October 2008 Presented by Alan Eirls

1. October 2008 Presented by Alan Eirls

2. A Partnership Between the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the State of Idaho, the KMPO, and Kootenai County.

3. Current System • The current Citylink system began on the Coeur d’Alene 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 d’Alene, 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 d’Alene 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 d’Alene, 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 d’Alene 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.

4. 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.

5. 2007 to 2008 Comparison A Route: Post Falls and State Line, B Route: Post Falls, Hayden and CDA, C Route: CDA and Hayden

6. Total Ridership, 2006 to 2008

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Objectives (Phase III), cont. Add a fourth route within the eastern routing area of Coeur d’Alene 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.