CITY OF
PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT
TO: Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Richard D. Sala, City Manager
BY:
DATE : February
10, 2009
SUBJECT: Community Shuttle Program Fare Policy – Broward
As you may recall, the County eliminated the North Lauderdale West Shuttle Bus route along with numerous other shuttle routes throughout the County as part of their 2009 budget reduction plan.
Staff was recently invited to
attend a meeting with our fellow shuttle providers hosted by Broward County
Transit to discuss options regarding the need for the County to generate
additional revenue from the Shuttle programs in order to keep them funded for
the next budget year. While we continue
to anticipate an increase in the overall required passenger hourly levels, the
County basically asked the operators of the shuttle programs to consider three
(3) options that would bring additional revenue into the County budget while
reducing the funds collected by the City.
The following are the three (3) main recommendations the
1. A portion of the passenger fare collected by the City would be taken by Broward County Transit.
2. The County currently pays the City $20 per operating hour; they mentioned reducing that fee to maybe $10 or $15 per hour – that would be a reduction to the City of between $11,000 and $23,000; thus creating negative fiscal impact to the City.
3. The County would consider selling advertisements on the buses and keep the revenue generated – it is believed that they will follow the same policy as they do now with the larger County buses for advertisements.
The County will be holding future meetings on this topic but they are looking to gauge interest from the operators as to which one they would prefer. At this time, we are seeking feed back from the Commission as to which of the three options they favor as we prepare to request from the County an agreement to extend the Shuttle operation.
If you have any questions please feel free to speak with me.