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TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
MAY 19, 2010
4:30 P.M
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MEMBERS PRESENT: Diane Hoffman, Jessica King, Mary Louise Lewis, Mike Norton
and Jeffrey Olmstead
MEMBERS ABSENT: Diane Lowe and Troy Monday
OTHERS PRESENT: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director
Jennifer Weigand, Recording Secretary
Chairperson Lewis called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m.
OLD BUSINESS
1. CLARIFICATION ON PROPOSAL TO MODIFY TRANSIT HOURS OF SERVICE
Mr. Strong summarized the Board’s reaction at last month’s meeting to the proposal. He
would like to receive more direction from the Board on how this proposal can be improved to
address some of the members’ concerns.
Mr. Norton felt from a financial aspect, it does not justify the change. He felt one additional
hour of service would not make much of an impact.
Mr. Olmstead would like to know the riders’ thoughts on this proposal. He felt this additional
hour of service was an odd time.
Ms. King felt students attending university classes later in the day would benefit from this
additional hour of service. Mr. Strong added that the additional service could also benefit
students with after-school activities, and employees whose schedules don’t line up with
existing service.
Mr. Olmstead suggested a trial run for three months. Mr. Strong pointed out this proposal
involves many changes with the union agreement that would make it difficult to enact a
short-term demonstration.
Mrs. King felt the cost was worth it. She noted that after the census numbers are all in,
possible funding changes could occur for transit systems in Wisconsin. The Board needs to
look at this long range financial picture. She suggested trying the extended service for one
year and see if it is worth it. Three years down the road, we would then have a good
measure on what’s valuable and what to cut if funding is decreased.
Mr. Olmstead said it would be to our advantage to at least give it a try.
Mr. Norton wanted to wait until after the Transit Development Plan (TDP) is completed and
then make changes to the system based on the results.
TAB MINUTES 2 MAY 19, 2010
Ms. King pointed out that due to contract negotiations, we may not be able to revisit this for
another couple of years.
Ms. King left at 4:52 p.m.
Mr. Olmstead asked whether, after a year, we would be able to go back to what we have
now. Mr. Strong said we would have to go back to the bargaining agreement. Mr. Strong
noted that it also takes time for passengers to pick up a new route pattern and one year may
not be enough time to see the potential ridership impact.
Mrs. Lewis felt we would never go back to running buses late into the evening hours. She
said it would be nice to try running later but she didn’t think it would make much of a
difference. She asked if the Common Council could vote on this without the Board’s
recommendation. Mr. Strong replied, “Yes,” and that he would provide the Common Council
with a memo summarizing the Board’s input.
Mr. Olmstead was concerned with what advantage there would be in running one hour
longer. He said, “How do you know until your try it?” He noted the Board has always been
willing to try new things to see if they would work.
Mrs. Lewis noted we operate more efficiently than any other system in the state.
Mr. Norton asked what it would cost for OTS to take over the operation of the Titan Transit
for one year. Mr. Strong noted the costs would increase substantially over what UWO pays
for the Titan Transit contract, due to increasing the number of days of operation, the need to
comply with FTA requirements, and wage differentials.
Mrs. Hoffman said if other systems run later and their fares are higher, it’s easy to see the
correlation.
Mr. Norton asked if the hours on the city routes were extended, would the operating hours
be extended on Route 10. Mr. Strong replied that he had deferred on including that in this
proposal, because he is still interested in improving the frequency of Route 10 service from
90 minutes to 60 minutes. He added that it does make sense to tie them together.
Mr. Norton reiterated that he would pass on a change at this time and wanted to wait until
after the TDP is completed.
Mr. Olmstead suggested conducting an informal survey of riders to see if extending the
service one hour would be of value to them. Mrs. Lewis suggested giving the riders a survey
slip when boarding and collecting them when they alight from the bus.
Mrs. Hoffman wondered if there would be a way to include members of the community who
do not ride bus via the newspaper and or our website. There are many people who are not
aware of how inexpensive it is to ride the bus. Mr. Strong noted that the TDP process has
had an on-line survey with limited response from non-riders. He added that Valley Transit,
for its TDP process, did some telephone-based market research of non-users, but that the
cost of this type of research is relatively high.
STAFF STATEMENTS
TAB MINUTES 3 MAY 19, 2010
2. MARCH 2010 RIDERSHIP STATISTICS
Mr. Strong noted that ridership is down but the trend is slowing down a little bit. Mr. Strong
and other system managers in the state believe the economy is a big factor in this trend.
There being no more business to come before the Transit Advisory Board and upon duly
.
being made and seconded (Hoffman, Olmstead), the meeting adjourned at 5:27 p.m