Agenda Report
TO:
FROM:
Honorable Mayor and City Council
Department of Transportation
April 24, 2023
SUBJECT: AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASE OF 15 PUBLIC TRANSIT VEHICLES
INCLUDING THE FIRST ZERO EMISSION VEHICLE FOR PASADENA
TRANSIT TO REPLACE AGING VEHICLES AND PROVIDE MORE
CAPACITY
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council:
1. Find that the proposed action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act. ("CEQA") pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) (General Rule);
2. Authorize the City Manager to enter into the following contracts:
a) New Flyer of America, Inc. for the procurement of nine larger capacity Xcelsior 35-foot Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) buses and one 35-foot Battery Electric Bus (BEB) and chargers for Pasadena Transit in an amount not to exceed $8,208,411 including a contingency of $354,887 (5% );
b) Creative Bus Sales, Inc. for the procurement of two Starcraft Allstar, Ford E450 25-foot RNG shuttles for Pasadena Transit in an amount not to exceed $399,441 including a contingency of $15,363 (4%); and
c) RO Truck & Equipment, LLC for the procurement of three Sunset, Ram Promaster low-floor unleaded vans for Pasadena Dial-A-Ride in an amount not to exceed $399,021 including a contingency of $15,347 (4%).
3. Neither Competitive Bidding nor Competitive Selection are required pursuant to City Charter Section 1002(H) contracts with other governmental entities or their contractors for labor, materials, supplies or services, and Pasadena Municipal Code Section 4.08.049(8), contracts for which the City's best interests are served.
MEETING OF __ 0_4_/_2_4/_2_0_2_3 AGENDA ITEM NO. _l __ _ Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride Replacement Buses April 24, 2023
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
On January 30, 2023, the City Council adopted the Pasadena Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan that provides the roadmap to transition the Pasadena public transit fleet to zero emission by 2037. The proposed vehicle replacement recommendations are consistent with the adopted plan.
Several Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride vehicles have either surpassed or are nearing the end of their useful life and must be replaced. Replacing these vehicles will keep the systems operating reliably for the passengers and the community they serve. It will also help address the problem of greenhouse gas emissions produced by older, less efficient vehicles. In preparation for future zero emission vehicle purchases once the infrastructure is in place, the first pilot zero emission bus in the fleet recommended for purchase, will provide critical experience needed to inform the planning, operating and maintenance prior to ordering a larger number of zero emission vehicles.
BACKGROUND:
The Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride fleet is made up of 44 vehicles. Of the 44 vehicles, 29 are Pasadena Transit and 15 are Pasadena Dial-A-Ride vehicles.
There are 12 Pasadena Transit vehicles that have either surpassed or are nearing the end of their useful life and need to be replaced. Of the 15 Pasadena Dial-A-Ride vehicles, two have surpassed their useful life and need to be replaced. In addition, the City received grant funding to add one vehicle_ to the Pasadena Dial-A-Ride fleet to provide additional capacity.
Zero Emission Bus Transition
In 2018, the California Air Resource Board (GARB) adopted the Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) Rule requiring all California public transit operators to only purchase zero emission buses starting in 2029. On January 30, 2023, the City Council adopted the Pasadena Zero Emission Rollout Plan that identifies the roadmap to transition Pasadena's public transit fleet to a full deployment of a zero emission bus fleet. The proposed recommendations include the purchase of the first zero emission battery electric bus (BEB) for Pasadena Transit, in concurrence with the adopted Rollout Plan.
In addition, staff will return later this year to purchase the first Pasadena Dial-A-Ride zero emission replacement vehicle. The objective of these first zero emission buses is to gain operational experience with zero emission technologies to prepare for future vehicle replacements and the implementation of a 100% zero emission fleet. This first zero emission vehicle purchase includes a battery electric bus charger.
Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride Replacement Buses April 24, 2023
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
With the ridership carried on
Pasadena Transit and
Pasadena· Dial-A-Ride, these
two systems reduce over 3,500
metric tons of greenhouse gas
emissions (GHG) annually. The
staff recommendation would
replace aging Pasadena Transit
buses with new Low NOx
powered buses that when
paired with Renewable Natural
Gas (RNG ), the fuel used by
Pasadena Transit, the reduction
of GHG would be significant as
shown in Table A.
Table A Transit Fleet
GHG Metric Tons Per Year
HYDROGEN
Implementation of the
infrastructure required to
support the transition to a full
• GHG Metric Tons PerYear GHG Change in Mode Shift w/<:Ad Buses zero emission transit fleet has commenced and is anticipated to be completed in 2026.
Postponing the replacement of aging buses until the construction of zero emission infrastructure is complete would result in doubling the GHG emissions produced by the City's transit fleet, thereby negatively impacting the communities that are served by Pasadena Transit. The City's fleet operates over 14 hours a day, which takes a heavy toll on vehicle equipment. The ramification of operating past a vehicle's useful life quickly results in unreliability to customers due to breakdowns in service and vehicles being unavailable while being repaired. This directly impacts the passengers and communities the system serves and results in loss of ridership that may be difficult to re establish. The loss of ridership due to service reliability would double the GHG emissions as transit customers choose to shift to higher GHG-emitting travel modes.
In addition to maintaining a transit fleet within its useful life, 1 o of the 12 aging Pasadena Transit buses will be replaced with larger buses to address the passenger vehicle overcrowding that takes place on the system. Currently, 10 vehicles are 30-foot low floor transit vehicles with a capacity of 41 total passengers. If approved, these vehicles will be replaced with 35-foot, low floor transit vehicles with a capacity of 59 passengers.
Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride Replacement Buses April 24, 2023
The following table presents the recommended vehicle purchase information:
Vendor Service Vehicle Type Qty/Fuel
New Flyer of America, Inc. (NF) Pasadena Transit 35-ft Low Floor 9 RNG/1 BEB Creative Bus Sales, Inc. (CBS) Pasadena Transit 25-ft Shuttle 2RNG RO Truck & Equipment, LLC (RO) Pasadena Dial-A-Ride Van 3 Unleaded Procurement
In order to help medium, small, rural and specialized transportation providers meet the rigorous federal transit vehicle procurement requirements, the Morongo Basin Transit Authority (MBTA), a member of the California Association of Coordinated Transportation (CalACT), formed the CalACT/MBTA Vehicle and Materials Purchasing Cooperative (CalACT Cooperative), which has become the state's purchasing cooperative for smaller agencies statewide to use to ensure federally compliant procurements.
The CalACT Cooperative developed bid documents and product specifications for a federally compliant competitive price-based procurement process for several classes of transit vehicles to be used by participating governmental agencies. In 2020 the CalACT Cooperative executed contracts with various public transit vendors including, New Flyer, Creative Bus Sales, and RO Truck & Equipment to establish the pricing for transit vehicles that is in effect through 2025. The selection process the CalACT Cooperative followed meets the more than 30 federal requirements specific to federally compliant transit procurements. As a participating member of CalACT, the City is eligible to use the CalACT Cooperative contract with these vendors for the purchase of transit vehicles.
Similar to the CalACT Cooperative, the California Department of General Services (DGS) Cooperative Contract is a federally compliant procurement with heavy duty, zero emission transit buses. This zero emission procurement was developed with the help of Los Angeles area bus operators and has greater negotiating power and greater economy of scale with statewide vehicle quantity reflected in the final pricing. Per the approval of the staff recommendation, the City is eligible to use the DGS for the purchase of zero emission vehicles.
If the recommendation is approved, the first vehicles are anticipated to be delivered in early 2024 with the final buses anticipated to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Transit Service Ridership Makeup
Pasadena Transit is the integral first and last mile link to the extensive and growing regional rail and bus routes. All Pasadena Transit routes are structured to serve the six (6) Metro L (Gold) Line Stations. Low-income passengers make up 83% of Pasadena Transit's ridership, 75% of the riders do not have access to a car. This makes Pasadena Transit a key transportation lifeline for the community to connect to major employers, Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride Replacement Buses April 24, 2023
business district and commercial corridors in Pasadena, as well as schools, community centers, medical offices, and vital social service. Ridership on Pasadena Transit is currently fluctuating at 90% of pre-pandemic ridership with 51 % of the passengers either youth K-12 (21 %), older adults or people with a disability (30%) Pasadena Dial-A-Ride carries the City's most vulnerable customers. In its over 30 years of service, it has become one of the most used Dial-A-Ride services in Los Angeles County when compared to similar services. The ridership is made up of older adults and/or individuals who have a disability. Currently the service is at 65% pre-pandemic ridership; however, ridership has doubled since the beginning of the fiscal year and this trend is expected to continue. Staff will be providing a more thorough update on the City's public transit provided services to the Municipal Services Committee in the near future.
COUNCIL POLICY CONSIDERATION:
The proposed action is consistent with the following goals of the Strategic Plan:
Improve, Maintain and Enhance Public Facilities and Infrastructure, Improve Mobility and Accessibility throughout the City, and Support and Promote the Quality of Life and Local Economy. · The purchase of these buses will enhance the system by replacing vehicles that have met their useful life and by adding capacity with larger capacity replacement vehicles.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
The proposed action has been determined to be exempt from the Califo~nia Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15061 (b )(3), the general rule that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. No direct physical changes to the environment are proposed.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The cost of this action will be $9,006,873. Funding for this action will be addressed by the utilization of existing Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budgeted appropriations in the Purchase of Fixed Route Transit Vehicles Project (75085) and Purchase of Dial-A-Ride Vehicles (75086) and new appropriations requested as part of the FY24 CIP adoption process. Multiple grants fund the majority of this vehicle purchase. These grants include the Metro Measure M Multi-Year Subregional Program (MSP), California Energy Commission Energize Commercial Vehicle Project (EnergllZE), and the Federal Transit Administration Section 5310 {FTA 5310). The City's total local match is 37% of the project budget, none of which is from the General Fund.
Pasadena Transit and Pasadena Dial-A-Ride Replacement Buses April 24, 2023
The following table presents a CIP project budget summary:
Vendor Buses Contingency
New Flyer of America Inc. (NF) $ 7,853,524 $ 354,887 5% Creative Bus Sales (CBS) $ 384,078 $ 15,363 4%
RO Bus Sales (RO) $ 383,674 $ 15,347 4%
TOTAL CONTRACT AMOUNTS
Total
$ 8,208,411
$ 399,441
$ 399,021
$ 9,006,873
The following table presents a summary of the sources of funds that will be used CIP project numbers 75085 and 75086:
Vehicle Type Total MSP EnergllZE FTAS310 Local Prop A/C NF: 9, 35-ft $ 6,755,120 $4,670,015 $ - $ $2,085,105 31% NF: 1, 35-ft BEB $ 1,453,291 $ 335,075 $ 171,003 $ $ 947,213 65% CBS: 2, 25-foot $ 399,441 $ 364,925 $ - $ $ 34,516 9%
RO: 3 Vans $ 399,021 $ - $ - $ 145,800 $ 253,221 63%
TOTAL $ 9,006,873 $5,370,015 $ 171,003 $ 145,800 $3,320,055 37% The replacement buses will be operated and maintained under the City's transit operations contract with First Transit, Inc. This contract for the transit operations and vehicle maintenance is included in the Department of Transportation's operating budget.
Respectfully submitted,
LAL-~~:2
Director
Department of Transportation
Prepared by:
Se
Principal Planner
Approved by:
MIG&b~Q~
City Manager