DATE: April 9, 2024
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer
SUBJECT: Receive presentation by the County Administrative Office
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Receive presentation by the County Administrative Office regarding the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) Highway 41 route, including possible membership options for the County, and direct staff to take action as deemed necessary.
REPORT
The Recommended Action will allow the Board to receive a presentation regarding the YARTS Highway 41 route and possible membership options for the County, and direct staff as deemed necessary. The options being presented in the presentation will include: the County being the sole member within the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) and being the Fresno area representative on the JPA board, or the County and the City of Fresno (City) both being members in the JPA and sharing membership on the JPA board.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If your Board chooses not to pursue JPA membership, YARTS has indicated that it will seek alternative options to support the Highway 41 route.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There may be an increase in NCC depending on direction provided by the Board, up to an annual amount of $50,600 for full JPA membership. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Interest and Miscellaneous Expenditures Org. 2540 FY 2023-2024 Adopted Budget and will be included in future budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
On January 9, 2024, your Board requested an overview and update on YARTS to include how the services work, how they are funded, and how they are governed.
YARTS is a public transit bus line based in Merced County and is operated by a JPA. The JPA governing board includes two elected representatives from member counties of Merced, Mariposa, Tuolumne, Mono and Madera Counties. From what can be gathered from their governing board agenda items and reports, the main sources of funding for these services are JPA membership dues, National Park Service funding, State and federal funding, fee-for-service through ticket sales, and other grants. The services are designed to provide fixed route services between gateway communities and Yosemite National Park (Yosemite).
These routes consist of year-round service on the Highway 140 route between Merced and Yosemite, and seasonal summer service on the Highway 120 route serving between Sonora and Yosemite, Highway 395 route serving between Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite, and Highway 41 route serving between Fresno and Yosemite that ended in 2023. These corridor routes include stops in gateway communities including Mariposa (Mariposa County), Groveland (Tuolumne County), and Oakhurst (Madera County). This item will focus on the Highway 41 route, as it is the one that would be providing service between Fresno and Yosemite. The Highway 41 route is shown on Exhibit A to this item.
The Highway 41 route was established in May of 2015 as a demonstration project in cooperation with the Fresno Council of Governments (FCOG). Initial funding was provided through a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant of $2.6 million to provide two-year funding for the project. Originally the route was envisioned to provide year-round services with multiple scheduled stops along the route. However, with peak ridership in the summer months, the route was later adjusted to two roundtrips, seven days a week, from May to September, with only scheduled stops at Fresno Yosemite International Airport (Airport), Amtrak, and Yosemite.
Since the route’s inception, operating hours and ridership have varied considerably; other than during the pandemic, it is difficult to identify the causes of the ridership variability. The attached table, Exhibit B, provides an overview of the percent change in ridership since 2017.
Secondary to the variability of ridership and uncertainty for continued funding, the route was originally scheduled to be canceled in 2023. However, last-minute funding from the City sustained the route for that year. This year, YARTS began to evaluate the route further and initiated conversations with both the City and the County for consideration of continued funding and JPA membership to sustain the route. Sustainment of the route would require either covering the annual operational costs, or joining the JPA.
Annual operational costs for the Highway 41 route are estimated at $240,000 ($195,000 operations and $45,000 fuel). In comparison, becoming a JPA member provides the opportunity to benefit from the economies of scale of operations; the cost of JPA membership is $50,600 annually. This significant price difference exists because technically, being a member of the JPA, YARTS service area would expand to include the Fresno portion of the Highway 41 corridor, therefore permitting the application of YARTS general revenue to the route operating costs from the airport and train station to the Fresno County line, and back. This option would also provide more sustainable funding than the operational costs option. Additionally, as JPA members, participating local entities are granted two positions on the YARTS Board.
Recent conversations with YARTS and both County and City staff have explored JPA membership options. The County has the option to be the sole Fresno area JPA member; with this option, the County would appoint two County Board members to the YARTS Board and be responsible for the annual JPA dues of $50,600. If your Board chooses this option, your Board would need to appoint two County Supervisors to the YARTS Board and come back at a later Board Date to approve and execute the JPA agreement.
Another option would allow the County and the City to split the two YARTS Board seats as well as the annual JPA dues ($25,300 each). If your Board directs staff to follow this option, your Board would need to appoint one Board member to the YARTS Board and come back at a later Board date to approve and execute the JPA agreement. These options have been shared with the City and the YARTS Board, and the YARTS Board is interested in pursuing either of the possible JPA membership options.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #9, January 9, 2024
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Exhibit A - Route Map
Exhibit B - Ridership Table
Power Point Presentation
Additional Information
CAO ANALYST:
Salvador Espino