Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-02-09-TAC-min Transportation Advisory Committee Lexington, Massachusetts Draft minutes for the meeting of Tuesday, February 9th, 2021. The meeting was held remotely pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G. L. c. 30A, section 18, and subsequent orders imposing strict limitations on the number of people who may gather in one place. Members present: Sally Castleman (chair), Sara Arnold, Vinita Verma, Pamela Lyons, Elaine Dratch, Andra Bennett Liaisons: Sudhir Jain, Council on Aging, Shefali Verma, Lexington High School Also: Susan Barrett(Transportation Manager), Robert Gulick, Conan, Michelle Ciccolo (State Representative), Leonard Morse-Fortier The chair called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm. Voted to pass the January minutes (6-0). Sally announced a first meeting for joint staff, committee liaisons from departments with transportation interests. Here TAC will kick-off an initiative to collaborate on transportation issues across Lexington Town departments (Sustainability, Safet etc). Ms. Ciccolo gave an overview for a bill she had been working on regarding transportation improvement districts. The goal for the bill is to provide an avenue for long-term planning for shuttle programs. The bill didn't pass, but it received funding for a study and there is continued interest to pursue it in the next legislative session. The motivation for this bill is recognizing that there are underserved areas that could benefit from a pooled approach to organizing a shuttle service. Transportation improvement districts (TID) would be modeled closely after the Business Improvement Districts and would allow property owners, municipalities and the state to fully organize a transportation offering. TIDs are a transportation-focused, non profit 503c organization. The bill proposed by Ms. Ciccolo outlines the legal grounds and funding vehicles that would allow municipalities and property owners to organize a publicly accessible shuttle program. TID formation would be approved based on full planning around routes, operations details, frequencies. Financial plan, marketing costs, fee structures would have to be fully accounted for. The management and planning of this program would be completely independent and flexible to self-organization (it could be a special committee similar to TAC, or perhaps left up to a branch of the municipality e.g. DPW). Funding would be shared across the three stakeholders - property owners, municipalities and state. A nominal and affordable fee for actual riders would be targeted. It is generally believed the co-ownership model of this structure would provide a great incentive to join. Approval process requires 51% of votes from properties targeted towards the fee structure. Ms. Ciccolo informed TAC that she intends to use the existing REV program in Lexington as one of the pilot programs for this type of proposal (based on prior success of the REV). A few different perspectives around this bill and how this type of bill might impact existing programs were discussed. • Inclusivity. This could take the form of a private shuttle might exclude certain riders (e.g. those whose government employer doesn't subsidize private shuttles). Competing against existing MBTA routes might drive away service from more affordable, farther-reaching services. • Flexible regarding targeting or exclusion of residential and commercial areas. • Length of program would provide the necessary continuity for the program to really take off. Bill is addressing this through the minimum 3 year requirement for running the program, yet the comment was mostly reflective on the benefits of a more permanent solution (such as rail). The conversation turned towards other items of the agenda, such as parking stickers and special allowances for seniors. Special accommodations for accessibility of parking meters is the main interest of the Council of Aging group, yet multiple voices in the meeting pointed out and agreed that age should not be the absolute waiver for parking services. Seniors already receive free Lexpress service during the day, and the age/income difference is far from being fully correlated in Lexington. Need-based parking stickers may be a happier medium. The next TAC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 9th, at 7 pm. The meeting ended at 9:13 pm.