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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 04/20/1994l �^ Draft Minutes to be approved by the Board at the May 18, 1994 meeting. TRANSPORTATION BOARD MEETING MINUTES APRIL 20, 1994 5: 38-7:25 P.M. FOR REFERENCE: Chair — Colin Gerety 229-2523 Vice Chair — David Lemesany 482-7854 Council Liaison — Gina Janett 221-2557 Staff Liaison — Rick Ensdorff 221-6608 Board Secretary — Cindy Scott 221-6608 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Mark Egeland, Sara Frazier, Colin Gerety, Dolores Highfield, Dave Lemesany, Sharone Mekelburg, and Paul Valentine. BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Alan Beatty and Elizabeth Hudetz STAFF/COUNCIL PRESENT: Rick Ensdorff and Cindy Scott GUESTS PRESENT: Commissioner Bill Neal - CDOT; John Daggett - Transfort; Tom Vosburg - Transportation Dept. The meeting was called to order at 5:38 p.m. AGENDA: A. ACTION ITEMS 1. Approval of Minutes B. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Statewide Unfunded Transportation Needs - Bill Neal 2. Transfort Issues - John Daggett 3. Board member Reports 4. Meeting Summary/Next Agenda 5. Other Business A.1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There was a motion, a second, and a unanimous vote to approve the Transportation Board minutes of March 16 and March 30, 1994 as presented. B.I. STATEWIDE UNFUNDED TRANSPORTATION NEEDS - BILL NEAL Ensdorff introduced Commissioner Bill Neal who represents this district at CDOT. Commissioner Neal stated that he would be giving an informal update of what some of the current issues are. One is the capitalization issue. The State is responsible for maintenance on an approximate 9,200 mile roadway network. Prior to the legislation of 1991, that was basically the State's only responsibility. ISTEA expanded those responsibilities into other modes. The bottom line of the capitalization mechanism, in order for the State to get their work done, is not adequate. Their sole source of revenues is from gas taxes and while they have been having a 3-5% increase on that State system for the last 7-8 years in road miles traveled, they have a virtually flat revenue source because of more fuel efficient engines. 25% of the roadway miles were analyzed to be in poor condition 4 years ago. As of today, almost 60% of the lane miles are in poor condition. The roadway is definately deteriorating. In addition, because of that lack of capitalization, the State is in a five year budgeting plan that has very little capacity in expansion projects involved in it. Last year the Commission decided to increase the resurfacing budget from $45 million to $106 million in one year. This will continue for the next 5 years to try to stop the deterioration of the primary asset which is the existing infrastructure. The political heat is being turned up because there are lots of projects that have been approved through the five year planning process for quite awhile and are not getting funding because they are getting pushed out. The Commission has taken a position that they will hope to see a vote in the fall of 1995 as to whether or not the voters of Colorado agree with the Commission that recapitalization in some form or fashion is appropriate. It will be a complicated project and Commissioner Neal has been voted to Chair the committee who is responsible for winning that election. The current strategy is to determine whether or not there would be support for raising the gas tax to recapitalize CDOT. By the time it gets to the final product, it may not be a gas tax strategy. -2- Chair Gerety stated that whatever source of revenue CDOT gets should be from direct transportation system use taxes. If its not, he will definitely be opposed to it. Commissioner Neal described the E-470 project that is currently going on. This is on an agenda at a meeting he'll be attending tomorrow. He also briefed the board on EPA issues that the area is dealing with. Chair Gerety noted that Commissioner Neal spoke almost exclusively about the roadway system, so it seems that it is still largely the "Department of Highways". He suggested putting something in the amendment about being able to use transportation funds for transportation systems in general, to be able to transfer funds to alternative modes. Commissioner Neal welcomed the suggestion and any others that anyone has. Lemesany stated that he would like to see CDOT under legislation and warned not to do the "politically correct" things just to make some people happy. Chair Gerety asked what CDOT is going to do change (reduce) the current demands and needs statewide. Neal replied that the Commission established a new rail section last spring and that Fort Collins has already committed funds for a feasibility study. Gerety stated that he is not convinced that the State is looking at all the alternatives and is dealing with the issue in terms of not only dealing with the current capacity and the current demands, but in shifting demand and capacity. Neal stated that Gerety is probably right, but that rail is tougher to do than it appears to be. Neal stressed that another strategy to winning the election is that the people who are working for transportation are needed to support and help out by making presentations with information provided by CDOT. Commissioner Neal explained the latest on DIA access per Mekelburg's request. B.2. TRANSFORT ISSUES Daggett stated that he would like to provide the Board with an overview of some of the major issues that Transfort is currently facing. He went over what Council approved last night. ROUTE 10 - This route will serve the East Prospect Corridor and will be in service August 22. Council did recommend approval of the route, but Council Member Horak proposed that staff bring back a resolution to eliminate youth fares. With this resolution, a 30% increase in youth ridership is expected. -3- In November, Council set aside $200,000 for Route 10. This is an annualized first year cost for that service. Since the route will not be implemented until August 22, that cost dropped $112,000 ($42,000 - one time expenses and $70,000 for operating costs) and Council would like to take the remaining money and do something with it. Staff has just begun to discuss this issue, there are a number of things that could be done with it. FARE POLICY PROJECT - Transfort staff was asked to research potential options for the establishment of a fare policy for fixed -route and paratransit service. Dial -A -Ride is successful thus far. VANPOOL PROGRAM - Daggett explained what the vanpool program is and how it works in detail. In May 1994, the City's Commuter Pool Program will provide vanpool services. The vans are to be leased to area employers and groups of individuals for commuting purposes in Fort Collins and the northern Colorado region. A typical vanpool will travel at least 10 miles one- way to work. Fares will be calculated on a 100% cost recovery basis. Fares are adjusted by the distance of travel for each van in operation. It is estimated that it would cost $135 per month for each person travelling over 51 miles. The vans will be equipped to carry 6 passengers. It is thought that this will be more efficient than a 15 passenger van: less people, less stops, less problems. A driver will be designated and will not have to pay. In the first year of operation, these 10 vans will produce a large reduction of VMTs and will reduce 40,000 Ibs of CO. TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1996-2000 - The Transit Develop Plan (TDP) is a look at the future 5 years. The cities of Loveland and Fort Collins and Larimer County will be developing both concurrent and mutual service plans. A draft TDP will be done in December. It should then be ready for the budget process for 1996 in April of 1995. Board Member Valentine asked the following questions: - When are schools/Transfort going to have coinciding schedules to increase youth ridership? Daggett replied that this has been examined, and the findings are that the junior high students would be the most likely to use the service, but that the principal's say it is too complicated to change the school's start times. Transfort's schedule coincides with CSU's and they make up a large percent of the riders. Valentine stated that he didn't expect an answer tonight. Daggett said that this will be looked into during the TDP by the consultants. Highfield commented that the cooperation between PRA and Transfort has increased dramatically recently. -4- - Who is responsible for cleaning the bus shelters? Daggett stated that Transfort does it 6 times a year. Valentine stated that he was had complaints about how dirty they are. He suggested that the County's work -enders be contacted to clean them. Daggett stated that this was tried at one time and Transfort had a bad experience with that. Daggett said that customer service is very important to Transfort and that the people who complain to Valentine should be encouraged to call Transfort. Lemesany suggested a sticker be placed in the shelters with a message about who to call if the shelter is in need of more brochures or a cleaning. B.3. NEXT MEETING After a discussion, it was agreed that the Board will meet on the regular meeting date of May 18. BA. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS B.S. OTHER BUSINESS Valentine asked for a brief recap on the Shields Street issue at Council last night. Ensdorff stated that the Council removed all three right turn bays; bike lanes will be on -street; and the sidewalks are the same as planned. Ensdorff encouraged those three members whose terms are about to expire to submit their applications as soon as possible if they were planning to re -apply. There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Cindy L. cott, Board Secretary -5-