City of Lawrence
Public Transit Advisory Committee
City Commission Room, First Floor of City Hall
July 10, 2017 minutes
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
Alan Black, Heather Thies, Mark Hurt, Zachary Kelsay, John Augusto, Lance Fahy, James Pavision |
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MEMBERS ABSENT: |
Sarah Trumble |
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STAFF PRESENT: |
Robert Nugent, Wendy Koerner, Mike Sweeten, Serena Pearson, Ashley Myers |
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PUBLIC PRESENT: |
None
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1. Call to Order
Alan Black, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:10. Quorum met.
2. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)
Minutes from the May 8, 2017 PTAC meeting were presented to PTAC members for approval. Alan Black found a couple of typos. They will be fixed. There was a motion from Heather Thies to approve the minutes, Lance Fahy seconded, all in favor, no opposed.
3. Student Pass Pilot Project (Action Item) Serena Pearson gave the committee a review of the proposed new bus pass for K-12 students. It will be called the K-12 Semester Pass and will be a four month, $10 pass, good from September to December. There will also be a spring pass. This is a one year pilot project. The pass will be sold at grocery stores and other locations around town. Zach Kelsay made a motion to approve, John Augusto seconded and all approved.
4. Senior Outreach Program Serena Pearson explained that outreach to senior facilities has been taking place. This program was designed to educate residents on how to ride the bus. The goal is to eliminate a lot of the fears that people have about the bus, such as where to catch the bus, how to read a schedule, where will the bus take me, how to pay your fare, etc. After the training, there will be a field trip scheduled. Many of the facilities have their own bus, but they dont run every day or may only go to certain places. There will also be a training scheduled with the Senior Resource Center for anyone who would like to attend. This will probably take place in September or October. John Augusto said that he is a program advisor for a community outreach program on the KU campus. He thinks that this may be a good fit for student volunteers to help since they are already doing volunteer work with seniors. There is another group that works with K-12 students. These students may be helpful for outreach of both the student pass and the senior program.
5. Transit Amenity Planning Bob Nugent explained that back in 2015 we developed a transit amenity plan. We put out 15 benches around town at the time. We have been reluctant to put out amenities due to waiting on a location for a transit center.
Bus shelters can be very expensive to maintain. Benches are much less expensive to maintain and install or move.
Lance Fahy commented that the path from the sidewalk to the shelter needs to be wheelchair accessible and that bus stop signs should be easy to see. Zach Kelsay stated that the maps and schedules in the shelters are very useful. Bicycle racks are also important at bus stops. Trash cans can get full or are overflowing at times. Bob Nugent replied that there have been some changes made to help alleviate that issue. Alan Black asked about electronic real-time information at bus stops. Bob Nugent replied that we have mobile tools available where bus riders have the ability to send a text or view an app to find out when their bus is coming in real-time. Mike Sweeten explained that a new texting feature and app will soon be available. MV Transit is partnering with a company called Synchromatics for this. Lance Fahy had a concern about reroutes that happen on a regular basis. Bob Nugent explained that we are working on getting this information out to people sooner and smarter. With Synchromatics, you can subscribe to a route and it will tell you if the bus is on time or not.
6. Updates:
a. Transit Center Ashley Myers said that a contract was signed with TranSystems to do the study for the Transit Center. Bob Nugent said that we have a subcontract with Groundswell Consulting so we will be having a lot more outreach and public involvement this time and can use that for our technical analysis.
b. Tax Referendum Jim Pavision asked how the transit tax will be on the ballot this year. Would it be one question or three questions? Bob explained that we dont know how it will look yet but we will find out soon. Lance Fahy wanted to make the point that people need to be aware that this election is about continuing the sales tax, not adding a new tax. Mark Hurt wanted to know if there is going to be a bulleted list of what will happen if the tax does not pass and what will happen if it does. Alan Black asked about affordable housing. Bob explained that the .05 will go for affordable housing on the ballot.
7. Public Comment No public comment
8. Next Meeting September 11, 2017
11. Adjournment - 5:20 pm
-Submitted by Serena Pearson