Citizens’ Advisory Council General Meeting

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Draft General Meeting Minutes

Meeting called to order at 6:30pm. Members in attendance: Roger Christensen (Chairperson), Kymberleigh Richards (Secretary), Bill Latto (Chair Emeritus), Neil Bjornsen, Russ Davies, Dionne Jiminez, Eric Miller, Seymour Rosen, Howard Sachar, Peter Schick, Wally Shidler.

Chair Christensen announced that the presentation on the Long Range Transportation Plan was delayed due to Metro Staff still working on the Board presentation; commented on the state budget status in Sacramento; announced that the August Metro Board meetings (including committee meetings) are being cancelled in favor of a workshop on the Long Range Transportation Plan and suggested the CAC consider moving the August meeting to the evening prior to the workshop; and commented on the transit and pedestrian-friendliness of the new downtown Ralphs supermarket.

The Chair’s suggestion regarding the August meeting date was referred to the Executive Committee for discussion and action.

Ed Clifford, Metro Director of Countywide Planning and Development, made a brief presentation on the Transit Service Policy and answered questions:

· FTA Title VII regulations’ impact on service change process (review of impact on low-income, ethnic minorities, low-English speaking communities to ensure no disparate impact)

· New bus stop design and location guidelines, specifically for use in interaction with other agencies, and combination of Metro Local/Rapid stops

· Remaining consent decree implementation of Metro Rapid under the New Service Plan (minimum span/frequency of service, exception provision, addition of timepoints to improve on-time performance and reduce bus bunching/passenger load imbalance)

· Line identification standards for marketing (use of common destinations, corridor information, community names rather than intersections on headsigns, other customer-oriented/user-friendly headsigns)

· Route Performance Index (discontinuance of consent-decree mandated standards, measurement by boardings per hour rather than per 20 minutes, capacity utilization)

· New route numbering and classification system (designation for shuttles, Rapid Express, duplication of 700-series numbers used by AVTA and Santa Clarita)

· Governance Council-requested changes (more flexibility in dealing with poor-performing lines)

Mr. Clifford answered questions on other areas of his responsibility:

· Rapid Express (bus color as issue and options to better differentiate between regular Rapid service, line continuation transfers for passengers that board wrong bus, need to evaluate both Wilshire and Hawthorne pilot lines before expanding concept)

· Line 442 (recent overriding of South Bay Governance Council by Board

· Metro Connections (future point-to-point express services in corridors such as 405 freeway, December focus on Rapid implementation and downtown restructuring, June ’08 focus on scheduling improvements)

· “25 lowest performing lines” mandate from Board (ten lines already programmed for corrective action, Board to receive memo on what has been and will be done, some additional transfers to municipal operators possible)

· Mid-program Rapid review (14 to 16 lines of originally identified 28 now in place, some substitutions being investigated, target June 2009 for full Rapid implementation)

· Future marketing (solicitation of passenger input for major restructuring and route design, increased focus on marketing to major employment centers)

Public comment received from Eugene Salinsky (suggestion to move Rapid Line 714 to 3^rd St. from Beverly Blvd., improved fare media between Metro and municipal operators, timepoint at Wilshire/Western on Rapid Line 720 to facilitate transfers from Purple Line) and from Sean McCarthy (need for connections between North Hollywood Station and Bob Hope Airport, extension of Orange Line from Warner Center to Chatsworth).

Minutes of the June 27, 2007 General Meeting approved. (Motion: Shidler, Second: Rosen)

Councilmember Rosen suggested the CAC send a letter of support for the Foothill Gold Line extension. No action taken.

Meeting adjourned at 7:58pm.

Submitted by Kymberleigh Richards, CAC Secretary