Title
West Transit Facility Request for Proposals
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to issue a Request for Proposals for fixed-route bus service operated from the City’s West Transit Facility.
Report
Summary
The City’s West Transit Facility, located at 405 N. 79th Ave., is a 22-acre site owned by the Phoenix Public Transit Department (PTD) that accounts for approximately 30 percent of Phoenix’s contracted transit services, with some routes also providing service to adjacent cities.
The West Transit Facility has: buildings for administration, operations, safety/training, and facility-maintenance staff; fueling stations; a bus wash; vehicle maintenance bays; and vehicle fleet/employee parking. There are currently 169 transit vehicles assigned to the facility that provide service on 12 routes throughout the metropolitan area for an average of 546,000 service miles per month. These routes consist of 11 local routes and one neighborhood circulator route, all of which provide an average of over one million passenger boardings per month. Routes operated from the West Transit Facility include some of the region’s most highly utilized routes, including Route 17 (McDowell Road), Route 29 (Thomas Road), and Route 41 (Indian School Road), and service to the region’s busiest transit center (Desert Sky Transit Center).
PTD currently has a seven-year contract with First Transit, Inc. for the services operated at the facility, which started July 1, 2018, and ends June 30, 2025. First Transit, Inc. (as recently acquired by Transdev Services, Inc. in 2023) currently employs 488 local staff at this facility.
Procurement Information
PTD plans to issue the solicitation in Spring 2024.
Contract Term
The contract will be fixed-price (cost per revenue mile) for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2025, with one, two-year option to extend at the City’s discretion. An additional six-month extension beyond the two-year extension will be included to allow for any future unexpected service transition impacts, to be utilized only if necessary.
The contract dates and terms are staggered from Phoenix’s other transit facilities to mitigate potential impacts of transitioning transit services from multiple contractors at once. The total contract term will provide known costs as efforts continue moving forward under the City’s Transportation 2050 plan, and allows proposers to spread fixed and capital costs over a longer period, resulting in lower-cost proposals to the City. The two-year extension option will be exercised only if it is in the City’s best interest to do so, and the proposed contractor has performed satisfactorily during the initial five-year contract period.
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) guidelines, terms, and conditions will also be included in the RFP and resulting contract, as Phoenix receives federal funds to partially fund the operations and maintenance components of these services.
The RFP will contain evaluation criteria and processes, as well as a transparency in lobbying clause. The RFP criteria will focus on the following areas:
- Method of approach
- Qualifications and experience
- Price
Financial Impact
The contract will be funded with T2050 and federal funds.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Public Transit Department.