San Francisco Transit Effectiveness Project (SFTEP)

 

SUMMARY

SFTEP Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) Meeting

Thursday, May 10, 2007

One South Van Ness, Room 3074 (3^rd Floor)

 

Following is a summary of the ninth meeting of the SFTEP Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP). The meeting included an update on key project activities and a presentation on the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Cost Model.  Member comments are captured below.  The meeting concluded with an opportunity for public comment.

 

PARTICIPANTS

CAC Members/Alternates	Public	Project Team
Leslie Clark, SFMTA Accessibility Advisory Committee Steve Ferrario, SFMTA CAC Brian Larkin, SFCTA CAC Jim Lazarus, Chamber of Commerce Daniel Murphy, SFMTA CAC Bruce Oka, SFMTA Accessibility Advisory Committee Gary Noguera, Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods Bob Planthold, Senior Action Network David Pilpel, Sierra Club Dave Snyder, SPUR Mark Soloman, Coalition for Transit Justice Howard Strassner, Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee	Three members of the public attended	SFMTA Julie Kirschbaum Carl Natvig Peter Straus   Controller�s Office Sally Allen Liz Garcia   TEP Consultant Team Nate Masic Bob Peskin Hannah Russin Ashok Sundararajan

 

PROJECT UPDATE

 

TEP Program Manager Julie Kirschbaum reviewed the status of key TEP project activities.  The Market Research is near completion as the team wraps up analysis of competitiveness factors.  This analysis will be presented at future CAC meetings. The Service Assessment will be completed this summer.  The analysis of the system performance data collected via Automatic Passenger Counters (APC) will be shared to inform draft service concept development discussions. These discussions are scheduled for August 2007 and may take place in lieu of a formal CAC meeting.  An email will be sent out to CAC members to plan for the most productive meeting structure to discuss the draft service concepts.

 

The service concept development work is one of the more exciting pieces of the project.  CAC members are asked to be more proactive with their organizations, communities and networks to help share the findings and what we are learning to help �lay the groundwork� so that CAC member organizations can participate in the August session, which will be a high level review.  As mentioned in previous meetings, staff is available to assist CAC members in their outreach by providing briefings, fact sheets, surveys, presentations and newsletter articles. 

 

The TEP team is working to have the operations evaluation review completed for the June or July meeting.  CAC members are encouraged to begin brainstorming service concepts now.  Members can either send comments in by e-mail or bring in notes to upcoming CAC meetings.

 

Two Early Action pilots are currently active.  The first is an on-time performance study focusing on incremental improvements made to the J-Church.  This study has been extended by 60 days, until the end of August.  The second active pilot is a run time adjustment study of motor coach route 29.  �Run time� is the time in minutes that it takes for the transit vehicle to go from start to finish of its route and is a measure of the average speed of the vehicle on that route.  Funded by an MTC lifeline grant, this study will look at the scheduled run time of this route, fill each run as scheduled and then determine whether or not the scheduled run time needs to be increased.  This study will do something with the 29 that we would like to do with each line through the TEP, ultimately adjusting running time on all routes.  

 

In terms of public outreach, the TEP team is working with the Mayor�s Office on Disability (MOD) to make the TEP public participation processes more accessible to seniors and people with disabilities.  A survey focused on the needs of the disabled is being developed with MOD and will be hosted on the SFMTA web site.[1]

 

The anticipated schedule for the next two rounds of public workshops is fall 2007 and winter 2008.  The fall 2007 series will present draft service concepts to the public.  The service concepts will build on the findings of market research, service assessment and operations review. The winter 2008 series will present the final service plan concept with the operations/financial plan.  The CAC�s formal role on the project will wrap up in January.

 

CAC Member Comments

 

�         The TEP team should ensure that APCs are on �healthy� vehicles, which are in use and not on broken vehicles that are sitting in a yard.

�         The TEP should also collect data on T-Third line if possible.

�         Boarding data collected through the APCs should be used beyond the TEP as a daily operational metric to adjust Muni service ongoing.

�         This is a good use of Lifeline grant money.

�         To maximize the visibility of the MOD surveys, they should be placed in the paratransit vehicle brochure boxes.

�         The August service concept development meeting should be a drop-in session from 3:00pm -7:00pm.

�         The August meeting should be one big discussion so that we may learn from each other.

�         Not everyone can or wants to stay for the three-hour session, so please consider the drop-in structure.

�         The 2^nd floor atrium of 1 South Van Ness would be a good space for the August session.

 

OPERATIONS AND COST MODEL PRESENTATION

 

Bob Peskin of AECOM Consult, a member of the Transportation Management and Design, Inc. (TMD) consultant team, presented an overview of the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) cost model, including approach, methodology, and examples of how the cost model could be applied.  The cost model will serve to support the TEP service planning efforts by estimating the route-level operating costs, evaluating performance of existing service and informing the development of TEP service concepts.  It will also assist during SFMTA�s annual budgeting process, support the agency�s long-term financial planning and estimate O&M costs for FTA New Starts submissions.

 

CAC Member Comments on the O&M Model Presentation

 

�         This information should be used to determine and correct the more costly practices or vehicle brands or types.

�         The maintenance costs should undergo a peer comparison�assuming there are comparable transit systems.

�         Please take into account costs related to articulated buses vs. non-articulated buses.

�         This model should capture the cost of 3^rd party litigation and worker�s compensation costs as these are legitimate operating expenses.

�         Consider keeping the analysis of LRVs consistent with other modes, i.e., analyze it �per car� rather than �per train.�

�         This presentation suggests that SFMTA should hire an �apprentice� workforce and build a �transit academy.�

�         Anything that gets San Franciscans working for San Francisco is a good thing.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

Please put the CAC meeting calendar on the website.

 

NEXT STEPS

 

The next CAC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 14, 2007 from 5pm-7pm in Room 3074 of One South Van Ness.