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07-20-1998 Workshop Meeting City of Aventura City Commission Workshop Meeting July 20, 1998 Immediately Following Budget Meeting Executive Conference Room 1. 2. 3. 4. Agenda Update Transit System Routes Comprehensive Plan Census 2000 Complete Count Committee Height Limitation Ordinance (Commissioners Cohen & Perlow) Next Workshop - August 24,1998 . Lehman Causeway/Dixie Highway Connector In accordance with the Americans wtth Disabiltties Act of 1990, all persons who are disabled and who need special accommodations to participate in this meeting because of that disabiltty should contact the Office of the City Clerk, 466-8901, not later than two days prior to such proceeding. THE CITY OF AVENTURA OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER TO: r FROM: ssistant to the City Manager ~ DATE: July 8,1998 RANDUM SUBJECT: Census 2000 Complete Count Committee The Bureau of the Census has requested that the City form a Complete Count Committee in order to complete the enumeration of all City residents. The role of the Complete Count Committee is to plan and implement a locally-based promotion program to publicize the importance of Census 2000. The ultimate goal is achieving widespread participation in the census. Participation in Census 2000 programs is voluntary. A chairperson and members must be selected to serve from July 1998 through June 2000. A suggested meeting schedule is as follows: Spring/Summer 1998: Committee Formation Meeting Summer 1998: Organization & Plan of Action Meeting Regularly Scheduled 1998/1999 Meetings: Status of Activities January 2000: Status Reports (begin to conduct monthly meetings) February 2000: Report on Census Day and Census Week March 2000: Review Post-Census Activities April 2000: Implement Census Day, Census Week, and Post-Census Plan May 2000: Report on Post-Census Activities June 2000: Final Report Activities include: identify address lists of the City; identify where Questionnaire Assistance Centers should be located; recruit volunteers to staff those centers; publicize the availability of census jobs in our area; arrange press conferences with elected officials to talk about the importance of the Census; develop and distribute public service announcements; determine neighborhoods with potential low response rates and target public awareness efforts there; include Census 2000 on agendas of meetings and community events; print and display Census information in newsletters, on bulletin boards, etc.; organize a "telephone campaign" to spread the word about the Census, etc. All of the above activities are promotional and are designed to increase local participation in Census 2000. Please let me know if you (or the Commission) wish to develop this Committee or if you want to handle the publicity through other in-house mechanisms. Thank you. AVENTURA TRANSIT SERVICE OPTIONS OPTION I: THREE ROUTES WITH THREE BUSES This option is fully described in the study submitted to the City of Aventura by Bermello & Ajamil. It calls for each of three minibuses to operate on their own routes with once-an- hour frequency of service (though it should be noted that it will not take passengers an hour to make their trip [please see Weaknesses # 1 below]). Each bus would directly serve one-third of the city (north, central, and south) on each trip. Strenaths 1. It is easy for passengers to understand. There are clockface headways with 60 minute frequency of service. Every location will be served at the same time every hour of the day. 2. Minimal communications are required. These are fixed routes and standard schedules. 3. There is maximum connection protection, whereby transfers from one route to another are most reliable due to 10 minute layovers at the Aventura Mall. 4. Each route serves all points along its route and enters virtually every condominium. 5. After transferring, there is no more than a five minute additional ride to other shopping centers from the Aventura Mall. Weaknesses 1. A passenger's actual travel time is longer than any other option. The average trip time on one route is 25 minutes, plus 15 more minutes if the passenger transfers to another route to continue their trip (a ten minute layover plus five minutes to the next shopping center). 2. Maximum layover time at the mall contributes to congestion at the mall. 3. The southern route is "tight" (difficult, but not impossible to serve in 60 minutes). OPTION II - SIX ROUTES (SKIP-STOP SERVICE) WITH THREE BUSES This option is similar to Option I, but provides shorter travel time for each passenger to reach major destinations. This option also requires only three minibuses and costs the same as Option I. The service areas of the routes generally remain the same, however each bus will run two routes in each of the three areas (north, central, and south). The condominiums directly served are alternated evety other trip, allowing the bus to complete each route more quickly. The frequency of service for each condominium in the north and central portions of the city will be 60 minutes. The frequency of service in the southern portions of the city will be every hour and 20 minutes. Strenaths 1. Actual travel time is considerably faster (shorter) for each passenger to reach major destinations. The average trip time on one route is 13 minutes, plus 10 to 25 more minutes if the passenger transfers to another route to complete their trip. 2. Minimal communications are required. There are fixed routes and standard schedules. 3. It is relatively easy to understand. In the north and central service areas, there will be clockface headways with 60 minute frequency of service. Every location will be served at the same time every hour of the day. In the southern portion of the city, every residential location will be served every hour and 20 minutes. 4. A shorter layover (five minutes) at the Aventura Mall minimizes congestion at the Mall. 5. It effectively provides 30 minute service to Country Club Drive (for those who can walk to it). Weaknesses 1. Buses do not enter every condominium on each trip (buses enter only half of the condominiums on each trip). 2. A five minute layover time between northern and central buses at the mall provides a shorter window for connections. 3. Aventura Hospital may only be able to be served every other trip. OPTION III - MODIFIED FIXED ROUTE SERVICE WITH THREE BUSES This option provides a basic fixed route for each of the three service areas (north, central, and south), but does not pull into any cond'.:lminium unless a passenger has called in advance and requested a pick-up, or unless a passenger already on-board the bus requests to be taken into their condominium. (This is sometimes referred to as "route deviation"). Strenaths 1. Actual travel time is considerably faster (shorter) for each passenger to reach major destinations than Option I. The average trip time on one route is 13 minutes, plus 10 to 25 more minutes if the passenger transfers to another route to complete their trip. 2. A shorter layover (five minutes) at Aventura Mall minimizes congestion at the Mall. 3. It effectively provides 30 minute service to Country Club Drive for the north and central portions of the city, and 40 minute service to the southern portions of the city. Weaknesses 1. The cost of this option would be approximately $110,000 higher than Options I and II due to the need for a full time dispatcher, and the need for a spare bus to place in service when demand for deviations exceed what the schedule can handle. 2. Is not as easy for passengers to learn and understand as regularly scheduled fixed route service. 3. It could result in unusually long layovers at the Aventura Mall if no passengers call for service. 4. Time points in route schedules become less reliable when it is not known how many deviations the bus might make on any trip. 5. Schedules will not be able to be kept if more than three passengers require different deviations from the regular route. 6. Passengers may have to wait hours for a customized pick-up if other people have called in advance. 7. It requires errorless communications between bus operators, dispatchers, and passengers. OPTION IV - SIX ROUTES (SKIP-STOP SERVICE) WITH FOUR BUSES This is virtually the same as Option II in terms of how the city is served. The fourth bus will be placed into service in the southern portion of the city. This will allow residents in the southern portion of the city to receive service every 60 minutes instead of every hour and 20 minutes. This option has the same strengths as Option II in terms of faster travel time, and it provides for precise connections among all six routes at the Aventura Mall. This will reduce the travel time for anyone needing to make a transfer between any of the routes. The extra bus also provides opportunities for even greater efficiencies in the northern and southern routes. The weakness of this Option is that it will cost the city an extra bus, or $75,000 per year. Hence, the city would need to decide whether it was worth spending an additional $75,000 for the benefits noted above. It is not known how much demand there will be for transferring between southern routes and the north and central routes. It is anticipated that most people will be able to get to their favorite destinations without requiring a transfer to the southern routes. If the amount of transferring is minimal, then it is not worth an additional $75,000. Perhaps the city should try Option II until a clear demand for better connections requires an additional bus. CUTR has been advised verbally by the Miami-Dade County Consumer Services Department that the city would not be permitted to institute a taxi-like service in the city. Such service is the domain of the private taxi industry, and would not be permitted by County Code. Similarly, the city would not be allowed to establish its own demand- responsive system similar to the County's Specialized Transportation Services. While we are waiting on an official written response to the request for clarification on this item, the city should realize that the expense of instituting such a service is likely to be twice as much as the most expensive fixed route transit services alternative. In addition, the high cost of a demand responsive service would limit the city to serving less than 60 people per day. Hence, alternatives II and IV appear to provide more service to more people at lower cost, with greater reliability.