Orange County NC Website
Approved 11/19/14 <br />engagement of Orange county residents and transportation concerns; how we can improve our advisory service to <br />the BOCC; how we want to be involved in agenda development; what we see as the optimum role for each member <br />of this Board; and we should look at meeting format including presentation and perception. I want to ask a question <br />and I hope every member of this Board knows the answer to this. What is the largest single transportation <br />organization in this county; public or private? <br />Gary Saunders: Chapel Hill Transit. <br />Paul Guthrie: Actually it's the Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill Schools. The Orange County schools have 72 <br />bus routes, 70 buses plus activity buses operating. Chapel Hill schools have 50 buses, 16 mini - buses, and 19 activity <br />buses operating; so we have 120, 16 mini - buses, and probably another 30 activity buses all operating under two <br />different but similar systems. Chapel Hill Transit is the largest public transit organization but it doesn't approach those <br />numbers of vehicles. My whole point is that while we probably spend less time on this issue, I wanted to point out that <br />there is a number of things on transportation that go beyond what we now think of as transportation systems and at <br />some point I will argue that we ought to at least make a passing comment on is there a way to better coordinate <br />school transportation and public transportation in terms of route structure and things like that as we grow? That's the <br />key word as we grow. We become less and less rural and more and more urban. Do we need to look at those <br />interfaces? There are a lot of statutory problems of the school bus issue, and the financing issue but that is the kind <br />of issue I would hope at some point in time we pay attention to. Where are we going in five years or ten years? A <br />perfect example to me is the way in which we approach the Triangle Transit government's transportation systems <br />that they are trying to put in place now. It's a little piece here, a little piece there, and division is really about two <br />things. Building a coordinated bus system and building a limited rail system. I would hope that over the next few <br />months and probably even years, we could tackle some of those things. I will be glad to send everyone what I just <br />said, that's where I'm coming from so that we can really give good solid long term advice and not just be reactive to <br />the current issue if we just reacted to the current issue we will never build a vision for the future and this County will <br />need it. I have been doing something lately that scares the dickens out of people, take Google Earth, now for those <br />of you who have Google Earth; it will show you the 1993 flyovers and 2014 flyovers in sequence. Take parts of the <br />county and just click up the number of 10 to 14 different views that you can get for those years. See what has <br />happened in 20 years and then think what is going to happen in the next 20 years. So that my little sermon for the <br />day. <br />Alex Castro: The service provided by OPT (they call it Old People Transportation) and Chapel Hill's Easy Rider the <br />criteria, the determination of who gets the service is different. Individuals that are customers get confused. That <br />should be seamless and it should be one for everyone. <br />AGENDA ITEM Vil: UPCOMING AGENDA ITEMS OF INTEREST ON OTHER REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION RELATED <br />BOARD AGENDAS <br />OUTBoard Action: Receive information <br />Abigaile Pittman: On May 8, the BOCC will review recommended bus expansion services program. In late May and <br />early June we have scheduled meetings for public outreach for the recommended bus expansion route, asking for <br />input on recommended specific routes. On June 12, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, there will be a Map 21 Funding <br />Program given by the Town of Carrboro and Carrboro Bicycle Coalition. The next OUTBoard meeting is May 21. <br />Jeff Charles: I would be interested in meeting with the Orange County Sherriffs Department to talk about a project I <br />am working on with respect to the bicycle safety rules and the non - cyclist perception of cyclists. <br />Matt Day: The main information from TARPO is the project scoring for Strategic Transportation investments. We will <br />have a public hearing in early June to present draft scoring results. <br />AGENDA ITEM Vill: ADJOURNMENT <br />The meeting was adjourned by consensus. <br />