City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

City Commission Room, First Floor of City Hall

January 8, 2018 minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Heather Thies, Sarah Trumble, Zachary Kelsay, John Augusto, James Pavision
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Mark Hurt, Lance Fahy
STAFF PRESENT:	Robert Nugent, Serena Pearson, Ashley Myers
PUBLIC PRESENT:	Larry Patton

1. Call to Order and Introductions

Bob Nugent, Transit Administrator, called the meeting to order at 4:15. Quorum met. Introductions went around the room.

2. Election of Officers (Action Item) – Zach Kelsay nominated Heather Thies to be chair and Jim Pavision nominated Mark Hurt as Vice Chair. Sarah Trumble seconded, all in favor. No opposed.

3. Approval of Minutes – (Action Item) – Jim Pavision made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 13, 2017 minutes. John Augusto seconded, all in favor, no opposed.

4. Upcoming Bylaw Revisions – Bob Nugent discussed the PTAC bylaws. The city is updating every advisory committee’s bylaws. James Pavision made a motion to adopt the bylaws, though the name of the committee will need to be added to the first paragraph. Zach Kelsay seconded, all in favor, no opposed.

5. Marketing Update

A. Student Pass Program - Serena Pearson explained that the Fall 2017 K-12 Student Semester Pass program is complete and we have started selling the Spring 2018 K-12 Semester Passes at grocery stores, rec centers and City Hall. There were 400 passes sold in the fall. This is the first year we have been offering a $10.00 semester pass for K-12 students during the school year (in the past, we only offered this price during the summer months.) Since we now offer the semester pass in the spring, summer and fall, K-12 students can get unlimited bus rides on Lawrence Transit for $30.00 a year.

Bob Nugent explained that we did restructure our routes a few years ago to so our bus routes served more schools in Lawrence. This was after the school district changed the rules where students have to live over 2 ½ miles away from their school in order to use the school bus. By offering the K-12 student semester pass for such a deep discount, we are encouraging more students to ride the city bus to get to school.

b. Social Media – Serena explained that since we have been very active on the city’s social media lately, we have had discussions about starting our own transit Facebook page instead of using the city’s page. We met with KU Transit to discuss ideas to create a joint Facebook page. Some ideas for Facebook posts would be reroutes, bus pass information, public meetings and useful transit facts. Zach Kelsay currently manages the Twitter pages for KU Parking and Transit and KU Safe Ride and Safe Bus that is geared more towards KU students.

c. Co-Branding – Serena explained that since we are a coordinated transit system with KU, we have been discussing the idea of using a common brand. Our current name and logo is “The T”, and KU has used the name “KU on Wheels”, but that would be changed to incorporate both the city and the university into one common brand. We have been moving toward this over the years by using a common blue color on the buses. This common brand would not take away the KU or City of Lawrence identity of the bus, since identifiers such as a Jayhawk will still be predominately displayed on the bus. What this would be designed to do is to create a new identity and be less confusing for the public. A branding company can do a good job at looking at objectives, local identity and a call to action to come up with an effective brand.

7. Quick Updates

a. Transit Center - Larry Patton came to the meeting to express his concern about a transit center possibly locating in his neighborhood near Clinton Parkway and Lawrence Avenue. He is worried about congestion since there is only one way in and out of that area. Bob Nugent explained that there was a petition signed by approximately 140 residents from the Clinton Parkway and Lawrence Avenue neighborhood expressing exactly those concerns. He also stated that the transit center location analysis study, once completed, will provide the top two locations out of the five locations that were looked at for a transit center. The results of the study will be going before the City Commission after it is complete. We expect to see the results in the next week or so.

b. T 2040 – Ashley Myers explained that the MPO does transportation planning for the county and for all modes of transportation. The MPO has been working for the last year to develop the Metropolitan Transportation Plan called T 2040 and it is almost ready for public comment. The main goals are to implement the Comprehensive Operations Analysis (COA), the Bus Transfer Location Analysis, the Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan, and to explore transit operations and technologies that minimize environmental impacts. The fiscally constrained transit projects have been split into bands out to 2040. Open public comments will be starting February 1.

8. Public Comment – See public comments under Transit Center.

9. Next Meeting – February 12, 2018

10. Adjournment - 5:15 pm

-Submitted by Serena Pearson