HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-07-17 City Council (17)TO:
City of Palo Alto
City Manager’s Report
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND
COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT
DATE:July 24, 2000 CMR:329:00
SUBJECT:FIRST QUARTER REPORT ON THE PALO ALTO SHUTTLE
PILOT PROJECT
This is an information report. No Council action is requested.
BACKGROUND
The Palo Alto Shuttle pilot project began in mid-December 1999, with the kick-off of the
Crosstown Shuttle on Saturday, December 11 followed two days later by the start up of the
Embarcadero Shuttle route on Monday, December 13.
The Crosstown Shuttle runs Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and all day Saturdays
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The route runs from Stevenson House on East Charleston near Nelson
along Waverley and other residential streets to Midtown, then on to the Main Library, Art
Center, and Downtown to the Caltrain Station at Lytton and Alma. The Crosstown shuttle
was designed to take seniors to the Senior Center, students home from Jordan and JLS
Middle Schools, youth to Saturday soccer practice, and everyone to Midtown and
Downtown businesses six days a week, making it possible for people to leave their cars at
home.
The Embarcadero Shuttle runs weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00
p.m. on Embarcadero Road, connecting the Caltrain Station, new Palo Alto Medical
Foundation, Palo Alto High and Castilleja Schools, and the Library and Art Center, with
residential streets along the route and businesses on East Bayshore Road between
Embarcadero Road and Corporation Way. The shuttle has been designed to help Palo Alto
residents get to the Caltrain station, Downtown businesses, and Stanford without their cars,
and to enhance Palo Alto High School students’ mobility before and after school, as well as
to continue a Caltrain-funded commuter shuttle to East Bayshore offices.
Palo Alto purchases transportation from the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (JPB)
Caltrain shuttle program. The JPB contractor, Parking Company of America (PCA)
operates small, 22-passenger, fully accessible diesel buses in Palo Alto.
CMR:329:00 Page 1 of 4
DISCUSSION
The attached quarterly report covers the first three full months of service, January through
March 2000. Staff considered December as a "preview" of the service (due to factors such
as the mid-month start date, the holiday season and the two week school vacation at the end
of December) and has not included the December start-up period in the project’s ongoing
statistics.
Ridership
The first quarter of the shuttle pilot project was characteri.zed by a steady growth in
ridership. Average weekday ridership increased by 34 percent from 208 daily riders in
January to 278 riders in March. Saturday ridership increased by a similar 34 percent, from
96 to 129 riders (Attachment 1, the full "Quarterly Ridership Report"). At the present rate,
the shuttle ridership is well on the way to the target of 84,000 riders per year.
Ridership on the Embarcadero Shuttle averaged 156 riders/day during the first quarter. The
approximately 50 students who commute to and from Palo Alto High School each day
boosted daily ridership. Nevertheless, commute-oriented ridership from the Caltrain bus
stop at Alma and Lytton has increased by over 50 percent since January.
The Crosstown shuttle averaged 89 riders on weekdays and 110 riders on Saturdays during
the quarter. The Crosstown shuttle serves a midday population of riders, whose trips may
be more discretionary in nature and subject to influences on a day to day basis rather than
the daily routine of commute riders. For example, trip taking by seniors could have been
curtailed during the winter months due to inclement weather. On the other hand, during this
same period, staff observed increasing use of the last northbound afternoon shuttle trip by
up to 30 Jordan Middle School students.
Performance Measures
Attachment 1 also includes performance measures typically used in the transit industry to
evaluate cost effectiveness (cost per ride), and service efficiency (rides per vehicle service
mile and riders per vehicle service hour). Attachment 2 provides a peer comparison of the
performance of the Palo Alto shuttle with other local shuttles, VTA Lines 86 and 88 and a
selection of small transit operators in California who contract out for service. Nevertheless,
with the exception of the Menlo Midday shuttle, all of the other operations utilize fleets are
more than double the size of the Palo Alto shuttle fleet. At the present time, given the short
duration of the service, staff is pleased with its performance.
Vehicle Capacity
The Embarcadero shuttle experienced over=capacity loads on shuttle runs used by Palo Alto
High students in the morning and afternoon, and similarly on the last afternoon Crosstown
shuttle used by Jordan students. Maximum capacity of the shuttle vehicles is 32 passengers,
including 22 seated and 10 standing riders. In order to handle the heavy school commute
CMR:329:00 Page 2 of 4
loads, PCA has added a second bus to the after-school shuttles from Palo Alto High and
Jordan. The heavy loads on trips to Palo Alto High School in the morning have been
accommodated by adjustments to the schedule, which has two buses arriving at Palo Alto
High within 15 minutes of the start of school.
Outreach Efforts
During the first quarter, staff implemented several outreach and marketing efforts to
increase the visibility of the shuttle project, including a special notice in the utility bill
(Attachment 3), regular advertisements in the Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Daily News,
and special reproductions of the shuttle schedules as inserts in both papers. The City
Commute Coordinator held outreach meetings at Avenidas, Stevenson House, Lytton
Gardens, and Channing House and conducted a guided shuttle ride-along for seniors on the
Crosstown Shuttle. Shuttle schedules were distributed to businesses in the East
Bayshore/Embarcadero business district, Downtown, Midtown and the Charleston shopping
center, as well as City community centers and libraries, the middle and secondary schools,
and the PAUSD district offices. Information on the shuttle is included on the scroll on cable
Channel 16 and on the shuttle page on the City’s website.
Staff has received considerable comment and feedback from the public about the shuttle via
emails to the shuttle website, phone calls and comments at public outreach efforts. The
most frequent comment is that the Crosstown shuttle does not go to the new Palo Alto
Medical Foundation campus on E1 Camino Real. Staff has also received several requests to
operate the Crosstown shuttle during peak hours, to make the shuttle a commute option for
adult workers and Jordan and JLS middle school students. Other concerns relate to the lack
of coverage of the shuttle pilot project to areas west of E1 Camino Real, including Barron
Park and College Terrace neighborhoods.
During the coming months, staff will be conducting rider on/off counts at each bus stop and
reviewing ridership by specific trip to better assess the strengths and weaknesses of the
shuttle routes and schedules. During the summer months, staff will be designing an on-
board rider survey instrument that will capture information on rider demographics, trip
purpose, trip frequency, and rider opinions of the service. The survey will be conducted in
fall. This information will be used to evaluate the need to make modifications in the route
alignments or schedules to enhance the service and attract more riders.
Planned Improvements
Staff is working on two initiatives to enhance shuttle operations: extension of the
Marguerite Express into Downtown Palo Alto, and conversion of the shuttle project to
electric and compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled vehicles.
In March (CMR:175 :00), staff submitted an application to the Valley Transportation
Authority (VTA) for 2000/01 Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA) Program Manager
CMR:329:00 Page 3 of 4
Funds for the Palo Alto/Stanford Shuttle Integration Project, which will. extend the
Marguerite Express noontime service further into Downtown Palo Alto and link it with Palo
Alto’s Crosstown shuttle. The goal of the project is to expand the service market to more
destinations downtown and offer Palo Alto residents and downtown employees access to the
Palo Alto Medical Foundation campus on E1 Camino Real, Stanford Museum, Stanford
Medical Center and Main Campus. VTA staff has included this project in its
recommendations to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Funding, if approved,
would be available in the falli
During the past several months, staff has been working with representatives of the Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI), Utilities Department staff and community representatives
to explore the feasibility of converting the shuttle fleet to clean fueled vehicles, in response
to Council policy direction to "utilize CNG or electric powered vehicles." Staff anticipates
bringing a recommendation forward to the City Council within the next two months.
RESOURCE IMPACT
Total cost of shuttle contract operations during the first quarter was $57,925, which is
approximately 26 percent below the operating costs projected at the time of Council
approval of the program. The lower expenditure level is due to the very favorable contract
rates obtained by purchasing service through the Caltrain shuttle program.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Quarterly Report
2. Peer Review Performance Comparison
3. "Catch the Shuttle" Utilities Bill Insert
PREPARED BY:
DEPARTMENT HEAD:’
Gayle Likens, Senior Planner
G. ED;A~~G WF
Director of Planning and
Community Environment
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
Shuttle Project Advisory Committee
Chamber of Commerce
James DeHart, Samtrans
Donald Phillips, PAUSD
HARRISON
Assistant City Manager
CMR:329:00 Page 4 of 4
PALO ALTO SHUTTLE
QUARTERLY RIDERSHIP REPORT
January - March 2000
ATTACHMENT A
SERVICE DA YS
Weekdays with Service
Holidays & School Holidays
Saturdays
January February March il Quarter
20 19 25 64
2 2 5 9
4 4 5 13
S YS TEM-WIDE RIDERSHIP
TOTAL RIDES
Embarcadero
Crosstown Weekday
Saturday
Total
January
2,669
1,494
384
4,547
February
2,963
1,582
404
4,949
March
4,359
2,590
643
7,592
Quarter
9,991
5,666
1,431
17;088
AVERAGE DAILY RIDES
Embarcadero
Midday Crosstown
Combined~Weekdays ~
Saturdays
January[February
133 156
75 83
~ 208; ~,1 ~.= 239
96 101
March
174
104
278
129
Quarter
156
89
¯:245
110
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
COST/RIDE
Embarcadero
Midday Crosstown
:Combined Weekday
.Saturday
Total Service
January February
$2.88 $2.47
$5.62 $5.04
$3.87 ’ $3.37
$7.29 $6.93
$4.16 $3.66
March
$2.21
$4.o5
$2.90
$5.44
$3.11
Quarter
$2.47
$4.74
$3.29
$6.36
$3.55
RIDESNEHICLE SERVICE HOUR
Embarcadero
Midday Crosstown
Combined Weekday
Saturday
Total Service
January
11.6
6.2
..1_6
4.8
8.4
February I March
15.2
8.6
:2.1.
6.4
11.2
13.6
6.9
1.8
5.1
9.6
II Quarter
13.6
7.4
10.4
5.5
9.9
RIDESNEHICLE SERVICE MILE
~ Embarcadero
Midday Crosstown
Combined Weekday=
Saturday
Total Service
January February March [I Quarter
0.9 1.1 1.2 1.1
0.6 0.6 0.8 0.7
0,8 0.9 1.0 0.9
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.5
0.7 0.8 0.9 0.8
R~ERS~PBYL~E
EMBARCADERO SHUTTLE
TOTAL RIDES
AM
PM
Grand Totals
AVERAGE DALLY RIDES
AM
PM
Daily
January
1,387
1,282
2,669
February
1,553
1,410
2,963
March I Quarter
2,161 5,101
2,198 4,890,4,359 II 9,991
January
69
64
133
February
82
74
156
March I Quarter
86 80
88 76
CROSSTOWN SHUTTLE
TOTAL RIDES
Weekday Rides
Saturday Rides
Grand Totals
AVERAGE DAILY RIDES
Weekdays
Saturdays
January
1,494
384
1,878
February
1,582
404
1,986
March
2,590
643
3,233
Quarter
5,666
1,431
7,097
january I February 175 I 83 I March 104 IIQuarter89
96 I 101 I 129 II 110
r
~kTTACHMENT B
t~
O
o
o
’Ho does it work7
Palo Alto Shuttle is Free
Every 30 minutes
Embarcadero Route:
Monday - Friday 6am - 9am
And 3pro - 6pm
Crosstown Route:
Monday - Friday 9am - 3pro
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Schedules available at:
City HalI, City Iibraries,
community centers, the
Senior Center, senior housing
facilities, and schools
No service on Sundays and major
holidays
Visit our website
for downloadable & viewable
shuttle schedules:
-www.cit3r.palo-alto.ca.us/shuttle
650-329-2520
ATTACHMENT C
&ross~oW~
In comph.ance wi~ the Americans with Disabilities Act AD ¯For more informahon contact Fred Herman, City of PalTAAi ~ ~f~l 9~9_, 0, t,h~s d.o.c_u~_ ent rnay be provided in oth ..,,to ~a-,~’ivirec~or, t130 329 2496[v " ~ ~. ~o ef, a~c^c.es~sible formats