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TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
APRIL 21, 2010
4:30 P.M
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MEMBERS PRESENT: Mary Louise Lewis, Diane Lowe, Troy Monday and Mike Norton
MEMBERS ABSENT: Diane Hoffman, Jessica King and Jeffrey Olmstead
OTHERS PRESENT: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director
Jennifer Weigand, Recording Secretary
Chairperson Lewis called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m.
NEW BUSINESS
1. ON PROPOSAL TO MODIFY TRANSIT HOURS OF SERVICE
PUBLIC HEARING
Public hearing opened at 4:34 p.m.
Ms. Chris Swadler, 1920 Evans Street Apt 2, felt this was not the appropriate time to extend
bus service. She said the Board needs to consider the current riders. She doesn’t think
extending bus service one hour will help. For her, being able to attend activities/events later
in the evening would make a difference. This proposal would not help her do this. She feels
something needs to be done about the pervasive attitude in this town against transit. Some
people look down on people who ride the bus. Many riders have no other means of
transportation. She said that the perception is that many of the passengers are mentally ill
or developmentally disabled people, and some people do not want to be around these
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people. She suggested more people might ride the bus if the 9 Avenue Route was not an
hour long. She questioned if possibly two routes could better serve the area in a shorter
time. She suggested getting environmental groups to help promote bus usage.
Public hearing closed at 4:42 p.m.
Mr. Norton was concerned about the Common Council’s reaction to a 4.3 percent cost
increase. He is worried about the service starting and than being dropped at the end of the
year. He doesn’t think the one hour change in service is worth the cost increase.
Mrs. Lewis did not feel the Common Council would stop the service once it began. Mr.
Strong noted it does take some time for ridership patterns to adjust to new service.
Mr. Strong noted that in the early 1990s Valley Transit increased their evening service hours
but reduced day time service to one hour frequency. If the Common Council says they
would like to extend service hours but at no increase in cost, we could possibly explore this
further.
Mrs. Lowe was concerned people wanted service to run later into the evening hours. She
didn’t feel the one hour extension would accomplish their needs.
TAB MINUTES 2 APRIL 21, 2010
Mrs. Lewis felt we could not operate late night service because the need is not there. In the
past, ridership was high because people were dependent on the bus for their transportation
needs, but today most people have cars. She does believe an additional hour of service
would help some workers.
Mr. Norton suggested deferring this to when the drivers’ contract is settled. Mr. Strong said
some of the negotiations are based around this change occurring.
Mr. Norton felt it was not worth changing at this time. Mr. Norton said he would possibly
reconsider his vote if something could be done to make it less confusing and less difficult to
use the Route #10 bus. He would like to bridge the gap between the Neenah Route and city
routes.
Mrs. Lewis moved to recommend the proposed modifications, Mrs. Lowe seconded
the motion. Motion lost (2-2 Norton, Monday).
2. OVERVIEW OF FAMILY CARE
Mr. Strong gave a brief overview of Family Care, which will begin July 2010 and how it will
impact the Oshkosh Transit System when it goes into effect. He noted we are fortunate that
other systems have had Family Care come to their areas before us and we have been able
to talk with them on what they have done.
3. 2010-2011 TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PLAN UPDATE
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Mr. Strong noted that passenger surveys will be conducted on April 27at the Transit
Center. Information from these surveys may be presented at the next Steering Committee
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meeting scheduled for May 26.
4. FEBRUARY 2010 RIDERSHIP STATISTICS
Mr. Norton noted the bus shelter in Neenah is only open in inclement weather. He
questioned who makes that determination. Mr. Norton also expressed his concern over the
long wait between connecting buses between Neenah and Appleton.
There be no other business to come before the Transit Advisory Board and upon duly
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being made and seconded (Norton, Lowe), the meeting adjourned at 5:12 p.m