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!