The historic agreement was reached after many years of cooperation between the University and AATA, followed by nearly a year of discussions, planning and negotiations. The negotiating team included representatives from AATA management, U-M management and an AFSCME union steward who is also a U-M transit coach operator.

TERMS
Under this contract, AATA will permit all active U-M faculty, staff and students to ride on all of its regularly scheduled fixed-route buses at any time of day, any day of the week the service operates without paying a fare. U-M passengers simply will show a valid yellow Mcard ID to access the AATA’s Mride Program.

In addition, AATA will add at least 8,000 annual service hours, tailored to the needs of the University, beginning in January 2005. These service improvements will be guided by student and employee residential demographics, and input from the University community.

The five-year contract is valued at approximately $1.8 million per year. The bulk of the contract, approximately $1.1 million per year, will be provided by the federal funds earned by U-M transit operations. U-M will continue to pay $700,000. This contract will supplant the three existing agreements between the University and AATA (bus pass program, Park & Ride program, and Route 36).

BENEFITS
The unlimited access service, named “AATA’s Mride Program,” will provide many benefits to the University and the surrounding community, including:

• Reduced parking demand, both on campus and in nearby municipal lots and streets, by providing another major transportation option for employees and students.
• A new no-cost transportation option for students to access retail and entertainment venues.
• Leverage of significant federal dollars to provide additional transportation service to the U-M community.
• Reduced traffic volume on local streets and highways.
• Reduced vehicular traffic will result in reduced air and noise pollution.
• Increased ridership on AATA buses (means increased federal funding and better utilization of existing resources).
• Improved service levels (increased frequency and added service hours) in 2005 will be available to U-M employees and students, as well as to the general public.

The University currently has three contractual arrangements with AATA and paid approximately $700,000 for these services in FY2004. These contracts are for 1) free AATA bus passes for any employee who opts out of the University parking program, 2) free rides on AATA buses from all Park & Ride lots for all students and employees, and 3) improved frequency and hours of service on AATA route 36, serving Wolverine Tower and the State Street Park & Ride lot.

IMPLEMENTATION
The new unlimited access program will be announced to the University and greater Ann Arbor community in late July. Marketing and promotional efforts will occur throughout the fall semester. Additional service hours, through extended hours, increased frequency or route modifications, will be implemented in January 2005.

The success of this new program will be monitored through a set of standards related to service quality, transportation performance standards and customer feedback. In addition, we will quantify the increase in passenger trips generated as a result of this program. Additionally, we plan to conduct a survey of participating and non-participating U-M students, staff and faculty during the fall semester to gauge customer acceptance.

CONCLUSION
This is a major step in the continuing cooperation between two excellent transit systems that complement each other very well. U-M’s buses will continue to serve an essential role in transporting passengers between campuses and within the campus. AATA’s role is to provide service to the entire community, including to and from the campus area. We look forward to seeing the benefits that will result from this agreement.

For more detailed information about this agreement, please contact Hank Baier, AVP F&O, at 734.764.3402 or Dave Miller, director of U-M Parking and Transportation, at 734.764.8291.