AC TRANSIT DISTRICT Board of Directors Executive Summary
GM Memo No. 08-125 Meeting Date: May 28, 2008
Committees: Planning Committee External Affairs Committee Rider Complaint Committee Board of Directors
Finance and Audit Committee Operations Committee Paratransit Committee Financing Corporation
SUBJECT: Receive update on Motor Coach Industry (MCI) Deployment Criteria RECOMMENDED ACTION: Information Only
Briefing Item
Recommended Motion
Fiscal Impact: None at this time. Providing a dedicated fleet for Transbay lines has an associated cost, on which the Board has been briefed. See GM Memo 07-140a. This memo provides recommendations for deploying the existing fleet of MCI coaches. Background/Discussion: Director Fernandez requested an update on the criteria used to determine assignment of MCI coaches. This memo provides the criteria recommended by staff, and also provides a chart demonstrating the effect of those recommendations. Assuming Board concurrence, this information will be provided to the Transbay Task Force, and to persons who have signed up to receive AC Transit Transbay email information. AC Transit Transbay riders appreciate MCI coaches for at least the following reasons: Capacity Comfort WIFI access However, the District does not have enough buses of this fleet type to provide an MCI coach for every Transbay line. Accordingly, staff has developed the following short list of recommended criteria for MCI coach assignment: 1. Freeway Miles 2. Revenue Sharing Agreements 3. Operational Considerations (Supervisor Order Needs) BOARD ACTION:
Approved as Recommended [ ] Approved with Modification(s) [ ]
Other
[ ]
The above order was passed on: . Linda A. Nemeroff, District Secretary By
GM Memo No. 08-125 Meeting Date: May 28, 2008 Page 2 of 2 Freeway Miles: Staff recommends the deployment of MCI coaches on specific routes with a minimum of 15 freeway miles. The MCI coaches were designed for long distance limited stop services. Revenue Sharing Agreements: The District has a revenue sharing agreement with Stanford University, with respect to Line U. This agreement includes the deployment of MCI coaches on Line U, to encourage use of that line by University employees and students. Operational Considerations (Supervisor Order Needs): The District deploys reserve buses at the Transbay Terminal for contingency and schedule adherence purposes. These buses may be deployed on any Transbay route as needed. Dispatching MCI coaches to Supervisor Order assignments enhances service delivery. Certain lines meet criteria 1 and 2 above, and it is recommended that MCI coaches be scheduled on these lines on a daily basis. Attachment A provides information on the routes that would be assigned MCIs as a result of applying the above criteria. Staff recommends maintaining a 20% “soft spare” ratio, to further increase the likelihood that these “priority” routes will consistently be assigned MCI coaches. After the MCI coaches have been successfully dispatched on the priority routes, the balance of the soft spare fleet will be assigned to other Transbay lines. Staff notes that the number of MCI buses required for the priority lines is not a “hard” number at this time. The calculation of vehicle requirements was made on a stand-alone consideration of each line. Interlining will certainly affect that number, meaning that other lines from the prioritized list may be assigned MCIs. For example, in the current sign-up, the NX series is commonly interlined, meaning that the NX3, NX2 and NX1 routes may be assigned MCI coaches. Staff recommends interlining lines that share a common corridor; in the case of the NX series, that is the MacArthur Corridor. This logic would also apply to the Interstate 80 Corridor and the Interstate 880 Corridor. Again, it is staff’s assumption that after the priority assignments have been made, there will be additional MCI buses available to use on other lines. Passenger loads will be the primary deciding criteria for this secondary MCI coach assignment. However, these buses may be deployed on any Transbay route regardless of the criteria. It is important to note that the assignments may change on a daily basis, dependent upon coach availability and needs of the priority routes. Attachments: Attachment A: Approved by: Reviewed by: Prepared by: Date Prepared:
MCI Coach Deployment Criteria Rick Fernandez, General Manager Nancy Skowbo, Deputy General Manager, Service Development Cory LaVigne, Service and Operations Planning Manager Tony Divito, Senior Transportation Planner May 13, 2008
GM Memo 08-125 Attachment A
AC Transit Service Development MCI Coach Deployment Criteria
Number of Transbay Line Trips Boardings AM PM AM PM M 18 16 9 11 SB 6 8 23 25 S 5 5 10 14 SA 6 7 11 10 LA 22 25 11 16 NX4 6 7 17 17 U 5 5 31 37 NX3 8 10 14 15 NX2 10 23 G 6 8 22 20 FS 5 6 17 15 NX1 7 28 OX 11 14 20 19 V 7 16 20 27 L 9 17 22 26 LC 1 13 H 8 11 22 17 W 8 11 23 21 NX 9 15 E 5 11 14 10 B 5 11 6 12 P 6 21 13 21 CB 4 7 14 14 Z 4 4 15 13 C 7 11 14 11 J 9 12 14 16 NC 3 13
Average Max Loads AM PM 7 9 23 25 10 12 10 10 11 16 16 16 30 36 13 14 23 21 19 17 14 27 18 19 18 26 21 23 9 21 16 22 21 14 13 9 6 11 13 20 12 14 15 13 12 9 14 15 11
Highlighted area indicates meeting MCI deployment criteria
Freeway Miles
Frequency AM PM 20 30 30 26 20 20 21 30 30 18 30 30 18 15 10 16 30 30 14 30 30 13 20 12 20 10 30 30 10 30 30 10 20 13 15 10 12 30 20 11 20 15 11 single trip 11 20 20 10 20 20 10 20 10 30 30 10 30 30 9 30 10 8 30 30 8 30 30 8 30 30 8 20 20 30 Total Meeting Criteria Existing MCI Fleet Difference
Number of buses (w/o Interlines) 9 8 6 4 12 6 5 5 5 4 4 5 12 6 9 1 6 6 6 4 3 8 4 4 4 4 1 50 78 28
Note Freeway Miles Freeway Miles Freeway Miles Freeway Miles Freeway Miles Freeway Miles Agreement
