City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

Carnegie Building, Room 200

May 10, 2016 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alan Black, Heather Thies, Mark Hurt, Lyle Hettinger, Jane Huesemann, James Pavision, Samantha Snyder

MEMBERS ABSENT:

None

STAFF PRESENT:

Robert Nugent, Serena Pearson, Ashley Myers, Mike Sweeten (MV), Danny Kaiser and Zach Kelsay (KU), Boris Palchik and Gretchen Johnson (Nelson-Nygaard)   

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Steven X. Davis

 

 

1. Call to Order

Lyle Hettinger, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:10. Quorum met.

 

2. Introductions

 Introductions went around the room.

 

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

Minutes from January and March PTAC meeting were presented to PTAC members. Alan Black pointed out one correction on a misspelled name. This will be corrected. There was a motion from Heather Thies to approve minutes on both sets of minutes. Alan Black seconded, all in favor, no opposed.

 

4. Service Change Proposals (Action Item) – Bob Nugent presented proposals for route changes on routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 and 15.  Route 1 will go down Haskell and Harper to the Lawrence Community Shelter and will give us north/south service on Haskell. Route 15 will still serve Peaslee Tech Center and will be a route to Downtown. It will also serve Harper and 27th where the Route 1 used to go. Route 5 will still go to East Hills but will not serve the Lawrence Community Shelter and County Jail since Route 1 will go there instead. Route 3 has been a flex route for the past three years but the ridership has been low, so it is changing to a fixed route that will serve the hospital. Route 6 will go straight down 6th Street and no longer serve the hospital since Route 3 will serve it instead. Route 9 was serving Rock Chalk Park, but it was not working well with transfers and timing, so Route 6 will serve it instead. These changes will be effective August 1, 2016.

 

Mark Hurt made a motion to approve proposed service changes, James Pavision seconded, all approved, no opposed.

 

5. Updates:

a.    Subcommittees – Bob Nugent explained that two subcommittees (referendum and PTAC member recruitment) have been formed. The referendum subcommittee has not met yet. The PTAC recruitment subcommittee consisting of Lyle, Jane and Heather did meet to discuss finding a potential PTAC member. There are 3-4 people that Bob would like to talk to and then get back to the committee. We will need the right person to move forward on this. Lyle Hettinger said that they will be handing out a sheet on the rules of being absent from PTAC meetings. We cannot conduct business without a quorum. He also said we would like to look at people who ride the bus and/or stand for the bus as potential PTAC members.  

 

b.    Transit Center Grant Proposal – Danny Kaiser and Bob Nugent explained that the TIGER grant application was submitted for the Transit Center. The dollar amount went up a bit, but the project needs to be feasible for the university. The parking lot needed to be larger to get the parking revenue to pay for the bond. The city has always been in it for 4 million dollars. We did get a 5-0 vote from the City Commission to go ahead and submit the grant. We will find out in August or September whether we were awarded the money. Danny Kaiser said that there are still a lot of hoops to jump through even if we get the grant, and there are a lot of things that need to happen both on the university and the city side. Jim Pavision asked if we get awarded the grant, when will the project be shovel-ready. Danny Kaiser answered and said it would be after the referendum, so possibly around 2018. 

 

Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) – Boris Palchek and Gretchen Johnson gave a presentation on the COA. What does a COA do? It shows the strengths and weaknesses of a transit system.  It attracts new riders, serves current riders better and improves overall efficiency of the system. Three overarching questions (highlighted on maps):  What does the market say?  What do the numbers say? What do the people say? They want to talk to riders, non-riders, PTAC members, staff, drivers and stakeholders. They have done on-board surveys and launched a project website (lawrencetransitstudy.com). You can take a survey on this website.

 

6. Public Comment – Steven X. Davis proposed a waiver of fares on two election days each year. He estimated that $1,300 in fares would be lost each day. Lyle Hettinger, Chair, said that the committee will take that into advisement.

 

7. Next Meeting Proposed

Tuesday, July 12, 2016 

There was discussion that Carnegie Building Conference Room will work better for the PTAC meetings since it is a bigger room.

 

8. Adjournment

Lyle Hettinger declared the meeting adjourned at 5:30

 

-Submitted by Serena Pearson