title
CC - (1) Approval of a Professional Services Agreement with Sam Schwartz to Plan, Design, and Implement Tactical Transit Lane Pilot Projects in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $705,259.60; and (2) Authorization to the City Manager to Negotiate and Approve the Final Terms of the Agreement; and (3) Authorization to the City Manager to Approve Amendments to the Agreement for Contingency Costs of 15% Not-to-Exceed $105,790.00
body
Meeting Date: September 29, 2020
Contact Person/Dept: Diana Chang / Transportation Department
Phone Number: (310) 253-6566
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [] Attachments: []
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (09/23/2020)
Department Approval: Rolando Cruz (09/21/2020)
______________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) approve a professional services agreement with Sam Schwartz to plan, design and implement tactical transit lane pilot projects in an amount not-to-exceed $705,259.60; and (2) authorize the City Manager to negotiate and approve the final terms of the agreement; and (3) authorize the City Manager to approve amendments to the agreement for contingency costs of 15% not-to-exceed $105,790.00.
BACKGROUND
On May 18, 2020, City Council directed City Transportation Department to plan and implement tactical transit lane pilot projects to test and demonstrate the benefits of such infrastructure to maximize the use of the roadway and improve mobility. Through repurposing travel lanes for multi-modal transportation, the City aims to facilitate the efficient movement of people, raise public awareness and acceptance of dedicated transit lanes, improve transit travel time and reliability, and improve access for cyclists and scooter riders, as applicable. These pilot projects will also serve as an opportunity for City to learn how the permanent infrastructure improvement would work.
The City is exploring several potential areas for pilot projects and intends to implement Downtown-E Line Tactical Mobility Lane Pilot Project as the first pilot project. Given the importance of providing first/last mile connection between Downtown Culver City, Metro E-Line Culver City Station, Helms District, and Art District, staff considers the Downtown-E Line Station area is one of the best areas to showcase tactical transit lanes and City’s vision of mobility. Staff envision this pilot project will provide bi-directional mobility shared bike-bus lanes for buses, emergency vehicles, scooters, and bicycles on an ongoing basis, 24 hours per day, on Culver Boulevard and Washington Boulevard from Duquesne Avenue all the way to Art District. Several transit lines run on this corridor, including Culver CityBus Routes 1, 5, 7; Metro 17; BBB 17 and LADOT Commuter Express 437.
In addition to the usage by transit, bikes and scooters, the pilot project will also be augmented by a circulator service and a Microtransit service, which will leverage the mobility lanes to provide faster and more reliable service in the Downtown area. The circulator service would launch when the mobility lanes are operational, followed by the Microtransit service in a future date.
Staff is also exploring the Sepulveda Boulevard and Jefferson Boulevard corridors as other potential areas to pilot the tactical transit lanes. Such consideration will take into account needs of all modes of travel and associated City plans and policies, including the recently approved Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan.
On July 13, 2020, City Council directed staff to move forward with procuring consultant services to plan, design, and implement tactical transit lane pilot projects.
DISCUSSION
On August 17, 2020, City released a Request for Proposals (RFP 2041) on PlanetBids to solicit professional services to assist in the planning, design, and implementation of three tactical transit lane projects (Culver Blvd./Washington Blvd., Sepulveda Blvd., and Jefferson Blvd.). The professional services will be done in two phases as described below:
• Phase 1: will include all works from design through implementation and evaluation for Corridor 1 (Culver Blvd./ Washington Blvd.) and the concept design development and some public outreach works for Corridor 2 (Sepulveda Blvd.) and Corridor 3 (Jefferson Blvd.). Phase 1 is anticipated to start in October. The concept design development for Corridors 2 and 3 is anticipated to start sometime after Corridor 1 goes live. This would allow for lessons learned from Corridor 1 to be applied to the other corridors.
• Phase 2: will include all works from design finalization through implementation and evaluation for Corridors 2 and 3. Should the team decide to implement the Sepulveda and/or the Jefferson corridor, Phase 2 is anticipated to start in FY2021/2022. Staff will incorporate the costs of Phase 2 Project in the FY2021/2022 Adopted Budget, pending Local Measure M Funding allocations to the City. Staff will also return to City Council for purchasing authority to activate this option if desired.
Responses to all questions received were posted to PlanetBids on August 25, 2020. There were 34 questions and responses released prior to the proposal due date. A total of six proposals were received on September 10, 2020. The proposers are listed below in alphabetical order:
1. Fehr & Peers
2. IBI Group
3. Kimley-Horn
4. Nelson\Nygaard
5. Sam Schwartz
6. Stantec Consulting
A proposal evaluation team consisting of staff from City’s Transportation Department, Public Works Department, and Community Development Department conducted a comprehensive technical evaluation of the proposals received. The proposals were evaluated based on the criteria below:
• Qualifications and Experience (40%)
• Questions/Responses to Scope of Services (35%)
• Total Proposed Costs (25%)
After careful evaluation of the proposals and preliminary screening based on qualifications and experience, responses to scope of services and proposed costs, City selected three firms as finalists and conducted the interviews on September 17, 2020. After the interviews, the evaluation team determined Sam Schwartz to be the highest qualified firm.
Sam Schwartz is a team with extensive experience in developing and implementing tactical transit lane projects. Sam Schwartz and its project team, which includes Street Plans and TY Lin, demonstrated a thorough understanding of the project goals and strong capability to assist the City in implementing the project. The team proposed a well-thought-out approach to develop and implement tactical transit lane projects through a quick build process with a robust public engagement. They demonstrated their technical experiences in data analysis, corridor review and performance evaluation. They proposed a comprehensive and creative public engagement/outreach process which is key to implementing successful tactical transit lane projects. The project team understood the City’s goals to expedite the project delivery and proposed strategic outreach and design processes to meet City’s desired project timeline.
Sam Schwartz and Streets Plan have done an extensive number of tactical transportation improvement projects. The firms have previously worked on tactical bus/bike lane pilot project and bus lane projects in Miami, Denver, Pittsburgh, and San Diego. Street Plans also produced a research report for the Transportation Research Board titled “Fast-Tracked: A Tactical Transit Study” that focuses on how to use quick-build methodology to expand transit options, improve existing service, increase ridership and to support safer and more efficient use of streets. The proposed Project Manager in Sam Schwartz has over 17 years of experience and was responsible in the planning of twelve Bus Rapid Transit corridors throughout the country, including several tactical transit lane implementation projects. He has led successful tactical transit implementation in Chicago when he managed the Bus Rapid Transit Program for the Chicago Transit Authority. He is also leading major street transformations in Los Angeles, such as in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Master Plan project. The deputy project manager in Street Plans also has over 17 years of experience and has led tactical transit implementation all over the country. Sam Schwartz demonstrated the approach, experience and knowledge necessary to assist the City in implementing successful tactical transit lane projects.
Staff recommends that the City Council approve professional services agreement for the consultant services for Culver City’s tactical transit lane pilot projects and authorize the City Manager to negotiate and approve the final terms of the agreement.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is sufficient funding for the Sam Schwartz Agreement in the amount of $705,259.60 plus 15% contingency in the FY 2020/2021 Transportation Department Budget (Acct# 20370100.601400). The costs for the Phase 2 Option will be included in the FY2021/2022 Transportation Department budget.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTIONS
That the City Council:
1. Approve a professional services agreement with Sam Schwartz to plan, design and implement tactical transit lane pilot projects in an amount not-to-exceed $705,259.60;
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and approve the final terms of the agreement;
3. Authorize the City Manager to approve amendments to the agreement for contingency costs of 15% not-to-exceed $105,790;
4. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and
5. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City,