HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-09-28-TAC-min.pdf Transportation Advisory Committee Minutes
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Present Sally Castleman, Bea Phear, Bill Mix, Joyce Hals, Elaine Dratch,
Sara Arnold
1 Review of present status of vehicle study
- Not a lot of bids
- Incentive to bid seemed to be 3-year contract, not Town ownership of
vehicles
- No report from Carroll Bus Lines, as yet Sally will get that from Carroll
2 To get 3-year contract we must get a Home Rule Petition from Town Meeting
- Extra Town Meeting scheduled for January 27
- Sally would like to get bids before March Town Meeting
- 3-year contract still has a lot of "unknowns" - must still be 1-year
at a time for town's financial committment But - contract protects
against a new bid each year
- Does TAC agree that result of study indicates the necessity of a 3-year
contract -- Yes
3 Costs of Town ownership and lease
- Gelco -- $178,000 (5 vehicles) a 3 = 13,000 hours = $4 56/hour
- Town Purchase $145,000 (5 vehicles) ; 39,000 = $3 71/hour
- What are reasons for preferring ownership by town?
Better vehicles
More Control
More bidders
Bill Interest rates going down - therefore bond market gets tighter
Costs to town are higher as bonds get scarce At some point, balance
favors town over contractor, but we don't know what the point is
- The Gelco price/hour is similar to the $5.00 per hour difference mentioned
by both Commonwealth Coach and Dote Steffens when estimating bid prices
both with and without vehicles Therefore, there is not a significant
benefit to the Town leasing vehicles
4 Joyce - What are "headaches" of Town ownership?
- Getting through Town Meeting
- Bea - Tax levy limits - bond sale - decreases tax levy Joyce - defeats
purpose of purchase - interest goes up
- Need for up-front money - Will Board of Selectmen go for 1-year,
$145,000 expenditure
- Maintenance
- Present value vs leasing - is a 'wash"
- 2 -
5 Implications of Pro 21/2
- Dependent on Cherry Sheet - "Lexpress will have to make cuts if
money is short " Where will cuts come from in service? "Saturday
service"? Sara - Saturday ridership is the only place to cut, are
we serving a real need There are good arguments against continuing
Saturday service; need counter arguments to keep it
6 Review of report submitted by Lance Neumann
- Bea - suggested that Format of Report should describe each option
separately; costs, maintenance, "headaches" , 1-year vs 3-year,
service quality, etc