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Memo Transit Services To Knollwood C I T Y o F HOP KIN S MEMORANDUM DATE: February 12, 1992 City Council TO: FROM: Nancy Anderson SUBJECT: Transit services to Knollwood I. INTRODUCTXON The Regional Transit Board (RTB) has contacted the City regarding the expansion of the Hop-A-Ride service to Knollwood. The reason for this inquiry is that the RTB's Five Year Transit Plan has identified Knollwood Mall/Target as a key transit hub for the western suburbs. The RTB has indicated that extending the Hop-A-Ride service to this hub and developing transfer reciprocity with the MTC and University of Minnesota systems would provide vastly improved transit service to the residents. Currently the Hop-A-Ride service goes to three destinations outside the City. The three destinations are as follows: 1) Methodist Hospital 2) Opportunity Workshop and 3) Shady Oak Beach. Staff wishes to discuss this matter with the City Council to determine if be taken to Knollwood. formal action the Council should desire that further efforts accommodate an expansion of the service to The Council is not being requested to take at this time to approve the service extension. II. EXISTING CONTRACT WITH THE RTB In tha past the RTB has supplied 60% of the total operating costs for the Hop-A-Ride service. In 1992 because of the RTB's tight budget, the RTB froze the 1992 budget to 1991 levels. The RTB is now paying less than 60% of the total operating costs. The 1992 contract with the RTB is $34,752 which is 58% of the total operating costs. The 1992 total budget for Hop-A-Ride is $60,300. The City's share budgeted from the general fund for 1992 is $10,800. The balance of the budget comes from ticket revenue. III. ISSUES The RTB is interested in improving transit service but there are other considerations the City needs to consider in expanding. the service. The issues that the city council should consider are as follows: o contractor willingness to expand service o additional costs o retail issue o need/interest The first and second issues are similar in nature. Town Taxi has bid on the existing service and signed a contract with the city for 1992. In talking with a representative of Town Taxi they would be willing to provide service to Knollwood for $4.00 per ride. The current bid price is $1.84 per ride. with this in mind, if the service is expanded, there will be an increase in the budget, even with no increase in ridership. Furthermore, if ridership should increase because of the expanded service, the increase in the budget expenditures will be even greater. The RTB has been contacted regarding the additional cost per ride for the Knollwood trip to see if they would provide the additional funds necessary to expand the service to Knollwood. As of the date of this memo, there has been no response to' this question. The third and forth issues are also similar. The RTB is interested in the Knollwood location as a transit hub. However, the issue for the city is the idea of expanding transit services to a retail development outside of Hopkins. There has always been a great interest in going to Knollwood as a destination, not for transit purposes but to go to shop. When discussed in the past one of the questions which was debated by the city Council was as follows: Should the City provide transit services for residents of Hopkins to shop in another city? The staff does not know if or how much ridership will increase if the service is expanded. A survey was given to the riders in February. The final date to turn in the survey in is February 14th. Preliminary results show there is a very strong interest in expanding the service to Knollwood, as there was in a previous survey, and that the riders would be willing to pay more for this service. IV. ESTIMATED COSTS If the city council decides that the Hop-A-Ride service should expand to Knollwood, the following are the estimated costs: Current budget $60,300 for 28,000 passengers at $1.84 per ride. If the service expansion to Knollwood does not exceed the contract limit of 28,000 passengers there will be a $2.16 increase per ride for each person going to Knollwood. The cost per 1000 passengers to go to Knollwood is $2160.00 If Knollwood riders exceed the contract limit of 28,000 passengers there will be a $4.00 increase per ride. The cost per 1000 passengers to go to Knollwood over the contracted 28,000 passengers is $4000 per 1000 passengers. The ridership has been around 28,000 passengers for the past several years. V. ALTERNATIVES It appears there are seven alternatives for the City council to consider. The following are the alternatives: o Expand the Hop-A-Ride service to Knollwood and increase the ci ty budget for the additional costs for the Knollwood trip o Increase ticket price for the Knollwood trip to offset the additional costs o Do not expand the Hop-A-Ride service to Knollwood o Expand the service to Knollwood with the condi tion that the RTB funds the additional costs o Terminate the contract with Town Taxi as of June 30, 1992 and re-bid the service, including Knollwood as a destination o Determine that service to Knollwood is included in the 1993 bid and not expand the service for 1992 o Expand the service to Knollwood to 1992 or 1993 on the condition that a combination of additional RTB funds and a higher ticket price for the trip cover any additional costs associated with the service expansion. VI. RECOMMENDATION staff would recommend the City council direct that further discussion take place with the RTB and Town Taxi, as well as the Business Council, on the expansion of Hop-A-Ride service to Knollwood on the basis that any additional costs associated with this expansion would be paid thru RTB funding and/or in an increase in fares for this service. This recommendation is based on the premise that the RTB feels this expansion will enhance overall transit services and that the riders surveyed seem to support the expansion.