HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-05-25-TAC-minTransportation Advisory Committee
Minutes —May 25, 2011
Members Present: Bill Levison, Sara Arnold, Elaine Dratch, Francine Stieglitz, Sally Castleman, Pete
Levy
Members Absent: Larry Link
Liaisons: Hank Manz (Selectmen), Nancy Adler (Council on Aging) , Richard Canale (Planning Board)
Guests: Carl Valente, Maryann McCall - Taylor, Bill Hadley,
Staff: Pauline Burke
A moment of silence was held in memory of Gail Wagner, Transportation Coordinator for the past 10
years.
1. Transportation Coordinator Position: Carl discussed the issues associated with transportation
planning and transportation services and noted that no town committee or staff member is currently
thinking comprehensively for the Town in terms of planning. He reported that this has been raised at
past Selectmen goal setting sessions, and staff members have discussed the issue internally; however, no
tangible progress has been made in identifying a strategy to pursue. It is anticipated that transportation
planning will be a specific goal identified at the June goal setting session. While he has looked at the
way transportation is handled in other towns, Carl does not believe Cambridge or Newton are
comparable to Lexington, and he has no model in mind. Arlington was suggested as a possibility.
Carl noted that he not only has the opening created by Gail's passing, but there is a half time opening in
the Planning Department, and the Development Director is resigning. Before hiring a transportation
coordinator, he wants to re- evaluate the way transportation issues are handled in the Town. Carl
presented a list of transportation related tasks that had been identified by staff. TAC noted that
marketing of transportation services needed to be added to the list.
Carl anticipates creating a committee to review the town's transportation- related needs and best way to
structure town employee support for those needs. He is starting with meeting with TAC and will be
meeting with other stakeholders in the near future. Carl suggested that one or two TAC members be on
the committee. Staff support will include Carl, Bill Hadley, Maryann McCall - Taylor.
Carl noted that in addition to wanting time to review the transportation related staffing structure, hiring
during the summer is a challenge. For these reasons, he doesn't anticipate posting the transportation
coordinator position until September. It could take six months from now before there is a permanent
employee in the transportation coordinator position. This concerned TAC, and Carl was asked about
hiring a temporary fulltime person on an interim basis. Carl agreed that committee members could
solicit potential candidates for this alternative.
On an immediate basis, Carl discussed plans to have Pauline Burke cover the Lexpress office part -time.
Pauline is retiring from her DPW position at the end of June, and will have some time to cover the
Lexpress office until then. She may subsequently be available up to 28 hours a week, at least through
July and August.
In response to a question, Carl said that preliminary budgets are due in mid - October. It was noted that
the Lexpress contract ends in June 2012, so it is necessary to issue an RFP for the service in the near
future.
2. Route Changes: In March, Gail made a number of route suggestions, including the reduction of
Route 4 trips that include Concord Ave. Francine had contacted people in that neighborhood to solicit
their input about the low ridership. Those who responded use it sparingly, but noted that the addition of
Concord Avenue happened after parents had purchased school bus passes. TAC voted to leave all the
current runs in place for another year.
Gail also suggested some changes to Routes 5 and 6, which TAC voted to accept. Route 6 will reverse
the direction of its loop in the Turning Mill area to avoid traffic problems at Estabrook School. Route 5
will travel through some parking lots in Burlington to avoid traffic backups getting onto Middlesex
Turnpike. This better serves a number of stores.
Ridership on the point -to -point COA- housing facility trips is low, but Hank wonders if the ridership has
been under - counted. Nancy Adler will ask the COA if they can help count such riders. TAC voted to
continue the pilot program until July 1.
3. School Bus /Lexpress Flexibility: Larry Link joined the discussion for this part of the meeting by
teleconference.
In continued discussions about having some sort of flexible arrangement between the school buses and
Lexpress, there were three issues;
• Method for allowing students to ride the bus:
Sara and Larry suggested that Lexpress allow specially identified school bus passes to be used on
Lexpress between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. This would be the simplest logistically: it doesn't involve
printing or controlling different colored tickets. It does mean that counting ridership will depend
on the drivers.
• Controlling ridership so the Lexpress buses aren't overcrowded:
Ideas included charging extra for the school passes that allow a student on Lexpress (thus not all
parents would sign up for this) and restricting the number of these passes that are sold per
Lexpress route. The latter means knowing what route a student will use.
• Compensation for allowing students to ride
Peter suggested charging the school department an amount for each pass sold, such as $100.
A motion was passed that the Town should allow specially identified school bus passes to be used for a
ride on Lexpress between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.; the school department should charge a suggested fee of
$10 for those who want to have this option; the school department must track the number of such passes
sold per Lexpress route and work with the town to determine how many of these passes can be sold per
route to avoid overcrowding; the school department must assure the town that Lexpress will not lose
revenue and that every effort should be made to make this a win -win situation where both the school and
the town increase transportation revenue. It was agreed that Larry would work with the school
department and pursue next steps.
Documents:
• Agenda
• Lexington's Transportation Planning Efforts and Activities
• Lexpress Route Consideration to take effect July 1, 2011