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TO: |
Board of Trustees |
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THROUGH: |
Mary DeLoretto, Interim Executive Director |
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FROM: |
William Greene, Chief Financial Officer |
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PRESENTER(S): |
William Greene, Chief Financial Officer |
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Kensey Kunkel, Mgr. Business Dev. And Sales |
TITLE:
title
Fare Contract: Ski Bus Agreement (Solitude Mountain Resort)
end
AGENDA ITEM TYPE:
Service or Fare Approval
RECOMMENDATION:
Authorize UTA to enter into a Ski Bus Agreement with Solitude Mountain Resort
BACKGROUND:
Utah Transit Authority (“UTA”) and Solitude Mountain Resort (“Resort”) have a longstanding relationship to promote the sustainability and growth of the Ski Bus Service in the Cottonwood Canyons. For the past 20 plus years, Solitude Mountain Resort and UTA have contracted together to provide transit service to employees and ski pass holders.
In the most recent ski season, 2020-21, Solitude Mountain Resort entered into a Ski Bus Agreement with UTA. UTA invoiced the Resort based on the monthly ridership counts using UTA’s Electronic Fare Collection (“EFC”) ridership counting system. The agreement allows the Resort’s authorized users to ride transit service in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, as well as routes that connect to Ski Bus. The Resort paid $4.00 per boarding which was a 20 percent discount of the public ski fare of $5.00.
This past January, the four (4) Cottonwood Canyon Ski Resorts and UTA formed a working group led by an independent facilitator. The purpose of the group was to explore alternative contract options to meet mutual transit-oriented goals and objectives and address any participating working group member’s concerns about entering into an alternative agreement. To achieve this, stakeholder interviews were conducted, and feedback was obtained from the General Managers of each individual Resort, UTA Board Members, and UTA’s Executive Director.
Following the interviews and multiple group discussions, the Ski Resorts and UTA came to an agreement on contract options for the upcoming 2021-2022 ski season.
For the 2021-2022 Ski Season, UTA and Solitude Mountain Resort will enter a ski bus agreement that is billed in two ways based on the authorized user segment: Season Pass Holder and/or Employees:
1. Season Pass Holder
UTA will invoice Solitude Mountain Resort for transit use by the resort’s season pass holders based on a daily rate. In addition, for those authorized users whose cards are authorized for both ski and regular service, the Resort will be billed for each day a rider travels on regular service and does not travel on ski bus. An authorized user’s ski season pass will also act as the holder’s transit pass for the ski season.
• 20 percent discount off $10 rate
• Manual billing adjustments
• Valid on services as determined by the ski resorts (ski only, ski and regular)
• Unlimited daily use
• Regular service includes ski bus, local bus, and TRAX
• No weekly cap
Billing will be based on an $8.00 per day rate with two adjustments as follows:
Adjustment #1 Shuttle
In addition to validated shuttle trips being deducted from the invoice, an additional four percent will be deducted from the total billable days.
Note: The adjustment accounts for riders that might only be using the shuttle. This is based on EFC data from Alta/Snowbird where a rider made one trip, the tap is a resort stop, and the rider failed to tap off or inform the driver that they are traveling between resorts. UTA agrees to split this 50/50 with the resorts considering that many riders are coming up/down the canyon and one trip was not captured in the system.
Example:
Adjustment #2 Up/Down
For Alta/Snowbird, twelve percent of the billable days will be billed at $4.00 and the remaining days at $8.00. For Brighton/Solitude, seven percent of the billable days will be billed at $4.00 and the remaining days at $8.00.
Note: This adjustment is based on APC data up/down totals for the 2020/2021 season.
Example:
2. Employees
For the employees of Solitude Mountain Resort, UTA will invoice the resort based on a daily rate with a cap. Billing will be based on $8.00 per day and resorts will pay no more than $28 per week. An authorized user’s employee ID will also act as the holder’s transit pass for the ski season. Participation by 100% of the Resort employees is required to participate in this agreement.
• 20 percent discount off $10 rate
• Maximum weekly charge is $28
• Valid on ski bus, local bus, and TRAX
• Unlimited daily use
DISCUSSION:
Staff recommends that UTA enter into a Ski Bus Agreement with Solitude Mountain Resort for the 2021-22 Ski Season.
CONTRACT SUMMARY:
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Contractor Name: |
Solitude Mountain Resort |
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Contract Number: |
21-F0213 |
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Base Contract Effective Dates: |
November 1, 2021-May 31, 2022 |
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New/Total Amount Contract Value: |
230,700 |
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ALTERNATIVES:
Do not enter an agreement with Solitude Mountain Resort and renegotiate the contract terms
FISCAL IMPACT:
For the 2021-22 Ski Season, revenue for Solitude Mountain Resort is estimated to be $230,700. This estimate was calculated using ridership values from the 2020-21 Ski Season. The revenue may vary based on actual ridership for the upcoming 2021-22 season, however a decrease in revenue compared to 2020-21 is not anticipated.
ATTACHMENTS:
Contract