Minutes 10-16-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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