Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
AD HOC CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
MARCH 15, 2018
Subject
SUBJECT: OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT
ON INCREASING PUBLIC TRANSIT AND RIDESHARE USE STUDY
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE Report on Increasing Public Transit and Rideshare Use Study.
Issue
ISSUE
The Metro Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted a study on potentially under-tapped sources for increasing use of public transit and ridesharing.
Consistent with national trends, transit ridership in Los Angeles (LA) County has slightly declined over the last several years. Although various factors have contributed to these ridership trends, there may be Metro contractor and local City and County efforts that can help address these patterns.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The OIG understands that an important core business goal for Metro is to decrease congestion and increase public transit use and ridership. We contracted with TransLink, a woman-owned small business, to perform a study to determine what methods and strategies are currently being deployed within LA County to address and to identify potential policies and programs that might influence LA County commuters, employers, and agency partners to increase transit ridership and rideshare usage on a system-wide basis.
Over the past several years, transit agencies across the country have noted decreasing ridership on their systems despite capital and operational investments. This recent trend is primarily due to loss in bus ridership with a 6.7 percent decrease nationwide and 6.0 percent decrease in Los Angeles County from 2014 to 2016. Several economic factors have likely contributed to ridership trends such as changes in major population and business centers, gas prices, personal travel preferences, alterative travel price and convenience options, and access to transit services. However, from a local perspective, there may be specific programs and policies that could be applied to mitigate these patterns, particularly with certain groups. This study focuses on potential policies and programs that could apply to LA County commuters, employers, and agency partners such as Metro contractors/vendors and local public agencies, to address overall ridership trends.
Key Findings and Recommendations:
The overall report findings and recommendations include:
• The surveys and interviews indicated that there are opportunities to encourage transit usage by employees of Metro contractors/vendors and government agencies in the County (“Metro Partners”) through marketing campaigns, provision of additional incentives, improved awareness of Metro’s Employee Annual Pass and Guaranteed Ride Home programs, and encouraging and promoting transit use to their employees by Metro Partners.
• Interviews of sampled governmental agencies and private businesses indicated that some entities could provide better transit subsidies to help cover a larger portion of monthly public transit cost, particularly considering that some of these entities provide free or subsidized parking that encourages driving a private vehicle over public transit.
• There are additional opportunities to market to specific audience groups to increase ridership by developing additional marketing programs directly aimed at user groups such as students, business and government entities, and employees "live near your work" campaigns.
• Metro could coordinate with other LA County government agencies to encourage additional use of public transit and participation in rideshare programs, including maximizing allowable transit subsidies over parking subsidies.
• Explore modifications to Metro’s Employer Annual Pass Program to further encourage transit usage, such as the addition of a monthly pass option.
• Better publicize the Guaranteed Ride Home Program and how to take advantage of it.
• Encourage use of public transit at meetings and events where contractors/vendors will be present.
• Consider whether any program can be created that specifically address contractors/vendors use of public transit.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Metro management could:
• Assign an individual to be responsible for championing the rideshare programs, and partnering with local government agencies on the findings and recommendations in the report and taking appropriate actions;
• Track the success of any actions taken in response to the recommendations provided in the report as determinations are made on implementing any recommendations; and
• Periodically report to the Metro Board on the status of actions taken to implement the recommendations and what success has been attained in improving transit usage as a result of the steps taken.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Executive Summary to Report on Increasing Public Transit and Rideshare Use Study
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Andrew Lin, Audit Manager, (213) 244-7329
Yvonne Zheng, Senior Manager, Audit, (213) 244-7301
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Karen Gorman, Inspector General, (213) 922-2975