Albemarle Board of Supervisors Work Session on Transit Issues

(never quite edited to full but here we are) 

If you're interested in the future of transit in the Albemarle/Charlottesville area, you're going to want to watch this meeting of the Board of Supervisors. I'm going to be live-tweeting this one. (bit.ly/2xv2Es5)

In the audience is Dr. Tarron Richardson, the Charlottesville city manager. At issue is the city's request for funding for Albemarle to pay Charlottesville Area Transit a sum that's about $700,000 larger than the current year's funding of $1.038 million.

But first we are getting an update on coronavirus from Dr. Denise Bonds of the Health District. No cases in the TJ Health District. We are in the mitigation phase. Bonds says the virus is tenacious and the health community needs to buy time to prepare. She doesn't see it going away any time soon, so it's a wait and see. Supervisors will discuss this further at their next work session next Tuesday on the 17th. They will discuss the Boys and Girls Club proposal for the Lambs Road campus.

(also, I apologize in advance for misspellings - my backspace key is not working)

Bonds says they they have also reached out to business community and are aware of the potential for a big financial hit.

Now on to the work session. Supervisor Chair Ned Gallaway says this is the first time they've ever had a dedicated work session on transit.

If you want deep background, I wrote something from the Regional Transit Partnership meeting last summer. This is long, but sets the stage. (bit.ly/3cPmIp3) Chip Boyles of TJPDC is reviewing Regional Transit Partnership to date. There's quite a few milestones. I believe the RTP is crucial for those of us who want to make transit work better.

Another source is the @cvillepedia article on this issue (bit.ly/3aK7FeA)

I wrote up a summary of the December Regional Transit Partnership which explains more a request that has been made by TJPDC from the city and the county to pay for transit visioning work. (bit.ly/2SG5GSd) This funding request came up at the December RTP meeting. Read the memo yourself here

(my colon key is now broken, too) (bit.ly/34FCNbR)

The request is from the @VirginiaDRPT and Boyles mentions that it is not likely to be funded in full.

The work will imagine what a transit system for this region would look like if it was being created from scratch, and then overlay what CAT and Jaunt are currently doing. Supervisor Palmer asks if this will help inform future land use decisions in Albemarle. Boyles said no, that will be up to the localities.

A reminder that Albemarle will begin a Comprehensive Plan update this year to begin informing zoning changes. Supervisor Gallaway asks Boyles what the biggest opportunity is for improvement from Albemarle's perspective.

Boyles says fixing CAT and making it the backbone is first. Second is to take advantage of tech to innovate to connect to backbone and coordinate other services

Boyles said Virginia is investing in public transportation right now because it's a better alternative than building new roads.

I agree. And this is why I'm hoping all of this leads to a system that makes more of you feel comfortable riding.

I like buses. Now they're talking about the Memorandum of Understanding between city and county about how county 's payment to CAT is calculated. I'm trying to dig that up.

But for now, Boyles said CAT and Jaunt are in two different places. And transit funding is VERY complicated. Gallaway said the Board's priority today is find out if the current service is worth investing in.

That takes us to Andy Bowman in the county's budget office to go through FY21 request.

New info is that city's budget request is now $1.246 million for existing CAT service. 

The original request for existing CAT services was $1.43 million - the increase is due to a reduction in state funding due to ridership declines.

CAT requested additional funding for new positions, other stuff. We'll talk about that more later.

So far, so good. Jaunt's funding request was just made, too. I didn't catch those numbers but this image has the OLD numbers for CAT and JAUNT.

I need better image skills.

And a better image, too.

Garland Williams, CAT director since September, said all Virginia transit agencies are being asked to take hard look at their bottom line, performance.

Now, Jaunt director Brad Sheffield is presenting his agency's budget. He served on Board in the Rio District from '14 to '17

Jaunt's funding request is driven not by improving internal problems but sustaining services out there. Wage increases, health increases.

Lots of detail here that's hard to live-tweet.

I'm listening for info on the pilot on-demand route they told BOS about on

I wish I could share the screen with details about Jaunt's budget with you, but it's not in the agenda packet. @rideJAUNT - can I get a copy of this at some point? I'll email later. These tweets are interactive notes. But, labor costs are the biggest part of Jaunt's budget, both drivers and operations staff. I should mention that a lot of Jaunt employees are in the room. 13.

"I'm not sure who's running Jaunt right now," Sheffield quips. Sheffield reports that the Crozet Connect service is at capacity. The commuter services are becoming popular. Sheffield said many riders are willing to experience longer commute times so they don't have to worry about where they park.

This part is key to our future. Another thing to add is that Jaunt is assuming control of Greene County Transit this July. That is key to land use in Greene County, which is expected to continue growing. More on that tomorrow. Palmer asks about logistics of using Jaunt's paratransit system. I'm not going to write this part at this point because it's fairly confusing and complicated and relates to federal funding, definitions of urban and rural.

Read this FAQ (bit.ly/2U1nlmU)

Williams said federal definition of urban area is anyone within a certain distance of fixed-route transit. Jaunt has to add service for ADA reasons. This is where it gets complicated. This came up in Feb 2016 when CAT sought service to 5th Street Station (bit.ly/39JbEYH)

The reason I am tweeting this stuff is that we need more citizens to understand this. If you're interested in this stuff, you have to know how the policies work. Transit isn't free. McKeel asks for more info in budgets like what we're seeing on the screens.

(I love this)

Sheffield is asked to talk about the pilot electric vehicle. You can read about that in this press release. (bit.ly/2IIc2uw) Williams is asked about his comments to move to Clean Natural Gas buses. I didn't write down the comments. I spent time trying to upload the CAT budget to @cvillepedia (bit.ly/33eX48T)

Williams stresses his job right now is to increase reliability, a message consistent with what he said at the December and February meeting of the RTP.

Williams said there is time for electric vehicles to mature. McKeel pushes Williams on compressed natural gas. In general, buses in transit fleets have a lifespan of about 12 years.

Not related, this is link to CAT's reports to the Federal Transit Agency (bit.ly/2TV0xFz)

Now, CAT Director Williams is up for his presentation. Gallaway asks him to give one thing that he sees Albemarle can improve upon. Williams asks if Albemarle is going to increase density. That will change his answer.

Williams said CAT needs to be more reliable. Williams said he wants to explore getting frequencies to be increased in order to build ridership. He said Albemarle had talked about BRT in the past. If they want that in future, FTA needs to see higher frequencies. Wants to expand to airport. Williams said moving away from "hub and spoke" could happen. He said Albemarle is his client.

Gallaway said CAT management hasn't been optimal in the past.

Sheffield asks Williams if he is familiar with growth management policy.

This is a fascinating conversation. Williams said one of the things he did was to compile list of when services were dropped due to driver issues. He said that's a key step in seeing if CAT can continue to provide service. Said there's been a marked improvement since he's done this. "We are working through the model so everyone feels they are part of the solution," Williams said. He said the increased funding request is part of that.

McKeel said Williams needs to understand Albemarle growth management policy. Williams now begins his presentation, with a lot of great slides. I look forward to getting these presentations so I can share them.

You can see the ridership figures here. (bit.ly/2IQVTDv) Supervisor McKeel said many people wants to name routes rather than just being numbered. Something to think about as we go through the vision plan.

What do you think? Do you know what # goes where? Williams said the system hasn't been looked at for years and he wants a technical assistance grant.

But, wasn't there a Transit Development Plan that Council approved in December 2019? Here is that document (bit.ly/2THdhAv)

Something I just learned - farebox is only three present of CAT's revenues.

I thought it was more like ten. Need to take a good luck at that budget document. But that .PDF file I uploaded is rubbish. The proposed CAT budget for FY21 is $8.862 million. The total request for Albemarle was around $1.4 million. That's what Supervisors are going to discuss soon. Supervisor Palmer asks what percentage of riders are Albemarle residents. Williams said he can't get exact figures, but can make assumptions.

Automatic passenger counters that are coming may yield better data. Palmer says she doesn't ride the bus.

I would love to take people on a tours of the existing services and will plan to do that when the coronavirus crisis is over.

Wanna go with me? I'll gladly take people on tours.

I love transit. Makes me feel more human! Boyles said many riders to Fashion Square Mall and other destinations could be city residents going to a job. With more surveys, they can know more information.

(likely would be part of the transit visioning process)

McKeel said she wants an opportunity to verify who is riding on the buses, particularly on the Route 11 that goes up and down Rio Road. A reminder that Supervisors approved 28 units on Rio Road last week, and Planning Commission recommended approval of 328 units. Transit has to be in place to support density there, density coming.

Williams said verification process will happen when consultants come on board. Many supervisors want to ask questions. There's a lot. This is very helpful to have Williams here to answer these questions.

Now into budgetary details.

Dr. Richardson isn't here, but Deputy City Manager Letitia Shelton is. Gallaway asks why the increase was higher from FY20 to FY21.

Williams said he's asking both city and county to pay for new positions. Dr. Richardson's recommending five positions

Some supervisors thought they were being asked to pick up full cost of all five.

(I think)

This appears to be one of the key pieces of confusion. To recap, Bowman goes back to numbers.

For existing services, CAT wants an additional $200,000 or so. That doesn't include those positions (mechanic, analyst).

Shelton goes to the table.

Council still reviewing budget. Palmer asks what decisions they need to make today. Bowman says there are none yet.

Palmer said she wants to know if Council will fully fund those positions.

Gallaway said he wants to understand more. Recognizes Williams is new and comes to this fresh eyes, prompting Q's. Williams said the new positions are to help improve service. There are too many 60-minute routes. He wants more 30 minute routes. He said the TDP plan has recommendations to convert some to bidirectional routes.

TDP plan - (bit.ly/3cQIg4L)

Williams said he wants CAT to be able to run on time and wants to give level of service Albemarle is paying for, but if drivers don't come in to work or if there aren't enough vehicles, he can't provide that level of service. Williams said that CAT ended the fiscal year in the red by about $500,000 so some of the increases are related to that so they don't end up in the red again.

Dr. Richardson is back.

This is where that MOU between city and county comes up. I don't have it handy. Supervisor Mallek said she needs more information about whether Albemarle's contribution is helping fund CAT's administration of the city's pupil transportation.

Williams said that's a separate pot that comes from school's budget.

Mallek wants more info. Supervisors are now digging deeper into the issue of whether their payment covers pupil transportation.

Williams maintains that except for his salary, there is no cost to Albemarle to pay for city pupil transport.

See this chart from city budget

There are 327 CAT bus stops.

Mallek wants to know how many are in Albemarle.

Williams said he would provide that info.

Now they're onto ADA issues. I'm going to listen and come back to this when I listen back to my tape.

Yes, I still call audio I record "tape."

There was a comment that people in wheelchairs don't ride CAT.

This isn't true. There's one regular on the 6 who rides that bus frequently to get to Crescent Halls. Always takes a bit longer for her to get on, but I never mind.

We need to understand this better. "We're getting more answers than we've had in the past," Gallaway says to Williams.

This has been a productive work session. It's clear CAT and Jaunt have to work closer together. Sheffield and Williams are doing a good job presenting together. Palmer also repeats she is very glad to hear good explanations from CAT's director. That really hadn't happened before. The last director was hard to get information from. I agree that Williams' presence is refreshing.

We have to work together. Session is wrapping up. This was great. Kudos to Albemarle Supervisors for taking this so seriously to dedicate three hours to transit.

We can do this.

Thanks for reading or putting up with all of this!

Summary of tweets from February 27, 2020 Regional Transit Partnership

I am here at the Regional Transit Partnership, where there are a lot of new people here in the audience. There's also a new City Council member and a new Albemarle Supervisor. And here is the agenda: (bit.ly/2I2dK9Y)

'Public speaking still makes me nervous but I'm pushing back on that. Because I want this community to work together to improve transit.
I know it can work.

I raised the question of whether transit service will serve the Center when it moves to Belvedere. Now Chip Boyles with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is here to give an overview of the Regional Transit Partnership. Here's a
@cvilletomorrow story I wrote on this back in August 2015 (bit.ly/34u3f8p)

The draft Memorandum of Understanding for the partnership is worth reviewing. I've clipped out the deliverables here. (bit.ly/2T3J4LK)

There have been many changes since the RTP began and they've just adopted new by-laws. One change included addition of UVA as a voting member. That's a meaningful change and a good sign. Take a look at this document here: (bit.ly/387L35W)

The topic of the CAT Advisory Board By-Laws came up, but before discussing fully, Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley brings up the topic of adding new shelters. CAT Director Garland Williams states that they need to know where route changes will be first before building new ones. CAT Advisory Board Chair wants people to join. They meet every three months. He told me yesterday they only have three members right now and want eight more.

But how effective is this body? Did they get a chance to weigh in on the detour? Take a look. (bit.ly/3abRLtb) City Councilor Lloyd Snook said he was told there was no board at this moment.

Supervisor McKeel said she used to attend but stopped because they were not doing anything.

Council has yet to adopt the by-laws but is expected to do so soon. (bit.ly/3abRLtb) Next, a group from Leadership Charlottesville presents a video project where they interviewed people about transportation.

I spoke with this group in December and their enthusiasm fueled my own.
I hope this video goes online somewhere. The more stories, the better. They've called it Voices of Transit.

In 2007, another Leadership Charlottesville did a podcast series called Voices of Poverty and I had the fortune to produce it. That's here on @cvillepodcast (bit.ly/1Ju8jev)

The video features people talking about the current system, and some of the issues. I would love to do a podcast just about how we get around this community and the state. But my skills are so rusty. I may do an experiment soon. In response, CAT Director Garland Williams said they want to make a lot of the improvements suggested by people interviewed, but CAT can't talk about expanding until they fix existing system.

There are also two other transit services in our area - @rideJAUNT and @UVAUTS

Some of the people interviewed were riders of the Park Connect service. I am hoping to use that sometime in the near future.

Next up at the meeting is a presentation on data on electric scooters in Charlottesville area. Presentation not online at the moment. Around 60 percent of rides stop and start around the University of Virginia according to bike/ped/dockless mobility coordinator Amanda Poncy. Every road in Charlottesville has seen at least one trip by a scooter or e-bike. Poncy says the busiest time for these scooters is around 5:00 p.m. September was the busiest period. 38,000 trips that month.

Trevor Henry asks if data is affected by Lime and Bird's decision to not serve market. VeoRide is the only provider left. After a discussion of injuries, UVA Parking and Transportation Director Becca White notes that before Bird went live in Dec. 2018, local emergency officials worked to come up with common nomenclature for how to code injuries related to scooters.

So many interesting tidbits! About three percent of rides started and stopped near a transit stop.

McCormick Road is the most heavily scootered road.

Now Poncy is showing a map of origins and destinations in Albemarle. These represent only about three percent of rides. The meeting is now up to the discussion of a series of listening sessions conducted across Virginia by @VCNVAorg and @VaTransitAssoc

That 37 page document is here. (bit.ly/3ceehU7) Now someone from the @VirginiaDRPT is here to talk about the grant funding process. 

TJPDC is seeking money to help pay for the projects listed on 52 and 53 of the full packet (bit.ly/3acrKKa)

The @VirginiaDRPT is also working on the two new intrastate bus routes, including one that will travel between Danville and D.C. Here's a @MassTransitmag article from December (bit.ly/35F3PRH)

Just heard it will take a year for CAT data reporting to become normalized.

I'm not tweeting many details of current discussions because I want to make sure I'm capturing what people said accurately. The details of transit planning are crucial to get right. UVA has built a lot of offices on Old Ivy Road and on Monday they will begin a 16-week test of a shuttle to get people employees to and from there.

They're all also working on vanpools. I've seen some of the details, such as that one for Scottsville @NBC29 has reported on Jim Foley, director of pupil transportation in Albemarle, said they are working with 3rd party provider on mobility solutions to get students to the Center I and Center II centers.

Also, legislation to make drivers "critical shortage" has passed (bit.ly/36qwQBe)

At the end of meeting, CAT Director Garland Williams said he will ask Council to allow Route 11 to serve the Center in one direction. They can't go in other direction because of an unsignalized left hand turn at Rio / Belvedere. They are looking for other solutions, too.

General news round-up for late February 2020

I also produce tweet threads of news from other sources. I sometimes let my email boxes pile up because I need to process all of these information, and not just delete it. This can be overwhelming but I want to keep @cvillepedia up to date. 

Charlottesville and Albemarle area 

• First, @nbc29 had a story on February 13 about the Charlottesville Ice Park. (bit.ly/380VEzH)
  
• The University of Virginia is seeking to create a vanpool between Scottsville and the many different parts of Grounds.@nbc29 has this story
• 
  
• This falls under #15 of UVA's Transportation Demand Management Plan! (bit.ly/2w3KWv6) Expansion of a quarry in Loudoun County has raised questions about a trail network in the area.
  
• My @piedmontenviron colleague @Gem_Bingol is quoted in this @LoudounNow story from last week (bit.ly/392umKK)
  
• Road infrastructure is under construction for North Pointe, a development approved in 2006 that's only now coming closer to fruition. @cbs19 has this story (bit.ly/3c7lq8x)
  
• Construction and redevelopment of the Woolen Mills factory to be the new home for @willowtreeapps is expected to be completed in April. @NBC29 has this story (bit.ly/3819OAR)
  
• The Town of Scottsville has a grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to plan for redevelopment of the former tire factory. @rileywyantTV has this story on @NBC29 I have questions for @regeslawless (bit.ly/2HU4STV)
  
• Last week, Charlottesville City Council adopted a resolution affirming $3 million in financial commitments to the second phase of the South First Street public housing redevelopment, which will build 113 new units. @NBC29 has this story (bit.ly/3a6QMdF)
  
  If you want to read the staff report for this, I uploaded it to @cvillepedia for posterity (bit.ly/3c8B5Vf)
  
• This week, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority got an update on recycling here. @CarlyKempler was there for @NBC29 (bit.ly/3cgFTYB)

Elsewhere in Virginia

• Madison Heights in Amherst County is updating its master plan and there's support for a town center or town green. @ABC13News has this story (bit.ly/2Psne2n)
  
• Four companies are vying for franchises to operate dockless scooters / e-bikes in Virginia Beach. (bit.ly/387H4GA)
  
• Roanoke is building a new bus station, as reported by the @roanoketimes (bit.ly/3cepXGl)
  
• Ranked-choice voting could be coming to Virginia thanks to legislation sponsored by Delegate @SallyLHudson - what would that look like? Here's a @MercuryVirginia story from @gmoomaw that is posted on @NewsInTheBurg (bit.ly/2SYX1uv)

The shifting environment

• The biologist E.O. Wilson has called on half of the planet to be protected from development to save non-human species. How realistic is this? @YaleE360 asks this question in this story from earlier this month (bit.ly/2VoL6rh)
  
• What if construction practices were changed to construct every building in a way that all of its materials could be re-used? This @guardiancities article reviews how doing so could help communities become carbon neutral (bit.ly/3ccOefR)

Daily Progress round-up for late February 2020

For me, the stories in daily newspapers are crucial links in keeping track of what has happened, and what is about to happen. Of particular interest to me is the work of the journalists in the Daily Progress, a newspaper I was published in for nearly nine years from 2009 to 2018. One of my proudest accomplishments was being able to work alongside some dedicated writers. Their work is important, and I cite it frequently on cvillepedia, which I continue to help build. 

I tend to not read the paper every day, because many of the stories cover areas I'm working on as well, albeit not the same way I used to when I was working as a report. I also like to make sure I'm keeping the archive up to date, so it takes a while. 

In any case, this post represents stories at the end of February and documented here in case you missed them.  

• Officials with Dominion Virginia Power have briefed the Louisa County Board of Supervisors on the state of the North Anna Power Station (bit.ly/32oIM5o)
  
  I also uploaded the 15-page report to @cvillepedia and look forward to seeing if there's coverage of the public hearing on the report that was held last week. Take a look at this section: (bit.ly/3c15nsS)

• Parents of children in Orange County schools may soon be able to track school buses. Story from the Orange County Review reprinted in the @DailyProgress (bit.ly/39YXqmq)

• On February 18, Charlottesville City Council appointed seven people to the Police Civilian Review Board. @nstoutDP has this story (bit.ly/2wHN38b)
  
• On February 18, Council voted 4-1 to support a @VHDA loan for some subsidized units at Sunrise Park on Carlton Avenue on the way to Broadway Avenue. @nstoutDP has the story (bit.ly/32iUrCs)
  
• Also on February 18, Council was briefed on the rerouting of the trolley-style bus to serve Midway Manor, a change that will continue through May. CAT director Garland Williams wants to hire a consultant to study this "free" service. (bit.ly/32iUrCs)
  
• I got three tweets in a row from the @nstoutDP article on the 2/18/2020 City Council meeting. They also updated meeting rules. Local journalism is the first rough draft of history. @cvillepedia seeks to capture all the threads (bit.ly/32iUrCs)
  
• In this @nstoutDP story from the same paper, Council supported work toward a temporary marker to acknowledge that Court Square is a place where people were bought and sold under a system of legalized human trafficking. Read the story for more: (bit.ly/2vcfkmJ)
  
• On February 20, Charlottesville city staff told City Council how they could move forward with short-term solutions to increasing supported housing stock. Council liked what they heard. @nstoutDP has details in this story (bit.ly/2LMwSvx)
  
• The Charlottesville School Board approved a $92.1 million proposed budget for FY2012, including a $61.7 million request from City Council. Read this @Knott_Katherine article to know what's going on (bit.ly/2SWjQz4)
  
• A new building for a Sleep Number store is under review in Albemarle, and Tandem Friends is building a new pavilion buildings. Details from @craftypanda (bit.ly/2STDAmA)
  
• Albemarle has agreed to restrict off-leash dogs, but the real thing in this @craftypanda story is the conversation about transit supporting the county's registrar move to Albemarle Square (bit.ly/2Vf31AN)
  
• Albemarle's proposed budget for FY2021 is slightly lower than the one adopted for FY2020. @craftypanda explains in this article from the February 20 @DailyProgress (bit.ly/32lgatz)
  
• Last Wednesday, the Miller School of Albemarle deferred a rezoning request after concern over a condition that its historic status be updated. @craftypanda has the details in this story from Friday's paper (bit.ly/3c09ANv)
  
• A @VaDOTCULP safety study of 5th Street Extended in Albemarle County is underway. A community panel got a glimpse of it last Thursday. @craftypanda was there and wrote this story (bit.ly/2w3g4eg)
  
• On February 20, Mayor @NikuyahWalkerCC announced she would stand as a candidate in the 2021 Council election. Story in the @DailyProgress (bit.ly/32o7i6C)
  
• Construction of a new ice rink in the Brookhill subdivision is delayed to a lower-than-expected fundraising. @craftypanda has this story (bit.ly/2SWD5by)
  
• Albemarle and Charlottesville schools are taking a more focused approach to teaching reading and phonics. @Knott_Katherine wrote this important look into something I take for granted (bit.ly/3a5RwzW)
  
• How are college students in Virginia counted in the Census? @RuthServenSmith has this story about efforts across the state, including quotes from my friend @CarahOng (bit.ly/3a5lBzo)
  
• The city of Charlottesville is paying out a lot of overtime to rescue medics due to staff shortages, increased number of calls. @BK_McKenzie and @nstoutDP wrote this story about something so many take for granted (bit.ly/3905bbC)
  
• The last week of February was Census Week of Action, intended to be a series of events and steps to ensure everyone is counted this year. This is a story from the Culpeper Star Exponent (bit.ly/3c4Q9Df)
  
• On February 24, U.S. Supreme Court took up a case involving the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Appalachian Trail. Here's coverage from the Associated Press on the @DailyProgress website: (bit.ly/3caQ9BA)
  
• The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority has named Kathleen Glenn-Matthews as the interim director of the public housing agency. @nstoutDP has this story (bit.ly/3a1di7V)
  
• Reading pass rates across Virginia are falling, and yesterday a summit was held to discuss what to do. @Knott_Katherine followed up her Sunday piece by attending and filing this story (bit.ly/2T248CB)