Prepared by:

ATL ANNUAL REPORT AND AUDIT

Transit Operators Meeting

5/15/2020

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Naomi Stein,

Principal,

EBP Group

Andrew Zalewski, AICP

Project Manager,

Foursquare ITP

INTRODUCTIONS

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INTRODUCTIONS – PROJECT TEAM AND PARTICIPANTS

> Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning (Foursquare ITP)— Multi-modal transportation planning firm focused on

providing innovative transportation solutions that are practical, focused, and implementable

> EBP (Formerly EDR Group) — Dedicated to advancing the start-of-the-art in

economic development and analysis to support planning and policy in the areas of transportation, energy resources, urban development, and economic growth

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AGENDA

> Overview of ARA Project

> Retrospective look at 2019 ARA Report

— What types of changes would you like to see in the ARA process and content?

> Proposed changes to report

— Responding to COVID-19

— Demonstrate value of transit to the region in light of the crisis

— Discuss ways to tell the region’s transit “story”

> Data Collection Process

— How has COVID-19 impacted your data collection and reporting timelines?

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PROJECT OVERVIEW

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PROJECT OVERVIEW

> Annual Report and Audit of all transit planning, funding, and operations in the 13-county region of Atlanta— Required annually by ATL’s enabling legislation (HB 930)

> Report covers the period from July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020— In some cases, we will build off of data collected last year to establish trend lines

> Report will focus on performance for both operator and regional perspectives, taking each provider’s operating environment into account— Focus on financial soundness, quality of service, and high-level assessment of productivity

— Track transit performance in the region

— Analyze contributions of transit to the region’s economy and economic competitiveness

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DATA PROVIDERS

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DATA COLLECTED FROM OPERATORS

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Service Information

Financial

Types and levels of service, fare structure, ridership, revenue hours and miles, spare ratio, fleet size, miles of fixed guideway

Productivity

Service Quality

Fiscal year start/end dates, operating and capital budgets and expenses, revenue sources

Operating costs per passenger, per revenue hour/mile; passengers per revenue hour/mile; total unlinked trips (ridership); farebox recovery rate

On-time performance, customer satisfaction and complaints

DATA COLLECTED FROM OPERATORS

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State of Good Repair

Safety

Technology Used

Equity & Demographics

Condition of key assets and implications for quality of service

Crash, injury, safety incidents, maintenance-related incidents

Dispatch/scheduling, asset management, APC, transit signal priority, AVL, camera systems, trip planning tools, GTFS, major system changes

DBE/MBE goals and performance, ridership demographic survey, riders using discount fare

PROJECT SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS

> June 2020: Request FY2019 NTD Submissions

> July 1st 2020: 2020 Data Collection Begins— Phase I Due by July 22

— Phase II Due by August 5

> August & September: Data processing and analysis

> Early October: Share initial results with transit providers

> October – November 2020: Report development— October 26: Complete Draft Report

— November 30: Complete Final Report

> December – January: Update online data dashboards.

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REVIEW OF 2019 REPORT

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2019 ANNUAL REPORT AND AUDIT

> First annual report and audit— Established key performance indicators

(KPIs) for study

— Determined what types of data are available

— Created process for collecting and reporting data

— Provide baseline for future trends analysis

> Report had two main focuses:— Report key performance metrics for transit

operations in the region

— Demonstrate the economic value of transit for the region

PROPOSED CHANGE TO REPORT

HIGHLIGHTS

> The core of the report will remain KPIs and transit trends.

> Based on previous discussions, we have identified new content for the report:— COVID-19’s impact on transit in the region.

> How has public transit supported the region during the crisis? How will it support the region during recovery?

— Give providers an opportunity to highlight their successes and tell their own story

— Highlight initiatives

> New funding initiatives

> Opportunities for fleet electrification

> Progress on ATL Regional Transit Plan (ARTP)

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REPORT OUTLINE

> Introduction

> The ATL Region *

— Section to include profiles of each transit provider

> Key Performance Indicators

— Start with discussion of COVID-19 impact and related indicators

> Investment and Recovery *

— New section that reframes last year’s economic impact discussion around post-pandemic economic recovery. This section will be a call to action that highlights the importance of transit

> Moving Transit Forward in the Region

COVID-19’S IMPACT ON THE ARA

> The pandemic will have a significant impact on the report.— Many KPI’s will see a negative trend starting in

March 2020. — We plan to visually call out the period impacted by

the crisis. — Narrative will call out any trends before and after the

start of the pandemic. — Opportunity to highlight for the legislature how

transit has been affected by COVID-19?

> We want to highlight your responses to the pandemic— What types of stories should we highlight in the

ARA? — Plan to work with operators on the messaging here.

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INVEST AND RECOVERY

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•Essential workforce – transit usage by industry

•Equitable access

•AffordabilityPeople

Investments

•Transit investments support jobs and business activity

•Lessons from the Great Recession

•Emerging Federal Stimulus

•Funding Opportunities (e.g. ride share)

TELLING THE REGION’S TRANSIT STORY

> Graphically rich fact sheets for each agency

> Agency Interviews: Project/program/policy performance highlight(s)

> Interviews to connect data on transit riders to their stories— Transit riders / rider organizations

— Major employers

— Looking for operator recommendations

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HIGHLIGHTING NEW INITIATIVES

> Update on the ARTP and ATL’s financial plan.

> Opportunities for regional coordination in bus fleet electrification.

> New funding opportunities.— Ride-share fees.

— Local ballot measures.

> Any other areas?

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DATA COLLECTION & NEXT STEPS

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DATA COLLECTION SCHEDULE

> June 2020: Data request for FY2019 NTD submissions

> June 22, 2020: Reminder email sent out about upcoming data collection effort.

> July 1, 2020: Official data request for FY2020 data. Response due dates are broken into two phases.— Phase I: Due July 22

— Phase II: Due August 5

> July 8: Webinar to review timeline and answer questions

> August 17: Data summary shared with all providers

> August 31: Deadline for providers to review summaries and confirm data is accurate.

> Early October: Key findings to be presented to providers

DATA COLLECTION PHASES

> Phase II: July 22— Total unlinked trips— Revenue hours

— Revenue miles

— Fare revenue— GTFS & GTFS-Flex feeds

— Any major changes to service provision (new modes, new routes, etc.)

— Capital budget by source— Operating budget by source

— Fleet roster including vehicle age and the agency’s useful life benchmark (if different from FTA)

— Low-emission vehicle and technology information/data

> Phase II: August 5— Capital expenditures— Operating expenditures

— Maintenance costs

— On-time performance — Customer satisfaction (any data)

— Customer complaints (any data)

— Total failures— Road calls per year

— Reported safety incidents (preventable and non-preventable)

— Injuries— Fatalities

— DBE/MBE goal attainment

— Percent of trips utilizing a discount fare (e.g. senior, disabled)

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DATA COLLECTION PROCESS

> Email sent to our primary point-of-contact at each provider.— Please notify us if you would like to designate someone us as our primary contact.

> You will be provided a link to a secure site where you can upload all data.

> Team will follow-up with any questions after initial data review.

> July 8th webinar to discuss data collection process and answer any questions.

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IMPACT OF COVID-19

> Has the pandemic impacted your ability to collect and report out data?

> Has it delayed your NTD submissions for FY2019?

> Any other COVID-19 related concerns?

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DISCUSSION

> Questions and concerns?

> Suggestions for streamlining data collection effort?

> Feedback on Data Collection Process

> Feedback on Report Content

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ASKS

> Specific stories about the positive impact of your service on the community

> Feedback on COVID-19 measures we should highlight in the ARA

> Feedback on post-pandemic messaging— What’s our call to action?

— What lessons did we learn from the Great Recession?

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THANK YOU

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Andrew Zalewski,Foursquare ITP

azalewski@foursquareitp.com(301) 761-4156

Naomi Stein, EBP Group

naomi.stein@ebp-us.com(617) 338 6775, x218