Citylink

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October 2008 Presented by Alan Eirls
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• A Partnership Between the Coeur dAlene Tribe,
• the State of Idaho, the KMPO, and Kootenai County.

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Current System

• The current Citylink system began on the Coeur
  dAlene Reservation covering the towns of Worley,
  Plummer, Tensed, and DeSmet, Idaho in the Fall of
  2004 to assist tribal members in getting to and
  from clinics, shopping facilities, recreation and
  employment sites. It was expanded November 2005
  through an agreement with Kootenai county to
  include several North Idaho towns. The Urban
  area now consists of three individual routes that
  cover the Coeur dAlene, Post Falls, State Line
  and Hayden areas, with a Link shuttle route that
  connects the Urban and Rural routes at the
  Riverstone Development in Coeur dAlene and the
  Tribal Casino in Worley, Idaho. During the
  November urban area expansion, additional runs
  were added to the Link shuttle to achieve a
  smoother flow from North to South in the system.
  One of the unique features of the system is that
  it is free to the public.
• The original Urban area was started in November
  2005 and it consisted of two routes traveling in
  opposite directions covering 12 stop locations,
  mostly in parking lots. In March of 2007, there
  were 28 additional stops added to the system
  bringing it to 40 stops. These stops were
  located in Coeur dAlene, Post Falls Hayden.
  Then in November of 2007 it was divided into
  three separate routes and increased to 88 stops
  extending from the downtown Coeur dAlene area to
  as far west as Cabelas at the State Line of
  Washington Idaho. In the process, all stops in
  parking lots were removed changing the physical
  appearance from that of a casino shuttle to more
  of a public transit system. There have been
  minor adjustments to both the Rural Reservation
  and urban areas to provide a better Link between
  them. Further expansion studies are being
  conducted in these areas.

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Current System, cont.

• The new locations in the Urban area have been set
  up in both residential and business areas to
  allow more access to the general public. These
  changes have generated an increase of
  approximately 15,000 new riders per month in
  their respective months from the previous year.
• Rider-ship includes the elderly, persons with
  disabilities, employees, college and high school
  students, youth riders, individuals going to
  from medical appointments and shopping and those
  seeking recreational activities and
  entertainment.
• The Citylink system has transported 696,287
  passengers from November 2005 to September 2008
  with 504,699 of those being from within the Urban
  area and 191,588 from the Rural area.
• The next two slides will give you a glance at the
  growth of the system on a month to month basis as
  well as over a three year period.
• Citylink is nationally distinctive because there
  has never been a joint cooperative public transit
  system developed between tribal and county
  governments.

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2007 to 2008 Comparison
A Route Post Falls and State Line, B Route Post
Falls, Hayden and CDA, C Route CDA and Hayden
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Total Ridership, 2006 to 2008
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Operational Challenges

• The current operation in the Urban area has
  expanded to cover some additional residential and
  business areas.
• By doing so, we have noticed a sharp increase in
  ridership which sometimes leaves customers
  standing because of the lack of seating.
• Each complete route takes 80 minutes under ideal
  conditions, therefore it leaves only two options
  to customers. Either stand or wait 80 minutes
  for the next run.
• One of the routes has no reverse routing,
  therefore customers in this area must ride to the
  start point to get back to their original
  boarding point. This is caused by the lack of
  available buses to create this reverse system.
• The distance to the Rathdrum area requires using
  a connecting provider which only happens twice a
  day. Because of this there is no relevant
  growth.
• All on demand riders are picked up by two other
  systems and transferred to our system during
  normal business hours. Because of the growth of
  our system, we must now flex to cover these
  riders in the evenings and weekends which cause
  late buses.

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Operational Challenges, cont.

• The demands for additional routes to accommodate
  the continuing growth of Kootenai County in both
  the private and commercial sectors cannot be met
  with the existing number of buses.
• Because of this being a resort area, several
  major events such as parades, running and
  bicycling events, and street fairs disrupt the
  ability to access all of the current locations on
  a regular basis. During these events, alternate
  routes have been established to accommodate our
  customers.
• Managing the cleanliness of the stop locations
  and providing breaks for drivers required the
  addition of a relief shuttle/stop maintenance
  driver operating approx. 6 hours AM and 6 hours
  PM, Monday through Sunday which at the time of
  the addition was not budgeted and we had to
  absorb the loss.
• The shortage of available buses continues to
  limit the growth of the system.

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Objectives

• Identify potential sites to locate bus shelters
  in the Urban and Rural areas. Work with Kootenai
  Alliance, The Tribal Government, other local
  agencies and FTA to acquire funds to purchase and
  place benches and shelters.
• The recent approval of a Tribal FTA grant that
  was submitted for the purchase of an on demand
  bus, shelters and funds for the operation of this
  bus were about 140,000.00 less than what was
  requested. Because of the reduction in the
  amount requested, we had to divert the use of the
  approved grant to only cover the purchase of a
  vehicle and operation costs for the first year.
  We have submitted for additional funding for the
  shelters.
• Re-evaluate the current three route system and
  begin planning for the addition of a fourth route
  allowing further expansion to the east side of
  the Kootenai county area.
• Set up meetings with other local providers to
  establish locations best suited for both
  passenger pick up and passenger transfer.

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Requirements

• Continue to utilize qualified outside transit
  consultants to assist with site selection and
  operational evaluations.
• Request assistance from the KMPO, local city
  councils, planners and engineers to help identify
  key business locations and populations centers
  for stops. Work with engineers to work bus
  cutouts into existing street construction plans.
• Coordinate schedules and service areas with other
  local providers.
• Conduct public forums to solicit comments and
  support of the current system and the projected
  changes (minimum 60 days before changes take
  place).
• Create an RFP to locate a new vendor to purchase
  buses to replace our aging fleet.
• Purchase enough signage to mark any new stops
  that are approved and coordinate with the local
  city engineers for placement.
• Begin an aggressive marketing campaign and
  coordinate the completion of all new schedules
  and literature at least 60 days prior to the
  beginning of the new routes.

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Objectives (Phase III)

• In the Urban area, we have developed a three
  route system which needs to be redesigned and
  separated into four sectors. A new central
  location has to be determined along with a
  Transfer station location. It is recommended
  that we draw an imaginary sector boundary
  dividing the area between North, South, East and
  West and changing our current transfer location
  from Riverstone Development to a new location
  close to I-90 and Ramsey Road.
• The Riverstone Development which has been the
  Link transfer point for the past three years, has
  served a notice to cease utilizing their location
  as a park and ride. Several sites have been
  included in a new planning study to relocate.

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Objectives (Phase III), cont.

• Add a fourth route within the eastern routing
  area of Coeur dAlene to encompass some
  additional schools, businesses and other
  recreational areas. This will also assist in
  furnishing transportation to some new housing
  developments and senior housing communities.
• Work with FTA to get approval of our Categorical
  Exclusions for the NEPA study for the building
  site of the new maintenance facility grant. The
  Tribe has agreed to provide the land as their
  portion of the match. Hopefully all studies,
  appraisals and planning will be completed by
  Spring of 2009 so that construction on this
  project can be completed by the end of the summer.