City of Surrey
Request for Proposals – Transit Shelter,
Advertising Technologies & Street
Furniture - NOTES
Pondside Meeting Room
14245 - 56 Avenue
Surrey, B.C.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009
Time: 10:09 a.m.
File:
1220-30-04-09
Present:
Staff Present:
Joe Holoboff – Key-Bench Advertising Ltd.
Rob Hunt – Pattison Outdoor Advertising
Don Higginson – Pattison Outdoor Advertising
David Struthers – CBS Outdoor
Brent Nichol – Key Bench Advertising Ltd.
Jeff Deby – Translink
Doug Louie – City of Burnaby
Valerie McIlroy – Consultant, Waterford Partners Inc.
Craig MacFarlane – City Solicitor
Violet McGregor – Purchasing & Payments Manager
Ania Schoof – EA Assistant, Traffic Operations Section
Nicole Dyrbye – Administrative Assistant, Legislative Services
INTRODUCTION
Staff introduced themselves to the group and provided the following opening comments:
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This meeting is an informal overview of the Request for Proposals ("RFP") concerning
the Transit Shelter, Advertising Technologies and Street Furniture proposal for the City
of Surrey. All of the information concerning this RFP will be posted on the City's
website and the commentary from this meeting will be recorded and posted online as an
addendum to the RFP.
The RFP is broken down into different sections including instructions to proponents,
conditions, Schedule A, which includes all the details of the project itself, Schedule B,
with a copy of the Agreement (of which a copy will be uploaded to the City website the
week of May 19, 2009), and Schedule C, which is the Form of Proposal.
The closing date will be Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. It is important that seven
copies of each proposal including seven CDs be included as each evaluator will require
one copy to review. Please ensure that the proposals are not late or they will not be
accepted.
Question was raised whether this date will be firm as two weeks does not seem like an
adequate timeline for the work required to provide a proposal. Typically no less than six
weeks is provided for this size of a project.
Staff advised they will take these comments under consideration.
PRESENTATION
The following information was presented concerning the RFP:
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This is a review on the strategy behind Surrey's approach, and directionally where the
City sees its future development and growth. Surrey's goals are to capture the energy,
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vibrancy and excitement of a forward thinking and progressive community. Surrey has
taken aggressive strategies and programs to build a strong economic profile.
With a land area size of 122.5 square miles and a current population of 461,000, Surrey
will exceed a total population of 500,000 within the next five years. The City will be
larger than Vancouver in 2020 or so and we want to ensure that it is a vibrant and
attractive community.
The City of Surrey breaks down to 49% of the population growth, increasing at 1,000
persons per year. There is also a lot of cultural diversity in Surrey which has a very
positive appeal to national advertisers as well as being a venue City for the 2010
Olympics. Currently, there are over 16,000 businesses with 38% of the residents of
Surrey also working here. There are minimal business revenues and there are many
opportunities for growth and development in Surrey.
The City is in the process of redesigning City Centre, where there are already many
anchor buildings and services including the Bing Thom Central City tower, BCIT, SFU,
Translink hub and Skytrain. The massive size and opportunities in Surrey lends to its
unique character. This is an exciting and progressive community which is very well
situated.
The objectives of this project are to improve revenues and cost benefits for both the City
and the Proponent. Coordinating and integrating beautification while maintaining a
modern, elegant and contemporary look are important parts of this project. The City is
formerly well known as the City of Parks and is now positioned to be more urban as the
City of Cities.
The primary issues with the current transit shelters throughout the City are that their
design is dated and many do not provide proper shelter. The new Street Furniture
strategy does not permit bench advertising; provisions will be only for 4 x 6 panels in
addition to a digital large format pilot that is current still under study.
It was noted that within the next month or two there will be a major announcement
concerning a $200 million dollar large scale development in Surrey City Centre which
will add a great deal of transit usage in the lower mainland. As well, there will be a
Transportation announcement concerning the transportation centre for City Centre.
Vancouver is seen as a large area that is the most attractive media market in the lower
mainland to national advertisers. Surrey can do better and has a strong demographic of
young families, ethnicity and above average incomes, etc. New coordinated street
furniture will enhance the appeal of the market to national brands.
Surrey is looking for a green approach going forward. It is being looked at to have transit
shelters, bike racks, and locker buildings. As well, multi-publication units are being
considered, although there are not any on the streets of Surrey at the moment. With
respect to public washrooms, there are also current none, but since there are big plans for
the revitalization of City Centre, they didn't want to eliminate the idea completely.
The City is working to designate specific spaces for advertising within the 42,000 square
feet of available space. There is a forecast for a limited number of back to back LED
face units which will also enhance the appeal of the City of Surrey to national advertisers.
Currently, the contract for advertising expires in June of 2009, which is a shelter only
contract. The primary concerns have been with respect to maintenance issues and many
of the shelters no longer providing shelter. In terms of the new Agreement, the City is
looking for an exclusive partnership for either 10 or 20 years.
Ideally, the City would like to change the overall look of the City along the main arterial
roadways within the city as a first priority. These areas are where Proponents will need
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to respond quickly with fabrication and construction to meet these priorities driven by the
2010 Olympics.
The plan is to have City Center branded by "transforming locations into destinations –
places where consumers go for entertainment, dining, shopping, to work, (to learn) and to
live…and where brands are an integral part of that experience."
In summary, the whole strategy encompasses ways to improve the appearance of Surrey
and to coordinate the design image with the direction of the City to provide better
functionality, stronger partnerships, revenue optimization over the long term and to
obtain national advertiser status. We want Surrey to be considered a forward thinking
City. These new advertising technologies and branded spaces will enhance the image of
Surrey without negatively affecting the streetscape landscape or the environment.
DISCUSSION
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Question was raised concerning the rationale behind not having advertising on benches.
Staff explained that the City's goal is to de-clutter the current advertising and to provide
more clear sight lines. Benches have been classified as amenities and will look better
without advertising. The City is looking for a unique and different design feel.
Comment was made that it may be viewed as detrimental for local advertisers in the
community who want to be able to advertise. Staff responded by explaining that they are
looking at a broader base of furniture as well as alternative locations that will provide
advertising so this will hopefully not be an issue. Staff also suggested remnant space will
be available on the Transit shelters for advertising which will be affordable to local
advertisers.
The RFP was questioned concerning the estimate of the City only requiring 700 benches
in the next 20 years. Staff responded and explained that this is based on Translink's 2040
plan as well as other sets of criteria that are still under development. If more are needed
then that can be accommodated through the terms in the RFP at the cost provided by the
supplier and paid for or exchanged within the terms of the proposed RFP as the plan for
year one of the contract is to have 365 benches installed. The current bench contract
expires in April 2016 and the plan is to eliminate advertising on all benches after that
date.
Request was made for the City to access information concerning data on the history of
the shelter program and its growth throughout the last ten years; this historical
information would be helpful to get a sense of growth and to provide an outlook for the
future.
As well, question was raised concerning the Agreement making mention of needing 200
shelters from year 11 to 20, and what would be included in the ten year plan and who
would retain ownership at the end of the term. Staff explained that the historical
information for the transit shelters can be provided, but advertising shelter forecast is
based on transit ridership and traffic volumes. Also concerning the Agreement, if a
proponent signed up for just ten years, then a new RFP would be required for the
following ten years thereafter. The City will need to review the depreciated value based
on a ten year term.
Question was raised as to what the plan for the current transit shelters is as well as
expansion in the first year. Staff explained that once the new documentation is in place,
the City will discuss with the proponent the plans which will ideally include removing the
existing shelters and installing new shelters to ensure the public is not left without
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adequate transit shelters. The rollout schedule for the first year of the plan is indicated by
the number of transit shelters. Surrey has about 204 shelters at the moment and they are
of varying generations. There are specific locations that the City would like to have
addressed first considering the current condition of some of the transit shelters.
Question was raised as to whether the transit shelters are to be enclosed on all four sides
or not. Staff advised that ideally, yes, the shelters are to be fully enclosed and to have the
fourth wall facing the street be just under a meter. The main priority is for the shelters to
provide shelter, with keeping safety as our number one objective and having two
openings so people cannot be trapped inside.
Comment was made that this project could be very attractive to a company if both the
street furniture and digital component went hand in hand. Otherwise, it may be difficult
to do one or the other if a company cannot do both.
Question was asked as to the current cleaning and maintenance arrangements in terms of
snow removal etc. and who would be responsible for this aspect. Realistically, in order to
clear snow, traffic will have to be blocked and in a city the size of Surrey, it will be
problematic to complete this task within 24 hours. Staff responded that it is in the RFP to
be the responsibility of the operator within reason based on road clearance and safety.
Comment was made that Translink have some areas with their own advertising spaces.
Further, comment was made concerning the sign by-law and that exclusions will need to
be made and question was raised as to whether Translink's advertising will take away
from the exclusivity of the contract. Staff responded by saying that the legalities will
have to be looked into in that they will have to make sure that the agreements do not
allow weakness in the exclusivity of the advertising.
With respect to vandalism, question was raised as to whether the City will continue to
have the glass removed from transit shelters if there is a problem. Staff explained that it
is the City's intent to continue from a policing and management perspective to reduce
graffiti issues, but they would like to have the transparency of the glass to stay on the
shelters and will be a responsibility under the terms of the contract.
The meeting adjourned at 11:17 a.m.
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