Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	Dave Corliss, City Manager
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
Date:	May 23, 2013
RE:	Additional Passes for LCS

Background

In December 2012 the Lawrence Community Shelter (LCS) relocated from their downtown location at 10^th and Kentucky to their new facility at on 3701 Franklin Park Circle. In the discussions leading up to this relocation there were considerable concerns pertaining to the ability of LCS clients to access support services within our community. At the time LCS staff was confident that the new facility would be designed to support “on-site” office spaces that would act as remote locations for these support services thus reducing the need for clients to travel.  

In response to these concerns Lawrence Transit changed the alignment of Route 5 to provide LCS clients direct access to the public transit system and facilitate movement to and from the new facility.  This realignment took place in August 2012 in preparation for the move of the facility.

An analysis of the ridership since the move shows an increase of approximately 50 passengers a day on Route 5. Although this additional ridership cannot all be completely attributed to the new location staff believes that most of the increase is associated with the move.  Routes 1, 7 and 11 which provide service to downtown have not seen ridership increases during this period.

Operationally, the change in routing has created continual difficulties in maintaining service on the current schedule. In an attempt to alleviate this issue operational adjustments will be made to routing and schedule times in August 2013.   

In recent discussions with LCS staff it appears that their efforts to develop on-site support services at the new facility has not yet been fully developed. Therefore their clients have been traveling into the community in order to access services. The result has been that the funds available for bus passes are rapidly being depleted. The City currently provides $8,000 in the 2013 budget to LCS to allocate to various homeless service agencies (including LCS) for bus passes and work clothing for homeless individuals.  This is in addition to other 2013 funding to LCS.

In recent months there has been a citizen’s proposal (see attached) to alleviate the issue. The basis of the proposal is to create a “free stop” at the LCS facility. As we currently operate, children under 5 years old are the only passengers that ride for free in our system. KU students are able to ride by showing a current KU identification card. However, their fares are actually prepaid as part of the tuition process.  

Staff is greatly concerned that creating a free stop is a dramatic change in our operating philosophy. As we currently operate our base fare of $1.00 is considerably lower than fares in Wichita ($1.75) and Topeka ($2.00). Although providing free service is a viable alternative for some communities it presents, not only philosophical issue, but numerous operational and cost concerns as well. These would all have to be considered prior to implementation.  Even if we created a single free stop in our system we would undoubtedly receive similar requests and would have to develop criteria for evaluating additional locations.

Recommendation

Staff recommends that City Commission consider additional funding for bus passes in the 2014 budget.