City of Lawrence

Public Transit Advisory Committee

March 8, 2016 minutes

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alan Black, Heather Thies, Lyle Hettinger, Samantha Snyder

MEMBERS ABSENT:

James Pavision, Jane Huesemann, Mark Hurt

STAFF PRESENT:

Robert Nugent, Serena Pearson, Wendy Koerner, Mike Sweeten, Ashley Myers, Danny Kaiser  

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Lance Fahy

 

1. Call to Order

Lyle Hettinger, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:15. Quorum not met.

 

2. Introductions

 Introductions went around the room.

 

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

Minutes from January 12, 2015 PTAC meeting were presented to PTAC members. There was one correction from Alan Black. Minutes were not approved since there was not a quorum.  

 

4. Transit Center Grant Proposal (Action Item) – Bob Nugent discussed having a transit center funded partially by a TIGER grant. The application for the TIGER grant is due at the end of April. This item is on the City Commission agenda this evening. We need their approval to hire a consultant and to start the NEPA process (environmental process). We would also be conducting a traffic analysis of the area where we are considering putting the transit center. We are only asking for permission to move forward on the application process. 

 

No action required since there is not a quorum.

 

5. Service Change Proposals (Action Item) – Bob Nugent stated that the service change proposals were released to the public for comment and also at public meetings held recently. The final day for receiving comments will be next Friday.  So far, the comments have been pretty positive. We had comments from citizens and drivers, so we decided to make a couple of changes to our proposals. We have decided to have route 5 continue to service East Hills and route 1 serve the Lawrence Community Shelter.  Route 2 (which is currently route 15) will service Barker instead of going down Haskell Ave, as proposed.  

 

With the exception of Lance Fahy (who is in attendance at today’s PTAC meeting), changes to route 3 and 6 were well received, having route 6 continue on 6th Street and bypass LMH, but serve the businesses on 6th Street that have been bypassed for several years. Route 3 would serve LMH, offer transfers to the route 6 and would run every 30 minutes.

 

We have had a good turnout at public meetings. At the meeting located at KU, many of the comments from the public were in regards to city service, but there were comments made about the route 43 operating later. Danny Kaiser said that is something that KU is considering.

 

 

Lyle Hettinger allowed Lance Fahy to speak at this time to voice his concerns.  Lance brought a letter with him expressing his concerns about route 6 no longer serving the hospital. He is concerned about pedestrians crossing safely at 6th Street (where people will be making transfers from route 3), especially people with disabilities. He is also concerned where stops will be located and the transferability to route 3. He worries that we are abandoning the hospital area and that people will have to go downtown to make a transfer.

 

Bob Nugent replied that we are not abandoning bus service to the hospital. Route 3, which will serve LMH, will operate every 30 minutes. This route will offer easy transfers to the route 6, and the stops will be the same as they currently are on the route 6 near the hospital.  In the past, route 3 served the hospital, and route 6 served 6th Street with no problems. Bob also said that he believes it will be an equal tradeoff. People are currently making transfers downtown, so this change would not be any different. We have already looked at safety issues, plus we have had many conversations with people with disabilities. They did not have any problems with using the route 3 instead of the route 6 since they can still get to the same locations. We have done a lot of work with these changes – we have talked to the public and drivers, but we are still taking comments on this.

 

Lyle Hettinger made a comment that crossing the street at 6th and Maine is a lot safer than crossing the street at 23rd and Harper.  Bob Nugent said that transfers are always difficult, but as long as there is a traffic light there, people can safely use the light and the crosswalk to cross the street.

 

No action required since there is not a quorum.

 

6. Subcommitees – Lyle referred the committee to the minutes from the previous meeting, and the two subcommittees – PTAC Recruitment and Sales Tax Referendum.

In regards to recruiting new PTAC members, Lyle stated that he believes that the PTAC committee is very important since the committee represents the people. One of the requirements for membership on this committee should be that the person selected is very interested in the efficiency of the public transit system (and not have their own agenda.)

 

Alan Black explained that the referendum committee is designed to prepare us for the upcoming tax referendum election. The sales tax ends in 2018, but this item will go on the ballot in November 2017.  Alan would like to do some research and some reports to compare Lawrence to other cities in Kansas and to other college towns nationally. Alan does not want to be the chair of the committee. 

 

Bob Nugent made a comment that this is all about being prepared for the election, so we need be prepared by the summer of 2017.  Wendy Koerner said that the “Save the T” campaign in 2008 didn’t get started until just a few months before the election, so it was very rushed.

 

Lyle Hettinger is concerned about attendance at the meetings and that the student representative from KU does not attend meetings. He believes that we should have a liaison from KU to make sure that the city and KU works closely together. Bob Nugent agreed, but said that it does not necessarily need to be a student, since a student’s primary focus is attending classes.

 

Lyle suggested that we set some deadlines for the two committees to meet. He asked Bob to send out suggestions for meeting times for the recruitment committee so they can have a meeting the week of March 21st.  A suggestion was made to meet at the public library – daytime would be fine.

 

The referendum committee will meet over the summer.

 

 

7. Updates:

a.    30 Minute Service – Bob Nugent gave an update. Route 7 is now operating every 30 minutes instead of every hour. We will increase service on other routes in the near future once we get more drivers and vehicles.

b.    Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) – Bob Nugent explained that the MPO applied for a grant from the State and was awarded to do a Bicycle Share Program and a Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA). The COA is something that transit agencies do every five years. We know that it is time for a COA, especially since we are looking at a new transit center and we need to know what is working and what is not working in our system. The contract is about to be signed, and once it is signed, the company awarded the contract will have a lot of work to do since they will have to complete ridership surveys by May.

The Lawrence Journal World ran a story on the front page last week that said we are considering a free fare system. This came from the RFP for the COA where there were just a few lines out of a 7,000 word document asking the company doing the COA to look at our fare system and the possibility of making the bus free.  There are other college towns that have gone with a free fare system, but they usually reduce parking or eliminate on-campus parking altogether.

 

8. Public Comment – Lance Fahy made comments earlier in the meeting.

 

9. Next Meeting Proposed

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

 

10. Adjournment

Lyle Hettinger declared the meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

 

-Submitted by Serena Pearson