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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-05-31-AHTC-minMEETING MINUTES for MAY 31ST Participants :Varda,Sally,Bridger,Joe ,Deepika,Susan,Carolyn Kosnoff,Sharon,Bridger Audience:Todd Rhodes Deepika motion to approve the minutes,Sally seconded Unanimously passed Bridger -Carolyn and I spoke,put together a research plan for ourselves,reached out to Sandhya,also looked into getting a meeting with the 128 Business council,and getting a sense of what they are seeing from TMA from regional employers,especially as they are going into the summer.To find out what 128BC are actually hearing as they are partners with a bunch of other folks. Carolyn and Sandhya are also going to speak with the economic development office,which has been in touch about transportation challenges -all sorts of employer workers needs.Have a series of conversations with other towns,whether a position has been formally taken about the regional transportation -especially in the next three years. Carolyn was going to talk to the school buses and about costs of special education,to find out what special education transportation funding is allocated in case.Or any other modality.Do a much more concrete analysis. Carolyn Kosnoff will look into bus contracts,get into the details of the transportation,go through all the different pieces of the budget.The SPED part is huge,regular bus service,parents pay about 3rd of the budget and 2/3rds is a subsidy. Deepika -Will send the raw notes of the notes from sped program LHS Sally -sent the earlier survey done by Shafali before the pandemic. Susan Barrett -LABBB programs are going to the burlington mall and get a job.For some of our seniors the Lahey Clinic ride is important. Susan -Spoke with Nicole Friedman and Josh of the Newton NewMo program,got the most recent numbers,they pay 1.3 million for the service and the next year is going up to $68 per hour.Newton added staff because seniors weren’t using the app but calling in and requesting the service.Youth use the on demand services a lot.Curb the youth rides to do some things, they are paying for over 2400 service hours per month Logistics discussion for Deepika’s absence in June 2nd and 3rd week. Sally can't make the end of the month meeting June 7th -go ride lexpress service, Sally and Varda take the Lexpress ride,to the 8.30 No meeting next wednesday June 21st no meeting.Meetings only on june 14th,June 28th (meeting) Sally -really struggled with,given 3 buses,where do we send them?We can't go to all the places we want to go.Probably wanting to work on routes as a committee but that is the really big question. Susan -background =kept the priority places,senior housing,agreements,key destination areas,extended to Lahey Burlington,because Burlington was going to be building a transit hub, and so that is the way the 3 services were decided.Both middle schools and the high school Peel back from neighborhoods where there weren't riders and elementary schools. Varda -what the routes and timing and frequency -no weekend hours.Can't serve the mall and can't go on the weekend and grocery shopping,makes the system not as useful Carolyn -put things to put down on paper,put the things on paper.Create an outline,and having a document that everyone refer to and focus,Appropriations committee have a draft document,the chair posts it Joe -compose the document from the brainstorm and working document,update subsections and merge before the meeting.Staff can go post it and Compiling and merging and not asking the author. Bridger -the charge is the outline and we’re talking about something that is connected.The routes all come home.The charge is about pulling things apart,and lets review the bus routes on time when it's not running any passengers.Which pickups on which days have no passengers.Get the info from where it exists.The bus records.Susan has ownership of the report.We add it to the bulleted list Reveal fare -recommend the new fare structure -Bridger look to SB conversation and see it as input TBD Review what needs being met -This is the one we keep getting into a circle,Varda and I are pulling the thread on burlington and opportunities on bus marketing Sally -has been looking into small transit systems and compare costs Bridger and Carolyn -business and school bus structure Howard and Deepika -asian seniors Carolyn and Deepika -business end,rider feedback Disability community -Sharon and me Bridger has a request out to ACT (regional commuter) Susan -FTA -has a report and there is a website with other info Sally -history and lexpress of school bus,needs to get looked at and reported,because our new system went into effect during covid,and look at numbers from our loop system prior to covid and see what was the story then. Susan -scale back the routes because of traffic people don't like to travel in a one way direction,routes were taking well over an hour and not meeting the hourly service.The routes have been better for the adults and it's harder for families with kids and we’re covering less of that.More coverage,less frequency,chose how to spread the resources. What we don't have for the old system -ridership by route.We have to build it to capture it.The information was captured by the driver and not electronically.The loop was an underlying service. Joe -first draft of the expanded outline,step wise refine the outline.Content and questions. Content is public Varda -Where does TDM come in and gets Sally -methods of funding Carolyn -current state of funding she can put together. Sally -possible funding to be explored further. Susan -TDM product has tri town transit,sponsorship opportunities Bridger:TDM is not our charge (because it covers a bunch of options).This isn’t about access to how to fund.We can segment in our assumptions as things not in scope Carolyn -being semi involved in some of these agreements are more interested in 128 BC. Planning board has some things where any new developments are trying to figure out funding for mass transport. Sally:make the distinction between what is and isn't being funded. At the next Select Board meeting : Sally planning to be in the meeting Bridger be at the meeting,and if called upon and Meeting adjourned at 10.10 vote passed unanimously.