HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-26-AHTC-minDRAFT MEETING MINUTES
April 26,2023
The Ad hoc Transportation Advisory Committee held a meeting on Wednesday,April 26,2023 from
9am-10am via Zoom.
Attendance was taken and Quorum was established at 9:06am.Members of the ad Hoc Committee and
Transportation Advisory Committee attended per the posted meeting agenda.
AD HOC MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:Howard Cloth,Deepika Sawhney,Bridger McGaw,Sally Castleman,
Varda Haimo,Carolyn Kosnoff,Joe Pato all were in attendance.
Susan Barrett,Lexington Transportation Manager attended.
Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)IN ATTENDANCE:Elaine Dratch,Sally Castleman,Mark
Andersen,Kunal Botla,and Pamela Lyons attended from TAC
Mark Andersen presented on the recent TAC proposal regarding changes in the transit pass pricing.The
goal is through a simpler fare system and more marketing to increase rider engagement to drive
increased utilization.(link here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15XQ0KefP5GW12jPcNcyxv-Q1aLPlp_j6/view
He shared the analysis of the pass pricing recommendation,the acknowledgement that fares do not
materially contribute to cost reduction of the service,and the challenges of free vs fixed fare cost,and
the fact that the proposal has not yet gone further.
Discussion continued around how/where the passes are purchased as an open issue.
Net new cost to the town is minimal to change to this pass structure,but hopefully more engagement
and opportunity to increase ridership year over year would be possible.
Goal is to move from 25K rides today to 70K rides in 3 years.This will both get the cost/ride down from
$26/ride $10/ride but some cross talk if this is really a real town goal overall.
Goal of new fare structure would be driving new ridership vs capitalizing on increasing engagement of
existing riders.
Lexpress is not useful to serving school students with its routes and schedules as it once was.There are
legal reasons why general public can’t use school buses or METCO,and the changes years ago really have
moved to a school bus focused system not Lexpress.
Howard explored the larger question if the service level and destinations are not focused on where
senior users and riders need to go then changing the fare structure doesn’t address that issue and that
Seniors are interested in more focused micro-transit approach.Mark countered that TACs analysis is that
micro-transit may not be sustainable financially.Hypothesis is that the fare change is a “jump-start ”to
the effort to increase ridership.
Brook Haven has a group called the “Car-Less”group and Howard is planning to attend to hear what
their opinions are.
Kunal asked the Group –“previously I remarked about the low ridership is that the service needs change
to make change.Smaller systems have adopted some post-COVID change and Lexpress has not made
change.”
Elaine noted that the goal may not be bringing the cost/ride down to $10 but to focus on the ridership
services.Susan Barrett requested the committee really take a hard look at the Tri-Town study and then
shared insights from 2011 route impact analysis.She stressed that the annual bus fare for school buses
has cut into the cost and service model.
A Marketing Plan has been developed by TAC to think about ridership engagement and Pamala,
supported by Kunal,recommended sharing the Marketing Plan and some other analysis with the Ad Hoc
Committee.
Kunal shared that his conversations with the Town Manager/Chair of the SB are interested in managing
the status quo until the Ad Hoc committee provides formal recommendations.Kunal impressed that the
minor changes on the fare are really minor.
Varda stressed that the there is zero agreement on the requirements for the future of this transportation
service/project.From serving the seniors to why a holistic system and before we pull any levers on the
recommendation,understanding our actual requirements for the post pandemic era are important to
set.Bridger impressed importance of looking at this as we move further into our analysis work.
Mark commented that he believes the town should take action now on the fare change and activate a
marketing plan to gather more data as an opportunity to make plays.
The group adjourned at the hour with commitment to meet next week.