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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PSMTC 2018/08/07 2016-2018COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND MASS TRANSIT 131h Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii August 7, 2018 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit ORDER: was called to order at 1:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Chair Ms. Karen Eoff, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member (came in later) Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member (came in later) STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The Chair called Hannah L. Hedrick, who registered to speak to comment on Comm. 990, and came forward when called. CHR. RUGGLES: Are there any other testifiers? Okay, I'm going to close testimony at this time, and recess this committee till the end of Governmental Relations. Recess: At 1:52 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:56 p.m. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, good afternoon everyone or good evening. Before we start, Mr. Kamelamela asked if any of us would request his presence for today's meeting, otherwise he would like to leave. Does anybody have any objections to that? Okay, great. You're free to go then. Communication 990. PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 990: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY MARIA ARANGUIZ, MASS TRANSIT ADMINISTRATOR, ON THE PROGRESS AND PLANNING TOWARDS IMPROVING THE BUS SYSTEM OVER THE SHORT AND LONG TERM From Council Member Jennifer Ruggles, dated July 11, 2018. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to file Comm. 990. Seconded by Ms. David. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, we have the department here with a presentation they prepared for us. Thank you for being here, and you may proceed. (Note: At this time, Mass Transit Administrator Maria Araguiz and Transportation Specialist Kasie Kailikea came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. ARAGUIZ: Good afternoon, Mara Araguiz, Mass Transit Administrator. Next to me is Kasie Kailikea. She's our Transportation Specialist. So I would like to thank you first, for the opportunity to share with you our presentation. We have three items we would like to present today, and if there are any questions, if we can wait until the end; but if you have a need to for clarification, please feel free to interrupt me. (Note: At this time, Ms. Araguiz and Ms. Kailikea provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 990. 1.) MS. KAILIKEA: Any questions, so far? MS. LEE LOY: Chair? CHR. RUGGLES: Go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Thank you, Kasie, thanks. So I'm looking at this spreadsheet, and I completely appreciate how you've mapped this out. This is a really excellent way of staying on task. So for example, on item number 3.5 you have "No further action required," but you also have a column, "action completed prior to report period." Are you going to fill in something like "complete" or—is that how this is going to work? Page 2 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. KAILIKEA: Good question. We could instead of "no further action required," put there that it's completed, with maybe gold stars. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and a date, because I think as a measurable from somebody picking this stuff up later on, we can say out of 34 different recommendations, we've met 15 percent within three months. I think it goes a long way in messaging the progress that this department is making. The other question I had is not so much related to the ongoing ones, and I understood those. But there's others that have a TBA, To Be Announced. Have you folks filtered through all the different tasks? Because sometimes you have to put something in place first, before you can move in the next recommendation and complete that. Has there been like a road map that you have to complete, for example, task 3.5 prior to addressing task 2.1, 2.7, and 2.8? Has that developed? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well, there are certain items that are ongoing, but we don't have something to like—I briefly touch let's say item 1. 1, which is a TBA. And moving forward the new buses will come with all of this new technology. At this point like an after market for existing fleet is a no, no, because it wouldn't make sense from a financial perspective, okay. The compatibility is not there, those buses are too old to take advantage of the new technology. However, moving forward and like Kasie expressed, by changing the technology we are going to change policy. Because the policy now is segregated duties, because a lot of the validation and the counting of revenues I know that needs to be done in a certain way. If all that is going to be automated in most cases, that's going to change the game at the time. Now as road map, yes, we have something that tells us, you know, what we need to address in order to move like, let's say—it's not so much chronological. But there are things that work in tandem. So they are like, you know, working at the same time. But yes, we have a structure and we are coordinating this efforts within the agency, with the support of Finance to really kind of like be aligned with policies. And then obviously at the end of the day being able to meet the requirements of these findings that were presented by the Legislative Auditor's Office. I mean there are various targets, but for us primarily right now it is to make sure that we are doing it according to County policies. So for us it's the most critical issue, and I hope by looking at this matrix, by looking at the work and effort from my staff and the support from Finance, the Council feels assured in this Committee that we are on track, and we are looking very seriously at the findings and looking for solutions and viable options. And discussing those, and if there's any changes to communicate those to you as well. Page 3 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. KAILIKEA: I'm sorry, if I could just also add, Council Member Lee Loy, back to your question about 3.5, I see where you're asking that. And we should actually change instead of "no further action" to "ongoing." Just because as the new technologies do come in, the counts for ridership, the monies, all of those things may change or actually will change. Because with those technologies we no longer have to manually input, in theory. So you're right, that one there would be "ongoing" verses "no further action." MS. LEE LOY: And yeah, Kasie, I can read this super quick. This is why I'm really appreciating this matrix, and I think the takeaways are some of that. What's done, take it off the list. We can show percentage complete of all the tasks that was provided. If there's ongoing, you know, how we measured that. If there's other concurrent policies that have to go along side with others, if we could relate those back to those tasks. I think it would go a long way to regaining the trust of this body. And it's no secret we are worried about you folks. There's a lot of money coming in with the recent passage of the GE (General Excise Tax Surcharge). This is one area where you will begin to see some resources pumped into the department. And I want to be able to show our taxpayers, this was the return on investment. But at the same breath, if we're falling behind how we help you guys so that we can stay on task. This works for me and maybe at the very end of the matrix the tasks completed, percentage complete, you know, just like a snapshot or summary of where we're at I think will go a long way. And then with all the quarterly reports, so we'll see one here. Then come January or February, we'll see another quarterly report where we can compare to where we were in August. To where we are in the next quarter. Thank you. I yield. CHR. RUGGLES: Council Member Eoff. MS. EOFF: Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to agree with Ms. Lee Loy. I think with the GE surcharge that will start in January, we'll need to see those quarterly reports. I think it will be important to us, and to the constituency to see how the benefits are being utilized. CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, in case—you're right on the mark, stay there. Just little bit more enhancement it's all right there. You've got the framework going. Thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Anyone else? Okay, great. Well I really appreciate your guys' presentation. It's very succinct and clear, and relatively thorough. A couple of questions regarding what I had sent you— Page 4 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. ARANGUIZ: I'm so sorry, we are not done. CHR. RUGGLES: Oh, you're not done yet? MS. ARANGUIZ: No, we are not done. So I feel like you're closing out. CHR. RUGGLES: I was wondering we were missing some things. MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah, so if we can move a little bit— CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, great, I apologize. Please resume. MS. ARANGUIZ: Moving forward we'll have just a few slides left, and then there will be an opportunity if necessary to go over any sort of questions, suggestions, comments you may have about this presentation. (Note: At this time, Ms. Aranguiz and Ms. Kailikea continued the presentation to completion.) MS. ARANGUIZ: So at this point, this concludes the presentation from the Mass Transit Agency. If there are any questions. Suggestions and comments, please let us know. If something comes after the fact, just make sure to communicate those with us and we'll be more than happy to address those in more detail. CHR. RUGGLES: Council Member Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And thanks Sole, for the update. We've had conversations before about all this, so I have a bunch of questions for you. You said we had, in January 14 buses running, and as of today we have 12 buses running. Is that correct? MS. ARANGUIZ: That's correct. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And then you said, that you disposed of all the old abandoned buses. How many was that? MS. ARANGUIZ: We had in the disposal list, 17 buses. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so how many buses do we actually have now? MS. ARANGUIZ: 19. MR. RICHARDS: And the rest of—because we had over 40 if I recall the presentation. Page 5 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. ARANGUIZ: That's correct, but buses that we could bring to service as a total is 19. Vehicles that are actually on the road are 12. Vehicles that are in the maintenance is the difference between the 19 and the 12. So basically those are the ones that we are working on. MR. RICHARDS: And what was the number that you disposed of? MS. ARANGUIZ: 17. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. And the budget for 2017-2018 was about $14.1 million, 2018-2019 is $15.6. For the extra million and half, what's going to be happening? MS. ARANGUIZ: We are working on the implementation of new technologies. We are looking at the integration of simplified application for regular users. So I'm talking about for people for planning purposes as well, to use their cell phones and look up what sort of information is provided there through Google. Things like that will be part of the additional funds that are being requested. At the same time, like I mentioned before, the budget for this fiscal year ending in 2019 it would be the new opportunity to bring adequate staffing levels to our agency. And that is something that needs to be further discussed with HR (Human Resources) and Finance, and all the proper channels. Just to look at, you know, the pros and cons, and how that will work. And like I mentioned before, and I emphasize again there are two critical roles that are missing in our agency in order to make it successful. And I think it's critical as part of the deployment of new things, as well as the full implementation of our Master Transit Plan. It is someone with the knowledge and skills to be responsible for all of the financial statements, and making sure that monitoring and programing of things is all accurately done. The other one is a person in the maintenance area, it's like a ride supervisor, that will make sure that not only the buses are running but that all new buses, all new procurement, when it comes to rolling stock is according to the latest in terms of specifications. So that the person will have that level of expertise. MR. RICHARDS: And that all be covered in the $1.5 million addition? MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah. That's— MR. RICHARDS: Okay. I posed this question before, we rent buses every day to run our routes. How many buses a day, how many buses a month? Page 6 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. ARANGUIZ: Okay. The buses vary based on how many we have available that are County owned. But I can tell you that it may vary from 8 to 14. And that is basically because as I said we have—in order to really meet the demand that we have to cover all the routes and the trips, we need around 34 buses. We don't have 34 buses. As I mentioned before we have 19, and of those 19 we currently have 12. So it's just a matter of looking at the difference of the demand, and what we can meet with our current fleet. MR. RICHARDS: And what are you spending a month, in the last three or four months? What was your expenditures on rented buses? MS. KAILIKEA: I don't have that number off hand right now, but I can get that to you. MR. RICHARDS: Can we have that by tomorrow? MS. KAILIKEA: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And then a comment was made about the GE tax. The GE tax we approved a quarter percent, and the intent for that was not for Mass Transit. It can be used for Mass Transit, but was there an expectation that some of the funding from the GE tax surcharge was going to be used towards Mass Transit? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well, the expectations of course according to the print—unless of course something happened after that has not been shared with my agency— MR. RICHARDS: Hang on, I'm asking her. MS. ARANGUIZ: No. The expectation was that money—in order to really implement the Master Transit Plan without the funding, is going to be business as usual. So honestly, I mean the extra money coming from the .25 for the next year and half there was the expectation, according to documentation and tables I seen, that there was going to be a distribution between Mass Transit, as well as Public Works for roads improvement. MR. RICHARDS: That's actually not what we've discussed. Okay, I will yield at this point. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. That was actually my understanding. I mean that was one of the reasons for my support of the GET, that it was going to be used for Mass Transit. And it was a way to implement—you know, maybe Mr. Richards might Page 7 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 have a different idea, but I'm just saying what my feeling was. You know, it was—my support was based on the premise that it would be used to further the Mass Transit Master Plan, yeah. I just wanted to make sure that there's another side yeah, to this. Thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. O'Hara. MS. O'HARA: Okay, I just had some questions. They're probably kind of simple. It says you're ordering six vans, how many passengers do these vans—? MS. ARANGUIZ: This is based on the additional funding that we would receive, and it was around $537,000, and it allowed us to buy vehicles from 15 to 26. So these are smaller vehicles. MS. O'HARA: 15 to 26 passengers? MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah. So I have the IFB (Invitation For Bid) with me right now, and so we are issuing and hopefully within the next couple of weeks that will go out. And it's for six buses, and we'll have a mix of like 15 and then 26 passengers. And those are the ones that I'm saying, those are appropriate for areas, and to be used as circulators. And those are, you know, they would work better in more constrained and challenging terrain. MS. O'HARA: Right. Okay, and then it says one year from now should have 24 vehicles per service. Are these new or reused that you're anticipating? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well, when we look at the 24 we are looking at the mix. So the existing fleet that would be working, we are looking at the buses that we're getting from Maui as well as the BYD (Build Your Dreams). We are adding the six new mini buses, as well as the three new 30 footers. So if you add all of the numbers, you will arrive to the total of 24 approximately. But it's a mix of like I said ours, there on the list, a used fleet which is in good shape, plus a total of nine brand new buses. MS. O'HARA: So the two from Maui are the used, and everything else is basically new? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well the BYD's are used vehicles, but that's an electric vehicle as well. So it's a used vehicle, it's kind of like an older generation of the BYD. MS. O'HARA: The double-decker is MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah, the double-decker, yeah, that's actually not that old, but it has been out of service for a while. Page 8 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. O'HARA: Right. You know, people have been asking about— MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah, I actually wanted for people to see it, so we went on that bus, you know, a week ago and we went around town. MS. O'HARA: Okay. In your mechanic positions you say four bays, four Mechanic I positions. And then you mentioned Garage Supervisor, is that the same as the Mechanic II positon? MS. ARANGUIZ: No. The Garage Supervisor is something—the Mechanic II is already being filled. So those are vacancies that we have, and that's a critical role. But the Garage Supervisor will have more of a management of beyond, just kind of like the activities that will be assigned to Mechanic II. MS. O'HARA: Okay, so just kind of in terms of staffing, has any effort been made for the Financial Advisor person that you're looking for? MS. ARANGUIZ: There have been discussions with Finance in terms of funding, I would say the right traits in terms of, you know, KSA's (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities), making sure what will really make us successful candidate based on this unique environment. So they're just kind of like a person that would be seasoned, knowledgeable, experienced, and will provide guidance and support to our maintenance crew. MS. O'HARA: Okay. And you disposed of seven buses, how did you dispose of them? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well there's a list that identifies disposed vehicles, and those are done in batches. So at this point there is a process that is being secured through Finance, for them to go through the process with us. So we have to complete further documentation for that. But they are disposed, that means that they are out of service and that information has been communicated to Federal Transit Administration. MS. O'HARA: Okay, I'm just kind of curious. Because disposal, I mean are they— MS. ARANGUIZ: Disposed because they have reached their— MS. O'HARA: Oh, no, I understand why they're being disposed. I'm asking how they're being disposed, they're scrap metal now? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well, that's another thing that I brought to attention at some point, and I haven't been able to discuss in more detail. And now with the events in Puna, one of the things I discussed with my boss basically was the opportunity Page 9 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 to bring those and transfer them like they do in other places to tiny homes, in order to use the buses for something else. I mean that could be done. MS. O'HARA: So we've still got these 17 buses? You're going through the process of disposal? MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah, of disposal. MS. O'HARA: Okay. Disposal of buses is difficult, that's why I'm asking these questions. I'm familiar. And I'm not a big fan of that idea. MS. ARANGUIZ: Okay, point taken. MS. O'HARA: Because our buses can be turned into potentially shelters of some sort, but it takes a lot of work, and a lot of finesse to do that. Otherwise they can be really inappropriate shelters. So I'm kind of a little leery of doing that. MS. ARANGUIZ: Okay, point noted. And you know, there various other ways of doing that. I mean that's kind of like—my previous experience, you know, those that still have like safe juice, that still run. Regardless of the fact they probably have reached 800,000 miles, is that they would be donated to nonprofits. So that was another way of disposing, and more kind of like public service, public benefit. Otherwise you can just one day reach the end of the cycle, and their useful life and they're below the $5,000 treasure. You can basically just—you know, it's the decision of the agency, Transit Agency. MS. O'HARA: What I'm driving at here is proper disposal. As I understand it our scrap metal yard does not receive buses. Is that correct? If we actually have to junk it, I'd like to know how we're junking it. Because I still see graveyards of buses sitting around, and this can be a problem. So you always have to think to end of life. Especially since we have acquired many of these buses second hand, we are reaching end of life, and I'm talking about the actual disposal and how that's being achieved. Because it can be expensive to do it properly, just bringing that up. CHR. RUGGLES: You yield, Ms. O'Hara? MS. O'HARA: Yeah, oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Thanks. Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. And thank you for allowing me to speak, and I'm sorry I cut off the presentation at that time. I'm going to go back a little bit, and maybe I'm going to ask this question that was already asked but a little different way. And it's related to the number of buses. How many buses do we need to fill a daily route? Page 10 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. ARANGUIZ: You mean all the routes? Okay. So according to our service, you know, what I have as operation, we need at least 30 buses. Because when I say 34, I mean we need to have spare buses. But we don't have the luxury most of the time— MS. LEE LOY: Okay, that's perfect, I'm going to try and keep it real simple. So every day we need to have 30 buses to make sure everybody can get on a route, get on, okay. Of the 30 buses, how many are ours, on average; and how many are being contracted? MS. ARANGUIZ: I can tell you about today. So today we have 14 buses that are being rented through Polynesian Adventures and Roberts Hawaii. MS. KAILIKEA: So one thing to note, some of the routes, although there are 31 routes. Some routes overlap, so what we do is we use the same bus on two different routes. So one finishes for example in the early afternoon, and then it is used again, on another route. MS. LEE LOY: I spend a lot of time just traveling, and Mass Transit does it all the time, where that one bus kind of continues on different routes. So I completely understand. So based on just yesterday's count, we rented 50 percent of our fleet. MS. ARANGUIZ: That's correct. And that's something that honestly is one of the major challenges here. And let me tell you, it's not for the lack of not working, I mean the mechanics are working at a fast pace. It's a great addition to have a new mechanic, but it's an aging fleet. And if you look at the details of the fleet, most of them are over 550,000 miles. So many of those vehicles in a regular environment, would have been retired long ago. So at this point it's basically bringing them back to life on a daily basis, and it's always something. Sometimes I get the same vehicle for something else, and it just kind of like—at some point you have to decide okay, does it really make sense bringing back this vehicle over and over again to the garage. But sometimes that's the only alternative. So moving forward like I said, a lease is not the best solution. But we will have a little break, once we have those additional three vehicles come into service. So we can bring those vehicles, and make sure that they are serviced and go from there. Like I said, you know, right now the only thing is going through this process of applying to as many grants as possible, to get the IFB (Invitation For Bid) out for those new nine buses, and to maintain a more straight, and regular preventive maintenance plans for all these buses. But like I said before, I mean those buses are old. They're in bad shape, they need to be replaced, and we work with what we have. And what we have obviously is not in the best shape. So we have to take advantage of all the resources, and in this case is the Purchase Page 11 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 Transportation contracts that we have with Polynesian Adventures and Roberts Hawaii. MS. LEE LOY: When you first started, what was on average, the percentage of amount of buses we had, and how many we were renting? And what I'm driving at is, it would be ideal for this body to see that when you got the reins of this agency we were renting 80 percent of our buses. Where here we are a year later renting only 50, and it would be ideal for us to see that progress. You know, again, rebuilding that trust and knowing where the monies are being spent and that there is some measurable. Is there a way we can develop that sliding scale, those trends? I think it would go a long way to validate the funding. MS. ARANGUIZ: Well like I said before with my example of the fleet, there's so much that you can accomplish with an aging fleet that has certainly extended beyond its use. You know, right now of course we have more vehicles in the garage than we would like to. Mechanics are working on all of them. Actually there are other options that we had explored with Public Works to expedite because these are union grievance discussions as well. Because other plans could not be explored, because of certain limitations of having some sort of additional contracts, so we could bring more mechanics to work on an overtime basis and things like that. But moving forward, I mean what we can offer is that we are applying as you see from the list here, we are applying, we are issuing the IFB's, and we are enforcing, you know, the maintenance plan. Unfortunately there's nothing that we can do in terms of the current fleet. I mean the situation doesn't look as positive. Moving forward, things will look better. Like I said before, in a month we'll be in better shape. In a month we'll have buses that will have come from Maui that will be replacing buses that are in bad shape, or replacing the ones that we are already renting from Polynesian Adventures. So that's what the plan is in the meantime, taking advantage of the little that we can borrow or get as a gift from other Counties. And I know it's not ideal, I know it may bring more issues sometimes, but that's all we have available to us at this point. In a year the situation will be different, buses take between a year and 60 months to be manufactured. So there's nothing we can do from the par, we can just kind of like make sure that specs are the best, that we have a clear document, and that we can get the best possible bid and responsive people, you know, addressing our many concerns here. And in this case, I wish I could give you a more positive outlook for this week. But I can tell you that in a month, the outlook will be different from what I'm presenting to interest of the fleet. Page 12 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. LEE LOY: I'm going to take your word for it. I'm going to look forward to the next status report. I'd like to see 50 percent be the floor, that we are no longer going to be renting any more than 50 percent of our fleet. Because that's why we passed the GE, was to build a robust Mass Transit System. I think follow up, and what Mr. Richards is getting at, is there's two parts to this. One was the GE, and one was the fuel tax. So how much of the fuel tax is being pushed into the development, and meeting the goals and objectives of this plan? MS. ARANGUIZ: Okay. One thing that I didn't share with you, and it's just that there are other opportunities for us to get all the vehicles sooner here than later. But there's something that needs to be supported if it will work. As you know, I don't like to offer more than I can say it is secure. But there's an opportunity to bring at least probably three or four buses for service, sooner than one-year timeframe that usually takes for new buses. And that's something we are currently discussing with Jack Tours, and with our Finance Department; and our legal team, to see if the contracts will work on the benefit of the County at this point. MS. LEE LOY: This will be my final question, and assuming everything goes well. At what point do you see, or if there is an anticipation of raising fares? Because I just spent a lot of time using some amazing transit. And it wasn't free, and it was more than a dollar. And I paid every step of the way, and it was worth it. They were clean and on time. I mean they moved people everywhere, has there been any discussion about fare adjustment, and at what point that comes in? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well to be honest I was the first one to come with that discussion in terms of the Master Plan. Okay, I brought that to the attention of the fact that we have a service here that charges the same for a person being within Hilo, put it that way, and a person traveling 80-90 miles. Okay, from a business perspective that wouldn't work, okay, just charging the same fare. Because that is not responsible and actually doesn't reflect operational cost to the agency. So it's, you know, I understand from the rider perspective it may seem unfair and they want obviously lower fares. So I think there must be a commitment from us, and I think the commitment in the Master Plan is basically for us to show that we are achieving certain targets and measures of success so we can say that there is a reason for us to increase those fares. Because the system is accountable, reliable, and we have a fleet that addresses all of those transportation needs. We are in discussion currently with our consultant, looking at what could be implemented and what would make more sense. And actually I even have an article here in research on, you know, the fares, because fares would be approved by Council. Once the discussion—you know, it's a matter of equity, it's a matter of regulations, and it's a matter of the type of area that we are serving. So as much as we want to explore that, we must be consistent and follow guidance that Page 13 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 comes from the Federal Transit Administration in regards to all this legal and equity -related type of considerations. MS. LEE LOY: I yield. Thank you, Chair. CHR. RUGGLES: Council Member Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair, and thanks Sole, for that catch up. And this may not be a question for you, this may be a question for Finance. As Council Woman Lee Loy said, approximately 50 percent of the buses are being contracted. And I am going to assume, and this may be wrong that it's a daily contract as supposed to contracting a week out, a month out, even a quarter out. Is that a correct statement? MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah, we have a contract that is, let's put it this way, it's a contract that it's not defined for a specific route and a specific number of vehicles. I mean it works that way, but it's not defined. Let's say it's not like we are calling for an RFP that would substitute these existing contracts. And in the RFP it would be a defined number of vehicles for a defined number of routes, and it will be a mostly all inclusive type of document. And the expectations is that it would lower our cost, and it would help us with the operation on the needs of our agency. So it will follow what most of the agencies do nationwide, instead of this type of arrangements, which creates a lot of various daily complications as probably you can into more detail, Kasie. Well the daily adjustments sometime that happens when they are like, they're cruises us in Kona, what happens to us? MS. KAILIKEA: So when we rent buses from Polynesian Adventure Tours for example, they accommodate us with buses that they have available. However, for example they have other commitments, then they may not have any available for us, for our routes or to assist us. With our contracts currently, because the drivers are currently with Polynesian Adventure Tours we go to Poly Ad first. And if they cannot accommodate us, then we ask for assistance from Roberts. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, where I'm going with this question is that—and if I understood what you're saying is you're looking at guaranteeing how many buses you want to get every day? MS. ARANGUIZ: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: And that's where I'm going with the question, because I am well convinced we actually touched on this serval months ago. If you had a guaranteed contract number of daily, then your cost per unit is going to go way down. And I don't know what that percentage is, but I'm going to guess probably 20 to 30 percent at least. If that's the case to address what Councilman Lee Loy is talking about, you have 14 buses on the road right now? Page 14 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. ARANGUIZ: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: If you are guaranteed that you don't have to worry about whether or not that last two or three buses is going to be on road tomorrow morning, you actually can do a better job getting them fixed, going forward. And this is what I've been trying to push at. I'm not against Mass Transit, I'm all for Mass Transit. What I'm against is spending too much money, and I agree with you. At 500,000 miles things are tired, but we got to dig ourselves out of the whole. Where not going to fix it overnight. And the reason I asked the question about the budget is, we have not approved any further expenditures on the budget right now. You have a $1.5 million increase over the last year. And if we cut down our cost of our unit budget, buses that we're renting each day we're actually be able to get more buses for the same amount of dollar. And save us some money, which that money can turn around and we can reinvest back into our own program up renting it. This is where I'm going with the conversation. And what Councilwomen Lee Loy said is, there is a lack of confidence in Mass Transit. And the reason being is for all the reasons been articulated. And until we build that confidence back up—and we can start with that because you have something available in front of you, and this is why I asked that question. So by tomorrow morning I would like see how you're spending on the buses. That's alright you can summarize it, just put it on one sheet of paper. MS. KAILIKEA: Actually Tiffany Kai just assisted us, and brought it to us. So per week day, Monday through Friday, it's about, this is based on this weekoh, excuse me, this past week it was $22,429.93 per day. For Saturdays, because we have less buses on the road, it goes down to $16,651.67, and on Sundays it's $4,000. MS. LEE LOY: I'm sorry to interject here. Is it buses and drivers or just buses? MS. KAILIKEA: This is buses and drivers. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So you said $22,000 a day, five days, $16,000 for Saturday and $4,000 for Sunday is that what I'm hearing? MS. KAILIKEA: Correct. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so we're looking at $110,000 for the week plus $20,000, so $130,000 a week we're spending on renting buses. Is that what I'm hearing? Do the math. This has been my point of concern. And so is this a contract that's been negotiated by Finance with Poly Ad or Roberts, or is this something you're working on? Where are we with this? Page 15 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. ARANGUIZ: Well the existing contract, this existing arrangement will be replaced with an RFP that will be issued to—I mean it will be calling for a complete new set of, you know, new bidders will be the players. And whoever becomes the successful one, will be on the RFP. I mean this arrangement it's an arrangement that exists for a year or so, couple of years. Because we had another vendor before we had Roberts Hawaii, I know that. The rates are set for the type of vehicle, so certain vehicles are cheaper, based on the seating capacity. But the rates are set for that in terms of the size, and for the drivers. MR. RICHARDS: I got that. No, I hear what you're saying there. My concern is this $130,000 a week that the County is spending. And if we look at that budget, I'll do the math later, but this is my concern going forward. And when we first met—the Mass Transit Plan that they put together is an excellent plan. I think, I'm not a Mass Transit guy. And it has a metrics of roughly $20 million a year needed for ten years, roughly $200 million investment for the County to have something good. And I am supportive of that, and I said this before if the management is in place to do that. And I'm starting to hear we have management in place that can do that. So I'm very interested in looking at these numbers, and I want to know more about the, I don't know if you call it negotiation or putting this proposal. But I assume this is going to be short term, like within the next couple weeks or month. When is this supposed to go into place? MS. ARANGUIZ: We are changing a little bit of the language, just to change a few things. But this is something that will go first to Finance to the Purchasing people; and you know, before it goes there or after, you know, I mean we can share. I mean there's no price tag there of course, but we'd have a good idea. Because I requested from Maui base on their current contract to understand how much they are paying, in terms of their all inclusive. So I have pretty much an idea, because there's no such study. When I contact Hawaii DOT (Department of Transportation) to have an average cost for an hourly, all inclusive rate for Hawaii, because it varies, okay, of course. But I have the numbers, I can obviously share those with you. What you want to take a look. There are certain things we cannot do here, because of union related situation. We cannot have like the cash handling, like I wanted done by them. And there are other things that we cannot do, because they are union related. Otherwise the hourly rate is there, and it explains how it was calculated. So it's pretty much to have an idea, you know. If I'm requesting this number of buses and all that, and Roberts Hawaii serving Maui as all inclusive, they only provide their buses. Then it would give you a good picture of what to expect. And I know it will be a close study. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So that's good, and I'd like to see those numbers. So going forward what I'd like to do is I'd like to see what the total expenditure fiscal 2017-2018 was for rented buses. If you could get that number for us Page 16 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 please? And if we could get it by tomorrow morning that would be wonderful. Alright, so I'm going to yield at this point. Thanks. CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. O'Hara. MS. O'HARA: Thank you. Sole, you came in February, right? MS. ARANGUIZ: February 12. MS. O'HARA: February 12'h, so you're almost to six months here. MS. ARANGUIZ: That's correct. MS. O'HARA: And in those six months, we've moved into the new facility. That was in the beginning of your tenure, right? MS. ARANGUIZ: Yes. MS. O'HARA: And I seem to recall in the plan that the recommendation from the consultants is not to raise bus fares until we have restored ridership to what it was prior. Is that correct? Yeah. How are we doing with ridership? I know this last three months is probably hard to really look at norms, because we lost a lot of riders out of Puna. Because we've lost routes, so I'm not really sure if we are going to get to that previous number real quick as a result with these changes. MS. ARANGUIZ: You're right. I mean the impact it has, you know, based on what's taking place in the Puna district. We have the stats for the previous year. We have certain numbers, you know, obviously for the fiscal year, the current fiscal year at least from July. There are fluctuations between the months, there are months that tend to be higher than others. It could be an average—I could say from what I've seen in terms of pattern is around 55,000 riders per month. That may change, go up and down, and I think it's probably there in one of the slides that we have there about ridership. MR. O'HARA: So what is it we need to get to in order to consider raising rates? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well, you know, there needs to be an analysis. And not just something that just because we feel that there is a need to collect additional funding, because it cannot be justified that fashion. MS. O'HARA: Okay. MS. ARANGUIZ: Okay. Besides it needs to be approved by Council, so I expect the Council will want to see that a fare analysis had been conducted prior to that. Page 17 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 MS. O'HARA: Oh, yeah. MS. ARANGUIZ: And that we can meet all the legal requirements as well, and obviously will need—you know, it may not be required, because of the type of funds that we receive, but then it would be an adequate way to have a public hearing of course and share this. What's happening, why, what is triggering this. And then have a discussion on why it would make sense, and how it would be structured, because there are different ways of doing that. It could be by zones, by miles, by type of service. So there are various ways of changing the format, but it would have to be something that is supported by, you know, all of these. I would say cases, as well as any sort very unique needs here within the County. Because of course, you know, it could be misinterpreted, as an opportunity to take advantage in times of need. So probably wouldn't be the best way of addressing that. But there is a real need, and one of the things that I would like to add if I have a chance is that there is no system in the world, not New York, not in San Francisco, not in LA, not in any other place, you know, that people can say they're not heavily subsidized. Okay, when it comes to transit. So anything that people may say that transit is very successful, it's successful because it probably carries five percent of the total commuters. If you look at the stand nationwide that would be very, very high. So to think that transit is kind of like it's going to pay on its own, that is a myth, that doesn't exist. MS. O'HARA: That's kind of like people paying to take your garbage away. Sorry, it doesn't happen. Anyways that's kind of what I was expecting. I don't think we're really there for raising rates, and probably won't be for a while. But yeah, a good analysis when we are considering doing that it is going to be essential. And it really feels to me like you're starting to get a real grasp on our system, for six months and coming in to a broken system, let's be honest, and trying to move towards fixing it. And I'm so pleased that we do have the money to move forward with this plan because it is a good plan. And yes, it's going to have to be tweaked as a result of events here, but I feel a lot better about things. I feel a lot better about the cash handling, and the fact that we're making progress on all the recommendations from the audit. Because things were not being handled properly at all. So I'm pleased with what I'm hearing, we've got a long ways to go. I'm not starry eyed about it, but we got a lot of buses to buy and they aren't cheap. So I'm pleased with the progress so far, thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, thank you. You know, I'm not saying that I necessarily disagree with what Mr. Richards or Ms. Lee Loy said regarding the leasing. But you know, I'm just thinking, I'm not 100 percent in favor of setting a ceiling Page 18 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 either. And what we would need is a comparative analysis between the cost of leasing, and operating on our own. Because if we have more buses and these are depreciable items now, if we have more buses then we're going to need more repair people, more mechanics. So now you're talking about, you know, more workers, salary and wages. I'm not necessarily against it, but that in it of itself carries—it's an expense, right? And I don't know if this is the time for us to be growing government. But yeah, I just wanted to throw that out there. As I said I'm not against what was suggested, but I'm not saying I'm necessarily for it either. I need more information, and only you guys can provide it. And I don't expect you guys to provide it by tomorrow or anything like that. But I certainly would like to see something. And you know, I know there's been a lot of talk, you know, about a lack of trust on the part, you know, of us toward the department. But you know, I've never really had a lack of trust towards you guys, even in the past. The fact remains, the County never provided this department the resources to advance a plan and a vision. Now we have the chance, and I think it carries with it a lot of promise. I mean, I could be proven wrong later on. My enthusiasm towards the department might wane in about a year or so, but I think we got to give you guys that chance. And I'm hopeful that something good is going to come of it, yeah. Just if I could end by saying I don't think we necessarily have to only buy hardware, yeah that becomes a dangerous endeavor in my opinion. Thanks. MS. ARANGUIZ: Thanks. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, just a quick follow up. Thanks for those numbers. This is just running through the numbers real quick, at $132,000 a week that's about $6.8 million a year. If we save 25 percent by forward contracting, we're saving $1.7 million. Buses costing about $500,000, rough numbers, you can buy easily five maybe six buses just in the saving. And if we can do that, we don't change our budget at all, we manage our cash flow. And I do agree with what Mr. Chung is saying concerning we don't need to buy everything, we can buy some but not all. So anyway, I just wanted to leave with that. Thanks, I yield. CHR. RUGGLES: Anyone else? Okay, great. Well thank you for this discussion, it's very helpful for us in that process of building trust to have this regular communication. So thank you, Ms. Lee Loy, for the idea. A couple of questions, are we looking at continuing doing contracted drivers? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well like I mentioned before to you, at least that's the plan, I know that the only place that is doing that right now is Kauai. They have their own drivers, but they have personnel challenges like I said. Before it could be an Page 19 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 advantage and a disadvantage. It's additional cost, but at least in some cases it would be added reliability on the fact that they're County employees. So there are certain things that are easily enforceable in that fashion with that format. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, thank you. And I'm sorry if I missed this, how much is one bus? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well that depends of course on the size, but you know, equal range from a small vehicle let's say $250,000 for a small mini bus. And it could go up to like a million or so if you're looking at the electric buses. So it depends on the size and type of technology. But a typical diesel bus of 35 to 40 footer will be around $750,000. CHR. RUGGLES: Thank you. Wow. And first of all I want to say that I'm pleased that we are prioritizing the bus shelters with the increase in General Excise Tax revenue. I had one last questionoh, on your presentation you said, Google App. Data is underway using time points as a major settings. What does that mean? MS. ARANGUIZ: Well the time points are regular stuff that are used for you to determine your own time performance along the route. So basically bus stops that are used, you know, like the ones that you see on your regular schedule. Not all the stops for the route, but those are the ones that are used to maintain and make sure that you are keeping the trip within the specified timeframe that it takes to complete that route. CHR. RUGGLES: So this is for the bus drivers? MS. ARANGUIZ: No. This will be basically for us to have that in the data base format that is compatible, with your device such as cell phone. So it will allow you to add information about your destination, find the route. And then at the same time, find that the status of the buses that are assigned to this specific route. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, for passengers to be able track different things. MS. ARANGUIZ: Yeah, the information is seen as customer service driven. CHR. RUGGLES: I see, thank you. And currently were running 50 percent of our buses? MS. ARANGUIZ: Roughly like I said, there are days that's really good, and days that, you know, something happen during the week and vehicles come in the garage. I mean it fluctuates. Like I said, it could be eight, it could be twelve, it could be up to fourteen on a really bad day. But that is not the average, I would say probably it's more like eight. Page 20 PSMTC-13 August 7, 2018 CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, thank you. And we just received the Mass Transit Master Plan. MS. ARANGUIZ: I would like to make a correction that is just one of the deliverables of the final Master Plan, so it's not the Master Plan it's just one of the task assigned to. CHR. RUGGLES: Right, this is just the task three. I see. MS. ARANGUIZ: Yes. So the final document will be provided to prior to the next scheduled meeting on August 21, which will take place in Kona. And SSFM will be there to provide a presentation at the time. CHR. RUGGLES: Great, we're looking forward to that. Okay, well I really appreciate your time, and everyone's patience. With that may I have a motion to adjournoh, wait excuse me, sorry. May I have a vote to close file on Comm. 990? All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 990: The motion to close file on Comm. 990 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, and Chair Ruggles — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RUGGLES: May I have a motion to adjourn? Page 21 PSMTC-13 . I August 7, 2018 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 6:18 p.m., Ms. Poindexter moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, and Chair Ruggles — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RUGGLES : We are adjourned. Thank you. Approved: Ms. 44fle'r Ruggles, Chair Publi afety and Mass Transit Committee JR/rk 7- IS, (Date) Page 22