Agenda - 11-17-2015 - 6a - Minutes

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11 1 Commissioner Pelissier said Frank Fravel referenced the need for performance 2 measures, noting such measures are also necessary for the implementation agreement for the 3 '/2 cent sales tax. She asked if the CTS software is capable of providing these performance 4 measures. 5 Frank Fravel said he believed the software could provide the necessary data. 6 Commissioner Jacobs said there was a study done years ago, that the Department of 7 Transportation (DOT) aborted, looking at non-urban public transportation. He asked if Orange 8 County is just back in a silo. 9 Frank Fravel said the outcome of that last study was consolidation within the county 10 silos, and he said other organizations such as Chapel Hill Transit have a lot on their plate 11 already and did not see any benefit to a merger. 12 Frank Fravel said he thought Orange County is on the right side of the cost curve. He 13 said there was a study of merging the larger organizations, but it went south. He said this study 14 did put forth Go Smart and suggested getting OPT in the mix regionally to advance coordinated 15 information to the public. 16 Commissioner Jacobs said Mebane has cast its lots with Orange County regarding 17 transportation and asked if this study consulted Mebane. 18 Frank Fravel said he did not talk with Mebane, and this is not a full community services 19 transportation plan, but a more condensed study. 20 Commissioner Jacobs said Frank Fravel did not make a recommendation for a structural 21 step. 22 Frank Fravel said the advisory committee discussed a variety of options which will be 23 presented to the BOCC for a decision. 24 Commissioner Price said her comments were similar to Commissioner Jacobs and 25 asked if two headways were considered with the Hillsborough Circulator. 26 Frank Fravel said a second bus is recommended as one of the expansion items. He 27 said this bus would run in the opposite direction to the current Circulator. 28 Commissioner Price noted the need to streamline a lot of this process. She asked if 29 Frank Fravel is aware that there are numerous buses and plans. 30 Frank Fravel said he was aware and said regional passes are one idea to facilitate ease 31 of transportation. He said OPT is poised to be part of the region. He said there are a lot of 32 objectives for the transit system in Orange County and the recently passed fare policies have a 33 lot of complicating factors that must be considered. He said it is hard to mesh such a specific 34 fare policy with something regional. 35 Commissioner Price referred to page 28 of the report and asked if there could be 36 clarification regarding the elderly and disabled transportation assistance plan. 37 He said the grant is intended to cover 100% of the cost but the State allows a fare to be 38 collected on these trips as well. He said he is unsure how the collected fares are allocated 39 against the operating costs. 40 Commissioner Price referred to page 18 where it stated that "transportation as a priority 41 was number 20 out of 26 in the Board of County Commissioners' goals and priorities". She 42 suggested that the Board review this going forward and possibly rank transportation more 43 highly. 44 Chair McKee referred to the organizational options and expressed confusion around the 45 logic of moving transportation to Asset Management Services (AMS). 46 Frank Fravel said in some counties it is included in a public works or public works and 47 transportation department. He said AMS seems to be the closest fit to such a department. 48 Commissioner Jacobs said the question of where transportation belongs has been 49 floated around for years. He said Frank Fravel's comments about the lack of staff devoted to 50 marketing and the low profile system were very interesting and he sees this as a key gap. He