05:39:23 Start of Tape s1

12.04.2014rgrta-board

Transcription Date: 12/10/14 – BP/lim

[BEGIN AUDIO]

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, I’ll call to order the regular Board meeting of the RGRTA and its subsidiaries, Thursday, December 4, 2014.

Meeting’s being held at 1372 East Main Street in the Board room.

So first item is the roll call and determination of quorum.

We do have a quorum present.

With that, I’d ask you to please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

(Pledge of Allegiance recited)

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much.

Next item is the adoption of the agenda.

We will amend the agenda to include an executive session to discuss a personnel matter at the end of the day, just prior to the discussion of the calendar, so could I have a motion?

COMMISSIONER SMITH: So moved.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: All right, Commissioner Smith.

Could I have a second?

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner Carl.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

And that’s carried.

1 12.04.2014rgrta-board

Second item is the approval of minutes and acceptance of reports.

There will then be the quarterly meeting minutes from November 6th of 2014.

Any additions, deletions?

Could I have a motion to accept the minutes?

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner Argust.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: Second.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Second by Commissioner Vitagliano.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

Chief Executive Report.

CEO CARPENTER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners.

Very exciting time of our lives here at the Rochester Transit Authority, RTS, with the opening of the transit center, and as a TOPS highlight, I want to take you through the transit center and the impact that it has on TOPS for this year.

So this was 4:30 last Friday morning, November 28th, when we opened on the St. Paul side.

The bottom right is the first operator to leave the transit center and a beautiful lineup of buses as we ran our Saturday schedule that Friday people in the building.

So let me go through how the transit center metrics, how it impacts the four TOPS areas.

So first on financial sustainability.

The transit center received the certificate of occupancy on November 26th.

Just we were working under a temporary one, and Office of Governmental Services for

New York State came in on the 26th, gave us a permanent one, which was one of those things you want to make sure you have before you open the doors.

With the [PH] Capra project, we’ve finished right where we intended to, budget-wise, we’ve come in under the budget, the punch list is already 75% complete.

We remain on target with expected operating costs, annualized at $2.5 million.

Sometimes you have your estimate and you open, you find that things need to change, and there may be some things that change, but we feel good about that operating cost.

The advertising space is sold out through the end of February and we expect it’ll be sold out through the end of the year.

We’re estimating total revenue over $100,000 - $104,000, half of that goes to our contract and half comes to us, and they’re asking, “Can’t you get us more space in there, because if you get us more space we can get you more revenue” – which is a good problem to have.

And then one of the neat things that – having access to buying tickets, we’ve had over

700 transactions here in the first week from the ticket vending machines that are placed down there, more than half the dollar volume on credit cards.

So customers really haven’t had a good place to use credit cards to buy their fare media, and what we’re finding is a significant amount of the dollars being spent are - - credit cards.

And the fare holiday at the transit center, again, we don’t have a lot of data here, but the initial data is our expectation that this would draw people in to use it, reduce their time of, now, let me see if it’s working, haven’t had incentive to come in and take a look around

[SOUNDS LIKE] is working.

You’ll see that in our ridership, but from [SOUNDS LIKE] on this, a financial standpoint, our estimate of $50,000 to $100,000, or in that ballpark, and we’ll continue to watch that over the couple weeks.

From a customer satisfaction standpoint, this is what it looked like early on, and let me take you to an hour in the day of the transit center.

This is 4:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon, and this is why you build a transit center.

All that movement, all that activity taking place in a one hour period of time, and what’s beautiful about this, and this is not the first time I’ve seen this video, there’s no one just standing around.

There was one woman I noticed who had been sitting on this bench here, but the buses rotate through, you have a link to [PH] Kodak and then a link to [PH] Charlotte.

When the second bus came in, off she went.

This is the only one in this white uniform here that I see standing around, but he’s supposed to be here.

But we’ve got about six to eight hundred people, constant movement going on in this afternoon time period.

And now where are they all going?

They’re not going very far, they step out into the busway, and what you have here is the

8:00 lineup and the activity of the buses, so it’s about a 15, 20 minute time window during one of the lineups and all the buses coming in, lining up, people boarding, and buses peeling out, exiting into traffic, taking the customers safely to their final destination.

We’ve got a lot of anecdotal comments that people like it, they like being warm.

I think the comment one of the road supervisors said to me after the second day, he said, “The gap between a customer being aggravated, cold, and not feeling safe, to become angry, is very small.”

Aggravated, warm, safe to peace of mind – very small.

And what we’ve done is change the customer’s experience of how they’re experiencing transit by having them in a place where they get their questions answered, they’re not worried about who’s standing around them, “Will I get where I need to go safely and on time?”

It’s made a world of difference in the customer’s mental state, which I’m hearing from bus operators, collectively we all bus operators saying, they’re friendlier people to take around, because they’re getting on with a changed attitude.

Ridership: so what we’ve heard is you’ll see a dip in ridership when you open a new center.

In Des Moines, Iowa, we did a lot of benchmarking, their first 6 months they were down

3% and double digits at the opening, because you’re making changes and people step away, “Let me make sure it’s going to work, I’ll find another way around.”

We really don’t have a comparable with the day after Thanksgiving, we could go back to last year, but we ran a Friday schedule last year, this year we ran a Saturday schedule, so we know that we missed some people.

Saturday, we were down a little bit, Sunday, on par with an average Sunday, and what we’re seeing here is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we’re already achieving the levels that we normally would expect to achieve, and we expect these numbers will go higher because we know there’s some people who are staying away, and yet we’re already

Transcription Date: 12/10/14 – BP/lim above what normal ridership would be, so very pleased with the customer acceptance of the facility.

As far as measuring customer satisfaction, we’ve held off on our survey till after the transit center opens.

We’ll have our normal contractor ask the questions to get to our [PH] NPS score, but we’ve added – so the main question is, how likely are you to recommend to a friend or family member to use RTS, on a scale of 0 to 10?

That’s how we get our NPS score.

There’s actually 17 other areas that we also measure, you know, that’s how we know cleanliness of bus service, reliability, etc., and one of the questions we’ve added this time is customer service at the RTS transit center so that we can get a sense of how they’re experiencing us.

We’ve added a new question: what impact has the new transit center had on your bus riding experience?

And then question 22, we ask: how have you paid your fare – a dollar far, all day pass?

And we’ve added “rode for free” so that we’ll get a sense of those folks that have taken advantage of our fare holiday.

And then we’ll have our overall NPS score, but we’ll also have some specific metrics as far as how the transit center is doing.

We’ll be able to measure this over the next few waves.

Service quality - - that’s okay.

I was going to set this one up - - oh, good, all right.

So this is brand new for our 70,000 rides that we give each day but it’s being delivered by 330 of the most professional, best-trained operators, radio control staff, trying to get them to stay on target.

We’re changing the traffic flow in Downton Rochester and we haven’t been able to get all the lights fixed and we’ve got people walking across against lights to get to the new bus, just like they did on Main Street, but it’s in different places.

And we had anticipated that the first week or so to get to 75% on-time performance would be pretty good, and so with that as what our internal expectation was.

So we came in a little bit higher on the first day than we thought we would be for the whole week, and the staff working with the operators, understanding what the issues are.

We’re already achieving a normal on-time performance level, week 1.

It’s just an incredible amount of effort.

It goes to – last month we talked about the amount of training the bus operators had been through, we talking about the amount of training the other staff had been through, so here’s where all that preparation pays off, the saying of, I’ve worked my whole life to be an overnight success, this organization has really pushed to maintain every liability, because we know, as much as they’ll like the transit center, this metric is what’s most important to the customer: “Can I get where I need to go, can I count on your system?” – and performing at a very, very high level.

And then employee engagement: there is so much pride in the organization, so this is one of these charts that shows most of our ambassadors, more came from customer service than any other department, the people department, the second most.

But 18 different departments, individuals saying, “I want to be an ambassador.”

And what an ambassador is, is a 5 hour shift on the concourse floor at the transit center, looking for people to say, “How may I help you?”

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“What can I do?”

“How can we help?”

So this is a blind person who comes in and grabs her elbow, and walk them to the gate and talk to them about the visual cues that we have in the transit center; the person who wants to know about the route number changes and we get them over to the schedule, we take them to the trip planning board, we say, “Look, I don’t have a lot of time, I’m looking for Route 5.”

“Well, the Route 5 doesn’t exist anymore, there’s a 35 and the 45.

“Which Route 5 were you looking for?

“Okay, that’s now the Route 35 and here’s the gate that it leaves from.”

So that very customer in your face, you’re going to deal with people nonstop on that 5 hour shift.

So by the time this week is over, those 76 ambassadors will have put in over 3,000 hours, training, open houses in our opening week.

They’ve helped, taught, shared, and listened to our customers.

And we talk about employee engagement – now this is the employee quotes here that we have.

“I have a better appreciation for what our customers experience on a daily basis.”

So, you’ve got folks from 18 different departments that now touch and feel what that public transit experiences.

And I’ll come back and say, okay, when someone is talking about, hey, we need to do this to improve our customer experience, you’ve got folks in each department that can say, “I know exactly the impact that this would have; we really do need to improve this, there is a level of urgency to this.”

“Very proud of what we’ve accomplished and excited to be involved in the process.”

You know, different employees who are calling saying, “Can I still be an ambassador?

I just heard about it, you know, I want to be part of it.”

And that pride that they have and what a wonderful success its changes means for

Downtown Rochester.

And as I said to a friend of mine, we were on the front page of the Democrat Chronicle last Friday and Saturday morning, two days in a row, [SOUNDS LIKE] first day, they’re going to open today, the transformation of Rochester, and the second day, how did the first day go?

And I said, “If you’re going to do something big, do it on a weekend where there’s not a lot else going on.”

But this represents a four week period of time, print, and online media presentation where people were talking about what we’re doing, and they wanted, in some cases, to find out, hey, anybody unhappy out there?

Did they screw up?

What happened?

And they couldn’t find it, you know?

The media was trying to – well, mostly just generally very happy, some adjustments need to be made.

TV, radio, we have our new media star, Daniele Coll-Gonzalez.

She spoke about what this meant for RTS, what this meant for our customers, what this meant for Downtown Rochester, clearly, compassionately, articulately, visionary, so that, you know, the Communications Department won’t get a call and say, hey, we want someone to come in and talk about the transit center, and I said, well, let me see –

“No, no, we want Daniele.”

Just did a great job.

And so that concludes the transit center portion.

Any questions?

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Bill, on behalf of the Board, I want to say more to everybody who is here today and everybody who helped work on this, I don’t think the Authority has ever been held in higher regard in our community than it has this past month, this past year, and on behalf of the entire Board, we’d like to say thank you to you and all of your colleagues who have helped make that happen.

We set policy and strategy, you guys get it done, and on behalf of the Board, I just want to let you know that we are extremely grateful for everything that’s been done, so I just want make sure that that is on the record and part of the record because I went down to the transit center opening on Friday, and I went in plain clothes and just kind of wandered in, and I talked to many people as I worked my way from one end to the other, and a lot of people had no idea that I was even connected with the place, and it was amazing the level of detail that people were aware of and the level of appreciation that they had for it.

You know, when we talk about being a customer-focused organization, this is really putting it into practice.

So, on behalf of the entire Board, I just want to say thank you to all of our employees here at RGRTA, and thank you for, not just the jobs that you do every day, but the 76 ambassadors that were down there.

So just want to say thank you.

CEO CARPENTER: Thank you very much - -.

I see [PH] Mike Capadano, just really represents – Mike, if you could just raise your hand – Director of Transit Operations, he represents folks like [PH] Jim Rangels - - I shared with the Board, the number of people that put in 15 hour days, the number of departments that were there 24/7, so that the Board would have that response to what we’ve done here - - thank you.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: And it really did.

CEO CARPENTER: Thank you.

For our project highlight, I’d like to bring up Brock Bafford, and we’re going to talk about

IVR, and that’s not a CIA term, it’s Interactive Voice Response, and what we’ve been doing is a touch point for our customers.

Brock?

DIRECTOR BAFFORD: Thank you - -.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners.

My name is Brock Bafford and I’m going to be talking about the IVR.

Following me will be Krystle Hall and Joy Pacheco speaking for the - - portion of this and the [SOUNDS LIKE] paratransit portion.

Next slide.

So our mission, really, in the Authority is to help provide more public transportation to more and more people and one of the ways we do this is by providing more data to customers to [SOUNDS LIKE] force information about where they get their bus.

Now, starting a couple years ago, building the [PH] Tide project, we were able to do that using [PH] WMB texts, so we deployed that in 2012.

We followed that up with the WMB - - application 2014, and recently, in August, we deployed a new website.

This is the latest version or the incarnation of that progression.

Next slide, please?

So, what is this IVR?

This IVR gives customers the ability to call in and besides using the touch pad of the phone, they can use human speech to communicate with a computer that can feed back to them next bus information and, unlike the customer service which closes, this is available 24 hours a day.

So if you call on the weekend, you can get next bus information just by speaking your bus stop.

So for instance Main RTS.

This saves time, what we’ve seen is - - because - - are able to get information from a computer where they normally go for customer service.

So the Board approved this project in November 2013, we signed the contract with the vendor, a couple of vendors, in March on 2014, and we implemented this in three kind of stages.

The first was we deployed the fixed route portion of this in July of this year, and then we gradually rolled out the pieces of this, the paratransit pieces, in September and October.

So as I spoke to just now, this is the number of calls presented, and as you can see, as we provide more information to customers, through all these different platforms or avenues, we’re seeing a general decline in the number of people calling in to our customer service, and we attribute that to they have this information, they no longer need to get it from a human.

So as you can see, in February 2012, we saw this very steep drop where the school normally starts for the texting, and then we see that again with the WMB app, and as

Krystle’s going to speak to, we’re starting to see more and more of that decline.

So that’s - -.

DIRECTOR HALL: Thanks, Brock.

Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, the Fixed Route IVR replacement allows customers to have the choice of speaking to a representative or an automated system.

They have the ability to get bus information, fare information, lost and found and other information.

This technology allows people that don’t have access to a computer to self-serve, so we’re allowing them to get information on weekends and evenings when customer service is typically closed, and they wouldn’t have the ability to speak to somebody.

Fixed Route IVR workflow is a relatively simple process.

The customer calls into the IVR and has four main menu options that they can work through, one being a customer service representative.

If the customer’s satisfied with the information that they get in that call flow, the call is then ended, and that would be the bottom piece of this chart.

If the customer needs more information, they can then go to a customer service representative, Monday through Friday, 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., and that’s the top one.

Customers are able to search for bus information in three ways: via the route name, the route number, and bus stop number.

We have added new features with this IVR: the ability to upload branding information, and emergency messages, such as a snowstorm alert.

We can customize speech to our regions, so [PH] Charlott [PH] verse [PH] Charlotte, and [PH] Chili [PH] verse [PH] Chili, which helps our customers.

Another important feature we now offer is the ability to leave a voicemail, so prior, if a customer had a question, concern, complaint, issue, they had to wait until the next morning to speak with a customer service representative to log that complaint.

Now they’re able to leave a voicemail with the information when they have it, and then we’re able to respond the next business day, by customer service representative, either via phone or email, whatever they provide to us.

So this graph shows some of the initial data that we’ve received, so calls into customer service were up about 30% this year over last year, however, calls that requested to speak to a customer representative were down about 17.5%.

We feel that this suggests that customers are trying the IVR and it’s providing the information that they need, so they’re calling more, but they’re not requesting to speak to a customer representative because they’re getting the information out of the system, so that’s a good thing.

Completion rate was approximately 96% for both years, so the number of calls that called in to customer service requesting to speak to an operator or a representative, but they hung up, is very low.

Next we’ll have Joy Pacheco.

VP PACHECO: Thanks, Krystle.

Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, as [SOUNDS LIKE] Brock had alluded to, the RTS access IRV system went live, for both the outbound and the inbound beginning in

September.

We implemented the outbound reminder call for customers who need to renew their eligibility certification for paratransit services.

This feature eliminates the need for customers to call in to inquire about the process for renewing their certification for their service.

The first reminder call goes out 90 days prior to the customer’s eligibility expiration date, and then another call goes out 60 days out and then 30 days out prior to the customer’s expiration.

When the automated call goes out, if there is no answer, a message is left, with a phone number for a person to contact for more information.

If there is an answer to that call, the information is provided and the customer has several options.

The customer can leave a message and request a callback, the customer can request that an application for certification be mailed out to them, or if the customer has moved since their last certification, they can leave their updated mailing information so that an application can be mailed.

This feature has taken these calls out of the call flow that normally come into our schedulers, which has resulted in reduced call volume and less hold time for the customers.

We also implemented no show courtesy calls.

When the bus arrives at a customer’s pickup location and the customer does not board the bus, the customer is considered a no show.

The bus operator will then notify dispatch by hitting a button on the bus’s computer system, which flags the customer as a no show within the scheduling system.

That no show status then initiates a phone call from the IVR, calling the customer to advise the customer that the bus did arrive but has left.

During that same call, the customer has the option of canceling and/or confirming any additional rides they have scheduled for that day.

The customer can also choose to be set up to receive reminder calls for next day trips that they have scheduled, which is another outbound call in the future.

For customers who choose to opt in, the IVR will call the customer the evening before to remind them of any trips they have scheduled for the next day, and during that same call the customer has the option of confirming that call and/or canceling the call, same phone call.

These features further reduce the number of calls coming in to scheduling.

The system’s inbound calling feature enables customers to call in to the IVR, by inputting a customer identification number.

Doing that, the customer can actually confirm and/or cancel a scheduled trip.

So the customer no longer has to wait to speak to a representative to get trip information or to cancel a trip that they had previously scheduled.

During our public information sessions this summer, customers told us it wasn’t easy to get information, they’d have to call in and they’d have to wait when they wanted something just as simple as confirming a time or canceling a trip.

The customer feedback for the IVR has been extremely positive, they find it easy to use, and it enables them to get the information they need when they want it.

So we continue to work on this, and it continues to reduce our call volumes and our hold times.

DIRECTOR BAFFORD: So, what I alluded to earlier, a lot of these IVR, these features, wouldn’t have been possible without a bunch of other infrastructure we’ve built along the way, provided by the [SOUNDS LIKE] Tide system.

So the WMB or the “where’s my bus” framework that enabled the fixed route portion of this was developed for the original texting service which was actually built because it was enabled by the Tide - - Tide project.

The same thing for the real-time no show information.

So we purchased a paratransit software system which integrates with the Tide system - -

[SOUNDS LIKE] radius.

All of these things are possible because we’ve made some very substantial investments of time and resources to build out these interlocking technologies.

So where are we going from here?

The next step will be to actually, as part of the resolutions on the proposed resolutions, is an online web portal for RTS access which will allow these paratransit scheduling to take place online.

We’re also continuing to improve the automatic speech recognition, so every three months or every month, the company pulls data from that system, is able to continually update the dialect file to provide better response and throughput for the [PH] ASR system.

So with that, I’ll take any questions.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Questions for Brock or – anybody?

Okay, all right, thank you.

CEO CARPENTER: I just, you know, underline the point to this is ridership grows as we have more interaction.

The customer has gone from going out to a bus stop, looking both ways, trying to determine: did my bus come, or when will it come – to we’ve made it available, because we can manage better.

First we’re doing it for ourselves, we can manage better, where are these buses?

You’re running late, you’re running early, we can, by management, lead them to better performance.

Push that information out to the customer and if you’ve got some sophisticated technology, well, that’s great, but now this gets it down to the simplest of technology and then expanding the transactions of this sophisticated technology can handle it.

As an example, a person who is trying to schedule a paratransit ride finds out Sunday evening that their family is having an event on Wednesday night.

“Hey, you going to be able to come,” “I got to wait till the next morning, see if there’s a ride available to me” - can now go online and get it scheduled, it makes this just like your banking, we’ve gone from the bank teller and take your check in and get cash, to well, I can get the information from a lot of different ways, we’re making public transit available from a lot of different ways.

But the platform and technology, very sophisticated, it’s a long term investment.

We’ve got another resolution today that we’ll talk about, #69, but as we go forward and these technology changes occur, we’ll continue to make investments to make it easy for our customers to enjoy their journey.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Bill, what are our wait times on the phones right now?

I know that was a question from one of the hearings earlier on - - .

CEO CARPENTER: Our phone system, to make this an even more attractive system for our customers, we hit some very significant wait times in the late spring and early summer, and the wait times now, Joy, are –

VP PACHECO: They continually go down.

For the last few months, they have dropped.

We don’t have enough data yet to measure how much, because we’ve only looked at it for a month, but they are going down.

CEO CARPENTER: So approximately it’s a hour - -

VP PACHECO: No, approximately, I think right now it’s about 18 minutes.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Okay, okay.

And this system, the one that was just described, in addition to the resolution that we’re going to be voting on today, that’s going to bring that wait time down even more for folks who are calling in?

VP PACHECO: Yes, yes, that’s what we’re looking for.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: And what’s going to be your goal for wait time?

VP PACHECO: We’d like to get it down to 5 minutes, [Okay.] 6 minutes, if possible.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Great.

CEO CARPENTER: And let’s just make sure that the record is clear because of the microphone.

So 18 minutes is our current on hold time, the goal is to get it down to less than 10 minutes, close to 5 minutes, and we were at over an hour earlier this year, before this technology was installed.

So very significant improvements with continued improvement as a goal.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Thank you.

CEO CARPENTER: And to conclude the report, just a couple miscellaneous items.

Just last month I talked about how there was some of the staff, [PH] Mike Derado, and

[PH] Jamie Mott, and myself [SOUNDS LIKE] went out and spoke with the [PH] Orleans

County Legislature, we talked about the transit center and Commissioner Henry Smith then brought in about, I’d say there were 10 in the group, from the legislature and some of the legislative staff, to come in, and got their own tour before we opened, very excited.

And then met with Xerox.

Xerox has found themselves, through the acquisition of ACS, which [SOUNDS LIKE] then acquired a lot of other transit software companies, Xerox has found themselves as one of the largest software providers in the transit industry, with a very robust business intelligence capability.

We provided them with datasets for them to play with, therein we’ve made a commitment to work with them.

What’s the next generation of information flow, as an example, if we put a bus in this area, what’s the other traffic flow, what’s the expectation we could have that that bus trip would be successful, rather than put it out there and see if it’s successful?

What are the percentage of trips that can be completed in 15 minutes, based on your current schedule, and what changes can be made?

So you’ve got a lot of mapping, [SOUNDS LIKE] heat maps on where people take their trips.

We want to partner with them and really be leading edge, continue to take that national reputation through Xerox and the ASC software.

Mr. Chairman, that concludes my report.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Good.

- - question?

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: What was the response at the neighborhood coalition meeting in terms of the improvement project here - - this - -?

CEO CARPENTER: Thank you, Commissioner.

[PH] Mark Ballerstein and our contractors and myself went out and met with them.

I guess they’ve expressed general excitement about what’s happening.

And then a couple concerns: the treatment that we provided on Main Street between the parking lot and the sidewalk, they liked the visibility to see through, as opposed to what we have on Federal Street and [PH] Chamberlain where it’s a brick wall.

Actually, one of our retirees, [PH] Calvin Brown, was there, and he stood up and said,

Well, I know when it’s easy for people to see the cars when I worked there, it was easy for them to hit ‘em with sticks and stones, so there’ll be some conversation, community conversation on how do we make it attractive for the neighborhood and really run a functional place here.

But overall, the comments were very well received, looking forward to us going forward.

And the president of the Association, [PH] Carl Crandall, talked about the dialogue that’s going, and we’ve gotten names from them to be part of our design team as we work with our contractors.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Thank you.

Any other questions?

All right, motion to accept the CEO’s report?

Commissioner Carl.

Can I have second?

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: - -

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner Vitagliano.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

Carried.

Scott, Financial Report?

CFO ADAIR: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners.

I have a very brief report today on the finances of the organization.

You’ll notice from last month we’ve improved about $8,000, the bottom line.

We are projecting a net income of $733,000 versus $741,000 deficit from last month.

I have a visual to show you as to how we’ve done that.

That visual is the fact that [PH] Chris Dobbs and I have decided that we will not

[SOUNDS LIKE] decorate - - .

I was thinking that.

After a long audit committee meeting – sorry to steal that one from you, Danielle, - - .

After a long audit committee meeting earlier today, a couple things from the financial projection that I just want to share with you, we’ve noticed a improvement on our fringe benefit area, approximately $10,000 pickup there, regarding some of the early healthcare coverage that we’ve done for employees.

The costs have actually gone down based on changes in coverage that people have selected.

In addition to that, we’ve seen some of our utility usage actually increase this past year, which is not unsurprising with some of the things that have been going on, and we’ve increased that projection by about $2,000.

Ultimately, a change, again, in $8,000 from last month to this month, so we are projecting right now to finish in the red at $733,000.

But as you’re aware of, Chairman, and some of the other Board members that we’ve talked about in the Audit Committee meeting earlier today, the fact that we have some ideas as far as how we can improve that number that we will be back in front of the

Board to provide in future months.

And the last thing that I’ll say regarding, as everyone may be aware of the fact that gasoline costs continue to drop, we continue to monitor that market, noting that we are saving money in this current year regarding our fuel, our diesel cost.

We’ve also locked in future years’ diesel costs through our hedging transaction, our swap, for ’15 – ’16, we’ve locked in our entire load at [SOUNDS LIKE] for ’16 – ’17, we’ve locked at 25% [SOUNDS LIKE] of that low grade now, and I believe around $2.35 a gallon, which is significantly less than we had projected previously for ’16 – ’17.

With that, I will conclude my report, and take any questions, if anyone has them.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Questions for Scott?

CFO ADAIR: Otherwise, we’ll work on keeping the lights off the - -.

Thank you.

Could I have a motion to receive the Financial Report?

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: So moved.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner Jankowski.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Second.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, Commissioner Argust.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

Under the proposed resolutions, RGRTA 67 of 2014, this is a Resolution Authorizing the

Award of a Contract for Fuel Management Software, Hardware, Services and

Maintenance, Daniele Coll-Gonzalez with the presentation.

COO COLL-GONZALEZ: Chairman, Commissioners.

Our fuel and fluids management system has reached the end of its useful life and does need to be replaced.

The system tracks fuel and fluid and records mileage readings for buses, as they go through the service building.

We need this accurate mileage data, it’s critical to our operation, for many reasons, including preventative maintenance schedule, of course to know how we’re spending our operating dollars on miles, but also it’s tied to our reporting, so it’s incredibly important that this is accurate.

[PH] Asset Works, Enterprise Asset Management, that’s what EAM stands for, is a [PH]

Trapeze product that we currently use for our fleet maintenance software system, and that’s where we upload our mileage and odometer readings.

The current mileage recording system that we have, which is what we’re looking to replace today, does not communicate with Asset Works, so mileage updating right now is a manual process, it’s a daily manual process.

We’re currently using hub meters, many of which are not functional, to upload that information and so we’re using a lot of manual entry to replace what isn’t working on those hub meters.

So [PH] Fuel Focus, which is a Trapeze product, has been selected as the fuel and fluids management system.

Some of the key benefits include information being wirelessly transmitted, so no longer needing intervention from the bus washer during that process, and so the bus washer can be doing that and the information can upload accurately on its own.

The vehicle ID boxes are much more reliable than the hub meters which frequently fail and human error.

The interface being direct to Asset Works eliminates that daily manual process I mentioned, and also allows us to automatically recognize service requests and - - buses looked at much more quickly.

By working with one vendor, it reduces our complexity in our system overall, and the ID boxes provide us some infrastructure.

I’ll talk about how we’re going to look at a future phase and some other technology later, but this initial phase allows us to have the infrastructure for the future as well.

So Phase 1, which we’re asking for approval for today, has to do with Fuel Focus and fluids management system in the service building.

Over the next two years, we will work to extend our fluids management capability to the garage, to have some additional tracking information and really being more predictive with our maintenance, preventative maintenance.

And in addition to that, we would be looking to really get into vehicle health monitoring, and again, this system today will set us up for the infrastructure to be able to add that in the future.

So this is the high level overview of the process.

Basically the bus would come in, pass by the information island there, and the information would be wirelessly updated, fed into Asset Works from Fuel Focus, generating either preventative maintenance, work orders, or predictive maintenance work orders automatically.

This diagram just basically shows the vehicle ID box itself as a part of that process, and again, really communicating directly to the island controller and directly to Fuel Focus.

And again, just to highlight the direct interface from Fuel Focus to Asset Works, really cutting down on manual efforts and missed opportunities for preventative maintenance.

So today, our recommendation is that the CEO or his designee be granted authority to enter into agreements with Asset Works for fuel management, software, hardware implementation services, and software maintenance services.

COMMISSIONER WHITE: What is the projected - - on that system?

Do you have any idea?

COO COLL-GONZALEZ: I don’t have that information right now.

What we know is that – we know, we were able to identify what we’re going to be able to do in terms of the manual entry, but we don’t have that quantified out in terms of the number of hours that would reduce in man hours.

CEO CARPENTER: Yeah, but what we do have is just the hub meters, the current technology we have, which is manual, over the life of the buses, is the same cost as this software.

COMMISSIONER WHITE: Oh, wow.

CEO CARPENTER: So we’re getting the same advantages.

Yet we haven’t been able to quantify just how many [SOUNDS LIKE] hours we expect to save, but we know that the expense that we have is replacing a manual system with an automatic system.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: So you’re improving the efficiency –

CEO CARPENTER: At no additional cost.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: - at no additional cost.

COO COLL-GONZALEZ: Correct.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: And may actually end up saving money in the long run.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: Okay.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, any other questions?

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: I’ll move it.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, a motion by Commissioner Argust.

Do I have a second?

COMMISSIONER WHITE: Second.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner White.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

RGRTA 68 of 2014 – Thank you, Daniele, Resolution Authorizing Award of Contract for a Vanpool Feasibility Study, Crystal Benjamin-Bafford.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Hi, Chairman and Commissioners.

Today I want to speak to you about an initiative that was discussed during the 14-15

Comprehensive Planning Process, and it is Vanpools.

First I want to talk about what a vanpool is.

Most of the time when I say “vanpool” I get blank looks, so we’ll just start with the definition.

So vanpooling is really about sharing the ride, it’s an arrangement between 5 to 10 commuters that travel together in a van.

The vans are driven by one of the vanpool members, and cost is shared among the members.

The vanpool operator owns the van that’s used by the vanpool members and insurance is provided by the van owner.

The arrangement can include a number of variations, including employer subsidies,

Transit Authority subsidies, preferred parking at the destinations, or it could be none of these.

In our research, 8 of the 17 [PH] ABBG members have vanpool programs currently, a 9th one is implementing one as we speak.

And really, our vision to become the preferred transportation choice is the reason that we’re looking at another method for people to enter the public transportation system.

So there are many benefits to the customers who choose to be part of a vanpool.

Transportation costs are lower when you’re in a vanpool that the utilization of a personal vehicle.

People can have free, reduced, or preferred parking when they’re in a vanpool and that’s typically provided by employers.

Vehicle owners, when they’re in a vanpool, they pay less for their insurance, they pay less on maintenance for their car, they pay less for fuel than they do in their personal vehicle.

Vanpools are flexible and convenient public transportation and they’re more flexible and convenient than fixed route because vanpools can exist in locations that are not currently served by fixed route transit.

Vans can pick up members at their homes or they can meet at a Park and Ride and then join the vanpool there, and then at the destination end they could have one or multiple destinations as part of one vanpool.

Vanpool members are eligible to claim up to $230 per month in tax credits for their involvement in public transportation.

Persons interested in making a positive environmental impact are able to do so when they’re in a vanpool, they’re helping reduce the - - C02 emissions.

For those who aren’t driving the van, commute time can become productive, as opposed to unproductive time spent behind the wheel.

There are also benefits to RTS, for implementing a vanpool program.

There are people now who want to partake in public transportation but don’t do so.

One of the reasons is that fixed route just simply doesn’t work for them.

Vanpools can address service gaps in the system, help us meet market demand, and extend our reach, the public transportation reach.

Current public transportation users also have an option to invest in vanpooling if they would like to, it’s an additional option for them.

Requests for service can be filled by a vanpool instead of utilizing full-size transit vehicle, thus increasing our service planning capability.

Ridership on vanpools counts towards RTS ridership goals and it also is reported to federal government as part of our [PH] NTD, National Transit Database, reporting.

And vanpools are a cost-effective method for public transportation.

An example that I read, Denver has a transit user at a subsidy of about $473 per person and vanpool users are a subsidy of $258 per person, so a significant savings per person, when using a vanpool.

So there are many benefits but there are also challenges, as with any other project.

The community where you want to implement a vanpool program must be amenable to ridesharing, and if they’re not amenable to ride-sharing, when the vanpool program starts, promotion and education programs must be established in order to create that ridesharing culture.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Excuse me, what do mean by - - to that program?

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: I mean that there are communities where ridesharing is common and people are already integrated into a carpool or they’re familiar with it.

We have currently in this region a system - - the [PH] GTS where there’s ridesharing available and carpool matching, but it’s not well-known and it’s not highly utilized, so

Transcription Date: 12/10/14 – BP/lim what we’re talking about is a community here where it’s kind of questionable if ridesharing is going to be the wave of the future, [SOUNDS LIKE] you could say.

Make sense?

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Okay. [Okay.] Thank you.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: So the education and promotion that must be undertaken by both RTS and the employers on the other end and other people in the community to try and make this successful.

Employment density and land use, they have to also be amenable to the formation of vanpools, infrastructure, such as Park and Rides for vanpools to meet, that has to be available if that’s the way that Park and Rides want to – or, I’m sorry, vanpools want to operate.

And then parking spaces need to be made available at the destination sites.

As in this area, traffic and parking are not necessarily a hinderance for commuters, so sometimes that can make getting involved in a vanpool more difficult.

And then finally, finding the right operating model can be a challenge.

There are many different models for pools across the country.

There’s somewhere the authority purchases vans and operates the vanpool program all themselves, and there are authorities where a third party vendor is brought in to operate the vanpool program.

Because there are challenges, we felt that a vanpool feasibility study was an appropriate first step in the development of a vanpool program here at RTS, and we requested funding for that study in the [PH] GTC’s unified planning work program and we were awarded that funding April 1st of 2014.

So the RFP for this study was originally released in July and there weren’t any responses received at that first release.

The RFP was re-released in September, and for the second release, the procurement and grants department did a little more outreach to the first that would typically do this kind of study in order to garner two responses.

The responses were received from [PH] IVI and [PH] Parsons Brinkerhoff, and both are nationally known transportation planning and engineering firms.

The two firms took different approaches.

The Parsons Brinkerhoff firm had a vanpool program expert on their team, whereas IVI did not.

Parsons Brinkerhoff focused more on operations of the vanpool and their plan was a little bit better developed technically that IVI’s was.

Parsons Brinkerhoff also had experience in developing vanpool programs that continued to work, and IVI had more experience in transportation demand management analysis and mobility management than they did in vanpool programs.

So for these reasons, the RTS evaluation team selected Parsons Brinkerhoff as the consultant for the vanpool feasibility study.

So if you approve this resolution today, we expect that the timeline for the project will be existing conditions completed around March of next year.

The operating model would be selected and vanpool utilization projection completed in

July or August of next year, with a pilot to follow, if it’s deemed to be the [SOUNDS LIKE] goal in maybe January of ’16.

So we have a recommendation today that the CEO or designee be granted the authority to enter into agreement with Parsons Brinkerhoff for this vanpool feasibility study and with that I’ll take any questions.

COMMISSIONER WHITE: One of the things I saw that was missing was the liability aspects of it.

You said that some of our members have these vanpools currently.

Are there any members in New York State that have these?

Do they own the vans?

I mean, I’m not sure of other states, but in New York the driver and the owner are both responsible if an accident were to occur.

Have any of these considerations been thought about prior to entering into an agreement to do a feasibility study?

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: The questions have definitely [SOUNDS LIKE] been asked and that’s part of the study, so before you decide on what operational model you want to undertake, that will be part of the analysis.

The example that I know best from your state is in Albany.

They actually select the operational model where there’s a third party contractor, so all the liability is on that contractor for any accidents that happen - -.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: It seems like you’re recommending us to implement this, as oppsed to just approving a study.

Is there a difference here?

I mean, if we vote on this today, we’re just voting on, I think it was $82,000?

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Correct.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: For a study?

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Correct.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: That doesn’t mean we’re going to implement it.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: That’s correct.

We have to - -

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: Oh, okay, because you were talking down the road and what was going to happen.

I’m just not clear on how this works.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Sure.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: These will be independent contractors outside of our realm, really.

I mean, is there any income benefit for the Transportation Authority?

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Well, I’ll try to address it and Bill you’ll help me if I need it?

The idea behind vanpools is many authorities have vanpools with their logo on the side, so even if we had a third party contractor, we could still have RTS vanpool on the side.

The benefits to us, really, are about having some [SOUNDS LIKE] service plan and flexibility.

We know we have routes that are using full size bus that need a full size bus, and there are people who want more flexibility in their public transportation.

And this is an option for people, that they don’t have right now.

The ridership also counts for us.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: Okay, I guess I understand that.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Okay.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: How does the income stream work?

I mean, is it going to cost us to have this or is this, because it’s like an individual, private type situation, we’re going to be able to charge - - on it.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: There are different models.

There are models where we could subsidize to a point the cost of the vanpool, but the idea is that the vanpool is self-sustaining, so people spread the cost of it between the members.

That’s the idea.

If I was going to talk about hard numbers of how much we’ll spend, it would be more probably if we selected a third party vendor model, and didn’t want to get into the vanpool business ourselves, around marketing, education, promotion.

That’s probably where - -

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: So all this will come out with the study?

That’s where they’re starting from - -

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Yes, that’s correct, that’s correct.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: - - all this.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: That’s correct.

And we would come back to you with a recommendation for an expenditure for a program.

That’s what we would - -.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: The only other question I had is why this didn’t

[SOUNDS LIKE] hit consent, as opposed to a regular resolution today.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Was it a follow-up to what we talked about the governance retreat and a little bit more of a background.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Yeah, I think, like I said, not everybody’s on the same page about what vanpool is, and I’m guessing that’s probably why I’m [SOUNDS

LIKE] accepting it too today.

COMMISSIONER WHITE: I just have a comment.

The tough thing I have with this is we’re spending $100,000 on a study, and a lot of which I feel that people in the organization could probably take a look at and decide whether or this was practical and feasible for our organization to get involved with.

You know, we’re somewhat at a financial crisis at this point, so that’s where I’m having a struggle here, to take this, spend this money on a project like this that I think at least initially our own organization could take a close look at and say, you know what, this is perfect five years down the road or three years down the road, but right now the law does not work to have the vanpool in this community, that type of thing.

That’s the only comment.

I’m not sure I’m going to vote on it at this point, but certainly I would - -.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Now, the $82,000 that we’re talking about with this project, that’s not going to be coming out of the Authority’s usual funds.

This is a fully funded grant that’s coming out of [PH] GTC and federal funds.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: [SOUNDS LIKE] That’s right.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: Oh, okay - -.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: It would not be impacting - -.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, any other questions?

Yeah, Tom?

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: I’m just curious, on the last sentence.

This is kind of an open-ended, although you, Crystal, had put some dates on it.

Is there a reason why we can’t determine the contract shall be until – I mean, the way it sounds like, the term of the contract is when it’s done.

Do we have any?

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: The project commencement and project completion, you’re talking the feasibility study is the project?

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Yeah, right, yeah.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: So that is the question.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Right.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: This does not include a pilot, this includes just the study.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Correct.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: With a recommendation at the end, for something that we would come back for if we decided that that was –

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Do we know generally when that end is going to be?

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: Yes, July or August.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Okay, I’m just curious as to why that was put in the motion.

Why is it so open-ended?

CEO CARPENTER: So typically, a contract is for one year or five years, three, with two one year renewals [Yeah.].

This is simply saying, we’re going to do it, what’s your project timeline?

They may say, we said we want it done by July, they say, we don’t have the resources.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Okay.

CEO CARPENTER: It’s going to have to be in August so –

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: All right.

CEO CARPENTER: - the contract term will be an agreement.

We want to get started by now, can you be done by then?

And whatever that time period is, that’s what the time period will be.

DIRECTOR BENJAMIN-BAFFORD: And remember - - twice, so that we had a project timeline, we’ll need to make a new one for the second.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: Okay.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: All right, could we have a motion?

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: I’ll move it.

Commissioner Carl.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

That motion’s carried.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Crystal.

Under the consent resolutions, first item is RGRTA 69 of 2014, A Resolution Authorizing

“Sole Source Provider” Contracts for the Provision, Implementation and Maintenance of

Software to Provide Online Access to RTS Access Reservation System.

Daniele is available for questions.

Could I have a motion?

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner Smith.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

That’s carried.

RGRTA 70 of 2014, A Resolution Authorizing Award of a Contract for Towing Services for RTS-Ontario.

Now, could I have a motion?

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: So moved.

Commissioner Carl.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

RGRTA 71-2014, A Resolution Authorizing a Contract for the Purchase of 10 - 40’

Transit Buses.

This is part of our regularly scheduled replacement?

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: Yeah.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: So moved.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commission Argust.

COMMISSIONER SMITH: Second.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

RGRTA 72 of 2014, A Resolution Authorizing the Award of a Contract for Vehicle

Maintenance Services for RTS Wyoming.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: So moved.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Second.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: - - Wyoming.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: Yes.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: A sovereign state.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: The last frontier.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

That’s carried.

RGRTA 73 of 2014, A Resolution Authorizing the Award of a Contract for Recycling and

Waste Removal Services.

Somebody’s got to take out the trash.

Who can I have make the motion?

Commissioner Carl.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: Who - - take out your trash - -.

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: Who can take out the trash.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Could I have a second?

Commissioner Smith.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

That’s carried.

RGRTA 74 of 2014, A Resolution Authorizing the Declaration of Buses as Surplus.

Scott, can you explain why?

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: So moved.

Could have a second?

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

RTS 2 of 2014, A Resolution Amending Resolution RTS 5 of 2009 for the Provision of

Parts Management Services.

Daniele can explain.

COMMISSIONER ARGUST: So moved.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: Second.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, Commissioner Vitagliano.

Thank you.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

I would ask at this time for a motion to go into Executive Session for the discussion of a personnel matter.

COMMISSIONER JANKOWSKI: Second.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

Okay, thank you.

[EXECUTIVE SESSION]

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: All right, we’ll call the meeting back into open session.

No votes were taken inside the Executive Session.

We did discuss a personnel matter.

One addition to the calendar is Resolution RTS 3 of 2014.

COMMISSIONER FISCHER: So moved.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Commissioner Fischer.

COMMISSIONER SMITH: Second.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

Any opposed?

(Silence)

That’s carried.

Next item up is the calendar and we can take a look.

We have a full year ahead of us and we are coming to the end of a very full year.

Once again, I’d like to thank all the commissioners for your time and dedication, and especially at the committee level where an awful lot of the work gets done.

Thank you for the time that you are volunteering.

It’s not lost on me that everybody has fulltime gigs outside of here.

There’s the calendar for the coming year.

We may or may not have to have the January 8th meeting, depending on procurements, and – but –

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: Any idea of how soon you’d know that, Bill?

CEO CARPENTER: Within two weeks.

COMMISSIONER VITAGLIANO: Okay.

CEO CARPENTER: So today’s the 4th – by December 18th, we’ll have an email out to everyone.

CHAIRMAN REDMOND: Okay, all right.

Very good, there being no further business before the Board, could I have a motion for adjournment?

UNKNOWN COMMISSIONER: So moved.

All in favor?

(Chorus of ayes)

[SOUNDS LIKE] Ready to go.

Thank you - -.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas.

[END AUDIO]