Minutes of the Transit Alliance Board Meeting Held
January 26, 2006
NCTD, 810 Mission Avenue, Oceanside CA 92054
CALL TO ORDER
Ted Owen, President, called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. Executive Committee present: Ted Owen, President; Shirley Cole, Vice President; Gerry Seelman, Treasurer; Brad Wiscons, Secretary, Pete Aadland, NCTD Representative.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
MOTION BY GERRY SEELMAN, SECONDED BY BRAD WISCONS, TO ADOPT THE MINUTES OF OCTOBER 26, 2005. MOTION CARRIED.
COMMITTEE UPDATES
A. Business Affairs: Gerry Seelman, Chair of the Business Affairs
Committee, presented an update, which is attached to these minutes.
Pete Aadland thanked Gerry and DMJM for their help in securing the $5,000 grant from APTA.
B. Membership: Shirley Cole, Chair of the Membership Committee,
presented an update, which is attached to these minutes.
C. Communications: Annie Cochran, Chair of the Communications Committee,
presented an update, which is attached to these minutes.
PROJECT UPDATES
A. NCTD: Tom Kelleher, NCTD Manager of Marketing and Communications, stated that they have a lot going on with the SPRINTER, which is on schedule for all of its major components, including construction of the mainline between Oceanside and Escondido and the San Marcos Loop. People can actually see construction in progress. In addition, their maintenance facility is being built in Escondido and they hope to have it complete later this summer in order to allow for their new vehicles to be delivered and stored for final assembly. The vehicles are currently being manufactured in Germany and will be delivered in August 2006. Everything is on schedule for operations to begin in December 2007.
Pete Aadland stated that they would have a party when the vehicles arrive and everyone is invited.
Tom Kelleher also reported that, in as little as four months, SANDAG would begin testing the new Smart Card system, which will allow passengers to board public transit vehicles in the County without cash. The card would be capable of storing value, much like a Starbucks card and contains a chip rather than a magnetic stripe. This means that when people want to get on public transportation, they only need to tap the card, which will allow for a much faster boarding. In addition, there will be a service whereby a person's bank can dedicate funds to the Smart Card at the beginning of every month and the card will be good on all San Diego County transit services. They have already replaced all of the fareboxes on all of the buses in the County and later this summer they will be adding new ticket vending machines to all of the COASTER platforms. These new machines would actually dispense the Smart Cards and update them.
Tom Kelleher commented on the progress of the replacement of the bridge at the Agua Hendionda Lagoon in Carlsbad, which affects the COASTER. He described the decay (marine infestation) that has caused the existing bridge to become obsolete before its time and pointed out that the new bridge would contain concrete supports which would not be subject to marine infestations. The new bridge should be done by late summer.
Tom Kelleher announced that they have awarded two important contracts at NCTD. The first is a new five-year agreement with Transit America to operate the COASTER and also maintain the right-of-way. The other is for their ADA Paratransit Service, known as LIFT, which has been awarded to Laidlaw Transportation Services who will replace Lifeline.
Pete Aadland announced that they are expecting approval from Caltrans this week on a final go ahead for their land use studies. Basically, they have three major pieces of property in the downtown areas of Oceanside, Carlsbad, and Escondido where they will be doing studies to preserve the transit element for the next 50-100 years, as well as look at what they can do to integrate it into the community to generate revenues to help supplement public transit. He added that he would hope that the Transit Alliance would stay abreast on these studies and comment on them at some point, pointing out that there will be a big public process for each of these studies, too.
The question was raised on whether the Smart Card is capable of working with parking structures like a monthly pass as well as transit.
Tom Kelleher replied, yes, but in the beginning they won't have any existing parking structures set up for that; however, eventually it could be retrofitted for that.
B. SANDAG
Gary Bonnelli, SANDAG, presented an update. He stated that the Smart Card would look like a military ID card and would be called the Compass card. He added that one of the big challenges for public transit is parking availability at the stations and that there would be technology whereby signage would be put up in front of the parking lots that will indicate how many spaces are left for parking; and the Smart Card can be used to pay to park.
He went on to describe the TransNet early action projects. He stated that the three projects that they won't have completed by 2008 are the widening of the eastern section of SR 76 all the way to I-15, the last section of SR 52 connecting over to I-67 from the I-125, and the mid-coast Trolley extension going from Old Town up onto the campus of UCSD and over to University Town Center. With the voter's extension of the existing TransNet sales tax, the SANDAG Board has gone to the Bond market for about $5 billion to advance the projects as quickly as possible. He added that they hope to have the SR 76 widening done by 2010-2011, the SR 52 new freeway by 2007-2008 and the Mid-Coast LRT by 2015-2016.
He stated that as far as the managed lanes on I-15, they are developing a bus rapid transit system where people can go all the way from Escondido into downtown San Diego. The first section of this is being completed between the Marine Corp Air Station up to and across Lake Hodges Bridge, which would be done in late 2007-2008. The next section goes from Lake Hodges to Highway 78 in Escondido and would be done 2010-2011. Then the express lanes will be retrofitted all the way to San Diego.
Annie Cochran asked if there is any relief planned for the northern part of I-15 (the inland Empire).
Gary Bonnelli replied, not above the I-78; however, when the Board goes next year to do a comprehensive update of the Regional Transportation Plan, they are looking for alternative funding mechanisms to figure out how they can accommodate more lanes between northern Escondido and southern Riverside County. He then explained how roads are tolled for awhile with public/private partnerships and stated that the Tier 2 projects (I-15 Managed lanes & BRT, SR 52 – HOV/Managed lanes, I-5 North Coast Corridor – Environmental Effort, and the I-805 Corridor – Environmental Effort & BRT are the ones they are bonding for to get done faster. He added that they are putting in Smart technology for the automated highway system, so that eventually a bus driver or a person in a car can get on a highway and take their hands off the wheel and feet off the pedal and have the highway take over the car.
He also pointed out that with the help of Supervisor Horn and Supervisor Slater, they are working on a North County Parkway Plan, i.e., how to better connect major arterials amongst the cities.
The question was raised as to what the Super Loop is.
Mr. Bonnelli stated that it is essentially a bus system that would run every 10 minutes in the Golden Triangle area between the campuses and the major employment centers.
The question was asked if there is a transportation corridor between Riverside and Oceanside.
Mr. Bonnelli stated that there may be a toll road (241) coming down the very north west corner of Camp Pendleton and connect to I-5, but it is very controversial because of environmental concerns. He pointed out that 95% of the road is outside of their jurisdiction and is in the Orange County jurisdiction.
Ted Owen pointed out that this would not be happening anytime soon.
The question was raised about the long-term plan for the 78 corridor.
Mr. Bonnelli stated that with the TransNet dollars, they are going to put more money into the SPRINTER for better headways, more track, and another lane in both directions on the I-78.
Ted Owen asked if they are going to have to widen the bridges as well.
Mr. Bonnelli answered yes.
Pete Aadland commented on how the Transit Alliance, as well as NCTD, will need to be very involved in the Regional Comprehensive Plan because there are a lot of projects and money being spent. They need to make sure things like double-tracking for the COASTER and the SPRINTER don’t get pushed off to the year 2040 and beyond.
LEGISLATIVE REPORTS
A. The office of Senator Morrow – Aaron Bysak from Senator Morrow's office stated that Senator Morrow has been a legislator in this area for 14 years and has consistently stood for proper spending of tax dollars on transportation infrastructure projects. He was a big supporter of Prop 42 in 2002 and co-author of an Assembly Constitutional Amendment to protect and secure Prop 42 funds in 2005 so that their State transportation infrastructure projects were protected against any future raids by the State government.
He added that the legislative year has just begun in Sacramento and there are a number of proposals regarding transportation. With regard to bonds, Senator Morrow is skeptical of these and is very concerned about the bonded indebtedness in the State of California, but also understands that they need to spend money to build the infrastructure projects that have been lacking in the County for so long. As Senator Morrow is able to more thoroughly look at the proposals and the legislative analyst's office is able to come out with their stance, Senator Morrow will be taking a stance on the issue of bonds for infrastructure projects. He pointed out that after the Governor's State of the State speech, Senator Morrow was on the radio and TV talking about how they want to make sure that the money they are spending is going to the "brick and mortar", the actual building of the roads rather than the bureaucratic red tape.
B. The office of Congressman Issa – No one was present.
C. The office of Supervisor Horn – Phil Rather, Policy Advisor for Supervisor Horn, gave an update from the Supervisor's office. He thanked the Alliance on behalf of Supervisor Horn for their efforts to educate policy makers and the public about transit. He stated that Supervisor Horn is one of the longest standing members of the North County Transit District Board, serving over 10 years. His role as a policy maker at the local level really revolves around fiscal prudence and implementing projects that are decided on by the region, such as the SPRINTER. This project is a real source of pride for the Supervisor and it is important to him to have it done properly with as few overages and delays as possible. He also interfaces with SANDAG regarding transit and one cannot over-emphasize how important the policy making is at SANDAG to the region's transit system. They make constant decisions about how to implement and what to do with the limited resources they have in the County. One of the biggest is the idea of a massive bond proposal at the State level. There is discussion on what to spend it on – bricks and mortar and/or ongoing operational costs, which are always a problem for transit operators, and balancing this is difficult. The Supervisor firmly believes that this region should demand certain things in exchange for the votes that they will be asking for in order to let this bond; and there is a lot of dialogue that needs to occur on what the region wants out of this, i.e, storm water improvement, highway improvements, transit operating subsidies, etc… He added that there is an opportunity for the Transit Alliance to get involved in this process and begin to argue whatever these resources should be spent on. He recommended that the Transit Alliance come up with some of these recommendations.
He went on to state that they are also working on the early action projects that Gary Bonnelli talked about with Highway 76 being the most important, not only for the commuting public, but also as a transit corridor. He pointed out that it is nearly impossible to have competitive transit when you have gridlocked roads because transit generally relies on those roads the same as cars do. Therefore, it is very important to have those early action projects completed.
He added that the Supervisor has been involved in enhancing the transit experience for riders by providing several hundred thousand dollars to improve bus stops throughout the North County region. He pointed out that Valley Center and Fallbrook now have bus shelters with lights. He also sees it important to not only have service for high concentration ridership areas, but also for rural areas and Lifeline services for people in the unincorporated areas. He concluded by stating that he is looking forward to having an open communication line between the Supervisor's office and the Transit Alliance and is happy to serve as the liaison in doing this.
D. SANDAG – Director of Government Relations
Ellen Roundtree, SANDAG Director of Government Relations, presented an update on the infrastructure bonds. She stated that California is in horrible shape with their infrastructure, not just with transportation, but everything – their prison systems, their hospitals, housing, etc… and there are a lot of efforts right now to fix the problem. The Governor has one proposal, the House has another, and the Senate has yet another proposal. One thing lacking in each is transit. The Governor's proposal has a transit element – an inner city rail element. However, out of a $12 billion transportation piece, $500 million is for inner city rail, and the purpose of this is because the Governor’s efforts are for State infrastructure. While this will help the COASTER, it does not deal with any other mass transit issues for the SPRINTER, buses, ADA Paratransit, etc. Therefore, the Transit Alliance can be very helpful in this effort to get the message to Sacramento.
She went on to report that SANDAG has developed a process and schedule for participating in these efforts to make sure that San Diego gets its fair share. SANDAG set up a policy meeting last month where the elected officials took polling exercises and came up with their priorities, and this discussion will continue at the SANDAG retreat on Feb. 1-3. Then on Feb. 10th, they will have another policy meeting which will include their legislators. She added that transit is a tough sell and they can use everyone's help in this effort.
She went on to report that every year they go back to Washington DC to ask for money and it is going to be extremely tight this year. San Diego has lost one whole district (The 50th district no longer has a member), which means they can no longer submit their appropriations request to that member. Not only did they lose a member, but they lost a member from Appropriations, which means it could be a very tough year. They also heard that earmarks, in general, are going to be tough and they will need to push very hard. Therefore, they are going to be asking the Transit Alliance for letters of support for transit projects.
Ted Owen stated that they love to write letters.
Ellen clarified the term "earmarked", which is an amount of money from the federal government to match the State and local dollars, and they are very important, stressing the importance for the Transit Alliance’s help.
Ted Owen asked Ellen to give them the proper phraseology in order that letters may be written properly. Ellen agreed and stated that she would put something on the website as well.
OLD BUSINESS
A. SPRINTER Corridor Study Process - Stefan Marks, NCTD Manager of the Service Planning, informed the group that they are embarking on a plan to look at how they are going to connect all of the bus services to the SPRINTER. He invited the Transit Alliance to be part of this process by having them select or nominate five or six people to a stakeholder group, who represent interests and organizations along the line. He added that the group would probably meet four or five times during the study and planning process and everyone is welcome to come to these meetings, but they want a dedicated 5 or 6 people from the Alliance.
Ted Owen thanked Mr. Marks and stated that they would certainly entertain this.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Alane Haynes, NCTD ADA Coordinator, updated the members on FACT (Full Access and Coordinated Transportation) by stating that they have been really busy and started the incorporation process. They have created a Board, which consists of Karen King, NCTD Executive Director, Norine Sigafoose, City of Carlsbad Councilwoman, Bob Campbell, City of Vista Councilman, and Hap LaRue, Attorney in Carlsbad. They will begin working with a student team from CSUSM next week, who will develop a Strategic Business Plan for them. They have applied for a Community Transportation Association of America grant for $60,000; and if they get this, it will enable them to move forward quickly with the planning process. They will hire a part-time consultant. She then thanked everyone who wrote a support letter to attach to the grant, who were SANDAG, Aging and Independent Services, Transit Alliance, Senator Morrow's office, Supervisor Horn's office, North County Community Action Network, and North County Community Services. They also got publicity from Lawson Chadwick who sent a reporter from Today's Local News, who put an article in the paper. She added that the next Steering Committee meeting will be Tuesday, January 31th at 9:00 a.m. if anyone is interested in attending where they will go into more detail of what has been happening and what is coming up.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned 11:01 a.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for 9:00 a.m., April 27, 2006 at NCTD, 810 Mission Avenue, Oceanside, CA.
_______________________________________________
President
___________
Date