Staff recommends that the City Council approve the three-year agreement with Remix Technologies LLC for $123,500.

Since December of 2019, MET Transit has subscribed to the Remix Transit Planning software platform for use in route and schedule planning and development; MET entered into an agreement with the vendor on an annual basis for an initial pricing of $15,000 annually for the route planning module.  This software was utilized extensively in the recently completed Transit Development Plan that is expected to be implemented in the Summer of 2023. Recently, MET Transit has also subscribed to an additional scheduling module available from Remix to support development of vehicle block scheduling, run-cutting (daily operator work schedules), and rostering (weekly operator schedules). Both of these modules have proven to be invaluable to MET as both utilize software support to assist in development of routes, bus schedules, and employee schedules. Prior to utilization of this software system, route and scheduling development was a tedious task utilizing spreadsheets and manual calculations of hours and capabilities, which took months of staff work to develop just a single scenario; by utilizing the Remix Planning Platform, staff can now develop multiple scenarios in a matter of days, leading to development of more efficient options for utilizing resources in execution of transit service.  Additional benefits of the system include quick and efficient development of detours, integration with fixed-route technologies for easy import and export of route and schedule data into Computer Aided Dispatch/Automated Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL) systems, and tools for presenting developed scenarios to both the workforce and the public as needed. Due to the addition of the scheduling module as well as cost increases seen since the initial subscription, MET Transit is requesting to enter into a three-year services agreement with reduced pricing offered from the vendor, decreasing costs from $48,200 annually, to an annual average cost of $41,166. MET Transit has heavily utilized the planning platform and has numerous data sets already developed and present in the Remix system and will rely on the system to support implementation of the Transit Development Plan fixed-route system overhaul; hence, MET is requesting this agreement be executed as a sole source option to maintain the time and work already invested into usage of the system. Further, Remix Technologies offers features within their software platform not supported by other vendors, further supporting justification for a sole source agreement. 

City Council may:

• Approve the agreement with Remix Technologies LLC; or
• Not approve the agreement and advise staff on how to proceed. 

The proposed cost of the subscription is $37,500 for the first year, $41,000 for year two, and $45,000 for year three.  Funds for this project are available in MET Transit's budget and will be expended using a combination of both local and Federal funds; planning software is an eligible expense with MET Transit's annual Federal Transit Administration section 5303 planning funding, which provides for an 80% Federal, 20% local match rate.  Year to year cost breakdowns are as follows:

Year	Remix Planning	Remix Scheduling	Total	Local Funding	Federal Funding
1	$17,000	$20,500	$37,500	$7,500	$30,000
2	$8,500	$22,500	$41,000	$8,200	$32,800
3	$20,500	$24,500	$45,000	$9,000	$36,000
		3-Year Totals	$123,500	$24,700	$98,800