Scope_of_Work_TransitOnboardSurveyv_v3.2.docx

SCOPE OF WORK: ON-CALL

INTRODUCTION

SORTA is the primary mass transit carrier in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The geographic region in which we operate covers Hamilton County. SORTA provides multimodal transportation service to Hamilton County, Ohio and its 49 cities, villages, and townships including the City of Cincinnati and adjacent portions of Butler, Clermont, and Warren counties, totaling 289 square miles. Hamilton County, with a population of 831,000, is part of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area with a population of 2.6 million. SORTA currently operates a fleet of 292 buses on 47 Metro routes. In 2022, SORTA carried 9,679,228 passenger trips.

OVERVIEW OF SORTA’S TRANSIT SERVICES

SORTA, through its “Metro” service, provides public transportation service throughout the Greater Cincinnati area, primarily serving the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. SORTA Metro service consists of a total of 46 bus routes with approximately 3,800 bus stops. Fixed route bus service operates from two garages (Queensgate and Bond Hill). Figure 1 and Figure 2 show SORTA’s current bus service network.

Fixed Route Service:

The various Fixed-Route routes are classified and described in the sections below:

1. Metro*Plus/Metro Bus Limited Routes The “Metro*Plus” routes and Metro Limited routes are routes that makes fewer stops than local services, often times operating along the same corridor of a local route. The difference between Metro*Plus service and a Metro Bus Limited service is the branding of vehicles. Currently there is only one Metro*Plus route (Route 90).

2. Metro Bus Local Routes Metro Bus Local routes are local service bus lines that serve corridors throughout the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Typically local services provide direct alignments following key arterial corridors. The following are Metro Bus Local routes (1, 4, 6, 11, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 37, 41, 43, 46, 49, 50, 51, 64, 65, 78, 85).

3. Metro Express Routes Express routes operate between a residential area or Park-and-Ride and a business district or other type of activity center. SORTA express routes currently serve all local bus stops in the catchment/distribution area. There are two types of Metro Express routes, ones that serve Park-and-Ride locations and a few neighborhood stops and ones that operate along a major corridor segment making local stops, but also include a nonstop segment. The following are Metro Express bus routes (2X, 3X, 12X, 15X, 23X, 25X, 29X, 30X, 38X, 40X, 42X, 52X, 71X, 74X, 75X, 77X, 81X, 82X).

Figure 1: SORTA's Network

Figure 2: SORTA's Downtown Service

4. Metro Job Connection (Reverse Commuter) Routes Metro Job Connection routes (or “Reverse Commuter” routes) have a limited number of stops in the catchment/distribution area before operating non-stop to/from the ridership generator. The following are Metro Job Connection bus routes (3, 23, 42, 67, 71, 72).

MetroNow Service MetroNow is a mobility-on-demand service that operates as an Uber service. Passengers use an App to request a trip and the app will confirm their request and inform them of when a vehicle will arrive to pick them up. Passengers have the option to pay for their ride through the app or cash upon boarding the vehicle. Two MetroNow zones are currently operational: Springdale/Sharonville zone and Colerain/Mt. Healthy zone (see Figure 3). The Springdale/Sharonville zone was launched on May 23, 2023, while the Colerain/Mt. Healthy zone was launched on July 11, 2023. Both zones are providing about 60 trips a day. Four more zones are planned for the next few years.

Colerain/ Mt. Healthy Springdale/Sharonville

Figure 3: SORTA's MetroNow Service Zones

Access (Paratransit) Service SORTA operates a paratransit service called Access. Access service is provided within ¾ a mile from SORTA’s fixed-route service. Access provides between 900 and 1,000 trips on a typical weekday, using 46 vehicles. Although productivity is relatively high, 2.3 passengers per hour, the cost per passenger is $34.50.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this project is to develop an onboard customer satisfaction survey for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) service area, which primarily entails Hamilton County, Ohio. Along with service-related questions, the survey will also include rider demographics, origin and destination, transfers, customer travel characteristics, customer satisfaction, customer preferences for receiving communications, and other transit trip information. The data collected from the survey will be used in updating SORTA’s Strategic Plan and to be used in planning efforts to improve the transit service and ridership forecast. The survey will also assist the local transit operators to plan for future services by integrating feedback from existing riders.

Both Fixed-Route and MetroNow customers shall be surveyed.

TASKS:

The survey will collect data on transit trip origins and destinations, transfers, trip characteristics, rider demographics, customer satisfaction, and other key metrics. Work will be accomplished with input from a project committee consisting of SORTA staff. The following are the required tasks:

1. Development of the Work Plan

1.1 Consultant kick-off meeting (Meeting #1)

· The consultant will hold a kick-off meeting with SORTA staff. With input from staff, the consultant will identify transit services and routes, racial/ethnic groups served, and English and non-English speaking riders throughout the service area.

1.2 Survey plan by the Consultants

· The consultant will develop a plan that identifies the specific products, schedules, and staffing required for the survey along with the quality control of the surveyed data, including Title VI reporting.

· The federal government does not directly regulate how public agencies should conduct the surveys; however, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) of the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) offers guidance on Title VI federal laws and regulations that impact frequency, content, and delivery of passenger surveys. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects people from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. The 2012 FTA Circular 4702.1B: Title VI Requirements (FTA Title VI Circular) outlines current Title VI 4 guidance and regulations for transit providers. The Circular provides guidance on the types of information transit agencies should collect, including information through passenger surveys, to ensure they are compliant with Title VI.

2. Design of the Survey and Sampling Plan

2.1 Design of the Survey and Sampling Plan

· The consultant will design the comprehensive and explicit survey questionnaires with the focus on customer satisfaction, and in accordance to the input from project committee. The questionnaire will be conducted according to nationally-recognized on-board travel survey guidelines.

· The survey will be developed including a strategic limited English proficient (LEP) approach. The survey should be in two languages (at least English and Spanish) in order to interview a wide range of both English and non-English speaking transit riders.

· The consultant shall provide a statistically valid survey and results.

· Fixed-Route Surveys: It is estimated that 1,500 valid completed surveys from fixed-route customers are needed in order meet the threshold for a statistically representative sample (such as +/- 3% to 5% at the 95% confidence level, variable rate sampling depending on route volume) of transit riders. The number of surveys will be finalized with SORTA project manager.

· MetroNow Surveys: It is estimated that 80 unique MetroNow passengers are to be surveyed in order to get statistically valid results.

· The consultant will also collect boarding and alighting data including the transfers on the sampled routes and develop a weighting strategy for expansion of the data set and an approach for maximizing response of low-income and hard-to-reach population, including the use of incentives to increase response rate.

2.2 Project Committee Meeting #2

· The project committee will review the survey and sampling plans, developed by the Consultant in the Task 2.1 and will recommend the changes if necessary.

2.1 A Memo that documents the final survey design and sampling plan

3. Design of Survey Instrument

· The consultant will design a survey instrument in multiple languages (English, Spanish), with the programming of the questionnaires on tablet or other data collection technologies proposed by the consultant.

· The consultant will develop the interview training manual documenting the roles and responsibilities of the interviewer including the strategy for the proper execution of the survey in the field.

A memo that documents the Survey Instrument and methodology. An Interview training manual

4. Conducting the Survey in the Field

4.1 Pilot/Test Survey

· The Consultant will conduct a pilot study in-order to test the survey methodology, instruments, and the recording devices covering the transit services from each of the partnering transit agencies.

4.2 Project Committee meeting # 3

· The consultant will evaluate the results and make recommendations to project committee for revisions to the survey instrument, sampling plan, and interview approach, if necessary.

4.3 Final Survey

· The survey procedure will be finalized by addressing the proposed changes (if any in Task 4.2) in the methodology and instruments.

· The Consultant will conduct the final in-person interviews by employing the human resources supplemented with the data collection technologies proposed in Task 3.

5. Data Processing and Analysis

5.1 Data Verification and Quality Control

· The raw survey records will be verified for its accuracy, checked for logic and consistency of the answers, entered into the database, and cleaned using already developed quality control measures.

5.2 Data Processing and Analysis

· The cleaned database will be processed in a logical order establishing multiple tiers within the single attribute.

· Analysis of the datasets stating the relationship of various attributes with the transit ridership.

5.3 Project Committee Meeting #4

· The consultant will present the data and finding to the project committee.

5.1 Quality control measures; final data and final survey database

6. Reports and Presentation

6.1 Prepare the final data files and final report

· The consultant will prepare the final data files.

· The consultant will analyze the transit datasets and prepare individualized draft reports, including executive summaries, for review by the project committee members. The reports shall utilize graphics, maps, charts and other visualization techniques to help readers understand the survey results.

· The consultant will revise the reports based on input from the project committee.

6.2 Presentations

· If necessary, the consultant will present the final reports to SORTA’s Planning and Operations Committee.

6.1 Processed data files; final report including report for SORTA, including executive summary.

7. Project Management

· The consultant will work closely with the SORTA project manager and provide the monthly progress reports.

· The monthly progress report will document the activities for the billing cycle and planned activities for the next month.

Proposal Page Limit It is required that the proposal does not exceed twenty (20) pages. Substantial number of points will be deducted from any proposal’s evaluation scores that exceed the 20-page limit. Please note that resumes, financial tables, and any non-required material (such as appendices) do not count as part of the 20-page limit. The following sections will count toward the fifty pages:

1. Project Understanding

2. Firm’s Background and Experience

3. Approach

4. Personnel’s Experience

5. Proposed Schedule

6. Firm’s capacity to perform the work within the proposed schedule.

Project Schedule It is required that the survey commences during, or before, the first week of September 2023 and all data and analysis be completed by first week of October, 2023.

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