City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

January 13, 2015 minutes

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alan Black, Heather Thies, Marian Hukle

MEMBERS ABSENT:

James Canaday, Jane Huesemann,  Mark Hurt, Lyle Hettinger, James Pavisian, Jenny Erice

STAFF PRESENT:

Robert Nugent, Serena Pearson, Wendy Koerner, Terry Miller, Todd Girdler

PUBLIC PRESENT:

None

 

1. Call to Order

Marian Hukle, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:10. No Quorum.

 

2. Introductions

Introductions went around the room. Terry Miller introduced himself as the new Operations Manager with MV Transit. He has been with MV for nine years - four years as a supervisor and five years as a paratransit driver.

 

3. Election of Officers (Action Item)

Deferred - no quorum.

 

4. Approval of Minutes from November 11, 2014

Minutes were looked over by the committee. Corrections will be made and approved at next meeting.

 

5. Proposed Changes in Service (Action Item) – Bob Nugent

Bob Nugent stated that the only real change on our service would be Route 5. Currently, a big portion of route 5 travels on K-10, which is a high-speed area. There is now a light that goes across to Venture Park.  Going eastbound on 23rd Street, the bus would turn on O’Connell Road and do a loop around Fairfield, go across K-10, then across Venture Park to East Hills Business Park. He is not sure if there is enough time to have two-way service at the Community Shelter. Also on Route 5, we are proposing to take it off Nieder Road to make up for the extra time at the other end of the route.

A change that KU is proposing is to the Route 41. It was only going across Sunnyside and Sunflower, and up the portion of the Boulevard.  It will go right instead of left on the Boulevard and up to the Union to 13th to 12thth Street to the Oread.  At this point, these are the only two route changes that we are proposing to the public.

 

6. Route 2 - Outreach (Discussion) – Serena Pearson

Serena Pearson passed out flyers explaining Route 2. Marketing staff had met with the Facilities Manager at Rock Chalk Park this week. We need to educate the public on how to use the new bus service. The clock on the diagram shows the location of the bus within an hour time frame. There are two bus stops – one at 6th and Wakarusa and one at Rock Chalk Park. To make things simpler, we created a cheat sheet for the employees to use.  Simple questions like “where is the bus stop” and “how much does it cost” are questions people may have. We would like to do a few things – a news release, a photo to put on the web, a video and social media.  Also, we will be doing outreach to apartment complexes.  Bob Nugent said that this has been a soft rollout, but now we can do some more promotion on this route.  Some of the classes from the Community Building were moved to Rock Chalk Park.  Most people will have to make transfers, but it does not add a lot of time to the trip. He said that it would be good if we had a fixed route to go directly there. One of the concerns in development was parking for events. Free State High School parking lot may be a good option if we need to provide service to future events. KU can operate charter service.  Heather Thies said that Rock Chalk Park can provide the information for events, and that people can park and ride.  Serena Pearson stated that we would like to promote the Summer Bus Pass to be used to get kids to Rock Chalk Park during the summer months. Bob Nugent said that we may want to talk to the other facilities all around town since people may have more time to get out there. Heather Thies asked about the hours of operation for the route 2.  It will operate 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday.  Alan Black asked what we would do if sports events go later than 8:00 p.m. Bob Nugent stated that in the past we have had to extend service for football games, but we would just play it by ear, or they can take Night Line.

 

7. Quick Updates

A. MPOs Intelligent Transportation Systems Project – Todd Girdler

Todd Girdler let the group know that the MPO is updating the Intelligent Transportation System architecture and deployment plan.  “ITS” includes anything in the technology realm such as a traffic center or dispatch center.  In 2008 we had a consultant that was hired to do the ITS architecture.  Since 2008, technology has changed so this needs to be updated.  The project is ongoing now.  If you would like to see what is happening, go to the ITS website at www.lawrenceks.org/mpo. There is a link to the consultant’s work page to get the latest status.  There are hundreds of service packages such a computer, a smart signal, etc. This regional architecture that we are forming will come out in a book form. The regional architecture is just a slice of the national architecture.  It’s important to get the architecture and all of the institutions together. Institutional coordination can be challenging.

Bob Nugent explained that a reason why ITS is so important…think about the events of 911 where many entities were not communicating effectively.  It is important that everybody gets around the table to talk about what they are doing.  This helps with communication and avoids a duplication of efforts. Smaller entities may be able to tap into another larger entity that already has the technology.  For entities that are thinking of purchasing technology, they need to understand that the architecture has already been done for them. Wendy Koerner asked if the MPO will be managing the architecture regarding what transit agencies are doing, such as putting GPS on their buses. Todd Girdler replied that there will be a checklist and that they will be talking to the stakeholders about it. If they are involving federal money, it needs to be checked on the form. Alan Black asked if texting and bus stop messages showing when the next bus is coming will be part of the system. Todd said yes, a lot of things will be integrated into the architecture, but it doesn’t mean it will happen right away. Bob Nugent said that the ITS architecture will not limit us as to what we can do.  Technology changes fast.  ITS architecture is not fiscally constrained. We will have a comprehensive list of things that we would like to do and choose from that list when we have the money to pay for them or as need arises.  Todd said that the national architecture has had many upgrades and we can amend the architecture.

 

B. Transit Center- Bob Nugent explained that we had been talking to the neighborhood at 21st & Stewart and that we were planning on bringing the transit center issue to the city commission last November. Since then, the police headquarters was not approved by voters and there is an election coming up.  This issue may not come up again until after the election and after the new commissioners are sworn in.  The new commissioners will have to be brought up to speed on the issue, so it may be this summer before anything is decided.  If the transit center issue is not resolved, we will need to increase service since the sales referendum will come up in less than four years.  It has been two years since we started the process.  We have two checkbooks – one for operating, one for capital.  We have money set aside to build the transit center.  The .05 cents was for operating and capital, and we have some money left over from operating put in the pot.  We have around $3.5 million to spend on a transit center and that is what we need to build it.  Wendy Koerner stated that the site that we selected is owned by the university, so it is not costing us money for the land.  Bob Nugent said that yes, this is the most economical location for at transit center since we will not have to pay for the land. Todd Girdler mentioned that we could not find a better, central location for a transit center with free land. Marian Hukle also commented that the property is KU property, so if a transit center doesn’t go there, it could KU could build anything such as a dorm or any other type of facility. 

 

C. Vehicles- Bob Nugent let the group know that we have three new Gillig buses that will be off the production line by the end of February.  They are 30 footers – one hybrid and two diesel buses. We just received three new cutaways that went into production (on the road) today. How many vehicles we will need is dependent on the status of the transit center and what we will need once it is completed.  We recently acquired and refurbished two of the KU 40 foot buses, one that we are operating on Route 10.  We could possibly get more of these buses to fill in since it takes about 18 months to get new buses. We may look for some gently used buses that have been refurbished. 

 

8. Public Comment: Saunny Scott asked when the tax referendum election will be for continuing transit in Lawrence.  Bob Nugent answered that it will go to vote at the end of 2018 and go into effect in 2019.  Saunny Scott asked about Sunday service?  Bob Nugent answered that Sunday is still on our radar screen, but generally people don’t ride as much on Sunday since most people don’t work on Sunday.  It is something we are still looking into.  

 

9. Next Meeting (Proposed):

March 10, 2015

 

10. Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

 

-Submitted by Serena Pearson