SR 08-08-2017 3G
City Council Report
City Council Meeting: August 8, 2017
Agenda Item: 3.G
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Edward King, Director, Big Blue Bus, Community & Government Engagement
Subject: NextBus Real Time Information Agreement Modification
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a modification to
contractual services agreement #4058 with NextBus, Inc., a California-based
company, in the amount of $29,988 for an additional year of service, with two
one-year options to renew, with a five percent increase in years two and three,
for a total not to exceed $94,537 over a three-year period;
2. Authorize the City Manager to procure from NextBus, Inc. the service to extract
BBB’s real-time transit data in the XML feed format in order to make real-time
data available to a broader number of transit travel app developers at a one-time
cost of $5,000 and an annual data and support fee of $4,824 data, for a total of
$9,824 for one year, with two one-year options to renew that include a five
percent increase on the recurring portion of the cost, for a total not to exceed
$20,208. This would result in a three-year amended agreement with a new total
amount not to exceed $268,865, with future year funding contingent on Council
budget approval.
Executive Summary
On April 8, 2015, the City of Santa Monica entered into an agreement with NextBus, Inc.
(NextBus) under SMMC 2.24.080(d) exception to the competitive procurement process,
to provide real-time passenger information for Big Blue Bus customers in an amount not
to exceed $154,120 for a two-year period. Big Blue Bus sought to limit the agreement to
two years to allow flexibility to shift strategy to provide customers real-time vehicle
location information as technology evolved.
Staff is requesting a modification to the aforementioned contractual services agreement
in the amount of $29,988 for an additional year of service, in addition to two (2) one-
year options, for a total not to exceed $94,537, which includes a five percent increase in
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option years two and three of the contract term. Staff is also requesting authorization to
purchase the service to extract BBB’s real-time transit data in the Extensible Markup
Language (XML) feed format in order to make real-time data available to a broader
number of transit travel app developers at a one-time cost of $5,000 and an annual data
and support fee of $4,824, for a total of $9,824 for one year with two additional one-year
renewal options that include a five percent increase in years two and three of the
contract term for a total not to exceed $20,208. This would result in a three-year
amended agreement with a new total amount not to exceed $268,865, with future year
funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Background
In 2013, Big Blue Bus explored the feasibility of making its transit data available in the
General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)-realtime format, which is software agnostic
and comports with the City’s priority in transparency and open data. In 2014, BBB
published its GTFS-realtime data, thereby allowing incorporation of its data into existing
third-party trip-planning applications. This functionality allows BBB customers to use
these apps to plan travel on BBB in real-time as opposed to static scheduled time.
Making the real-time data publicly available did not address the void that existed for
customers without smartphones or those who preferred to access information by phone
or text message. In order to ensure that these customers would also benefit from real-
time trip-planning, BBB sought to replicate the ability for customers to access real-time
arrivals by phone and text message.
Vendor Selection
On April 8, 2015, the City of Santa Monica entered into an agreement with NextBus, Inc.
(NextBus) under SMMC 2.24.080(d) exception to the competitive procurement process,
to provide real-time passenger information for BBB customers. NextBus, Inc. is a
technology vendor that provides real-time information to customers by leveraging GPS
technology and a proprietary algorithm that incorporates historical travel data to track
transit vehicles and predict their arrival times. Big Blue Bus sought to make its bus
arrival information available through NextBus because it had significant name
recognition in the BBB service area, with clients such as Los Angeles Metropolitan
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Transportation Authority, Foothill Transit, and OmniTrans. The NextBus open
Application Program Interface (API) standard had been available in the transit
marketplace for many years and at the time the City entered into agreement with
NextBus, 135 transit operators around the globe were utilizing NextBus real-time
schedule information software. NextBus was a unique offering in the market, as they
were the only vendor that offered a phone and text message feature and were willing to
allow third-party integrations with a data format that is not region-specific. Providing
real-time data in this ubiquitous format set NextBus apart without comparable
substitutes, thereby, justifying the exception to the competitive process. Understanding
that the technology to provide real-time information was rapidly evolving, Big Blue Bus
sought to limit the agreement to two years to allow flexibility to shift strategy as
technology evolved.
Discussion
Real-time information has quickly become a heavily used amenity by BBB customers
for trip planning purposes. The NextBus service allows BBB to make this information
available by phone, SMS text, online and through a smartphone application.
Subscribing to the NextBus service has enabled BBB to make real-time information
accessible to the visually and hearing impaired, as the NextBus website is ADA-
compliant. The Telephone Information Service is designed to allow visually impaired
customers to key in stop codes in order to hear an audible announcement providing
information. NextBus also allows agency staff to enter stop- and/or route-specific
service alerts, which further expand the capacity to disseminate information aiding
customers in trip planning. Customers who are visually impaired can access these
announcements by phone. Finally, through its website and mobile app, customers can
customize notification alerts through My NextBus Alerts, a feature that pushes alerts via
SMS, email or a web browser when a particular bus is set to arrive.
BBB currently sees a high volume of NextBus usage. In particular, there are a large
number of users that take advantage of accessing the information for BBB via phone
and text relative to other transit agencies. This may be due in part to the fact that BBB
posts NextBus information at all stops, while some other transit agencies do not.
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BBB has seen a 58% decline in phone call volumes to its customer service line from
FY16-FY17, and a 75% decline between FY14 and FY17. BBB believes that the
expanded accessibility to scheduled and real-time bus arrival information across
multiple formats, including through NextBus, is largely responsible for this decline.
The data generated by the NextBus system is owned by the City of Santa Monica.
Usage Breakdown:
Since launching NextBus in June 2015, Big Blue Bus customers have been able to
access real-time bus arrival information over 14 million times.
SMS
Queries Phone Queries ADA Site Hits Mobile Website Hits Website & iOS and
Android App Hits
64,864 154,361 911 6,205 13,829,128
Redundancy and Alternatives
In order to build on the real-time bus arrival information availability and reliability, BBB
continued to explore additional options for making information available to customers.
Staff researched emerging technologies in real-time transit information and identified
the Southern California 511 system as an additional option. Southern California 511
(511), is a free traveler information service that gives commuters live traffic reports,
transit planning, commuter service information, motorist aid, or FasTrak information in
the Southern California area through a toll-free phone number, website and mobile
application.
BBB seeks to integrate the NextBus XML feed into Southern California 511, as
discussed below. Including BBB’s real-time travel data in Southern California 511
through the NextBus Extensible Markup Language (XML) feed would further expand
access to this information in both English and Spanish.
Go511 Integration
Big Blue Bus seeks to modify the contract with NextBus to include the setup and
release of NextBus’ real-time information as an XML feed to third parties, through the
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NextBus Application Program Interface (API). By making NextBus’ data available in this
format, the Los Angeles County Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (LA SAFE)
will be able to include Big Blue Bus’ real-time arrival information in the updated version
of 511, launched July 1, 2017. The next version of Southern California 511 includes: an
overhaul of Go511, LA SAFE’s website and mobile app; the introduction of SMS texting
as a way to access real-time transit arrivals and traffic information (forthcoming by end
of 2017); an improved traveler information interactive voice recognition (IVR) phone
service in English; and a new IVR phone service in Spanish in 2018. The new Go511
mobile app, IVR, and SMS texting service will include real-time arrival information from
all NextBus providers in the region. The ability for BBB to include its information in
Southern California’s new 511 in Spanish language is especially important, as 18.2% of
BBB customers are monolingual Spanish speakers.
Providing that the staff evaluation of the 511 solution meets customer needs, staff will
develop the technical requirements to prepare a formal RFP to solicit proposals for the
procurement of a real-time bus arrival information system that will be incorporated into
BBB’s suite of software products to improve customer experience.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The contract reinstatement and modification to be awarded to NextBus, Inc. is for an
amount not to exceed $114,745. Funds in the amount of $39,812 are available in the
Big Blue Bus’ FY 2017-18 Capital Improvement Program Budget in account number
C419092.589000. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Suja Lowenthal, Transit Community & Government Engagement
Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
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Attachments:
A. 2017 OAKS INITIATIVE FORM 2-signed
CITY OF SANTA MONICA
OAKS INITIATIVE NOTICE
NOTICE TO APPLICANTS, BIDDERS, PROPOSERS
AND OTHERS SEEKING DISCRETIONARY PERMITS, CONTRACTS,
OR OTHER BENEFITS FROM THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
Santa Monica’s voters adopted a City Charter amendment commonly known as
the Oaks Initiative. The Oaks Initiative requires the City to provide this notice and
information about the Initiative’s requirements. You may obtain a full copy of the Initiative’s
text from the City Clerk.
This information is required by City Charter Article XXII—Taxpayer Protection. It
prohibits a public official from receiving, and a person or entity from conferring, specified
personal benefits or campaign advantages from a person or entity after the official votes,
or otherwise takes official action, to award a “public benefit” to that person or entity. The
prohibition applies within and outside of the geographical boundaries of Santa Monica.
All persons or entities applying or receiving public benefits from the City of Santa
Monica shall provide the names of trustees, directors, partners, and officers, and names
of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation or revenue interest. An exception
exists for persons serving in those capacities as volunteers, without compensation, for
organizations exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3), (4), or (6), of the
Internal Revenue Code. However, this exception does not apply if the organization is a
political committee or controls political committees. Examples of a “public benefit” include
public contracts to provide goods or services worth more than $25,000 or a land use
approval worth more than $25,000 over a 12-month period.
In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City
compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any
person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by an
entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every person
who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten percent
interest in the entity. Therefore, if you are seeking a “public benefit” covered by the Oaks
Initiative, you must supply that information on the Oaks Initiative Disclosure Form. This
information must be updated and supplied every 12 months.
CITY OF SANTA MONICA
OAKS INITIATIVE DISCLOSURE FORM
In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City
compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any
person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by
an entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every
person who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten
percent interest in the entity.
Public benefits include:
1.Personal services contracts in excess of $25,000 over any 12-month period;
2.Sale of material, equipment or supplies to the City in excess of $25,000 over a 12-
month period;
3.Purchase, sale or lease of real property to or from the City in excess of $25,000
over a 12- month period;
4.Non-competitive franchise awards with gross revenue of $50,000 or more in any
12-month period;
5.Land use variance, special use permit, or other exception to an established land
use plan, where the decision has a value in excess of $25,000;
6.Tax “abatement, exception, or benefit” of a value in excess of $5,000 in any 12-
month period; or
7.Payment of “cash or specie” of a net value to the recipient of $10,000 in any 12-
month period.
Name(s) of persons or entities receiving public benefit:
Name(s) of trustees, directors, partners, and officers:
Name(s) of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation, or revenue interest:
Prepared by: ____________________________Title: __________________________
Signature: ______________________________________ Date: ________________
Email: ____________________________________ Phone: ____________________
FOR CITY USE ONLY:
Bid/PO/Contract # ____________________________ Permit # ___________________________
Kathleen Regn Sr. Contracts Manager
July 12, 2017
kathleen.regn@cubic.com 858-627-4589
NextBus, Inc.
Matthew J. Cole (Director), James R. Edwards (Director and Officer), John D. Thomas (Director), Angela L. Hartley (Officer),
David A. Jenkins (Officer), James K. Kihara (Officer), Julie M. Maloy (Officer), Natthew L. Newsome (Officer), Gregory L. Tanner
(Officer)
None
REFERENCE:
AGREEMENT NO. 10518
(CCS)