Agenda - 12-01-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 1 Mayor Lavelle said right now Triangle Transit does not travel anywhere in Carrboro. 2 She has brought up many times that the 405 route would be a great route to go through 3 Carrboro, and this would increase ridership. She said Triangle Transit has heard this 4 suggestion, and it is listed as the number one project on the priority plan. She wants to make 5 sure the Commissioners understand how important this is for Carrboro. 6 Mayor Lavelle said the Carrboro route identified in the packet is under "un- funded" 7 priorities, and it is more of a pass through route to bring in employees. 8 Commissioner Pelissier said for future reference when memos are written up about 9 implementation, there should be reference to the original plan and a list of the priority and the 10 unfunded projects, as well as the status of each one. She said part of this plan is implemented 11 by Orange County, part of it by Triangle Transit, and part of it by Chapel Hill Transit. She said it 12 would be good to get input from Triangle Transit on the status of the proposed routes to include 13 in future agenda packets. 14 Commissioner Pelissier said the categorization of the unfunded White Cross route came 15 from Carrboro's former mayor. She said she agrees that it is really not a Carrboro route. She 16 said it is good to continually look at the routes and re- prioritize as needed. 17 Alderman Haven O'Donnell said two things concern her. She said Carrboro's population 18 does not put the Town in any major transit plans. She said Carrboro would like a light rail spur 19 at some point in the planning. She said ending at UNC does not quite cut it. She asked the 20 Board to keep this in mind. She asked that Carrboro also be considered when Hillsborough 21 gets their Amtrak station. She said the 405 route would be wonderful, but she also thinks 22 people need to remember to include Carrboro in other plans. She finds it offensive that before 23 Carrboro is considered, routes are being added to Southpoint that help leak more dollars to 24 Durham. 25 Mayor Lavelle said Triangle Transit has done a white paper on Carrboro. 26 Alderman Chaney said she is a member of the Chapel Hill Transit Partners committee, 27 and she knows that the team has been working hard with a consultant to analyze all of the 28 capital needs of the system. She said this report is not going to be pretty, and there will be 29 Chapel Hill Transit members looking to the County to help fill holes. She asked Craig Benedict 30 if there have been any conversations about this. 31 Craig Benedict said monies that came through legislation were primarily for new service, 32 and only a small amount is for support of existing service. He said the issue that has been 33 discussed for the past four years is why new service is being expanded when it is difficult to 34 sustain existing service. He said everyone is analyzing their systems to find out how to sustain 35 them with the variables that occur within bus services. 36 He said from an efficiency standpoint, all of the entities are trying to find out who can do 37 service in the best and most efficient way in order to save money with the service that is out 38 there. 39 Alderman Slade arrived at 9:01 p.m. 40 Chair Jacobs noted that most of the money for existing service goes to Chapel Hill 41 transit. He said Orange County Public Transit (OPT) started as mostly a human services transit 42 system, funded almost entirely by the state. He said the County is relatively new to the public 43 transportation business. 44 Craig Benedict said the funding landscape is changing to for both federal and state. He 45 said Orange County is also part of the Burlington MPO, which is different that when the Bus and 46 Rail Investment Plan started. 47 Alderman Gist left at 9:03 p.m. 48 Alderman Johnson left at 9:03 p.m. 49 Commissioner Gordon said the assumptions of the Bus and Rail Investment Plan are 50 that 50 percent will be federal, 25 percent will be state, and 25 percent will be local. She said