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Questions and Answers about service partnerships

1. Why is Metro issuing one call for proposals now for partnerships that may not be implemented for several years? Will there be future calls for proposals?
2. What if we don’t know all the details of our idea, or if we know our problem but not the solution?
3. What if we need other partners who aren’t quite ready to submit letters of interest?
4. What if we don’t know when, or if, our proposal will be approved by our own decision-makers? What kind of commitment will we need by October 1 to submit our proposal?
5. Who decides when our proposal will be implemented?
6. Can we use grant funds to pay for the service?
7. Can a non-profit organization apply for a partnership?
8. What happens after the fifth year of a direct financial partnership?
9. How is the success of a service determined?
10. Can the partnership end for reasons other than unproductive service?

Discussed at pre-proposal meeting on June 21, 2007:

General questions

11. The phasing table implies that Metro could do four-to-five times the number of partnerships in 2008 as in 2007, if they were all about the same size as the 2007 partnership with Children’s Hospital. Is that correct?
12. Does the phasing table show the maximum number of service hours per year?
13. How long will the program last?
14. What if our proposal idea changes after we’ve submitted our letter of interest but before we submit our final proposal? Are we locked in to what was in the letter of interest?
15. What happens if you write a letter of interest, and later decide not to participate?
16. If we have two proposal ideas, do you want them on two separate letters? What if one proposal involves other partners and another proposal does not?
17. Will it be more effective if the letter of interest states the problem rather than a specific solution?
18. What level of decision maker would you like the letters of interest to come from?
19. Does a proposal have to have a “yes” on all requirements?
20. When will the selected partnerships be decided?

Direct financial partnerships

21. Is the criteria list for direct financial partnerships organized by priority? Ridership is last; does that mean ridership is the least important?
22. What if there’s a tie— in other words, what if two or more proposals are equal in terms of meeting the criteria?
23. Will Metro help us determine our projected ridership?
24. Can other transit agencies take part in the partnerships?
25. We are looking at service from the Eastgate Park-and-Ride to the Factoria Mall and residential areas, possibly a shuttle. How should we project ridership for that kind of service?
26. Employers have an interest in the partnerships being proposed by cities. Is there a public process to enable employers to know what the cities are working on, and maybe broker a dialogue between employers and their cities? … Metro should put the letters of interest on the web site.

Speed and reliability partnerships

27. Do the 5,000 hours for each speed and reliability partnership come from the same 90,000 hours or from a different pot?
28. If we already have traffic improvements on the ground or nearly on the ground, can we count those improvements? … What if the improvements were under construction?
29. The requirements say partnership routes cannot be primarily on state or interstate highways. What is meant by this? We have a state highway where we have service in our jurisdiction.
30. Do the partnership routes have to be on one of the core connections shown for speed and reliability partnerships?
31. Can the 5,000 hours for a speed and reliability partnership go to other core routes as well as RapidRide corridors?
32. If a city can achieve the required 10-percent savings entirely on its portion of the core connection, would it be eligible for all of the 5,000 hours?
33. Would it be a good strategy for a city to select a route for a speed and reliability partnership proposal by looking at where plans are already in place to make improvements by all cities in the corridor?
34. How will the travel time calculation factor in the effect of the downtown bus tunnel, which was closed in March 2007 when the baseline was taken, but will be open once these partnership improvements are made?
35. What is a city’s financial commitment for speed and reliability partnerships?
36. Does Metro require signal priority improvements to get that 10-percent travel time savings?

1. Why is Metro issuing one call for proposals now for partnerships that may not be implemented for several years? Will there be future calls for proposals?

Metro and the Metropolitan King County Council want to be able to plan and schedule partnership hours over time.

There could be future calls for proposals depending on the results of this call. For example, if demand for partnerships exceeds the current allocation of 90,000 partnership hours, the council may authorize (no sooner than 2009) 30,000 more partnership hours. Alternatively, if the current allocation is not used, another call could be issued; however, Transit Now states that partnership hours not used within a certain period of time could return to the regular distribution of service hours by King County’s three subareas.

2. What if we don’t know all the details of our idea, or if we know our problem but not the solution?

If your organization will be willing to share in the costs of a service partnership, submit a letter of interest to let Metro know your concept and objectives. Once your letter of interest is received, Metro staff members will work with you on the details to help determine whether a service partnership is viable or if there is some other alternative.

3. What if we need other partners who aren’t quite ready to submit letters of interest?

Submit your letter of interest. Metro will work with you and your potential co-partners to help all parties determine their roles before proceeding to a formal proposal.

4. What if we don’t know when, or if, our proposal will be approved by our own decision-makers? What kind of commitment will we need by October 1 to submit our proposal?

A complete proposal by October 1, 2007 must include your organization’s intention to allocate resources in time to enter into an agreement. This may be similar to some grant processes you’ve experienced. Proposals that are approved for partnerships will require agreements with King County prior to their implementation.

By the time your proposal is due in October you will have worked with Metro on the details of the partnership, which will help your organization decide whether it will be able to enter into a future service partnership. Metro cannot reserve service hours if the partner has not committed to allocate resources when they will be needed for an agreement.

5. Who decides when our proposal will be implemented?

Applicants may propose an implementation date that meets their needs and resources, while Metro must consider the number of available partnership hours, bus availability, and other factors. Metro will make a recommendation to the King County Council on the implementation date based on when all parties will be ready. In all cases, agreements must be approved by the King County Council.

6. Can we use grant funds to pay for the service?

For direct financial partnerships, grant funds will not be accepted because Metro is looking for sustainable resources for service. For speed and reliability partnerships, capital grants are acceptable if the funds are in-hand and eligible.

7. Can a non-profit organization apply for a partnership?

Yes, if it can meet the requirements of a direct financial partnership either alone or with other parties.

8. What happens after the fifth year of a direct financial partnership?

If the service is successful according to Metro’s performance measures (see Question 9), the partnership may be renewed by extending the agreement. If the partner chooses not to continue, then Metro’s obligation to the service ends.

9. How is the success of a service determined?

Metro will determine the productivity and viability of the service three years after its implementation. Generally, a partnership will be considered successful if it performs at or above the subarea average for its particular type of service in at least three of the following four standard indicators monitored in Metro’s annual Route Performance Report:

1. Rides per revenue hour;
2. The ratio of fare revenue to operating expense;
3. Passenger miles per revenue hour;
4. Passenger miles divided by platform miles.

If the service is not productive, Metro will work with the partner on modifications with the goal of making the service perform better.

10. Can the partnership end for reasons other than unproductive service?

Each contract will include a termination clause for cause and for convenience of the parties. As an example, see Section 8 of the sample agreement (PDF, 103KB).

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Questions discussed at pre-proposal meeting

The questions below were discussed at the pre-proposal session on June 21, 2007. This text is not a verbatim transcript of those discussions. The questions below are organized by common topic, and in some cases additional information has been provided here to add context or clarity for those who were not present at the meeting.

General questions

11. The phasing table implies that Metro could do four-to-five times the number of partnerships in 2008 as in 2007, if they were all about the same size as the 2007 partnership with Children’s Hospital. Is that correct? (Jim Sietz, City of Renton)

Yes, if they were all about the same size.

12. Does the phasing table show the maximum number of service hours per year? (Peter Dewey, University of Washington)

The table is a tentative distribution of hours. King County’s annual maximum for Service Partnership hours is one-half of the total new service hours funded by Transit Now in that year. The partner’s share can be higher than what’s shown because the partner can contribute more than one-third of the cost.

13. How long will the program last? (Jim Seitz, City of Renton)

Transit Now is funded for 10 years. Each direct financial partnership has a five-year minimum, but can continue for as long after that as the partner continues its funding. The service hours provided from a speed and reliability partnership can be permanent as long as the traffic operations improvements are maintained.

14. What if our proposal idea changes after we’ve submitted our letter of interest but before we submit our final proposal? Are we locked in to what was in the letter of interest? (Cathy Mooney, City of Kent)

No, you are not locked in. Metro expects the ideas to change after we’ve explored some options.

15. What happens if you write a letter of interest, and later decide not to participate? (Julie Elson, City of Kirkland)

Partners are not committed to their letter of interest. That’s the starting point for exploring what would make a proposal everyone could agree to. Partners are not legally committed until they actually sign an agreement, but we expect that if they do submit a proposal in October they fully intend to sign an agreement. There shouldn’t need to be any more “selling” to decision-makers in your organization once the proposal is in.

16. If we have two proposal ideas, do you want them on two separate letters? What if one proposal involves other partners and another proposal does not? (Cathy Mooney, City of Kent)

If the proposals are for more than one service funded by one partner (or the same group of partners), they can be put on the same letter. If there are different partners for each proposal, they should be on separate letters.

17. Will it be more effective if the letter of interest states the problem rather than a specific solution? (Nate Jones, City of Renton)

It will be very helpful if the focus is on the problem you are seeking to solve.

18. What level of decision maker would you like the letters of interest to come from? (Cathy Mooney, City of Kent)

We weren’t specific on this one. This is the step to start the conversation. A letter from the department head would be appropriate.

19. Does a proposal have to have a “yes” on all requirements? (Gary Costa, City of Issaquah)

It’s important to distinguish requirements from priority criteria. Yes, you must meet all the requirements to have an eligible proposal, but the proposal does not need to meet all the priority criteria. All proposals will be forwarded to the council regardless of how many criteria are met.

The King County Council and Metro Transit will use the following documents as checklists:

• Direct Financial Partnership Checklist
• Speed and Reliability Partnership Checklist

20. When will the selected partnerships be decided? (Gary Costa, City of Issaquah)

Metro will evaluate the proposals in the fall and send them to the County Council by January 2008.

Direct financial partnerships

21. Is the criteria list for direct financial partnerships organized by priority? Ridership is last; does that mean ridership is the least important? (Peter Dewey, University of Washington)

Yes, the list is in order of priority, highest to lowest. Ridership is last, partly because we do not have a precise model to project ridership.

22. What if there’s a tie— in other words, what if two or more proposals are equal in terms of meeting the criteria? (Jeff Brauns, City of Sammamish)

Ridership will be the tie-breaker.

23. Will Metro help us determine our projected ridership? (Cathy Mooney, City of Kent)

Yes, Metro staff members will meet with you to help determine your projected ridership, which will be based on many factors.

24. Can other transit agencies take part in the partnerships? (Rick Perez, City of Federal Way)

Possibly, but other transit agencies may be involved in a different share of the funding, such as one-third from each transit agency and one-third from the other partner. The King County Council will determine how we partner with other transit agencies.

25. We are looking at service from the Eastgate Park-and-Ride to the Factoria Mall and residential areas, possibly a shuttle. How should we project ridership for that kind of service? (Izzy Parker, T-Mobile, Factoria)

Metro will do the ridership projections for you and also will look at improvements to regular service that might meet your needs. The level of assistance Metro provides in response to any one proposal may depend on how many letters of interest we receive.

26. Employers have an interest in the partnerships being proposed by cities. Is there a public process to enable employers to know what the cities are working on, and maybe broker a dialogue between employers and their cities? (Peter Dewey, UW) … Metro should put the letters of interest on the web site. (Barry Hennelly, City of Seattle)

Metro will list the letters of interest on the web site, but partners should be aware that letters of interest are not required, so this list may not represent all the proposals we will get in October. We strongly encourage letters of interest, however, as they will enable us to provide the most collaborative process.

Speed and reliability partnerships

27. Do the 5,000 hours for each speed and reliability partnership come from the same 90,000 hours or from a different pot? (Jim Seitz, City of Renton)

It’s the same pot. We will need to work out phasing of service hours from both types of partnerships. Remember that direct financial partnerships have priority over speed and reliability partnerships.

28. If we already have traffic improvements on the ground or nearly on the ground, can we count those improvements? (Gary Costa, City of Issaquah) … What if the improvements were under construction? (Alicia Sherman, City of Shoreline)

The King County Council specifically said that completed improvements cannot count. March 2007 is our baseline for calculating transit speeds for this program. If the improvements were completed after that, they can count toward a speed and reliability partnership.

29. The requirements say partnership routes cannot be primarily on state or interstate highways. What is meant by this? We have a state highway where we have service in our jurisdiction (Examples: SR 99 and SR 900 from Rick Perez, City of Federal Way, and Gary Costa, City of Issaquah).

We mean that service should not be primarily on limited-access highways. The idea is to focus on services operated on roads maintained by the local jurisdiction (SR 99 and SR 900 are ok).

30. Do the partnership routes have to be on one of the core connections shown for speed and reliability partnerships? (Jim Seitz, City of Renton)

A direct financial partnership route can be anywhere, though those on core connections have a higher priority. Speed and reliability improvements must be made on the core connections.

31.Can the 5,000 hours for a speed and reliability partnership go to other core routes as well as RapidRide corridors? (Alicia Sherman, City of Shoreline)

If your improvements are to Aurora Avenue, a RapidRide corridor, your 5,000 may be spent on Aurora or elsewhere. There will be a Transit Now investment in service on the RapidRide corridors regardless of partnerships. In the case of Aurora, it will be difficult for Shoreline alone to create the 10-percent savings in transit travel time on the entire corridor. It will take the combined actions of Shoreline and Seattle. Then the 5,000 hours would be invested where all parties agree.

32. If a city can achieve the required 10-percent savings entirely on its portion of the core connection, would it be eligible for all of the 5,000 hours? (Rick Perez, City of Federal Way)

Hypothetically that could occur, but it would probably be difficult to achieve.

33. Would it be a good strategy for a city to select a route for a speed and reliability partnership proposal by looking at where plans are already in place to make improvements by all cities in the corridor? (Nate Jones, City of Renton)

Yes, that makes sense for getting the cities to partner with each other.

34. How will the travel time calculation factor in the effect of the downtown bus tunnel, which was closed in March 2007 when the baseline was taken, but will be open once these partnership improvements are made? (Nate Jones, City of Renton)

Downtown is not included in the travel time calculations. Note on the corridor maps that the corridors end outside of the downtown core.

35. What is a city’s financial commitment for speed and reliability partnerships? (Julie Elson, City of Kirkland)

There is not a required direct financial commitment to King County, but there can be significant cost and policy commitments by the jurisdiction in order to implement the improvements required to achieve the 10-percent travel time savings. But the required signal upgrades to provide transit signal priority often are ones the city traffic engineers would like to make anyway to keep current with new controller technology, and this is a one-time cost rather than a recurring one.

36. Does Metro require signal priority improvements to get that 10-percent travel time savings? (Gary Costa, City of Issaquah)

No, any set of treatments that can achieve the 10-percent improvement is acceptable.

Last update: February 29, 2008