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CALL TO ORDER

The Regular Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was called to order at 1:35 p.m. by Chairperson Kott in Conference Room B-104, Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), 3331 North First Street, San Jose, California.

Members Present
John Curtis
Glenn Goepfert
Joan Jenkins
Joseph Kott, Chairperson
Mike McNeely
Michael Murdter
Jim Porter, Vice Chairperson
Julie Render
Marvin Rose
Jim Rowe
Ben Tripousis

Members Absent
Mintze Cheng
John Cherbone
Geoffrey Goodfellow
Robert Kass
Rick Smelser

A quorum was present.

PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

There were no Public Presentations.

Chairperson Kott noted an Addendum to the Agenda: Item #6.X. Review and comment on an update regarding the upcoming Fare Modification.  

Minutes of January 8, 2004

M/S/C (McNeely/Porter) to approve the Minutes of January 8, 2004.

Committee Staff Report

John Ristow, Program and Highway Administration Deputy Director, provided a report on a new initiative called High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.   He noted that VTA would soon be kicking off a HOT lane feasibility study that will cover the entire County Santa Clara of in terms of what could be done in making the best use possible of any excess capacity in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane network.  Mr. Ristow noted that similar projects have already been implemented in San Diego and Orange County.  The Alameda County Congestion Management Agency is moving into an implementation phase of the I-680-Sunol Grade Project to turn the HOV lanes into HOT lanes.

Mr. Ristow noted that when staff gets to the milestone parts of the HOT lane feasibility study, it would be brought to the TAC.

Chris Augenstein, Principal Transportation Planner, distributed a document entitled Review of Land Use Data for the Countywide Transportation Model.   He reported that VTA is currently engaged in updating its countywide transportation model and a large piece of that is making sure that VTAs land use data is as accurate and detailed as possible.  The big change as far as the land use and the zone structure is an increase in the number of Transportation Analysis Zones (TAZs) from 385 to approximately 1500.   Mr. Augenstein noted that several sources of information were used to populate the zones including the U.S. Census, Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) data, State of California Employment Development Department (EDD) data, and Dun & Bradstreet Employment data.  VTA is under certain restrictions to be in conformance with the ABAG data, because the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) uses the ABAG data in its Region-wide Transportation Model.  

Mr. Augenstein directed attention to Attachment A, city and county tables comparing ABAG Projections 2003 and VTA Model data.   Mr. Augenstein asked that TAC review the data contained on the tables and directed attention to the GIS maps prepared by staff and encouraged the Members to take the maps for their respective city for review.  He noted that the maps contain the new TAZ structure for the respected city and the TAZ number with all of the data.  Mr. Augenstein noted that if there are any changes to contact Ya Wang, Transportation Planner II, by March 1 2004.

Member Tripousis took his seat at 1:40 p.m.

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

Chairperson's Report

There was no Chairperson's Report.

BUSINESS REFERRED TO COMMITTEE BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS/GENERAL MANAGER

Preliminary Tasman East/Capitol Bus/Rail Service Integration Plan

Mike Aro, Service and Operations Planning Deputy Director, distributed the following documents entitled Tasman East/Capitol Extension, Existing Light Rail, Proposed Light Rail Operating Plan, Proposed Bus Route Changes, and Description of Bus Route Changes. 

Mr. Aro reported that in preparation for the opening of the Tasman East/Capitol light rail extension in Milpitas and East San Jose, staff has prepared a Preliminary Tasman East/Capitol Bus/Rail Service Integration Plan.

Mr. Aro directed attention to the Tasman East/Capitol Extension map and noted that the Tasman East/Capitol Extension starts at Baypointe and extends all the way down just south of Alum Rock.    He reported that the light rail extension from Baypointe to I-880 is currently in operation, noting that it opened in 2001.  The Tasman East/Capitol Extension will open in July 2003.

Mr. Aro directed attention to the Existing Light Rail map and noted that the existing system has the following three lines: Tasman West line, Guadalupe line, and the Almaden Shuttle.    He noted that the Tasman West line currently operates 15 minutes during commute hours, 30 minutes during the middle of the day, and 30 minutes on weekends.  The Guadalupe line is operating at 15-minute intervals throughout the weekday and 15 minutes on weekends.  The reason for the difference in the service levels is due to the economy.

Mr. Aro directed attention to the Proposed Light Rail Operating Plan and reported that staff looked at the operating environment for both the Guadalupe line and the new extension and noted there were a lot of similarities.   There are multiple uses (student ridership, shopping, community oriented) throughout the day on the Guadalupe line and the new extension will be similar.  By tying the new extension to the existing Guadalupe line, VTA is able to run 15-minute service throughout the day and on weekends.  Given the current state of the economy, VTA feels that this is the best operating plan.

Mr. Aro directed attention to the Proposed Bus Route Changes and provided an overview.    A total of 17 routes have been modified or will be modified as part of the process and three new shuttles will be added and one existing route will be deleted that duplicates light rail.  In terms of service, the net service is pretty much flat and VTA will not be increasing the amount of bus service.

Mr. Aro noted that staff would be presenting the proposed plan to the VTA Advisory Committees in February 2004 and that five community meetings have been held.   Staff will be revising the proposed plan based upon the input received and would be coming back through the Committee (Standing and Advisory) process in March 2004 and forwarded to the Board of Directors in April 2004 for approval.  VTA will be implementing pre-revenue service on May 24, 2004, and will be running the service for approximately five weeks prior to the June 30, 2004 opening. 

On order of Chairperson Kott, there being no objection, the Preliminary Tasman East/Capitol Bus/Rail Service Integration Plan was received and filed. 

Proposed Fare Modification Prior to Public Review Process

David Sausjord, Revenue Services Manager, reported that on June 2003 the Board of Directors adopted a two-year budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 and a fare changed effective in August 2003.  The significance of the budget was that the revenue projections contained in the budget assumed not only the August fare increase, but there was also the assumption of an additional fare increase in the second year of the budget to be implemented in July 2005.

Mr. Sausjord reported that as part of the June 2003 action by the Board of Directors, the Board requested that staff prepare a fare policy for Board discussion and adoption to guide their actions and deliberations on fare changes going forward; and as part of that with the objective of future fare changes and invest in the fare policy of enabling VTA to reach a 20-25 percent farebox recovery ratio.  The Fare Policy was presented to the Standing and Advisory Committees in the fall and the Fare Policy was adopted in December 2003.

Mr. Sausjord noted the three major elements of the Fare Policy.  The first being the reaffirmation of the commitment to do the fare change as necessary in order to achieve that 20-25 percent farebox recovery over the next three years or so.  Secondly, it discussed the process for fare changes including that fare changes shall be considered basically in tandem with budget actions, and third that the effective date for future fare changes would be January rather than July.  Furthermore, the Fare Policy specified a set of relationships within the different elements of the fare structure, where essentially, almost all of VTAs various fare elements would be defined as multiples or factors or ratios of the adult cash single ride fare. 

Mr. Sausjord directed attention to Attachment C Proposed Fares per Fare Policy (Resolution 03.12.21) and Attachment D ADA Paratransit Fares and provided an overview.

Mr. Sausjord directed attention to the Fiscal Impact of the Board Memorandum, and noted that VTA is expecting the beginnings of an economic recovery in the region to give some boost in terms of ridership.   VTA is using a very modest growth assumption and is assuming a two percent countywide increase in travel demand from the economic recovery.   In addition to the growth trend, VTA is assuming approximately 500,000 additional boardings associated with the opening of the new light rail extension, which corresponds to approximately another percent.  He noted the expected impacts from the fare change. 

Mr. Sausjord directed attention to Attachment E Fare Model Results for FY 2005 Scenarios and provided an overview.

Mr. Sausjord reported that the proposed Fare Modification is being presented to the Advisory Committees in February 2003 and a set of public meetings would be held in March 2003.   Staff will be coming back to the Advisory and Standing Committees in April 2003.   The proposed Fare Modification would be forwarded to the Administration and Finance Committee as an action item in May 2003 and as a discussion item for the Transit Planning and Operations and Congestion Management and Program & Planning Committees for discussion and forwarded to the Board of Directors for adoption in June 2003.

Chairperson Kott commented in regards to the ridership decline it is very good to see the revenue increase and it would also be good to take note of the ridership decline, even though it is slight, for 2005 impact and consider some possible counter-measures to keep ridership level, if not increase ridership.

Member Jenkins queried why the policy changed on implementing fare increases from July to January.    Mr. Sausjord noted that primarily it was related to the desire to link it to the budget and if VTA has the budget adopted potentially as late as June, it really allows very little time to do the all the final public notice and reprogramming of equipment that is needed for July.  He noted that is what happened this last year, which is why the fare increase was not effective until August.  It also has perhaps coincidentally the affect that it puts the other fares on the same calendar basis as the ECO Pass Program.  Member Jenkins queried how far off that will bring farebox return.  Mr. Sausjord noted that it makes a small change and noted you cannot really say without making assumptions in terms of the cost efficiency, cost per hour, and the ridership productivity.  Mr. Ristow noted it is really a three-legged stool for farebox recovery.  It is the fare, cost to operate, and ridership.  He noted that VTA is working on all three legs of the stool at once.

On order of Chairperson Kott, there being no objection, the Committee reviewed and commented on an update regarding the upcoming Fare Modification.  

Chairperson Kott thanked VTA for strongly supporting the City of Palo Altos Charleston-Arastradero Corridor Plan.

On order of Chairperson Kott, there being no objection, the Proactive CMP Reviewed and Approved Projects Quarterly Status Report was received and filed. 

OTHER

Announcements

Chairperson Kott directed attention to the newsletter distributed entitled Downtown East Valley 2000 Measure A Project.  Member Render noted that the Santa Clara/Alum Rock Corridor is one of the projects in the Downtown East Valley Transit Improvement Plan and provided a brief status report on the Project.    

ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson Kott, there being no objection, the Meeting was adjourned at 2:05 p.m.

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

Respectfully submitted,

Tracene Y. Crenshaw, Board Assistant
VTA Board of Directors