HISTORY:
At the December 9, 2015 City Commission meeting, the Commission discussed the need to improve the existing bus shelter design and the desire for bus shelters to include enhancements that could help promote transit. The new bus shelter design is intended to be of an iconic nature and incorporate features enhancing the transit experience of passengers, including innovative designs and technology, as well as to enable for installation of bus shelters at more bus stops with high transit ridership.
Given the City Commission’s desire for an iconic bus shelter design, the Commission directed the Administration to procure design services first, and once a design was approved, to subsequently pursue the construction, operation, and maintenance of the new bus shelters via a separate competitive solicitation process.
At the March 9, 2016 City Commission meeting, the Commission adopted Resolution No. 2016-29325, accepting the recommendation of the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee (FCWPC) to issue a Request for Proposals for the design of new bus shelters; and authorizing the City Manager to extend the existing agreement between the City and Clear Channel on a month-to-month basis after expiration on October 31, 2016, as needed, such that the Clear Channel contract would remain in place until a new bus shelter contract is executed.
On April 13, 2016, the City Commission approved to issue Request For Qualifications (RFQ) No. 2016-116-KB for Architectural and Engineering Design Criteria Professional Services for New Bus Shelters. The evaluation process resulted in the ranking of ACAI Associates, Inc., as the top ranked proposer. The ACAI Associates team includes the premier design firm of Pininfarina.
A contract for design services was executed on July 19, 2017, and the design effort commenced on October 4, 2017. The design phase includes development of 100% final engineering plans, specifications, and construction cost estimates and is anticipated to be completed by end of September 2018.
Four (4) shelter design types are being developed by the ACAI/Pininfarina team: 1) enhanced shelter (robust shelter for installation at major transfer points with high number of users); 2) standard shelter; 3) minimal shelter (for installation at locations with limited right-of-way width, low ridership, or adjacent to single family residential areas); and 4) temporary shelter (low-cost installation for temporary use at locations affected by construction).
At its December 15, 2017 meeting, the FCWPC discussed an item entitled "Bus Shelter Design Concepts" and reviewed (4) preliminary design concepts for each of the bus shelter types submitted by the design team as part of a pre-design report, excluding the temporary shelter. The Committee passed a motion recommending that two (2) of the four (4) design concepts (specifically Concept # 3 and Concept # 4) be advanced for further design development, including cost estimation.
At its January 17, 2018 meeting, the City Commission adopted Resolution No. 2018-30152, accepting the recommendation of the FCWPC and approving Concepts # 3 and 4 for further design development and cost estimation.