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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PSMTC 2018/08/21 2016-2018Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit 14th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohaokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii August 21, 2018 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit ORDER: was called to order at 1:35 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Karen Eoff, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Karen Eoff, Acting Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III Absent & Excused: Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Chair STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 412.2: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY CHERYL SOON, SSFM CONSULTANT, ON THE FINAL TRANSIT MULTI -MODAL TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN FOR THE HAWAII COUNTY MASS TRANSIT AGENCY From Council Member Jennifer Ruggles, dated August 14, 2018. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 412.2. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter. PSMTC-14 August 21, 2018 ACTING CHR. EOFF: Yes, we have our presentation ready, right? So would you folks like to just introduce yourselves, and then we can go ahead. (Note: At this time, Ms. Cheryl Soon and Ms. Joanna Herkes of SSFM International came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SOON: My name is Cheryl Soon, and I was the principal for the preparation of the Transit and Multi -Modal Transportation Mater Plan. MS. HERKES: I'm Joanna Herkes, and I have been assisting Cheryl with this plan, and I am located here—or I'm sorry, located in Hilo. Our office is there. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay, thank you. If you just want to go right into the MS. SOON: If that's what your wishes are, I'd be happy to start. Sole sends her regrets that she, due to family issues, has been called to the mainland. But I believe Kasie is present in the Hilo setting. So she has been a good participant in this process. Both of them have. It has been a journey. It's just about one year ago now that I first met you all in this room as you were asking me where is it, when are you going to get something out to us, and here we are. I do want to sincerely thank each and every one of you on the Council for your assistance, your suggestions, and the encouragement in this process. A lot of thanks go to the public, who participated in our meetings and sent us emails and lots of goodness coming from them. (Note: At this time Ms. Soon provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 412.4) MS. SOON: So thank you once again for your attention. Madam Chair, if there are questions I can answer, I'd be happy to try. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay, thank you. Shall I open up to Council Members then, or? Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, again, for a phenomenal plan. I just have a couple of questions. And it speaks specifically to table 11-6, in which you layout the extension of the GE. I was just wondering how you came up with the projected funding for those numbers after 2021? Like what was the metrics that you used? Page 2 PSMTC-14 August 21, 2018 MS. SOON: So for the other members, we're speaking of the table on page 112, table 6-11. And the question was, how did we calculate the money that would be generated? We did no new calculation. We followed the basic expectation of $20 million. But within about four years, it's more than you need. And so this carry over, but we did not intrude into the policy discussion. We just kept it at the currently distributed numbers of what it would generate. And I've heard that there are some higher estimates that have been floated out there, but we did not try and second guess that. MS. LEE LOY: And then for table 6-10, assuming that we don't extend the GE, I see that you have the General Funds Subsidy, and you're holding that at $7 million. Again same question, how did you kind of formulize that? MS. SOON: Right. In a way its illustrative number. We just had to balance the expenditures and the revenues, and it comes out to a shortage of approximately $7 million a year. And since it's so many years out, you know, things could change from grants or from fares, but we did not make any wild assumptions of change, we kept everything at steady state. Because we were looking for what that delta is, the shortage. And it comes out a rather steady number. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. Conservative approach is always just a good place to start. Like I said a great plan, the performance-based measurables. I think that keeps us and the department on task as far as meeting those different goals and objectives. I like the way that you laid out the vision all the way to 2040, but I also noticed that in 2035 was a revisit of this plan. I'm wondering if there was any suggestion between now and 2035, if there would be some type of indicator that would warrant us actually going back to this plan sooner to retool it in which maybe we could meet the measurables quicker, or adjust for other future short comings that might be unforeseen at that time? So I'm looking for a recommendation on what those indicators might be, that would warrant us revisiting this sooner. MS. SOON: That is an excellent question. And I would feel more comfortable if I could, the proverbial get back to you. But I think that one of the things you'll be looking for is the relationship between, are you growing your ridership, and are you at the point with the increased equipment that you're able to add service and not just those are the two indicators I would look for first. But I will also be wanting to track the break down rate, to see if we're having a problem with the remaining fleet, thats my assumption that we could count on them for the next four years works. And if not then, there are adjustments that would have to be made within the next four years. But the GET that you have passed so far will mean that we could meet the goals for the immediate term period 2018-2020. So mahalo. MS. LEE LOY: And then fuel taxes, also built into that. Page 3 PSMTC-14 August 21, 2018 MS. SOON: That could be an alternate source to address that $7 million, yes. MS. LEE LOY: And then at the previous question you mentioned, some indicators where we were increasing bus ridership or cost. At the very back of your plan, you have examples of kind of calculating bus ridership. Is that a recommendation that you folks are also providing to help us track, that we are accounting for the ridership, not only on the buses but the taxi? And then is that a sample that we can use? MS. SOON: This is something we want to shoot for, the one that has example written across us. This is typical if you were already an MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) area that you would have to be giving to FTA (Federal Transit Administration). So that's what we want to be pointing towards, MTA (Mass Transit Agency) is not ready for that yet. The addition of the fare box equipment will help a lot to get to that, but right now too many things have to be done manually. And we want to get it into automation, get it out of requiring two people to count the money, we'd like some automatic counting. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, again. Like I said, I think it's a wonderful plan and moving forward I think this is an amazing tool for us to use this, our audit. One final question though, I know as we move through this, you know, through 2030 and 2040. I know you built in the buses, and like the ADA, or Paratransit. We also recognize that we have an aging population going forward. Is there any recommendation to tweak some of those buses to be a lot more ADA compliant for our aging population? And when is it anticipated that we should start retooling that curve, to get vehicles that are more ADA compliant compare to you know, the robust transit system? MS. SOON: And the rental buses, the tour buses, don't have all the compliance features that you would have in a public transit bus. Actually, Sole has been working regularly with the disabled community, and getting familiarity with their needs and their recommendations. She incorporated them into the specifications for the buses to be ordered this year. For example using a ramp instead of a lift. Why? Because the lift breaks too often and therefore it's not serving them at all. So even though the ramp takes longer, it's more dependable. So she wrote that into the specifications, and she continues to meet and talk with them. So I think that's been a very heartening thing to watch, and to see included. And they have other recommendations, having to do with the shared taxi program. And there are other agencies that are capable of providing, and are coming forward and saying we'd like to help more in providing disabled trips. And so meetings are being held to see so when I talk about third party vendors that's really what I mean. The contracts you have with people like HCEOC (Hawai`i County Economic Opportunity Council) and others, are coming forward and Page 4 PSMTC-14 August 21, 2018 saying we think we can do more here as well. Thank you, it's been a pleasure working with you, too. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. Thank you very much, it's been amazing. Thank you for listening, and really getting these thoughts on paper. I know that's always rather challenging, but not only getting them in there, but getting them there in a meaningful and thoughtful way that we can actually follow. So I'm really pleased with this plan. Thank you so much. I yield. MS. SOON: Thank you. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Any other comments or questions? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I will once again agree with Council Woman Lee Loy. I think it's an outstanding plan, I'm not a Mass Transit specialist by any stretch but I love the fact that you put all the financial metrics in there. And I fully support a Mass Transit because we definitely need it. My critique has been on the performance of, as has been outlined by our audit. Question on the transit app. And I realize this is a plan that you put together, you're not in implementing the plan. I got that part. But do you have any idea as far as going forward the transit app, is that pie in the sky or is there something being specifically identified or very close to being implemented? MS. SOON: Yes. The recommendation that we have made is to start with the Google app. The Google app is only available to public transit agencies, so of course MTA qualifies. And as I mentioned—well I guess I didn't mention. A contract amendment is being processed for our company to assist MTA with implementation over the next year. And so one of the first tasks in that, is to help get the Google app going. And so we've already assisted with filling in six of the data files, having to do with where the stops are, where the welts run, the timing. There's six different files, so we have put them together there being run through the GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) system, which basically examines any errors that don't make sense that's where we are right now. But that then can go to Google app and hopefully—you'll definitely see it by the end of the year. Probably much sooner but I don't have an exact date for it going live. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And this may not be a question you can answer. On the previous presentation, my question was how many buses we were renting, and the information was given was 14 buses a day which works out to be little over $40,000 a week, roughly $2 million a year. As I understood there was an effort being put forth to rather than, and I guess I'll call kind of a will -call rental situation to have a scheduled rental situation. Do you know where the status of that is? Because my understanding, that should save a substantial amount of money. Page 5 PSMTC-14 August 21, 2018 MS. SOON: Yes. My understanding is that it was going to be embedded into the request for proposals that would go to potential operators. So right now your operator is Polynesian Adventure, a few years ago it was Roberts. There were others. And that the schedule would become part of the pricing schedule, as they responded to the RFP. I know that they are close to finishing that RFP, I don't know exactly when procurement will issue it. But they have had to extend the contract with Poly Ad, because the contract actually ran up in June. So it's been extended to September, and it's had a second extension to October. That tells me that they really want to get it out any day, and I imagine that will happen. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Alright, thanks I yield. MS. SOON: Thank you. And thank you for the work you did with us to keep us on focus with the numbers that would help us put some meaning to why not having your own buses. It's so expensive an option, and the money can be spent in better ways, hopefully, but it won't happen overnight. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you. I'm just going to check with Ms. O'Hara, can't see her. Do you have a question or comment? MS. O'HARA: No, I'm listening in. I don't at this point. Thank you. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay, well speak up if you want me to recognize you. Anybody here in Kona, questions, comments? No? Okay, well thank you very much. I'm not sure what the next step is, but probably we're going to file this communication and then I guess if we need to call you back for updates or changes. MS. SOON: Well I am hoping that you get a quarterly report from MTA that tells you how their doing on this and other metrics. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay. I know that Kasie Kailikea is our Transportation Specialist and she's in Hilo. Did you have anything to add, before we shut down the discussion? MS. O'HARA: No, she doesn't, she says. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay, alright. Then thank you very much. All in favor of filing Communication 412.2, please say "aye." Page 6 PSMTC-14 August 21, 2018 Vote on Comm. 412.2: The motion to close file on Comm. 412.2 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, and Acting Chair Eoff — 8 Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Ruggles — 1. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you again, very much. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:23 p.m., Ms. Poindexter moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, and Acting Chair Eoff — 8 Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Ruggles — 1. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you very much, Council Members. Meeting adjourned. And be safe everybody. Not sure about the storm. Approved: C-� Ms. Karen Eoff, ActinW Chair Public Safety and Mass Transit Committee KE/rk Date Page 7