Fund $25,024 This option will increase the contribution from the general fund approximately $4000, from the ticket prices suggested by the staff 0 What is the staff recommending regarding t~e additional destinations? Staff is recommending that the additional destinations to Knollwood, St. David's School and Park Nicollet Center are included, but that the trips are self supporting, Staff is recommending the following ticket prices: . 0 Knollwood $3.00 per ride 0 St. David's School $3.35 per ride 0 Park Nicollet Medical Center $6.00 per ride It should be noted that these ticket prices still represent a .reduce rate from what a person would pay if a regular taxi was provided, Alternatives. 1. Award the bid to Suburban Taxi and increase the ticket prices as recommended by staff. By increasing the ticket prices the impact to the general fund will be less. 2. Award the bid to Suburban Taxi and increase the ticket prices to something other than the recommendations of staff By increasing the ticket prices, the impact to the general fund will be less. 3. Reject the bid from Suburban Taxi. By taking this action there will be no Hop-A-Ride service as of January 1st. 4. Continue for further information. If the City Council indicates that further information is needed, the item should pe continued. This issue can be continued until the next City . Council meeting, but the bid must be awarded at this meeting for service starting on January 1.