City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

October 18, 2005 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Chairman Danny Kaiser, Marian Hukle, Alan Black, Rob Tabor, Marc Epard, Jessica Mortinger

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Andy Stahmer, Jo Ann Garrett, Richard Heckler

STAFF PRESENT:

Public Transit  Administrator (PTA) Cliff Galante, Mike Sweeten, Wendy Koerner, Rachel Cornish

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Arthur Schmidt, Danny Drungilas

 

Call to Order

Chairman Danny Kaiser called the meeting to order at 4:20 pm. 

 

Public Comment

Arthur Schmidt from the Prairie Park area said he submitted a petition to remove the bus from the portion of Harper Street between 25th and 27th Streets.  He feels Rawhide Lane would be a better street for the bus to travel on as it has less traffic and the houses sit farther back on the lots.  He said the main problem with having the bus on Harper is the noise of the bus and the houses were designed with the bedrooms near the front of the house.

 

Danny Drungilas, Prairie Park Neighborhood Association, said that when he heard of the petition, he emailed association members and all but one person said they were in favor of transit remaining in the neighborhood.  Mr. Drungilas suggested the bus travel east on K-10 to O’Connell Road, south on O’Connell to Prairie Terrace, Prairie Terrace to 30th, 30th to around to 29th, 29th to Kensington, Kensington to 27th, and 27th to Haskell Avenue. 

 

PTA said he appreciates recommendations from the public.  The recommendations will be passed on to the Route/Scheduling Review Committee who will make their recommendations to PTAC.  Public hearings will then be held, and then final PTAC recommendations will be presented to the City Commission.

 

Agenda Review

No additions or changes were made to the agenda.

 

Public Transit Administrator Update

Ridership & Other Performance Statistics

PTA went over the September Ridership Report and pointed out the fixed route average daily ridership jumped to 1,413 from 1,266 riders in August.  This was a 23% increase over September 2004.   For the first time our passenger per hour average on the fixed route rose to 10.14.  PTA said he believes increased fuel costs have contributed to the increase in riders.  Just today a gentleman stopped by the office and said he intends to start riding due to the high gasoline prices.

 

Paratransit service has also increased, but on-time performance has gone down a little bit.  Mike Sweeten explained that revenue hours have remained the same while ridership has increased. Unfortunately this affected the on-time performance adversely.  However, MV has made alterations to the routes and scheduling, and improvement is expected to be seen in the in October’s statistics.   

 

Administrator advised the board that annual ridership to date on the fixed route is 283,597 riders, and 38,200 riders for paratransit.

 

Safety and Security

PTA said MV has been trying out a demo set of wheelchair restraints that are more user-friendly than the type currently installed on the fixed route vehicles.  Driver feedback has been very positive.  They have said it takes about half the time to secure passengers in a wheelchair.  PTA said the new restraint is less intimidating to both drivers and passengers and should go a long way in maintaining on-time performance.

 

Also drivers were required to go through a complete retraining on all safety and passenger sensitivity issues.

 

Prairie Park Petition

Board passed the issue to the Route Review Sub-Committee for review and recommendations.

 

Marketing Update – 5-Year Anniversary Celebration

Marketing Coordinator distributed flyer to the committee for T-shirt design contest, the deadline for submissions is October 31, 2005.  The flyer has also been distributed/emailed to graphic design teachers at KU and HINU, USD 497 art teachers, marketing and graphic design clubs, as well as posted on our website.  Coordinator requested that board members contact her if interested in judging the contest.

 

Coordinator is exploring the idea of a “Stuff the Bus” campaign, in partnership with KLZR.  The idea is to place the bus at several different locations to collect donated non-perishable food items, which will then be donated to a local charitable organization.

 

A reception to celebrate our 5-year anniversary will be held at the Lawrence Art’s Center on December 15.  The time has yet to be determined.  The tagline “Celebrating 5 Years in Motion” was developed for the anniversary and will appear in all of our advertisements through 2006.

 

PTA added that he has asked the Marketing Coordinator to look at the feasibility of placing route maps in the local phone books.  This would be a good way to get a route map into the hands of every household in the city.  Loose route maps are easily misplaced or thrown away, but people generally hold on to their phone books.

 

KU Task Force Status

Administrator received notification from KU that the Provost accepted the task forces recommendations and wants to proceed.  A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (October 19) with the City Manager and staff to discuss the level of coordination they want and the processes that need to be followed.  PTA will give a presentation to the City Commission on October 25 on the task forces recommendations and the next steps that need to be taken in proceeding with coordination of the two systems.

 

Feasibility of K-10 Commuter Service

For the last few weeks the PTA has been meeting with KDOT and Johnson

County Transit staff to explore the possibility and determine the feasibility of

providing commuter bus service along the K-10 corridor.  Group has determined

they would initially target students, faculty and staff who commute for education

purposes.  The service would be open to the general public, but the major

college campuses would be mainly served.  PTA is waiting on additional

information from KU regarding the number of students that commute.

 

It is anticipated the state would fund 50% of the operating costs and the communities served would collectively fund the other 50%. 

 

Definition of Missed Trip for T Lift Service

PTA distributed document with staff recommendation for the definition of a missed trip for the paratransit service.  The proposed definition is as follows:

 

            Missed Trip Definition

A missed trip shall be defined as either: (1) a scheduled trip not made by the rider because the vehicle failed to show up within 30 minutes of the on-time performance window; or (2) an arrival at a drop-off address more than 30 minutes after an identified appointment time.  When missed trips occur, dispatchers shall include detailed reasons for the occurrence in the dispatch notes.

 

Committee discussed the definition and clarification was provided that a missed trip is based on the passenger not using the bus because it did not show up in time for the passenger to use it for his/her intended purpose/appointment, or the bus showed up after the pick up window.

 

Jessica Mortinger moved to accept the missed trip definition as provided; Alan Black seconded.  However, Rob Tabor was not allowed sufficient time to review the recommended definition, so PTA read it aloud to the board.

 

Rob thought the phrasing of the 1st part of the definition sounded awkward and suggested removing “by the rider” from that portion of the definition.  Committee discussed further clarifications and changed the first part of the definition to read,

 

“A missed trip shall be defined as a scheduled trip not made because the vehicle failed to show up within 45 minutes of the scheduled pick up time.”

 

Jessica Mortinger withdrew her previous motion and moved to accept the missed trip definition with the two changes; Alan Black seconded.  No public was present to comment.  Chairman asked for a vote in favor of adopting the missed trip definition as amended by this body, and the motion passed unanimously. 

 

Schedule Sub-Committee Meetings

The sub-committee meetings were scheduled as follows:

KU Coordination Committee – November 15, 4:10 pm

Route Review Committee – November 8, 4:10 pm

Standards Committee – November 10, 4:10 pm

 

Public Comment

None provided.

 

Next Meeting Date

December 13, 2005

 

Adjournment

Chairman Kaiser adjourned the meeting at 5:25 pm.

 

Submitted by Wendy Koerner                                    Approved via email