Committee Members Present: Julie Maloukis, Chair Will Brown, Member, STS Subcommittee Juan Muñoz, STS Subcommittee member Judy Watford, STS Subcommittee member Mary Ward, Secretary, STS Subcommittee Chair Scott Meyer, Fixed Route Subcommittee
Committee Members Absent: Shelly Brisbin (Excused, no Proxy) Randal Glock, Proxy: Cathy Shumaker Jerry Doran (Excused, no Proxy)
Capital Metro Staff Present: Nancy Crowther Rafael Villarreal, Acting Director, STS Denise Guerrero
Guests Present: Cathy Shumaker, Proxy for Randal Glock Carlos Aleman Diane Bomar Patrick King and his aide Jane Lansaw Saundra Haynes
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chair Maloukis at 5:07 p.m. Introductions of all participants were made.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the June 6 meeting were approved.
Citizen Communication: Names of guests were called in order by Cathy Shumaker. Comments were made by Jane Lansaw, Saundra Haynes, Patrick King and Carlos Aleman and Diane Bomar. Comments centered around problems with the IVR, problems with the enunciators on fixed route, STS travel to outlying areas, permanent rides, and improvements in customer service which have been noticed by customers.
Announcements: Scott Meyer’s daughter celebrates her second birthday tonight.
Chair Report, Julie Maloukis. The Board of Directors meeting was the Monday July 28. Chair Maloukis reported that five people from ADAPT had spoken about issues relating to sidewalk accessibility. The enunciators on the buses and other accessibility issues were also discussed at that meeting. City Council members represented on the Board have asked that citizens report to them on what has and has not been done. City Council and Board Member Mike Martinez asked at the meeting about sidewalks. Ms. Maloukis reported at that meeting on the ongoing Paratransit Professionalism Training, which has been very well-received. This training is done in two week cycles, four days, 32 hours and the first class is graduating today on August 1. Ms. Maloukis goes to every class and stresses with them that every disability is different and that situations must be dealt with on a case by case basis. The last thing she talked about was recruitment. Three applications were submitted by the deadline and of these three applicants, two met the minimum requirements. More recruitment for the ACCESS committee will be done.
Capital Metro Staff Updates: Nancy Crowther for Cynthia Hernandez: Cynthia Hernandez is no longer working for Capital Metro and the position as Budget Manager is being filled for the time being by Peggy McCallum. There is a calendar for the budget process. Ms. McCallum is continuing to work with the various managers for adjustments. The deadlines for the budget process are August 10 to finalize the budget and August 27 for presentation to the Board. The proposed budget will be made available to the public on August 31. Public comment will be heard at a public hearing on Monday, September 17. The Board will approve the budget on September 24.
Fare Change Proposal/Public Outreach Process, Nancy Crowther: Fare increases are being recommended to the Board. In May, Cynthia Hernandez reported the proposal to increase the base fare for fixed route to $1.00. Other fare increases are proportionate. The STS fares would go up from the current $0.60 to $1.20. Rail would be $2.00 and the rapid buses $1.00. All services are to offer a pass. There should be a 20% recovery ratio of the fares. Ms. Crowther reminded the Committee that the fares are the lowest in Texas. They have not changed since 1985 despite substantial increases in services and in the cost of fuel with no increase in cost to the customer. Capital Metro must go through a specific procedure to change the fares. A fare approval committee must be established, which is called the Local Governing Approval Committee. The staff responds to the board to adjust the fares. They present these recommended fare increases to the Board. Community decision-making and public input are an important part of the process. The Board approves the recommended fare changes, with the local Governing approval Committee. This group consists of five City Council members, County Commissioners, and three suburban Mayors. The Transportation Code of Texas states that the meetings have to be announced to the public. Ms. Watford asked for this information to be in accessible formats. Mr. Meyer suggested that the programs for passes and disability cards be included in this fare increase. Ms. Watford also stated that many people with disabilities can and should be expected to pay for services, and many others are desperately poor. The fare increase might place an undue burden on the very poorest of the poor. Ms. Watford also asked whether STS passengers who buy tickets in bulk would be able to use the old tickets two for one. This was discussed with Acting Director Rafael Villarreal.
Capital Metro Personnel Changes, Nancy Crowther: The Labor Relations position formerly occupied by Kent McCullouh has been eliminated. Denise DuCharme, Chief Information Officer left for Houston. Interviewing is being conducted now. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Cynthia Hernandez is also leaving and interviewing is currently being conducted for that position as well. Interviews are also being conducted for the Director of Paratransit. Andrea Lofye is now Chief of Staff. She works under Fred and serves in his absence. She used to be in Government Relations and public relations.
Belts for Passengers using Wheelchairs on Fixed Route Buses, Nancy Crowther: Some of the buses already had J-hooks installed on them. These hook onto the frame of the chair. The results have been positive for operators. The new belts are convenient and easy to use. They are self-tensioning. Some of the suburban buses will also go to the automatic tensioning belts. The buses have also been equipped with 2 blue webbing loops, which are used as a supplemental help in putting scooters on the buses. Cap Metro conducted a training to show the operators how to use the new system. The shoulder belts and lap belts are optional.
Travel Training, Nancy Crowther: Now that Disability Assistance of Central Texas (DACT) has closed it’s doors, a request for proposals (RFP) for travel training has been put out. The training has existed for 17 years. This training for riders with disabilities on the use of fixed route services has always been an advisory committee-supported project. The contract is still in negotiations. Nancy hopes to have the award or an answer on the continuation of this program by next month’s meeting. Ms. Maloukis asked for statistics on how many people took advantage of this training. Last year, 174 people were trained. When ridership of people with disabilities is increased on fixed route, STS ridership goes down. Ms. Ward asked if the statistics could be broken down by disability for the next meeting.
Subcommittee Reports, Julie Maloukis: The subcommittees met last week, and Ms. Maloukis attended both meetings, but both were very sparsely attended.
Fixed Route: The fixed route committee meeting was taken up mostly with issues of the enunciators, the sensitivity training, the securement belts, and some questions about the buses. No action was taken at the meetings.
STS: Attendance was very low. An update was given on the status of the new vehicles which are supposed to be purchased for STS. Chair Maloukis will do her best to evaluate each of the proposed vehicles. Andrew Murphy will come to the next meeting with an update. An update on the sensitivity training was given. Ridership statistics were also given. The new and more accurate statistics still cover all forms of transport except the taxis. They show only slight increases in cancellations but with decreases in the number of no-shows, which are some of the most harmful types of cancellations. There is still an unacceptable and costly rate of cancellation, which is hurting the service provision, and letters are again being sent out to riders who cancel frequently. Of 37,554 trips in vans and sedans, there were 15,115 cancellations. On-time pick-ups and on-time deliveries decreased very slightly over last year’s figures.
New Business Ms. Bomar presented her Citizens’ Communication. The committee discussed the fact that most STS riders are not paying the 60 cents a ride but are actually paying a discounted 30 cents a ticket. In respect to that discounted ticket program, many riders will be paying what amounts to 4 times the fare they are paying now when the fare goes up to $1.20 per trip on STS. The Disability cards were also discussed because of confusion about the length of time they were valid. The first ones were for one year, but after that, the cards will be good for two years.
Ms. Ward asked if the committee meetings could be held later in the evening because of concerns that many working members of the public might be unable to attend. Ms. Maloukis reported that the committee scheduled the meetings to maximize the daylight hours for traveling on the buses and to be able to use and schedule Capital Metro resources.
It was also requested to have sidewalk issues added to the agenda for a future meeting.
Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Mary Ward
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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