Minutes 06-18-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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attendance. She suggested a location in the areas or communities where bus stops are proposed. Commissioner Rich she agreed with Commissioner Pelissier. She said she is more familiar with the portion of the plan in Chapel Hill; yet she felt she was bouncing around while reading the agenda. She would like to have the information more fleshed out and organized. Craig Benedict said he agreed that the information is confusing. He said that there will be efforts made over the summer to organize the comments. Commissioner Price asked where things stand with the bus between Mebane and Durham. She asked if this will be an express route or a local bus. Craig Benedict said the intent of the outreach sessions is to ask these questions. Commissioner Price said that citizens have already expressed a desire for more stops along the way. John Talmadge from Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) said there has not been a joint meeting with Orange County staff since May 21St. He said TTA looks forward to meeting with staff to proceed with this process. He said TTA is ready to work through the issues in order to get proposals to the Board of Commissioners in a timely manner. Commissioner Gordon questioned what needs to be done tonight. She noted that there are Board of County Commissioners and staff comments and TTA has provided responses to some of these, which addresses items 1 & 2 of the stated purpose. She asked about the coordination between county staff and TTA regarding service options and public outreach. She asked, regarding 3 & 4, how this will move forward in the summer. She said that her understanding is that the goal for purpose 5 is to begin service in January 2014. Commissioner Gordon said if the Board moves forward with the proposal on page 8 in attachment 2 (program management team) she feels that Chapel Hill Transit should be listed in addition to Triangle Transit, OPT and the others already listed. She also questioned the hourly costs and the differing OPT costs listed. Craig Benedict answered her last question first and said that the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment plan estimated money to cover service at $58 per hour. He said that if the number is drilled down to specific service OPT can do it for roughly $43 per hour. He said there has been a lot of work done with finance to make sure proper overhead is available. If service can be provided at the lower rate, then it may open the door for more service. Commissioner Gordon said $58 per hour is less expensive than the amount charged by other transit providers. She said that if all of the overhead is counted, she does not see how it can be done for less. Craig Benedict said, regarding items 1 and 2, the responses and questions need to be nailed together to everyone's satisfaction. He said item 3 gives options and asks the Board if staff should move forward with discussions with the public over the summer. He said that, regarding item 4, staff has received feedback from the Board of County Commissioners to move forward with outreach to meet the community to discuss the different east/west route options. He said that the question is whether these routes are brought back for approval in late fall or in late January. Chair Jacobs said he agreed that this was a confused document that is not well coordinated. He suggested that the outreach meetings are in a public meeting place, such as Town Barn or somewhere with good access. He sees no point in 1 and 2, as the comments have already been transmitted and this is after the fact and unnecessary. He said that for#3, the public outreach discussions simply need to be approved. He said that#4 is really approving the presentation of service options for the regional express route.