Official Commission Meeting Minutes Date
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POTOMAC AND RAPPAHANNOCK TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION (PRTC) OFFICIAL COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES DATE: May 1, 2014 TIME: 7:00 p.m. LOCATION: PRTC Transit Center 14700 Potomac Mills Road Woodbridge, VA 22192-6811 _______________________________________________________________________________ 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman May called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., with a quorum present 2. ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT *Richard Anderson Virginia House of Delegates *Wally Covington Prince William County (arrived at 7:15 p.m.) *John Jenkins, Immediate Past Chairman Prince William County *Matthew Kelly City of Fredericksburg *Michael May, Chairman Prince William County *Jackson Miller Virginia House of Delegates *Jennifer Mitchell Depart of Rail and Public Transportation *Bob Thomas, Secretary Stafford County *Jonathan Way City of Manassas MEMBERS ABSENT Maureen Caddigan Prince William County Frank Jones, Vice Chairman City of Manassas Park Paul Milde Stafford County Marty Nohe Prince William County Frank Principi Prince William County Toddy Puller Virginia Senate Gary Skinner, Treasurer Spotsylvania County Paul Trampe Spotsylvania County 1 ALTERNATES PRESENT *Patrick Durany Prince William County *William Wren City of Manassas Park ALTERNATES ABSENT Hilda Barg Prince William County Meg Bohmke Stafford County Fred Howe City of Fredericksburg Lorraine Lasch Prince William County Suhas Naddoni City of Manassas Park Kevin Page Department of Rail and Public Transportation Hal Parrish City of Manassas Pat Pate City of Manassas Steve Pittard Department of Rail and Public Transportation David Ross Spotsylvania County Laura Sellers Stafford County Corey Stewart Prince William County Voting Member **Delineates arrival/departure following the commencement of the PRTC Board Meeting. Notation of the exact arrival time is included in the body of the minutes. STAFF AND GENERAL PUBLIC Doug Allen VRE Chief Executive Officer Nick Alexandrow PRTC Transit Project Manager Gina Altis PRTC Executive Administrative Assistant Monica Backmon PWC Regional Transportation Planner Rich Dalton VRE Deputy Chief Executive Officer Rob Dickerson PRTC Legal Counsel Joyce Embrey PRTC Dir., Finance & Administration Althea Evans PRTC Dir., Marketing & Communications Shanta Garth FIRST TRANSIT AGM-Finance & Admin. Alfred Harf PRTC Executive Director Jim Halvorson Citizen Todd Johnson FIRST TRANSIT General Manager Bryan Jungwirth VRE Dir., Public Affairs & Gov’t Relations Milton Laing FIRST TRANSIT Bus Operator Bob Leibbrandt PWC Budget & Analysis Office Hector Lopez FIRST TRANSIT Bus Operator Steve MacIsaac VRE Legal Counsel Eric Marx PRTC Dir., Planning & Operations Betsy Massie PRTC Dir., Grants & Project Management Paul Pitchke FIRST TRANSIT AGM-Operations Cynthia Porter-Johnson PRTC Transportation Project Manager Jerry Vincent FIRST TRANSIT AGM-Maintenance 2 3. INVOCATION Led by Immediate Past Chairman Jenkins. 4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Commissioner Anderson. 5. CITIZENS’ TIME No citizens came forward. 6. PRESENTATIONS A. First Transit General Manager Todd Johnson – Employee Recognition and Operations Report. Mr. Johnson recognized the April Operator-of-the-Month Hector Lopez. Mr. Lopez operates the Cross County AM and West Falls Church Metro-Direct PM bus routes and has been with First Transit since 2005. Mr. Johnson also recognized the Operator-of-the Year Milton Laing. Mr. Laing operates the Montclair OmniRide AM and Dale City OmniRide PM bus service and has been with First Transit since 2004. Mr. Johnson reported that 16 commendations (for 13 different operators) were received during the month of April. Mr. Johnson reminded the Commission that the spring service change will occur on May 12th, which typically results in a “spike” in complaints, so Mr. Pitchke and his staff along with First Transit’s Safety and Training team are working with the bus operators to ensure as seamless a transition as possible. With regard to complaints, Mr. Johnson reported that the complaint rate per 10,000 OmniRide trips declined by 5 percent in April. Comparing the OmniRide complaint rate for this April and last April, the most recent April result is 12 percent lower, while the year-to-date rate per 10,000 trips is 4 percent higher. Continuing, Mr. Johnson noted that the complaint rate per 10,000 trips for OmniLink decreased significantly comparing April to March – by 9 percent. Mr. Johnson went on to observe that the year-to-date OmniLink complaint rate is 12 percent lower than for the same period last year. OmniRide o Apr 6.93 v. 7.24 Mar o Year-to-date 6.91 v. 6.67 OmniLink o Apr 4.56 v. 6.13 Mar o Year-to-date 4.76 v. 5.43 Mr. Johnson also reported that six collisions occurred in April, slightly decreasing the Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) to 0.455. This continues to be a better result than First Transit’s goal of 0.485. Next, Mr. Johnson reported that the “Maintenance Fleet Audit” was completed in April, and the end result is a reported 2.6 defects per bus and six “A” defects. Mr. Johnson noted that defects in this range are exceptionally good based upon similar audits conducted for other transit agencies by the Transit Resource Center (TRC). Mr. Johnson commended First Transit’s Assistant General Manager 3 of Maintenance Jerry Vincent and staff on a job well done, and indicated that the full report would be forthcoming in next month’s Commission board kit. Concluding his remarks, Mr. Johnson reported that the Saturday Metro Direct bus service is doing exceptionally well carrying over 700 passengers. Mr. Harf reminded the Commission that PRTC is placing the Saturday Metro Direct bus service into its “stable” of locally sponsored permanent services now that the 100 percent state sponsorship of a free fare service is scheduled to end in May. Mr. Harf noted that beginning in mid-May, PRTC will reduce the level of Saturday service to about half of what it is today, and will institute regular fares for the first time. Mr. Harf concluded by observing that Saturday ridership is certain to diminish when the service frequency is curtailed and fares commence. Chairman May asked if any farebox recovery estimates are available. Mr. Marx recollected that the service is expected to carry about 325 riders per day, which Mr. Harf added is a little less than half of what the ridership is now. 7. APPROVAL OF MINUTES RES 14-05-01 Minutes of April 3, 2014. Commissioner Kelly moved, with a second by Commissioner Way, to approve the Minutes, as presented. There was no discussion on the motion. (KELLY/WAY; WITH MAJORITY VOTE, ANDERSON/WREN ABSTAINED) 8. AGENDA APPROVAL RES 14-05-02 Agenda of May 1, 2014. Commissioner Kelly moved, with a second by Commissioner Way, to approve the Agenda, as amended. There was no discussion on the motion. (KELLY/WAY, UNANIMOUS) 9. CONSENT AGENDA APPROVAL RES 14-05-03 Consent Agenda of May 1, 2014. Commissioner Kelly moved, with a second by Commissioner Jenkins, to approve the Consent Agenda, as presented. (KELLY/JENKINS, UNANIMOUS) RES 14-05-04 A. Jurisdictional Financial Report. Accepted the Jurisdictional Financial Report for the period ended February 28, 2014, as presented. 4 RES 14-05-05 B. Trash Collection Procurement. Authorized the Executive Director to seek competitive bids for trash collection services and return to the Commission for a separate authorization to award a contract after bids have been received and evaluated, as presented. 10. VIRGINIA RAILWAY EXPRESS (VRE) A. Chief Executive Officer’s Report (04/14). Mr. Allen reported that both he and Mr. Dalton met with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Administrator and other commuter rail chief executive officers/chief operating officers to review the FRA’s recently released report on the analysis of the string of Metro-North Railroad accidents. The meeting provided an opportunity for a frank discussion about the issue of complacency and the need to keep the focus on safety as the top priority. Continuing, Mr. Allen noted that staff recently met with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which conducts an assessment (every two years) on how VRE’s operations are faring security-wise based on the TSA’s quantitative analysis, VRE received a 99 percent Baseline Assessment for Security Enhancement (BASE) “gold award” -- the highest award in the country. Mr. Allen reported that On-Time Performance (OTP) for the month of April was 95%. Train delays occurred yesterday due to heavy rain and flash flooding. Mr. Allen also reported that VRE’s first “Meet the Management” event this year occurred at Union Station yesterday, an annual management initiative to enable VRE management to interact informally with VRE riders and receive feedback. He noted that a recurring theme was an acknowledgment of the harsh winter and attendant train delays. Mr. Allen said most riders seem accepting of the delays knowing that they are necessary to ensure safe operation. Mr. Allen also noted that ridership remains strong at 19,000 daily trips, with seven days in April exceeding 20,000. Next, Mr. Allen reported that VRE staff visited the offices of Senator Warner, Congressman Wittman, and Congressman Wolf to discuss important future plans for the VRE service and other legislative issues. VRE staff will also meet with Congressman Connolly tomorrow to brief him on the status of the access from the VRE Rippon Station to the Featherstone Wildlife Preserve. Mr. Allen noted that VRE is making good progress with CSX and Prince William County to obtain the necessary approvals to commence construction of the Featherstone Wildlife Preserve access project, which is expected to begin within the next month or so. Concluding his remarks, Mr. Allen reported that VRE’s Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP) has been released by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) for public review and approval. Mr. Allen expressed appreciation to DRPT Director Mitchell and staff for working with VRE on the funding issues, particularly the “track access fees,” and he noted that once the CTB approves the SYIP, VRE will work with DRPT to finalize the multi-year agreements.