Recommend approval of an agreement between the City of Savannah and Chatham Area Transit Authority to provide public transportation circulator service within and near the City of Savannah’s downtown area.

The agreement will combine the current Liberty Street Parking Shuttle with the Dot shuttle to create two new routes that will serve both workers and visitors. The routes will be simpler for customers and operate on wait times of 10-12 minutes throughout the day. The frequency and simplicity of the service is meant to further encourage usage of alternative transportation and transportation services for those parking further out from the core of downtown. This was one of the core recommendations of the Parking Matters plan.

The City will purchase new buses outright for the system in exchange for lower operating costs. The buses will eventually be re-branded to reflect the changes.

With approval of the contract, CAT has indicated that service can begin on September 25, 2017.

The parties agree that the term of this agreement shall be a period of 34 months, beginning September 25, 2017, ending June 30, 2020. At the time of expiration, the parties may agree to extend the agreement for an additional full term (36 months) or some portion thereof.

The City will pay CAT $1,240,824 in annual operating costs, representing 15,908 hours of operating at $78.00 per hour. The City will purchase the two currently operating Dot trolleys at a depreciated cost of $710,484.00. Funding will come from the City of Savannah Parking Fund.

Approval