HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-12-TAC-min Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) Minutes
January 12, 2015
Members Present: Sara Arnold, Elaine Dratch,Peter Levy, Francine Stieglitz
Members Absent: Matt Zhang, Sally Castleman, Bill Levison, Hank Manz
Staff Present: Charlotte Rogers, Director Human Services
Liaisons Present: Rich McDonough, COA; Richard Canale, Planning Board
Guests: Sejal Patel (South Lexington resident)
1. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
• Minutes from the November 2014 meeting were unanimously approved.
2. Transportation Systems Update (presented by Ms. Rogers)
• Ms. Rebecchi is on maternity leave. In her absence the Transportation Office is being
covered by Pauline Burke (2 afternoons per week), Linda Judkins (5 mornings per week),
and occasionally by other clerks from the HS Department who have been cross-trained
for this purpose. Ms. Rebecchi is expected to return to work in early March.
• Effective January 1st, round-trip bus tickets are available for sale on the Lexpress buses.
A small number have been sold to date. Initially each bus was given a packet of 20
tickets; this has been reduced to 10 tickets.
• There has been a brief communication between the Transportation Office and the MBTA
about the Lexpress full price fare increase that puts us in compliance with the FTA
regulations. MBTA grant money for this fiscal year has not yet been distributed.
Additionally, a small modification to the grant contract is being worked out stating that
the MBTA is providing para-transit service for Lexington.
• The Minuteman ran a notice about the Lexpress full fare increase. The notice has run a
couple of times and has a mistake in the explanation for the increase. Charlotte will
contact the Minuteman; if they plan to run the notice again, she will point out the error
and ask that it be corrected.
• Lex-connect taxi service (provided through Veterans Taxi)is projecting about $38K in
ride business this year. This is at least a 2-fold increase over last year's volume. Voucher
sales have been limited to 10/person/month for the time being, but may be increased
depending on purchasing patterns. Brookhaven is the largest user of the vouchers (over
20%).
• The Lexpress GPS tracking seems to be running well. No public feedback on the GPS to
report.
3. Reverse Commuting
• Ms. Patel, who lives off Waltham Street near the golf course, attended the meeting and
made note of the high traffic(and increased traffic)in the Waltham Street/Route 2 area.
She also pointed out that Lexpress is the only public transit service that is available to her
neighborhood. She asked if the 128 BC bus that serves Hayden Avenue could be made
available to residents for the reverse commute in order to help reduce the traffic load.
• The Lexington Economic Development Office has been in communication with the 128
BC regarding this topic. Discussions are planned for later this month.
4. Cubist Expansion (presented by Mr. Canale)
• Cubist has requested time at the upcoming Town Meeting to present their plan to increase
building square footage and FAR from 0.25 to 0.68. The Hayden Avenue businesses now
have approvals for 1.2 million ft2. If all businesses in the Hayden Avenue district are
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allowed to increase to same density as Cubist is requesting, the square footage will
increase to 4 million.
• Cubist did a study to determine the number and transportation mode for non-SOV
employees. They determined:
0 28 trips/day via the 128 Business Council shuttle
0 28 trips/day via the MBTA bus
o No employees commuting via Lexpress
• Carl Valente has set up a mitigation group to look at TDM and other measures that could
be part of an agreement with Cubist. (Charles Hornig and Michelle Ciccolo are included
in this group). Two ideas that have been discussed are:
• Reserve part of the Cubist property for a 128 Business Council bus stop for
residents —this could also include an area for resident parking
• Limit the number of parking spaces allotted for the expansion in order to force
Cubist to explore other transportation options for its employees
• Mr. Canale suggested that TAC develop a position on which mitigation approaches and
strategies would best benefit the town.
Materials Used at the Meeting:
Agenda
Minutes November 10, 2014 TAC Meeting
Minutes recorded by P. Levy.
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