HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 92-149 i;
RESOLUTION
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF BEAUMONT:
THAT the City Manager be, and he is hereby authorized, to approve the revised Beaumont
Municipal Transit System ADA Paratransit Plan substantially in the form attached hereto as
Exhibit "A".
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL of the City of Beaumont this the e&,e day
of 1992.
- Mayor -
it
MAY 27 '92 11:16 PRINTS 11PRESSIGNS•+4 09-3369668 P.2
Beaumont Municipal Transit System.
Response to 30 Day Review Letter on ADA Paratransit Plan
Description of Proposed Cam lementar Paratransi.t service
Conmant-
Please make a "best guess" among the various demand estimates
described.. It is questionable whether the proposed process will
produce: a better estimate of demand. It is doubtful whether a six
month period of time will be sufficient to conduct eligibility.
certification and put scheduling capability in place in order to
measure the full (non--capacity constrained) demand for Special
Transit Services. Moreover, as the plan points out, people are not
likely to continue to Gall in for trips for which there is no
capacity. Many people will not bother to become certified if they
know capacity is limited.
Response•.
The most logical method of estimating demand would be the method
described on pages 13-14 of the previously submitted plan. This
method estimates an increase in demand of 3 to 3. 5 trines the
current levels will occur as a result of the expanded eligibility
criteria under ADA. Data collection for the past three months has
not supported this increase. However, as time passes and the
disabled public becomes aware of the law under ADA, and as
additional vehicle capacity is added to the special Transit flee,t,
demand will -most probably increase significantly. This increase
will certainly be more than the demand experienced during the short
period since ADA became effective in January 1992. However, BMT
does not envision demand .increasing as much as three fold as a.
result of ADA_ Therefore, a demand estimate of two times the,
current legal will be adopted for planning purposes. Data
collection during the past three month--; has indicated that
approximately 10t of paratransit eligible passengers who request a
trip cannot be scheduled with existing capacity, about 5% of
scheduled passengers do not get a time Urithin one hour of their
initial request, and that about 1-1 of scheduled passengers are
picked up one hour or more late. An additional 49 new ADA eligible
passengers have been certified into the STS Program since ADA
became effective in January or 1992. This represents almost an St
increase in the total number in the program as of January 1992.
Thus, BMT will recommend to City Council the purchase of enough
Para-transit vehicles and the hiring of enough additional operators
in FY 1993 to eliminate the exulting capacity constraints and allow
for a significant increase in demand. Specifics are outlined in the
timetable of milestones.
EXHIBIT "A"
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I" Y 27 '92 11:16 PRINT 'NPRE.'SIINS-+409-3369668 P.3
Comment:
Please provide a timetable with milestones for service
modifications based on the best available estivate of demand you
have now. Please indicate on the timetable an estimated date for
full compliance with ADA requirements.
Response:
The timetable below lists planned milestones which Will bring the
Beaumont Municipal Transit System into compliance with ADA.
June 1992:
-Present recommendation to City Council to purchase an
additional three paratransit vehicles and hire another four
operators for the STS Program. Service would be increased from
three vehicles operating a total of 28 hours on weekdays and two
vehicles operating a total of 16 hours on Saturdays, to five :
vehicles operating a total of 56 hours on weekdays and three
vehicles operating a total of 28 hours on Saturdays. This would
about double current operating capacity.
-Prepare FTA Capital and operating Assistance Grant for
purchase of three paratransit vehicles and operating monies for FY
1993 . Present to city council and submit to FTA.
September 1992•
-FTA approves grant for FY 1993.
-Paratransit vehicle specifications are prepared and requests
for bids are sent out.
Decembcsr 1992:
-Contract awarded for three paratransit vehicles.
March 1993:
-Take delivery of three paratransit vehicles.
-Hire and train additional four operators.
-Implement expanded STS service by placing additional
paratransit vehicles Into operation.
-COMPLIANCE WITH ADA SHOULD BE COMPLETED AT THIS TIME BASED ON
DEMAND ESTIMATE OF TWO TIMES CURRENT LEVEL.
May 1993:
-STS Program evaluated to ensure compliance with ADAnd.
Constraint indicators such as trip denials, late pick-ups, a
trips scheduled more than one hour from requested time will be
tracked.
June 1933-
-If constraints still exist, recommendations will be made to
City Council for purchase of additional vehicles and the hiring of
additional operators in the FY 1994 budget.
-Prepare FY 1994 grant request and submit to FTA.
NOTE: Compliance with ADA will continued to be evaluated on a
yearly basis with recommendations made. to City Council during the
budget preparation time frame of May-June each year.
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Comment:
Beauzont's current policy is that subscription trips should consume
no more that 50t of total trips. However Exhibit G shows that 73%
of trips are subscription trips (assuming dialysis and work trips .
are subscription trips) . How will Beaumont make the trip patterns .
consistent with the policy and with the ADA requirement?
Response'
All dialysis and work trips are not on a subscription basis. Many
of them are scheduled on a call-in basis. BMT is ciirrentiy in
compliance with the ADA requirement of limiting subscription trips
to 50-% of capacity.
Com��nt:
Please provide five year operating and capital budgets that are
consistent with the demand estimate and the milestones fax
achievement of ADA compliance.
ResRQnse:
The following is a projected operating and capital budget for the
operation of the STS Program only. This budget assumes that the
additional paratransit vehicles purchased in FY 1993 will provide
enough capacity to eliminate any constraints and bring B24T into
compliance with ADA. Replacement vehicle costs are included for
existing fleet vehicles. An increase of 5% is projected each year
for operating expenses.
FY 1993: LOCAL FEDERAL TOTAL
Capital at 1tr/90 $ 20,000 $180,000 $200,000
(Purchase three paratransit
vehicles)
Operating at 50/50 $151,300 $151,300 $327,200
(iholudes only six months
of expanded STS service)
FY-_1994: LOCAL FEDERAL TOTAL
Capital -0- -0- -0-
Operating at 50/50 $211,350 $211,350 $449,300
FY 1995: LOCAL FEDERAL TOTAL
Capital. at 10/90 $ 30,000 $270,000 $300,000
(replace three 2989 and
one 1983 model paratransit
vehicles)
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P.
operating at 50/50 $222,600 $221,600 $471, 800
FY 1996: LOCAL FEDERAL TOTAL
Capital -0- -0- -0-
operating at 54/50 $232,400 $232,400 $495,400
FY 1997: LOCAL FEDERAL, TOTA L
Capital -o- -a- --0-
Operating at 50/50 $243, 800 $243,810 $520,200
NOTE., Operating cost totals include projected revenues of $24,600,
$26,6010, $28, 60x, $30,604, and $32,640 for the fiscal years
Of 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 respectively.
Deserit,tioa of Eligibility Determimation Process
Comment:
What is Beaumont's policy regarding presumptive eligibility if an
application is not processed with the ADA required 21 days?
Response
The answer to this question is found on pages 26-27 of the
previously submitted plan. presumptive eligibility is given to
anyone who either presents a certification from another transit
system or makes a claim of being eligible although has no
certification documentation. These individuals are given
presumptive eligibility for 21 days. In both cases, during their
initial request for Service, they will be informed if they plan to
use the service for more than 21 days, they will be required to
fill out an application form -and process through the system as a
Local resident normally would. Service will not be provided beyond
the 22 day period unless they have turned in a completed
application form and been approved.
Comment•
Please provide clarification regarding the administrative appeals
Process. Since the STS Coordinator is the first level of appeal and
does the certification, there does not appear to be a separation of
functions.
Response:
The Beaumont Municipal Transit System only has a General Manager
and an Assistant Manager. Being a small system and not having a
large staff, each of the above two individuals performs a myriad of
different functions. In the case of the Assistant Manager, he acts
as the STS coordinator, Maintenance Director, operations Director,
N- 27 '92 11:19 PRINT IMPRESSIONS,'+409-336%68 P.6
a k
Safety Director, Training Director, etc. Since he is the person who _
either approves or denies STS applications, then he is first in the
appeals process for a denied applicant to plead his/her ease
before. Next in line would be the General Manager and then Director
of Public Works.
nescripti0h of Public Particiyation Process
comment:
Was the plan, made available in accessible formats?
Response;
The plan was made available in accessible formats to anyone who
requested one.
Comment;
Please provide documentation of public notice of the opportunity to
comment on the plan.
Response!
Exhibits T, U, V, W, and X to the previously submitted plan all
document the public participation process. Exhibit T is the flyer
distributed on revenue vehicles which announced both public
hearings. Exhibit U contains a copy of the press release announcing
both public hearings and the list of media to which it was
distributed. Exhibit v contains copies of the public hearing
announcements published in the local newspaper, Exhibit W is a list
of attendees rrom the first public hearing. Exhibit X is a summary
of the comments made at the second public hearing on the proposed
plan. Attached is a copy of the minutes from. the City Council
meeting of January 21, 1992 at which time the second public hearing
was conducted.
.Comment-
Please provide documentation that the demand estimate and budgets
have been presented to the City Council.
Response:
Attached is a copy of the City Council meeting minutes of June 2,
1992, at which time the demand estimate and paratransit budgets
were presented_