Agenda Item #16.2
For Council Meeting of: August 8, 2023
CITY OF SANTA ROSA
CITY COUNCIL
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: RACHEL EDE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR- TRANIST
TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS – TRANSIT DIVISION
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A GRANT APPLICATION FOR FTA SECTION 5310 FUNDS FOR PURCHASE OF REPLACEMENT ADA PARATRANSIT VEHICLES AGENDA ACTION: PUBLIC HEARING AND RESOLUTION
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended by the Transportation and Public Works Department that the Council: 1) hold a public hearing to receive public comment and to determine whether any private non-profit is readily available to provide paratransit services within the City; and 2) by resolution, authorize the City Manager or designee to execute and file a grant application with the California Department of Transportation under Federal Transit Act Section 5310 - Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program to purchase replacement ADA Paratransit cutaway vehicles.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5310 program funds are appropriated to urbanized areas across the United States to support transportation services for older adults and persons living with a disability. Applications for the 5310 in California are administered by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in conjunction with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). Caltrans requires the local jurisdiction to hold a public hearing as well as adopt a resolution prior to applying. Santa Rosa’s application will request funding for eligible ADA Paratransit vehicles.
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Rosa (CityBus) provides next-day ADA paratransit transportation services during CityBus hours and within three-quarters (¾) of a mile from existing CityBus routes as part of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This service is currently provided using City-owned vehicles and operated by our contractor, MV Transportation (MV). MV continues to provide a high quality service that is not only demonstrated by their performance, but by the feedback provided from riders and attendees of the City’s Paratransit User Group. CityBus Paratransit Service remains a critical transportation option for persons living with disabilities.
Of the eleven accessible vehicles (cutaways) that make up the Paratransit fleet, Council authorized the purchase of three cutaways on July 11, 2023 using 2021 5310 funds, leaving a remainder of four cutaways in the fleet that have exceeded their useful lifespan as established by the FTA for this type of vehicle. These four are model 2014 vehicles each with an average of 182,000 miles. At the estimated time of replacement these vehicles will be over 11 years old and exceed 190,000 miles. The FTA 5310 Grant will allow CityBus to replace these aged vehicles with new accessible vehicles. Avoiding the increased maintenance costs and inefficiencies associated with aging vehicles is essential to maintaining high-quality service.
The FTA Section 5310 Program is authorized under Title 49 U.S.C. 5310 providing funding to states and designated recipients to improve mobility for seniors and individuals with disabilities. Caltrans administers the federal apportionments in California and is guided by a State Management Plan. Project selection follows a competitive application process established by Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission (CTC). Section 5310 has two project types: Traditional (ADA accessible vehicles, equipment, misc. capital (radios, etc.) and expanded which includes project that provide services beyond the minimum paratransit services (expanded hours, same-day service, escorts, etc.). CityBus is applying for Traditional Program.
The Santa Rosa Urbanized Area (UZA) is one of five UZAs within the Bay Area. The City’s project meets the needs of individuals with disabilities and is identified as a need within MTC’s Bay Area’s Coordinated Public Transit—Human Services Transportation Plan. This process concludes with Caltrans submitting a grant application to the FTA and, once approved, sending out final agreements to successful applicants within the next two years or continuing a pilot program to allow CityBus to apply to FTA directly.
PRIOR CITY COUNCIL REVIEW
On February 14, 2017, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES-2017-025, approved a grant application to Caltrans for FTA 5310 funding to purchase replacement paratransit cutaway vehicles.
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 cutaway vehicles.
On February 15, 2022, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES-2022-028, approved a grant application to Caltrans for FTA 5310 funding.
On June 6, 2023, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES-2023-096, approved the CityBUs Zero Emmission Bus Rollout Plan.
On July 11, 2023, the City Council, by Resolution No. RES-2023-115, approved the cooperative purchase under the CalACT-MBTA Joint Procurement Contract for the replacement of cutaway vehicles.
ANALYSIS
The City becomes an eligible subrecipient of Section 5310 traditional funds when, after holding a public hearing, the City Council determines whether there are non-profit organizations readily available to provide similar paratransit services to individuals with disabilities within our service area. To ensure that non-profits within the UZA have been notified of this opportunity to comment on the City’s 5310 application, City staff published a notice of the public hearing in the Press Democrat and directly emailed the public meeting notice to over thirty non-profit and governmental organizations. CityBus staff, at publish date, have received no correspondence indicating that a non-profit is readily available to provide paratransit services instead of the City. “Readily-available” is defined as willing, interested and capable of providing the proposed service at a comparable cost to the identified clientele in the same service area, with the same hours of frequency, and at the same level of service.
A successful application to the FTA for 5310 grant funding may cover an estimated 45% ($75,000) of the estimated cost ($165,000) per paratransit vehicle awarded. Council’s adopted CityBus Zero-Emission Rollout Plan estimates full cutaway electrification by 2037 and recognizes the current limited availability of battery electric cutaway vehicle thus the plan estimates the first battery electric cutaway will be purchase in 2032. As stated in the City’s Council-adopted Zero Emissions Bus (ZEB) Rollout Plan, should the City be successful in receiving a 5310 grant award, Transit Division staff will evaluate the opportunity to purchase battery-electric paratransit vehicles prior to returning to Council for action on the vehicle purchase.
There is no required match to apply towards a successful award but any costs beyond the award amount per vehicle is the responsibility of the awardee (CityBus).
Grant-funded vehicles will only be used for providing service to ADA paratransit eligible riders within the City’s service area.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of this action does not have a fiscal impact to the General Fund. Any amount above each successfully awarded vehicle request would be drawn from the Transit Division’s annual allocation of Transportation Development Act Article IV funds.
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
Public Hearing Notice published July 28, 2023 with email to community partners sent concurrently.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Public meeting notice and email to organizations Resolution
CONTACT
Yuri Koslen, Transit Planner
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING FILING A GRANT APPLICATION FOR FTA SECTION 5310 FUNDS FOR PURCHASE OF REPLACEMENT ADA PARATRANSIT VEHICLES PAGE 3 OF 3