The Fox Cities Transit Commission is meeting 05/23/2023 at 3PM.
They will be voting on housekeeping items for the new Council year including electing a Chair and Vice-Chair.
The one non-standard action item on the agenda is the vote to provide authorization to Valley Transit to enter into a section option year with Lamers Bus Lines to provide the Downtown Appleton Trolley Services. Last year, Lamers asked for a payment increase of over $5,000 even though the contract with Valley Transit had automatically renewed and they were outside the 90-day period in which they could have cancelled the contract or asked for changes. Regardless of being contractually obliged to provide the services at the lower rate, Lamers refused to do so unless their payment was increased by over $5,000. At the time, although they voted 11-4 to approve the increased payment, the Common Council expressed frustration with Lamers.
This year, Lamers is requesting an increase of 7.3%. The staff memo does not indicate what the translates into in terms of actual dollars, but Valley Transit General Manage Ron McDonald indicates in his memo that the rate “is within Valley Transit’s ancillary service budget.”
As information items, the commission will be receiving a number of reports including the financial reports for March and April, the Ridership Report for March and April, the 1st quarter Key Performance Indicators report, and a technology update.
Although ridership is up slightly from where it was last year in March and April, it is still well below the roughly 80,000-90,000 riders who utilized Valley Transit around that time prior to the pandemic.
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1088823&GUID=D1770C6B-B8D0-454D-B738-318BFFF19E8C
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