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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9A - Downtown Park and Ride Report o~ PRIO/,> t ,,~ 4646 Dakota Street S.E. U '.W't; Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 "rlNNESO~l'- CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: AGENDA #: PREPARED BY: AGENDA ITEM: DISCUSSION: MARCH 15, 2010 9A JANE KANSIER, BUILDING AND TRANSPORTATION SERVICES DIRECTOR CONSIDER APPROVAL OF A REPORT ON A DOWNTOWN PARK AND RIDE Introduction The purpose of this report is to provide information on the potential for a transit park and ride lot in downtown Prior Lake. On February 1, 2010, the City Council considered a report on the potential purchase of a new park and ride site in Shakopee. The City Council directed staff to continue working with Scott County staff, the Metropolitan Council and the City of Shakopee to continue further exploration of the Marshall Road site. The Council also discussed the potential for an additional park and ride site in the downtown Prior Lake area. The Council directed staff to evaluate opportunities for using transit funds for a combination of a parking facility and a park and ride in the downtown area. Historv In January 2001, the City Council chose to opt-out of the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVT A) in order to provide improved local transit services to Prior Lake residents. At that time, the City began operating Laker Lines, consisting of an express bus to downtown Minneapolis from the municipal parking lot on Colorado Street in downtown Prior Lake. There are approximately 40 parking spaces in this lot. In 2006, the City made the decision to lease 110 parking spaces from Shepherd's Path church on McKenna Road for use as a park and ride lot. This move was intended to preserve the spaces in the municipal lot for downtown businesses. Additional parking stalls at the church site also enabled the City to begin operation of a second express bus. In March 2003, Scott County, the Scott County HRA, and the cities of Prior Lake, Shakopee, Savage, Belle Plaine, Elko, Jordan, New Market, and New Prague created a Transit Review Board (TRB) and Transit Planning Team (TPT). The mission of both the TRB and the TPT is to enhance the transit options of all Scott County residents through an intergovernmental best management process. The TRB and TPT developed a Unified Transit Management Plan (UTMP) which was adopted by Scott County and the cities within Scott County in 2005. The UTMP identified the need for 1,100 park and ride spaces along the TH 169 corridor. With that in mind, the TRB developed Southbridge Crossing Transit Station, a 550-stalllot. At the same time, planning for the Eagle Creek Transit Station, a 550-stalllot on CSAH 21 and CSAH 16, began. This lot will be constructed with the CSAH 21 expansion project. In July, 2007, the City of Prior Lake and the City of Shakopee began operating BlueXpress, an express service to downtown Minneapolis, from South bridge Crossing Transit Station. Prior Lake contributes three buses, the operating costs of these buses, and a portion of the operating expenses for the Southbridge www.cityofpriorlake.com I::>honef)5:?A47.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 Crossing Transit Station. The City also operates a 90-stall park and ride at Safe Haven for Youth on McKenna Road. This location will eventually be replaced by the Eagle Creek Transit Station at CSAH 21 and CSAH 16 in 2012. The Metropolitan Council has also prepared a regional park and ride plan. In addition to the 1,100 spaces, this plan identifies the need for an additional 400 park and ride spaces in the area by 2030. The plan currently identifies these spaces on CR 17 near TH 169, and at the 282/13 intersection with CR 17. Current Circumstances The City has a Transit Reserve fund that is used to operate our transit services. We can also use these funds for capital projects relating to transit, such as the construction of park and ride facilities. The City transit funding comes from a share of the Minnesota Vehicle Sales Tax (MVST). Thus far, these funds have covered the costs of our transit program, so we have not levied any property tax for transit. Conclusion The City has a transit fund that is intended for transit, both operational costs and capital costs. The City has the ability to use these funds for a transit related parking structure in downtown Prior Lake. ISSUES: The construction of a parking structure in downtown Prior Lake for transit purposes raises two major questions: 1. Is downtown an appropriate transit location? 2. Is a downtown parking structure the most effective use of transit funds? Location: The original park and ride downtown was moved to make the municipal lot available for parking for local businesses. We can reestablish this lot, but there are factors to be considered. First of all, the lot is small and can only accommodate 40 cars. Research has shown that small facilities often have less than 30% utilization, as opposed to larger facilities, which have up 70% utilization (see attached memorandum from Charles Carlson, Metro Transit Facilities Planner). Second, downtown is difficult for the buses to navigate. An additional stop at the municipal lot will add at least 15 minutes to each run in the morning and in the evening. The cost of this extra half hour per day for the three Prior Lake buses will exceed $27,000 per year. Finally, the use of the existing municipal lot is only temporary. To properly locate a new structure, we need to determine the future of CSAH 21 in downtown Prior Lake. This will dictate access to all of downtown. Cost: The cost of a new parking structure is more than $5 million dollars, depending on size. We were able to construct South bridge Crossing Transit Station and Eagle Creek Transit Station with federal and regional funds and very little local match ($240,000 for South bridge and $0 for Eagle Creek). Regional funds were available for these facilities because they are part of the regional park and ride plan. Regional funds will not be available for use in the downtown area, because it is not included in those plans. This location is unlikely to be included, because of its proximity to the other park and ride facilities, and the 2 lack of access to a principal arterial. In other words, the total cost of a downtown facility will be borne by Prior Lake. The use of some transit funds for a parking structure is not totally implausible. At some point in the future, as downtown redevelopment occurs, it may be possible to supplement other grants and funding sources with transit funds, as long as we incorporate a transit component into the project. In the short term to conserve costs the city could use existing parking facilities and add 30 minutes each day to each bus to serve the downtown. There are sufficient funds in the transit account for this purpose. If this were to be the council's preferred option, a survey should be administered to determine the numbers of riders we can expect to use this facility before any changes are initiated. FINANCIAL IMPACT: In the short term, the municipal parking lot could be reestablished downtown with little cost; however, this would increase operating costs by more than $27,000 per year. A more significant and permanent parking structure would be considerably more expensive and would have to be accomplished with downtown redevelopment. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Reestablish a downtown parking area if survey results show that riders will use it. 2. Consider a downtown parking structure in conjunction with downtown redevelopment. 3. Take no action at this time. RECOMMENDED As determined by the City Council. MOTION: / 3 Page 1 of 1 Jane Kansier From: Carlson, Charles [charles.carlson@metc.state.mn.us] Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:32 PM To: Jane Kansler Subject: Small Park-and-Rides Hi Jane- Thank you for your question about prospects for small park-and-ride facilities. I can offer a few observations, as well as broader regional documentation on this issue. Historically, park-and-rides were usually small (<100 spaces) or very small (<50 spaces) facilities oriented toward neighborhood- scale service areas. These were served by local tails of express buses that intended to mostly pick up "walk up" riders but provide an option for those who had to drive. Church lots, parks, or shopping centers were often used (via lease agreements) for these facilities. Bus service to these facilities was costly by today's standards because demand was generally low and service was not very fast. Beginning in the mid-late 1990s, a few very large facilities changed this trend, supported by bus-only shoulder Investments region wide. Very large new facilities (>500 spaces) like Burnsville Transit Station became very successful, supporting increased service, which further increased demand. These stations started to serve larger and larger areas, with higher frequency as ridership grew. In contrast, small facilities offered neither the travel time advantage nor an attractive frequency, and many of these began to close. Some of the comparatively successful facilities are still open today, but generally have low usage. Of the facilities in 2009 with fewer than 50 spaces, utilization is generally around 30 percent (15 carsf50 spaces). Unless the service to these facilities is supported by other facilities or by significant local walk-up riders, they're less productive and often not cost effective to operate. In contrast, the facilities with more than 500 spaces have around a 70 percent utilization rate. The five largest bus facilities have a 91% utilization rate. These large facilities run efficient service and generate a great deal of ridership. We know from license plate origin data that most passengers will bypass smaller facilities to reach the larger park-and-ride locations. As such, providers have generally restructured service to provide the better utilized, more cost effective and more productive service to the large facilities. Regional plans indicate a minimum size of at least 150 spaces, though Metro Transit generally prefers at least 200 for a new lot. This corresponds to 3-4 peak period trips, the minimum level of service to attract any sustainable level of ridership. Even then, we consider the broader corridor context for a proposed facility. If other, larger facilities in a corridor are more competitive from a service/size perspective, we may assume the smallerlless frequent facility may be underutilized and reallocate capitalfoperating resources accordingly. I have attached a chapter from the draft 2030 Park-and-Ride Plan, which explains some of these considerations and provides the minimum size recommendation. For Prior lake, I would anticipate the larger facilities and increased potential service from Southbridge Crossing or Burnsville Transit Center would eclipse the attractiveness of a small facility in the downtown area. However, if Prior lake express service is planned to be extended to the downtown Prior Lake area on its own accord, a small park-and-ride might support these initiatives, or could even provide a "district parking" lot for weekends or evenings, if needed. Charles Carlson, AICP Facilities Planner Metro Transit Engineering & Facilities 612-349-7639 (Direct) Metro Transit 560 Sixth Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55411 3/5/2010