San Luis Obispo - Caltrans - State of California

SAN LUIS OBISPO REGION
COORDINATED HUMAN SERVICES-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PLAN
Ride-On’s ability to identify those particular projects where the match funding can be
secured, or in concert with SLOCOG, to develop partnerships by which such matching is
possible and mutually beneficial.
5.4 San Luis Obispo Region Unmet Transit Needs Findings for FY 2007/2008
SLOCOG, as the region’s transportation planning agency, is required to annually conduct the
unmet needs hearing process to comply with the California Transportation Development Act
(TDA, Sections 99401.5 and 99401.6). This process requires consulting with the public and
soliciting testimony regarding unmet public transit and bicycle needs.
SLOCOG is required to make determinations about the annual testimonies received that will
guide the allocation of available local transportation funds. Specifically, SLOCOG must
determine whether or not these are “unmet transit needs” and then whether these are needs
that are “reasonable to meet”, given criteria established by SLOCOG.
“Unmet needs” have been defined as follows and a request must meet all criteria to qualify as
an unmet need:
1. The request fills gaps in transit services or is identified as a deficiency in key transit
planning documents;
2. Sufficient broad-based community support exists: either from at least 15 people for
general public services or requests from 10 people for disabled services;
3. This a current rather than future need; and
4. The request is for service expansion such as increased hours, increased frequency,
new routes, significant modifications to existing routes; and not operational in nature,
such as minor route changes or bus stop changes.
Additional criteria exist to define a “need that is reasonable to meet”. These are not optional.
They are the second step for evaluation and include:
1. Farebox recovery: The quest is projected to generate the required farebox ratio
(10% rural, 20% urban, 16.2% RTA) by the third year demonstrating continuous
progress after the first and second year;
2. Served entity: Service will not involve funding from a non-served entity.
3. Service is comparable with other transit services (such as local fixed-route, regional
fixed-route, local general public dial-a-ride, specialized dial-a-ride, circulator, trolley)
or will be similar, based upon the projected number of passengers per hour that the
proposed service would carry.
4. The request is fundable with existing TDA (LTF and STA) funds, without replacing
other existing transit services.
An unmet transit need is recognized by SLOCOG as reasonable to meet only if all the above
criteria are satisfied.
For the most recent cycle, a summary was prepared of testimony received in the fall/ winter of
2006 and 2007 that reflect issues raised in this Plan. An analysis of the 100 categories of need
identified by SLOCOG was undertaken, identifying larger groupings of issues common to the
general areas of need described within this Plan. These categories are as follows;
• Transit Service Area Expansion
• Information Services
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OCTOBER 2007