Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization
of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission
POB 1505, 401 E. Water St, Charlottesville, VA 22902 www.tjpdc.org
(434) 979-7310 phone ● (434) 979-1597 fax ● info@tjpdc.org email
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Memorandum
TO: Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Charlottesville City Council
FROM: Harrison Rue
DATE: January 26, 2007
RE: Regional Transit Authority Plan Scope of Work and Funding
Regional Transit Authority Plan (RTAP) Scope of Work
The Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Policy Board has approved the attached Scope of Work to create a Regional Transit Authority Plan (RTAP). The RTAP will outline how to implement the regional transit vision adopted by the MPO, City, and County - frequent, dependable, and seamless service that provides direct links to the area’s major destinations: Downtown, UVA/Medical Center, Pantops, and the Rt. 29 Corridor. The RTAP will be a ready-to-implement action plan to expand and enhance regional transit service, create a governing structure, and identify funding mechanisms.
The RTAP includes 3 main work streams to review regional transit issues and options for the Charlottesville-Albemarle area: management and governance, service and operations, cost estimation (operating and capital) and funding. In the course of developing the RTAP, which will include a transition plan, these work streams will produce the following deliverables:
If the Consultant concludes that forming an RTA is not desirable, then the RTAP and transition plan will outline other initiatives that the City and County can pursue (such as contracting, enhanced service coordination, and marketing) that will improve the effectiveness of the public transportation system.
Consultant work will be monitored and evaluated by the project team. The project team includes staff from the MPO, Albemarle, Charlottesville, JAUNT, CTS, UTS, RideShare, Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), and other stakeholders. The project team will work closely with policymakers throughout the study process.
RTAP Funding
The RTAP will require approximately nine to twelve months to complete and has an estimated budget of $190,000. With authorization from the MPO Policy Board, MPO Staff have applied for a DRPT grant for $100,000. Of this total, federal and state funding contribute $90,000 to the RTAP, and a $10,000 (10%) local match is required. Successful applications will be awarded in July 2007. The MPO Policy Board has recommended that the $10,000 local match and remaining $90,000 not covered by the DRPT grant be covered equally by the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle. This amounts to a total $50,000 contribution from both the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle. The non-DRPT grant contribution will be used to begin the RTAP work prior to July 2007. This will include a process to advertise a Request for Qualifications for the RTAP (approximately one month) and consultant selection process (approximately three weeks).