Citizens’
Advisory Council General Meeting
Wednesday,
April 25, 2007
Amended
General Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order at 6:30pm. Members in attendance: Roger Christensen
(Chairperson), Wesley McCarns
(Vice-Chairperson), Kymberleigh Richards (Secretary), Bill Latto (Chair
Emeritus), Neil Bjornsen, Russ Davies, Lillian Mobley, Seymour Rosen, Howard
Sachar, Peter Schick, Wally Shidler.
Chair Christensen announced he understands that the appointment letter
for future Councilmember Eric Miller is in process, and reminded the members of
the CAC Code of Conduct.
Terry Matsumoto, Chief Financial Services Officer, gave a presentation
on the fare restructuring component of the deficit management plan. This
included the proposal scheduled for a public hearing by the Metro Board of
Directors on May 24 (printout of PowerPoint distributed to all in attendance).
Matsumoto received comments and answered questions regarding:
·
Full Metro budget scheduled for public hearing and approval during June
Finance & Budget Committee meeting
·
None of the $100 million dollar current fiscal year deficit is due to
paratransit (ASI is a separate budget)
·
Possibility of additional taxes; would require a two-thirds vote and an
18-month lag for a ballot measure (required for new taxes); also, the region
may be “taxed out” so such a measure is likely to fail
·
Possibility of student discount fare media being restricted for use
only to and from schools, as was the case through the 1980s, perhaps by
reintroducing ticket books
·
Senior passes cost only around $2.00 in the City of
·
Rail, Orange Line, and Rapid Express should carry higher fares; is to
be part of Metro fare policy for future consideration
·
Discount should be given for use of TAP rather than paying cash – for
example, in
·
Structure gives Metro more revenue from weekly passes than monthly;
should everyone be on a weekly pass instead?
·
Fares in
·
Major issue in maintenance/operating costs is labor contracts
·
Cost premium for using CNG (shorter warranty on engines), but Board
policy and AQMD directives disallows new diesel-powered equipment
·
Mandates such as graffiti abatement and clean-air equipment need to be
made a part of the discussion and shown to the public as justification for a
fare increase
·
Factors of farebox recovery ratio and consent decree also need to be
more clearly explained to the public
·
Goal of 38% farebox recovery ratio is per Formula Allocation Process
(based on industry average), but Metrolink has statutory requirement of 40%
·
Recent transportation bond measure (Proposition 1B) provides
infrastructure funding only; money not available for operations
·
Farebox recovery projected to go from 24.7% today to 30% and then to
33% in 2009
·
Comparison with municipal operators difficult because they tend to have
lower fares and costs (FAP provides disproportionate subsidies; Foothill
Transit is the only included operator, other than Metro, with a base cash fare
over $1.00)
·
Universal Fare System will not create uniform countywide fares, but TAP
has the ability to deduct the correct fare amount for each system; however,
EZPass is going to be difficult to retain under UFS/TAP
·
Hope for interagency transfer to be replaced by regional daypass
·
Comparison with other agencies does not include differences in service
types and availability
·
Thursday public hearing appears to be for the convenience of the Metro
Board rather than for the public
·
·
Original hearing date caused a problem with information being
disseminated to the public as to why the increase is necessary, and additional
public information documents are in the works
·
New Metro Rapid service will require 150,000 new service hours, but
some of this can be reduced by use of articulated buses (more capacity with
same hours)
Minutes of the March21, 2007 General Meeting
approved. (Motion: Shidler, Second:
Rosen)
Approved statement of support for Metro Board
seeking a fare increase to restore the agency’s financial health, without
supporting a specific plan. (Motion:
Sachar, Second: McCarns)
Chair Christensen appointed Councilmembers
Bjornsen, Rosen and Sachar to the annual Election Committee and directed them
to report at the June meeting on their recommendations for the FY 2007-08
officers.
Public comment received from Dana Gabbard on the annual membership
meeting of Foothill Transit, scheduled for May 30. He also distributed
information on the FAP and the municipal operators’ proposal to change it.
Councilmember Shidler announced that the 100th Anniversary
of Metro Division 3 (
Meeting adjourned at 8:02pm.
Submitted by Kymberleigh
Richards, CAC Secretary