Capital Metro Transit - Austin, Texas

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
323 Congress Avenue, First Floor
ACCESS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
February 3, 2005

Members Present: Shelly Brisbin, Ron Burzese, Jerry Doran, Linda French, R L. Glock, Scott Meyer, and Robert Raines.

Members Absent: Julie Maloukis and Judy Watford

Capital Metro Staff Present: Nancy Crowther, Denise Guerrero, Jan Johnson, Jim Grabner, John Ancira, Patricia Guajardo, Jon Frisch (FD2s), Suzi Poore (FD2s).

Guest(s): Rene Barrera, CSAC , Christine Guevara

The meeting was called to order at 5:10PM. All decisions are voted upon and all votes are unanimous unless stated otherwise.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES. The minutes of the January 5, 2005 ACCESS Advisory Committee Meeting were approved as written.

CITIZEN'S COMMUNICATION. Rene Barrera from the Customer Satisfaction Advisory Committee (CSAC) offered CSAC's support and wish to work together with ACCESS. CSAC meets every First Tuesday of each month from 6:00PM to 7:30PM/8:00PM at 323 Congress Avenue.

ALL SYSTEMS GO! RAIL ACCESS & FUTURE ACCESS INVOLVEMENT
Jim Greabner from Capital Metro presented information about commuter rail cars.

Initial Contract Documents will be sent out to suppliers (rail car manufacturers) on February 4th or 5th, 2005.
Rail Cars will have low floors (no steps)
Rail Cars will be fully ADA compliant
Mr. Greabner has met with bike groups to discuss rail being able to transport bicycles. There will be open spaces on cars for bikes. Shelly Brisbin mentioned concerns about how bikes will be stowed. Main concern would be hanging bicycles as people can be hit with bikes with brining down.
Proposals from suppliers of rail cars are due by May 2, 2005. Capital Metro will review bids and have a decision around July 2005 and present to the Board of Directors around August or September. Rail cars would be ordered once approved. Rail cars will take 24-30 months to build and deliver to Austin.
Seats will be cloth and not hard plastic.
Capital Metro will build a "mock up" of the entrance area of rail cars for public/ACCESS to examine. The clearance will be 48-52-inches.
There will be push buttons to activate doors. Scott Meyer emphasized ACCESS's concern that buttons be positioned so people in wheelchairs could reach. Mr. Greabner added that doors could not be opened once cars were in motion.
Each rail car will be 50-75-feet long. Each train will have two passenger cars. There will be 125 to 140 seats with an additional 200 "crush load." In other words, up to 340 people could ride on a train at once when standing room only.
Open areas on rail cars were discussed. ACCESS expressed the importance of having a lot of open space for people using wheelchairs, bikes, strollers, carrying luggage, etc. It was stressed that it would be more efficient for everyone to have enough open space that could be easily accessed. Scott Meyer stated that each rail car should be able to hold at least four wheel chairs.
No more than 2 passenger cars can be used on trains as they would be too long for city blocks. Each rail car would have two entrance ways.
It was asked if Austin's rail cars would be unique. Mr. Greabner stated that there was not many in use, especially in the United States. He mentioned three cities in North America who are using or will use similar rail cars: Canton, NJ: San Diego, CA; and Ottawa, Canada.

IVR STATUS REPORT
Jane Schroter could not attend. Nancy Crowther reported that she spoke with Ms. Schroter and that there was not anything to report. However, she did state work is being done on all the street pronunciations in Austin to make sure IVR states them correctly and can understand callers' pronunciation of streets. It was decided that IVR should remain a standing agenda item for ACCESS main meetings.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS.

STS Subcommittee

Juan Munoz gave the report. A brochure prepared by Capital Metro's marketing department was discussed. The brochure was designed to be a marketing tool to get riders interested in using IVR and to give a brief description on how to use. It was agreed that the brochure was not functional, especially for people who are blind or visually impaired, people who have cognitive disabilities or mental delays, and that what would work better for people with disabilities would work better for everyone. Jan Johnson added that the picture of the robot was going to be removed and that the marketing team would take comments from Julie Maloukis/ACCESS and work on the form. ACCESS expressed the importance of having a face-to-face meeting with Julie Maloukis and other members of ACCESS with the marketing team as this would be very beneficial on the brochure and future brochures created by Capital Metro.
Jan Johnson stated that revised policies to STS are in limbo due to IVR taking longer than expected. Shelly Brisbin requested that the STS subcommittee work on the policies and produce drafts before the Town Hall Meeting to be held on either March 23 or 30, 2005. Juan Monoz will meet with Jan Johnson to work on the policies and the STS subcommittee will make it a priority at meetings.
Rene Barrera, CSAC offered CSAC's support on helping STS use more technology to help it run better. Several acronyms were used:
AVL - Automated Vehicle Locator
MDC - Mobile Data Computer
ITS - Integrated Transportation Service
APC - Automated Passenger Counter
Jan Johnson stated that STS needs MDC and AVL to run better. CSAC supports this because STS is smaller and if this technology can be brought to STS it may eventually be available for all of Capital Metro's services. Currently, CART is using the most technology.
Scott Meyer asked if there have been more changes, especially dramatic changes to STS passengers ride times lately. Jan Johnson said that this is true due to Capital Metro's commitment to not denying and rides. Jan Johnson stated that IVR will help give passengers more notice of time changes. MDC and AVL would be a tool to help run the system more efficiently as stated above.
Jan Johnson added that STS drivers can pick up 2 passengers per hour. The entire fleet of 70 vehicles runs at 7:00AM with the ability to pick up 140 passengers in one-hour. If more than 140 passengers want pick-ups during that hour there needs to be time changes to help accommodate everyone.

Fixed Route ADA Subcommittee.
Randall L. Glock reported that Roberto Gonzalez presented information on route and time changes. Also, that the project of creating more accessibility in the Hancock Center is still going but going fine.

BUS STOP SIGNAGE DESIGN DEMONSTRATION
Suzi Poore and Jon Frisch from FD2S Inc. presented a "mock up" of new signs being considered by Capital Metro. They listed the order of importance of information on the signs:

See that it is a Capital Metro sign
Route and direction
Explicit Designations ("to: )
Service span (schedule)
Vehicle type
Type of service (express bus, etc.)
"You are Here" map
- Signs would also have simple route maps, Go Line phone number and website, closest physical address of bus sign.
- Signs would have Braille. Signs will use best contrast available (black and yellow) and be reflective for better viewing at night.
- Scott Meyer and Ron Burzese stressed importance of having Braille, poles being uniquely shaped like the square ones (now signs may have rectangular poles) and that benches and garbage cans remain unique as those are often easier to find for people who are blind or visually impaired. Also, poles were not always at every bus stop, such as downtown, which can make garbage cans and benches useful for bus locations. Shelly Brisbin had some concerns on contrast. Linda French recommended that the schedule be lowered six-inches on the pole, which ACCESS was in agreement with.
- Capital Metro will have a finished version of the new bus sign available before mass production.

CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT / SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES FOR EARLY 2005
Ms. Shelly Brisbin would like to have a calendar produced. The calendar would be used to track:

Dates of key Capital Metro projects, meetings, etc. For example, this month is believed to be the month when Capital Metro will plan sidewalk projects, but there was not 100% certainty. It would be for ACCESS to have a calendar to make sure we do not miss anything and stay proactive.
Ms. Brisbin would like ACCESS to get more involved with other groups in order to strengthen ACCESS and be able to do more. She would like to solicit ACCESS members to volunteer to attend meetings such as CSAC, Urban Transportation, and any other meetings of interest.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Town Hall Meeting was discussed. The meeting it planned for either Wednesday, March 23, 2005 or Wednesday, March 30, 2005. The meeting would be held at the downtown Marriott at 11th and I35 and be all day. There would be a keynote speaker and five breakout sessions before lunch and the same five breakout sessions after lunch so guests could attend two of the five breakout sessions. Nancy Crowther requested that ACCESS members attend so that all the breakouts sessions would have an ACCESS member in attendance.
ACCESS would like to present some ideas for changes to STS and any other stuff needed as this could serve as a public hearing.

Next ACCESS Advisory Committee and Subcommittee Meetings:

2005 Access Advisory Committee Meeting Schedule

	Main Access	STS Subcommittee	ADA Subcommittee
2005	1st Wednesday	4th Wednesday	4th Wednesday
February	XXXXXXX	23	23
March	2	23	23
April	6	27	27
May	4	25	25
June	1	22	22
July	6	27	27
August	3	24	24
September	7	28	28
October	5	26	26
November	2	9	9
December	7	14	14

Respectfully Submitted by: Scott Meyer, Secretary
Julie Maloukis, Co-Secretary

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
2910 East 5th Street | Austin, Texas 78702 | (512) 389-7400
Specific Route Information | (512) 474-1200 | (800) 474-1201