Bay Runner’s launch date yet to be scheduled, as company awaits delivery of vehicles
This week, the Sarasota city commissioners took another step toward implementing a new, free trolley route between downtown Sarasota and Lido and St. Armands keys.
In voting unanimously on Jan. 3 to approve their Consent Agenda No. 1, which had routine business matters, the board members authorized Mayor Erik Arroyo and City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs to execute an interlocal agreement with the Sarasota County Commission, so the Bay Runner trolley passengers can use specific county bus shelters.
The agreement also will enable Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) to accept reports on the trolley’s operations, which then will be conveyed to the National Transit Database, according to the formal agenda request for the City Commission action.
The Federal Transit Administration explains on its website that the National Transit Database (NTD) “was set up to be the repository of data about the financial, operating and asset conditions of American transit systems. The NTD records the financial, operating, and asset condition of transit systems helping to keep track of the industry and provide public information and statistics. The NTD is designed to support local, state and regional planning efforts and help governments and other decision-makers make multi-year comparisons and perform trend analyses. It contains a wealth of information such as agency funding sources, inventories of vehicles and maintenance facilities, safety event reports, measures of transit service provided and consumed, and data on transit employees.”
SCAT is the only Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC) in the region, the city agenda request form explained. Thus, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) “required the use of an interlocal agreement between Sarasota County and the City of Sarasota” for use of the shelters and documentation of the trolley services through the CTC, the document noted.
“There is no fee to perform or maintain this agreement,” the form added.
Each month after the trolley service begins, the agreement explains, the city will have to submit a report to the county that contains a variety of information, including the trolley’s ridership, the number of passengers per revenue mile, on-time performance, the average waiting time for riders to board the vehicle, and cost per passenger.
The interlocal agreement will end on Dec. 31, 2024, unless the parties terminate it at an earlier date, the document notes.
The Sarasota County Commission will need to take a formal vote on this agreement, as well, Jan Thornburg, the city’s senior communications manager, told The Sarasota News Leader. “While we do not have a specific date,” she wrote in a Jan. 5 email, the county board’s discussion is expected to take place soon.
The County Commission has its first regular meeting of 2022 scheduled for Jan. 11. That agenda does not include an item regarding the SCAT interlocal agreement.
During their regular meeting on Nov. 1, 2021, the city commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the approximately $4.4-million trolley contract with CPR Medical Transport LLC of Washington, D.C. Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch cast the dissenting vote, voicing concern about the expense and a desire to see a pilot program launched first. She wanted to be certain, she said, that ridership would be high enough to warrant the city expense.
As Mark Lyons, general manager of the city’s Parking Division explained the plans at that time, the Bay Runner trolley will have a total of 13 east- and westbound stops. It will run from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., with a 30-minute “headway,” meaning the maximum amount of time a rider should have to wait to board it, he said. Then, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., the headway will be reduced to 20 minutes.
Finally, from 8 p.m. to midnight, the headway will go back to 30 minutes, Lyons noted.
CPR Medical Transport has been operating the Siesta Key Breeze open-air trolley on Siesta Key since 2018.
When the News Leader asked city staff for an update this week about when the Bay Runner would begin operations — providing the County Commission has no problem with the interlocal agreement —Thornburg, the city’s senior communications manager, responded that staff does not have a specific date. “CPR Medical Transport is awaiting delivery of the vehicles,” she added, “and we’re hoping supply chain issues do not cause a delay.”
Among other facets of the interlocal agreement, the city is charged with maintaining “all bus stops and shelters along State Road 789” between Gulfstream Avenue and St. Armands Circle “for the duration of the transit service provision, including collection of trash, removal of graffiti, pest control,” and cleaning within a 10-foot radius of each stop.
Further, the city is to install signage about the Bay Runner at those stops.
The interlocal agreement identifies Lyons of the Parking Division as the City of Sarasota representative, while Jane Grogg, director of SCAT, is named as the county’s administrative agent.