TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Salvador Llamas, General Manager/Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: Board Policy 546 Supplementary Service
ACTION ITEM
AGENDA PLANNING REQUEST: ☐
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider approving amendments to Board Policy 546 - Standards for Operation of Supplementary Service.
Staff Contact:
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
Goal - Convenient and Reliable Service
Initiative - Service Quality
This policy update clarifies the District’s process for coordinating schedules with school districts to ensure service is delivered in a safe, reliable and efficient manner.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
There are no budgetary or fiscal impacts associated with this report.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
Board Policy 546: Standards for Operation of Supplementary Service - adopted in August 1996 and amended in January 2020 - governs the District’s procedures for planning and operating Supplementary Service associated with school bell times.
As background, the District operates bus service to school sites throughout the District’s service area. The purpose of Supplementary Service is to ensure the District’s regular bus service is not overloaded due to peak student ridership during morning and afternoon bell-times. The service takes two forms: additional trips on existing local lines (57, 93, 97, etc.) to prevent overcrowding and unique lines with trips timed with school bells (600-series lines) that comprise segments from one or more existing local lines.
Staff reviewed the existing policy and identified several changes to reflect the way the District coordinates and plans service in conjunction with the overall service change process.
Staff is proposing the following changes to Board Policy 546:
• Changing the deadline to receive bell-time information from schools for the following academic year from the first Monday in May to the first Friday in March.
• Changing the method of coordination from a single in-person meeting to email communication with additional smaller-sized virtual meetings, if necessary. Virtual meetings will only include schools that are served by the same line(s) and need to coordinate bell schedules.
If approved by the Board, staff intends to implement this policy in conjunction with the 2026-27 school year.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES:
The advantage of adopting amendments to Board Policy 546 is to update the procedures for planning and operating Supplementary Service to reflect current practice. This includes a more streamlined process which has become necessary as the timeline to make service changes has changed in recent years.
ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS:
One alternative is to leave the policy as it is now; however, leaving the policy in its current form does not match current practice for staff to meet the internal deadlines required to modify Supplementary Service in time for the start of each school year.
PRIOR RELEVANT BOARD ACTION/POLICIES:
None.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Current Board Policy 546 with Markup
Prepared by:
Sean Diest Lorgion, Acting Service Planning Manager
Approved/Reviewed by:
Robert del Rosario, Director of Service Development & Planning
Claudia Burgos, Executive Director of External Affairs and Customer Experience
Aaron Vogel, Chief Operating Officer
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Aimee L. Steele, General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer