Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE CARSON CIRCUIT FIXED-ROUTE BUS SERVICE (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
In response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Disaster Council suspended the City's local fixed-route bus service, the Carson Circuit, effective March 28, 2020. As COVID-19 cases continued to climb, the City ended its fixed-route bus service agreement with MV Transportation, Inc. effective November 8, 2020.
The City's Dial-A-Ride program remained in operation, but was expanded to include all Carson residents, regardless of the program's standard requirements for eligibility. Additionally, the City entered into an agreement with Lyft, Inc. to provide residents with on-demand subsidized Lyft rides.
Prior to the declared pandemic, with the aim of improving regional travel to and from the city, staff had engaged Long Beach Transit (LBT) in discussions to provide fixed-route bus service in Carson. LBT is a California public benefit nonprofit corporation, founded and solely owned by the City of Long Beach.
LBT's service model is to have its buses run down major surface streets in both directions, providing much faster service with direct connections to popular destinations and neighboring bus lines. This shift in bus travel would provide longer distance regional service, connecting several communities along the line.
Through a series of meetings and planning efforts, the City Council approved a service agreement with LBT at the September 7, 2021 meeting. The agreement provides for LBT to operate three new fixed routes in addition to the preexisting Route 1.
In conjunction with new LBT routes, staff is proposing to reestablish the Carson Circuit as a staff-operated service, utilizing City-owned minibuses. The intention of the new service is to help connect Carson residents to LBT bus stops in the form of two (2) new neighborhood-serving routes, thereby bridgin...
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