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The Regular Meeting of the Committee for Transit Accessibility (CTA) was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by Chairperson Tamez in Building A, Auditorium, Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), 3331 North First Street, San Jose, California.

ROLL CALL

Members Present            Members Present

Cynthia Aleman                    Laura Michels

Jeannette Bruntz                  Aaron Morrow

Emma Eljas                          Maryjane Naughten

Linda Gallo                           Frederico S. Orillaneda

Sandra Gouveia                  Marian Otis

David Grant                          Barbara Rhodes

Katie Heatley (Ex-Officio)   Thomas Slack

Marjorie Jensen                    Barbara Stahl

Martin Lasich                       Randy Tamez

LeNae Liebetrau     

Members Absent

Lester Catanese     

Michelle HammCiric

David Julian

A quorum was present.

Received introductions from the audience including:  David Ledwitz, Natalie Wells and Sheri Fisher, VTA Accessible Services; Carolyn Grattan-Aiello,  Human Resources; Kermit Cuff, Service Planning; Joonie Tolosa, Operations Planning and Tom Giuffre, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

There were no Public Presentations.

M/S/C (Morrow/Gouveia) on a vote of 15 ayes to 0 noes to 3 abstentions to approve the Minutes of February 12, 2003.  Members Jensen, Michels and Naughten abstained.

NOTE:  M/S/C MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Chairperson Tamez provided the Financial Stability Ad Hoc Committee Update including: 1) discussion regarding possible service cuts, fare increases and possible increases in discounted fares; 2) a possibility that some recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee will go to the VTA Workshop on March 31, 2002, and 3) consultants hired by VTA to review all financial material have offered options for the Board of Directors to take under consideration.

Chairperson Tamez stated that in the next few months CTA would review possible changes that may impact communities represented by CTA.  Chairperson Tamez requested that Committee Members review the Agenda Packet of April 2003 and be prepared to support, not support or make recommendations regarding Phase Three of OUTREACHs possible service cuts and changes.

Chairperson Tamez encouraged Committee Members to attend the  Board of Directors Workshop on March 21, 2003, at the San Jose Hyatt at 8:30 a.m.

Member Slack queried whether recommendations of the financial committee pertinent to CTA would be part of the CTA Agenda packet before such recommendations are presented to the Board of Directors.

Chairperson Tamez stated that there are five members of the VTA Board of Directors on the Ad Hoc for Financial Stability Committee.  Their recommendations will go directly to the Board of Directors for consideration.

On order of Chairperson Tamez,there being no objection, the Financial Stability Ad Hoc Committee update was received.

The Agenda was taken out of order.

Joonie Tolosa, Senior Management Analyst, provided the Fiscal Year 2003 Second Quarter Performance Report, highlighting: 1) the weak economy, service reductions and fare increases introduced in July 2002 have resulted in lower ridership for bus and light rail; 2) ridership has decreased 11 percent compared to the same period the previous fiscal year; 3) weekday system boardings were down 11.9 percent compared to the same period last year; 4) contracted services have experienced double digit declines with the exception of Dumbarton Express and Santa Clara County Caltrain Shuttles which have experienced moderate growth; 5) sales tax revenue collected was down 14.3 percent compared to the same period last fiscal year, an estimated $12 million less than was collected last year; 6) miles between chargeable accidents improved by 40 percent and miles between incidents of mechanical schedule loss improved 15 percent; 7) operating expenditures have been reduced by three percent due to cost cutting measures implemented in July 2002 which increased operating cost recovery ration to 13.9 percent which is six percent higher than last year and 8) VTAs cost to operate the transit system is $171 per revenue hour, a three percent reduction compared to last fiscal year.

On order of Chairperson Tamez,there being no objection, the Fiscal Year 2003 Second Quarter Performance Report was received and filed.

Kermit Cuff, Transit Service Development Specialist III, provided bus and light rail route and schedule changes that will be effective April 14, 2003.

Mr. Cuff reported a nine percent decrease in service and provided route and schedule changes.

Member Morrow stated that VTA has neglected ground transportation and noted that it is a waste of tax dollars to operate trains with no one on them.

Member Grant queried when schedule changes would be available to the public. 

Mr. Cuff responded that schedule and route changes are available on the website and printed schedules would be available on buses and at the yards one week ahead of the service change date of April 14, 2003.

On order of Chairperson Tamez,there being no objection, the April 14, 2003 Service Changes were received and filed.

George Tacké, Accessible Services Manager and Staff Liaison, directed the Committees attention to Attachment A, the Guide to Accessible Documents.  Mr. Tacké noted that there is a VTA Riders Guide that provides corporate practices for developing business letters, board transmittals, etc. and stated that he would try to include the Guide to Accessible Documents in the VTA Riders Guide.  Mr. Tacké noted that this is the first version of the document.

David Ledwitz, Management Analyst, has taken on the lead as the resident expert on what makes a document accessible.

Mr. Tacké noted that most of the emphasis is on electronic formats since that is what is most requested.  Mr. Tacké noted that the key to the Project is that no one format is perfect.  The format of electronic accessible documents should be based on the specific accessibility preferences of the individuals making the requests.

Mr. Tacké provided information regarding accessible document formats and production methods.

Member Michels noted that Braille conversion software and production equipment is available and is easy to use.

Chairperson Tamez requested that changes, recommendations or updates be forwarded to Mr. Tacké.

On order of Chairperson Tamez,there being no objection, the Accessible Information Project information was received and filed.

Natalie Wells, Associate Management Analyst, provided information regarding ACA 7 (Dutra), which calls for placing before voters an amendment to the California Constitution to allow counties and regional transportation agencies to impose a sales tax for transportation purposes if approved by a 55 percent rather than a two-thirds majority.

On order of Chairperson Tamez, there being no objection, the Legislative Updates were received.

Mr. Ledwitz reported that effective September 22, 2003, Caltrain will require proof of payment by passengers.  Persons who do not purchase tickets before boarding will be charged an additional $3 to purchase a ticket on board.  Persons having observable disabilities and those carrying identification will not be charged the additional $3 fee.

Mr. Tacké reported that he has not received feedback regarding the pre-screening brochure presented to the CTA at the February 2003 Meeting.  Chairperson Tamez and Mr. Tacké have discussed the brochure and forwarded it to the Marketing Department for wordsmithing.  The draft copy of the brochure will be finalized March 19, 2003 and will be presented to CTA at the April 2003 Meeting.

Mr. Tacké noted that a Paratransit Service Business Practices Improvement Plan will be presented to the Transit Planning and Operations Committee (TP & O) at its Meeting on March 20, 2003.  It will be mailed to CTA Members under separate cover today or tomorrow.  The Paratransit Service Business Practices Improvement Plan includes graphs that show that based on original projections a year ago and projections in February 2003, a savings of approximately $7.6 million has been realized.

Mr. Tacké reported that a proposal of Phase III would be forthcoming in  April 2003.

On order of Chairperson Tamez,there being no objection, the Committee Staff Report was received.

Chairperson Tamez requested that CTA move forward on the April 2003 Agenda in order that a Motion can be forwarded to the Board of Directors.

There were no Announcements.

On order of Chairperson Tamez, there being no objection, the meeting was adjourned at 2:20 p.m. to the CTA Workshop.

                                Respectfully submitted,

                                Judith Tinlin, Board Assistant

                                VTA Board of Directors