Public Transportation Stakeholders Advisory Board
Monthly Meeting Minutes
April 8, 2008
City Commission Meeting Room
(4:12) Meeting called to order.
Members Present: County Commissioner Bill Murdock, Gus Pfaehler, Patty Gunderson, Colleen Lindner and Chairman Chris Budeski.
Members Excused: Suzanne Winchester, Carol Shannon and City Commissioner Eric Bryson.
Others Present: Lisa Ballard, Current Transportation; Lee Hazelbaker, HRDC/Galavan/Streamline; Deepu Philip, ASMSU; Jarvis Brown, Transit Now; Jeff Rupp, City Commissioner & HRDC Director; Janet Kennedy, public; and Recording Secretary Crystal Turner.
There was no public comment.
Approval of Minutes from March 11, 2008
Gus Pfaehler made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Murdock seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. Motion passed unanimously.
(4:22) Update on Bus System
Lisa Ballard gave the update and distributed a "Fare Free Service Analysis" to the group. Roughly 25% of current riders are considered discounted riders (seniors, those with disabilities, etc…), another 50% are students (who would remain "fare free" because they've already paid through student fees), and the last 25% are other riders. Example if Streamline had a $1,000,000 budget and you collected $100,000 in fares, we would apply for $900,000 funding. It does not go on top of the $1M budget. With collection comes many costs: fare boxes (roughly $21,000 each), printing tickets, distribution of tickets, collecting/counting monies, enforcement.
City of Bozeman has agreed to post signs at all day stops-no more flag stops! Streamline's current outreach projects are media coverage, Clean up Bozeman (April), Expanding your Horizons (April), Bike Week (May) and Dump the Pump Day (June).
Numbers for day rides only:
As of 3/24/08, there was 680 rides/day.
March 2007: about 400 rides/day.
Projected rides per day was only 300.
We see dips during spring break and then ridership is back up (assuming due to the poor weather conditions).
Rides per day (funded through Streamline budget)
Reach: 120
Galavan: 80-100
Late night service: 60-80
Bridger Bowl: 60-80
Headstart: 22
Totals (as of March 30, 2008)
Day ridership: 103,939 (about 65% of all rides)
Night service: 5,934
Bridger Bowl: 1,506 (through February)
Reach, Headstart & Galavan: 165,000
(4:30) UTD Discussion
According to Chris Gray, Deputy County Attorney, the answer to the Board's question if all issues could be on the same ballot: the answer is NO, not funding and boundary, but YES, boundary and creation of district. Commissioner Murdock asked City Commissioner Rupp, "As one city commissioner, what is your feeling about this [legal answer]?" Commissioner Rupp stated that he was very disappointed. This is not a conversation he wants to have yet with the voters; they have enough already on their plates. He suggests combining the Streamline and Galavan boards, with supporters like MSU as members.
Janet Kennedy, public, agrees to this suggestion. Particularly now, the system is running quite well. There is money out there and it is working. What's the point in changing a working system? There is still so many people that don't even know about the system and statistically the issues fail the first time around on the ballot.
Chris Budeski said that according to the adopted Public Stakeholder's Board by-laws, we can create a UTD board. Commissioner Murdock disagreed. He stated that it has to be created by the County Commission, but didn't want to "go there" without the City's blessing. Gus Pfaehler suggests changing the frequency of these meetings because nothing politically will change in the City or County Commissions for a few years. Leaving the system as is, would at least keep the buses running. Lisa Ballard said the system need more money to get more services, and that's what the UTD will do, at least it's a core piece.
The Board discussed understanding of the law and Chris Gray's recommendation/answer. There needs to be some assurance that the County doesn't go out for a vote of the people.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on May 13th. Agenda items will be: Discussion with County Attorney's office regarding UTD.
(5:10) Meeting adjourned
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