HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-02-23-TAC-min
Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) Minutes
February 23, 2015
Members Present
: Sara Arnold, Peter Levy, Francine Stieglitz, Sally Castleman, Bill
Levison, Hank Manz
Members Absent
: Matt Zhang, Elaine Dratch
Staff Present
: Charlotte Rogers, Director Human Services; Jeanette Rebecchi,
Transportation Services Manager
Liaisons Present
: Rich McDonough, COA; Richard Canale, Planning Board; Michelle
Ciccolo, Board of Selectmen
1.Public Comment
No public comments were made at this meeting.
2.Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
Minutes from the January 2015 meeting were unanimously approved. (Note: Ms.
Castleman and Mr. Manz were not present for this vote.)
3.Transportation Systems Update
Ms. Rebecchi has returned from maternity leave. Her new work hours are from 8 am to 5
pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Office hours (advertised to the public) remain
the same: 8:30 am to 12:30 pm every weekday and Monday/Thursday afternoons from
1:00 pm to 4:30 pm. Ms. Judkins is in the office every weekday morning.
Round-trip bus tickets have been available for sale on the Lexpress buses since January
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1. A small number have been sold to date.
MBTA grant money for this fiscal year has still not been distributed. A written statement
from the MBTA that the T is providing para-transit service for Lexington has been
promised, but has not been received. (Ms. Rebecchi to follow-up.)
The Lexpress GPS tracking is running well, but still has a few glitches. Ms. Rebecchi is
working with the vendor to address these few remaining problems.
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Patriots’ Day is April 20. Ms. Rebecchi is looking for volunteers to walk with the
Lexpress bus in the parade.
Rev Bus ridership statistics for Q4 2014 were distributed. During the three month period
there were 254 rides from the Depot to Alewife and 81 return rides. Overall, The Rev
provided 3280 total trips for the quarter.
Ms. Rebecchi was contacted by a Brookhaven resident who asked about the possibility of
having the Lexpress bus drive up to the Brookhaven front door. The resident is planning
to attend the March meeting to make her case to TAC.
4.Semi-Annual Lexpress Ridership Report
Lexpress ridership between July and December statistics were compiled by the Lexington
Transportation office. Total ridership is essentially the same (increased by 2.9% to
42,640). Total Ridership Revenue, however, decreased by 12.8% to $44,566.74. The
decrease is attributed primarily to a decrease in revenue from Lexpress passes.
TAC asked the Transportation Office to include revenue reduction due to pass subsidies
in the ridership report.
The Committee had a discussion about approaches for increasing student ridership. Ideas
discussed included:
Link rider “training” and promotions to programming at the Community Center
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Link with Bike, Walk, and Bus week (Ms. Rebecchi to investigate)
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Focus on Middle Schools to encourage use of Lexpress and other public
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transportation
Boy Scout project to encourage use of Lexpress at the Middle Schools (Mr. Manz to
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pursue)
Include student leaders in promotions
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Need active student representative on TAC
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Coordinate bus use for after school activities at Middle Schools
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5.MBTA Service
As the result of a Warrant Article from the 2014 Town Meeting, a letter was sent from
the Board of Selectmen to the MBTA requesting that the T consider increasing and/or
expanding service hours for the Lexington bus routes.
The MBTA has not yet responded to the letter. Ms. Ciccolo felt that this is not the right
time to pursue a response to the letter and recommended waiting at least 6 months.
6.TAC Position on Mitigation Approaches and Strategies
This topic was initiated in response to the Cubist application for expansion (increase in
building square footage and FAR). Since the Merck acquisition of Cubist, the expansion
application has been continued until the end of March. Meetings between the Town and
Cubist to discuss mitigation measures related to the proposed expansion have also been
on hold since the acquisition.
The Town has been studying transportation and traffic in South Lexington. A traffic
study has been performed by a consulting company hired by the Town:
(http://www.lexingtonma.gov/southlexingtontranspstudy.cfm). The study suggests that
the traffic infrastructure in South Lexington is saturated. In order to support additional
commercial development, there needs to be a reduction in rush hour traffic from existing
and future vehicles.
TAC follow-up & discussion
Follow-up during the March meeting is planned – leading to a memorandum from
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TAC to the Board of Selectmen with some recommendations around the
mitigation strategy.
Suggestion made that mitigation should not just focus on funds for off-setting the
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cost of Lexpress; rather the focus should be on expanding public transportation
within (and to/from) Lexington.
Resident rides on the various shuttle buses running between Lexington and
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Alewife could be part of the mitigation.
In addition to the ability to ride on the shuttle buses, facilitating access to the
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buses (bus stops, parking near the bus stops, etc.) would be useful measures.
Invite David Kucharsky to the March meeting. (Mr. Levison to follow-up)
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Materials Used at the Meeting:
Agenda
Minutes January 12, 2015 TAC Meeting
Lexpress Ridership Semi-Annual Summary, July – December 2014
Lexpress 5 Year Ridership Comparison (July – December)
Rev Bus 2014 Q4 Ridership Report (128 Business Council)
Minutes recorded by P. Levy
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