Agenda Item #12.6
For Council Meeting of July 11, 2023
CITY OF SANTA ROSA
CITY COUNCIL
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: RACHEL EDE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR – TRANSIT TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT SUBJECT: COOPERATIVE PURCHASE OF FIVE REPLACEMENT TRANSIT AND PARATRANSIT CUTAWAY VEHICLES AGENDA ACTION: RESOLUTION
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended by the Transportation and Public Works Department that the Council, by resolution: 1) approve the Assignment to Purchase Agreement for the purchase of five replacement transit and paratransit cutaway vehicles under the CalACT-MBTA Joint Procurement Cooperative Contract No. 20-01 from Creative Bus Sales, Inc.; 2) authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a purchase order to Creative Bus Sales, Inc. for the purchase for a total not to exceed $1,023,437; and 3) authorize the Assistant City Manager to execute all documents necessary to effect the purchase, subject to approval as to form by the City Attorney.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Transportation and Public Works Department seeks approval to issue a purchase order for five replacement transit and paratransit vehicles using a federally compliant competitively bid cooperative procurement conducted by the California Association for Coordinated Transportation (CalACT) and the Morongo Basin Transit Authority (MBTA) that meets the grant funding specification and has a competitive cost for vehicles. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) 5310 Program funding has been awarded to replace four of the twelve vehicles that are used for paratransit and Oakmont deviated fixed-route services and have exceeded their scheduled useful life. In addition to these four replacement vehicles, the Transit Division seeks to replace a 30-foot fixed route bus with a cutaway to enable greater flexibility in transit service delivery. This proposed purchase is consistent with the Council-adopted Santa Rosa CityBus Zero Emissions Bus Rollout Plan.
BACKGROUND
The Transit Division provides fixed-route and next-day ADA paratransit transportation services citywide, and a deviated fixed-route service in the Oakmont Community. Cutaway vehicles are used for both services. The cutaways are smaller than typical 40-foot fixed-route transit buses at typically 20-30 feet and are characterized by a cab-on-chassis construction.
Santa Rosa Paratransit operates during CityBus service hours and within three-quarters of a mile of existing CityBus routes as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Given the stable population of individuals with disabilities in Santa Rosa, it is expected that there will be an ongoing demand for this transportation option in the future. Of the eleven accessible vehicles that make up the City’s paratransit fleet, seven vehicles have exceeded their useful life as established by the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) for this type of vehicle. Three are proposed for replacement as part of this purchase.
The Oakmont service is a partnership with the Oakmont Village Association (OVA), since 1998, to provide fare-free deviated/flexible fixed route service for the Oakmont Community. This service was expanded in 2008 to include a demand responsive option that allows the general public to call and arrange a pick-up where the vehicle deviates from the standard route up to three-quarters of a mile. Given the stability of the relationship with the OVA, it is expected that there will be an ongoing demand for this transportation option in the future. For the OVA service, the City owns one vehicle which has exceeded its useful life and is proposed for replacement as part of this purchase.
The fifth cutaway vehicle proposed for this purchase would replace a 30-foot transit vehicle currently used for CityBus Route 18. Route 18 has traditionally served areas that cannot be accessed by a 40-foot transit bus. Operating a cutaway on Route 18 would enable additional flexibility to experiment with more demand-responsive service types in the future that could better meet the needs of the older adult population primarily served by this route. Any future changes to Route 18 are subject to public feedback through the current Short Range Transit Plan update process and will be subject to City Council approval.
Of the five cutaways, four are partially funded with FTA Section 5310 funds. The City of Santa Rosa has historically been awarded FTA Section 5310 funds by Caltrans for the purchase of vehicles for both the paratransit and Oakmont service. FTA Section 5310 funds are appropriated to urbanized areas across the United States to support transportation services for older adults and people with disabilities. Santa Rosa area applications are managed by Caltrans with evaluations conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). In 2020 the City of Santa Rosa applied for FTA Section 5310 funds and was awarded $81,200 to replace the Oakmont vehicle. In 2021 the City applied for FTA Section 5310 funds and was awarded $212,077 to replace three of the seven 2014 paratransit vehicles.
FTA 5310 funding doesn’t cover the entire cost of the replacement vehicles and a local match is required. The Transit Division uses Transportation Development Act (TDA) Article IV funding to cover the remaining cost of vehicle purchases. For this purchase Transit Division staff recommend using these TDA fund to cover the remaining cost of the four FTA 5310 partial grant funded vehicles as well as the entire cost of the fifth cutaway vehicle for Route 18.
The use of the FTA Section 5310 funding requires the procurement of the vehicles in compliance with federal regulations and requirements. At the time of application for the FTA 5310 grant funds the City had the option to utilize a procurement method managed by Caltrans or by CalACT-MBTA. The CalACT-MBTA Purchasing Cooperative is a federally compliant competitive procurement developed by the California Association for Coordinated Transportation (CalACT) and the Morongo Basin Transit Authority (MBTA) to provide an economical and efficient vehicle purchasing mechanism for the 127 California transit agencies. To maximize efficiency and to achieve a lower vehicle purchase price, Transit staff opted to utilize the CalACT-MBTA competitive procurement.
PRIOR CITY COUNCIL REVIEW
On July 18, 2017, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES-2017-138, authorized the Cooperative purchase through the CalACT-MBTA consortium for three buses from Creative Bus Sales., Inc. using Federal Transit Administration 5210 funds.
On August 27, 2019, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES- 2019-135, approved the grant application to the California Department of Transportation for federal funding under FTA 5310 program to purchase replacement paratransit buses.
On November 19, 2019, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES-2019-171, approved the use of a cooperative purchase through CalACT-MBTA Purchasing Cooperative Solicitation #15-03 for the replacement of four paratransit vehicles.
On February 2, 2021, City Council passed a resolution approving a three-year agreement with the Oakmont Village Association to share equally in the annual cost of operating the deviated fixed route service to the Oakmont Community.
On June 13, 2023, City Council adopted the Santa Rosa CityBus Zero Emissions Bus Rollout Plan, which identifies the schedule for replacement of the cutaway fleet with gas versus electric vehicles.
ANALYSIS
The CalACT-MBTA vehicle purchasing contract meets the stipulations of the FTA Section 5310 grant supporting this purchase. The contract exists between CalACT-MBTA and Creative Bus Sales. CalACT-MBTA has assigned to Santa Rosa the options to purchase these five vehicles form the Joint Procurement Cooperative. The City of Santa Rosa will then issue a purchase order with Creative Bus sales Inc. following the price, terms and conditions contained within the CalACT-MBTA agreement.
Transit staff have analyzed this purchase in light of the City’s plans to transition to an all-electric bus fleet by 2037. For these vehicle replacements, staff recommend purchasing gasoline cutaway vehicles due to current market limitations and in accordance with the City’s adopted Zero-Emission Bus (ZEB) Rollout Plan. Staff have met with vehicle vendors from the CalACT-MBTA contract that sell an all-electric cutaway vehicle, but the available electric vehicle does not currently have the battery size to complete daily paratransit or Oakmont vehicle service hours. The fact that the cutaway electric vehicle market hasn’t matured is recognized by the California Air Resources Board’s Innovative Clean Transit (ICT) regulation. The ICT regulation states that the requirement for purchase of ZEB cutaway vehicles will be specified on or after January 1, 2026, once cutaway models with federally required Bus Testing Reports are more widely available (described in section 2023(b)(8) of the regulation (13 CCR § 2023.1) as the “Altoona Test”). CityBus will re-evaluate the cutaway vehicle market prior to each future cutaway purchase. As the cutaway vehicle market progresses, CityBus will look for opportunities to accelerate the adoption of electric cutaway vehicles and update the ZEB Rollout Plan accordingly. Currently, the City’s ZEB Rollout Plan has a goal to purchase the first electric cutaway in 2032 and be fully electrified by 2037.
Of the successful bidders to the CalACT-MBTA Purchasing Cooperative solicitation, Creative Bus Sales Inc. provided the most comparable vehicle specification to the existing fleet and the price is competitive (total cost of $1,023,437 for five replacement vehicles (including10% contingency)). The City sought quotes for these vehicles to meet the demands of the service and to ensure repairs and maintenance are streamlined for efficiencies of operations.
The Transit Division consulted with the Oakmont Village Association, Oakmont residents that ride the service, the Paratransit Users Group, the Transit Paratransit Coordinating Committee and MV Transportation to ensure that the vehicles’ design and components were well-suited to fulfill the purpose of the services within the City of Santa Rosa. Grant-funded vehicles and equipment will only be used for providing service to Oakmont and ADA paratransit customers within the City’s service area and for emergency deployment, such as mandatory evacuations during these emergencies.
FISCAL IMPACT
This action has no impact on the General Fund. Funding for this procurement includes $293,277 in FTA Section 5310 grant funds and up to $730,160 in state TDA Article IV funding.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
This action is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) and 15378 in that there is no possibility that the implementation of this action may have significant effects on the environment, and no further environmental review is required.
BOARD/COMMISSION/COMMITTEE REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Not applicable.
NOTIFICATION
Not applicable.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Assignment to Purchase Agreement
Resolution
PRESENTER
Yuri Koslen, Transit Planner
PURCHASE OF FIVE REPLACEMENT TRANSIT AND PARATRANSIT CUTAWAY VEHICLES PAGE 3 OF 3