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City of Eugene City Council Page 12 September 12, 2012 improve a needed community service while also accomplishing community goals around attracting new riders to transit. exceeds that of many much larger communities. In fact, based on 2010 National Transit Database figures, our productivity and ridership exceed that of most th regions. In productivity (boardings per vehicle hour) LTD was ranked 29 out of the over 500 transit st services, and for absolute ridership, LTD had 11.4 million boardings in 2010 and was ranked 71 overall. This compares favorably with other even much larger transit districts including Phoenix, Memphis, Snohomish, Jacksonville, and Riverside. A comparison of the number of people and jobs along the Franklin and Gateway EmX routes, with that of ththth the West Eugene EmX 6/7/11 corridor indicates that while the Franklin line has higher employment with downtown and the University, the existing and projected population and employment for the West Eugene corridor is similar or higher for than that of the successful Gateway corridor, and higher in existing and projected population compared to the Franklin line. While the Franklin and Gateway are successful now, both will be further complimented by this extension of the system that provides a greater overall level of service and connectivity that enhances our community. The total benefits of EmX corridors and the EmX system will best be seen over time as more of the system is built out. All transportation modes are subsidized at some level and the ability of transit users to fully fund operations was last seen in the United State in the late 1960's and early 1970's. During the transition to government funded transit services, the mandate was to ensure that people in our communities had a cost effective way to access jobs, education, recreation, medical services, etc. A number of federal guidelines, along with state and federal legislation govern the setting of transit fares. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act outlines specific analyses that require transit districts to show that fare pricing does not discriminate based on a person's national origin. Similarly, Executive Order 12898 outlines restrictions that apply to minority and low income populations. Senior citizens and people with disabilities are required to only pay one-half the full adult rate. Paratransit rates cannot exceed two times the adult cash fare. This illustrates that transit districts must work within the many laws and requirements while developing fare structures that provide the greatest opportunity to increase revenues generated from the fare box. While the social service aspects of public transportation continue to be fundamental part of what transit agencies provide, today's opportunities for providing viable alternatives to single occupancy car travel offer economic, social, and environmental benefits. The development of EmX service provides a regional network of routes that provide a level of choice that accommodates the governmental mandate to provide access while at the same providing an enhanced level of service that many residents will choose to ride over driving their car. Finally, as described in Chapter 5 of the EA, its important to remember that improvements to transit service would be provided at a lower cost per rider to LTD, and that range financial plan does not envision any further reductions in service hours, while in the long term LTD anticipates the ability to expand service hours.