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| February 10, 2009 Sedona City Council meeting: Opening remarks by Mayor Rob Adams, NAIPTA General Manager Jeff Meilbeck, and Sedona Roadrunner Citizens Review Commission Chair Max Licher. |
City Council retools Sedona Roadrunner
City Council votes to remove one trolley from the Uptown circulator route and use it for more frequent trips to West Sedona and Cottonwood
by Carl Jackson
SEDONA, AZ - Feb 12, 2009 - In an ideal world the Sedona City Council wants a financially viable transportation system in Sedona that reduces traffic, promotes shopping, is green, services residents, workers, and tourists; and eventually connects to a larger regional transportation system.
That's in an ideal world.
In the real world we have the Sedona Roadrunner trolley system, and it's not working.
Established in 2006, the Sedona Roadrunner operates a continuous 1.3 mile circulator loop between Uptown and Hillside with a main stop at Tlaquepaque. The trolleys are operated by the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (NAIPTA), not by the City of Sedona; although the city spends about $500,000 per year on operating costs and maintenance. There are four trolleys stored on a lot in Cottonwood, two of which are always in operation. As almost an afterthought, the trolleys shuttle workers back and forth between Cottonwood and Sedona when leaving the lot in the morning and when returning to it at night.
Why do we have them? The short answer is 'it seemed like a good idea at the time.' Quaint, multi-colored trolleys shuttling tourists between our various shopping districts would promote business, reduce traffic, and add to the small town character of Sedona; and they would be funded largely with federal grant money (about 40% of the Roadrunner operations have been funded from grants).
What's the problem?
Despite being free to ride, the Roadrunner has had little success. There are two bio-diesel behemoths continuously roaming around Sedona gathering red rock dust with too few passengers and virtually no residents.
Two busses each complete 60 roundtrips per day. With average daily ridership of 249, that means that there are about 2 people on each roundtrip. The same passenger who gets on, then off and on again is counted as two riders. Therefore the system is really only transporting about 125 unique tourists each day. Out of 8,500 to 11,000 tourists in town each day, that amounts to serving less than 1.5% of the available customers each day.
The Roadrunner costs $95 per hour to operate compared to $85, $92, and $78 per hour for Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Tucson, respectively.
The cost per passenger mile is $13.10, compared to 64 cents, $1.77, and 65 cents for Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Tucson, respectively. So, to go from Uptown to Hillside and back costs over $26 per person.
Is the construction on SR179 causing the problem as Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli posits? Said Councilwoman Scagnelli, "My concern [is] that we [are] a little premature here at overhauling the system because it has never functioned without construction. It has never really functioned as it was meant to. We've had the Uptown construction, we've had [SR179]...We're still going to have a system that is being forced to function with construction all around it."
Is it do to poor marketing and lack of awareness?
Perhaps it's simply not convenient enough to compete with driving one's own car.
No one really knows, but Councilman Cliff Hamilton expressed serious doubts about the Roadrunner saying, "[Even if the system was running at full capacity it would not make] any real appreciable measurable difference in traffic and we can't make any appreciable difference in distributing business...If we were not currently doing this system would we start it? I think we all know the answer to that question and that's absolutely 'no.'"
Mayor Rob Adams has voiced a concern about the Sedona Roadrunner since its inception, primarily that it's not operating efficiently nor serving the broader community.
At the February 10, 2009 City Council meeting, the Sedona Roadrunner Citizens Review Commission headed by Max Licher presented its recommendations to the council on how the Roadrunner service could be improved.
Said Mayor Adams, "This commission was formed at my request in June 2008. I got together with Jeff Meilbeck the Director of NAIPTA. We discussed the concerns that I've been hearing from the public regarding the service, the effectiveness, and the efficiency of the Sedona Roadrunner transit system."
Some of the Commission's key recommendations were:
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| The Commission recommended replacing the trolleys with Spirit Mobility busses like the one above, if financially viable. |
1. Take one of the two trolleys operating along the circulator route and dedicate it to serving West Sedona and Cottonwood instead. Since there would then only be one trolley serving the circulator route, and the stops would be less frequent, the Commission recommended installing electronic messaging signs that would indicate how long it would be before the trolley would arrive.
2. Have the trolley serve the municipal parking lot on all trips.
3. Improve the marketing program; and
4. Pursue private funding and collaborative jurisdictional funding.
In addition, the Commission recommended that the city purchase Spirit Mobility busses to replace to trolleys, if financially viable, since the trolleys are expensive to operate and maintain and not practical for the long commute between Cottonwood and Sedona.
In addition, they recommended the establishment of a task force to conduct a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) Feasibility Study, along with investigating incenting tourists to park and ride through a new park/ride fare policy.
Commission member Greg Zucco believes that a fleet of zero emission NEVs that cost about $15,000 per vehicle would be more cost efficient and green. The trolleys each cost about $287,000 new. In addition, the NEVs would pick up passengers anywhere they want, not just at designated pick up points along the circulator route.
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Commission member Greg Zucco proposes replacing the current Roadrunner trolleys with energy efficient Neighborhood Electric Vehicles. |
Can NEVs and mobility busses work?
Although swapping out the trolleys with mobility busses or neighborhood electric vehicles could be a good idea, how much would it cost and who would pay for it?
Since the initial funding for the trolleys came from a federal grant, and not from the City of Sedona, replacing them with more efficient vehicles without jeopardizing that federal funding will likely take Mayor Houdini instead of Mayor Adams.
Can the trolleys be sold? Possibly for about $150,000 each, according to NAIPTA. Can NAIPTA use them somewhere else in their transportation system? Possibly.
If sold, could the sale proceeds be used to purchase NEVs or mobility busses? According to interim City Manager Alison Zelms, a criteria for using federal grant money is that it be for something that provides a community benefit and can't be provided by the private sector; and a fleet of NEVs that pick up passengers could be construed as a taxi service that would compete with private enterprise. Said Zelms, "I think its likely that if you introduce something into the system that competes with an existing private business that you will forfeit some federal funding or all of your federal funding. That's a very clear mandate of the federal funding portion."
Baby steps
For now, the best course of action appears to be baby steps.
The city council unanimously agreed to take one of the trolleys off the circulator route and use it to increase service to Cottonwood and West Sedona. Not only would it expand the transportation service to the broader community, hopefully it will increase ridership. Also with increased service to Cottonwood, perhaps that town will kick in some needed funds to help operate the system.
The council also agreed to further study whether to purchase mobility busses and NEVs but some on the council were skeptical, due largely to cost and a concern that federal grant funding would be forfeited.
Where is the public sector?
One might ask where the public sector is in all this since they are a direct beneficiary.
Why hasn't a group of local hotels banded together to purchase a bus to shuttle workers between Cottonwood and Sedona?
Why hasn't a local jeep company purchased a few neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) and started a new taxi service in Uptown?
Perhaps after they read this article, they will.
Related articles:
Sedona Roadrunner...beep, beep!?
States make way for low speed vehicles
Readers' comments
#1 NEVS…or GEM cars. Please keep running articles about these cars. I purchased a GEM car on ebay several months ago and while the transaction was not perfect and I have to have all 6 batteries replaced, I am committed to driving my car about Sedona. If you see a blue and white GEM car with the license plate: “ITSY” I will be driving it. During many of my work days it will be parked at LaTierra Plaza under the KSB environmental-awarded photo-voltaic covered carport, plugged in and raring to go! Call it what you like. The car has a place in Sedona.
#2 I believe the
Roadrunner experience is just a symptom of a
larger issue ... the studied indifference to the
visitor experience, by the BUSINESS COMMUNITY.
When we first moved here, we immediately noticed
poor signing (actually none) for the major areas
of Sedona and what they offer, the limited
signing for parking, and on and on. Indeed the
most impressive was the little fake pots below
the 'Sedona' signs when you enter the city.
Anyone that's spent time developing large
shopping centers (we all have, right?), would
easily see the problem. Take the Uptown / Tlaq /
Hillside corridor. Prior to construction, did
you try walking it? Feel like a rabbit in front
of headlights? Missed the benches for
viewing/resting? Missed the crosswalks along
with their little blinking lights? Missed the
visitor walking guide signs?
Ah, what about the recent itty-bitty javelina
signs (I guess anyway; I haven't got out of my
car to see exactly what they are). Most visitors
are likely too distant from the signs be able to
divine their meaning, much less be enervated to
adjust their travel path. Do YOU know what their
point is?
Then you have your Roadrunner (thanks to city
staff's efforts). Absolutely great marketing
(almost none). The most I see is the little
signs on the back of the buses (thank goodness
for that). I just googled to see how many
businesses market the free transportation. I
threw in the towel on the fifth page. What about
INSIDE the buses? Visitor guides, coupons, and
so forth? Nah?
Not convinced about Sedona's sleepy business
community? I guess you've read about the SH179
marketing program, after the construction is
almost finished, right? Personally I think the
whole corridor from the forest service visitor
center to Uptown could be a major attraction. Of
course, Tlaq really planned well for being the
odd-'man' out, opposite the pedestrian side, but
no problem ... there won't be a pedestrian
program to connect the shopping areas, right?
Ok, sidewalks.
If I had to guess at the problem, Sedona has
mooched off its red rocks, each business kind of
sitting back and watching the visitors come in.
Paid bucks to the Chamber to do long-distance
adverts, and hand out brochures. Luckily, the
Chamber is quite good at what they do, certainly
compared to the businesses themselves.
So, now we discuss the buses. Yes, the buses.
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