Okaloosa County BOCC — August 16, 2016 — Access EC Rider TDP - August Draft Report — reading text

Michiana Area Council of Governments and Bay County Transportation Planning Organization. Once the peers were selected, 2013 NTD data were collected for the peer review analyses. Table 3-5: Selected Peer Systems, EC Rider Transit Peer Review Analysis Agency Name Location Lake County Board of County Commissioners Tavares, FL Terrebonne Parish Houma, LA Macatawa Area Holland, MI Michiana Area Council of Governments South Bend, IN Bay County Transportation Planning Organization Pensacola, FL Selected Performance Measures Table 3-6 lists the performance measures by category used in the peer and trend analysis. A review of EC Rider trends and how it compares to its peers is presented next, by performance measure type, beginning with General Performance Measures, followed by Efficiency Performance Measures and Effectiveness Performance Measures, respectively. ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 47  Section 3 – Existing Transit Services Table 3-6: Performance Measures by Category General Performance Effectiveness Efficiency Service Area Population Vehicle Miles per Capita Operating Exp. per Capita Service Area Population Density Passenger Trips per Capita Operating Exp. Per Passenger Trip Passenger Trips Passenger Trips per Revenue Mile Operating Exp. Per Passenger Mile Passenger Miles Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour Operating Exp. Per Revenue Mile Vehicle Miles Average Age of Fleet Operating Exp. Per Revenue Hour Revenue Miles Average Headway (in minutes) Farebox Recovery (%) Total Operating Expense Number of Vehicle System Failures Revenue Miles per Vehicle Mile Vehicles Operating in Max. Service Revenue Miles Between Failures Revenue Hours per Employee (FTE) Passenger Fare Revenue Weekday Span of Service (in hours) Vehicle Miles per Gallon Average Fare Trend and Peer Review Analysis As previously discussed, an analysis of EC Rider’s fixed-route bus service from 2009 through 2013 was conducted using the most recent five-year NTD data available. Although the trend analysis is only one aspect of an overall transit performance evaluation, when combined with the peer review analysis, the results provide a starting point for understanding the efficiency and effectiveness of a transit system. Trend Analysis Summary  Service Consumption – Passenger trips per capita, per revenue mile, and per revenue hour have shown an increase over the five-year period. This trend indicates that the EC Rider has been improving in system effectiveness over the last five years.  Service Supply – Vehicle miles per capita (service supply) decreased by 6.4% by 2013, indicating that EC Rider’s services decreased during the analysis period. However, the decrease of service supply resulted in increased ridership productivity, as manifested in service consumption.  Quality of Service – The average age of fleet, average headway, and number of vehicle system failures experienced an increase of 183%, 29.5%, and 26.7%, respectively, over the five-year period. This indicates that the system’s service quality experienced a decline during this period.  Cost Efficiency – When taking inflation into consideration, the operating expense per capita, operating expense per passenger trip, operating expense per revenue mile, and operating expense per revenue hour variables each experienced different levels of decrease between 2009 and 2013. This indicates that EC Rider achieved better overall cost efficiency by the end of the five-year period. Table 3-7 summarizes the trend analysis of EC Rider’s existing fixed-route system in terms of the percent that each performance measure changed between 2009 and 2013. ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 48  Section 3 – Existing Transit Services Table 3-7: Summary of EC Rider Trend Analysis % Change Measure Indicator* (2009–2013) General Performance Service Area Population 6.1% + Passenger Trips 6.1% + Vehicle Miles -0.8% - Revenue Miles -0.9% - Total Operating Expense 4.3% - Passenger Fare Revenue 20.2% + Revenue Hours -2.4% - Route Miles 31.4% + Vehicles Operated in Maximum Service 0.0% o Gallons of Fuel Consumed -21.6% + Service Supply Vehicle Miles per Capita -6.4% - Service Consumption Passenger Trips per Capita 0.0% o Passenger Trips per Revenue Mile 7.1% + Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour 8.7% + Quality of Service Average Age of Fleet 183.0% - Average Headway (min) 29.5% - Number of Vehicle System Failures 26.7% - Revenue Miles Between Failures -21.8% - Availability Weekday Span of Service (in hours) 0.0% o Cost Efficiency Operating Expense per Capita -1.7% + Operating Expense per Passenger Trip -1.7% + Operating Expense per Revenue Mile 5.3% - Operating Expense per Revenue Hour 6.9% - Operating Ratios Farebox Recovery (%) 15.2% + Vehicle Utilization Revenue Miles per Vehicle Mile -0.2% o Revenue Miles per Vehicle -6.5% - Energy Utilization Vehicle Miles per Gallon 40.0% + Fare Average Fare 13.3% + *Indicates a positive (+), negative (-), or neutral (o) trend ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 49  Section 3 – Existing Transit Services Peer System Analysis Summary The following summarizes the peer review analysis of performance indicators prepared for EC Rider. General Performance Measures  EC Rider’s total service area population is nearly 60% above the peer group mean, whereas population density is 39% below the mean. This may be indicative of a much geographic larger service area for EC Rider compared to the peer agencies. A less-dense service area provides additional challenges for EC Rider to achieve the same service productivity as areas that have higher population densities.  Passenger trips for EC Rider fall below the mean for the selected peer group. Service productivity is likely affected by the lower-density of EC Rider’s service area relative to the rest of the peer group.  Revenue miles and revenue hours are used to measure the supply of service. EC Rider falls approximately 6% below the peer group average in terms of revenue miles but exceeds the peer group average by approximately 15% for to revenue hours.  Total operating expense and passenger fare revenues for EC Rider are less than the peer group mean by approximately 41% and 46%, respectively.  EC Rider’s vehicles operated in maximum service rank highest within the peer group, at 50% higher than the peer group average. Effectiveness Measures  Vehicle miles per capita for EC Rider are approximately 46% below the peer group mean, indicating that the supply of service is less than typically experienced in other similar areas.  Passenger trips per revenue mile and passenger trips per revenue hour are below the peer group mean, by 46% and 56%, respectively, indicating that the may be room for improvement for ridership levels.  The average age of EC Rider’s fixed-route fleet is 35.5% above the per group mean, or approximately 1.6 years older than the average of the peer group agencies. Efficiency Measures  EC Rider’s operating expense per service area capita is the lowest among the peer group; its operating expense per revenue mile is 38.1% below the peer group mean.  EC Rider’s farebox recovery is approximately 3% below the peer group mean; the average fare charged is 13% above the peer group mean.  Revenue miles per vehicle mile for EC Rider is 3.4% above the peer group mean, which indicates a better utilization of fixed-route bus vehicles. Table 3-8 summarizes the peer system analysis prepared for EC Rider’s fixed-route system and indicates the percent that EC rider is away from the peer group mean for each performance measure. ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 50  Section 3 – Existing Transit Services Table 3-8: Summary of Peer System Comparison