[CALL TO ORDER]
[00:00:02]
IS ANYBODY, DOES ANYBODY IN THE AUDIENCE WANNA SPEAK TO GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT? THEN I WON'T BOTHER READING THE BLURB.
[APPROVAL OF MINUTES]
TO APPROVAL OF MINUTES.HAS EVERYONE REVIEWED THE MINUTES? ARE THERE ANY COMMENTS? SEEING NONE? I THINK I NEED A MOTION.
CAN I GET A MOTION? A MOTION? DID I, WAS THERE A MO WAS THERE MOTION FROM COUNCIL MEMBER OR FROM COMMITTEE MEMBER? QUINT.
I WASN'T SURE WHERE I HEARD IT FROM.
I'M SORRY, I, I, I GET YOU TWO BACKWARDS ALL THE TIME.
I, I, I NEED TO FIGURE THAT ONE OUT.
SO THE MOTION, THE MINUTES ARE CONSIDERED ADOPTED.
[PUBLIC HEARINGS AND MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION]
RIGHT ONTO AGENDA ITEM TWO, UH, DISCUSSION OF THE FAIR FREE PROGRAM, MR. TRANSIT MANAGER HALL.I ASSUME THAT'S YOUR ITEM, OR IT WILL BE MARIA'S.
BUT, UM, WE HAVE THREE ITEMS ON THE AGENDA TODAY.
AND, UH, LET ME BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME EVERYONE, BY THE WAY, TO THE FIRST TAC MEETING, 2024.
AND I BELIEVE COUNCIL MEMBER
SO VERY EXCITED TO HAVE HIM BACK WITH US.
BUT WE DO HAVE THREE ITEMS BEFORE YOU TODAY.
WE'RE GONNA KIND OF ALTERNATE BETWEEN MARIA AND MYSELF.
UM, SO I'M GONNA GO SECOND MARIA, FIRST AND THIRD.
AND THE FIRST ONE THAT SHE'S GONNA TALK ABOUT IS AN UPDATE ON THE FEAR FREE PROGRAM.
I'M REALLY EXCITED TO BE HERE TO PRESENT ON OUR PROGRESS THUS FAR WITH OUR FAIR FREE TRANSIT PROGRAM.
CAN EVERYONE HEAR ME OKAY? AWESOME.
ALRIGHT, WELL LET'S GO THROUGH SOME OF THESE SLIDES AND I'LL EXPLAIN OUR PROGRESS SO FAR ON OUR FAIR FREE PROGRAM.
HERE'S JUST A FEW OF THE THINGS WE'LL BE COVERING.
THE BACKGROUND, UM, DISCUSSION AROUND OUR FAIR FREE PROGRAM OR POSSIBLE INITIATIVE AND OUR PROGRAM OVERVIEW, INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATIONS AND STEPS FOR IMPLEMENTATION.
WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GOALS, UM, UM, SOME BENEFITS AND A LOT OF THE CONSIDERATIONS IN TERMS OF BRINGING FAIR FREE TO THE CITY OF PETALUMA.
TO GIVE YOU A BIT OF BACKGROUND, I WOULD SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, THE MAIN GOAL, OBVIOUSLY WITH TRANSIT IN GENERAL IS INCREASING RIDERSHIP.
BUT IN THE CITY OF PETALUMA WITH SUCH EXTREME RIGHT, UM, CLIMATE GOALS AS WELL AS EQUITY GOALS, UM, IT MEETS TRANSITS EVEN, EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, I LIKE TO SAY.
UM, I PULLED THIS FROM OUR PETALUMA'S BLUEPRINT FOR CARBON NEUTRALITY, THAT IN ORDER TO MEET OUR CARBON, UM, NEUTRALITY GOALS, WE NEED TO TRANSITION IN PETALUMA, 75% OF ALL TRAVEL TRIP MODE TO MODES OTHER THAN SINGLE OCCUPANCY VEHICLES.
THAT'S A HUGE LIFT AND TRANSIT IS GONNA BE A LARGE PART OF IT, A BIG PIECE OF THAT PUZZLE.
CLIMATE GOALS AREN'T THE ONLY THING THAT ADDRESSES TRANSIT OR THE NEED TO INCREASE RIDERSHIP.
WE ALSO HAVE PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL GOALS, AND THEN OF COURSE, TAC GOALS, SOME OF WHICH WERE OUTLINED IN THE MEMO THAT YOU RECEIVED.
IT'S NATURAL FOR AGENCIES TO CONSIDER DISCOUNTED OR FAIR FREE PROGRAMS. THESE CAN OFTEN BE ARRANGED IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
SO WE'VE DONE QUITE A FEW OF DISCOUNTED AND FAIR PROGRAMS. SO I JUST WANTED TO RECAP SOME OF THE WORK WE'VE ALREADY DONE AND THE SUCCESS WE'VE ALREADY HAD WITH DOING THESE KIND OF PROGRAMS. ONE, ARE SEGMENTS OF THE POPULATIONS.
SO WE HAVE PROGRAMS LIKE OUR VETERANS, UH, RIDE FREE SRJ STU STUDENTS, RIDE FREE YOUTH RIDE FREE PROGRAM THAT WE BEGAN IN THE SUMMER IN CONJUNCTION WITH SOME OF OUR TRANSIT PARTNERS AND HAVE CONTINUED ON IN PLAN TWO THROUGH 2025.
THERE'S ALSO DATE-BASED FAIR FREE OPTIONS WE'VE DONE FOR MAYBE SPECIAL EVENTS SUCH AS EARTH DAY, BUTTER AND EGGS.
UM, AND THEN THERE'S MEAN BASED MEANS BASED DISCOUNTS THAT ARE BASED ON YOUR INCOME LEVEL, UM, SUCH AS CLIP OR START, WHERE YOU NEED TO SHOW YOUR ELIGIBILITY
[00:05:01]
THROUGH AN APPLICATION PROCESS.THESE PROGRAMS HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN REALLY SUCCESSFUL HERE IN PETALUMA.
UM, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH OUR YOUTH RIDE FREE, WE SAW 40% INCREASE IN RIDERSHIP WHEN WE, WE ADOPTED OUR FAIR FREE FOR YOUTH.
UM, IN TERMS OF OUR RECENT HOLIDAYS.
SO YOU MAY BE AWARE THAT DURING, FROM THANKSGIVING TO NEW YEAR'S, WE DID A RIDE FREE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION ON WEEKENDS, UM, TO HELP BOLSTER PEOPLE USING TRANSIT INSTEAD OF DRIVING.
AND WE SAW A 60% INCREASE IN RIDERSHIP FROM THAT PROMOTION.
AND, UM, AND THAT WAS A REALLY GREAT PUSH BETWEEN US AND THE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION, UM, BUTTER AND EGGS DAY, WHICH IS, UH, I, I HAVE NOT YET EXPERIENCED IT, BUT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.
BUT, UH, 381% INCREASE IN RIDERSHIP FROM A TRADITIONAL SATURDAY.
SO WE SEE THAT THERE'S AN APPETITE FOR TRANSIT FOR SURE.
IT'S JUST FIGURING OUT HOW TO LOCK ONTO THAT APPETITE, UM, AND USING THESE AS A BASIS FOR WHY WE MIGHT PURSUE MORE FAIR FREE OPTIONS.
SO WE'VE BEEN TASKED TO LOOK AT WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO GO FAIR FREE WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT FAIR FREE, I WANNA BE REALLY CLEAR, THIS WOULD BE ALL OF PETALUMA TRANSIT SERVICES.
SO THIS WOULD BE PARATRANSIT SERVICE, MICRO TRANSITS SERVICE, AS WELL AS OUR FIXED ROUTE.
AND ALSO THAT WE WOULD BE THE FIRST IN THE BAY AREA TO DO THIS.
ACTUALLY, THERE'S ONLY ONE CITY THAT I'VE FOUND IN CALIFORNIA THAT HAS GONE A HUNDRED PERCENT ZERO, FAIR.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF CONSIDERATIONS.
WE CAN'T REALLY TAKE SOMEBODY ELSE'S BLUEPRINT AND FOLLOW IT.
SO I'M GONNA KIND OF GO OVER, UH, THINGS THAT WE'VE RESEARCHED, LEARN FROM OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES, LEARN FROM REPORTS, UM, BUT I KNOW IT'S A LOT OF INFORMATION, SO I'LL DO MY BEST TO KIND OF SIMPLIFY IT.
BUT PLEASE, UM, THERE'LL BE DEFINITELY TIME FOR QUESTIONS.
ONE OF THE, THE GREAT RESOURCES WE HAVE IS, UH, THE TRANSIT, UH, TCRP PROGRAM, WHICH IS A, A TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM.
IT'S BASICALLY, UM, A BODY THAT KIND OF GOES THROUGH AND DOES A LOT OF SURVEYS, RESEARCH ON PROGRAMS SUCH AS THIS MICRO TRANSIT, EVEN EVEN, UM, SOCIAL MEDIA FOR TRANSIT AGENCIES.
SO AGENCIES SUCH AS OURS THAT DON'T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO DO THAT KIND OF RESEARCH, HAVE A PLACE TO GO TO SEE WHAT HAVE THEY FOUND.
SO THEY RECENTLY DID A STUDY ON AN AFFAIR FREE EVALUATION.
SO THE, WHAT YOU'RE SEEING HERE ON YOUR SLIDES ARE WHAT THEY'VE CONSIDERED IN TERMS OF BENEFITS AND COSTS OR CONCERNS THAT WE'D WANNA CONSIDER.
SO I JUST WANNA GO THROUGH SOME OF WHAT THEY'VE HIGHLIGHTED AND HOW IT WORKS IN PETALUMA.
AND THEN I'LL ALSO MORE SLIDES THAT ARE SPECIFIC TO PETALUMA.
'CAUSE OF COURSE IT'S NOT GONNA COVER ALL OF THOSE.
OF COURSE, IF WE GO FAIR FREE, WE'RE GONNA SEE AN INCREASE IN TRANSIT RIDERSHIP, RIGHT? THAT IS KIND OF PART OF THE PROCESS, UM, THAT WE'VE ALREADY SEEN WITH OUR OWN FAIR FREE INITIATIVES.
UM, I PULLED A QUOTE, UH, FROM THE TCRP, PROVIDING FAIR FREE PUBLIC TRANSIT SERVICE IS VIRTUALLY CERTAIN TO RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANT RIDERSHIP INCREASE NO MATTER WHERE IT IS IMPLEMENTED.
EVIDENCE FROM THE LITERATURE SEARCH AND RETURN SURVEYS INDICATE THAT RIDERSHIP WILL USUALLY INCREASE FROM 20 TO 60% IN A MATTER OF JUST A FEW MONTHS.
AND, AND EVEN MORE IN SOME AREAS.
HOWEVER, BASED ON OUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WE WANNA BE CLEAR THAT SOME OF THAT RIDERSHIP MAY BE FROM CURRENT WRITERS.
SO KIND OF DIFFERENTIATING THE TWO, RIGHT? SO WE HAVE CURRENT WRITERS WHO MAY BE, ARE, UM, FIXED INCOME, LOW INCOME, AND THEY'RE MAKING DECISIONS ON WHEN TO RIDE BASED ON THAT, RIGHT? HOW MANY TRIPS AM I GONNA DO TODAY? IF WE GO FAIR FREE? THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO ASK THAT QUESTION.
THEY GET TO JUST SAY, I GET TO GO TO WALMART AND I GET TO GET MY HAIR DONE, AND I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE A FINANCIAL DECISION WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSIT.
UM, SO IT REDUCES, DEFINITELY REDUCES FINANCIAL BARRIERS TO ACCESSING TRANSIT MITIGATES IMPACTS OF, UM, THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, HISTORICALLY INEQUITABLE, RIGHT? THE PEOPLE WHO ARE MOST IMPACTED BY FARES ARE THE ONES THAT WE, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE HAVE ACCESS.
UM, ELIMINATES A FAIR RELATED POLICING.
UM, THESE ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS EXPANDS ACCESS, THOSE WHO NOT BENEFIT FROM DISCOUNTED PROGRAMS. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH THE CLIPPER START PROGRAM, YOU KNOW, WE'VE BEEN WORKING CLOSELY WITH THEM TO PROMOTE IT AND THEY'VE SEEN AN ISSUE WITH GETTING PEOPLE TO EVEN APPLY BECAUSE NO ONE REALLY WANTS TO GIVE THEIR INCOME, RIGHT? HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE IN THEIR HOME, ET CETERA, TO A TRANSIT AGENCY.
UM, SOME OF THE CONCERNS WOULD BE COST ASSOCIATION.
AND SO I DO WANNA COVER THAT BRIEFLY HERE BECAUSE OF COURSE THE FIRST QUESTION ANYONE ASKS WHEN YOU SAY WE'RE GONNA GO FAIR FREE IS, HOW CAN WE AFFORD TO DO THIS? RIGHT? UM, AND SO JUST BRIEFLY TO SAY THAT WHAT WE CALL FAIR BOX REVENUE, THAT'S THAT MONEY THAT GOES INTO THE FAIR.
IT'S ACTUALLY LESS THAN 10% OF OUR OPERATING BUDGET.
SO IF PUBLIC OFTENTIMES BELIEVES IT'S THE FULL, YOU KNOW, FAIR THAT COVERS ALL OF OUR OPERATIONS.
AND SO OUR FY UM, 24 BUDGET FROM THE CITY'S GENERAL FUND IS ACTUALLY GOING TO COVER THAT SHORTFALL AND IT'S
[00:10:01]
A SUSTAINABLE COVERAGE.SO THEY'RE, AND THIS IS IN YOUR MEMO, UM, PROVIDING 180,000, WHICH WILL, WHICH WILL COVER ANY, UM, DEFICIT.
SO IN SHORT, WE HAVE THE FAIR BOX COVERED.
UM, THIS WILL ALSO MEET THE TDA REQUIREMENTS.
SO TDA REQUIRES THAT WE HAVE A 20% FAIR BOX RECOVERY RATE, BUT THAT INCLUDES LOCAL FUNDING.
SO WE'LL BE COVERED THERE AS WELL.
ALRIGHT, UM, BENEFITS, I WANNA CONTINUE ON WITH THE OTHER BENEFITS IN TERMS OF OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY.
AND IT'S INTERESTING 'CAUSE THESE ARE THINGS THAT, YOU KNOW, THROUGH OUR RESEARCH, I DIDN'T EVEN REALLY THINK OF.
WHEN WE DID A FOCUS GROUP OF DRIVERS, THE FIRST THING HE SAID WAS, OH MY GOSH, THIS IS GONNA INCREASE BOARDING SPEEDS SO MUCH.
YOU KNOW, AND FROM A DRIVER PERSPECTIVE, RIGHT? THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO HAVE DISPUTES.
HOW MUCH IS THE FAIR? UM, HOW AM I GONNA PAY? ALL THAT CONVERSATION CAN GO AWAY AND THEY CAN ACTUALLY BUILD RAPPORT.
SO THEY'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THAT POTENTIAL.
UM, MITIGATES, YOU KNOW, UH, EXCUSE ME, MAJOR GREASE DWELL TIMES.
THAT'S THAT TIME WHEN THE VEHICLE IS STOPPED.
ELIMINATES FAIR COLLECTION EQUIPMENT.
THERE'S A LOT OF EQUIPMENT INVOLVED WITH COLLECTING FARES.
UM, SOME OF THE CONCERNS IN THE TCRP WERE RESULTING, OR, UH, IN RESULT, UH, EXCUSE ME, IN REFERENCE TO OVER CAPACITY.
SO WE'VE ALREADY LOOKED AT OUR RIDERSHIP, WE DON'T HAVE THOSE CONCERNS.
THE ONLY ROUTES THAT WE'D BE CONCERNED ABOUT OVER CAPACITY ARE OUR SCHOOL TRIPPERS.
THOSE STUDENTS ARE ALREADY FREE.
SO WE DO EXPECT TO SEE PARATRANSIT INCREASE, THOUGH, I WILL SAY THAT, RIGHT? SO THESE ARE OUR PARATRANSIT, A DA TRIPS AND THESE FOLKS, WE WILL SEE AN INCREASE IN, UM, APPLICATIONS AND RIDERSHIP, BUT WE HAVE BOTH THE DRIVERS AND THE RESOURCES TO MEET THOSE NEEDS IN TERMS OF HANDLING THE, THE INFLUX OF APPLICATIONS, OKAY? THEY ALSO GO ON TO FINANCIAL HEALTH.
LEMME MAKE SURE I'M THE RIGHT PLACE HERE.
UM, THERE'S ACTUALLY A LOT OF COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH COLLECTING FARES.
YOU WOULD BE AMAZED AT HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO PROCESS MONEY, UM, YOU KNOW, BRINKS TO DELIVER THE MONEY, ALL OF THESE THINGS.
UM, WORKING ON THE FARE BOXES.
SO WE'RE GONNA ACTUALLY SAVE MONEY BY NOT HAVING TO PROCESS, NOT HAVING TO PRODUCE PASSES, DISTRIBUTE PASSES, UM, STAFF TIME ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE THINGS.
UM, IT ACTUALLY MAY REDUCE OVERALL COST PER PASSENGER TRIP, RIGHT? BECAUSE WE'RE GONNA GET MORE PEOPLE ON THE VEHICLE.
THE COST STAYS THE SAME, BUT THE MORE PEOPLE ON THE VEHICLE, RIGHT? THE, THE COST COST GOES DOWN.
UM, AND IT MAY EXPAND TRANSIT AGENCY ELIGIBILITY FOR NEW FUNDING SOURCES.
UM, WE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT COSTS THERE.
COMMUNITY IMPACTS, OF COURSE, WE'RE HOPING IT REDUCES TRAFFIC CONGESTION AS PEOPLE INCREASE ON RIDERSHIP, UH, POLLUTION, GREENHOUSE GAS.
I WILL SAY FROM MY EXPERIENCE AS DOING OUTREACH IN PETALUMA, I REALLY THINK IT'S GONNA BE A PLACE OF COMMUNITY PRIDE.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE ARE A CITY THAT DOESN'T CHARGE FOR TRANSIT.
AND WHAT AN EQUITABLE, WONDERFUL GIFT WE'D BE GIVING TO OUR COMMUNITY.
I MEAN, I THINK IT'S PRETTY EXCITING.
AND FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN, I THINK IT REALLY MATTERS TO THE PEOPLE OF PETALUMA.
A FEW OTHER ITEMS THAT WE NEEDED TO CONSIDER BEYOND TCRP, UM, AND BEYOND OUR EXPERIENCES WITH OTHER TRANSIT PROVIDERS WAS DRIVER RETENTION, RIGHT? WE WANNA MAKE SURE OUR DRIVERS FEEL SAFE AND COMFORTABLE AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THIS INFLUX WILL BE A CHANGE FOR THEM.
AND SO IT WAS, WE'RE FULLY STAFFED.
UM, SO WE WANTED TO DO, WE DID FOCUS GROUP.
WE'VE BEEN TALKING TO A LOT OF OPERATIONS WITH MV TO MAKE SURE AND ADDRESS WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS.
WE DON'T WANNA GUESTS TELL US WHAT THEY ARE.
SAFETY IS A CONCERN, RIGHT? IN COVID, WE SAW THAT A LOT OF UNHOUSED ENDED UP STAYING ON THE VEHICLE, RIGHT? BECAUSE THAT WAS THE ONLY THING THAT WAS OPEN TO THEM.
AND SO HOW ARE WE GONNA MITIGATE THOSE CONCERNS SO THAT WE CAN MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS SAFE TRANSPORTATION, EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.
UM, WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT THESE, THESE TRIPS WERE EQUITABLE AS WE KIND OF TALKED ABOUT.
I MEAN, IT'S EXPENSIVE TO LIVE IN PETALUMA, RIGHT? UM, AND EXPENSIVE TO LIVE IN THE BAY AREA.
THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO ADDRESS THOSE NEEDS AND AT LEAST BRING DOWN THE COST, UH, OF, OF TRANSPORTATION.
WE ALSO HAD TO CONSIDER TRANSIT PARTNERSHIPS.
AS YOU KNOW, WE WORK REALLY IN CLOSE CONJUNCTION WITH, UM, SMART SANTA ROSA CITY BUS, RIGHT? UM, AND SONOMA COUNTY TRANSIT.
SO HOW DO WE DO THIS AND HOW, WHAT'S THE IMPACT ON THEM? SO A LOT, A LOT TO LOT TO THINK ABOUT.
THERE'S JUST A TON OF FACTORS.
BUT WHAT'S GREAT IS WE BEGAN TO REALLY DIVE IN, OKAY, HOW DO WE MEET ALL THESE NEEDS? SO SOME OF THE IMPLEMENTATION, IMPLEMENTATION WE'VE DONE, 'CAUSE WE HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS, RIGHT? IF WE'RE GONNA GO FAIR FREE, HOW DO WE DO THIS? ARE WE STILL GONNA HAVE A PASS? ARE WE STILL GONNA HAVE SOME WAY TO TRACK AND CHECK PEOPLE? WELL, WE OPTED TO DECIDE THAT THERE WOULD BE NO FAIR MEDIUM, ALTHOUGH A FAIR MEDIUM WOULD ALLOW US TO HAVE SOME DATA COLLECTION AND POSSIBLY SOME, UM, I DON'T WANNA SAY BARRIER.
WELL, THAT'S EXACTLY, IT WOULD END UP BEING A BARRIER.
THAT WOULD BE THE CONCERN, RIGHT?
[00:15:01]
UM, SO WE WANTED TO REMOVE ANY POTENTIAL BARRIERS, EVEN THOUGH THERE COULD BE SOME POSITIVE IMPACTS OF HAVING A FAIR MEDIUM SUCH AS CLIPPER.UM, WE WANNA DO AN EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN, NOT JUST ABOUT IT BEING FAIR FREE, BUT HOW TO RIDE THE BUS, HOW TO BE A GOOD PASSENGER, AND MAKING SURE THAT'S KIND OF SPREAD ALONG THE MESSAGE.
UM, WE'RE GONNA PARTNER WITH SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE WHO NEED TRANSIT MOST KNOW ABOUT THIS FAIR FREE INITIATIVE AND KNOW HOW ACCESSIBLE OUR TRANSIT IS FOR OUR SAFETY CONCERNS.
WE'RE GONNA BE UPDATING OUR RIDER POLICY.
WE'RE GONNA BE DOING A SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING CAMPAIGN SO THAT PEOPLE FEEL SAFE ON THE BUS.
UM, WE'RE GONNA BE PARTNERING WITH PD, SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES, AND DOWN DOWNTOWN STREETS TEAM.
IN TERMS OF DATA, AGAIN, THAT'S OUR BURDEN.
UM, AND WE DIDN'T WANNA PASS THAT ON TO OUR RIDERS.
SO WE'LL BE DOING PASSENGER SURVEYS, ONBOARD SURVEYS, AND USING A PC DATA.
SO THAT'S AUTOMATIC PASSENGER COUNTERS BECAUSE WE NEED TO REPORT ON RIDERSHIP, RIGHT? SO WE USED TO HAVE THESE REQUIREMENTS THAT WE HAVE TO DO, SO WE'RE GONNA BE MEETING THOSE RATHER THAN USING THE FAIR BOX FOR OUR DRIVERS.
UM, WHEN WE SPOKE TO THEM, THEY SAID, YOU KNOW, IF YOU TRAIN US, WE'RE GONNA FEEL A LITTLE BIT BETTER ABOUT THIS.
LIKE, HOW DO, WHAT DO WE DO IF SOMEBODY STAYS ON OUR VEHICLE? WHAT, HOW, HOW ARE WE GONNA BE SUPPORTED? AND SO WE TALKED ABOUT WE'RE GONNA BE DOING SOME DRIVER TRAINING, REVIEWING OF OUR POLICIES, OUR OWN DRIVER SERVICE TO ENSURE OUR DRIVERS ARE OKAY WITH THIS TRANSITION, UM, AND HOW, WHAT THEIR FEEDBACK IS OF HOW WE CAN CHANGE AND ADJUST.
AND THEN ONGOING DISCUSSIONS AS AT OUR MONTHLY SAFETY MEETINGS.
SO WE REALLY WANT OUR DRIVERS TO BE PART OF THIS CONVERSATION.
AND THEN OF COURSE, WITH OUR TRANSIT PARTNERSHIPS, WE'RE GONNA, WE'LL ACTUALLY BE MEETING WITH MTC, UM, WHO ALSO MANAGES THE CLIPPER PROGRAM, UM, IN COMING WEEKS.
AND THEY HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW IS THIS GONNA WORK? AND SO IT'S GONNA BE EXCITING TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION WITH THEM.
WE'RE WORKING WITH SCTA AND HAVING DISCUSSIONS WITH NEIGHBORING TRANSIT AGENCIES.
SO IT'S A LOT OF DISCUSSION RIGHT NOW TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE FEELS COMFORTABLE BEFORE OUR LAUNCH.
AND WE'RE ADDRESSING ALL OF THOSE QUESTIONS, OR AS MANY AS WE CAN AS WE'RE THE FIRST DOING THIS.
SOME OF OUR NEXT STEPS, WE'RE GONNA FINALIZE A LOT OF THESE PROGRAM DETAILS THAT HAVE KIND OF GIVEN YOU BROAD STROKES.
UM, TALK ABOUT THE BRANDING AND THE GET THE MARKETING ASSETS TOGETHER, MAKE SURE EVERYTHING'S KIND OF PUT IN A NICE LITTLE PACKAGE.
PREPARE THE BACKEND OPERATIONAL PROCESSES.
WHAT ARE THE NEW TRAINING WE HAVE TO DO FOR DRIVERS OUR DATA COLLECTION? UM, IT'S GONNA CHANGE DEFINITELY THE WAY WE OPERATE, UM, BEHIND THE SCENES.
AND THIS IS ALL IN PREPARATION FOR JUNE ROLLOUT.
ALRIGHT, SO HOPEFULLY I WASN'T TOO FAST, BUT I WANTED TO MAKE SURE NOT TO KEEP, AND NOT TO TAKE FOREVER SINCE I HAVE ANOTHER PRESENTATION LATER.
BUT THIS IS, UM, A GREAT TIME FOR QUESTIONS OR ANY COMMENTS YOU MAY HAVE, AS IN YOU HAVE MORE CONTENT YOU WANNA PROVIDE.
AND THIS IS THE INTERIM OR OR TH THAT, THAT CONCLUDED YOUR CONTENT.
THAT CONCLUDED MY PRESENTATION.
SEEING IS THIS IS NOT AN ACTION ITEM FOR US TODAY.
WHAT I THINK I'D LIKE TO DO IS ALLOW THE, UH, ATTENDEES TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT AND THEN WE CAN ASK QUESTIONS FROM THE DAY HERE, UNLESS ANYONE OBJECTS.
UH, CHRIS REBOLO, YOU'RE THE ONLY CARD I HAVE, SO I'M GONNA BE REALLY BRIEF.
CHRIS REBOLO, UM, I'M ONE OF THE CHAMPIONS OF AGE-FRIENDLY PETALUMA.
WE ARE GETTING READY TO GO INTO FORMAL ACTION PLANNING.
UH, TRANSIT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO OLDER ADULTS IN PETALUMA TRANSIT IS PART OF THE ACTION PLAN.
SO I AM HERE MOSTLY TO GATHER INFORMATION AND TO ENCOURAGE JARED AND MARIA TO STAY IN TOUCH.
YOU KNOW, LIKE I NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING.
SO THAT WILL INFORM THE AGE-FRIENDLY ACTION PLAN.
SO IT'S JUST A CALL FOR COMMUNICATION.
I MAY HAVE MORE TO SAY AS THIS MOVES FORWARD, BUT I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW WHO I AM AND WHY I'M HERE.
THANKS AND THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.
QUESTIONS FROM THE DAIS, UH, COMMITTEE MEMBER CALL ROSS.
UM, FIRST I JUST WANNA SAY I'M REALLY SUPPORTIVE OF THIS FROM PARTICULARLY AN EQUITY STANDPOINT.
I HAVE A COUPLE OF, UH, QUESTIONS.
UM, ONE IS, UM, AND I'LL JUST ASK THEM BOTH, BUT, UM, HOW DO YOU THINK THE CLIPPER PARTNERSHIP IS GOING TO WORK? AND THEN, UM, CAN YOU TELL ME SOME MORE ABOUT THE AUTOMATIC PASSENGER COUNTERS AND HOW THOSE WORK? BECAUSE ONE OF MY CONCERNS WAS HOW YOU'RE GONNA GET DATA.
SO THE FIRST QUESTION ON CLIPPER OR HOW WE'RE GONNA INTEGRATE WITH THEM IN INITIAL CONVERSATIONS, THE CONCERN WOULD BE AROUND TRANSFERS BECAUSE RIGHT WHEN YOU GET ON THE, WHEN YOU USE CLIPPER, YOU TAP ON AND THEN YOU GET A DISCOUNT ON THE NEXT
[00:20:01]
RIDE.IN OUR PRELIMINARY CONVERSATIONS WITH CLIPPER, WE'VE KIND OF DETERMINED THAT, WELL, WITH OURS BEING FREE, THE TRANSFER WOULD NO LONGER BE NECESSARY BECAUSE THE COST WOULD STILL BE, IN SOME CASES EVEN LOWER THAN WITH THE TRANSFER.
THAT BEING SAID, WE STILL WANNA SUPPORT CLIPPER BECAUSE WHAT WE DO KNOW IS IF SOMEBODY USES CLIPPER OR USES TRANSIT, THEY'RE MORE LIKELY TO USE OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES, RIGHT? SO I HAVE A CLIPPER CARD, I USE SMART NOW I CAN USE THAT SAME CLIPPER CARD ON CITY BUS AND NOW I MIGHT BE MORE INCLINED TO USE ANOTHER AGENCY.
SO WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WE'LL STILL MAINTAIN OUR CLIPPER SALES, OUR CLIPPER PROMOTIONS, WE JUST WOULDN'T BE ACTUALLY HAVING PEOPLE TAP ON.
SO IT WOULD STILL BE PART OF OUR OUTREACH EFFORTS BECAUSE WE WANT TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT TRANSIT, NOT JUST IN THE CITY OF PETALUMA, BUT, BUT BEYOND.
SO I THINK IT IS REALLY AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT AND WE'LL HOPEFULLY WE'LL HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THAT ONCE WE MEET WITH THEM IN A MORE FORMAL CAPACITY.
UM, IN TERMS OF THE A PC COUNTERS, UM, I CAN, I DUNNO IF JARED, YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT A MORE TECHNICAL LEVEL? I CAN KIND OF DO BROAD STROKES, BUT YOU MIGHT BE BETTER OFF FOR THAT.
YOU WANT ME TO TAKE ON? YEAH, WHY NOT? ALRIGHT, I'LL JUMP IN.
AS YOU GO IN AND OUT
SO YOU MIGHT DO AN ONBOARD LIKE RIDERSHIP, SOMEBODY PHYSICALLY LIKE COUNTING TO SEE CROSS-REFERENCING WHAT THE A PC DATA SHOWS.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, I GET ON, IT COUNTS ME, I GET OFF, IT COUNTS ME, WE WANNA, AND IT DOES TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT WOULD BE A D BOARD AND BOARDING.
WHAT IS IT? IT'S LIKE A LITTLE, YOU KNOW, KIND OF WHEN YOU WALK IN AND YOU HEAR THE DINGING IN A, IN A STORE, SAME KIND OF IDEA.
IT'S RIGHT WHEN YOU GET IN ONTO THE STAIRS OF THE, OF THE BUS.
THERE'S A READER ON BOTH DOORS FRONT AND REAR DOORS.
AND I BELIEVE THESE ARE INFRARED, UH, BEAMS IN PARTICULAR.
AND SO THEY HAVE INTELLIGENCE BUILT IN SO THEY KNOW WHETHER YOU'RE GETTING ON OR OFF AS SOMEONE WALKS UNDER IT.
AND SO THEY'RE ABLE TO COUNT BOARDINGS LIGHTINGS AND GENERALLY FIGURE OUT KIND OF THE LOAD OR HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ON THE BUS AT ANY GIVEN TIME.
AND THEY'RE SMART ENOUGH THAT THEY'RE TIED IN THROUGH OUR OVERALL GMV SYSTEM THAT WE SWITCHED TO RECENTLY.
AND THAT ALLOWS US TO GET MORE DETAILED RIDERSHIP NUMBERS.
SO IT'S TIED IN WITH THE GEOGRAPHY WHEN THE BUSES ARE OPERATING AND IT TELLS YOU HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GETTING ON AND OFF AT EACH STOP IN PARTICULAR.
SO IT GIVES YOU A LOT MORE ROBUST DATA FOR EACH STOP LEVEL WITHOUT HAVING TO BE OUT THERE AND DO MANUAL COUNTER TALLIES.
AND WE'RE NOT USING THAT NOW, IS THAT RIGHT? SORRY.
AND WE'RE NOT, THAT'S NOT PART OF OUR SYSTEM NOW, THE AUTOMATIC, THAT IS PART OF OUR SYSTEM NOW.
WE'VE HAD THOSE ON OUR BUS FOR A WHILE.
WE DID CHANGE OVER TO A NEWER AP C SYSTEM WHEN WE CHANGED A GMV AND WE THINK IT'LL BE EVEN MORE ACCURATE, BUT WE'VE ACTUALLY HAD THAT FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW.
COMMITTEE MEMBER ABRAMS. YEAH, I'M WORKING ON IT.
I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU HAD CONCERNS OR, OR WHAT ARE YOUR, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THE INTER HOW GOING FAIR FREE WOULD IMPACT OUR INTERACTIONS WITH THE OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES? SONOMA COUNTY, UM, GOLDEN GATE.
UM, I THINK WITH ANYTHING, WHEN YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING NEW THAT YOU'RE THE FIRST ONE TO DO IT, THERE'S DEFINITELY ALWAYS A LITTLE BIT OF A FEAR IN TERMS OF HOW WILL IT IMPACT THEM.
BECAUSE MY SPECIALTY IS IN MARKETING OUTREACH.
MY FIRST THOUGHT IS WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN? WHY AREN'T, WHY ISN'T SANTA ROSA CITY BEST FREE? WHY ISN'T SONOMA COUNTY TRANSIT FREE? WHY ISN'T SMART FREE? AND THOSE ARE PROBABLY MORE THAN ANYTHING THE QUESTIONS THEY WILL GET.
SONOMA COUNTY TRANSIT ACTUALLY HAS ROBUST, FAIR FREE PROGRAMS WITHIN THEIR SYSTEM.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU'RE IN THE CITY OF WINDSOR, OR EXCUSE ME, THE TOWN OF WINDSOR OR HEALDSBURG, THOSE TOWNS ACTUALLY PAY FOR THE FAIRBOX FOR THEIR, UM, FOR THEIR RESIDENTS.
SO IT'S VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT THEY'RE DOING, IT'S JUST THEY'RE KIND OF LONGER ROUTES THAT KIND OF GO THE REGIONAL ROUTES THAT THEY'LL BE CHARGED FOR.
SO I THINK PEOPLE ARE EXCITED, BUT IT'S DEFINITELY, IT'S SOMETHING WE'RE ABLE TO DO BECAUSE OF THE CITY.
UM, YOU MENTIONED WORKING WITH SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES AND I'M CURIOUS TO, UM, KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE.
I MEAN, I'M SURE THAT INCLUDES SAFE, THE SAFE TEAM AND PROBABLY GENERAL SERVICES, WHICH ALSO HAS A TRANSIT PROGRAM,
UM, SO I'M JUST WONDERING WHAT, WHO, WHO YOU'VE BEEN IN TOUCH WITH AND WHAT KINDS OF, UH, ISSUES AND CHALLENGES ARE YOU REVIEWING WITH AGENCIES? UM, THERE'S
[00:25:01]
A GREAT QUESTION ABOUT OUR OUTREACH.UM, WE'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT IN OUR MICRO TRANSIT BECAUSE IT, UH, IT'S KIND OF THE SAME, YOU KNOW, OUTREACH EFFORTS ARE THERE.
AND SO OUR AD HOC GAVE US A GREAT LIST TO BEGIN WITH.
SUCH AS, PLEASE, YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT JUST ON GROUND.
SO NO, IT'S FEAR FREE ON ALL OF OUR SERVICES.
SO IT WOULD BE PARATRANSIT SERVICE FIXED ROUTE, AS WELL AS MICRO TRANSIT.
UM, I THINK THE INITIAL, WHEN I, WHEN I'VE SPOKEN ABOUT THIS TO SOME OF THESE AGENCIES, THEY'RE, THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY, I MEAN, WELL THEY'RE EXCITED, RIGHT? THEY'RE, THEY'RE HAPPY.
THIS IS A WONDERFUL EQUITY POINT.
UM, A LOT OF THEIR, UM, A LOT OF SOCIAL WORKERS HAVE TO WORK, UM, VERY CLOSELY WITH THEIR, THEIR CLIENTS TO APPLY FOR, FOR EXAMPLE, THE RTC CARD, UM, WHICH IS A DISABLED CLIPPER CARD OR CLIPPER START.
AND SO THIS WOULD ELIMINATE THAT, THAT NEED AND REDUCE THE BURDEN.
UM, IN TERMS OF SOME OF THE AGENCIES, DEFINITELY PEDAL, PETALUMA PEOPLE SERVICES, WE'VE TALKED TO COTS, UNA, VITA, UM, BASICALLY ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN TO ME.
UM, AND SO EVERY, EVERY OUTREACH MOMENT I HAVE, I SAY, WHO ELSE CAN I TALK TO AND SHARE THIS WITH? AND SO WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE THAT OUTREACH.
I DON'T THINK RIGHT NOW I HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED ANY CONCERNS LIKE, OH, THIS MIGHT BE SOMETHING BAD.
THE ONLY THING THAT I WOULD SAY, THE CONVERSATION, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH COTS HAS BEEN, YOU KNOW, HOW DO WE GET THE MESSAGING ON, UM, SOME OF OUR POLICIES AROUND WRITING SO THAT THERE, FOR EXAMPLE, HOW MANY BAGS YOU CAN HAVE ON, RIGHT? SOMEBODY WHO MIGHT BE UNHOUSED MAY HAVE MORE BAGS THAT ARE NOT PERMISSIBLE.
AND RATHER THAN THEM HAVING THAT INTERACTION ON THE BUS, WE'RE GONNA EDUCATE SOCIAL SERVICES SO THEY CAN THEN PASS DOWN THAT INFORMATION AND PREPARE THEIR PASSENGERS.
WE EXPERIENCED THIS A LITTLE BIT WITH THE WARMING CENTERS.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU SAW, WE HAD DONE FREE TRANSIT TO WARMING CENTERS WITH COTS, AND THEN WE DID A SIMILAR PARTNERSHIP TO JUST REALLY GET THE MESSAGE OUT.
YOU KNOW, A LOT OF, I KNOW IS AROUND THE DOG SITUATION, YOU KNOW, WHETHER OR NOT THEY COULD BRING DOGS TO THE WARMING CENTER, BUT HOW MANY BAGS COULD THEY BRING ON SO THAT THEY COULD PREPARE, MAYBE STORE THEIR ITEMS SOMEWHERE ELSE? SO THESE ARE THE THINGS WE WANNA GET IN FRONT OF SO THAT THAT CONFRONTATION ISN'T HAPPENING ON THE BUS.
SO I THINK YOU'VE TOUCHED ON THIS TWICE NOW, AND I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE I'M UNDERSTANDING.
UM, THINGS LIKE THE CLIPPER START PROGRAM, UH, WILL STILL BE ABLE TO QUALIFY PEOPLE FOR THAT.
UH, THEY JUST DON'T, WON'T NEED TO USE IT ON OUR SERVICE SO THEY CAN JUST KIND OF BANK THAT AND USE IT ON SMART, IS THAT RIGHT? YEAH, EXACTLY.
YEAH, IT'S, IT'S KIND OF COOL 'CAUSE THEY CAN USE THEIR MONEY SPENDING WHEREVER THEY'RE GOING OR ON OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES.
AND SO WE WOULD CONTINUE TO QUALIFY PEOPLE FOR, UH, PARATRANSIT AS WELL, CORRECT? CORRECT.
WE WOULD, SO FOR PARATRANSIT IT'S AN ELIGIBILITY PROCESS.
UM, YOU HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU'RE UNABLE TO USE FIXED ROUTE SERVICE.
AND SO THAT SAME PROCESS WOULD BE IN PLACE, BUT NOW THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY THE $3 PER RIDE.
THAT WOULD BE THE ONLY DIFFERENCE FOR THEM.
BUT WE WILL PROBABLY SEE AN INCREASE IN APPLICATIONS.
YEAH, THAT WAS MY NEXT THING IS THAT YOU SAID THERE'S GONNA BE AN INCREASE IN APPLICATIONS, BUT ALSO AN INCREASE IN, IN RIDERSHIP.
YOU ANTICIPATED THAT FOR, FOR PARATRANSIT, WHICH IS REALLY GREAT.
UM, MY QUESTION IS, AND I I KNOW I'M JUMPING AHEAD HERE TO THE MICROT TRANSIT CONVERSATION.
UM, BUT I, I BELIEVE I SAW THAT THEY WERE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA BE STEALING TWO BUSES FROM PARATRANSIT TO SERVICE MICROT TRANSIT.
AND IF WE'RE GONNA BE IMPLEMENTING, UH, FAIR FREE, WHICH IS GONNA BE INCREASING RIDERSHIP, AND THEN WE'RE GONNA BE TAKING AWAY BUSES, DO WE ANTICIPATE SOME ISSUES THERE OR WHAT ARE YOU, WHAT DO YOU WANNA ABOUT THAT YOU'RE NOT JUMPING AHEAD? NO, NO, IT'S GREAT.
UM, SO WE HAVE NINE PARATRANSIT VEHICLES AT THIS TIME.
WE TYPICALLY USE THREE FOR OUR CURRENT PARATRANSIT SERVICE.
WE'LL BE PULLING TWO, FOUR, OUR MICROT SERVICE.
SO WE HAVE DOUBLE CAPACITY RIGHT NOW, OR THE POTENTIAL TO DOUBLE OUR CAPACITY.
AND MV HAS BEEN WORKING DILIGENTLY TO CONTINUE TO HIRE DRIVERS KNOWING THAT THIS INCREASE, 'CAUSE THAT'S WHERE I THINK WE WOULD END UP POTENTIALLY FALLING SHORT, WOULD BE IF WE DON'T HAVE THE DRIVERS TO MEET THAT PARATRANSIT NEED.
DOES THAT ANSWER, SO WE DO HAVE THE, THE VEHICLES? UM, YES, YES.
AND, BUT I MEAN, THAT SEEMS LIKE A, A HUGE MARGIN.
UM, YOU DON'T ANTICIPATE US GOING BEYOND THAT.
AND I GUESS WE COULD HAVE THAT CONVERSATION IF WE DO RUN INTO THAT.
WHICH WOULD BE A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE
SO THIS IS A GAME WE PLAY AND THAT'S WHY IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE'VE BEEN ANALYZING RIDERSHIP DATA TO KINDA DETERMINE WHAT, WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT.
NO OTHER QUESTIONS THEN I, I CAN JUMP INTO IT THEN.
FIRST OFF, I WANNA CONGRATULATE YOU FOR THE COORDINATION WITH, UH, SCTA CITY BUS, GOLDEN GATE, ET CETERA.
[00:30:01]
SCTA AND CITY BUS WENT TO FREE RIDE FOR VETERANS, THERE WAS NO COORDINATION WITH PT AND THERE WAS A LOT OF AWKWARDNESS IN THAT TRANSITION.I MEAN, THAT THAT GOES BACK SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS, BUT I WAS UP HERE AT THE TIME AND SO THANK YOU FOR BEING MORE PROACTIVE THIS TIME BEING MORE, MORE PROACTIVE THAN THEY WERE WHEN THEY DID THE SAME TO US.
BUT I WANNA TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE COVERAGE, YOUR PHRASE FOR FINANCES.
I KNOW THE REIMBURSEMENT WE'RE GETTING FROM THE CITY BUDGET THIS YEAR IS INTENDED TO COVER THE LOSS OF FARES FOR FIXED DROUGHT.
I GUESS I REALLY DON'T CARE IF RIDERSHIP GOES UP BECAUSE IN ESSENCE WE HAVE EXTRA CAPACITY OUT THERE.
BUT WHEN I LOOK AT YOUR NUMBERS OF BETWEEN 30 AND 200% INCREASE IN PARATRANSIT, I SORT OF CHOKE A LITTLE BIT.
IS THE DOOR OPEN TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH CITY HALL REGARDING INCREASED REIMBURSEMENT IN THE NEXT BUDGET FOR IF PARATRANSIT GOES UP ABRUPTLY, WHICH WE ANTICIPATE, AND TWO, HOW WOULD THAT ADDITIONAL REQUEST BE CALCULATED? IS IT THE $3 WE'RE NOT GETTING FROM FAIR OR WHAT? WE KNOW THAT PROVIDING A FAIR PAIR OF TRANSIT RIDE COST IS, HAS A $3 FARE TO IT TODAY, BUT IT COSTS US 10 TO $12 TO ACTUALLY PROVIDE THAT.
SO IF WE ONLY E EVEN IF WE GET MORE MONEY BACK FROM CITY HALL, BUT IT'S ONLY THE $3, THERE'S A BUDGET SHORTFALL AND I DON'T KNOW HOW WE WOULD MAKE THAT UP.
I MEAN THIS IS, I KNOW IT'S A MULTI-PART QUESTION AND PERHAPS IT MAY BE MR. HALL'S QUESTION RATHER THAN YOURS, BUT IT REALLY STRUCK ME AS I WAS READING THROUGH THE, THE PACKET I THINK ON THE FINANCIAL SIDE.
SO WE OF COURSE HAD THE MONEY BUILT INTO THE BUDGET FOR THIS YEAR ACTUALLY FY 24.
AND THAT WOULD BE A ONGOING REQUEST IF SUCCESSFUL THE PROGRAM, IT'S A PILOT, BUT WE HOPE IT WILL BE SUCCESSFUL.
THAT'S A NUMBER THAT CAN BE ADJUSTED.
OF COURSE WE HAVE THE MONEY IN THIS YEAR'S BUDGET, BUT AS COSTS GO UP, AS RIDERSHIP GOES UP, THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS WE'D BE LOOKING AT.
AND WE HAVE KIND OF THE COMMITMENT FROM CITY LEADERS THAT THAT'S SOMETHING THAT THEY WANNA SUPPORT.
SO IF THERE'S THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL SERVICE ADDED OR RIDERSHIP REALLY TAKES OFF, THAT WOULD BE ADDED INTO THE BUDGETARY REQUESTS IS SOME OFFSET FOR THE, UM, INCREASE IN FARES AND THEN INCREASE IN COST FOR OPERATING IT AS WELL.
SO IT'D BE SOME COMBINATION OF EXISTING ENTERPRISE FUNDS AND NEW FUNDING THAT WE'D REQUEST FROM THE CITY TO HELP COVER THAT.
BECAUSE AS MARIA MENTIONED, WE DO HAVE A 20% REQUIREMENTS, UH, FOR THE, THE FAIRBOX RECOVERY.
SO THAT'S NOT JUST PURELY FAIRBOX MONEY, THAT'S ALL LOCAL FUNDS.
SO THERE'S A DECREASE IN WHAT WE GET IN THE FAIRES IN THIS CASE, A FAIR FREE PROGRAM.
THE WAY YOU CAN FULFILL THAT REQUIREMENT IS TO OFFSET THAT WITH MORE LOCAL FUNDS, BOTH.
SO YOU'RE MEETING THAT REQUIREMENT.
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, SO TRANSIT ISN'T RELATIVELY POOR, WE'RE NOT CUTTING FUNDS FROM WHAT WOULD OTHERWISE GO TOWARDS OPERATIONS.
YEAH, I GUESS SORT OF THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO I SAW IS PARATRANSIT GOES UP SO MUCH AND WE AREN'T GETTING THE $10 PER RIDE BACK FROM CITY HALL AND WE ENDED UP LOSING, HAVING TO CLOSE DOWN A FIXED ROUTE, WHICH WAS NOT AT ALL WHERE WE WANTED TO GO TO.
SO I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE WERE HAVING THAT CONVERSATION.
AND IF YOU COULD KEEP US ADVISED AS THIS PROGRAM DEVELOPS, IT'D BE APPRECIATED.
I MEAN, THIS IS A PILOT PROGRAM, SO YEAH, WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO UPDATE THE COUNCIL.
IF THINGS WEREN'T SUCCESSFUL OR THERE WAS A UNEXPECTEDLY LARGE INCREASE IN ANY OF THOSE TYPE OF SERVICES THAT ADDED TOO MUCH EXPENSE THAT THE CITY DOESN'T FEEL THEY COULD COVER, COULD ALWAYS BE CHANGED.
BUT WE FEEL THAT WITHIN THE CURRENT RIDERSHIP, THE CURRENT KIND OF LOADS UTILIZATION OF THE SERVICES, BOTH FIXED ROUTE AND PARATRANSIT, WE'LL BE ABLE TO HANDLE THAT WITHIN THE KIND OF EXPECTED RIDERSHIP PERCENTAGE INCREASES THAT WE'RE KIND OF LOOKING AT THAT MARIA DISCUSSED.
THE QUESTIONS THAT I HAD, UH, KIND OF TIE IN NICELY WITH THAT.
UM, I, YOU KNOW, I'D BE INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING HOW MUCH REVENUE WE EXPECT TO LOSE FROM FARES.
I MEAN, I UNDERSTAND THAT'S 10%, BUT, UH, I APOLOGIZE I DIDN'T, UH, SEE IT IN THE DOCUMENT, BUT, UM, OH, I CAN ANSWER THAT.
IS IT A, OKAY, UM, SO THE QUESTION WAS HOW MUCH ARE WE EXPECTED TO LOSE IN TERMS OF FAIRBOX Y YEAH, SO WELL, HOW, YEAH, HOW MUCH DO WE TAKE IN TODAY ON AN ANNUAL BASIS THAT WE WOULDN'T RECEIVE ANYMORE? SO, UM, CARLY WAS NICE ENOUGH TO GET THESE NUMBERS FOR ME.
WE, FOR OUR FAIRBOX FOR FY 22, 20 23, YEAH.
[00:35:01]
TAKEN 93,000, APPROXIMATELY $93,000 AND RIGHT NOW WE'RE EARMARKED FOR 180,000 IN THE BUDGET FOR, FROM THE CITY.AND ONE PIECE TO KIND OF ADD ON THAT, THE BUDGET THAT WAS PUT TOGETHER, IT WAS IN RECOGNITION OF A FEW THINGS.
IT WAS TO OFFSET THAT AMOUNT, IT WAS TO ACCOUNT FOR SOME INCREASE IN WHAT WE ANTICIPATE AND KIND OF THE RIDERSHIP AND PERHAPS SERVICE LEVELS.
THERE WAS A PIECE FOR THE MARKETING COMMUNICATION, BRANDING ELEMENTS, ALL OF THOSE PIECES WERE KIND OF INCLUDED WITHIN THAT NUMBER.
AND AS MARIA MENTIONED BEFORE, THERE'S ACTUALLY SOME COST SAVINGS THAT RESULT FROM NO LONGER COLLECTING FARES THAT WE WOULD SEE THINGS LIKE BANK FEES, STAFF TIME, MONEY PUT INTO FAIR BOXES, BOTH TO PURCHASE THEM AND THEN ONGOING.
SO THERE'S ACTUALLY A LEVEL OF COST SAVINGS THAT COME WITH THAT TOO, AT THE SAME TIME.
SO IF I, IF I'M UNDERSTANDING THAT CORRECTLY, UM, REVENUE WILL BE DOWN 90, 93,000 AND THE CITY WILL HAVE TO PICK UP 190 AND THAT'S BECAUSE OF MARKETING ADDITIONAL COST OFFSET BY SOME SAVINGS.
AND THAT'S KIND OF THE FIRST YEAR BUDGET THAT WE PUT INTO IT, YOU KNOW, WANTING TO BE ON THE CONSERVATIVE SIDE, BUT AGAIN, A NUMBER THAT WE ANTICIPATE BEING ADJUSTED ANNUALLY TO COVER WHAT THE COSTS ARE, BUT WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE ACCOUNTING FOR EVERYTHING IN THE FIRST YEAR, GIVEN A LOT OF KIND OF UNCERTAINTY WITH SOME OF THOSE ELEMENTS.
SO, SO AGAIN, JUST ROUGH MATH IF I'M THINKING ABOUT THAT CORRECTLY.
UM, YOU KNOW, IF YOU'RE, IF YOU'RE TAKING AWAY 90 SOMETHING THOUSAND AND YOU'RE ADDING 190 SOMETHING THOUSAND, WE WE'RE REALLY NETTING 280 ISH, ADDITIONAL $280,000 IN ADDITIONAL EXPENSE, RIGHT? SO IF YOU'RE GOING FROM A 90, AGAIN, I'M SORRY I DIDN'T REMEMBER IT.
UH, BUT WE'RE GOING FROM A 93 OR $98,000 REVENUE STREAM TO 180,000, $190,000 EXPENSE STREAM, THE TWO OF THOSE NET OUT TO 280 SOMETHING THOUSAND TO SOME EXTENT, I WOULD SAY IT'S STILL, IF YOU LOOK AT IT A COMMUNITY LEVEL BASIS, IT'S KIND OF CHANGING THE NATURE OF IT.
WHEREAS NOW YOU GET, YOU KNOW, THE AVERAGE PERSON PAYING A DOLLAR 50 A DOLLAR AT A TIME THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, IT'S NOW BEING PROVIDED FROM KIND OF THE CITY COFFERS EN MASS AT ONE TIME.
SO ON THE COMMUNITY WIDE SCALE, JUST KIND OF COMING IN A DIFFERENT FORM IN THAT SENSE, INSTEAD OF KIND OF NICKELS AND DIMES, SO TO SPEAK AT THE TIME, IS KIND
YEAH, NO, I MEAN, UH, SO I, UH, I, I DON'T, I WANNA MAKE SURE MY QUESTIONS DON'T IMPLY THAT I, YOU KNOW, ANY NON-SUPPORT BECAUSE OF COSTS.
I HONESTLY, I'M ASTONISHED THAT WE ONLY GET $98,000, RIGHT? UH, AND SO I, I SUPPORT IT.
I'M JUST TRYING TO IN, IN MY MIND, UH, UNDERSTAND WHAT THE ADDITIONAL COST TO THE CITY IS.
UM, AND THEN MY OTHER QUESTION WAS, YOU KNOW, HOW HOW WOULD YOU, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE, THE IDEA OF INCREASING THE ISSUE WITH THE UNHOUSED, UM, RIDING THE BUS ALL DAY LONG, UM, YOU KNOW, THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL OF MAKING THE BUS FEEL UNSAFE FOR REGULAR RIDERS.
UM, AND SO I'M CURIOUS HOW, WHAT THE PLAN IS IF, ARE THERE ANY MORE DETAILS THAT YOU CAN SHARE FOR KIND OF ADDRESSING THAT RIGHT NOW? IT'S A COMBINATION.
DEFINITELY WORKING WITH PD TO MAKE SURE OUR POLICIES ARE IN PLACE AND KNOWING WHO TO CALL AND WHEN, UM, WE'VE, SANTA ROSA CITY BUS HAS HAD SOME OF THESE ISSUES AND SO TALKING WITH THEM KIND OF HELPS US GET A SNAPSHOT OF LIKE, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ISSUES WE MAY ENCOUNTER.
THOUGH THEY'RE NOT FAIR FREE, THEY'VE JUST HAD THESE ISSUES IN PLACE.
SO IT'S BEEN HELPFUL TO KINDA SEE, OKAY, HOW CAN WE MITIGATE THIS? AND ONE OF THE WAYS IT'S GONNA SOUND A LITTLE STRANGE IS GETTING MORE PEOPLE ON THE BUS.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE MORE PEOPLE ARE THAT ARE ON THE BUS, THE LESS LIKELY IF IT'S NOT JUST PEOPLE WHO MAY BE DISRUPTIVE, UM, THEY TEND TO BE A LITTLE BIT MORE IN, IN LINE AND MORE RESPECTFUL.
UM, AND THAT'S JUST ANECDOTALLY, YOU KNOW, AND I THINK THIS HAS A LOT TO DO THEN ALSO WITH THE WAY WE'VE KIND OF FRAMED HOW WE'VE BUILT THIS UP, RIGHT? INCREASING RIDERSHIP AMONG YOUTH, INCREASING RIDERSHIP AMONG VETERANS, INCREASING RIDERSHIP BETWEEN THESE GROUPS, AND REALLY FOCUSING ON THOSE GROUPS SO THAT WE GET THEM ON THE VEHICLES, RIGHT? SO THEN WHEN WE GO FAIR FREE, HOPEFULLY WE'RE GONNA GET SOME MORE NEVER RIDERS, PEOPLE WHO'VE NEVER RIDDEN TRANSIT.
AND UM, YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS ALSO IS MAKING SURE THAT OUR DRIVERS ARE REALLY TRAINED TO KIND OF KEEP THINGS CALM.
THEY'RE ALREADY INTERACTING WITH FOLKS WHO HAVE,
[00:40:01]
YOU KNOW, SEVERE MENTAL DISABILITIES, HEALTH CONDITIONS ARE UNHOUSED.AND SO WE'VE SEEN HOW THEY'VE NAVIGATED THAT IN A LOT OF CASES.
JUST LETTING IT LIE ACTUALLY WORKS PRETTY WELL.
AND THEN HAVING POLICIES IN PLACE IN TERMS OF, THIS IS THE END OF THE ROUTE WE'RE NOW DONE, THIS IS THE TIME TO GET OFF THE VEHICLE AND HOW WE'RE GONNA DO THAT IN A GENTLE WAY.
AND THEN WHAT ARE THE, THE PROCESSES IN PLACE IN TERMS OF, BE IT THE STREETS TEAM OR PD TO SUPPORT THAT? YEAH, SO THOSE ARE SOME OF THE BROAD STROKES, YOU KNOW, UM, IN TERMS OF HOW WE, WE HOPE TO ADDRESS IT.
I KNOW WITH COVID THERE WAS A BIG CONCERN, YOU KNOW, AND OUR DRIVERS ESPECIALLY, WE WERE CONCERNED, BUT IN TALKING TO, FOR EXAMPLE, COTS, IT'S VERY, IT'S A DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE NOW, RIGHT? DURING COVID OV TRANSIT WAS THE ONLY THING OPEN.
NOW THERE ARE A LOT OF SERVICES OPEN THE, YOU KNOW, THERE ARE UH, SHELTERS, THERE ARE LIBRARIES, THERE ARE COFFEE SHOPS, THERE ARE MORE PLACES.
IT'S NOT ONLY THE BUS AS A PLACE TO, TO STAY WARM OR, UM, YOU KNOW, BE OUT OF THE SUN.
SO WE'RE HOPEFUL THAT THIS AS WELL AS OUR SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING CAMPAIGN THAT WOULD ALLOW PEOPLE TO FEEL A LITTLE BIT MORE IN CONTROL.
AND BY THAT WE HAVE, WE ARE LOOKING AT MULTIPLE OPTIONS.
THERE'S ALREADY ONE KIND OF INTEGRATED INTO THE CITY, BUT THERE'S ALSO ONE WITH SOMETHING, A COMPANY CALLED ALERTS WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY TEXT.
SO THAT TEXT WOULD GO DIRECTLY TO OUR DISPATCH CENTER, ALLOWING PASSENGERS, RIGHT, TO EMPOWER THEM TO SAY SOMETHING IF THEY FEEL IT'S UNSAFE.
UM, BECAUSE AS WE KNOW, OUR DRIVERS ARE FOCUSED ON DRIVING, THEY'RE NOT ABLE TO POLICE A VEHICLE.
SO WE DEFINITELY HAVE THOSE THINGS IN MIND.
UM, AND, BUT WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT'S NOT A BARRIER TO ALL.
UM, UM, SHOOT, I HAD ONE MORE QUESTION, BUT I FORGOT.
WELL, I'M SUPER EXCITED ABOUT IT.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, LOOK, I THINK THE MORE WE CAN DO TO GET PEOPLE OUTTA CARS, UM, AND INTO THIS KIND OF THING IS, IS AWESOME.
YEAH, I ACTUALLY KINDA WANTED TO PIGGYBACK OFF OF BOTH OF THOSE, UH, QUESTIONS.
THE FIRST THAT I THINK WHEN WE WERE DOING QUICK MATH WAS THAT WASN'T ACCOUNTED FOR JARED, YOU SAID THAT THERE WAS, UH, A COST ASSOCIATED WITH COLLECTING THE FEES AND ALL THAT.
AND WE DON'T HAVE A BALLPARK NUMBER FOR HOW MUCH IS GONNA BE SAVED.
DO YOU WANT THE, THE BIG NUMBER? IT'S AMAZING.
$35,000 A YEAR TO PROCESS THE MONEY SOMEWHERE.
LIKE I CAN SEE WHERE THAT'S A HALF OF, I MEAN, THAT'S A HALF THE FTE FOR, YOU KNOW, A HALF OF ONE PERSON'S JOB.
SO THAT DOESN'T SURPRISE ME DURING MY TIME AT SONOMA COUNTY.
UM, 'CAUSE I WORKED AT THAT TRANSIT AGENCY, IT TOOK TWO PEOPLE TWO DAYS A WEEK TO COUNT THE MONEY.
I MEAN, THINK ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF HOURS JUST ALONE.
AND SO WE DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH TIME BECAUSE WE'RE A SMALLER AGENCY.
BUT STILL JUST, IT'S AMAZING TO THINK ABOUT ALSO REPAIRS TO THE CLIPPER MACHINE, THE REPAIRS TO THE FAIR BOX.
IT'S, AND IT'S, IT'S THE, IT REALLY IS THE RESOURCE, THE THE TIME COMPONENT.
HOW MUCH TIME WE SPEND ON PRODUCING THOSE PASSES, DISTRIBUTING THOSE PASSES, YOU KNOW, UM, GOING ON SITE TO SELL THOSE PASSES, MARKETING THOSE PASSES.
WE SPEND MORE MONEY GETTING PEOPLE TO BUY THE PASS THAN WE GAIN FROM SELLING THE PASS, RIGHT? SO, UM, IT'S DEFINITELY A SAVINGS.
'CAUSE THAT COMES OUT TO WHAT, SO BETWEEN THE LOST FAIR AND THE GAINED TIME, IT'S LIKE 128,000 A YEAR.
DOES THAT SOUND ABOUT RIGHT? YEAH.
UM, AND THEN ALSO ABOUT, UM, POLICING AND INCIDENTS ON THE BUS.
WHAT IS OUR CURRENT, UH, RATE? DO WE HAVE, IS THAT AN ISSUE THAT WE HAVE? I KNOW IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'RE EXPECTING.
OH, YOU KNOW, LET'S BE CAREFUL.
WHAT IS THAT? SOMETHING WE'VE BEEN SEEING BEFORE IS THAT I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE NINE MONTHS AND IN MY TIME I'VE SEEN THAT OUR DRIVERS HAVE A PHENOMENAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PASSENGERS.
THIS IS MUCH MORE OF A, EVEN THOUGH WE'RE CITY, IT'S A VERY MUCH A SMALL TOWN FEEL.
WHEN I GO INTO THEIR DRIVER ROOM, THEY TALK ABOUT THEIR PASSENGERS, LIKE THEY'RE THEIR FRIENDS, THEY, WE HAVE LONG-TERM DRIVERS.
IT'S A DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP.
AND SO THAT'S A LONG ANSWER TO, YOU KNOW, YOUR QUESTION, WHICH IS WE DON'T SEE IT RIGHT NOW.
WE DON'T HAVE DRIVERS AND I HAVE WORKED AT AGENCIES WHERE DRIVERS ARE OFTEN ABUSED, UM, PHYSICALLY, VERBALLY ASSAULTED ON A REGULAR BASIS.
UM, AND I WAS THE ONE TO FIELD THOSE, THOSE ISSUES.
I HAVE YET TO EXPERIENCE THAT HERE.
IT'S NOT TO SAY IT DOESN'T HAPPEN, BUT IT'S, IT'S FEW AND FAR BETWEEN.
JARED OBVIOUSLY HAS WAY MORE HISTORY WITH THE AGENCY.
YOU CAN KIND OF SPEAK TO THAT.
I THINK IT'S A PRETTY RARE OCCURRENCE TO US RELATIVE TO OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES.
WE HAVE VERY FEW INCIDENTS ALONG THOSE LINES.
UM, DRIVER ASSAULTS, THINGS LIKE THAT, OR HARDLY EXISTING AT ALL FOR US, I WOULD ANTICIPATE A, A KIND OF MINOR SHIFT IS RIGHT NOW THE DRIVERS ARE ACTUALLY HAPPY WITH THIS DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE ONE OF THE MOST COMMON, UM, DISAGREEMENTS, POTENTIAL ARGUMENTS THAT GET INTO IS OVER FARES.
[00:45:01]
YOU PUT IN THE DOLLAR 25, NOT A DOLLAR 50.EVEN THOUGH WE ALWAYS ENCOURAGE THEM, YOU KNOW, DON'T GET INTO ARGUMENTS OVER A QUARTER, IT'S NOT WORTH IT.
BUT NEVERTHELESS, THAT IS KIND OF A POINT OF CONTENTION WITH SOME OF THE RIDERS.
WE WOULD PROBABLY HAVE A FEW MORE DISCUSSIONS ON WHAT WE KIND OF CALL THE CAROUSEL RIDERS, EVEN THOUGH WE'RE GONNA DO THINGS LIKE UPDATE THE POLICY WORK CLOSER WITH THE RESOURCES LIKE, UH, SAFE TEAM AND PD TO HELP KIND OF OFFSET THAT AND BE PROACTIVE WITH IT.
UM, BUT THERE MAY BE MORE DISCUSSIONS WITH THAT, BUT WAY LESS ON THE FAIR DISAGREEMENT SIDE, WE ANTICIPATE A LARGE NET DECREASE IN KIND OF THOSE DISCUSSIONS, ARGUMENTS OVERALL AS A RESULT OF THE SHIFT TO FAIR FREE.
SO IT'S NOT HAPPENING AND WE'RE TAKING AWAY A FRICTION POINT.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER DIRECTION OR FEEDBACK YOU WERE HOPING FOR? UM, I, IT JUST, IT'S GREAT TO HEAR THESE QUESTIONS.
I'M GONNA INTERACT WITH Y'ALL ON THIS PROCESS BECAUSE IT HELPS US UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE CONCERNS, UM, SO THAT WE MAKE SURE WE'RE ALSO NOT MISSING ANYTHING.
SO I APPRECIATE THE TIME YOU'VE ALL TAKEN AND THE THOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS.
WHAT'S THE TIME, WHICH, WHAT DO YOU HOPE JUNE? SO I WOULD SAY WE'RE AT APPROXIMATELY ABOUT LITTLE OVER HALFWAY THROUGH THE PROCESS NOW, BUT WE WANTED TO BRING IT TO THIS UM, COMMITTEE WHEN WE HAVE ENOUGH MEAT ON THE BONES TO EXPLAIN IT, ANSWER QUESTIONS.
BUT NOT SO FAR DOWN THE LINE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'VE KIND OF MADE ALL THE DECISIONS WITH EVERYTHING AND SO WE'RE HOPING TO ROLL IT OUT BY THE END OF JUNE.
BUT TO MARIA'S POINT, AS SHE DISCUSSED IN THE PRESENTATION, SEVERAL STEPS TO GO, FOR EXAMPLE, BRANDING.
WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM'S GONNA BE.
WE HAVE TO DO MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS, WORKING WITH A LOT OF OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS AS WE DISCUSSED TO HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE PROGRAM.
THOSE ARE ALL THE ELEMENTS THAT'D HAVE TO OCCUR.
STILL A LOT OF STEPS BETWEEN NOW AND THAT ROLLOUT IN JUNE THAT'LL OCCUR.
BEFORE WE CONTINUE TO UM, THE CHARGING CONVERSATION, UH, I WANT THE RECORD TO SHOW THAT UH, COMMITTEE MEMBER ABRAMS WAS ABLE TO JOIN US SHORTLY AFTER ROLL CALL AND HAS NOW DEPARTED BECAUSE OF A CONFLICT.
UH, WITH THAT I THINK IT'S BACK TO YOU T MANAGER HALL REGARDING THE CHARGING ACQUISITION CHARGER ACQUISITION.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, CHAIR ALDEN.
UH, SO THE NEXT ITEM WE'RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
I WOULD SAY THIS IS SORT OF A PART TWO OF TWO TO CONTINUED DISCUSSION WE HAD LAST MONTH ABOUT OUR ELECTRIC BUSES.
AND SO THIS IS KIND OF THE SECOND COMPONENT OF THAT.
WHAT WE DISCUSSED LAST MONTH WAS A PURCHASE OF OUR FIRST FOUR ELECTRIC BUSES, UH, NEW FLYER BUSES AND THAT'LL BE BEFORE COUNCIL ON THE 22ND OF THIS MONTH.
IF PEOPLE WANT TUNE IN AND ON THE SAME NIGHT THEY'LL POTENTIALLY BE SEEING THIS ITEM, WHICH IS TALKING ABOUT THE PURCHASE OF ELECTRIC BUS CHARGERS.
UM, AS YOU MAY RECALL, WE DID A ELECTRIFICATION STUDY IN 2019 WORKING WITH OTHER UH, SONOMA COUNTY TRANSIT AGENCIES AND UM, SONOMA CLEAN POWER TO ASSESS THE POWER NEEDS OF OUR FACILITY.
WHAT WE FOUND IS OUR CURRENT GRID CAN ACCOMMODATE ABOUT ONE BUS WITH CURRENT ELECTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE BEFORE NEEDING UPGRADES.
YOU KNOW, THE GRID NOT BEING POWERFUL ENOUGH TO ACCOMMODATE THEM.
AND SO WE'RE DOING A PROJECT RIGHT NOW THAT'S ABOUT 50% OF THE WAY THROUGH THE DESIGN PROCESS.
WE'RE HOPING TO ADD THAT BID IN SEVERAL MONTHS.
AS YOU MAY RECALL, WE RECENTLY PURCHASED SWITCHGEAR, WHICH IS THE BIGGEST COST AND ELECTRIC COMPONENT THAT TAKES ABOUT 13 MONTHS.
WE ORDER THAT APPROXIMATELY THREE MONTHS AGO.
THE NEXT MAJOR CAPITAL COST IS THE ELECTRIC CHARGERS THEMSELVES.
AND SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE, UM, HAVE BEFORE YOU TONIGHT.
AND SO IN THIS CASE IT WOULD BE PURCHASING FIVE, WHAT THEY CALL POWER BLOCKS, WHICH IS KIND OF THE UM, DISTRIBUTOR BOX AND THEN FIVE PLUGS, IN THIS CASE A PLUG STATION, KIND OF LIKE YOU'LL SEE SIMILAR IF YOU SEE A CHARGER THAT YOU PLUG YOUR PERSONAL CAR INTO AT A LIBRARY SUPERMARKET, THEY'LL LOOK PRETTY SIMILAR JUST WITH A BIT LARGER FOR BUSES.
AND EACH OF THOSE WILL HAVE TWO PLUGS.
BUT OVERALL IT WOULD ALLOW US TO PURCHASE THIS EQUIPMENT FROM CHARGEPOINT VIA THE SOURCE WELL STATE AGREEMENTS FROM A UM, CONTRACTOR CALLED CED CONTRACTORS, ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS.
AND IT WOULD ALLOW US TO CHARGE 10 BUSES SO IT WOULD MEET THE NEEDS FOR APPROXIMATELY HALF THE PETALUMA TRANSIT FLEET.
THIS WOULD BE THE FIRST OF A TWO PHASE PROJECT.
THE SECOND PHASE HOPEFULLY DONE IN ABOUT TWO TO THREE YEARS AS WE HAVE AVAILABLE FUNDING THROUGH GRANTS, OTHER SOURCES, UM, ENTERPRISE FUNDS, CITY FUNDS THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO COVER THAT SECOND PHASE IN THE FULL FLEET.
BUT THIS SHOULD COVER THE ELECTRIFICATION NEEDS FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS OR SO.
AND OF COURSE WE'VE BEEN WORKING THROUGH THE PG AND E FLEET READY PROGRAM.
UM, AS WE'VE DISCUSSED, WE HAVE $600,000 IN FUNDS THAT THEY'RE PROVIDING THROUGH THAT PROGRAM.
I WOULD ENCOURAGE ANY BUSINESSES OUT THERE THAT ARE ELECTRIFYING TO LOOK INTO THAT PROGRAM.
[00:50:01]
BUT WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH THEM AND THAT'LL HELP TO COVER THE LION'S SHARE OF THE COST FOR BUYING AND INSTALLING THIS ELECTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE.IT'LL TAKE APPROXIMATELY FOUR MONTHS TO UM, ORDER AND RECEIVE THE UM, CHARGERS.
AND SO WE'RE A BIT AHEAD OF THE GAME BECAUSE WE ANTICIPATE IN ABOUT SIX TO NINE MONTHS HAVING AN AWARD OF A CONTRACT TO BE ABLE TO INSTALL EVERYTHING.
AND SO THERE ARE SEVERAL CONVERGING TIMELINES THAT WE'RE TRYING TO TIE TOGETHER.
THE NI NICE BOW, IT'S THE ARRIVAL OF THE ELECTRIC BUSES, IT'S THE ARRIVAL OF THE SWITCHGEAR, IT WOULD BE THE ARRIVAL OF THE CHARGERS AND THEN IT WOULD BE THE CONTRACTOR WHO'S BEEN AWARDED A BID TO INSTALL ALL OF THAT.
SO AS OF RIGHT NOW, WE'RE HOPING ALL THIS COMES TOGETHER IN APPROXIMATELY, UH, FIRST QUARTER OF 2025.
UM, AND OVERALL YOU CAN SEE THE COSTS THAT ARE INCLUDED IN YOUR, UM, PACKET HERE.
THIS ITEM WOULD BE FOR $876,000 APPROXIMATELY.
IT IS ALL FULLY INCLUDED IN THE CURRENT BUDGET.
AND THE CIP UH, PROJECT NUMBER THAT YOU CAN SEE THERE, THE OVERALL PROJECT IS $1.35 MILLION, WHICH HAS A COMBINATION OF FUNDS THROUGH THE PG E FUNDS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED WITH THE TSIP GRANT THAT WE RECEIVED.
TRANSIT, INNER CITY RAIL CAPITAL PROGRAM.
AND THEN ALSO, UM, ENTERPRISE FUNDS HELP COVER ANY REMAINING LOCAL MATCH ASSOCIATED WITH IT.
AND SO THIS ITEM WOULD ALLOW US TO PROCEED WITH ORDERING THE EQUIPMENT THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO CHARGE THE 10 BUSES AND UM, HOPEFULLY BE PLACED ALONG SIMILAR TIMELINES WITH THE PURCHASE OF THE BUSES THEMSELVES AND WITHOUT HAPPY TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS, MR. CHAIRMAN.
ANY QUESTIONS? OKAY, VICE, VICE CHAIR KAGEN.
UM, SO WE'RE, UH, YOU MENTIONED THIS IS PART OF A, UH, ONE OF THE CITY SUPPORTING SOME OF THE CITY GOALS TO ELECTRIFY FLEETS.
ARE THERE OTHER, UM, AGENCIES, FIRE, POLICE, WHATEVER, WHO ARE ALSO ELECTRIFYING THEIR FLEETS AND 'CAUSE THIS IS GOING TO REPRESENT A SIGNIFICANT DRAW 'CAUSE WE'RE NOT GONNA BE STORING AN ENERGY.
THIS IS GONNA BE A SIGNIFICANT DRAW ON OUR CURRENT GRID.
UM, ARE THERE OTHER PEOPLE ELECTRIFYING THEIR FLEET AND HOW DOES THIS COORDINATE WITH THAT? YES, THERE DEFINITELY ARE.
SO THERE'S A COMBINATION OF OTHER NEARBY TRANSIT AGENCIES THAT ARE AT VARIOUS STAGES OF ELECTRIFICATION.
SANTA ROSA CITY BUS HAS THEIR FIRST, UH, WAVE THEY TOOK WITHIN THE PAST YEAR, FOUR BUSES.
UM, SONOMA COUNTY TRANSIT HAS A RIGHT AROUND 10 BUSES, SO IT'S TAKING SEVERAL MORE IN THE NEAR TERM.
SO THEY'VE BEEN DOING ELECTRIC BUSES FOR ABOUT ONE TO TWO YEARS.
I WOULD SAY THE CITY OF PETALUMA IS ALSO LOOKING AT ELECTRIFICATION.
UM, IT REFERENCES THE CONTRACTOR IN HERE, NV FIVE, THAT'S THE SAME CONTRACTOR DOING THE DESIGN FOR THE TRANSIT YARD IMPROVEMENTS AS IS DOING THE IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE OTHER CITY FACILITIES THAT ARE ONGOING RIGHT NOW AS WELL.
AND SO WE'RE WORKING WITH THE SAME CONTRACTOR BOTH FOR THE DESIGN OF THE FACILITIES, WHAT THAT'LL LOOK LIKE, AND LOOKING AT SIMILAR TECHNOLOGY AND CHARGERS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
IDEALLY, ALTHOUGH THE NEEDS CAN BE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT WITH TRANSIT, ESPECIALLY BEING SUCH A HEAVY USE, LARGE, HEAVY DRAW VEHICLES, UH, COMPARED TO SOME SMALLER PASSENGER TYPE ONES.
BUT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE HAVING AS FEW SYSTEMS AS YOU CAN.
SO THAT'S AS UNIVERSAL AS POSSIBLE WITHIN THE CITY.
AND THEN AMONGST OUR OTHER OPERATORS TOO, IN CASE THERE'S EVER THINGS LIKE RESILIENCY NEEDS, HAVING TO WORK WITH OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES.
UM, IN TERMS OF OUR TRANSIT FACILITY ITSELF, IT'S A FAIRLY SMALL FOOTPRINT AS WE'VE TALKED ABOUT.
SO WE DO HAVE SOME POTENTIAL FOR SOLAR ON THE ROOFS OF THE BUILDINGS THAT WERE ALSO INCLUDED IN THAT 2019 STUDY, BUT IT'S PRETTY MINIMAL.
IT WOULD MOSTLY COVER THE OPERATIONAL, UM, IMPACTS OF THE BUILDINGS BUT NOT REALLY GET YOU VERY FAR TOWARDS CHARGING THE FLEET ITSELF 'CAUSE IT'S SUCH A HEAVY DRAW.
YEAH, I THINK THAT'D BE UNREALISTIC TO THINK THAT WE COULD OFFSET OUR DRAW
YEAH, THAT WAS, UM, JUST LIKE THE RESILIENCY OF BEING ABLE TO CHARGE OTHER VEHICLES OR CHARGE OTHER PLACES.
THAT WAS THE NATURE OF MY QUESTION.
THANK YOU MAYOR COMMITTEE, MAYOR COLOR ROSS.
SO I SEE THAT, UM, YOU, WE WILL BE, UH, RESTRICTED TO CHARGING IN OFF PEAK HOURS AND SO, BUT THOSE ARE NOT OPERATIONAL HOURS.
9:00 PM TO 6:00 AM SO DOES THAT MEAN THAT IF A BUS NEEDS TO BE CHARGED, YOU KNOW, FOR WHATEVER REASON DURING PEAK HOURS IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE.
I MEAN, THIS IS PG AND E SO I DON'T, I'M NOT SURPRISED AT RESTRICTIONS LIKE THIS.
UM, BUT I'M JUST WONDERING, YES, THAT IS THE CASE.
UNFORTUNATELY, AS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD WITH PG E THEY'VE GOT BANDWIDTH ISSUES, UM, WITH SO MANY FLEETS, ELECTRIFYING AND I HAD TO SAY.
BUT THAT PROBLEM SOMEWHAT BECOMES OUR PROBLEM BECAUSE THE ONLY TIMES THEY'VE MADE IT AVAILABLE FOR US TO CHARGE IS AFTER
[00:55:01]
9:00 PM UNTIL 6:00 AM.FORTUNATELY FOR US, WITH OUR OPERATIONS, BOTH WHAT THEY ARE NOW, WHAT WE ANTICIPATE MAY SHIFT, THAT SHOULD BE PLENTIFUL.
TIME TO COVER A FULL CHARGE AND HAVE EVERY BUS FULLY CHARGED BY THE NEXT DAY.
6:00 AM THERE'S ALWAYS A CHANCE THERE'S OUTAGES, THINGS LIKE THAT.
FORTUNATELY WE DO HAVE A, UM, ENOUGH SPARE FLEET RATIO AS WE KIND OF DISCUSSED ON THE LAST ITEM THAT WE IN ANTICIPATE WE'D STILL BE ABLE TO COVER ALL THOSE ITEMS. SO WE'RE HOPING THAT'S SOMETHING THAT CHANGES OVER TIME.
PG E HAS INDICATED THAT THEY'RE LOOKING TO BUILD BANDWIDTH WITH AN UNCERTAIN TIMELINE, NO STRONG COMMITMENTS, OF COURSE.
HOPEFULLY THAT PIECE WILL COME ALONG IN A FEW YEARS THAT'LL ALLOW US MORE OF THAT FLEXIBILITY THAT WE'D PREFER TO HAVE.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? SO HOW MANY, UH, TODAY, UH, ON A GIVEN BUS OR WHEN WE RECEIVE AND OPERATIONALIZE THE ELECTRIC BUSES, UM, UH, THEY HAVE A RANGE.
SO, AND THEIR RANGE IS GOING TO ALLOW THEM TO HANDLE HOW MANY SHIFTS.
AND HOW DOES THAT, HOW DOES THAT COMPARE TO WHAT BUSES DO TODAY? SO, I GUESS WHERE I'M GOING WITH THAT IS, WILL, WILL THE NEW ELECTRIC BUSES BE LESS PRODUCTIVE BECAUSE THEY CAN'T CHARGE DURING THAT TIME, OR THEY CAN ONLY CHARGE DURING RESTRICTED TIME? WE ANTICIPATE THAT OUR FIRST WAVE OF ELECTRIC BUSES WILL BE ABLE TO OPERATE FOR A FULL DAY'S COVERAGE.
THE ADVERTISE RATE, GIVEN THE BUS IN A BATTERY PACK SIZE IS ABOUT 250 MILES.
BUT, UM, AS WE TALKED ABOUT LAST TIME, YOU LOSE SOME EFFICIENCY WITH ENERGY DRAWS FOR THINGS LIKE HEATERS, AIR CONDITIONING.
SO REALISTICALLY, THAT NUMBER IS MAYBE ABOUT 200 MILES BY THE TIME YOU COME FOR THAT AND WANTING TO COME BACK TO THE YARD WITH A MINIMUM BATTERY PERCENT, YOU DON'T WANT TO DRAW THOSE ALL THE WAY DOWN TO ZERO.
OUR LONGEST PIECE RIGHT NOW, ASSUMING A BUS IS IN OPERATION PRETTY MUCH FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY TO THE END ALL THE WAY THROUGH IS ABOUT 210 MILES.
AND SO WE'RE PRETTY MUCH ABLE TO COVER IT ALL RIGHT NOW, IF NEEDED, WE WOULD ADJUST KIND OF THE OPERATIONS THROUGHOUT THE DAY IS HOW A LOT OF TRANSIT AGENCIES DO IT TO SHUFFLE BUSES AROUND.
UM, NOT IDEAL, BUT IF YOU HAVE TO, YOU DO BRING THE ELECTRIC VEST BACK TO YARDS AND ANOTHER ONE OUT, THINGS ALONG THOSE LINES.
I'M NOT SURE THE RANGE OF THE DIESEL BUSES, I WOULD GUESS, UH, 350 TO 400 PLUS MILES CURRENTLY WITH THE EXISTING DIESEL BUSES THAT WE HAVE.
BUT THE CONDITIONS FOR PETALUMA SET UP PRETTY WELL.
UH, FORTUNATELY FOR RUNNING ELECTRIC BUSES, YOU KNOW, THE BUSES GENERALLY AREN'T GOING MORE THAN 40, 45 MILES PER HOUR OPERATING ALL WITHIN THE CITY.
IT'S NOT OVERLY HILLY COMPARED TO OTHER AREAS.
YOU GET A LOT OF REGENERATIVE BRAKING.
SO WHAT SETS UP REALLY WELL FOR US, COMPARED TO OTHER AGENCIES ESPECIALLY THAT ARE A LOT MORE DIFFICULT WHEN YOU'RE RUNNING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, LONGER DISTANCE, WHERE YOU REALLY RUN INTO SOME OF THOSE OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS.
I IMAGINE THESE BUSES DON'T HAVE INTERCHANGEABLE BATTERY PACKS.
BUT YOU CAN HAVE THEM REPLACE, BUT NOT VERY EASILY.
IT'S A BIT OF AN ORDEAL, BUT NOTHING YOU COULD DO WITHIN A FEW MINUTES.
YEAH, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CAN SWAP OUT THE BATTERIES.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? I SHOULD HAVE OPEN THIS UP TO PUBLIC COMMENT.
DOES ANYBODY WANT TO SPEAK? SEEING NO RAISED HANDS? UH, WE, THIS IS AN ACTION ITEM.
ARE THERE ANY, ANYBODY WANT TO STATE THEIR POSITIONS ON IT OR CAN WE JUST PROCEED TO A MOTION AND A VOTE? I'M, I'M SAYING NOBODY REALLY WANTS TO COMMENT FURTHER.
DO I HAVE A MOTION? I'LL MOTION TO APPROVE? THAT WAS, YES.
COMMITTEE, UH, VICE CHAIR KAGEN.
MOVING ON TO AGENDA ITEM FOUR, DISCUSSION OF MICRO TRANSIT SERVICE.
I THINK AS WE LEARNED EARLIER, THIS WILL AGAIN BE MS. ACE.
I'M OVERLY EXCITED TO SHARE WITH YOU
UM, WHAT WE'RE GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT IS WHAT OUR PROGRESS IS SO FAR ON THE POTENTIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF A ONE YEAR PILOT OF A MICRO TRANSIT PROJECT.
UM, THERE'S A LOT OF INFORMATION THAT I'LL BE COVERING, SO AGAIN, THERE'LL BE TIME FOR QUESTIONS AS WE GO THROUGH.
[01:00:04]
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.ALRIGHT, WE'RE OFF AND ROLLING.
A FEW THINGS WE'RE GONNA COVER ABOUT MICROT TRANSIT.
SO, UM, WE'RE GONNA GIVE YOU SOME BACKGROUND ABOUT WHY MICROT TRANSITS IS, IS BEING CONSIDERED FOR A PETALUMA TRANSIT.
WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT WHAT MICRO TRANSIT IS.
UH, UM, WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE GOALS AND PRIORITIES.
A LOT OF THE CONTENT WILL BE ITEMS WE'VE COVERED IN OUR AD HOC THAT WAS FORMED, WHICH I'LL G GO INTO THAT AS WELL.
WE'LL TALK BRIEFLY ABOUT SUCCESSFUL DEMOGRAPHICS AND LAND USE CASES.
AGAIN, WE'RE GONNA TOUCH ON OUTREACH, POTENTIAL ZONES AND NEXT STEPS.
SO A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND, WHICH WAS IN YOUR MEMO.
UM, AND AGAIN, YOU KNOW, KIND OF REPEATING SOME OF WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN TERMS OF THE FAIR FREE, UH, INCREASING RIDERSHIP IS A, A HUGE PUSH FOR THE CITY OF PETMAN.
PET LIMIT TRANSIT, UM, ALL TRANSIT AGENCIES SAW A DIP IN RIDERSHIP DURING COVID.
CURRENT RIDERSHIP FOR PETALUMA TRANSIT IS AT 80% OF PRE PANDEMIC NUMBERS.
BUT OF COURSE, WITH OUR INTENSIVE CLIMATE GOALS AND, UM, DESIRE TO GET PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR CARS, WE WANNA SEE IT NOT ONLY GO TO PRE PANDEMIC NUMBERS, BUT BEYOND.
AND SO ALWAYS LOOKING AT WHAT ARE DIFFERENT WAYS OR PROGRAMS WE CAN INCREASE RIDERSHIP, MICROT TRANSIT HAS GAINED POPULARITY AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE WERE TASKED TO CONSIDER.
UM, TO THAT END, WE DID FORM AN AD HOC, AND I WANNA TAKE THE TIME TO SAY HUGE THANK YOU TO THE AD HOC.
UM, WE HAVE THE NAMES OF SOME OF THE, UM, AD HOC MEMBERS HERE.
UM, THEY WERE INSTRUMENTAL AND WE HAD GREAT DISCUSSIONS IN KIND OF CONSIDERING DIFFERENT ASPECTS, AND I APOLOGIZE FOR ALL THE TIMES I WENT OVER IN TIME WITH OUR AD HOC.
UM, WE'VE BEEN MEETING WITH THE AD HOC, UM, SINCE I BELIEVE AUGUST OF 2023.
AND IT'S MADE UP OF COMMUNITY LEADERS, STAKEHOLDERS, FOLKS WHO ARE HERE TODAY.
UM, AND SO, UM, IT WAS A GREAT WAY TO DISCUSS ADDING THIS PARTICULAR MODE OF SERVICE.
SO I'LL BE COVERING SOME OF THE THINGS WE WE TALKED ABOUT AND COVERED, BUT FIRST I WANNA EXPLAIN FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT MICRO TRANSIT IS.
SO I'LL DO A QUICK, QUICK VERSION OF WHAT MICROT TRANSIT IS.
UM, I ACTUALLY HAD, UH, THE PRIVILEGE OF LAUNCHING, LAUNCHING A MICRO TRANSITS SERVICE IN 2019 WITH, UH, AGENCY EASTERN CONTRA COSTA TRANSIT AUTHORITY.
SO I'VE BEEN WORKING IN THIS FOR A WHILE.
AT THAT TIME IT WAS NOT AS POPULAR AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE'S A LOT OF DIFFERENT, UH, SERVICE PROVIDERS.
NOW, THE SHORT VERSION IS, WELL, LET ME GIVE YOU A FIRST, A DEFINITION I'LL POP BACK TO THIS SCREEN.
UM, THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATOR DEFINES MICROT TRANSIT AS, UM, IT ENABLED MULTI PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION SERVICES THAT SERVE PASSENGERS USING DYNAMICALLY GENERATED ROUTES AND MAY EXPECT PASSENGERS TO MAKE THEIR WAY TO AND FROM COMMON PICKUP OR DROP OFF POINTS.
MICROT TRANSIT VEHICLES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO LARGE SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, VANS AND SHUTTLE BUSES.
SO YOU KIND OF GET A SENSE OF WHAT THE PROCESS LOOKS LIKE WITH MICRO TRANSIT.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, WITH TRY MY RIDE, IT'S THE CENTER ONE THAT YOU'LL SEE.
UM, AND THEY'RE ALL PRETTY MUCH THE SAME.
THERE'S A PROPRIETARY APP THAT'S USED, SOMETIMES IT'S A WHITE LABELED APP THAT'S, UH, SPECIFICALLY BRANDED FOR THE TRANSIT AGENCY.
WE HAVE MICROT TRANSIT SERVICE ALREADY, NOT PETALUMA TRANSIT, BUT SMART, AS YOU KNOW, HAS STARTED A PILOT.
THEY USE AN APP, UM, PUNGO, I BELIEVE IS THE NAME.
SO IT'S NOT BRANDED FOR SMART.
THE IDEA WOULD BE THAT YOU HAVE A ZONE AND YOU HAVE A APP AND IT TELLS YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE IN THAT ZONE.
IF YOU'RE IN THE ZONE, YOU GIVE IT YOUR PICKUP AND DROP OFF, AND THEN IT PROVIDES A PROPOSAL TO YOU.
SO IF YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH DOORDASH, UBER EATS, LYFT, ALL OF THOSE THINGS, IT'S VERY MUCH THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY.
UM, SO IT WILL GIVE YOU A PROPOSAL.
WE CAN COME GET YOU IN THE NEXT 15 MINUTES.
WE CAN COME GET YOU IN THE NEXT HOUR.
IT'LL TELL YOU ALSO WHEN, HOW LONG YOUR RIDE TIME IS ESTIMATED TO BE WHEN YOU'LL GET TO YOUR DESTINATION.
IT'LL ALSO TELL YOU WHERE YOUR COMMON PICKUP LOCATION WOULD BE.
SO VERSUS BEING AT A BUS STOP, YOU MIGHT JUST BE AT A CORNER, RIGHT? MAYBE THE CLOSEST CORNER TO WHERE YOU ARE.
THAT CORNER COULD CHANGE THOUGH, DEPENDING ON THE WAY THE ALGORITHM DECIDES, BECAUSE THE ALGORITHM ON THE BACKEND IS GOING TO PRIORITIZE.
WELL, IT CAN PRIORITIZE WHATEVER THE TRANSIT AGENCY WANTS.
IN OUR CASE, IT'D BE A SHARED RIDE.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, IF WE HAVE TWO PEOPLE BOOKING THE SAME, YOU KNOW, ABOUT THE SAME AREA, WE'RE GONNA GET A COMMON SPACE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM, IF THAT MAKES SENSE.
UM, I THINK THAT HOPEFULLY EXPLAINS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT IT, WHAT IT IS.
WE'RE GONNA GO INTO A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE, THE BENEFITS OF IT IN TERMS OF THE, THE VEHICLE USED.
[01:05:01]
YOU CAN SEE A LOT OF TRANSIT AGENCIES JUST RE WE WILL USE PARATRANSIT VEHICLES, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO.YOU HAVE A TABLET INSIDE THE VEHICLE THAT THE DRIVER WILL USE.
SO THERE'S REALLY NO THERE, THE CONVERSATION IS BETWEEN THE, THE APP AND THE TABLET.
THERE ISN'T A DISPATCHER DECIDING WHERE THESE RIDES GO.
IT'S, IT'S JUST LIKE AN UBER OR LYFT EXCEPT, YOU KNOW, PRIORITIZING SHARED RIDES.
ALL RIGHT? I THINK WITH ANYTHING SHINY AND NEW, RIGHT? THERE'S LIKE, OH, IT'S SO GREAT.
IT DOES ALL THESE THINGS AND IT DOES DO A LOT.
UM, I LOVE THIS POINT THAT TRANSIT HISTORICALLY MAKES YOU COME TO THE ROUTE, RIGHT? BUT IN THIS RATE, THE ROUTE COMES TO YOU.
A LOT OF THE APPREHENSION ABOUT TRANSIT IS THINGS LIKE WAITING AT A BUS STOP.
I'M NOT SURE WHEN MY BUS IS GOING TO COME.
IF YOU'RE ABLE TO WAIT IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME OR AT THE STARBUCKS AND YOU GET TO WATCH IT ON ON YOUR PHONE, THERE'S A LOT MORE COMFORT IN THAT.
UM, THERE'S ALSO, IT'S VERY ADAPTABLE.
SO WITH ROUTES, AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE TO A ROUTE.
WE HAVE TO REPRINT SCHEDULES, RIGHT? WE HAVE TO DO A LOT OF COMMUNICATION WITH AN APP-BASED TECHNOLOGY.
IT'S SIMPLY KIND OF A CLICK OF A BUTTON, AND THEN THE, THE PASSENGER IS NOTIFIED BECAUSE THEY'RE NO LONGER IN THE ZONE.
UM, IT REALLY MEETS THE CURRENT ON-DEMAND EXPECTATIONS.
WE'RE IN A SOCIETY IN A TIME WHERE EVERYBODY EXPECTS THINGS RIGHT NOW, RIGHT? I WANT A PATIO SET, BOOM, LOOK, IT'S HERE IN THREE DAYS.
UM, AND SO IT KIND OF MEETS THAT, THAT NEED.
UM, IT'S FLEXIBLE AND IT'S ACCESSIBLE, BUT THERE ARE LIMITS.
SO I ALWAYS WANT TO BE REALLY CLEAR ABOUT THE LIMITS, UM, ASSOCIATED WITH MICROT TRANSIT, HAVING, HAVING LAUNCHED A SERVICE ALREADY AND HAVING EXPERIENCED SOME OF THOSE.
ONE OF THEM IS THAT IT'S A NEW HABIT AND IDEA.
NOW, WE'RE LUCKY THERE THAT IT IS OUT THERE, BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT MICROT TRANSIT IS.
I SAY THAT AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE OR MEANS.
AND SO NUMBER ONE, KNOWING WHO'S GONNA ACTUALLY KIND OF GRAB ONTO THAT HABIT, AND THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE SERVICE TO PEOPLE CAN BE REALLY TRICKY, RIGHT? I, UH, I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS.
IT'S, BUT THE BUS WE UNDERSTAND, WE KNOW, RIGHT? IT'S AN INSTITUTION.
UM, THE DEMAND MODEL OF IT MAY RESULT IN A NO RIGHT AVAILABLE.
SO AGAIN, IF YOU'VE EXPERIENCED, FOR EXAMPLE, ORDERING A PIZZA ON A WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, YOU MIGHT GET IT WITHIN, YOU KNOW, WHAT, AN HOUR OR MAYBE 40 MINUTES, 30 MINUTES.
YOU TRY TO DO THAT ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY, YOU'RE NOT GETTING YOUR PIZZA, RIGHT? THAT'S VERY MUCH A DEMAND RESPONSE MODEL.
SO IF THERE'S TOO MUCH DEMAND, YOU MAY GET A NO RIDE AVAILABLE.
UM, EFFICACY OF SERVICE IS CLOSELY TIED TO APP USAGE.
AND WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS IT WORKS WELL WHEN YOU USE THE APP, BUT NOT ALL SEGMENTS OF THE POPULATION WANT TO USE ANOTHER APP.
SO, YOU KNOW, WHETHER OR NOT PEOPLE IN THIS, IN THE CITY OF PETALUMA ARE GONNA WANNA ADOPT ANOTHER APP TO DO ANOTHER THING IS SOMETHING THAT WE HAVE TO CONSIDER, MAYBE, MAYBE A LIMITING FACTOR.
IT'S NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL SOLUTION TO TRANSIT APPREHENSION.
SO WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEET ALL THE CONCERNS WITH TRANSIT.
THE REASON SOMEBODY MIGHT NOT BE WRITING TRANSIT, IT MAY STILL, IT MIGHT BE THAT IT'S A SHARED RIDE AND MICROT TRANSIT WOULD BE A SHARED RIDE.
SO IT'S, IT'S REALLY GREAT, BUT WE WANNA BE AWARE OF THE LIMITATIONS.
THE OTHER THING IS THAT IT'S, UH, FIXED ROUTE IS STILL THE MOST EFFICIENT AND COST EFFECTIVE WAY TO TRANSPORT PEOPLE.
IT'S JUST THAT'S THE WAY IT IS.
UM, I PULLED A QUOTE FROM ANOTHER TCRP STUDY THAT WE TALKED ABOUT EARLIER.
THIS ONE, OBVIOUSLY IT'S ON MICRO TRANSIT.
UM, THIS FORM OF TRANSIT SERVICE IS, THEY CALL IT THE TWEENER OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN BETWEEN BEING LESS EXPENSIVE PER TRIP THAN TRADITIONAL PARATRANSIT SERVICES, BUT CONSIDERABLY MORE EXPENSIVE PER TRIP THAN FIXED ROUTE SERVICES.
IT IS LESS EFFICIENT THAN FIXED ROUTE SERVICE IN DENSE AREAS, BUT MORE EFFICIENT THAN FIXED ROUTE SERVICE IN AREAS OF LOWER DENSITY OR DEMAND.
FROM A BROADER MOBILITY POINT OF VIEW, IT IS MORE DEMAND DRIVEN THAN FIXED ROUTE TRANSIT, BUT GENERALLY NOT AS RESPONSIVE TO INDIVIDUAL REQUESTS OR EXPENSIVE AS TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES.
TNCS LIKE UBER AND LYFT, MAYBE THE BEST WAY TO ILLUMINATE THAT IS, IS RIDERSHIP.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, ON OUR CURRENT RIDERSHIP FOR LIKE ROUTE 11, WHICH IS ONE OF OUR MORE POPULAR ROUTES, WE MIGHT GET 20 TO 22 BOARDINGS PER HOUR.
WITH MICROT TRANSIT, WE WOULD EXPECT MAYBE FOUR OR SIX BOARDINGS PER HOUR.
SO I JUST WANNA PUT IT IN CONTEXT OF THE LIMITATIONS.
AND NOW YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING, WHY ARE WE DOING IT? THEN WE'LL TALK ABOUT ALSO WHAT, WHAT THE, THE PURPOSE WOULD BE OF THIS.
WHEN WE TALKED TO OUR AD HOC, ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS WAS DETERMINING WHAT'S THE GOAL AND PRIORITY, I THINK OF, UH, MICROT TRANSIT AS A TOOL, LIKE A SCREWDRIVER IS, BUT YOU DON'T WANT TO USE A SCREWDRIVER FOR A HAMMER JOB.
SO WE WANNA DETERMINE WHAT IS THE, THE GOAL AND THE PRIORITY.
WHY ARE WE USING MICROT TRANSIT? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WE'RE
[01:10:01]
TRYING TO SOLVE? SO WE HAD ASKED THE HAD AD HOC RIGHT AWAY, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THE SERVICE? WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH? WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ALLEVIATE? WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE AND HOW CAN IT BE MEASURED THROUGH A LOT OF DISCUSSION AND SURVEY.UM, THESE WERE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE CAME UP WITH TO KIND OF FOCUS ON THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT BEING INCREASING RIDERSHIP AMONG NEVER RIDERS.
SO FOLKS WHO JUST DO NOT RIDE TRANSIT.
AND I WOULD SAY, AGAIN, ANECDOTALLY FROM MY EXPERIENCE WITH TRY MY RIDE, THAT IS WHAT WE SAW.
MAJORITY OF THE PASSENGERS WERE PEOPLE WHO HAD NEVER CONSIDERED RIDING A FIXED ROUTE BUS.
UM, BUT WE DON'T WANNA COMPETE AGAINST EXISTING PUBLIC TRANSIT SERVICE.
THAT IS A HUGE PORTION, RIGHT? WE DON'T WANNA TAKE AWAY FROM SERVICE.
WE'RE ALREADY, WE ALREADY HAVE ON THE STREET.
GOING BACK TO MY TRY MY RIDE EXAMPLE, THAT PARTICULAR SERVICE WAS MEANT TO SERVE WHAT I WOULD CALL TRANSIT DESERT.
AN AREA THAT COULD NOT HAVE A LARGE FIXED ROUTE.
BUS DEVELOPMENTS THAT HAD CUL-DE-SACS ONE WAY STREETS, THAT KIND OF THING.
AND NO ONE WANTED A LARGE BUS, BUT THEY WERE ONLY A MILE AWAY FROM BART.
SO IT WAS MEANT TO FEED INTO THAT BART SERVICE.
NOW, AS THAT SERVICE HAS EXPANDED, UM, WHICH IS WONDERFUL, HOWEVER, THE CEO IS NOW HAVING TO MAKE A DETERMINATION BECAUSE THEY CAN'T AFFORD BOTH, RIGHT? YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO RUN FIXED ROUTE THAT, THAT COMPETES WITH, UM, MICRO TRANSIT, OR EXCUSE ME, VICE VERSA.
A FEW OF THE OTHER CON, UM, PROBLEMS THAT WE WANTED TO SOLVE, INCREASED ACCESS FOR LOW INCOME POPULATION TO SERVICES AVAILABLE IN THE CITY SERVICES TO HIGH DENSITY HOUSING, INCREASE ACCESS FOR SENIORS, UM, AND HELP MEET CLIMATE GOALS.
IN ADDITION, WE, WE HAVE TO FACTOR IN TRANSIT PRIORITIES, WHICH WOULD BE TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL PILOT, RIGHT? UM, AND IDENTIFYING A SUCCESSFUL DEMOGRAPHIC AND LAND USE CASE, BECAUSE AGAIN, THIS IS A PILOT TO SEE IF IT WORKS, BUT WE WANNA MAKE SURE, YOU KNOW, TO GET THE BEST, THE BEST DATA FOR THAT.
AND THEN WE'RE ALSO TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THE PRIORITIES FOR THE CITY OF FIRST AND LAST MILE CONNECTION TO SMART SRJC, THE, UM, THE PETALUMA CAMPUS AND DOWNTOWN TO ALLEVIATE SOME OF THE CONGESTION AND TRANSIT NEEDS THERE.
THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION ON A SLIDE, I APOLOGIZE, BUT I, I GUESS I WANTED TO MAKE SURE TO ADDRESS SOME OF THE ISSUES SURROUNDING OR SURROUNDING, HOW DO WE DEAL WITH MITIGATING, UM, THE POTENTIAL OF MICROT TRANSIT KIND OF CANNIBALIZING OR TAKING AWAY OUR FIXED ROUTE RIDERS? UM, LET ME FIRST TALK ABOUT WHY IT HELPS TO ENTICE NON-TRANS RIDERS.
SO THAT'S THE FIRST PORTION OF THE GOAL.
OH, SOME MY SIZE ISN'T SHOWING UP.
UM, MICROT TRANSIT CAN ENTICE NON-TRANS RIDER BECAUSE IT MEETS CURRENT EXPECTATIONS.
UM, THERE'S THIS IDEA OF SHELTERING WITH DIGNITY THAT KIND OF MEETS THOSE NEEDS.
I DON'T HAVE TO SIT AT A BUS STOP TRANSIT COMPREHENSION, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, IT'S A HUGE OBSTACLE.
UM, AND WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS READING A SCHEDULE, KNOWING WHAT A TIME POINT IS, IT, IT CAN BE CHALLENGING, BUT EVERYONE RIGHT NOW COULD OPEN AN APP AND PRETTY MUCH FIGURE IT OUT, RIGHT? BECAUSE IT'S NOW BECOMING KIND OF A COMMON, COMMON KNOWLEDGE THING.
UM, THERE'S ALSO BUS STIGMA, RIGHT? BUSES ARE FOR CERTAIN GROUPS OF PEOPLE, AND I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.
BUT WHEN YOU HAVE A REALLY FUN MARKETING CAMPAIGN, IT'S SOMETHING NEW AND SHINY, IT CAN OFTEN ENTICE PEOPLE TO COME INTO AND TRY SOMETHING NEW.
OUR HOPE AND OUR PLAN TO MITIGATE THE NEGATIVE IMPACT WOULD BE TO USE MICROT TRANSIT AS A SEED TO FIXED ROUTE.
SO BRINGING THE CONNECTION, NOT TRYING TO TAKE AWAY THAT SERVICE, BUT SAYING, OKAY, WE'RE GONNA GET YOU NEAR YOUR NEAREST CORNER, BUT WE'RE GOING TO CONNECT YOU TO SMART.
WE'RE GOING TO CONNECT YOU TO OUR FIXED ROUTE VEHICLES, AND WE'RE NOT GONNA COMPETE WITH COM WITH OUR CURRENT SERVICE.
SO WHEN WE'VE TALKED TO APP PROVIDERS, ONE OF THE THINGS, UM, THAT ONE OF THE ONES WE'RE LOOKING AT WILL PROMOTE OR ACTUALLY INTEGRATE FIXED ROUTE SERVICE.
SO WHAT THAT MEANS IS, LET'S SAY I'M GONNA REQUEST ONE OF THOSE RIDES, BUT I'M STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE, YOU KNOW, ROUTE 11 IS, IT WILL ACTUALLY SHOW, HEY, YOU, YOU COULD JUST GET ON THE BUS AND GET THERE JUST AS FAST.
UM, SO IT'S GOING TO HELP PROMOTE THAT.
UM, AND, AND THOSE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WILL HELP ENSURE THAT WE'RE NOT, YOU KNOW, TAKING AWAY OUR PASSENGERS FROM OUR FIXED ROUTE.
I WILL SAY MICROT TRANSIT'S NOT THE SOLUTION FOR EVERY PROBLEM.
UM, WHEN WE'RE THINKING ABOUT THINGS LIKE BUS STIGMA, WEIGHTING ANXIETY AND COMPREHENSION, I THINK THERE ARE ALSO OTHER WAYS TO MEET THOSE NEEDS.
SO A LOT OF THE RESEARCH WE'RE DOING IN TERMS OF MICROT TRANSIT, WE'RE USING ALSO FOR FIXED ROUTE.
IF COMPREHENSION IS AN ISSUE, MAYBE WE NEED TO DO MORE OUTREACH AND EXPLAIN HOW THE BUSES WORK BETTER.
IF, IF PEOPLE ARE HAVING A BUS STIGMA, MAYBE WE NEED A, A SHINY CAMPAIGN FOR FIXED ROUTES.
SO THIS IS, THIS WORK ISN'T JUST WORKING FOR MICROT TRANSIT, BUT ALSO OUR OTHER EFFORTS TO INCREASE FIXED ROUTE RIDERSHIP.
AS FOR THE OTHER GOALS, A LOT OF THESE ARE KIND OF, UM, I WOULD SAY, YOU KNOW, WE CAN USE CENSUS DATA TO DETERMINE IF WE'RE, YOU KNOW, INCREASING ACCESS FOR LOW INCOME POPULATION, UM, WHERE HIGH DENSITY HOUSING IS, UM, ACCESS FOR SENIORS.
AGAIN, WE USE A TOOL CALLED REMIX, WHICH ALLOWS US TO LOOK AT DEMOGRAPHICS TO
[01:15:01]
MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE HAVING EQUITABLE ACCESS IN ALL OF THE PLACES THAT WE'D BE PURSUING.I ALWAYS WANNA MENTION THAT WE ALSO WANNA MAKE SURE THESE ALIGN WITH CITY COUNCIL GOALS, TRANSIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE GOALS, CLIMATE GOALS, AS WELL AS SOME OF THE GOALS THAT ARE PUT UP BY, BY LIKE AGE FRIENDLY AND DIFFERENT, UH, ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE DOING AMAZING WORK IN OUR COMMUNITY.
SO WE DO LOOK AT THESE AND SAY, OKAY, HOW DOES THIS MEET SOME OF THE NEEDS AND AND ISSUES THAT THEY'VE BEEN PUTTING FORWARD? WHO WILL USE IT? AND WHERE? SO ONE OF THE THINGS WITH MICROT TRANSIT IS, YOU KNOW, IT'S A NEW HABIT, AS I'VE SAID, AND WE DON'T KNOW WHO'S GOING TO ADOPT IT.
WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE DON'T KNOW.
THE BEST WE CAN DO IS TO, AGAIN, RELY ON RESEARCH, SURVEYS, OTHER TRANSIT.
BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE CITY OF PETALUMA, RIGHT? AND WE'RE A UNIQUE POPULATION, AND SO WE ONLY CAN TAKE SO MUCH FROM THIS INFORMATION, BUT WE DO WANNA GET A SENSE OF WHO HAS ADOPTED THIS SO WE CAN AIM FOR THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AREA TO PLACE OUR FIRST AND PILOT PILOT ZONE.
UH, NELSON NYGARD HAS BEEN WORKING WITH, UM, THE SONOMA COUNTY TRANSIT AGENCIES AND DID, UH, DO A SURVEY TO FIGURE OUT, NOT JUST IN PETALUMA, BUT ALL OF SONOMA, WHAT ARE SOME AREAS THAT COULD BENEFIT FROM MICRO TRANSIT? AND IN THEIR PRESENTATIONS, THEY, THEY DID LOOK AT, UM, THE CONTEXT FOR, FOR SUCCESS.
SO SERVICE OFFERINGS MUST BE PUT INTO CONTEXT OF GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF WHERE MICROT TRANSIT IS LIKELY TO SUCCEED.
I'M GONNA SHARE A FEW OF NELSON NYGARD'S SLIDES, UM, THAT DID THE RESEARCH ON SONOMA COUNTY SPECIFICALLY.
UM, THEY LOOKED AT LAND USE AND USER GROUPS LIKELY TO ADOPT THE SERVICE.
UM, THESE ARE JUST A FEW THINGS.
THEY POINTED OUT, UM, INDIVIDUALS LIKELY TO USE THE MICROT TRANSIT ZERO VEHICLE HOUSEHOLDS, YOUTH AGE 15 TO 24, NON-WHITE POPULATION, LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS.
AND, UM, PEOPLE WHOSE HOUSEHOLDS INCOME IS LESS OR THAN OR EQUAL TO 200% OF THE FEDERAL POVERTY LINE, THEY EXCLUDED SENIORS AS A PROPENSITY FOR UPTAKE IS LIMITED COMPARED TO CALL AHEAD SERVICES.
AND I, UM, I THINK A LOT OF THEIR, UM, REASONING FOR THAT IS WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING AT DIFFERENT AGENCIES, A LOT OF AGENCIES HAVE LAUNCHED MICROT TRANSIT AND THEY HAVE FAILED.
I, YOU KNOW, I'M NOT TRYING TO BE DOWNER, BUT I WANNA BE REALLY CLEAR.
AND SO, FOR EXAMPLE, MARIN ACCESS LAUNCHED, ONE SPECIFICALLY DRIVEN TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THEIR SENIOR POPULATION AND TAKE OFF SOME OF THE HEAVY BURDEN ON PARATRANSIT SERVICE.
THEY, UNFORTUNATELY, THE ADOPTION JUST WASN'T STRONG ENOUGH.
ONE OF THE REASONS BEING BECAUSE OF THE DESIRE FOR BEING ABLE TO PRE-BOOK A TRIP AND NO, RIGHT? SO IF I WANNA MAKE A TRIP FOR MY DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT, I DON'T WANNA GET THE, THE PIZZA MESSAGE THAT, OH, SORRY, TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO GO TO KAISER RIGHT NOW.
AND SO, THINKING WHETHER OR NOT MICROT TRANSITS IS GOING TO MEET THAT PARTICULAR NEED IS SOMETHING WE WANNA CONSIDER LAND USE CHARACTERISTICS THAT ARE SUPPORTIVE OF MICROT TRANSITS, YOU KNOW, NUMBER OF ACTIVITY CENTERS, HIGH SCHOOLS, MEDICAL FACILITIES, COMMUNITY CENTERS, CIVIC CENTERS, UM, MAJOR GROCERY STORES.
UM, OF COURSE IN THE EAST BAY IT WAS FAIRLY EASY BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE HAD BART LARGE POPULATIONS OF PEOPLE COMING AND GOING.
SO YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THAT KIND OF SPACE WHERE PEOPLE COMING AND GOING FROM, AGAIN, WE DON'T KNOW.
SO WE DON'T WANNA JUST USE NELSON NYGARD OR TCRP OR OTHER AGENCIES.
WE WANTED TO HEAR FROM OUR COMMUNITY.
IT'S A LITTLE TRICKY TO DO OUTREACH WITH MICROT TRANSIT BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE IT YET.
SO OUTREACH WILL BECOME EASIER ONCE THE FIRST PILOT IS LAUNCHED.
ONCE PEOPLE KNOW WHAT IT IS, IT'LL BE EASIER TO FIGURE OUT WHO'S GONNA ADOPT IT, BUT RIGHT NOW YOU CAN'T REALLY GO TO ANYBODY ON THE STREET AND SAY, WOULD YOU USE THIS THING? 'CAUSE IT'S JUST TOO, YOU KNOW, NOT TANGIBLE ENOUGH.
BUT WE DID DO A QUITE A BIT OF OUTREACH, UM, IN TALKING TO A LOT OF THE AGENCIES THAT I DID.
UM, NOT ONLY OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES.
WELL, WHAT I LEARNED WAS THERE WASN'T AN AWARENESS ABOUT OUR CURRENT ROUTES.
SO IT WAS REALLY INTERESTING TO HAVE THESE CONVERSATIONS WHERE THEY'D SAY, OH, I REALLY WANT, UM, YOU KNOW, AN EAST WEST CONNECTOR.
AND I'D LIKE, OH, WE HAVE A ROUTE THAT DOES THAT.
YOU KNOW, I REALLY WANNA GET TO, YOU KNOW, THE, UM, THE OUTLETS.
WE HAVE A ROUTE THAT DOES THAT.
SO AGAIN, THIS INFORMED THAT WE NEED TO HAVE A MORE ROBUST MARKETING CAMPAIGN AROUND OUR FIXED ROUTES.
UM, OUR AD HOC WAS WONDERFUL IN CREATING A WONDERFUL LIST OF, UM, OUTREACH, UM, PEOPLE THAT WE SHOULD CONTACT AN ORGANIZATION.
SO IT'S NOT LIVE RIGHT NOW, BUT I JUST WANNA GIVE YOU A SENSE OF WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT.
SO ALL OF THESE COLORS ARE, ARE OUR CURRENT LINES.
AND THEN WHAT YOU HAVE HERE ARE EACH OF THESE ARE COMMENTS.
SO WE RECEIVED OVER 60 COMMENTS, UM, AND, UM, THESE WERE JUST FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS KIND OF TELLING US, HEY, WHAT IS IT THAT WE NEED TO, TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO? BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT A LOT OF THE COMMENTS ACTUALLY SURROUNDED, AGAIN, CURRENT ROUTES.
[01:20:01]
WAS, OKAY, WELL WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT CURRENT ROUTE THAT, THAT PEOPLE AREN'T WANTING TO RIDE? WHAT ARE THE ISSUES? BUT THEN YOU ALSO SEE THAT THERE ARE OUTLIERS IN TERMS OF, UM, WHEN WE'RE IN, LEMME SEE IF MY MOUSE WILL GO OVER HERE.MY MOUSE IS HAVING ISSUES, I'LL LET IT GO.
UM, IN AREAS WE, WHERE WE DON'T HAVE SERVICE, THIS, UM, MAP IS ACTUALLY WAS IN YOUR PACKET.
SO YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A LIVE LINK IF YOU WANNA GO.
AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY VIEW THE COMMENTS AS WELL.
WE BROUGHT THIS INFORMATION TO THE AD HOC, UM, SO THAT WE COULD GET A SENSE OF WHAT, WHAT THEY FELT FROM THE OUTREACH, BECAUSE WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE ADDRESSING ALL THE NEEDS.
UM, AND THEN WE ALSO WENT INTO POTENTIAL ZONES.
SO WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A ZONE, WE'RE THINKING ABOUT IT.
THE REASON WE'RE THINKING ABOUT TWO MILES, I FEEL LIKE I JUST SAY THAT LIKE THROW IT OUT, BUT IT'S BECAUSE OF, WE'RE LOOKING AT RIDE TIME, WAIT TIMES, AND YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES, RIGHT? TO GET FROM ONE END OF PETALUMA TO THE OTHER.
AND WE DON'T WANNA HAVE THESE EXCESSIVE RIDE TIMES.
SO TYPICALLY ABOUT A TWO MILE ZONE.
UM, FOR OPERATIONS, THERE'S A GREAT PILOT, BUT WHERE DO WE BEGIN? SO WE GAVE SOME BROAD STROKE OPTIONS, UM, AND IT'S MORE JUST TO GET A SENSE OF FEEDBACK.
SO AGAIN, IN YOUR PACKET, YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THESE ZONES THAT WE PRESENTED, AS WELL AS THE ZONE THAT, UM, OUR, ONE OF OUR AD HOC MEMBERS, UH, PROPOSED.
UM, I DO NOT HAVE ZONE FIVE, AND I REALIZED THE LINK WAS NOT GOOD, BUT DON'T WORRY, IT WAS A ZONE NO ONE LIKED, UM,
SO, UM, AND IT WAS ABOUT, UM, UH, UNDER TO FULFILL AN UNDERPERFORMING ROUTE.
SO THESE WERE SOME OF THE CONSIDERATIONS.
WE ARE JUST TRYING TO GET A SENSE OF WHAT IT MIGHT BE.
AGAIN, WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT THESE ZONES, IT'S NOT JUST IN A SENSE OF GEOGRAPHY OR WHAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA HIT.
IT'S ACTUALLY, AND, AND IT'S ALSO IN LIGHT OF LIKE DEMOGRAPHICS, BUT ALSO WHAT'S THE CAPACITY? WHAT'S THE RIDERSHIP? HOW CAN WE, WHAT, WHAT'S OUR ABILITY TO ACTUALLY SERVE THIS AREA BASED ON TRAFFIC CONDITIONS, RIGHT? UM, HOW THOSE STREETS ARE SET UP.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF FACTORS THAT GO INTO PLAY WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT ZONE REFINEMENT.
IT'S KIND OF LIKE YOU COME WITH AN IDEA OF WHAT YOU WANT, BUT THEN YOU, YOU TAKE THAT INFORMATION TO SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS, OKAY?
UM, SO FOR EXAMPLE, ONCE WE DO THE PROCUREMENT OF OUR, UM, OF OUR MICRO TRANSIT SERVICE PROVIDER, THEY'RE OUR SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS.
SO WE PRESENT TO THEM, HERE ARE SOME IDEAS THAT WE'RE THINKING, AND THEN THEY TAKE THAT INFORMATION, OKAY, WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES? AND, AND PROVIDE MORE INPUT BECAUSE THEY'RE GONNA DO MORE REFINEMENT.
SO THEY'LL LOOK AT THINGS LIKE, WHAT, WHAT'S THE EXPECTED COST OF DOING THAT PARTICULAR ZONE? WHAT EXPECTED RIDE TIMES CAN YOU SEE? WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED, UM, YOU KNOW, UM, CAPACITY YOU'LL SEE.
BUT AGAIN, WE WON'T KNOW TILL WE GET SERVICE ON THE STREET.
UM, THE TRANSIT STAFF HAS TO MORE FULLY ANALYZE POTENTIAL ZONES.
AND THERE'S DIFFERENT CONSIDERATIONS WILL TAKE INTO PLACE.
OF COURSE, CITY GOALS, T GOALS, AD HOC AND CLIMATE GOALS, THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE SERVICE.
IF IT'S SOMETHING WE CAN CONTINUE ON, PUT SOMETHING OUT THERE THAT WE CAN'T ACTUALLY SUPPORT.
FUNDING SOURCES AND PARTNERSHIPS.
FOR EXAMPLE, DOING FIRST AND LAST MILE TO SMART WOULD POTENTIALLY ALLOW SOME FOR SOME FUNDING PARTNERSHIPS.
AND THEN LOOKING AT EQUITY, UM, GEOGRAPHY, THE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE ROUTE RIDERSHIP ANALYSIS.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN WE DO THE REFINEMENT OF THE ZONES.
THE OTHER THING WE WANNA REALLY BE COGNIZANT OF WHEN WE'RE THINKING ABOUT, UM, THE ZONES, WE ARE GONNA GET A LOT OF DATA ONCE WE GET IT ON THE STREET.
IT'S REALLY HARD TO TELL YOU LIKE HOW MUCH DATA WITH RIDERSHIP, WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT A PC DATA, IT'S ON AND OFF, RIGHT? THAT'S ALL WE'RE GONNA GET WHEN YOU ACTUALLY LAUNCH THE SERVICE.
I'M GONNA GET, WHERE DID YOU DOWNLOAD IT? WHAT LINK DID YOU PULL THIS FROM? DID YOU GET IT FROM MY GEO-TARGETED AD? DID YOU GET IT FROM MY FACEBOOK AD? I'M GONNA KNOW WHERE YOU OPENED THAT APP.
I'M GONNA KNOW WHY YOU CA I'M GONNA KNOW YOU DIDN'T TAKE THE REQUEST THAT WAS 15 MINUTES, BUT YOU TOOK THE REQUEST THAT WAS 25.
I'M GONNA KNOW WHEN YOU NO SHOWED.
I'M GONNA KNOW A GREAT DEAL ABOUT EXACTLY WHERE YOU'RE GOING.
IT'S A LITTLE BIT CREEPY, BUT WHAT'S GREAT ABOUT IT IS WE GET SO MUCH DATA SO WE CAN MAKE REALLY, REALLY INFORMED DECISIONS ABOUT LATER PHASES OF THE PROGRAM.
SO I, I DON'T WANNA OVERFOCUS ON WHERE'S THIS FIRST ZONE GOING TO BE BECAUSE I THINK WE JUST NEED TO GET IT OUT ON THE STREET AND THEN WE CAN GET THE INFORMATION.
SO THE GOAL IS A SUCCESSFUL PILOT WOULD BE CAPTURING AS MUCH BROAD DEMOGRAPHIC DATA AS POSSIBLE.
SO RATHER THAN FOCUSING ON POTENTIALLY ONE SEGMENT LIKE WE DO WITH OUR FAIR FREE PROGRAM OR YOU KNOW, LIKE A YOUTH RIDE FREE, WE DON'T WANNA FOCUS ON JUST ONE SEGMENT, BUT A BROAD SWATH SO WE CAN SEE WHO IS ACTUALLY ADOPTING THIS TECHNOLOGY.
UM, WE WANNA CAPTURE A MIXED LAND USE OF THIS.
UM, WE WANNA MAKE SURE WE'RE NOT OVERLAPPING, AS I'VE SAID A THOUSAND TIMES WITH OUR CURRENT FIXED ROUTE SERVICE.
WE WANNA REVIEW CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.
[01:25:01]
ACTUALLY IN THE APP AS WELL.AS SOON AS THEY'LL COMPLETE A TRIP, THEY'LL GET AN OPTION TO REVIEW IT, TO GIVE US FEEDBACK.
SO AGAIN, LOTS OF DATA AND THEN REVIEWING THE CAPACITY AND RIDERSHIP, WHAT TIMES ARE PEOPLE TRAVELING, UM, ET CETERA.
SO WE'RE GONNA GET QUITE A BIT OF DATA, WHICH WILL HELP US INFORM IS THIS AN ACTUAL SUCCESSFUL SERVICE? IS IT MEETING THE NEEDS? AND ARE PEOPLE DOING WHAT WE WANNA DO? WHICH IS TO EVENTUALLY USE FIXED ADOPT FIXED ROUTE SERVICE.
SO NEXT STEP, UM, WOULD BE PROCUREMENT OF UH, THE SOFTWARE SOLUTION.
UM, THERE'S A LOT OF DIFFERENT, UM, SERVICE PROVIDERS OUT THERE.
UH, AND SO WE'VE HAD SOME GREAT CONVERSATIONS, UH, ZONE REFINEMENT AND SELECTION WITH PHASED OPTIONS.
UH, WE HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT, AND I DON'T WANNA GO TOO INTO IT, BUT THERE'S, THERE'S OTHER WAYS OF USING MICRO TRANSIT AS WELL.
FOR EXAMPLE, CO-MINGLING A PARATRANSIT SERVICE.
THAT MIGHT BE SOMETHING WE PHASE LATER.
UM, USING IT FOR SPECIAL EVENTS.
LET'S SAY THERE'S A SPECIAL EVENT SIMILAR TO BUTTER AND EGGS OR THE YACHT, YOU KNOW, CLUB IS DOING SOMETHING.
WELL, MAYBE WE CREATE A SPECIAL EVENT ZONE.
THERE'S SO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS THIS KIND OF REALLY FLEXIBLE SOFTWARE CAN DO, RIGHT? YOU PUT OUT A QR CODE IF YOU WANNA GO TO THIS EVENT AND FOR THIS TIME IT WILL TAKE YOU FROM HERE TO THERE.
UM, A LOT OF BRANDING DECISIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS AS YOU KIND OF SAW FROM THOSE VEHICLES, THEY ALL LOOK VERY DIFFERENT.
SO NAME, COLOR SCHEME, APP, BRANDING, UM, WE NEED TO WRAP OUR VEHICLES.
THEY BECOME OUR BIGGEST UM, AD, RIGHT? 'CAUSE THEY'RE GONNA BE DRIVING THROUGH THAT ZONE, GETTING PEOPLE TO KNOW, HEY, THIS IS COMING, UM, COORDINATION WITH MV BECAUSE OUR CONTRACT WILL HAVE TO SUPPORT THIS SERVICE.
AND THAT'S GONNA BE A NEW OPERATION FOR THEM.
BUT THEY'RE VERY EXCITED AND PREPARE FOR OUR 2024 LAUNCH OF SERVICE IN UM, JUNE, JULY.
AND THEN, BUT WE WANNA RETURN TO TTAC WITH FURTHER REFINEMENT IN THE COMING MONTHS, BUT WE JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE'RE UPDATING YOU NOW.
HOPEFULLY I DIDN'T TALK TOO FAST, BUT THERE WE GO.
THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION QUESTIONS.
I THINK THIS IS A FASCINATING IDEA AND I ACTUALLY WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN ON THE A HOC COMMITTEE.
UH, 'CAUSE I JUST HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS.
UM, SO I MEAN SOME OF MY QUESTIONS, UH, MAN, I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO KIND OF PRIORITIZE MY QUESTIONS.
UM, THEN, UM, I MEAN I IMAGINE, I MEAN LET'S SAY I WANT TO USE MICROT TRANSIT TO GO SOMEWHERE.
UM, AND UH, YOU SAID YOU WANT TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO USE IT TO GO TO THE FIXED ROUTES.
SO IF I USE MICROT TRANSIT TO GET TO A FIXED ROUTE AND I CAN SCHEDULE THAT, OKAY, WHEN I GET HOME I NEED MICROT TRANSIT TO GO FROM THE FIXED ROUTE.
SO YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE NOT WANTING TO WAIT AT BUS STOPS AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
SO I'M NOT SURE HOW THAT PARTICULAR USE, UH, OLIVIA EATS THAT FOR PEOPLE.
AND THEN, I'M SORRY, I JUST HAVE ANOTHER ONE.
THIS WHOLE NO RIGHT AVAILABLE, UM, ISSUE, WHICH I CAN UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW, IS A, IS A POSSIBILITY, BUT PEOPLE HAVE TO TRUST THAT THE TRANSIT'S GOING TO BE THERE WHEN THEY WANNA USE IT.
AND SO, UM, I THINK SOME OF THAT IS REALLY GOING TO BE HOW YOU BUILD IT UP.
AND THEN ALSO, UH, USING IT FOR SPECIAL EVENTS.
THERE'S A LOT OF DOWNTOWN EVENTS IN THE SUMMER, MANY OF WHICH INVOLVE DRINKING.
AND UM, IT WOULD BE VERY GOOD IF PEOPLE COULD NOT DRIVE SOMEWHERE IN THERE WAS QUESTIONS.
AND I WANNA SPEAK FIRST TO, OKAY, YOU'RE SAYING MARIA, THAT THERE'S A CONCERN WITH, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO NAVIGATE FIXED ROUTE, BUT YET YOU'RE GONNA ATTACH ME TO FIXED ROUTE, RIGHT? AND SO IT'S, IT'S KIND OF HARD TO EXPLAIN FROM A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE, BUT I HAVE TO GO GET THIS PAPER SCHEDULE, I HAVE TO LOOK AT IT.
IT, IT'S THE APPROACH FROM IT.
THE WAY WE'RE GONNA DO IT IS PEOPLE FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH AN APP TYPICALLY, RIGHT? I CAN OPEN IT, IT'S GONNA WALK ME THROUGH THE PROCESS.
IT'S GONNA POINT YOU TO THE TOOLS TO NAVIGATE THAT OTHER ROUTE.
[01:30:01]
WE'RE, WE'RE PURSUING RIGHT NOW NOT TO GO TOO MUCH INTO IT, BUT PARTNERSHIP WITH THE OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES FOR TRANSIT APP, WHICH IS AN APP THAT, THAT SCHEDULES AND THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR INTEGRATION THERE AS WELL.SO THAT YOU COULD SEE NOT JUST MICROT TRANSIT, BUT ALSO OKAY, IS IT MICROT TRANSIT FIXED ROUTE? IS IT FIXED ROUTE AND FIXED ROUTE? UM, AND IN SOME CASES YOU CAN, WELL, I DON'T WANNA JUMP AGAIN 'CAUSE I'M NOT DOING BIKE SHARE, BUT I, I, SOME, SOME CITIES HAVE HAVE DONE BIKE SHARE INTEGRATION.
SO I THINK WHEN YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT MICRO TRANSITS, IT'S A PIECE OF A PUZZLE.
AM AM I GONNA RIDE MY BIKE TODAY? AM I GOING TO WALK TODAY? AM I GONNA TAKE FIXED ROUTE TODAY OR AM I GONNA TAKE MICROT TRANSIT TODAY? AND SO WHEN YOU OPEN UP THAT APP, IT'S OKAY, IT'S NOT GONNA BE A MICRO TRANSIT DAY 'CAUSE THERE'S NOT A RIDE AVAILABLE.
YOU KNOW, IT'S GONNA BE A BIKE RIDE DAY.
SO IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK AT IT LIKE THAT.
BUT I, I AGREE, I THINK THE MARKETING OF IT, AND THAT'S WHERE IT GETS TRICKY FOR PEOPLE'S ADOPTION OF IT.
UM, SO HOPEFULLY THAT KIND OF ILLUMINATES WHAT WE'RE HEADING IN THAT DIRECTION.
UM, I AGREE THE NO RIDE AVAILABLE IS SOMETHING WE WANNA AVOID.
UM, BUT WE ALSO WANNA AVOID PEOPLE CANCELING RIDES BECAUSE THE RIDE'S TOO LONG, RIGHT? SO IF ALL OF A SUDDEN I SAY, OH, I WANNA COVER THE WHOLE CITY AND OH, I WANT NO ONE TO GET A NO RIDE AVAILABLE, OF COURSE WE WANT THAT, BUT NOW YOU'RE TAKING AN HOUR TO GO ACROSS PETALUMA, SO NO ONE'S GOING TO USE THIS SERVICE THEN.
SO A LOT OF IT COMES WITH THE CUSTOMER EDUCATION.
AND THE GREAT PART ABOUT IT IS, AGAIN, KIND OF CREEPY, IS YOU CAN ACTUALLY, AND I'VE DONE THIS 'CAUSE I'VE DISPATCHED, UM, THIS SERVICE BEFORE, COMMUNICATE WITH THE PERSON LIVE.
SO OUR DISPATCHERS WILL BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY, HEY, HERE'S, YOU KNOW, THE SITUATION.
AND WHAT'S NICE ABOUT THAT IS IF SOMEBODY, AGAIN, I'M NOT MAKING PROMISES, WE HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT WHAT THIS WILL LOOK LIKE, BUT THEY ARE GONNA BE CONNECTED TO US VERSUS IN AN UBER OR LYFT SITUATION WHERE THERE ISN'T CUSTOMER SERVICE, THERE ISN'T A DIFFERENT SET OF FIXED ROUTE, THERE ISN'T PEOPLE BEHIND THOSE SERVICES THAT ARE GONNA COME TO YOUR AID OR GUIDE YOU TO A FIXED ROUTE OR GUIDE YOU TO ANOTHER SERVICE.
SO WE'RE GONNA DO OUR BEST TO, TO HONOR, YOU KNOW, THOSE RIDES AND THEN HONOR HOW CAN WE, HOW CAN WE ADDRESS THAT, THOSE CONCERNS.
AND THEN ALSO LOOK, OH WOW, WE'RE GETTING NO RIDE AVAILABLE ALL THE TIME AT THREE O'CLOCK.
SOUNDS LIKE WE MIGHT EVEN NEED A FIXED ROUTE IN THAT AREA.
SO WE CAN EVEN USE THIS DATA TO SAY, OKAY, MAYBE OUR FIXED ROUTE NEEDS TO START USING, UTILIZING, YOU KNOW, THAT PARTICULAR CORRIDOR A LITTLE MORE.
SO AGAIN, THAT DATA WILL REALLY HELP.
I THINK THE SPECIAL EVENTS, IT'S REALLY TRICKY TO MARKET A FIXED ROUTE BUS, GET A ROUTE, RIGHT? UM, DO TURN BY TURN INSTRUCTIONS, BUT IF WE ALL OF A SUDDEN SAY, HEY, THIS IS WHERE WE'RE GONNA BE, USE THE QR CODE THAT THAT VEHICLE COULD QUICKLY BECOME AVAILABLE.
THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE THINGS WE'RE CONSIDERING.
I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE, YOU KNOW, LIKE THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE SERVICE SO WE'RE NOT KIND OF PUTTING IT INTO, UM, A BOX THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE IN OURS, OURS WE DO NOT HAVE HOURS SET YET.
SO IT WILL PROBABLY BE DETERMINED ON THE ZONE.
I I THINK WE'RE THINKING THOUGH SEVEN DAYS A WEEK ALL DAY.
I MEAN, SO YOU JUST, YOU SAYS SINCE WE'RE SPECULATING SEVEN DAYS.
YEAH, I MEAN, FOR EXAMPLE, UM, SCRT DID A MICRO TRANSIT LAUNCH AND THEY INITIALLY LAUNCHED A PORTION OF IT AS A NIGHTTIME DATE, UM, YOU KNOW, PUB CRAWL VIBE AND YOU CAN DO THAT.
YOU CAN MARKET IN THE DAY AS YOU KNOW, FIRST, LAST MILE AND AT NIGHT AS DON'T DRIVE DRUNK AND DO PARTNERSHIPS.
THAT'S AGAIN, WHAT'S REALLY GREAT ABOUT THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE SERVICE.
SO IT JUST REALLY DEPENDS ON WHAT WE DETERMINE IS THE BEST USE OF THE ZONE.
BUT AGAIN, I THINK THAT'S A GREAT POINT BECAUSE WE SHOULD BE LOOKING AT WHERE WE'RE NOT ALREADY MEETING NEEDS WITH FIXED ROUTE.
SO WE DEFINITELY WANNA LOOK AT THOSE TIMES.
OTHER QUESTIONS? COMMITTEE MEMBER HILL.
AND, AND THIS WILL BE CAREFREE ALSO? YES.
I, UM, I THINK WHAT YOU JUST MENTIONED IS SOMETHING THAT, UM, IS REALLY INTERESTING AND REALLY HARD TO GET GOOD DATA ON, AND THAT IS WHO, WHO IS NOT USING IT AND WHERE DO YOU SEE THE SHIFTS OF PEOPLE WHO PREVIOUSLY NOT USING IT AND THEN USE IT? UM, I'M SURE THERE'S, I MEAN I'M SURE YOUR MIND DATA, IT'S ALREADY OUT THERE.
UM, BUT UM, THAT'S I THINK ONE OF THE ONE, YOU KNOW, IT'S A HARD THING TO MEASURE.
UM, BUT IN TERMS OF, UM, IT, THERE ARE, THERE ARE PROBABLY, UM, THERE ARE PROBABLY WAYS YOU'RE GONNA CAPTURE THAT.
I'M NOT SURE SOME IN TERMS OF INCREASES AND SO ON.
BUT, UM, YEAH, IT'S, I MEAN I HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF QUESTIONS, BUT I'LL TRY TO WORK THROUGH THEM TO SEE WHAT I CAN COME UP WITH.
AGAIN, I JUST WANNA SAY LIKE, I KNOW THIS IS A LOT OF INFORMATION, SO THIS IS KIND OF LIKE A, IF IT'S A SIMMER, YOU KNOW, DEFINITELY THAT, THAT'S WHY WE WANTED BRING IT TO YOU SO THAT WE COULD ADDRESS, CAN JUST ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS IN FUTURE, UM, COMMITTEE MEETINGS
[01:35:01]
AS WELL.YEAH, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT AND I THINK IT'S, UM, UH, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, IN TERMS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE UNDERSERVED OR DON'T HAVE SERVICES AVAILABLE, IT COULD BE A REALLY IMPORTANT QUALITY OF LIFE, UH, ISSUE FOR A LOT OF, UM, I SPECIFICALLY HAD SPOKEN TO, WHAT IS IT, THE MCDOWELL SCHOOL, THE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER.
AND THEY WERE REALLY EXCITED BECAUSE THEIR, UM, THEY'RE, THEY'RE STUDENTS BECAUSE THEY DO ES L CLASSES AND SUCH, THEIR HOURS ARE SO DIFFERENT, RIGHT? BECAUSE THEY'RE SERVICE WORKERS AND SO THEY'RE NOT TRADITIONAL NINE TO FIVE.
AND THEY WERE LIKE, WOW, WOULDN'T THIS BE WONDERFUL IF THIS COULD MEET THE NEEDS THAT ARE THESE RANDOM OFF PERIODS THAT YOU'RE NOT EXPECTING, RIGHT? SOMEBODY TO NEED TRANSPORTATION.
SO I DO THINK THIS IS A WONDERFUL TOOL TO FILL GAPS WHERE FIXED ROUTE ISN'T THE MOST EFFICIENT USE.
MR. CALCI, I HAVE A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS,
UM, SO I'LL JUST, UH, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT ANY THAT, THAT JUMPED OUT AT ME THAT, UM, I DON'T KNOW, I GUESS HADN'T THOUGHT BEFORE WAS, UM, WITHIN THE IDENTIFIED ZONES, IF WE HAVE ENOUGH, UM, EMPLOYMENT CENTERS OR EMPLOYERS, WE COULD REACH OUT TO THEM, LET THEM KNOW THAT, LET THEIR EMPLOYEES KNOW THAT THEY CAN DO THAT.
AND THEN WHEN MY BRAIN WENT CRAZY, IT WAS LIKE, OH, GREAT.
AND THEN THAT COULD EVENTUALLY, UH, SPARK LIKE CARPOOLS AND THEN THEY WOULDN'T EVEN NEED US, BUT THEY WOULD BE REVIEWED REDUCING THEIR VMT.
UM, BUT OH, AND THEN THE OTHER THING THAT CAME UP WAS THE ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE.
I THINK THAT WITH THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THE APP NEEDS TO BE NAVIGABLE FOR SOMEBODY WHO IS NOT A HUNDRED PERCENT THERE.
UM, SO EASE OF USE, BUT I THINK THAT'S ALREADY PROBABLY SOMETHING THAT'S BAKED IN.
UM, BUT THEN WE STARTED TALKING ABOUT COLLECTING DATA.
SUPER COOL IS THAT HOW DO WE PROTECT THAT? UM, 'CAUSE FOR ONE IT'S GOING TO BE OUR DATA, RIGHT? SO SOMEBODY COULD POTENTIALLY FILE A PRA REQUEST AND GET OUR DATA AND THEN UBER AND LYFT WOULD HAVE THAT AND THEN THEY COULD SAY, OH, WELL THEY DON'T HAVE A BUS ROUTE THERE, PEOPLE OBVIOUSLY NEED US.
AND THEN THEY COULD COME IN AND UNDERCUT US.
I JUST THROWN IT OUT THERE A POSSIBILITY.
HOW DO WE SAFEGUARD AGAINST THAT? OBVIOUSLY, I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE AN ANSWER FOR THAT RIGHT NOW,
UM, BUT JUST SOMETHING TO TO, TO BRING UP.
UM, ALSO YOU MENTIONED LOOKING AT, UM, THERE WAS A LIST OF LAND USES THAT COLLABORATED WELL WITH, UM, MICROT TRANSIT AND I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY BACKGROUND ON HOW THOSE WERE DECIDED OR IF THEY WERE JUST PULLED OUT OF A HAT.
UM, SHOULD I GO ON
UM, SO WITH THAT WAS NELSON NYGARD.
SO WHAT THEY DID WAS JUST A SURVEY OF, OF DIFFERENT TRANSIT AGENCIES.
THAT'S HOW THEY ADOPTED THAT INFORMATION.
AND BECAUSE I KNOW THAT DURING THE SQL PROCESS, VMT IS SOMETHING THAT IS CONSIDERED WITH DIFFERENT LAND USES, BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT'S A VERY RECENT THING, SO WE WON'T HAVE IT FOR EVERYTHING.
AND THEN NOT EVERY PROJECT IS REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH THAT, AS WE'VE SEEN.
UM, YEAH, SO THEY JUST, THEY JUST REVIEWED, UH, OTHER TRANSIT AGENCIES.
AND AGAIN, THIS IS A VERY NEW SERVICE.
I MEAN, I'M, I FEEL FORTUNATE NOW, WHEN I FIRST STARTED REVIEWING IT IN LIKE 2018, RIGHT THERE, IT, THERE WAS NO INFORMATION ON THIS.
IT WAS REALLY HARD TO FIND AN AGENCY THAT HAD DONE IT.
SO NOW WE HAVE A LOT MORE CASE STUDIES MM-HMM.
SO WE'RE DOING OUR BEST TO LEARN FROM THAT.
BUT NOWHERE NEAR AS MUCH DATA AND RESEARCH AS ON FIXED ROUTE.
I MEAN, WE'RE REALLY STILL LEARNING ABOUT MICRO TRANSIT AND IT'S ALSO QUICKLY ADAPTING ALL THE TIME.
SO IT'S REALLY HARD TO NAIL DOWN BECAUSE EACH TRANSIT AGENCY USES IT SO DIFFERENTLY.
SO I ALWAYS WANNA TEMPER WHAT WE GET FROM, FROM RESEARCH OR FROM OTHER AGENCIES BECAUSE WE DON'T, WE DON'T KNOW THAT THAT THAT'S GONNA BE THE CASE HERE.
COULD HAVE BEEN A MARKETING FAILURE, WHICH WON'T HAPPEN HERE.
UM, AND REALLY BRIEFLY, I THINK YOU ALREADY KIND OF ADDRESSED IT.
YOU, WE AREN'T TALKING ABOUT BIKE SHARE YET, BUT YOU DID MENTION, UM, MOSS MASS, UH, BUT, AND THAT INCORPORATES USUALLY BIKE SHARE, BUT THAT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE'RE GOING TO DISCUSS HERE.
MAYBE THAT'S SOMETHING WE'LL DISCUSS LATER.
I DON'T KNOW THAT THERE IS ANY INFO ON THAT YET.
IS THAT RIGHT? THAT, IF I COULD TAKE THAT ONE.
UM, THAT'S NOT TIED IN DIRECTLY, BUT, UH, TIMING WISE, THAT ACTUALLY JUST GOT APPROVED.
THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN SCTA, SONOMA COUNTY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY, TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY, MARIN, ALONG WITH THE OPERATOR, THE BIKE SHARE SYSTEM THAT WAS JUST APPROVED OVER THE PAST MONTH.
AND SO THEY'RE GONNA BE REFORMING THE STAFF GROUP WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH OR SO TO CONTINUE TO WORK ON PLANNING AND ROLL OUT OF THAT, UH, SYSTEM HOPEFULLY IN 2024.
[01:40:01]
UM, AND THEN ON, NOT BIKE SHARING, BUT OUR, I KNOW THAT OUR FIXED ROUTE BUSES ARE ALLOWED TO AND HAVE THE CAPACITY TO CARRY BIKES.WOULD THE MICROT TRANSIT HAVE THE SAME ABILITY? SO ONE OF THE VEHICLES THAT WE WILL BE USING WILL HAVE A BIKE RACK AND WE CAN INSTALL ONE ON THE SECONDARY.
AND IT'S REALLY NEAT BECAUSE IN THE APP WHAT HAPPENS, IT CAN HAPPEN ON FIXED ROUTE, IS YOU GET THERE AND THOSE BIKE RACKS ARE ALREADY TAKEN.
WHAT'S REALLY GREAT ABOUT MICRO TRANSIT IS YOU WILL HAVE A BUTTON TO SELECT, I HAVE A BIKE, SO IT'LL FACTOR THAT IN.
IT'LL TREAT THOSE BIKES LIKE SEATS.
SAME THING WITH, UM, WHEELCHAIRS.
SO AGAIN, KIND OF PREPARING AND A LITTLE MORE EFFICIENCY THERE, SO.
UM, AND THEN I HAD, I NOTICED THAT YOU, UH, THERE WAS MENTION OF GETTING ADDITIONAL BUSES FOR THIS, BUT THIS IS A PILOT PROGRAM, RIGHT? SO YEAH, SO WE WON'T USE, UM, WE'LL USE CURRENT PARATRANSIT VEHICLES AND REBRAND THOSE.
UM, TYPICALLY THOUGH, WHEN YOU DO LAUNCH MAYBE SECOND OR THIRD PHASES, YOU MIGHT BUY A DE A DEDICATED VEHICLE.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING, YEAH, IT'S A PROGRAM THAT WE'D LIKE TO GET OFF THE GROUND BY JULY, BUT GIVEN THE CURRENT STATE OF ORDERING BUSES, IT'S VERY HARD TO GET BUSES AT THE MOMENT.
AND SO WE WANT TO GET THE PROGRAM STARTED.
SO THE THOUGHT IS TO START IT WITH A COUPLE EXISTING VEHICLES IN THE FLEET, TAKE THEM, REBRAND THEM AS KIND OF A TEMPORARY MEASURE WHILE IT'S GETTING OFF THE GROUND.
AND THEN PROBABLY IN THE NEXT, UH, QUARTER, UH, Q2 2024 COME FORWARD WITH THE VEHICLE PURCHASE, UM, TO THE COMMITTEE THAT WOULD BE BOTH REPLACING PARATRANSIT VEHICLES AND THEN MAYBE GETTING A NEW VEHICLE TYPE THAT WOULD BE IDEAL FOR OPERATING ON MICRO TRANSIT.
THAT MAY TAKE APPROXIMATELY A YEAR THOUGH TO ACTUALLY ORDER AND GET THOSE VEHICLES.
AND SO THAT'S SOMETHING WHERE WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT THAT, UH, FAIRLY SOON TOO AS WELL.
YEAH, IT'S JUST, UM, IT, IT'S INTERESTING TO ME THAT IT'S A, A PILOT PROGRAM AND B AS YOU MENTIONED, IT'S SOMETHING THAT WHEN FULLY SUCCESSFUL, UH, CAN'T BE HELD WITH REGULAR TRANSIT SO THAT EVENTUALLY SAY EVERYTHING GOES SUPER WELL WILL GO AWAY.
SO WHY WOULD WE BUY SPECIFIC BUSES JUST FOR THIS? I THINK THERE'D BE A, IT'S, IT'S A REALLY GREAT QUESTION AND IT WOULD BE POTENTIALLY LOOKING AT MAYBE AREAS THAT COULD NEVER, COULD NEVER HAVE A FIXED DROUGHT.
SO THAT WOULD POTENTIALLY BE, BUT I, I GUESS I ENVISION OUR, THE WAY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT IS ALMOST AS IF THE MICROT TRANSIT MIGHT POTENTIALLY MOVE.
THAT WOULD BE MY PIE IN THE SKY DREAM, RIGHT? IS THAT WE GET ENOUGH DATA TO SEE, OH LOOK, AND THEN WE CAN ACTUALLY ESTABLISH A FIXED ROUTE THERE.
THAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL SITUATION, BUT IN THE EVENTS THAT WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO, THAT'S REALLY COOL.
AND THEN I THINK THAT, THAT, UM, JUST KIND OF SPIT BALLING HERE IS IF WE ARE USING IT AS A MOBILE TOOLS AND LIKE, UH, WHEN NEW, UH, MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS GO IN, WE CAN RUN THAT THERE TO SEE WHAT THE DEMAND MIGHT BE FOR THAT.
AND THEN I THINK THAT'S THE END OF MY QUESTIONS.
UM, AND THEN THE REST WAS CONVERSATION ABOUT BMT? NO, I THINK WE'RE GOOD.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? YES, PLEASE.
AND I, I WILL NOTE WE ARE RUNNING VERY SHORT ON TIME.
I I KNOW THA I'VE GOT ONE QUESTION MYSELF, SO
I MEAN, SO LET ME JUST TRY TO ENVISION THIS.
I, I LIVE OUT ON I STREET NEAR THE CITY LIMIT AND I WANT TO GO TO WHOLE FOODS AND MY, YOU KNOW, MY CAR, YOU KNOW, IS NOT WORKING OR WHATEVER, AND I THINK, HEY, MAYBE I CAN USE THE MICRO TRANSIT SYSTEM.
AND SO I DOWNLOAD THE APP AND I LOOK AND I SEE WHAT'S AVAILABLE AND UM, DID I HAVE TO BE CONCERNED THAT THE MICROT TRANSIT IS GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BUS STOP TO GO TO WHOLE FOODS OR, YOU KNOW, SO IT'S GONNA TAKE ME DOWN TO LIKE SAY, YOU KNOW, PETALUMA MARKET OR SOMETHING,
SO NO, IF YOU WERE GOING TO DO AN INTEGRATED TRIP WITH USING DIFFERENT MODES, IT WOULD TELL YOU YOU WERE GOING TO DO THAT AND IT WOULD INSTRUCT YOU ABOUT THE COST SIMILAR TO WHAT GOOGLE MAPS WOULD DO RIGHT NOW WITH TRANSIT OR TRANSIT APP WOULD DO, IT'D SHOW YOU THAT TRANSFER.
YOU ALSO BRING UP A GOOD POINT.
I MEAN, AND THIS IS WHY I'M GLAD WE'RE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION IS LIKE IF WE WANT TO, ANOTHER POSSIBILITY WITH THE, WITH MICRO TRANSIT IS TO ONLY ALLOW FOR CERTAIN PRIORITY PLACES, MEANING YOUR ORIGIN OR DESTINATION HAS TO BE ONE OF THOSE PRIORITY PLACES, WHICH, YOU
[01:45:01]
KNOW, WOULD, WOULD MAKE THE LIKELIHOOD THAT YES, YOU'LL GET PICKED UP BECAUSE THAT'S ONE OF THE PRIORITY SPOTS.SO THAT'S SOMETHING WE CAN FACTOR IN CONSIDERING WHEN WE'RE, WHEN WE'RE DEVISING IT.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, WE TRY MY RIDE.
INITIALLY YOU COULD, YOUR ORIGIN OR DESTINATION, ONE PIECE OF YOUR TRIP HAD TO EITHER BE BART, THE, OR OR TWO DESIGNATED SHOPPING CENTERS.
OKAY, CAN I UP REAL QUICK? UM, I KNOW THAT THERE WAS SOME CONVERSATION ABOUT PARTNERSHIP WITH, UM, TNCS.
UM, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT'S STILL BEING CONSIDERED TO, TO ADDRESS THAT SORT OF NOT NO.
IT'S A THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THAT UP.
UM, YEAH, SO I DID REACH OUT TO ONE OF, UM, THE SOFTWARE SERVICES THAT PROVIDES VIA AND ASKED ABOUT UM, TNC INTEGRATION.
AND AT THIS POINT THEY DO HAVE IT.
SO THAT WOULD MEAN THAT FOR EXAMPLE, IF THERE WAS NO RIGHT AVAILABLE IT COULD POTENTIALLY OVERFLOW TO AN UBER OR LYFT.
AGAIN, YOU WOULD BE NOTIFIED OF THAT.
I WANNA BE AWARE THOUGH, I DON'T KNOW, I, I BELIEVE FROM WHAT I'VE LOOKED AT WHEN I'VE LOOKED AT TNCS, THERE AREN'T AS MANY AVAILABLE HERE, WHICH IS A GOOD THING.
OR MAYBE NOT, I SHOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT
UM, SO ALTHOUGH IT COULD BE A GREAT PARTNERSHIP, WE MIGHT WANNA ALSO BE JUST COGNIZANT OF WELL, ARE THERE GONNA EVEN BE TNCS AVAILABLE? BUT YES, THAT IS SOMETHING WE CAN, WE CAN, OKAY.
AND THE FOLLOW UP WITH THAT IS COST, BECAUSE THIS IS SET TO ROLL OUT ABOUT THE SAME TIME.
UH, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT ROLLING OUT THE FAIR FREE, SO GREAT, IT'S TOTALLY FREE UNLESS THERE'S NOTHING AVAILABLE AND THEN IT'S GONNA COST ME 20 BUCKS.
IS THAT RIGHT OR ARE WE GONNA COVER THAT COST OR WE HAVEN'T? YEAH, OBVIOUSLY THESE ARE SPITBALL IDEAS AND YOU DON'T HAVE ANSWERS FOR ME NOW THAT'S JUST A DISCUSSION.
UM, WE HAVEN'T, DO YOU WANNA TAKE THAT? SORRY, WHAT WAS THE QUESTION? OH, I CAN, I CAN TAKE IT.
UH, THE IDEA, AND IT'S A GOOD QUESTION IN TERMS OF LIKE IF THEY DO ROLL OVER INTO A TNC, WOULD WE, WOULD WE THEN BE SUBSIDIZING THAT PORTION OF THE TRIP, RIGHT? WE'VE ALREADY DECIDED WE'RE SUBSIDIZING MICROT TRANSIT OR PAYING FOR IT AND FIXED ROUTE IN PARA, WHAT WOULD WE DO WITH TNC, UM, TO BE DETERMINED? NOTHING, UM, THAT WE'VE IRONED OUT RIGHT NOW.
ONE OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT IS DOING SOME SORT OF TNC PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN 2024 THAT MAY BE COMPLIMENTARY TO THE MICROT TRANSIT.
IF THIS DOESN'T COVER EVERYTHING THAT WE THINK IT SHOULD SAY, LATE HOURS DOWNTOWN, MAYBE DOING SOME SORT OF PROGRAM THAT SUBSIDIZES TRIPS TO DOWNTOWN ON TNCS.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE THINK WE'LL BE LOOKING AT IN 2024 AS WELL AND MAKE SURE THAT IT'S COMPLIMENTARY TO THIS TYPE OF SERVICE AND THE EXISTING SERVICES THAT WE HAVE.
FOR EXAMPLE, WE HEAR PEOPLE SAY THAT TRANSIT DOESN'T RUN LATE ENOUGH TO ATTEND COUNCIL MEETINGS.
MAYBE A TNC PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM WOULD MAKE A LOT OF SENSE.
WE TRULY ARE RUNNING SHORT ON TIME.
ARE WE THROUGH NOW WITH THIS TOPIC? NO MORE QUESTIONS.
UH, WE ARE RUNNING LATE ON TIME.
THERE'S A CLIMATE COMMISSION MEETING AND HERE AT SIX 30 WE SHOULD REALLY CLEAR THE ROOM BY SIX, UNLESS SOMEWHAT OBJECT STRENUOUSLY.
I AM GOING TO BYPASS THE COMMITTEE COMMENT.
I BELIEVE WE HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT.
MR. CHEN, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU, UH OH, IS THERE PUBLIC COMMENT? I'M SORRY.
I'M THE CHAIR OF THE SENIOR ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
I'M ALSO ON THE AD HOC COMMITTEE.
I HAVE TO TELL YOU, IT'S BEEN A REAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
IT'S BEEN REALLY INTERESTING AND REALLY FUN.
UM, AND I COME TO IT FROM A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW.
I LIVE IN A MOBILE HOME PARK, UM, AT THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF PETALUMA.
UM, THERE ARE FIVE MOBILE HOME PARKS THAT ARE ALL SENIORS AT THAT AREA.
SO WE DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE SENIORS WITH LOW INCOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THEIR CARS BECAUSE THEY CAN'T AFFORD THEM ANY LONGER.
SO I'VE BEEN OUT BEING ABLE TO, UM, DO A TOTALLY NON-SCIENTIFIC POLL OF A LOT OF THESE PEOPLE THAT WERE INVOLVED AND NEED SOME FORM OF TRANSIT.
AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THEY REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WANT BECAUSE IT GIVES THEM A WAY NOW TO DO, WOULD GIVE THEM A WAY NOW TO GO WHERE THEY WANT TO GO IN A FAIRLY REASONABLE WAY OF DOING IT WITHOUT HAVING TO TRANSFER MOSTLY BUSES.
FOR ME TO GET TOWN DOWNTOWN, IT NOW TAKES SEVERAL TRANSFERS OF BUSES PLUS WALKING TOO FAR.
UM, WITH A MICRO TRANSIT, I AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN FURTHER OUT AREAS OF MANUMA WOULD HAVE A WAY OF GETTING WHERE THEY WANT TO GO.
SO IT'S BEEN, I I WASN'T SURE THAT THEY KNEW I WAS COMING TO THE MICRO TRANSIT, UH, AD HOC COMMITTEE.
BUT, UM, I THINK THAT WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO LOOK AT A LOT OF THINGS IN REALLY DIFFERENT
[01:50:01]
WAYS, UM, BY HAVING SOMEBODY WITH MY EXPERIENCE THERE.SO I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS AND I REALLY WANT IT TO BE SUCCESSFUL, UM, BOTH FOR OLDER ADULTS IN OUR COMMUNITY, BUT FOR EVERYBODY.
SO THE STUFF THAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT IS THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING AN, A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE EAST SIDE AND DOWNTOWN.
I LIVE ON THE EAST SIDE, AND I'LL TELL YOU, IT'S THE THOUGHT OF DRIVING DOWNTOWN.
LIKE THE TRAFFIC, THE PARKING IS LIKE THE BIG THING.
AND I THINK THERE COULD BE A WHOLE MARKETING THING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, COME DOWNTOWN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PARKING.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S A WHOLE THING.
I THINK YOU COULD EXPLORE PARTNERSHIPS WITH DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES.
MAYBE THEY COULD GIVE DISCOUNTS.
YOU KNOW, YOU, YOU CATCH A, YOU KNOW, AND THE MARKETING FOR THE WEEKEND IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN THE MARKETING DURING THE WEEK.
UM, ALSO I THINK, I DON'T KNOW LEGALLY HOW IT COULD BE DONE, BUT ON THE EAST SIDE, I'M JUST THINKING THERE'S LEGHORN SHOPPING CENTER, THERE'S CASA GRANDE.
COULD THOSE BE PLACES WHERE, YOU KNOW, I COULD DRIVE MY CAR IF I NEEDED TO.
THE BUS IS GONNA BE AT LEGHORN AT, YOU KNOW, EIGHT O'CLOCK.
SO, SO THAT'S, YOU KNOW, THAT'S A SUGGESTION.
UM, YEAH, I'M, I'M REALLY EXCI, I THINK, YOU KNOW, THE IDEA, THERE'S SUCH A NEED TO NOT HAVE CARS DOWNTOWN.
EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT WALKABILITY, SAFE STREETS, BICYCLES, DOWNTOWN.
WELL, THIS IS A WAY TO FACILITATE THAT.
AND I THINK AS FAR AS MARKETING, THERE COULD BE A REALLY GREAT CONFLUENCE OF CLIMATE, YOU KNOW, WITH, WITH THIS WHOLE THING THAT COULD BE REALLY EXCITING.
AND I THINK IF YOU, ESPECIALLY FOR THE WEEKEND STUFF, IF YOU CAN MAKE IT QUOTE FUN, YOU KNOW, IT'S LIKE, OH, OKAY.
YOU KNOW? AND, UM, I LIVE WITH, I, I, UH, SHARE A HOUSE WITH TWO OTHER PEOPLE AND WE'VE OFTEN TALKED ABOUT IT.
LIKE, WE'D BE MORE INCLINED TO GO DOWNTOWN FOR DINNER ON A FRIDAY NIGHT IF WE KNEW WE COULD, YOU KNOW, WALK DOWN TO SONOMA MOUNTAIN PARKWAY OR DRIVE TO LEGHORN OR WHEREVER AND GET ON A BUS OR A SHUTTLE AND GO DOWNTOWN AND THEN CATCH ONE BACK.
AND WE DON'T EVEN DRINK THAT MUCH.
SO IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT FOR US.
IT'S NOT A QUESTION OF ALCOHOL, IT'S A QUESTION OF EASE OF USE.
PLUS THERE ARE SO MANY OLDER ADULTS WHO IT'S, IT'S AN EXTRA HASSLE TO GET DOWNTOWN AND THIS IS A WAY TO GIVE EVERYBODY, BUT THOSE PEOPLE MORE ACCESS TO WHAT THIS TOWN HAS TO OFFER.
SO I, YOU KNOW, THAT WOULD BE A GREAT, SO I JUST, I WANT IT TO BE SUCCESSFUL.
UM, I GET A LITTLE NERVOUS WHEN YOU SAY IT'S GONNA BE LIKE 20, YOU KNOW, ALL DAY 24, WHATEVER IT IS.
I GO, IS THERE REALLY GONNA BE DEMAND? LIKE MAYBE YOU DO IT AND YOU JUST, YOU START THE PILOT AND YOU GO, OKAY, WE'RE GONNA PICK THIS PARTICULAR TIME TO GET IT GOING.
SO, UM, THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK.
I THINK IT'S, COULD BE REALLY COOL.
[STAFF COMMENT]
TRULY ARE OUT OF TIME.WE ARE GONNA DEFINITELY SKIP COMMITTEE COMMENTS.
AND MR. HALL, CAN I GET YOU TO SEVERELY TRIAGE YOUR MANAGER'S REPORT SO WE CAN BE DOWN HERE IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES? ABSOLUTELY.
UM, NOT A WHOLE LOT I'LL HIGHLIGHT, ALTHOUGH I WILL POINT OUT THE RIDERSHIP.
WE HAVE SEEN, UM, LARGE INCREASES IN RIDERSHIP, WHICH IS VERY EXCITING.
WE THINK A LOT OF THAT IS BASED ON OUR YOUTH FAIR FREE PROGRAM.
ALTHOUGH REALLY BASED ON THE ANALYSIS THAT WE'VE SEEN, IT'S REALLY ALL ROUTES, IT'S ALL DEMOGRAPHICS.
SO DEFINITELY BY NO MEANS EXCLUSIVE TO THAT, WE'RE REALLY SEEING A LOT OF THE COMMUNITY OVERALL RETURNING TO TRANSIT, WHICH IS VERY EXCITING.
AND I THINK AT ONE OF THE, UM, UPCOMING MEETINGS, WE'LL PROBABLY GO A BIT MORE IN DEPTH TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE RIDERSHIP TRENDS, BUT OVERALL, WE'RE 85% OF PRE COVID RIDERSHIP ON FIXED ROUTE.
82% OF PRE COVID RIDERSHIP ON PARATRANSIT, WHICH IS VERY EXCITING.
UM, STAFF DID HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND A, UM, TRANSIT CORRIDOR PRIORITY WORKSHOP IN OAKLAND THAT WAS PUT ON BY MTC, THAT WAS REGIONAL.
[01:55:01]
WORKSHOP THAT TALKED ABOUT HOW TO SET THE GROUNDWORK FOR DOING MAJOR TRANSIT INVESTMENTS IN CORRIDORS LIKE BUS RAPID TRANSIT.WE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO A TOUR ON THE TEMPO BUS, RAPID TRANSIT LINE THAT AC TRANSIT, UM, FAIRLY RECENTLY OPENED.
AND I THINK IT'S A REALLY EXCITING DEVELOPMENT.
IT'S SOMETHING THAT I THINK WOULD BE GREAT TO DISCUSS AS PART OF THE FUTURE OF TRANSIT AND PETALUMA.
WOULD THINGS LIKE BUS RAPID TRANSIT AND UM, YOU KNOW, BE A GOOD APPROACH HERE.
AND WHAT'S THE CONVERSATION WE DO GOING FORWARD TO GET MORE PEOPLE INTERESTED IN IT? UM, AWARE OF IT, GO DOWN AND RIDE IT SO THEY CAN SEE IT FOR THEMSELVES AND SEE WHAT ONE POSSIBLE VISION OF TRANSIT COULD LOOK LIKE.
UM, SO THAT IS IT ALL THAT I ADD, MR. CHAIR.
I GUESS WE HAVE A COUPLE OF MINUTES.
DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY FINAL COMMENTS? HEARING NONE, LET'S CALL IT A NIGHT.
UH, THE MEETING IS ADJOURNED AT 5 58.
WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN ON FEBRUARY 8TH.