HomeMy WebLinkAbout20100201 - VIII-C-1
To: Mayor Hicks & City Councilmembers
From: Melanie Mesko Lee, Assistant City Administrator
Re: Future of TRAC Program
Date: January 25, 2010
Council Action Requested
:
Approve the continuation of the City’s TRAC program through May 31, 2010.
Background Information
:
In early 2009, the City of Hastings became aware of a plan by the Metropolitan Council to
restructure how it offers community based dial-a-ride. The new program will allocate existing
dial-a-ride funding to seven county-based programs. Called TransitLink, the Met Council’s new
program is scheduled to begin in Dakota County on May 1, 2010. The resulting impact is that the
annual funding from Met Council, which was $250,841 in 2009, will be cut effective May 31,
2010 to accommodate this transit restructure.
Since learning about the Met Council’s plan to restructure its dial-a-ride program, the City has
engaged in significant discussions with the Met Council with a goal to offer an alternative to
ending the funding to the City’s TRAC program. When it became clear that the funding by Met
Council would end in 2010, staff then focused its attention on evaluating options for continuing a
scaled back, locally based transit option service upon implementation of the TransitLink service.
The Transit Committee of the Council met on this item a number of times over the course of
2009, and reviewed the City’s options for offering fixed route and/or dial-a-ride locally in
compliance with Met Council’s parameters that any service offered could not compete with the
TransitLink program.
The Met Council’s operating parameters, combined with the loss of both Met Council and federal
funding which accounts for approximately 72% of the program’s annual funding and the cost of
offering a locally based transit option, led the Transit Committee to make the recommendation to
continue the current TRAC program through May 31, 2010. This timeline coincides with when
our current funding agreement expires with the Met Council and the TransitLink program is
scheduled to be implemented. After May 31, 2010 the City will be served by the TransitLink
program overseen by the Met Council and operated by a private provider. That provider has not
yet been selected by the Met Council. There will not be a City TRAC program after May 31,
2010.
If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you.