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CONSIDER RAMSEY STAR EXPRESS COMMUTER COACH SERVICE <br />By: Brian E. Olson, Director of Public Works / Principal City Engineer <br />Background: <br />This year the City of Ramsey was successful in receiving a Congestion Mitigation Air <br />Quality (CMAQ) grant for the implementation of a commuter coach service from the <br />Ramsey Town Center to the City of Minneapolis. The grant was for the service to begin <br />in 2009. Since the demand for establishing this service is there today and Staff and <br />Council have received multiple inquiries to begin the service as soon as possible, Staff is <br />recommending that we "Advance" the federal money and begin the service as soon as <br />practicable. <br />Earlier this year we added the bidding of the Contract to the Northstar Commuter Coach <br />Request for Proposals for Commuter coach Service and received a quote from Laidlaw to <br />operate the Ramsey Star Express. The intent of this was to tie this service into a larger <br />service so that we could receive more interest and better prices for its operation. We have <br />recently heard from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) that they have approved <br />the procurement process that was used as long as it not an expansion of the Northstar <br />Commuter Coach but rather a "new" service. <br />In talking with Laidlaw, there is a five week lead time necessary from the time that we <br />approve the service to the time that service begins. This time is necessary to repaint the <br />commuter coaches with the Ramsey Star Express logo, securing of the temporary <br />fareboxes, training of the commuter coach driver's, etc. <br />CASE # 9 <br />There is still one final step in determining the startup date for the Ramsey Star Express <br />service. The final adoption of the State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) needs to <br />be complete before we . can begin the Ramsey Star Express service. This improvement <br />plan was approved in each of the last two years around Thanksgiving. Please see the <br />attached e-mail for a more detailed explanation. <br />LSA Design will be available to discuss the terms of the commuter coach Contract with <br />Laidlaw and answer any questions that you may have. Funding for this project is variable <br />due to the ridership projections. Staff and LSA Design will present internal financing <br />options as well as ridership projections during the work session. The federal share of this <br />project (80 %) will be available in October 2008. <br />—241— <br />