MEMO TO: Members of the City Council
FROM: Mayor Angela Birney
SUBJECT:
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Approval of the 2019-2020 King County Metro and City of Redmond Transportation Demand Management Contract Date Extension
I. RECOMMENDED ACTION
recommendation
Authorize the Mayor to sign the 2019-2020 King County Metro and City of Redmond Transportation Demand Management (TDM) contract date extension. This Amendment provides an extension of the King County Metro contract in support of the Go Redmond TDM residential and employer program through June 30, 2021, or until the estimated remaining funds have been expended.
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II. DEPARTMENT CONTACTS
Carol Helland, Director, 425-556-2107
Sarah Pyle, Manager, Community Development and Implementation, 425-556-2426
LaNaya Myers, Program Administrator, Transportation Demand Mgmt 425-556-2482
Planning and Community Development Department
III. DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND
This Amendment extends the remainder of our 2019-2020 allocated funds into 2021. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic transit and vanpool service has been disrupted and the anticipated funds haven’t been expended.
Program background
The partnership between the City of Redmond and King County began in 1999 to educate and engage Redmond residents, employees, and employers in using alternatives to driving alone. The partnership continues to advance our shared objectives to reduce drive-alone trips, increasing users of transit and ORCA, vanpool, carpool, biking, and walking.
2019-2020 Program Accomplishments
• Outreach to the over 36,000 Go Redmond users via Rideshare Online to offer incentives, subsidies, and education on not driving alone.
• Users reduced 654,780 trips at the previous Commute Trip Reduction Survey the City had an overall NDAT rate of 36.1 percent.
• Pilot ORCA for multifamily: Launched program with five downtown apartment buildings to distribute surveys, educational postcards, and ORCA cards to approximately 750 tenants.
• Delivery of 233 new ORCA and vanpool riders were provided monthly subsidies.
• Partnered with City of Redmond Community events to host Bike Bash in celebration of Bike Month, and other community-wide events to talk about transit (Derby Days, Redmond Lights, etc).
• As part of construction mitigation, a pilot program with Waze Carpooling was launched on Willows Road. More than 200 drivers and riders signed up to try the service, taking more than 1,000 trips a month. Go Redmond provided $1 rides for users.
• Go Redmond’s SchoolPool program had all Redmond schools participate (10 total) for Bike and Walk to School Month Activities. Student participationwas 31 percent during these promotions to encourage walking, biking, carpool, and riding the bus to school.
• Contracted work with Hopelink to provide TDM Services to low-income, immigrant, and senior communities in Redmond. Their work included Public Transit Orientation where they teach groups of users how to plan and ride transit. This successful intervention will be replicated with more and different groups in 2021.
• Expanded partnership with the Greater Redmond TMA to more effectively reach our Redmond employers. The GRTMA has taken on Go Redmond tasks, like running social media platforms, subsidy distribution, and administering employer grants.
• Worked with Lime Scooters to educate users and provide resources to employers on riding safely, including free ride codes and classes to learn to ride. One-third of Redmond riders used Lime to connect to transit during this pilot period.
These accomplishments show the breadth of Go Redmond’s effectiveness and the value of the continued partnership between King County Metro and the City of Redmond.
A rollover of $292,014 in matching funds from the 2019-2020 budget to 2021 as part of the proposed 2021-2022 biennium budget would be necessary. Staff has begun working with Finance to include the rollover into the 2021-2022 budget and have applied below baseline reductions to the proposal as required. Final outcomes and activities associated with the contract extension would ultimately be dependent on what is adopted as part of the 2021-2022 budget. Signing of the extension would allow King County to proceed with their approval of the extension but would not require us to spend the money or complete the activities if we did not receive budget approval to rollover the $292,014 from the current budget.
IV. PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS HELD
July 14, 2020, Planning and Public Works Committee of the Whole
V. IMPACT
A. Service/Delivery:
The original agreement increased the array and level of alternate commute subsidies and trip reduction programs that are offered to Redmond businesses, schools, and commuters. Approval of this amendment extends the remainder of our 2019-2020 allocated funds into 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic transit and vanpool service has been disrupted and the anticipated funds haven’t been expended.
B. Fiscal Note:
This amendment will allow the City to continue its partnership with METRO to advance our shared objectives to reduce drive-alone trips, and increase transit ridership recovery and ORCA, vanpool, carpool, biking, and walking. Due to COVID-19, our focus will be on helping employees in Redmond feel safe about using public transit again, prepare the community for light rail, support growth of our urban centers, provide equitable access to transportation, and continue to offer grants to support Redmond businesses. The agreement allows a rollover of $292,014 in matching funds from the 2019-2020 budget to 2021 as part of the proposed 2021-2022 biennium budget and would not require additional new above baseline funding.
VI. ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION
A. Do not approve the agreement: If the agreement is not approved, Redmond will not receive the extension or funding and will reduce and/or discontinue core offerings of the Go Redmond program.
VII. TIME CONSTRAINTS
The current King County Metro Go Redmond contract expires December 31, 2020, and King County has requested the signed amendment as soon as possible for inclusion in their formal budget planning that is underway.
VIII. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A- Contract Amendment