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13 <br /> • Transit Service <br /> These two projects are expected to allow OCPT to increase its service hours by 7,020 during <br /> FY2022: Continue the "Mobility on Demand" micro transit service and add a second <br /> Hillsborough Circulator route that decreases headways significantly. <br /> • Planning Projects <br /> OCPT will continue to participate on updating the Orange County Transit Plan, will start work on <br /> the Regional Fleet and Facilities Study, and will initiate design of priority transit safety and <br /> access improvements. <br /> Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) 2050 <br /> Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) <br /> The federal government requires the DCHC MPO to update its MTP at least every four-years. <br /> The 2050 MTP will identify the highway, public transportation, bicycle, pedestrian and other <br /> transportation projects that the region plans to implement over the next thirty years to meet the <br /> MPO's goals. The MTP has to be based on the future land use plans and policies of the <br /> jurisdictions and counties in the MPO's planning area, and must be fiscally constrained, which <br /> means that the project costs have to be covered by the expected available revenues. As a <br /> practical matter, the MTP is important because the MPO requires that projects that are <br /> submitted to the NCDOT prioritization process for possible state or federal funding must come <br /> from the MTP, and regulations require that all federally funded projects must be in the MTP. In <br /> addition, local governments may use the MTP to reserve or dedicate right-of-way for future <br /> highway and rail transit projects. <br /> The DCHC MPO released the 2050 MTP final report on January 12, 2022, for a 21-day public <br /> comment period, i.e., January 12 through February 1. The final report contains the roadway <br /> and transit projects, financial plan, and policies that the MPO intends to adopt at the MPO <br /> Board's February 9, 2022, meeting. The report also contains performance measures and <br /> analysis on the extent to which the plan and process meet other standards such as <br /> environmental justice, federal planning criteria, and air quality conformity. Following is a link to <br /> additional information, including the report: www.bit.ly/2050MTP-AltsAn. <br /> Staff will provide any other information at the meeting, and the governing boards can discuss <br /> issues and provide feedback to staff related to this item as necessary. <br /> Craig Benedict, Orange County Planning Director, presented the Orange County Transit <br /> Plan Update. <br /> Craig Benedict said that the plan was originally formulated with the light rail project in <br /> mind, but that in 2018 and 2019 they found out the county would not get federal funding for the <br /> project. He said in late 2019 the plan was reevaluated, and they considered how to re-allocate <br /> funds to other services. He said a policy steering committee, made of local government <br /> officials, reevaluated the original goals of the plan to make sure they were relevant. He said <br /> they developed similar goals but with some different priorities. He said they agreed on were <br /> equity, environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, affordability, and transit access for all. <br /> He said that as they developed ideas for how the monies would be invested, that they used a <br /> value matrix to figure out what new bus service may be applicable. He said that even though <br /> they are a year into it, most of the work has been evaluating existing service and the costs of <br /> existing service. He said there are revenues from the Article 43 sales tax and that during the <br /> pandemic, people were purchasing goods from home and that this increased revenues more <br /> than they had projected. He said other revenue sources include a car rental and registration <br />