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SR 09-27-2011 8ACity of City Council Report Santa Monica City Council Meeting: September 27, 2011 Agenda Item: 8—)4 To: Mayor and City Council From: Carol Swindell. Director of Finance Subject: Taxicab Fees and Discounts for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council: 1. Adopt the attached resolution of the City of Santa Monica revising the taxicab franchise fee schedule. 2. Direct staff to maintain the 10% discount provided to seniors and persons with disabilities at its current level Executive Summary Staff is recommending changes to the existing fee schedule for taxicab franchise.fees and permit fees based on additional experience with the program since implementation and the results of a fee study. An adjustment in fees would provide a more effective alignment with actual costs associated with the management of the program. Staff is also recommending, after a review of existing programs, no changes to the existing ten percent discount offered to seniors and persons with disabilities by taxicab companies. Background With the adoption of Taxicab Franchise system that replaced the open -entry system, a new fee schedule was required to accommodate the change in permit year and fee types. With input from Council and in order to better encourage the use of environmentally superior vehicles, staff proposed the annual franchise fee schedule that was published in the RFP documents and approved by City Council on November 9, 2010, as follows: Annual franchise fee per taxicab firm: $5,000 Annual SULEV /ULEV/Wheelchair vehicle permit fee: $1,200 1 Annual non - SULEV /ULEV/Wheelchair vehicle permit fee $1,800 Annual driver permit fee $ 150 On November 9, 2010, City Council also approved by resolution a discount for seniors and persons with disabilities. The discount was established at ten percent (10 %) of the total fare and must be reimbursed to the driver by the taxicab franchisee in accordance with Section 6 of the ordinance granting each company its franchise. Discussion Franchise and Permit Fees Based on the recommendations of a 2008 Study by Nelson \Nygaard Consulting Associates of taxicab operations in Santa Monica, on July 28, 2009, Council adopted an ordinance establishing a franchise -based system for the regulation of taxicabs, which required the program to be self - supporting through franchise, vehicle permit and driver permit fees. In compliance with the ordinance requirements, a Request for Proposals (RFP) for citywide taxicab franchises was issued on January 14, 2010. On November 23 2010, the Council awarded franchises by ordinance to Bell Cab Company, Inc.; Independent Taxi Owners' Association; Metro Cab Company, LLC; TMAT Corp., dba Taxi! Taxi!; and L.A. Taxi Cooperative, Inc., dba Yellow Cab Company. Staff recommends an adjustment to fees based on additional experience with the program since implementation and the results of a fee study completed by Revenue & Cost Specialists, LLC of Fullerton, California. An adjustment in fees would provide a more effective alignment with actual costs associated with management of the program, and more closely aligns with surrounding cities. For example, by replacing the current singular driver permit fee of $150 with separate targeted fees, (i.e. "New Driver Permit ", "Renewal Driver Permit ", "Driver Permit Transfer ", "Permit Replacement ", and "Reexamination "), the City is able to achieve greater cost recovery and the companies and drivers pay lower fees for more routine administrative services. ► . Under the current fee schedule applicants are able to take driver test multiple times. In some cases, applicants have retaken the test up to eight times or more with no additional fees, but at added costs to the City. Charging a fee for additional testing beyond the first test will provide greater cost recovery and bring Santa Monica in line with neighboring cities which charge between $45 and $150 to retake the test, with up to a six month waiting period. Another example is an application by a driver to transfer to a new company. Currently the company must pay $150 to process this application, passing this cost on to the driver. With a new lower Driver Transfer application fee, the company, and ultimately the driver, would pay a lower fee to reassign the driver and print a new permit, instead of the same fee that a new driver currently pays. Following are the new proposed fees: Current* Proposed Franchise Fee Annual base franchise fee per taxicab company $5,000 $5,000 Annual franchise fee per vehicle in taxicab fleet N/A $1,100 Vehicle Permit Fees: New vehicle permit fee $1,200 $112 New vehicle permit fee (Non SULev, ULEV, Wheelchair Accessible) $1,800 N/A Transfer vehicle permit fee $1,200 $112 Renewal vehicle permit fee $1,200 $ 51 Replacement vehicle permit fee $1,200 $ 36 Vehicle re- inspection fee N/A $ 28 Taxicab Driver's Permit Fees: New and renewal taxicab driver's permit application fee $69 ** $195 Taxicab driver's permit re- examination fee N/A $ 62 Taxicab driver's permit transfer fee $150 $ 62 Taxicab driver's permit replacement fee $150 $ 28 Live Scan fee (as established by Santa Monica Police Department) *The current fee schedule treats all vehicle and driver permit fees equally, including new, transfer, renewal, and replacement permits. * *The fee of $150 approved by City Council includes the cost of the Live Scan fingerprinting. To provide a more accurate comparison between current and proposed fees, this dollar amount excludes the $81 fingerprinting fee, providing a more accurate reflection of the driver application fee $69. 9 A typical fee for a new taxicab driver application, which provides an applicant with two opportunities to pass the test, would be: Application fee $195 Live Scan fee* 81 Total fee $276 'Current Live Scan fee includes Rolling fee of $30.00, Department of Justice charge of $32.00, and FBI fee of $19.00, for a total Live Scan fee of $81.00. Senior Discounts During the November 23, 2010 City Council meeting, Council provided direction to staff to review additional discounts or vouchers to assist seniors and persons with disabilities. Staff has conducted a review of existing programs in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and West Hollywood. Staff has also sought input from the Human Services Division on potential new programs. Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood provide a discount program for seniors and persons with disabilities in the form of "coupons" that can be purchased at a discount. The programs are funded with Proposition A monies, and in the case of West Hollywood are supplanted with additional funds that are collected from the Taxicab companies through a "Taxi Program Enhancement Fee ". All of these programs require participants to purchase coupons by mail and to complete an application to verify eligibility. The City of Los Angeles program is called CityRide and allows qualified seniors or persons with disabilities to purchase a CityRide card with a $42 "fare value" for a fee of $15 plus postage for mailing the CityRide card. A passenger may only use up to $12 of the metered fare per trip from the "fare value" from their CityRide card on any given trip, and the fare must be a minimum of $4. The remaining balance must be paid for by the passenger. The CityRide program is an integrated program, which allows CityRide cards to be used to pay for bus rides, Dial -A -Ride services, and taxis. The City of Los 12 Angeles does not provide a central dispatch system for Dial -A -Ride and taxis. Participants may only purchase $42 of fare value once per quarter. The City of Beverly Hills program is a taxi coupon program that allows qualified seniors and persons with certain medical conditions to purchase one taxi coupon book each month worth $24.00 for $6.00. A maximum of $12.00 worth of coupons may be used per taxi ride. The City of West Hollywood program is a taxi coupon program available to qualified seniors and persons with certain medical conditions to purchase a taxi voucher book worth $28 for $8. In addition to the Proposition A funding that supports this program, each taxicab company pays a $215 Program Enhancement fee per licensed vehicle specifically to support the program. The City of West Hollywood also sponsors a taxicab social service program for persons with HIV /AIDS. The program provides one round trip each day at no cost to the passenger. This program is funded by the taxi companies. Trips are rotated through four participating companies. The program will expand to the remaining three licensed taxi companies. Currently, in addition to the ten percent discount provided to seniors and persons with disabilities as part of the taxicab franchise fare rate schedule, City of Santa Monica residents have access to other discount or low cost transportation options for seniors, including Dial -A- Ride's van and after -hours taxi service, Big Blue Bus fare discounts, and the Los Angeles County paratransit (ACCESS) program. The Dial -A -Ride service is a collaboration between Big Blue Bus and the Human Services Division, with direct paratransit van services provided by a third party private contractor, MV Transportation. The vendor contract with MV Transportation services is managed by Big Blue Bus, with MV Transportation providing dispatch services and operating program vehicles. WISE & Healthy Aging, a City- funded social service agency, handles outreach, membership, orientation, customer service, quality control, and usage tracking. 5 Dial -A -Ride van services are provided Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Saturdays from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm, and Sundays from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. Cost of the service is 50¢ each way. An additional 25¢ is charged if a personal attendant or companion goes with the client. A Dial -A -Ride participant must be a Santa Monica resident, age 60 years or more or over 18 with a disability, and must enroll in the program before riding. Clients participate in an orientation, either in- person or over the telephone, and are issued a program identification card. They can make reservations up to six days in advance through a central dispatching system. The program also provides door - through -door services five days per week for participants who need help with carrying groceries and other items into the home or assistance getting from their homes to the curbside van. The Dial -A -Ride program provides approximately 2,000 rides per month with 4,700 registered clients. For several years Dial -A -Ride has provided taxi ride services for participants with more urgent, last minute needs to get to the doctor during the program's regular operating hours. In July 2011, the Human Services Division launched an expanded Dial -A -Ride service to include after -hour taxicab services. The after -hour taxicab services provide curb -to -curb service to City- sponsored meetings and cultural events. This component to Dial -A -Ride is supported with Proposition A funds. Currently $5,000 is allocated for the new service. To access the expanded taxi service, Dial -A -Ride participants call the transportation contractor's dispatch and Dial -A -Ride staff is notified and make arrangements with one of the five taxicab companies, on a rotating basis, to arrange for pick up and drop off services for the client. For after -hour taxicab transportation services, the program requires 48 hours advance notice. The cost for the taxicab services to the client is $3.00 each way within Santa Monica and $5.00 each way for tips outside Santa Monica. Taxicab services are restricted to the same service area as a Dial -A -Ride van service. Outreach for the new taxicab after -hour services has begun. The Human Services Division and WISE & Healthy Aging will be monitoring demand for the after -hour service to identify any unmet needs, explore new options for small group excursions, and evaluate cost effectiveness. It is estimated that the program will need 0 approximately nine to 12 months to complete a full assessment of the after hour program, including a review of the curb -to -curb limitations on the taxicab service. Options may include, but are not limited to, continuing the after -hours taxi service as currently configured, assessing whether or not the supplement provided for the taxicab trips should be increased to reduce the $3.00 and $5.00 fees to the client, or if increasing van services after hours is the best option for meeting client demand which would provide door - through -door services. Staff recommends supporting the newly extended after -hours taxicab services without making any changes to the existing ten percent discount. Human Services Division staff support this recommendation. The program provides immediate services with existing funds, and provides seniors and persons with disabilities with a centralized program. It also provides WISE & Healthy Aging an opportunity to reach new clients and provide additional education on other services provided to the community. Staff presented this issue to the Disabilities Commission at its September 12, 2011 meeting and to the Commission on the Senior Community at its September 21, 2011 meeting. Human Services Division staff has informed the Commission on the Senior Community of the recommendation to maintain the discount at ten percent at its July meeting without comment from the board. Budget Impact The budget impact analysis was conducted by calculating the total number of actual and estimated permits and franchise fees processed using the current fee schedule and then comparing that to the same total number of permits and franchise fees processed using the proposed fee schedule. This methodology was performed for the projected impact of the annualized budget and for the fiscal year 2011 -12 budget. INA Financial Impacts & Budget Actions The proposed fee changes in the Taxicab program fees will increase annual revenue by $24,626 at accounts 01224.407691 (Franchise Fees), 01224.407692 (Vehicle Permit Fees), and 01224.407693 (Driver Permit Fees). Revenues for FY2011 -12 will increase by $20,739. Revenues have been included in the FY2011 -12 adopted budget. Prepared by: Salvador M. Valles, Taxi Franchise Program Coordinator Approved: Forwarded to Council: Carol Swindell Rod Gould Director of Finance City Manager Attachments: A. Resolution 8 Reference Resolution No. 10615 (CCS).