HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-07-01-TAC-min DRAFT- Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) Meeting Minutes
July 1, 2020, 8:37 PM
Virtual Meeting via Zoom
Members present-Sally Castleman, Co-Chair, Sara Arnold, Pamela Lyons, Vinita
Verma,
Members Absent: Hank Manz, co-chair; Elaine Dratch
Staff- Susan Barrett
Liaisons- Mark Sandeen, Select Board; Sudhir Jain, Council on Aging; (Bob Creech,
Planning Board, Absent)
Other Attendee: Andra Bennett
The meeting was held pursuant to Governor Baker's executive order dated March
12, 2020 suspending certain provisions of G.L. c. 30A, section 20. Ms. Castleman
noted that supporting materials would be on the Town's website and that the TAC
meeting would be recorded. Each attending member verbally confirmed his/her
presence.
There were no public comments.
Ms. Castleman thanked and acknowledged Ms. Barrett's hard work for working
on Lexpress routes and schedules.
Ms. Barrett reviewed the spreadsheet with the following three proposed Lexpress
routes plan:
Route Al- Turning Mill: Depart Depot 4 Bedford & Worthen 4 Greeley Village
4 Revere & Hancock 4 Diamond Rotary 4 Grove & Robinson 4 John Benson &
Skyview
Route A2- Avalon: Depart Depot 4 Vinebrook Village 4 Waltham & Worthen 4
Waltham & Brookside (Opp. Clarke MS) 4 Waltham & Concord 4 Concord &
Pleasant 4 Avalon Lexington Hills
Route B- Mall: Depart Depot 4 Woburn & Fletcher 4 Countryside Village 4
Lowell & East 4 Market Basket/HMart 4 Burlington Mall (lot) 4 Lahey
Burlington
Route C: Depart Depot 4 Muzzey Condos (opp) 4 Munroe Arts (opp) 4
Lexington Community Center 4 Maple & Emerson Gardens Rd 4 Bryant & Lowell
4 Arlington Heights Busway 4 Mass Ave & Bow 4 Baker & Butler (Liberty
Heights)
The reverse routes along with associated schedules were also discussed. Ms.
Barrett showed the map to clarify different routes.
Other topics that were discussed related to Lexpress included:
- Route B- Mall — since mall is under re-development, Lexpress is required to
enter through Legal Seafood side, which will add fair amount of time in its
schedule
- Extension of route to Lahey was added because of the result of survey
- Concern regarding cleaning and disinfecting Lexpress between each run
- Ms. Arnold suggested to add the total time that each bus took to run its full
route
- During pre-corona virus period, schedules were for an hour. However, after
3 pm, frequency was up to 1 hour 10 minutes
- Challenge is to accommodate all of Lexington
- Keeping Turning Mill route
- Lexpress was initially designed to cover most of the town. It was and is still
a coverage system. Not copy MBTA routes, but try to fill in as much as
possible
- Challenge discussed was the varying schedules of the MBTA and Lexpress
bus services to accommodate riders' schedules.
- The benefits of new routes — all designed to run for an hour, varies with the
current routes; people get the opportunity to go to Trader Joe's of
Arlington, as well as Arlington Heights bus terminal
Ms. Arnold appreciated the amount of time Ms. Barrett put into planning
different Lexpress routes, in developing her understanding on how people were
using the buses and how people transferred from one place to another, utilization
of connection, LRTA and similar things. Ms. Arnold also showed concern that in
the corona virus era, it would be hard to know how things were going to evolve
related to passengers' behaviors or with the unpredictability of school opening in
the Fall.
Ms Barret helped clarify Ms Bennet's questions related to Lexpress start time. In
the Fall and Spring, Lexpress starts at 6:35 am and in Summer it starts at 7 am.
Students who can't take 7 am bus, can take 6:35 am bus. People who work cannot
depend on it and can utilize taxi as an additional resource. 6:35 am bus has a very
low ridership. Also, 7:30 am will be a late start.
Ms. Barrett showed interest in doing semi-annual rider survey. Before, we used to
survey only once a year and all data were entered and analyzed manually.
Mr. Sandeen suggested the presentation at the Public Forum needed to be clear
and succinct about routes and schedules. He advised to consider informing the
public about the number of people who can be on board the bus at any given
time.
Ms. Bennett suggested including proposed routes, schedules, and email address
for the public to contact us with their opinions prior to the Public Forum. This will
allow the committee to become familiar with the issues beforehand and be well
prepared to address those issues. Mr. Sean Dugan would publicize on social
media and staff would reach out to the pass holders to raise awareness.
Future Meetings:
July 7 - Public Forum scheduled to start at 6:30 pm
July 9 - Follow-up meeting regarding Public Forum scheduled to start at 6:30 pm
Ms. Castleman ran a roll call vote to adjourn and it passed.
Meeting adjourned
Respectfully submitted,
Vinita Verma