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Approved 4/16/14 <br />Lance Hendrix: Are these fixed stops or a door -to -door service? <br />Bret Martin: The concept is for it to be curb -to -curb. My recommendation will be curb -to -curb. <br />Alex Castro: These figures are just operating cost? <br />Bret Martin: Yes. Capital is not factored into this budget because Triangle Transit is handling it differently. I have <br />been working through the MPO, TARPO and NCDOT to get the necessary capital to make this happen. <br />Jeff Charles: What percentage of the sales tax that is being collected annually in 2015 is going to this bus service for <br />Orange County versus our share of the $6 million dollars for the studies necessary for light rail? <br />Bret Martin: Of the amount being made available OPT is getting 12 %. How much of that is the total that is coming <br />in? I don't have the budget, but I would estimate 15 %. <br />Paul Guthrie: You can get a good idea on the first chart by the number of transit miles. I would suggest you send <br />that information via email. <br />Jeff Charles: I am going back to the population chart without the students; there are more people in Orange County <br />than Chapel Hill. <br />Bret Martin: Part of the revenue is not even sales tax but vehicle registration fees. There is more vehicle registration <br />in unincorporated Orange County than there is in Chapel Hill. <br />Ted Triebel: Does the fare -free idea come from the top down? <br />Jeff Charles: They are paying for it with the half -cent sales tax. <br />Bret Martin: Also, the scale of service being provided costs more to manage than it is worth to collect fares. It also <br />slows down service. The BOCC has leaned in that direction because we are serving transit - dependent populations, <br />which are typically lower income household without vehicles. <br />Jeff Charles: Are the expansions limited by the amount of access the county has to the percentage of the half -cent <br />sales tax? Would you be adding more if you were given more money? <br />Bret Martin: On Attachment 4, in the far right column a certain amount of money available is noted. In time, more <br />money will be made available. <br />Jeff Charles: Because you are collecting more revenue, or the percentage of the revenue that is going to buses is <br />increasing? <br />Bret Martin: The latter. <br />Jeff Charles: So we have to pay the $6 million dollar share on the chance that we get federal funding and if we don't <br />because the density is not there to support a light rail system, that $30 million dollars goes down the drain. <br />Paul Guthrie: One of the problems with your analysis is that all transit at some in time needs advanced planning. <br />Under the analysis you just gave, you would not do that until you have the money in your hand ready to build the <br />whole system. Your point is well taken with regard to whether it is an appropriate sharing of funds, but I don't think it <br />is a good idea to say we will never share funds if we have to front -end the cost. <br />Jeff Charles: I am not saying that. <br />Alex Castro: I agree with Jeff. The money has to be expended in order to get to the approval stage but if you look at <br />what has happened to Raleigh and Washington, the likelihood of the LRT, which has failed in the past, is a lot less <br />