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sr-021412-3cID r City of City Council Report Santa Monica City Council Meeting: February 14, 2012 Agenda Item: .3-C To: Mayor and City Council From: Edward F. King, Director of Transit Services Subject: Transit Pass Program with Access Services Paratransit of Los Angeles County Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a new agreement with Access. Services, a Los Angeles County public agency, to accept Access issued identification cards as fare payment on the Big Blue Bus and to reimburse the Big Blue Bus using the prevailing Council approved fares for seniors and persons with disabilities. Executive Summary Access Services is the complementary paratransit service for all eligible Los Angeles County Residents. Currently, Access users can ride the Big Blue Bus by showing the driver their valid Access ID card without paying a fare. Access Services reimburses Big Blue Bus a flat annual fee of $2,260 based on a survey -based estimate of 4,500 Access rider boardings per year at the Senior /Disabled /Medicare fare of $0.50 for local service and $1 for express service, the rates approved by the City Council on May 25 2010. Access has now replaced their paper ID cards with new cards featuring a magnetic stripe that can be read and recorded by fareboxes on the bus. The new agreement would enable the Big Blue Bus to invoice Access Services for the actual number of trips taken each year as recorded by the fareboxes. The term of the agreement is five years. Background The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires all public transit service agencies to provide complementary paratransit services to persons with disabilities who are unable to use fixed -route transit services. Since 1992, Access Services has provided the complementary paratransit service to all residents of Los Angeles County 1 with eligible disabilities on behalf of all fixed -route transit operators. Eligible Santa Monica residents regularly use Access to get to points that are beyond the reach of Santa Monica Dial -a -Ride. Since 2006, Access Services has promoted a "free ride" campaign to eligible ADA riders. Big Blue Bus has accepted the Access identification card as a form of fare payment on fixed -route lines. Because the cards were not equipped with a magnetic stripe, surveys were conducted to estimate the total number of rides taken by Access Services cardholders. Big Blue Bus was reimbursed a total of $2,260 annually for the estimated total number of trips taken at the prevailing Senior /Disabled /Medicare rate. In late 2011, Access began to issue new photo identification cards to eligible riders that can be used as a "tap" card or a swipe card on systems in the County. These cards are now being used on Big Blue Buses. Therefore, it is now time to update the reimbursement process for use of the card. Discussion Under the proposed agreement, Access Services enrollees will swipe their magnetic stripe- equipped Access photo identification card through the Big Blue Bus farebox each time they board a Big Blue Bus instead of paying a cash fare and Access will reimburse the Big Blue Bus monthly, for total recorded boardings at the prevailing Senior /Disabled /Medicare local and express fares. Access began issuing the new identification cards in late 2011 and enrollees with the new cards began swiping them on Big Blue Buses in December 2011. Based on December 2011 farebox data a revenue increase of $50,000 for FY 2011/12 may result from the improved boarding information. The agreement recognizes that the Big Blue Bus may change its fare structure during the term of the agreement and the new rates will apply without the need to renegotiate the agreement. 2 Financial Impacts & Budget Actions The proposed reimbursement process change for Big Blue Bus Access Services enrollees will increase annual revenues by $50,000 at Account No. 41642.402000. Revenues have been included in the FY 2011 -13 adopted budget. No budget action is required. Prepared by: Paul Casey, Senior Transit Programs Analyst Approved: Forwarded to Council: Edward F. King Rod Gould Director of Transit Servic s City Manager 3 Reference Contract No. 9546 (CCS).