HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-11-29-AHTC-min Ad Hoc Transportation Committee Meeting minutes
Date : 29th November 2023
Meeting opened at 9.05 a.m
Participants:
Bridger, Deepika, Howard, Sally, Sharon, Joe, Varda, Susan
Meeting began at 9 am
Deepika talked about where the draft report was in terms of completion, and set expectations as
to what level edits were expected at this late stage.The recommendations which had already
been voted upon in a previous meeting were set.
Bridger led the discussion of members' comments on the draft report and went through it page
by page, beginning at the table of contents, inviting comment.
The consistent comment from members was that some of the sections actually belonged in the
appendix and the transit options comparisons needed to be in the body of the report.
Operations and ridership - history and background, opportunities about th
Format some of the sections as appendix than in the body of the document
Joe Pato answered the question of where linked documents should be stored. These are
documents which have been authored by other committees etc so are not AHTC documents.
Joe offered his help figuring this out for the town archives and website.
Sally provided some concrete edits namely 6 issues.
1) Overall -2 specific charges that got relegated into appendix and some of the body of the
material will go into the appendix. General statistics and individual comments school
could go to the appendix. If one person's opinion
2) Aggregated data - on where people leave, instead of trying to say where disabled people
live, as people move
3) Different viewpoints where are seniors wealthy and can go where they want or not
4) Timing of the big decision Basic recommendation about the budget, 2026 budget setting
would be the appropriate time
5) Since initial approval by town meeting - ever shrinking budget, whittled down for
Lexpress
6) Re Discuss the recommendation about demand response vehicles. Only if we get
funding.
Bridger reiterated that all the recommendations are in the executive summary.
Howard - had a comment on the executive summary - about the key goals and reference about
multi family density. Is not a key goal of our charge, and what needs are not being met is our
charge.
Reference switches it with senior demographic curb to curb.
Many of the senior frail elderly
No mention in the executive summary of the curb to curb vehicle or COA van (getting a grant
which would cover the cost)
Bridger asks Sharon -what is the protected class moniker for this group? Is there a specific
term which we could use as accepted by all.
Sharon the term now has changed.
Older adults = seniors and elderly
Older adults requiring mobility support
Bridger -word choice is very difficult. Try and carry that term through. We know that older adults
require different kinds of support.
Susan -will add edits on the document in the comments section and we will just add them in our
final edits. Can be done offline
There was general discussion of whether the COA van would take away resources that could be
used for Lexpress. The consensus was that the Select Board would figure this out as they would
have our report and its recommendations and would need to work within their constraints to see
what was feasible. Most likely if it moves forward Susan, or someone in the transportation
department would provide a cost benefit analysis of the COA to the Select board.
That process works well as evidenced by the fact that already the department has obtained a
200K grant from the government for transportation work. .
Deepika and Bridger are going to incorporate the latest comments and then send out the
document one final time before sending it to the Select Board
Primary motion to Adjourn - made by Bridger at 10.02
Seconded by Varda
Meeting was adjourned at 10.05