HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-12-10-TAC-minTransportation Advisory Committee (TAC)
Minutes — December 10, 2012
TAC Members present: Sara Arnold, Francine Stieglitz, Peter Levy, Sally Castleman, Bill Levison,
Elaine Dratch, Larry Link
Staff: Jeanette Rebecchi, Charlotte Rodgers
Liaisons: Nancy Adler, Council of Aging; Hank Manz, Board of Selectmen
Guest: Michael Boudett
The minutes from meeting of Nov 13, 2012 were approved.
Bill reported on meeting with committee chairs about Open Meeting Law (OML).
- A quorum or more discussing (TAC) business can only be done at an official meeting —
posted ahead, etc.
- Subcommittees, no matter the size, are bound by the OML.
- A detailed meeting agenda must accompany the posting
- Since discussions cannot take place online, when sending a message to committee members
and wanting feedback it is best to send message to self with BCC to all others. This allows
members to hit "reply' to send comments only to sender. (To avoid online discussion, each
member is allowed to reply only to sender.)
- At present, remote attendance is not permitted at meetings.
Membership items:
- Larry submitted his resignation and Bill asked that BOS approve him as a non - voting
honorary member.
TAC recommends the appointment of Michael Boudett who has been attending our
meetings and wishes to become a member.
Charlotte reported about Citizens Academy: Prize given to everyone answering questions correctly — the
prize is 2 tickets for Lexpress! None had ever tried the bus before!
Elaine reported:
- December 18 will be the next quarterly meeting all chairs of transportation - related
committees. Francine will represent TAC (as well as The Commission on Disability.)
- The Ad Hoc School Safety Committee wishes someone else to be responsible for
scheduling and coordinating the after - school delivery of elementary children to
various programs. They are willing to allow the students to travel on the school
buses, but they do not want to run this program. (Their first choice is to have
Jeanette take over this coordinating job).
In May there will be a state -wide Bicycle Week. Sept 22 will be a Car -Free Week, also state -wide.
Jeanette had few updates:
- She and Rob Addelson met with Lexington Place about their 3 year delinquency on their
TDM obligation. They will be paying it off gradually.
Nothing to report on her idea of travel training
She has arranged to rent a van to take seniors into Boston to get Charlie Cards and also have
free time at Downtown Crossing.
Free mid -day Senior/ etc. Rides Pilot Project
- Jeanette made presentation to BOS that went swimmingly well and was unanimously
approved.
- We talked about how to evaluate, what will we measure for success?
• Ridership with no loss at other times
• Especially in April and May but also as go along
• Compare against last 2 or 3 years
• Will we think for first trial period (6 months) that 15% increase will be adequate to
ask for continuance of the program?
• Should we expect people will require more than 6 months to change their habits?
• Beginning in March we should begin interviews with riders
■ How do they use Lexpress now?
■ What for?
• More than they used to?
• Never used before? How much now?
• Use more often than just during free hours now?
• Have they told others about it?
What will we do with the info? Prepare a 3 -year history of this population by month, and
plug in the new numbers monthly.
We agreed it will be important to continue promoting the free rides throughout the trial
period.
2013 Budget presented last Friday; Jeanette presented the transportation budget — a first!
The budget presented in a format different from when transp. was under DPW, so a lot of discussion
ensued, largely for clarification.
- Lexpress budget increasing only 1.09 %, overall level service
- Expected revenue from Flexpasses included in fare estimate ($50 /student and
compensation for student Lexpress passes not sold.)
- Schools realized lost revenue (as expected) but large gain in ridership from their lower rates
- Charlotte reported that the Town Manager has $640,000 available for program
improvements. The only improvement Human Services is presenting is turning the
Transportation Services Coordinator into a full -time position. This would mean adding 7.5
hours. The following types of things could be explored /implemented: assess more complex
needs of citizens, implementation of Smart Business Technology, point -to -point off -peak
possibilities, possibly some things from the list of unmet goals from the transp. survey.
Ultimately it will be Carl's decision how the $640,000 will be allocated. Charlotte will report
to us when she hears.
We sent Bill off to FL with good wishes and appreciation for a great job, and we suggested he feel some
guilt for leaving us!
Sara announced that she wished to resign her position as Co -Chair after SO MANY years. She had
spoken to Peter Levy, and with the Committee's unanimous endorsement, he accepted the position!
Recorder: Sally Castleman