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TRANSPORTATION THINK TANK NOTES FROM MEETING #7: APRIL 21, 1999

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** NEXT MEETING: Wednesday May 5, 5 pm at CAFE BRASIL **
** 1410 Mission Street in Santa Cruz. All are invited. **
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The AGENDA for the May 5th meeting will be forthcoming in the next
(brief) email. We are hoping to be able to hear Chris Augenstein's
comments regarding the 17 Express Service as seen from the Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority's point of view, but the arrangement
is not finally confirmed.

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CORRECTION TO NOTES from April 7, lest we have left you with a false
impression of the flavor of this workshop:

(SCCRTC staff have provided us with this more complete description.)

"The MTIS WORKSHOP set for April 29 at PASATIEMPO is not designed to be
a "public hearing", but is a facilitated workshop for Commissioners,
with an opportunity for brief public comment at the end of it. Of
course it is an open meeting, as all Commission meetings are, but it
is not specifically advertised as a "public meeting" like the open
houses that have been held on the MTIS last fall. This workshop is an
opportunity for the Commission to discuss together their ideas
regarding the "mixing and matching" of alternative segments or options
to start working toward a short and long range plan for the corridor.
There will probably be a second workshop, and anything that comes out
of them will be subject to advertised public meetings/hearings."
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NOW the notes from the TTT meeting of April 21, 1999, as skillfully
and generously recorded by Emily Reilly:

The group convened at 5 PM on April 21, 1999 at Cafe Brasil. Debbie
Bulger agreed to facilitate and the meeting began at 5:10.

Present were Debbie Bulger, Richard Stover, Bruce Gabriel, Les White,
Madeleine Hormann, Jeffrey Tumlin, Juliana Rousseau, Doug Lamille, Jim
MacKenzie, Marilyn Rigler, Michael Singer, Janet Singer, Bill Comfort
and Emily Reilly. Mike Rotkin joined in at about 5:45.

ROUTE 17 EXPRESS BUS DISCUSSION:

Les White reported on the current status and future plans for the
Highway 17 Express bus service. Currently the 17 Express travels 5 days
a week from park-and-ride lots near Dominican Hospital and Pasatiempo
early and late in the day, and throughout the day from the Scotts
Valley Transit Center, connecting to San Jose State University at 5th
and San Fernando in San Jose, with San Jose stops at Bird Avenue,
Caltrain, and VTA bus routes and light rail in downtown San Jose.

The community has expressed a desire for service to the San Jose Airport
and B.A.R.T. In the future there is also the hope of providing weekend
and holiday service, more frequent trips and service into the Santa Cruz
Metro Center, Aptos and Watsonville, with monthly passes permitting
connecting service in San Jose.

The current contract with Metro bus drivers states that any bus owned by
the Metro must be driven by Santa Cruz bus drivers. It includes a provision
that exempts the 17 buses and allows them to be driven by others. Within
negotiations for the new contract, the local bus drivers have expressed
interest in cooperating about this issue; however they want to drive the
17 Express. The change is doable. But remember that currently the
17 buses can be operated by private operators, but when new buses are
purchased they will not fall under that exemption. We have 10-year-old
buses that are ready for replacement. Who will drive these buses?

Operating Funds for the 17 Express:
After the earthquake the funding came from FEMA, the Federal Government
and the State of California with Santa Cruz and Santa Clara splitting
the cities' share. The original fleet of buses was purchased with
federal money which required that the service be private. That
requirement of the Reagan/Bush era has been repealed and is no longer
the case. Now ALL the expenses are split 50/50 between the SCMTD and
the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). It's $400,000
each. The VTA is receptive to the idea of continuing the partnership.

Jeffrey Tumlin and Doug Lamille, from the consulting firm of Nelson/Nygaard,
discussed the study they are doing, funded by the RTC, the SCMTD and VTA.
In their study, they are doing point of origin studies to determine
"employment clusters", places where park-and-ride lots, bus service, HOV
lanes and/or door to door shuttles would be feasible. One important
consideration in making this work is finding a fast way to get on and off
the freeway. This is also germane to the "Smart Park" concept.

They are also working on a "very clinical" review of in-house contracts
vs. private contractors, labor issues and funding issues.

Emily Reilly expressed continuing concern about the apparent lack of
communication among transportation agencies, the city and regional
transportation commission, UCSC, the media and business.

Following discussion of the need for more buses, more often, possible HOV and
HOT lanes for highways 1 and 17, a truck-passing lane for 17 and double-fine
zones, the group decided that the next logical step is to ask Chris Augenstein,
from the VTA, to speak at the next TTT meeting on May 5th.

ACTION: Les White, or perhaps Peter Scott, will invite Chris to the next
meeting to make a brief presentation of the VTA position, followed by an
informal, anecdotal discussion.

NOTE: A new SCMTD contract is being negotiated now. Any changes,
e.g., to the Route 17 service, need to be timed to these negotiations.
Otherwise, the SCMTD could be locked into a contract which could not
be changed, perhaps for several years. This new contract is
envisioned to be finalized at the end of May. SO TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.

SOME OTHER IDEAS for encouraging people to get out of their cars, (for
all SCMTD buses, not just Route 17):

1. more buses, more often
2. music on the bus and other amenities (e.g. good coffee)
3. cushy seats with high backs
4. improved service to people with disabilities, particlarly on
Amtrak (note: currently, if a person shows up to take an Amtrak bus
and it is not full, that person can buy a ticket from the driver and
take the bus without a reservation. However, if a person shows up in
a wheelchair, that person MUST have a reservation to ride the bus.)
5. more and better park-and-ride facilities.
6. bus service in Santa Cruz that bypasses the Metro Center.

Bruce Gabriel reported that the next MUG meeting ([Santa Cruz] Metropolitan
[Transit District] Users Group) is at Louden Nelson Community Center on
May 19th at ?PM.

The meeting adjourned at 6:30 PM.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5, 5PM at Cafe Brasil.

-- Emily Reilly, note-taker

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