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Home My WebLink About2023-04-13-AHTC-minLexington Ad Hoc Transportation Committee April 13th,2023 from 7-9 pm.This meeting will be conducted remotely. April 13th,2023,7-9 pm Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89208430383?pwd=MS9yUmtYZEgrRzVIMkh0bG9rbmkzQT09 Passcode:604194 Meeting Attendees:Sharon Gunda,Deepika Sawhney,Bridger McGaw,Varda Haimo,Sally Castleman,Howard Cloth,Carolyn Kosnoff,Susan Barrett and Joe Pato and Northeastern University graduate students. Masters for Public Administration Northeastern University graduate students. Ivy Powers,Andrew Bioniarz Barr Turner Jared Doucette Christopher Bosso Professor First we did introductions before we started the presentation slides.In the minutes we will add all the links of the documents shared by the students. Presentation Recording Slide deck Lexington Transportation Survey for Employees (google.com) Lexington Transportation Survey for Employers (google.com) The two surveys can be distributed on employees of local employers. Other bus networks had not released ridership data. Sally -interested in the transit network,information about current micro transit systems The recent systems were looking for additional funding sources,so are probably not sustainable.What are the size of the cities and the populations and the frequency of the routes etc. Barr Turner -the similar networks have been called out in the report.The fare structure was extremely expensive,almost $7 for one ride which is near a taxi.In the final report there is a description.They are all somewhat larger than lexington,Have a ridership above 100k and populations much larger.Number of routes,but frequency hasn’t been called.Most of these were minibusses,some offered different vehicles for different routes.But mini buses were the most common. Lexpress and the MA system is the closest to a comprehensive regional transportation option. The other cities did not have these options. Bridger -Percentage basis in the comparison with other towns so we can make comparisons. Mission Hill was surprising.It's piggy backed on Mission Hill -Baptist hospital transportation for their employees.They have 4 shuttles which bring their employees up to the hill.They have one extra shuttle which was paid by the Baptist hospital.It's the 5th bus which is probably getting a cheaper contract because of the other 4.The 5th bus is for anyone who needs teh ride. Not well distinguished from teh other 4 employee only rides. Demographic analysis on app usage.Less than half actually offered app based payment;they also offered a cash based option.It would be good to know what the barriers are to actually get the app and rely on it. Howard -City of Newton and their own demand service.Looking at transit options outside of MA.Part of the problem with ridership and usage of Lexpress and also I don't know whether they are early or late.The T has an app which actually lets us know when the bus is early or late. Having to wave down a bus is hard for senior citizens.L'express does go into Brookhaven because there has never been enough demand.They have to call the Lexpress,they don't need much advance notice and it can be arranged. Susan Barrett -we do have an app for real time bus tracking.Called RIDE SYSTEMS.Mission hill is part of the MBTA suburban bus resources.If we pool contracts together you can get a better contract and a better rate. The trends in ridership went up in 2014,2015 and 2016.They had not suffered the loss of flexpass ridership.The senior ridership was also beginning to take off as we started the senior ass. They tried to streamline the routes.They were made into 3 longer bus routes as opposed to 6 mini routes.They made one seat rides as opposed to breaking it up.But there are half as many opportunities for boarding. External transfers -LRTA and the MBTA both of those use Charlie cards.BUt L'express cannot use Charlie cards.Earlier there was an LRTA agreement.Bring down the cost of the ride Barr Turner -Mission Hill at the grocery store stop,they consolidated into pick up and drop off points.The scheduling became more reliable.By adding the fixed stopes Sally -Funding sources for the Mission Hill system,it would be great to know their funding sources.Because it's really hard to make comparisons.The other thing that happened was to lexpress on not to change things.However,as gradually as more industry or apartments got built along the edges of Lexpress then the routes got long.Especially during more traffic time. Longer routes had to be done because of congestion. Barr Turner -Challenges with small networks data is really hard to find.The kind of detailed ridership is very hard to find. Kunal -TAC:Creating a uniform experience,Mobility study Ivy answered.It was talking about the marketing and branding experience,the buses should look the same,creating uniform bus stops.It did not cover fare as a uniform experience.A single amp could create a uniform experience.A lot more to do marketing and design than fare structure.TAC had suggested some of these measures.TACEffort to have charlie card integrations. Branding Fare side -integration and simplification through the $20 pass proposal Technology -seeing l'express bus in the same interface as the other transit options,in all our map apps. Oct 2022,maintaining level service,but also allocating sufficient funding sources to the 2023 standards, Bridger -Micro transit options can be called and have them come to give us demos.Where there any specific things that were surprising or jumped out at you:If you can make some recommendations on which areas we should explore further.If some common themes keep coming up.Should we be digging deep into employer viewpoints,or where aging in place policies are more important. Jared -summer jobs for teenagers who don't have the transport options. Sally -what was the base level knowledge of express.People are aware of it.They are also aware that it only runs once an hour So it's not the first thought ,They think of their car as their frequent mode of transport Sally as Howard,can we tailor those surveys to the senior needs.People say what they want but they may not even take it if they can.Would you use it? Kunal Botla -keeping the avenues which were not explored Susan micro transit -happy to do a deeper dive,Have met with Via the vendor and others precovid -request for information to micro transit providers. Boston MPO -have brought in the folks from Newton and Salem skipper and have shared with funding,etc. Jane leino -council for aging director in newton,who helped by telling us a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. Susan can tell us,why don't we have a late bus.For schools Susan to Kunal -may be on the transit app,called TRANSIT as soon as tomorrow.Check it. Surveys -we will have to figure out which ones and why.Ask seniors what they need and what difficulties are being experienced.What new services are needed and whether new services are needed. CK:Looking at who we are trying to serve here.The across lexington ridability and walkability of the town.If the kid can ride to school or not.The town has focussed on making it more rideable. Figuring out the ridership Kunal:Nationally we know how Lexington type towns behave.We don't get as much MBTA service as like towns elsewhere.Surveys may not be representative enough to be beneficial or representative enough.Pulling it from a more survey type system instead. Sally :Look at requests that they have gotten over the years.For example Diamond parents have asked for some routes.We may have to look at what we have known from before. CK Many of them ride everywhere. Susan:Safe routes to school need more payments.Some of it is to get more kids to walk and bike to school.Correspondence from schools in 2011,and they came up with the Flexpass,because the parents wanted a more MBTA type service. You want to think of walking,biking and other forms in transit so think of it holistically.We can create a fixed route service,and have an on demand type of service,very hard to find a bus service to take care of the late night service workers in our town,or find a solution where everyone funds it a bit. Plan on meeting the last Wednesday of April 26th at 9 am Meeting adjourned at 9 pm.Howard made the motion,Sally seconded it.