City of
Public
Transit Advisory Committee
February
12, 2008 minutes
|
MEMBERS PRESENT: |
Chair Marian Hukle, Marc Epard, Ian Cahir, Mark Hurt, May
Davis, |
|
MEMBERS ABSENT: |
David Dunfield, Ann
Foster |
|
STAFF PRESENT: |
|
|
PUBLIC PRESENT: |
Saunny Scott, Howard Hill, Marion Babb |
1. Call to Order
Committee
Chair Marian Hukle called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m.
2. Public Comment
Marion
Babb thanked the committee for recommending the change from the 3-day
reservation window to 5 days. She said the new 5-day window has been working
great.
3. Agenda Review
Added
approval of minutes after item 9, 2008 PTAC Chair and Vice-chair Appointments.
4. Public Transit Administrator
Update
a. 2007 Ridership
and Other Performance Statistics
PTA
introduced Howard Hill, who will be appointed tonight to PTAC. Howard is a
former city commissioner and current public transit user. Introductions were
made around the table. PTA said overall ridership was
down 6.5% in 2007. However, with the ridership from
the Park & Ride system, approximately 261,000 trips for 2007, brings the
total for our urbanized area to approximately 707,000 total trips. This means
an increase of 15% over the prior year. PTA said we will receive $1,496,307 in
5307 formula funds for FY2008. This is an increase of 8% over 2007. State
funding will remain the same in FY2008. PTA said that state funds are allocated
based on population, but he would advocate that in the future they be allocated
based on performance. PTA said the transit department cut its budget by 18% in
2007. Farebox and bus pass sales were up 25% in 2007.
PTA said the majority of expenditures last year were paid by non-local revenue.
b. Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC)
Grant Submission Status
PTA said
he submitted an application for JARC funds, which we have never done in the
past. The program criteria changed, and KDOT now has money to distribute that
can be used for capital expenses. PTA put in a request for $520,000 to replace
buses. That would cover the replacement of one bus, and partially cover a
second one.
c. FY09 Transit Earmark Request to
PTA said
he had requested funding to replace seven transit vehicles.
d. Media coverage of Johnson
PTA said he
did an analysis of Johnson County Transit. There was a recent article in the
Kansas City Star about increased bus ridership in the
Kansas City Metro area. The article reported that ridership
was up 32 percent. Much of that was attributed to the success of the K-10
Connector.
5. KU Coordination Status/Joint RFP
for Contracted Transportation Services
PTA said
May Davis helped out with drafting the RFP. The document has been issued and is
available on the transit web site. There was a mandatory pre-proposal meeting.
Three companies attended: MV Transportation, First Transit, and Penske Corporation. PTA said he believes two companies will
submit a bid. Penske Corporation is mainly interested
in bus maintenance and would need to partner with another company. After
proposals are received, negotiations will begin. The transit budget is due in
the beginning of April. In order to complete the budget, PTA said he will need
to have information about the upcoming contract. Marian Hukle asked whether the
RFP includes a plan for coordination with KU. PTA said the preference is for
one contractor to submit a proposal for both KU and City services, and the hope
would be to realize operational and cost efficiencies in doing so. However,
contractors have the option to submit a proposal for KU service, City service,
or both. Shelter maintenance and snow removal have also been included in the
RFP. PTA said he anticipates costs will go up. Fuel costs, personnel costs and
maintenance costs will all contribute to the increase.
6. Community-Wide Survey Status
Emily
provided an update on the survey that was distributed to all households via the
utility bills. Approximately 31,000 were distributed, and more than 1,200 were
returned, for a response rate of about 4%. PTAC members were pleased with the response
rate. Emily said she and Wendy were about halfway through tallying the results.
7. Google Trip Planning Status
We’ve been
working with Google since the end of November on trip planning services. The
GIS person for the City has been testing Route 8. If the test works out, PTA
said we will aggressively move forward with the rest of the routes. PTA said he
thinks it will be a way to eliminate barriers for those who have trouble
reading schedules and maps and make the system more user-friendly. He hopes to
launch the system this Spring. Marian Hukle inquired if this service costs
anything. PTA replied that the only costs are in staff time needed to compile
and update the information.
8. Sub-committee Updates
There have
not been any sub-committee meetings. PTA said he would like to get
sub-committees going again, possibly in March. Marian Hukle asked what topics
PTA would like sub-committees to address. He said he would like to have a
working group to start looking at service improvements, another one to follow
up on route performance standards. Lastly, he said he needed assistance with
public outreach and education. No sub-committee meetings were scheduled.
9. 2008 PTAC Chair and Vice-Chair
Appointments
Marian
Hukle announced that she is stepping down from PTAC due to personal reasons. Aside
from Marian, there were five remaining PTAC members who could be appointed for
Chair and Vice-chair. PTA said the appointments did not necessarily have to be
made today. Marian agreed the committee should defer to the April meeting so
members have more time to think about it, since there was short notice that
leadership would shift.
10. Approval of Minutes for October
and December PTAC Meetings
May
11. Public Comment
None
provided.
12. Tentative Next Meeting Date:
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 for the regular PTAC meeting. Marian Hukle called a special
meeting, tentatively scheduled for March 25. A Transit 101 meeting also was planned,
at a time to be determined.
14. Adjournment
Meeting
was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
—Submitted
by Emily Lubliner
Approved
at 6/5/08 PTAC meeting