713-627-3200
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Who is Completing the Application?
Please provide contact information for the person who will complete the online application for this project. The email address and password entered here will be used to complete and submit both Pre-Applications and Applications.
Mariana Raschke
Associate at the Goodman Corporation
713-951-7951
Primary Agency Information
Please provide contact information for the agency official who is representing the project sponsor. This individual will be considered the official applicant and must be authorized by their agency to submit this request for funding and make necessary assertations and representations on the agency’s behalf.
City of Conroe
Tommy Woolley
Director Capital Projects/Transportation
936-522-3122
300 West Davis
Conroe
TX
77301
Additional Agency Information
Project Information
Conroe Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility
Montgomery County
Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility located on Anderson Rd. near the cross street of Sgt. Ed Holcomb Blvd.
1550 Anderson Road, Conroe, TX 77304
Background: Conroe Connection Transit, a service provided by the City of Conroe (City), has provided fixed route and complementary Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit service in the City since 2015. Conroe Connection’s fleet currently consists of 8 vehicles and anticipates adding up to 14 additional buses gradually over the next 20 years, including commuter buses, to support the city’s growing demand for transit services. Currently, the City does not have a dedicated transit fleet maintenance facility for its buses. All transit vehicle maintenance is outsourced to subcontractors through the service operator, a third party contractor, hired to operate and maintain Conroe Connection Transit Service. The following presents a number of issues to be addressed by the project. • The current service operator does not have the capacity or technical capability to perform 100% of the maintenance needs for Conroe Connection transit vehicles. In addition to being tasked with operating an efficient and reliable transit service, the service operator is contractually required to perform, or have performed, scheduled preventative and corrective maintenance. The service operator has an inefficient facility, which lacks covered vehicle bays, whereby they perform a majority of the maintenance outside in the vehicle storage yard. All remaining maintenance is performed off-site by subcontractors at their facilities. Maintenance performed off-site requires the third party contractor to move vehicles between the third party contractor’s operations facility and the subcontractor’s maintenance facility, which requires 2 people plus 1 support vehicle. • The City is paying a premium for maintenance costs by using subcontractors through the contract of its service operator. The City not only pays the cost of the subcontractor, but also the cost of the service operator to manage the subcontractor and drive the vehicles between the service operator’s operations facility and the subcontractor’s maintenance facility (“dead-head”). The City could direct the savings from eliminating what it spends on the subcontractor/service operator maintenance towards transit administration and operations. • The transit fleet is currently operated, stored and staged outside 100% of the time. Over the course of 3 to 5 years, paint on buses begins to oxidize (turn chalky) and the bus wraps fade and peel due to exposure to direct sunlight and ultraviolet rays. The replacement cost for bus wraps range from $5,000 for cutaway buses to $17,000 for commuter buses.
A recent planning analysis was conducted to determine the facility size, areas, components, equipment and staffing necessary to serve all of Conroe’s transit needs for the next 20 years. Using data from H-GAC and the National Transit Database (NTD), the City was able to determine the expanded fleet size necessary to accommodate growth within a 20 year planning horizon. The analysis resulted in transit fleet growth from 6 fixed route and 2 para-transit vehicles to 8 fixed route, 4 para-transit and 10 commuter vehicles. The following facility and staffing needs represents a maintenance facility with over 11,000 square feet of interior space, a 1,100 square foot covered bus wash, over 9,000 square feet of covered bus parking and over 5,000 square feet of employee and other maintenance related parking/circulation. • Fleet Maintenance – The new facility will provide space and equipment to perform day-to-day service maintenance, preventative maintenance and corrective maintenance, as well as staffing for up to 4 mechanics and a shop foreman. • Storage - The facility will provide secured storage for buses, equipment, components, parts, hazardous materials, batteries, tools, fluids, tires, and records. Support – The facility will provide equipment and/or space for tire maintenance, vehicle exhaust, component teardown and cleaning, material handling, battery charging, fluid conveying, compressed air, machine shop, waste collection and disposal, facility maintenance, restrooms and locker rooms. • Future Fuel Use – Alternate fuel sources to gasoline and diesel will be considered during design. • Bus Operations and Dispatch - Operations and dispatch, including farebox and cash handling, will be relocated to the new facility due to the close working relationship between operations and maintenance. Staffing will include a general manager, a dispatcher and bus drivers. • Transit Administration – Transportation Management (transit only) will be relocated to the new facility. Staffing will include the Transportation Manager, Transit Coordinator- Operations, Transportation Aide and a part time Transportation Aide. • Bus Wash – The facility will include a separate free-standing bus wash for exterior and interior transit fleet cleaning, which is staffed by the service crew. • Parking – Besides temporary parking in the service bays, the facility will provide outside parking for the transit fleet, both covered and exposed, as well as employee and visitor parking. Covered transit fleet parking may be used for overflow maintenance. • Security – The facility will include security fencing around the entire facility site, as well as security monitoring equipment.
The proposed Conroe Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility will achieve the following outcomes for existing and future Conroe Connection Transit Service’s maintenance, operations and management. • Cost effective transit vehicle maintenance by eliminating maintenance performed off-site at the contractor/subcontractors’ facilities and utilizing qualified City mechanics for transit vehicles is a goal of the City. The switch from third party contractor/subcontractors will reduce the cost for vehicle maintenance from $150/hr to $80/hr, a savings of approximately 47%, and eliminate the cost for the contractor’s leased facilities, $37,800/yr. In preparation, The City has trained and qualified transit vehicle mechanics. • Significantly reduce transit vehicle maintenance during normal transit operating hours. Contractor/subcontractor preventative maintenance is primarily performed during the same hours that Conroe Connection operates transit service. By co-locating nightly transit vehicle storage with multi-shift maintenance activities, the City will avoid removing transit vehicles from service during the day for preventative maintenance. Consolidating storage with maintenance will also eliminate the physical transfer of the transit vehicles from the existing operations facility to contractor/subcontractors’ maintenance facilities. • Eliminate deadhead, wear and tear and overhead cost associated with performing maintenance at the contractor/subcontractors’ facilities. Moving transit vehicles between the operations facility and the contractor/subcontractors’ maintenance facilities causes time and mileage deadhead, consumes staff time (2 people) and requires a support vehicle. The deadhead has a negative impact on the vehicles state of good repair, and increased staff time and the need for a support vehicle contribute to overhead. Deadhead also reduces the amount of time transit vehicles are providing transportation to the public. • Consolidating transit maintenance, operations and management activities physically and functionally will reduce operational costs by providing efficiencies that will improve response time to transit maintenance issues, improve transit maintenance coordination, enhance transit operations and reduce the disruption caused by replacing broken down in-service vehicles with spare vehicles while avoiding missed scheduled service trips and improve on-time service performance. • No property acquisition is required because the City owns the property and no utility relocations are required. • The City is preparing a Letter of No Prejudice for consideration by the Federal Transit Administration. The LONP will enable the City to move forward with the project under pre-award authority and expedite project delivery timelines. • Development of a maintenance facility based on a realistic 20-year planning horizon creates the opportunity to accommodate Conroe Connection’s future service expansion and associated fleet growth.
No
No
Less than $100 million
(Maintain) Transit Facility State of Good Repair
2837000
Resolution 4389-18 Support & Funding for App HGAC 2018 TIP.pdf
Project Development/Readiness
Schematic
Categorical Exclusion (CE)
01/30/2018
(c)(13) Federally-funded project: (i) That receives less than $5,000,000 of Federal funds”.
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Project Timeline-Maintenance Facility.xlsx
The City initiated project design by hiring an architect in August 2018. Schematic design was started and the project is expected to let in April 2019. Facility related utilities will be extended from existing utilities including water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewers. A draft Title VI Equity Analysis was completed and no specific adverse effects, based on race, color, or national origin or to Environmental Justice populations, were found (attachment). The City will publish a public notification about the availability of the analysis to the public with a 30-day review and comment period. The comment period will close in November 2018. The final report is expected after the comment period closes. The City owns the property for the proposed facility, so no property acquisition is required. In addition, no utility relocations are required. Readiness Materials attached include: 1) Draft Title VI Equity Analysis dated October 2018 2) City of Conroe Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility – Future Fleet Size Memorandum dated August 30, 2018 3) Phase I Environmental Site Assessment dated August 1, 2018 4) Conroe Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility Need, Programming and Preliminary Schematic dated 5) Conroe-Woodlands Urbanized Area (UZA) Mobility Committee Resolution of Support for the Houston-Galveston 6) Area Council 2019-2022 Transportation Improvement Program Call for Projects dated June 5, 2018 7) City Council Resolution of Support and Funding Commitment dated June 28, 2018 The City completed a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (attachment) with a finding of no evidence of Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs). Environmental documents are being prepared and a Categorical Exclusion (CE) is expected by the end of January 2019. The City prepared a conservative projection of future fleet growth based in part on H-GAC Conformity Travel Demand Model, H-GAC Regional Growth Forecasts, ratios and projected service expansion (attachment). The City developed the maintenance facility needs, staffing and programming based on the fleet growth projection and a preliminary site plan was prepared based on the results attached). Public involvement activities: The City has conducted interagency coordination with local transit organizations and service providers that may be affected by the maintenance facility. The City presented the proposed Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility project to the Conroe-Woodlands Urbanized Area (UZA) Mobility Committee on June 5, 2018. As one of the items on the agenda, the public was given an opportunity to comment. No comments were given by the public. Subsequently, the Mobility Committee approved a resolution of support for the project, as well as others (attached). The committee includes UZA representatives from the City of Conroe, The Woodlands Township, Montgomery County and a single representative for the “Small Cities”, which are City of Cut and Shoot, City of Oak Ridge North, City of Panorama City, City of Shenandoah, City of Willis and Town of Woodloch, as well as attendees from health and human service agencies, transit providers and non-profit organizations located throughout the UZA including Lone Star Family Healthcare, Brazos Transit District, Meals On Wheels Montgomery County, New Danville, Salvation Army, United Way of Greater Houston, and Society of Samaritans. The City also directly coordinated with transit providers Meals On Wheels Montgomery County and New Danville. Both providers submitted letters of support for the maintenance facility. If the facility is built, they will evaluate the benefits of contracting maintenance for their federally funded transit vehicles with the City. Even though the proposed facility will not be open to the public, which is due to the industrial nature of transit vehicle maintenance and the potential hazards of bus operations and storage, City employees are encouraged to use public transportation by presenting their employee badges for free bus rides. In addition, employees may use bicycle and/or walk transportation modes to travel to work. As a result, an appropriate level of safe Ped/Bike accommodations, including sidewalks and bike racks, will be included during design of the facility. All pedestrian related design will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. On June 27th and 28th, 2018, the Conroe City Council in a regular workshop/meeting was presented with the Conroe Connection Transit Fleet Maintenance project for consideration of support and funding. As a result, the Council adopted a resolution of support and funding commitment for the project (attached). The City will publish a public notification about the availability of the Title VI Equity Analysis to the public with a 30-day review and comment period. The comment period will close in November 2018. The final report is expected after the comment period closes. Additional Readiness Attachment contains the following: Draft Title VI Equity Analysis dated October 2018 City of Conroe Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility – Future Fleet Size Memorandum dated August 30, 2018 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment dated August 1, 2018 Conroe Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility Need, Programming and Preliminary Schematic dated Conroe-Woodlands Urbanized Area (UZA) Mobility Committee Resolution of Support for the Houston-Galveston Area Council 2019-2022 Transportation Improvement Program Call for Projects dated June 5, 2018 City Council Resolution of Support and Funding Commitment dated June 28, 2018
Map/Location
Benefit/Cost Analysis
Conroe Maintenance Facility_Transit-Active-Transportation-Safety-Benefits.xlsx
Planning Factors - Environmental Justice
No
Planning Factors - Includes Facility Maintenance Plan/Strategies
Yes
Planning Factors - Planning Coordination
Yes
The City has conducted interagency coordination with local transit organizations and service providers that may be affected by the maintenance facility. The City presented the proposed Transit Fleet Maintenance Facility project to the Conroe-Woodlands Urbanized Area (UZA) Mobility Committee on June 5, 2018. As one of the items on the agenda, the public was given an opportunity to comment. No comments were given by the public. Subsequently, the Mobility Committee approved a resolution of support for the project, as well as others. The committee includes UZA representatives from the City of Conroe, The Woodlands Township, Montgomery County and a single representative for the “Small Cities”, which are City of Cut and Shoot, City of Oak Ridge North, City of Panorama City, City of Shenandoah, City of Willis and Town of Woodloch, as well as attendees from health and human service agencies, transit providers and non-profit organizations located throughout the UZA including Lone Star Family Healthcare, Brazos Transit District, Meals On Wheels Montgomery County, New Danville, Salvation Army, United Way of Greater Houston, and Society of Samaritans. The City also directly coordinated with transit providers Meals On Wheels Montgomery County and New Danville. Both providers submitted letters of support for the maintenance facility. If the facility is built, they will evaluate the benefits of contracting maintenance for their federally funded transit vehicles with the City.
The referenced resolution and letters of support are included in the Readiness Documents section.
Planning Factors - Provides Safe Ped/Bike Accommodations
Yes
Planning Factors - Ridership Impact (Expected Ridership Growth)
Yes
Supported or Served by Multiple Transit Providers (Max 20 Points)
Yes
Letters of support were provided by non-profit FTA Section 5310, Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and People with Disabilities, subrecipients/transit providers Meals on Wheels Montgomery County/Senior Rides and New Danville. If the City is successful in the pursuit of funding for the facility, Meals on Wheels and New Danville will evaluate the benefits of contracting maintenance for their federally funded transit vehicles with the City.
Years Beyond Useful Life Benchmark
More than 10 years beyong useful life benchmark