Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) Thursday, November 12, 2020 – 10:30 AM

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AGENDA Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) Member and Staff Introductions 10:30 – 10:35 am 1 Housekeeping Items Cynde Soto, Chair

ACTION: 10:35 – 10:40 am 2 Approval of September 10, Cynde Soto, Chair 2020 Meeting Minutes

ACTION: 10:40 – 11:00 am 3 Create a Traffic Reduction Ryan Wiggins, Metro Subcommittee

INFORMATION: 11:00 – 11:20 am 4 NextGen Bus Plan Update Conan Cheung, Metro Joseph Forgiarini, Metro

INFORMATION: 11:20 – 11:45 am 5 System Security and Law Aston Greene, Metro Enforcement

NEW BUSINESS: 11:45 am – 12:00 pm 6 Raised Subsequent to the Cynde Soto, Chair Posting of the Agenda

12:00 – 12:15 pm 7 PUBLIC COMMENT Cynde Soto, Chair (2 minutes per speaker)

12:30 pm 8 ADJOURNMENT Cynde Soto, Chair

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Meeting Minutes for September 10, 2020 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Accessibility Advisory Committee

Members in Attendance: Cynde Soto (Chair) Kathleen Barajas (First Vice-Chair) Jared Rimer (Second Vice-Chair) Ellen Blackman Patrick Burke Karen Esquival-Mayes Mark Panitz Liz Lyons Tina Foafoa Victor Dominguez

Excused: Linda Keeney John Mavis Tonni Yee-Hemphill

Absent: Artemio Ambrosio Kevin Dixon

1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Cynde Soto called the meeting to order at 10:33 am, followed by a welcome, introductions, and general housekeeping.

2. ACTION: Approval of August 2020 Minutes The minutes from the August 2020 meeting were approved unanimously by vote.

3. INFORMATION: Traffic Reduction Study Emma Huang from Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation joined the meeting to brief the committee regarding Metro’s Traffic Reduction Study. Emma explained that the study is an initiative from Metro's vision 2020 strategic plan to study congestion pricing as a way to manage travel demand on our congested roadways and to identify a pilot program to test out the strategy somewhere in L.A. County. Emma walked the committee through the various strategies laid out by the plan and detailed the upcoming opportunities available for public feedback.

4. INFORMATION: TAP Mobile App Manish Chaudhari from the TAP mobile app team joined the meeting to brief the committee on how to use the new TAP Mobile App. Manish walked the committee members through how to download the app onto their phones, how to open an account or use an existing account, how to add a card or switch between cards, how to designate a line as a favorite, how to

use the app for point to point trip planning, how to find points of interest around the user, and other features. The new app is currently only available for iOS and will be available for Android soon.

5. INFORMATION: The Comprehensive Pricing Study Avital Shavit from Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation joined the meeting to speak with the committee about the New Mobility on Demand service. The service is deployed through Via and utilizes accessible vehicles to provide rideshare services to the residents of LA County in specific areas. The service has been running since January 2019. Ridership saw a 30 percent dip at the beginning of the pandemic but has returned to regular usage. Originally, service was only first and last mile rides but has been expanded to include point to point service. The service will run through January 2021 and can be requested through the via app or by calling 833-917- 0697. The service has also been utilized to deliver food to LA County residents from the non-profit organization First 5 LA. Talks are underway to expand the service to other areas but that is dependent on the submission and acceptance of a competitive request for proposal.

MEETING BREAKS AT 10:56 A.M.; MEETING RESUMES AT 11:01 A.M.

6. INFORMATION: SCAG ADA Paratransit Demand Forecast Project Valerie Mackintosh from AMMA Transit Planning, a consultant for Metro and her team, joined the meeting to discuss the ADA Paratransit Demand Forecast project. Valerie explained that the project was triggered by the 71% increase in demand for paratransit trips over the last 20 years. The main goal of the project is to create a tool which will allow transit agencies under SCAG of Southern California to forecast ADA public demand through 2045. The tool has been developed and will be one of the instruments utilized by the agency to estimate future needs.

7. INFORMATION: Metro Bus Operations Update Steve Rank, Superintendent of Metro Bus Operations joined the meeting to brief the committee on Metro bus operations during the pandemic. Steve explained that thus far there have been 354 total confirmed cases of COVID infections at Metro and Operators fear contracting the disease while at work. In an effort to decrease the possibility of transmission, all buses have instituted rear door boarding for those who are able, face masks are required for all customers who are able, and bus capacity has been reduced to allow for more distancing. Cleaning efforts have been stepped up to increase frequency of cleaning at key touch points as well as upgraded HVAC filters aboard buses that help filter the air inside.

Steve recommended that riders contact Metro if they encounter an Operator who is reluctant to deploy the ramp or allow front door boarding to a person with disabilities. Metro’s surplus of Operators allows the agency to deploy more buses when needed, to promote social distancing and decrease distance between riders.

8. INFORMATION: AAC Member Renewals Seven AAC members are up for renewal in 2020. The members are Jared Rimer, Ellen Blackman, John Mavis, Kathleen Barajas, Karen Mayes, Tina FoaFoa, and Victor Dominguez. All members except Victor Dominguez were renewed by the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee urges Mr. Dominguez to attend the meetings regularly as a member of the public and re-apply for membership in the coming year.

9. NEW BUSINESS: Raised Subsequent to the Posting of the Agenda Victor Dominguez asked if the committee was aware of whether or not Access Services was doing away with same day ride requests. Vice Chair Kathleen Barajas explained that she had heard that Access was keeping same day ride requests available through the end of the year. The committee recommended that Mr. Dominguez direct his question to Access Services. Chair Cynde Soto asked if there was a way for Metro to train the students at Braille Institute on how to use the mobile TAP app. Metro

staff will look into that and work with Braille institute.

10. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment at this time.

11. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 12:30 PM