Report No: Meeting Date:
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16-140 June 8, 2016
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
STAFF REPORT TO: FROM:
AC Transit Board of Directors Michael A. Hursh, General Manager
SUBJECT:
Award a sole source contract to NextBus
ACTION ITEM RECOMMENDED ACTION(Sl: Consider authorizing the award of a sole source contract to Next Bus, Inc. for replacement of 97 electronic bus shelter signs. BACKGROUND/RATIONALE: The current 'Sunrise' brand electronic shelter signs were purchased and installed shortly after the District contracted with NextBus, Inc. for stop arrival prediction services in 2003. These signs have exceeded their planned service life and are experiencing an increased failure rate. NextBus sends display information to these signs via a 2G cellular communications card in each sign. Local cellular providers have notified NextBus that 2G service will be discontinued by December 2016. NextBus has determined that 3G-4G cellular service requires additional circuit boards in order to maintain reliable data connections and to allow remote sign management. This additional circuitry will not fit in the old Sunrise signs. Their replacement was anticipated due to signage age and reliability. To accommodate this expense, NextBus has provided a quote to install new Daktronics signs for $3,820 per sign. This price is 10% over NextBus' cost for materials and labor. The provider of the District's new CAD/AVL system, Clever Devices, has confirmed that they have previously integrated with these Daktronics signs and they anticipate no difficulty communicating with them from their BusTime stop arrival prediction engine. BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT: Funding for this project, $370,540, is provided in the District Capital budget, project 2033. Half of this project was funded in the FY16 District Capital budget and the remainder has been requested in the Draft FY 17 Capital Budget, Staff Report 16-046A. The price has been determined to be fair and reasonable based on comparison with the original equipment manufacturer's pricing for the same components. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES: The advantage of replacing the current NextBus display signs with newer signs using more supportable cellular communications technology is that the District will continue to provide
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Report No. 16-140 Page 2 of 2 customers information through the signs without a lengthy disruption that would otherwise result from technological incompatibility. Staff can see no disadvantages. ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS: Staff considered using the current signs and 2G communications until AT&T disables 2G services in this area. That would cause the signs to go dark until the District's new CAD/AVL system goes live in late 2017. NextBus predictions would still be available via the District website, 511, and various mobile apps, but this would provide a poor customer experience at those 97 bus stops. Staff inquired if NextBus could install the 3G-4G communications card alone without the additional circuit boards. They prefer not to do so as their testing indicates this would necessitate almost daily manual sign resets resulting in much higher maintenance costs on their fixed-price contract. And the increased sign downtime would provide a poor customer experience. Staff also considered replacing NextBus with a competing stop arrival prediction service during the interim period until the new CAD/AVL system and its BusTime prediction engine is live. This would present a challenging procurement timeline and would likely be disruptive to the District's customers as the prediction systems would change twice over a short period of time. PRIOR RELEVANT BOARD ACTION/POLICIES: Staff Report 12-309A, Contract award to NextBus, Inc. for real-time bus arrival prediction services. ATTACHMENTS: None
Approved by:
Tom O'Neill, Chief Information Officer
Reviewed by:
Denise C. Standridge, General Counsel Claudia Allen, Chief Financial Officer Jon Medwin, Procurement & Materials Director Tom O'Neill, Chief Information Officer
Prepared by:
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