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Home My WebLink About2020-06-04; Carlsbad Connector Pilot Project Update; Gomez, PazTo the members of the: CITY COUNCIL Date<o(c.tj2c, CA ✓cc / CM L ACM ___0ZM (3) V June 4, 2020 To: From: Via: Re: Council Memorandum Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, P&u· orks Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manage Carlsbad Connector Pilot Project Up e {city of Carlsbad Memo ID#2020111 . This memorandum provides an update on the status of the Carlsbad Connector shuttle pilot prnject. Background On Aug. 19, 2019, the Carlsbad Connector launched, which is a first of its kind on-demand pilot shuttle service in San Diego County that transports commuters between the Carlsbad Poinsettia COASTER station and workplaces in Carlsbad. The innovative pilot service is operated by a partnership between the City of Carlsbad, North County Transit District (NCTD) and San Diego Association of Governments (SAN DAG). The pilot project successfully achieved its first-year objectives. On June 11, 2019, City Council approved the pilot project and entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NCTD and SAN DAG in Resolution No. 2019-087. Pursuant to this MOU, Carlsbad executed a one-year $250,000 professional services agreement with Rideco, Inc. to provide technology-driven transportation services. With NCTD and SAN DAG each contributing $200,000, the initial investment for the Carlsbad Connector totaled $650,000. While the city's agreement with RideCo expires on June 5, 2020, if will be extended by 60 days to August 3, 2020 so that NCTD can assume responsibility for managing the agreement and the second year of operations. Discussion Complementing existing transit services with the on-demand service the Carlsbad Connector provides offers travelers flexible and convenient shared transportation options to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Carlsbad Connector service also helps achieve the more sustainable future envisioned in SANDAG's Regional Plan, the city's Climate Action Plan and the city's Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program. The fundamentals of the Carlsbad Connector service include: • Peak hour morning service from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., capturing the 7:09 a.m. and 8:36 a.m. northbound COASTER trains Public Works Branch Transportation Department 1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-602-2780 t Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council June 4, 2020 Page 2 • Peak hour afternoon service from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., capturing the afternoon and evening rush hours • Mid-day service from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. provides expanded service to Carlsbad Village • Four 12-person shuttles, one of which is fully Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant • Option to add a fifth shuttle if warranted by increased ridership demand • Shuttles are equipped with WiFi and each shuttle holds up to two bikes • The system creates virtual stops at which riders can be dropped off within a five-minute • walk from their ultimate destination • The software optimizes drop-offs such that if 12 people all request to go to the same location, they will be grouped together and an entire vehicle will go straight to that singie destination • Customers with a COASTER monthly or day-pass will ride for free • Individual rides are $2.50 per ride, in alignment with NCTD fares • Data will be shared with all three agencies to help determine if service or stops need to be changed and for planning the viability of long-term service After the current contract expires on June 5, 2020, the city will no longer provide funds for year two of operations. However, the innovative partnership will continue through city staff support and economic development engagement. A 60-day agreement extension will be executed this week so that the current agreement will expire on August 3, 2020. Program operations and funding will be fully assumed by the city's project partners, NCTD and SAN DAG, for continuing the program until June 2021. The city, in cooperation with SAN DAG, NCTD and local employers, will continue to work with the vendors to target employers and employment gathering places to successfully market the service. The MOU with NCTD and SAN DAG will be amended to reflect the revised responsibilities · of each agency by next month. Since its launch in August 2019, the Carlsbad Connector logged over 9,000 rides, with a significant increase in month-over-month adoption. The average trip duration with planned stops was only 16 minutes, compared to 12 minutes if passengers drove themselves. The Carlsbad Connector demonstrated a 96% on-time performance and achieved 4.9 out of 5 stars in average · customer ratings. Through late February 2020, the service had achieved its initial ridership goal of 100 or more daily trips and developed a devoted base of riders who depended on the Carlsbad Connector for their daily commute to work. In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely reduced ridership as shown in Figure 1 below. The decline in ridership reflects approximately 80% reduction in ridership on the COASTER, which is temporarily operating under a 50% reduction in weekday train service. Even with the significant declines in ridership, both the COASTER and Carlsbad Connector service have Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council June 4, 2020 Page 4 the partners to successfuUy market the service to employers and employment gathering places. By next month, the MOU with NCTD and SAN DAG will be amended to reflect the revised responsibilities. In April 2021, NCTD will re-evaluate the Carlsbad Connector service to determine if they will continue full operations of the program in the future. Moving forward, NCTD has expressed that the program is intended to support planned increased frequencies o~ the COASTER . Additionally, micro-transit service expansion will be supported by the NCTD Strategic Multimodal Transit Implementation Plan which is currently under development and anticipated to be adopted in fall 2020. cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager Celia Brewer, City Attorney Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services Laura Rocha; Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services Robby Contreras, Assistant City Attorney David Graham, Chief Innovation Officer Tom Frank, Transportation Director Nathan Schmidt, Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager