Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Project Manager, Rapid Transit Office in consultation with the General Manager of Engineering Services

SUBJECT:

Rapid Transit Phase 2 Consultation - Consultant Contract Extension

 

RECOMMENDATION

COUNCIL POLICY

City Council approves Consultant contracts or extensions greater than $30,000.

PURPOSE

On December 14, 1999 Council asked staff to obtain public feedback on the "Broadway Lougheed Rapid Transit Phase II technical report. Council previously approved $230 000 for this public process when it initially approved the staffing and funding for the Vancouver Rapid Transit Office.

The purpose of this report is to recommend Council approve $167 000 of this $230 000 to allow BRW, Inc. (the consultant who did the technical work) and MarkTrend Research to participate in the public process.

RECOMMENDED CONTRACT EXTENSIONS

1. BRW, INC.

BRW, Inc. is the consultant that did the technical study on the Phase 2 extension of rapid transit within the Broadway Corridor. On December 14, 1999, Council received for information, the BRW Inc. report on the "Broadway/Lougheed Rapid Transit Line Phase II -Commercial Drive West" and asked staff to obtain public feedback on the technical report per the methodology contained in the Council report. This methodology contemplated BRW, Inc. playing a key role in explaining to the public the technical elements of its report.

The cost of BRW, Inc.'s participation in the public process is $115,000 and is consistent with the hourly rates agreed to in the original contract..

Staff recommends Council approve the extension of the BRW, Inc. contract.

2. MARK TREND RESEARCH

The public process methodology recognized that written or telephone surveys could capture a broader public view than would be obtained from the symposium and follow up workshops, open houses, and individual meetings with key stakeholders.

Staff have concluded that it is possible within the timeframe of the public process, to the end of March, to pursue a broader public survey.

MarkTrend has an existing contract with the City that was undertaken to obtain public feedback on the original decision by the Province to use SkyTrain technology. Recent discussions with the City's consultant on the Phase 2 public process and MarkTrend have concluded that the following work would be desireable to finish the public process:

1. Four focus group meetings with merchants along Broadway/10th.

2. Distribution of written material followed up with a phone survey of 500 residents: 300 City-wide; and 200 residents within 6 blocks of the Broadway/10th Ave corridor.

The information obtained from the above surveys would be similar in content to the information explored at the workshops and open houses, ie; feedback on the proposed route and technology choices and will complement the information obtained from the City process.

Few merchants showed up at the open houses and workshops put on by the City. Therefore, the focus group technique will allow merchants to probe and provide feedback on the issue based on a good understanding of the route and technology choices. The City public process obtained this qualatative-type of feedback from the public. Therefore, the phone survey will complement this feedback with a more statistically reliable sample that will reflect the City population as a whole.

The cost of MarkTrend doing this work is $52,000.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The total cost of completing this portion of the public consultation process is $167,000. An amount of $230 000 was included in the original budget approved by Council for this portion of the City rapid transit work and was set aside in Account 531070 90013495.

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