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North-South Bus Rapid Transit (NSBRT) Update.
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Staff: |
Department: |
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Brian Litchfield, Director |
Transit |
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Caroline Dwyer, Transit Planning Manager |
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Matt Cecil, Transit Development Manager |
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Overview: Transit staff will provide an update on the North-South Bus Rapid Transit (NSBRT) project including recent milestones, a project cost and funding update, and next steps. Staff will provide recommendations for cost-saving and revenue-generating actions. The Public Transit Committee, comprising of representatives from Town of Chapel Hill, Town of Carrboro, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have reviewed and concurred with staff’s recommendations.
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Recommendation(s): |
That the Council receive the North-South Bus Rapid Transit (NSBRT) project update.
Key Issues:
• Inflation and additions (stations, changing vehicles to all electric and schedule) to the project have increased project costs since they were last estimated ($155M in 2021 and $197M in 2023).
• Almost 70% of the increased project cost is due to significant inflation and increases in construction and materials costs over the last two years.
• State funding allocated through the SPOT 7.0 prioritization process may cover these cost increases, but availability/amounts will not be confirmed until early 2024.
• Project cost increases do not impede the Town’s ability to request an updated Project Rating in August 2023 (requires 50% of non-federal revenue to be committed).
• 100% of non-federal revenue must be committed before requesting a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Small Starts Grant Agreement (SSGA) in 2024.
• After assessing options and tradeoffs, Transit staff recommend revising proposed transit vehicle technology and adjusting multiuse path (MUP) assumptions, to reduce costs, and investigating the feasibility of revenue-generating mechanisms.
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Attachments: |
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• Draft Staff Presentation |
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The Agenda will reflect the text below and/or the motion text will be used during the meeting. |
presenter
PRESENTER: Caroline Dwyer, Transit Planning Manager
RECOMMENDATION: That the Council receive the North-South Bus Rapid Transit (NSBRT) project update.