HomeMy WebLinkAbout09 16 20 TAB Staff AgendaPlease contact the Transit Advisory Board at TAB@ci.oshkosh.wi.us with any questions or concerns
TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD
STAFF AGENDA ITEMS
September 16, 2020
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
PUBLIC COMMENT
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
1. A request for Free Fares for Voting on November 3rd
Board member, James Price has requested we offer free fares for those riding transit to the polls to
vote in person on Nov. 3rd. Free fares can be a slippery slope as we get frequent requests from
different parties to offer free fares to various worthy parties and causes. We believe it will be
difficult to identify and check ID’s and verify riders are going to vote. If we pursue this, we
recommend making November 3rd a free fare day for the national election. We do not believe it is
feasible to offer this service for every election. In past years, we have offered a free “try transit
day” about once a year usually in conjunction with the start of the school year. We have not had
a free fare day this year due to Covid19 and students now being free.
We do need to remember that fares only cover 15-20% of Go Transit’s costs so although they
cover a small percentage of total costs, they are critical to the vitality of the transit system. We
had a fare increase Jan. 1, 2019 to help with funding and we continue to offer one of the lowest
transit fares in the state.
2. A request by Mike Norton to change the date and/or time of the transit advisory board
meeting.
Board member, Mike Norton has asked if the day and/or time of the Transit Advisory Board
meeting can be changed.
The current time of 4:10 was established in 2015. Prior to that the time of the meeting was 4:00
p.m. It was moved to 4:10 p.m. to allow any transit users that take transit time to get to the
meeting as the bus stops near city hall at 4:01 p.m. Previous to that, the meeting time was
changed from 4:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in 2011 to allow more time for transit users. The
current day of the meeting (3rd Wednesday of each month) was established prior to 2004.
TAB AGENDA ITEMS 2 September 2020
As the board knows, Go Transit operates from 6:15 a.m. until 6:45 p.m. We need to make sure the
board meetings are as convenient as possible for transit riders, the public and board members. I
believe it would be difficult to push the meeting much later. We could meet earlier, but I’m not
sure how that would affect other board member’s schedules. It would be very difficult to move
the board meeting to a different day based on the limited availability of meeting space at city hall
as well.
The board meeting is scheduled monthly and if there is not a sufficient agenda the meeting is
cancelled. The board has met every other month on average. We could potentially move the
meeting to quarterly or every other Month if the board desires. Keep in mind that it is easier to
cancel a meeting than to add one.
STAFF STATEMENTS
3. Management Performance Review
WisDOT hires a contractor to perform management performance reviews for all transit systems in
Wisconsin approximately every 5 years. They performed this review of GO Transit last fall.
Although some things have changed since the audit (for example delivery of 3 new buses), we
recently received the final report. The highlights of the review show GO Transit compares
favorably to our State and National peers. GO Transit performs better than our peers in most
categories. This shows we have an effective and efficient transit service. The only area GO
Transit is outside the satisfactory range on is average fares per passenger trips. GO Transit fares
are still very low compared to our peers. We had a fare increase Jan. 1, 2019 but our fares are still
among the lowest in the State. The report also notes the need to upgrade the downtown transit
center and pursue mobile fares. We have already implemented many of the report’s
recommendations and are actively pursuing others. The report is included in this month’s
meeting packet.
FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS
ADJOURNMENT
TAB AGENDA ITEMS 3 September 2020