Fremont City Council Meeting: 04/01/25 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Human Services Department Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Agreements and Contracts
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5399) DOC ID: 5399
Updated: 3/27/2025 4:36 PM by Dina Lewis Page 1
TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR OLDER ADULTS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (RIDE-ON TRI-CITY!) – Authorization to Execute an Amendment with Lyft, Inc. for Ride-On Tri-City’s Ride-Hailing Service; Appropriation of additional funds to Measure BB Paratransit Fund; and Making Finding of CEQA Exemption
Contact Persons:
Name: Shawn Fong Arquimides Caldera
Title: Paratransit Program Manager Human Services Director Div/Dept: Human Services Department Human Services Department Phone: 510-574-2033 510-574-2056
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The City of Fremont (City) provides a wide array of transportation services for older adults and people with disabilities living in the Tri-City area. As the needs of our community have changed, the City has developed new ways to address transportation service gaps and to ensure that older adults and people with disabilities have access to reliable and affordable modes of transportation to get to doctor’s appointments, grocery shop, run errands and engage in social and recreational activities that are essential to a high quality of life. The City’s program, known as Ride-On Tri-City!, provides subsidized rides on wheelchair accessible vans, taxis and ride-hailing services. Ride-On Tri-City! provides ride-hailing services through Lyft and has experienced a 135% increase demands for rides over the same period last year and is the program’s fastest growing service.
Staff recommends the City Council authorize the City Manager to:
1. Execute an amendment to the current agreement with Lyft, Inc. to increase the not-to-exceed amount from $270,000 to $380,000 for ride-hailing service services provided through Ride-On Tri-City! for FY2024/25.
2. Appropriate an additional $110,000 in the Measure BB Paratransit Fund.
BACKGROUND: The Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) administers Measure BB, the Alameda County transportation sales tax that provides direct local distribution payments to cities to implement special transportation services for older adults and people with disabilities.
With community input from older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, community groups, health care professionals, and social service providers, the City has developed a comprehensive network of mobility and transportation services for residents of Fremont, Newark and Union City that includes mobility management, travel training and transportation services.
In the Fall of 2019, the City launched a pilot project to provide subsidized rides on ride - hailing platforms for older adults and people with disabilities in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Subsidized ride-hailing is available from 8 am to 6 pm, seven days a week. Participants in Ride-On Tri-City! (Program) pay for the first $4 of their ride and the City subsidizes up to an additional $16 of trip costs. Program participants are responsible for any additional fare above the City’s $16 subsidy. The pilot project also provides a limited number of subsidized Council Staff Report (ID # 5399) Meeting of April 1, 2025 Updated: 3/27/2025 4:36 PM by Dina Lewis Page 2
rides to Program participants who have medical appointments outside of the Tri-City area and who have no other means of transportation to and from those appointments.
The City contracts with Lyft to provide discounts on rides for Program participants who reserve trips directly on Lyft’s ride-hailing app on their smartphones. To accommodate program participants who do not have smartphones, the City also contracts with GoGo Technologies, Inc. to operate a call center to take ride reservations by phone and enter those reservations into web-based ride-hailing platforms.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: Ride-On Tri-City! has seen significant increases in transportation service demand over the past five years. These increases have been most dramatic in the ride-hailing service through Lyft. The Program provided 2,002 Lyft rides in FY 2020/21; in FY 2023/24, the Program provided 27,293 rides. There are currently over 1,500 older adults and people with disabilities enrolled in the City’s ride-hailing service through Lyft.
To meet the unexpected increased service demand for the current fiscal year, staff recommends the City Council delegate authority to the City Manager to amend the current agreement with Lyft, Inc. to increase the not to exceed amount from $270,000 to $380,000 for ride-hailing services provided in FY2024/25.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact on the City’s General Fund. Program costs and project staffing for all components of Ride-On Tri-City!, including the Ride-Hailing Services, are funded through the City’s Measure BB direct local distribution allocation or grant funding received from Alameda CTC.
The City has sufficient unallocated fund balance in the Measure BB Paratransit Fund (Fund 252) to cover the recommended appropriation increase, due in part to very low transportation demand and reduced expenditures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Fremont receives reimbursement for transportation services provided to Newark and Union City as specified in the yearly Task Orders to the Joint Powers Agreements that the City of Fremont has executed with each city.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The action is exempt from CEQA pursuant to, without limitation, CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(2), (4) and/or (5), and/or 15061(b)(3) as an administrative or fiscal activity that has no potential to cause a significant effect on the environment, directly or indirectly, each of the foregoing providing a separate and independent basis for CEQA exemption.
ATTACHMENTS: None.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to execute an amendment to the current agreement with Lyft, Inc. to increase the not to exceed amount for FY 2024/25 services from $270,000 to $380,000.
2. Appropriate an additional $110,000 in the Measure BB Paratransit Fund (Fund 252).
3. Make a finding of CEQA exemption.