Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
PLANNING DIVISION
TRANSIT PROGRAM

PROGRAM MISSION: To administer and provide public transportation to serve travel needs of Arlington and the region.

The Arlington Transit Program provides public transportation services to accommodate the needs of Arlington residents, commuters and visitors for community access and mobility to sustain full, active and affordable lifestyles independent of a requirement to operate or own a personal automobile. The integrated network of transit services and facilities developed, coordinated or operated through this program to meet these needs of the Arlington community include: Metrorail, Metrobus, MetroAccess, Arlington Transit (ART), Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR), the Commuter Assistance Program (CAP) and Virginia Railway Express (VRE). The Planning Division's Transit Program includes the budgets for the Transit Planning, Transit Operations and Paratransit services elements of the program. The budget for CAP is maintained separately within the Division while Metro services are documented in Section N, Regional Organizations and Metro, in the Proposed Budget. A separate Capital Improvement Program budget also includes transit projects managed under this Program.

• Transit Planning provides for the administration, planning and coordination of the activities associated with this Program. Responsibilities include: regional and local service planning; budget preparation, funding and monitoring; capital project programming, design and implementation; inter-agency liaison, policy and legislative advocacy; major project, service and system studies (including Columbia Pike); Transit Master Plan updates; and, evaluation of site plan-required transportation management programs. This work is accomplished by a combination of County staff, consultants and integration of work plans with other agencies, such as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). An intra-County charge allocates personnel–attributed costs to CAP for grant accounting purposes.

• Transit Operations (TOP) provides management, implementation and oversight for County sponsored activities providing direct service to transit patrons in the County, including: ART bus service; bus stop and shelter coordination; technology-project planning and implementation; and, Metrobus operations coordination. ART bus service is operated through a contract with ATC, Inc., a competitively procured contract service provider, to provide market specific, low impact, innovative, high quality, responsive and cost effective public transportation services to, and in partnership with, residents and businesses of Arlington County. The fleet of 14 ART buses consists only of small, compressed natural gas (CNG) buses operated on seven routes as part of a network of bus service coordinated with the 18 Metrobus lines serving the County. A five-year plan for strategic service improvement was presented to the County Board in 2002 to be implemented in conjunction with Regional Bus Study recommendations for Metrobus service changes.

There are 1,099 bus stops located in the County for use by Metrobus, ART, Connector, Omni-Ride and numerous private shuttles. These stops incorporate a total of 117 bus stop shelters, with 80 owned by the County. TOP staff coordinate the installation, repair, cleaning, replacement and location of these stops and shelters with County and WMATA crews and adjacent property owners. The Arlington Bus Stop Evaluation Study (2002) developed a prioritized list of 100 bus stops recommended for safety, functional and passenger amenity improvements for which TOP is responsible.

Implementation and operation of new technology projects, such as the real time passenger information system called NEXTBUS are also accomplished under TOP. Plans call for expansion of this system to include ART and for a corridor-wide, new generation system to be deployed on Columbia Pike as part of a program of planned service improvements which also include deployment of transit priority traffic signal programming. Lastly, staff also assist Metrobus and other operators with problem resolution in which Arlington has an interest, such as route detours, station operations, bus layover locations, roadway problems, signal operations, and location of slug lines.

• The Paratransit Program is responsible for ensuring that Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit service is available for eligible Arlington County residents. This is accomplished through policy implementation, performance monitoring, budget preparation and funding by staff and the coordinated use of two complementary services: 1) MetroAccess, the designated ADA paratransit service for the region operated by WMATA; and, 2) the STAR service operated directly for the County by competitively procured contractors. County funding for MetroAccess is presented in the Metro section of the Proposed Budget while STAR is included here in DPW Planning. Over 85 percent of eligible trips are carried on STAR, which has been designed to provide higher quality customer service at a lower cost to the County than MetroAccess for many locally oriented trips.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• The personnel budget increase is due to step increases and vacant positions filled at above the entry-level step. In addition, management of the bus shelter maintenance program was shifted to this Division from Water, Sewer and Streets (WSS) in FY 2004 though WSS staff continues to do the work. This adds $35,000 for Work By Others to the salary budget.

• In non-personnel expense, full year costs are budgeted for operating the Arlington Transit (ART) expansion routes that were adopted in FY 2003. These routes include the Ballston lunch shuttle (ART67), Fort Myer Heights and N. Highlands (ART61), and the Cross town Express (ART40). Both ART61 and ART40 were budgeted for partial year operation in FY 2003. The increase of $499,306 in FY 2004 includes annualized costs for ART61 and ART40 and an increase in bus operation contract costs for all routes.

• Paratransit operations will see a projected 5% cost increase for trips provided by the STAR program, an increase of $99,108 in FY 2004. As a result of improved program management enabled, in part, by the new computerized phone system and scheduling software purchased in the FY 2002 capital budget, STAR will further reduce the MetroAccess subsidy by reducing allocated costs for calls and trip services.

• Revenues are down from estimates due to WMATA not yet determining a cost share arrangement or reimbursement plan for flash passes. The ridership revenue anticipated in this program is now crediting the County Metro budget.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

Objective: Accommodate the needs of Arlington residents, commuters and visitors for community access and mobility through cost effective provision of public transportation services.

• FY 2003 passenger trip/service hour is lower than prior years due to the start of new services.

• In FY 2004, additional ridership gains will be realized as new ART routes are put into operation.

Objective: Provide cost effective and customer responsive transportation services to ADA eligible residents while improving MetroAccess and STAR productivity.

FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS:

• An expected increase in fares by WMATA may create the need to raise fares for ART and STAR.

• Continuation of the marketing program should increase ridership on ART, Arlington Metrobus, and STAR services.

• Expected increases in CNG fuel costs will increase ART's operating budget.

• Transit service emergency response preparation and planning will require staff time, coordination and resources.

• Implementation of new and revised services, per Transit Plan recommendations, will require expanded administrative resources.

• STAR ridership will continue to increase due to greater familiarity, improved reliability and growth in the number of certified residents.

Proposed Budget Contents | Section F Contents | Submit Comments