HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 06021992 - TC.1 PW
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra
FROM: TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE r Costa
County
DATE: May 18, 1992
SUBJECT: California Shakespeare Festival TDM Program for 1991
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
Accept . report on California Shakespeare Festival (CSF)
Transportation Demand Management Program for 1991 season and direct
staff to continue to work with the CSF in the implementation of
this program.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
BACKGROUNDIREASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
The Community Development Department has received a report from the
California Shakespeare Festival describing the, results of their
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program for the 1991 season.
On June 4 , 1991, your Board agreed to waive payment of a traffic
impact mitigation fee by the California Shakespeare Festival (CSF)
theater in unincorporated Orinda provided that a TDM program was
implemented in place of the fee and that annual progress reports
were submitted to the County. The report states that ridership of
the shuttle service from the Orinda BART station has been low and
that CSF seeks relief from the costs of providing this service.
Staff will continue to work with CSF and the City of Orinda and
will submit any recommendations that are developed concerning
modification of this requirement to the Transportation Committee.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR X RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
Alw-
SIGNATURE(S) : Ro4Schrodder Tom Torlakson
ACTION OF BOARD ON _..ZL2,2APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A
UNANIMOUS (ABSENT TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN
AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE
ABSENT:— ABSTAIN: MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
Orig: Community Development Department ATTESTED 94soiL- -71, /`�-4
GMEDA PHIL AhTCHELOR, CLERK OF
Public Works THE BIOARD OF SUPERVISORS
AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
BY DEPUTY
:0,t ..
Casr4
eare Festival �.
California Shakespeare F
Y,?.
06
May 4,1992
Ernest H. Vovakis
Senior Transportation Planner
Community Development Department
651 Pine Street
4th Floor,North Wing
Martinez, California 94553-0095
Dear Mr.Vovakis,
Enclosed is a copy of the results of the Transportation System Management Program of
the California Shakespeare Festival for its 1991 season. The information is a result of
much research and effort on the part of the Festival to comply with the aforementioned
TSM Program which was a condition of approval which allowed for the waived
Countywide Area Benefit fee. Upon completion of our first season for performances at the
site,we feel there may be a better solution to our transportation mitigation, and we hope
upon evaluation of our program results, you can be of assistance in making
recommendations to.us which will be less fiscally punitive for the Festival.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sijacerely,
Marcia O'Dea
Managing Director
California Shakespeare Festival
;Michael Addison. Artistic Director • Marcia O'Dea, Managing Director
2;31 Ninth Street. Rerkete\. CA 94.10 • TeL 510-548-3.122 Fax X10-843-9921
May 4, 1992 California Shakespeare Festival
The California Shakespeare Festival, in accordance with the recommendations of the Transportation
Committee and approval of such recommendations by the Board of Supervisors on September 17, 1991,
hereby submits the results of the Transportation System Management Program for 1991 (June through
September,which was the duration of our performance season.)
The five areas of the TSM program with which CSF was obliged to comply,are outlined as
follows,with the results for each:
(1) provide a van shuttle service between Orinda BART station and the theater before and after all
performances;
After.extensive research into available van services, arrangements were made with County
Connection to provide a van shuttle service from the Orinda BART station to the theater site one
and one-half hours before each performance and one-half hour after each performance.(County
Connection sub-contracted the service with Mayflower). The "strict charter" fee would have
been$19,400, however after negotiating with County Connection, a compromise of$175 per
performance was agreed upon, which brought the total cost of the shuttle service to$13,125 (for
the season which was from June through September). There were very few options open to the
Festival in the form of available van services, and no possibility of having any service subsidized,
which added great cost and hardship to the Festival. CSF contacted RIDES and BART for
possible van services as well as independent contractors, however there was no possibility to get
this service any more discounted than what could be arranged with County Connection (using
Mayflower).
With the addition of two weeks of performances, and if County Connection does not
increase-their charge for the service,this year's fee at the same rate of$175 per performance will
result in charges of$16,450 to the Festival.
(2) Publicize the shuttle service between the Orinda BART station and the theater before and after all
performances;
As you can see in the attached program 1 ticket brochure, we have publicized our shuttle
service and our box office gives that information over the phone as well. All of our major press
releases include this information, as does our tour information and other publicity we generate.
(3) request BART to promote transit accessibility to CSF in its literature and advertisements in BART
stations,
Many attempts to solicit the cooperation of BART,through the Public Affairs office of
Mike Healy met with no help on the part of BART to publicize our service in any of their
brochures, materials or advertising. We were told that this was due to a budget crunch at BART,
and as we have no control over their publicizing the Festival,we had no recourse. We were told
that they publicized the shuttle service on their electronic billboards,though we have no
confirmation of this.
Michael Addison. Artistic Director • Marcia O'Dea, Managing Director
2531 Ninth mTeet. Berkelty. CA 94-110 • Tel. 510-348-3422 fax X10-843-9921 °
{" lir- i•..
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California Shakespeare Festival
(4) provide designated parking spaces for carpools of three or more persons which are located closer to
the entrance than other parking;
An area next to our handicap parking area was designated for carpools with three or more
people. This was difficult to regulate,however,because as you will see in the attached information
later,the vast majority of those attending came in carpools of three or more,therefore it was not
only not much of an issue,but most of our parking area would necessarily have been designated as
such. - -- - - - - - -
(S) monitor the mode of transportation of patrons and employees at least twice during each season and
report the results to the Director of Community Development at the conclusion of each season;
Included are the results of monitoring on three occasions during the season,one on a
weeknight,one on a Sat. night,and one at a Sunday afternoon matinee.
Thurs. 7/18 8:00p.m. Sat. 8/10 8:00 p.m. Sunday 9/22 4 p.m.
Single Driver- . 26 19 21
Driver & 1 pass. - 86 86 96
Driver& 2 or
more pass. - 73 85 73
BART shuttle- 4 8 2
Others Dropped
off- 7 6 7
TOTAL VEHICLES. 185 190 190
BART SHUTTLE RIDERSHIP
In addition to the random sampling listed above,a sampling of BART shuttle
ridership was taken. On a count based on 20 performances,there were 186 total
shuttle riders. This averages 9.3 shuttle riders per performance,or less than 2 riders
per shuttle,since there are 5 shuttles between BART and the theater site in the one
and one-half hour time period before each performance,when patrons arrive. At a
cost of$175 per performance,the unit cost for each round trip shuttle ride is$18.82.
As our ticket price for evenings is$20 and our weekend price is$25 (we give senior
discounts too!),we are in essence,subsidizing the ticket price of each patron who
uses the BART shuttle.As you can imagine,this is a hardship, as we are a non-
profit organization still trying to pay off capital improvements at the new site.
Michael Addison, Artistic Director • Marcia O'Dea, Managing Director
2531 \inth titreet. Berkeley. CA 94710 • TeL -SMS 8-3122 Fat 510-843-9921
California Shakespeare. Festival
-IN SUMMARY:
We realize that providing a BART shuttle is part of our TSM program, however we wish
for the Transportation Committee, and the Board of Supervisors to reconsider this
requirement of our TSM program, until we can see if there are other less fiscally punitive
ways in which we might mitigate the traffic impacts. At the exorbitant cost of providing
the shuttle, we would have been better off paying the high CWAOB fee. In addition,we
can assure you that CSF does not negatively impact any peak hour traffic in the area, as
our parking area does not even open until 6:30 p.m. during the week, and most patrons
don't arrive until closer to 7:30 p.m.,for the 8:00 p.m.show. As part of our contract with
the actors for the performances,they are not obliged to arrive until 7:30 p.m. for the 8:00
p.m. show. In addition,most of the actors carpool with staff or others, and are
encouraged to do so, as some of them have no private vehicles and parking at the site is
very limited. Ushers and other volunteers who work during performances are encouraged
to carpool and most of them live in the Lamorinda area,so this is easy to promote and
encourage. Only 50%of our performances are at periods of time when any consideration
of traffic mitigation would be reasonable. We have performances Wed.,Thurs.,and Fri.
evenings at 8:00 p.m. during the week, and we have Sat. evening performances and
Sunday morning and afternoon matinees. Our season for 1992 is scheduled to.begin June
12 and end Oct. 5. The 1991 season was our first at this site and we are pleased to report
that it was for the most part a sold-out season. We have many capital expenditures which
remain, however and would like your help in unburdening us with the expensive and non-
cost-effective way to mitigate traffic. Any help your staff can provide to remedy this
situation would be appreciated. It is our hope that the Transportation Committee will
make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors that the BART shuttle not be a
requirement for future seasons after 1992(though we would love to offer this service if
we could somehow get it subsidized).
i
Michael Addison. Artistic Director • Marcia O'Dea, Managing Director
2;31 Ninth Street. 11erkeley, CA N7 • Tel. 510-5=18-3422 Fax 510-843-9921