TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Michael A. Hursh, General Manager
SUBJECT: Strategic Plan Update
BRIEFING ITEM
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider providing feedback on the draft Strategic Plan Addendum.
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
This update is relevant to all Strategic Plan Goals and Initiatives.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct budgetary or fiscal impact from approving the Addendum. Actions proposed in the Strategic Plan could have a budgetary impact, which would be shown at the time they are implemented.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
The attached Addendum is an explanatory addendum for, and a partial revision of, the AC Transit Strategic Plan.
In April, 2019 the AC Transit Board of Directors adopted the AC Transit Strategic Plan, the first such plan in decades. Strategic Plans are overarching planning documents which many transit agencies use to document and communicate their priorities, values, goals, and key actions. Our strategic plan process is shown in Figure 1 of the 2019 Plan. It progresses from an anticipated scenario about the future informed by the District’s core values, through vision and mission statements, to a set of goals, broad initiatives to support those goals, and detailed objectives and metrics to measure progress. The Plan was understood as a medium-term plan, to last some five to ten years before a major revision.
However, as 2021 progressed, it became increasingly clear that many of the conditions of 2019 had changed dramatically. The nature of those changes as they affected AC Transit is discussed within the Addendum document. Therefore, in Summer 2021, the General Manager directed an update of the Strategic Plan.
Despite these changes, two years is too short of a time frame to fully evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of a Strategic Plan. The new plan would also have to be developed in a time of great uncertainty and flux for transit and the broader society. A full Strategic Plan revision process would also be resource intensive at a time when District resources were being stretched thin by the very changes it would document. Staff anticipates preparing a complete revision for Board review and adoption in 2024, five years after the current document.
For these reasons, staff is proposing this explanatory addendum. This Addendum closely follows the framework which staff presented at the September 2021 board retreat. The Addendum updates the Future Scenario, Goal statements, while adding an explicit equity goal. It similarly updates the Strategic Initiatives. Staff is also developing updated objectives and metrics will be incorporated into the final Addendum. The Addendum also discusses the reasoning for the subjects included in the document.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES:
The advantage of incorporating this Addendum is that the Strategic Plan will more closely reflect current conditions. The downside to this Addendum is that it could be issued in a time when the environment affecting public transit is still in flux and evolving. However, the significant environmental changes prompt an immediate need to rethink of the District’s strategies.
ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS:
The alternative to incorporating this Addendum is not incorporating it at this time. No legislation or policy requires this Addendum. It is being proposed in the interest of making the Strategic Plan more current and responsive without undertaking a complete revision of the existing Plan. Staff determined that the Addendum was necessary in order to refocus the District’s strategies in response to environmental factors.
PRIOR RELEVANT BOARD ACTION/POLICIES:
AC Transit Strategic Plan, adopted April 10, 2019
Strategic Plan Addendum Presentation at Board Retreat, September 29, 2021
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft Strategic Plan Addendum, January 2022
Prepared by:
Nathan Landau, Senior Transportation Planner
In Collaboration with:
Jim Cunradi, Transportation Planning Manager
William Tonis, Director of Project Controls & System Analysis
Approved/Reviewed by:
Robert del Rosario, Director of Service Development and Planning
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering