Camarillo City Council
AGENDA REPORT
Date: May 22, 2024
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Greg Ramirez, City Manager
Submitted by: Dave Klotzle, Public Works Director
Subject: Transit Operation and Maintenance Services – Award of Agreement
BACKGROUND
On May 6, 2024, a recommendation to award RTW Management, Inc. (RTW) a four-year Transit Operations and Maintenance Services Agreement was considered by City Council. City Council discussed the recommended action and requested additional information be brought back to City Council including the differences between RTW and Ventura Transit Systems (VTS) as well as considering VTS as an operator for Camarillo Area Transit (CAT) services. CAT operation and maintenance services are currently provided by RATP Dev USA LLC (RATP) under an agreement which expires June 30, 2024.
DISCUSSION
On January 4, 2024, staff advertised a Request For Proposals (RFP) to provide CAT operations and maintenance services. At the end of February 2024, proposals were submitted by RTW and VTS. The following summary of transit service experience for RTW and VTS includes descriptions of services provided by each firm as submitted in their proposals, as well as additional services identified through subsequent City staff inquiries. Staff presented the information below to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on May 14, 2024, which advised presenting the information to City Council for consideration on May 22, 2024.
RTW
RTW’s proposal listed three transit service contracts as examples intended to detail their experience they consider similar to CAT. RTW currently operates the City of Radford Virginia’s transit program. The service consists of deviated fixed routes that service the
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City of Radford and Radford University. For some general background, the deviated route system enables passengers to request a deviation of the route as long as it is within three- quarter miles of the respective bus route and is requested before the end of the previous day. The service is federally funded and provides approximately 181,000 trips per year.
The second service provided as an example is the City of Casa Grande, Arizona. This is a new on-demand service established in 2023, and RTW was the selected contractor to implement the service. The service is federally funded and the projected first year of service is 40,000 trips provided with four vehicles. RTW’s third example is the Maryland Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). This service is not specifically a public transit service as it is limited to VAMC employees, visitors, and veterans, however, the VAMC is federally funded and operates statewide, providing fixed route and paratransit services, with approximately 77,200 trips provided per year.
Additional service experience from RTW includes, but is not limited to, the City of Scottsdale Arizona’s trolley bus service, which operates five routes and provides 1.2 million trips per year. In Hinesville, Georgia, RTW operates a fixed route, demand response and paratransit service, utilizing seven vehicles, providing approximately 25,000 trips per year. RTW also operates a fixed route service for Morgan State University (Bear Transit), with three fixed routes operated with six buses, providing approximately 260,000 trips per year.
VTS
VTS’s proposal listed three transit services as examples intended to detail their experience they consider similar to CAT. For the City of Calabasas, VTS provides fixed route service (including a fixed route, and 4 peak-hour routes), seasonal weekend trolley service and summer beach bus programs; with VTS operating and maintaining 9 vehicles.
The service provides an average annual ridership of 23,000 passengers. The second VTS service example is the City of Malibu’s senior and individuals with a disability dial-a- ride program. Staff from Malibu reported that the service averages 55 trips per month, using one vehicle. The third example provided by VTS is their contract with Tri-Counties Regional Center (TRC), providing paratransit services to approximately 500 TRC clients on a daily basis with trips scheduled through R&D Transportation. They operate 33 routes along with one-time trips using 40 vehicles owned by VTS.
Additional service experience from VTS includes, but is not limited to, the recent Ventura County Transportation Commission’s Access for All services, which provides countywide on-demand transportation services using wheelchair accessible vehicles and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week anywhere within Ventura County. According to VCTC staff the service is state funded with VTS providing approximately 50 trips a month. VTS also serves the CenCal Health Center, providing demand response service for Medi-Cal patients throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties (covering approximately 40 cities). The program is state funded and serves approximately 10,000 passengers per month per staff at CenCal. VTS also provides medical transportation services for Gold Coast Health Plan in Ventura County. Both CenCal and Gold Coast Health Plan’s transportation programs are Medi-Cal funded transportation services. For Transit Operations and Maintenance Services
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the City of Agoura Hills, VTS operates a shuttle bus during special events, which averages approximately four to five scheduled events per month. Agoura Hills also offers a ridesharing app, AH GO, a general public dial-a-ride service, which is provided by Spare, who subcontracts for the transit operators, with VTS being one of the subcontractors. AH- GO serves Agoura Hills and trips to/from surrounding areas.
City Council requested additional detail concerning the scoring criteria utilized by the five- person proposal review and selection panel to evaluate each proposal. Table 1 below provides the average of the five panelists’ scores for each criteria used in evaluating the submitted proposals.
Table 1: Proposal Evaluation
*Note that further review of original scoring sheets identified miscalculations of the total scores listed in the May 6, 2024, City Council Report. RTW’s score of 99 is corrected to 97.2 and VTS’s of 85 is corrected to
79.8. RTW scored 97.2/100 on the proposal evaluation. RTW provided all the prerequisites under operating methodology criteria in great detail as well as discussed FTA requirements such as required signage, conducting regular audits, reports meeting FTA requirements, and noted they perform self-imposed audits to ensure FTA compliance.
RTW also provided details on all software programs used and capabilities which would increase efficiency and give reliable and accurate data needed for reporting. The service RTW is proposing to offer not only meets but exceeds the RFP requirements which is in line with the superior service Camarillo aspires to provide.
VTS scored 79.8/100 on the proposal evaluation. VTS did not include an implementation timeline, implementation plan or performance plan under the operating methodology criteria. The VTS proposal did not demonstrate their experience with FTA regulated contracts. While VTS demonstrated to meet the RFP’s requirements with preventative maintenance and data collection by listing the requirements (such as frequency of oil changes); the proposal did not include as much supporting details on software capabilities Possible
Points
Criteria RTW
Avg. Score
VTS
Avg. Score
30 Operating methodology – effective use of
personnel to ensure quality service
including facility plan, implementation plan
& timeline, staffing plan, performance plan
27.2 21.2
25 Cost effectiveness of proposal: cost in
relation to quality and level of service 20.8 21.2
15 Understanding FTA/ADA requirements 13.2 8.4
15 Qualification & experience of team 13.4 11.2
15 Data collection, record-keeping & reporting
capabilities, efficiency & timeliness 13.4 7.8
10 Bonus points if proposer declares to retain
prior contractor employees for no less than
90 days.
10 10
Total (out of 100) 97.2* 79.8*
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or assurance of accurate data collection techniques as was demonstrated by RTW’s proposal.
On March 6, 2024, the five-person panel convened to separately interview RTW and VTS including presentations from each firm. Table 2 below provides the average of the five panelists’ scores for each criteria used in evaluating the interview and presentation of each proposer.
Table 2: Presentation/Interview Evaluation
*Note that further review of original scoring sheets identified miscalculations of total scores listed in the May 6, 2024, City Council Report. RTW’s score of 90 is corrected to 87.4 and VTS’s average score of 78 is corrected to 74.2.
RTW’s score on the presentation was 87.4/100. RTW scored higher because of the capabilities demonstrated in the presentation to provide superior data collection techniques and practices in place as well as demonstrated FTA knowledge. RTW’s service would also be devoted and focused on CAT services only as it would not be sharing facilities for any other services. Overall RTW presentation was well thought out and organized, touching on all evaluation criteria.
VTS’s score on the presentation was 74.2/100. VTS demonstrated extensive, in-house training but did not exhibit experience and understanding of FTA requirements, or the intent to have dedicated staff for CAT services. Overall VTS’s presentation met the standard requirements but did not show the capabilities of delivering superior service to Camarillo.
Possible
Points Criteria RTW
Avg. Score
VTS
Avg. Score
20 Employee Training 18.2 16.8
25 Understanding of FTA/ADA
requirements 22.4 17.2
25 Ability to Perform Required Work 20.6 20.2
10 Internal Operating Policies 8.2 6.8
15 Data Collection 13.6 9.6
5 Overall Quality 4.4 3.6
Total (out of 100) 87.4* 74.2*
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Table 3 below provides the combined average of the Proposal and Interview scores for both RTW and VTS.
Table 3: Combined Evaluation Scores
RTW
Combined Avg. Score
VTS
Combined Avg. Score
Proposal 97.2 79.8
Interview 87.4 74.2
Combined
Average 92.3 77.0
Proposal and interview evaluation criteria and scoring methodology were included in the RFP document to help potential proposers develop and focus their proposals and presentations. While the scores are not necessarily a reflection of all of the capabilities of any proposer, they are impacted by how the information is conveyed to the review panel and how the panelists understand the capabilities of each respective proposal and interview presentation.
Based on: 1) the proposal, interview and presentation evaluation results; 2) review of additional references; and 3) ensuring consistency with FTA funding and reporting requirements, staff continues to recommend awarding a four-year CAT services agreement to RTW. The cost of the agreement with RTW is summarized in the May 6, 2024 agenda report (Attachment 1).
Alternatively, City Council has the option to reject both proposals and direct staff to return with an amendment to extend RATP’s agreement for a term and cost to be presented with the amendment.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funds for CAT service is included in the Proposed Budget for FY 2024/25 in the Transit Fund. The total Year 1 cost of CAT service is estimated to be $2,875,186.
CEQA DETERMINATIONS
Staff has determined, in accordance with Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines that the Transit Operations and Maintenance Services Agreement is not subject to CEQA review because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the Agreement may have a significant effect Transit Operations and Maintenance Services
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on the environment. The activity is a continuation of services and is designed to reduce the amount of single-occupancy vehicle trips that the public may otherwise take.
Additionally, CEQA Guideline 15301 Existing Facilities exempts from CEQA review projects that involve operation of existing facilities or structures, or mechanical equipment which the public transit vehicles could be considered.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Find the Agreement for Transit Operations and Maintenance Services is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) and 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute Agreement No. 2024-28 with RTW Management, Inc. for transit operations and maintenance services for a four-year term for an amount not to exceed $11,866,219; or
3. Reject all Proposals and direct staff to work with RATP to extend the term as permitted under the current agreement and return with an amendment.
ATTACHMENTS
1. May 6, 2024 Agenda Report
2.Agreement No. 2024-28
REFERENCE MATERIALS – AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW AT CITY HALL None