Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Transit

TO:	Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager
FROM:	Robert A. Nugent, Public Transit Administrator
CC:	Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager
DATE:	February 18, 2016
RE:	Transit Update

Public Hearings

On February 16-18 Lawrence Transit held public hearings to present proposed route changes to the public. These meetings were held at the Lawrence Library and the Kansas Union. The meetings were well attended and staff received considerable feedback from the public pertaining to the proposed changes. Lawrence Transit will continue to take comments through the end of March.

Route 7

In our continued efforts to improve service to the community Lawrence Transit added an additional bus to Route 7. In doing so, service frequency was improved from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes. This addition is the result of ever increasing ridership and crowding issues on Route 7.

Free State Stop

Several months ago Lawrence Transit staff evaluated the bus stop at Free state High School to determine if the stop met the passenger boardings threshold to justify the installation of amenitities. Having met the criteria Lawrence Transit was actively pursing the installation of a bench at that location. After further evaluation staff has decided to also install a bus shelter along with a bench at that location.

Driver Appreciation

In early February, Cottonwood Inc. held an Appreciation Day for the drivers of the Lawrence Transit’s T Lift service. The T Lift is a federally mandated   complementary paratransit service that transports approximately 5,000 passengers a every month.

Transit Center

FTA recently released a notice of funding availability for the 2016 TIGER Grants, which the City and the University of Kansas are considering as a funding potential for a transit center.  See attached notice for more information.

Staff will be preparing an update for the March 8, 2016 City Commission Meeting.