Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager
Date:	June 29, 2012
RE:	Agenda Item: Authorization of Request for Proposal for Transit Hub Study

Congruent to the memo dated 6-28-2012 (Transit as a Secondary Use at the Santa Fe Depot) staff would like to request an in-depth study pertaining to the location of a transit hub in Lawrence.

Background:

In most small and moderate sized urban areas the level of public transit service that is provided is directly associated with limitations in funding. In Lawrence service is provided at either a 30 minute or 60 minute frequency. In order to ease travel and reduce the travel time service is designed to provide easy transfer opportunities. Scheduling several routes to be at the same place at the same time (i.e. Downtown) serves this purpose. With service frequencies at 30 and 60 minutes it is imperative that easy transfer opportunities are maintained.  

In Lawrence we have four locations (Downtown, KU Student Union, 31^st at Iowa, and 6^th at Wakarusa) where we provide these “hard” transfer opportunities. As the system continues to improve services these locations are becoming even more important to the ongoing success of the service.

Since the beginning of service public transit has attempted to maintain a presence in the Downtown. These efforts have often been challenged by property owners, development and the availability of land. In the last two years alone transit operations has been relocated two times and two additional alternative sites have been evaluated. It is also expected that the existing location will have to be vacated in the near to immediate future to accommodate future development. Therefore it is imperative that a permanent location be determined for transit that matches the current and future use of the service.

In order to make this determination a thorough evaluation of alternative sites for a transit hub should be performed. This evaluation would not only consider locations in the downtown but also alternative sites outside of the downtown that may more appropriately match passenger ridership patterns and demands. The site evaluation should also take into consideration space to accommodate amenities such as an indoor waiting area, administrative space, and restrooms.

Request:

To accomplish this task staff is requesting City Commission’s authorization to issue a Request for Proposal for consulting services to evaluate potential sites that are best suited (based on existing and potential ridership patterns) for use as a permanent transit hub.

Cost:

These consulting services are estimated to cost approximately $40,000 and will be funded by dedicated Transit Sales Tax funds (.05% Transit Equipment). This project is currently being considered by the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Organization for KDOT’s 2012 Competitive CPG (Consolidated Planning Grant) funding. If any KDOT funds are awarded as part of this process they would be used to reduce the local portion.