City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

Carnegie Building, Room 200

Sept 6, 2016 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alan Black, Heather Thies, Mark Hurt, Lyle Hettinger, Jane Huesemann, James Pavision, Zach Kelsay, John Augusto

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Samantha Snyder

STAFF PRESENT:

Robert Nugent, Serena Pearson, Ashley Myers, Danny Kaiser

PUBLIC PRESENT:

None

 

 

1. Call to Order

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

 

2. Introductions

 Introductions went around the room.  New members are Zach Kelsay and John Augusto.

 

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

Minutes from May PTAC meeting were presented to PTAC members for approval and meeting notes from the July PTAC meeting were handed out. There was a motion from Heather Thies to approve minutes. Mark Hurt seconded, all in favor, no opposed.

 

4. Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) – Ashley Myers passed around a handout regarding the COA. The MPO and the City, along with KU on Wheels are working together to do the COA. Nelson\Nygaard gave the goals of the COA at a previous meeting. Right now we are in the data analysis portion and have a survey out to the public. They are putting together route profiles and they will use that information to pull together with other information they are gathering to make suggestions for improvements. The project will be done in December.   

 

5. Summer Bus Pass – Serena Pearson explained that the Student Summer Bus Pass program is over for the summer. The program went well this year with 537 passes sold. Last year, 418 summer bus passes were sold, so there was a 28% increase in 2016. This was probably due to grocery stores selling the passes this year (in addition to City Hall and the recreation centers), more social media exposure and word of mouth. Next year, we will try to come up with more ideas on how to promote the program. Jim Pavision asked if we have approached the schools and to see if they can incorporate the bus pass into selling them at registration. Jane Huesemann said that kids can be uncomfortable riding the bus, so if there are more kids riding they may feel more comfortable. Perhaps we could have a bus ride day with the school district. Zach mentioned that he received several positive comments from the Student Summer Bus pass from parents. Heather thought it could be a “green pass” showing the way riding the bus helps the environment. Jane thought we could do a contest to see which school has the most bus riders.

 

6. Annual Kansas Bus Roadeo – Wendy Koerner said that KU on Wheels and Lawrence Transit are hosting the 2nd Annual Kansas Bus Roadeo this year.  It will be held at the Park and Ride lot at KU on September 25th. It is a friendly competition with about 30 bus drivers from around the state participating. The competition will include driving, safety, pre-trips, securing wheelchairs and a written test. The winner will receive an award and will be sponsored by CTAA to go to the national competition. There will be food for the volunteers and drivers.

 

7. Transit Center – Bob Nugent explained we had a proposal for the transit center through a Federal TIGER grant, but unfortunately we were not awarded the grant. We were looking at building a multimodal center at Lot 90 on the KU campus using federal dollars to help pay for it. The competition was very steep and no one in Kansas, Oklahoma or Nebraska was awarded money through a TIGER grant, except Iowa, who was the only state in the Midwest region awarded. We will be working on finding another suitable location for a transit center location. The current transit hub (at 7th and Vermont) does not have enough space for the buses. Also, having buses parked at a curb makes it difficult for people to find their buses and to make transfers. The benefits of having a transit center are numerous, with the sole purpose of transferring from one bus to another. It is not meant to be a destination, but to make a transit system work more efficiently. We may want to do a study to determine the best location for the transit center and to find out the best way to serve all parts of town.

 

8. Future Business:

a. By-Laws – Bob Nugent explained that we should probably take a look at the by-laws for PTAC again. Bob will send a copy to everyone on the committee, and now that we have a couple of new members it may be a good time to discuss these. Attendance is very important and we need to enforce what is written in the by-laws. We will discuss further at the next meeting.

b. Tax Referendum Subcommittee – Alan Black will be working on this and will send any information to Lyle Hettinger.

 

 

6. Public Comment - none

 

7. Next Meeting Proposed

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 (November 8 is Election Day) John Augusto made a motion to agree on a date for the next meeting, Jim Pavision seconded, all in favor, no opposed. Alan Black made a motion for the meeting for the next meeting to be November 1st and Jim Pavision seconded, all in favor, no opposed.

 

 

8. Adjournment

Lyle Hettinger declared the meeting adjourned at 5:20.

 

-Submitted by Serena Pearson