09-12-18 Personnel and Finance (#8)

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK 140 that program free to introduce kids to riding public transportation early. We hope to see that ridership continue throughout the rest of the school year,and we continue to work with Mishawaka and South Bend Community Schools as well. We also partner with MACOG and the interurban trolley to launch the yellow line connector route. This is significant for transportation in our region to have two (2)transportation systems partner together. The yellow line connector route goes from Mishawaka Transfer Center to downtown Elkhart, and we're able to provide that connection every thirty (30) minutes instead of what it was previously, sixty (60) minutes. From a regional standpoint, being able to improve those connections is significant. She went on, We are also looking to introduce new technologies, the first (0) being with our paratransit service. That is a very challenging service for transit agencies to operate. We continue to see that ridership go up, right now we're trending around a ten to eleven percent (10%-11%) increase for this year.That will continue as the population continues to age,so we will be launching new scheduling software to make it more efficient and make it easier for passengers to schedule their trips. Bus shelters have been a huge project for us over the last several years. The City of South Bend has done a great job of installing shelters in several downtown areas and along the Western Avenue and Lincolnway Corridor. We received a grant several years ago for additional shelters, so those shelter locations were already predetermined as part of the grant application process. We will be seeing the first(1St)round of those bus shelters installed yet this year, and the second (2nd) round will continue next year. We're excited to continue bringing those passenger amenities to the community. Some of the challenges that we look toward in 2019: We started converting our fleet to CNG in 2014, and we are up to twenty-two (22) CNG vehicles, which has helped reduce a lot of our maintenance and fueling costs. However, we still have twenty-seven (27) vehicles that are currently eligible for replacement. The useful life of a bus is twelve (12) years, and those twenty-seven (27) vehicles are fourteen (14) and fifteen (15) years old. The uncertainty in the Federal and State funding, and also the 2020 circuit breaker are challenges, so we are preparing ahead with what we can do to offset that decrease in funding and the continuing increase in the cost of health insurance. She continued,Collective bargaining is probably more of an opportunity than a challenge. We just finalized our current two (2) year contract in January. As part of that, we formed a labor- management committee to improve the relationships between labor and management. So as we go into contract negotiations next fall, we're excited to continue that process and we think that will be very productive. To touch on some additional priorities heading into 2019,we'll be introducing new technologies that I mentioned.The first(1St)thing is the paratransit scheduling software. That really helps with scheduling the rides, dispatching, and it is able to adjust the operators' schedule seamlessly if there are cancellations throughout the day. It also provides online opportunities and applications for our riders to schedule their trips. She went on, One (1) of our next priorities is having real-time information for our fixed-route vehicles. That's been a passenger request for a long time. It makes it a lot easier for passengers to look on their phones and see where the busses are at,and it helps us internally to make sure we are managing where busses are at and operate more efficiently.We are continuing to work on ridership initiatives and workforce development. We just met with Great Lakes Capital today to look at the Blackthorn area and all the development going on there. We've already identified that as a route where we can make minor adjustments to better serve that area. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173]TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 3