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05/04/2011 - Minutes City of Tigard 00 TIGARD Transportation Advisory Committee [TTAC] SUMMARY Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 6:30 PM— 8:30 PM Tigard Library, 2nd Floor Conf. Room - 13500 SW Hall Blvd, Tigard, Oregon MEMBERS PRESENT (8): Christopher Warren; Kim Moreland; Mike Stevenson; Karen Hughart; Jennifer Stanfield; Dennis Mitchell (arr. 6:34 p.m.); Basil Christopher (arr. 6:41 p.m.); Don Schmidt (arr. 6:43 p.m.) MEMBERS ABSENT (3): Maureen Jefvert Wolf; Steven Bass; and Don Fox OTHERS PRESENT (3): Tigard City Council Liaison Gretchen Buehner; Tom Mills, TriMet; and Joe Schweitz STAFF PRESENT: Michael McCarthy, Sr.Project Engineer - Public Works; Carissa Collins, Sr. Management Analyst— Finance;Judith Gray, Sr. Transportation Planner - Community Development; Twila Willson, Sr. Administrative Specialist - Public Works 1. Call to order— Christopher Warren Chair Christopher Warren called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. a. Roll Call—Twila Willson called the roll. b. Minutes from April 61h meeting were considered and they were approved. c. Introductions —Tom Mills, Service Planner for TriMet d. Visitor Comments —None 2. Transit Service Planning—Tom Mills, TriMet Tom Mills is a Service Planner with TriMet. He began by presenting some facts about TriMet services, some of which include the following: • TriMet service district covers 570 square miles • Includes 79 bus routes • Four transit routes that include MAX and WES lines • Door to door lift services I:\Transportation Advisory Committee\201 1\05041 1\Minutes 05-04-11.docx Page 1 of 5 • 649 buses • They travel 29.5 million miles per year • $2.90 — their average cost per bus ride • $1.90 —their average cost per MAX ride • 49% of their funding is received from payroll taxes • 22% of funding comes from passenger revenues • 20% of funding comes from state and federal funds through grants, etc. • 9% from other funding sources — advertising, sale of land, etc. Service Planners help decide where TriMet services will go; they deal primarily with planning bus routes, scheduling times, and how frequent the service should be, but they also handle small amounts of some of the MAX services. Service Planners are always changing schedules for reliability and timeframes for routes. All schedulers have to be former operators as well. Joe Schweitz (former TTAC member) was a former scheduler with TriMet. TriMet has four goals: 1. Build the transit system—overall system, not just in one area 2. Expand high capacity transit service—MAX, WES, mass transit (TriMet provides some operating funds for street cars) 3. Frequent service— starting with restoring some recent service cuts on lines where trips are crowded and peak times (Line 76 goes through Tigard) 4. Local service— connecting with frequent and high capacity transit services TriMet actively partners with local communities, ODOT, and counties to improve bus stops. They often receive requests about adding service to existing lines and establishing new bus lines. Many factors have to be examined before making extensions to or adding more routes. Route extensions take more driving time and may cause the frequency factor to be degraded or may require adding another bus. Their planners must examine the ridership potential to see if it would be a cost effective value to extend or add the service. There is a 15-rider-per-hour minimum requirement. The ability of buses to maneuver in the proposed area is an important issue as well as the neighborhood's acceptance of it. They also examine sidewalks and other accessibility factors. Tom gave out a matrix handout—What Makes Transit Work (Exhibit A). Tom went on to say that industrial areas are generally not serviced because work schedules were too varied and there were huge parking areas. They look more for a mix of uses or services (residential, office, commercial) that more often makes a route successful. Schedulers will drive the route (morning and evening peak times) and break it into time points/stops. They calculate that 90% of all operators are on time (being early isn't good, late is better). They are always adjusting schedules because of traffic flow changes. Transfers are always hard to time, so frequency is how this situation is handled. This requires less of a wait for transfers, although wheelchair passengers and traffic accidents all have to be considered. I:\Transportation Advisory Committee\201 1\05041 1\Minutes 05-04-11.docx Page 2 of 5 The committee member's concerns and discussion points are summarized as follows: • Many areas of Tigard are underserviced • Some areas of Tigard are several miles from the nearest bus stop • Buses don't go where people want to travel— they'd use if it went where they wanted to go • People want transportation that is convenient for them • Buses going through Tigard are often full before they get here • There are areas in Tigard that meet all the criteria on the matrix chart yet don't have service • 2010 census now available to prove the growth in this area of Washington Co. • Tigard's growth is moving southwest— current routes serve the northeast areas • Could TriMet help with the planning part of developing the HCT corridors? Tom Mills suggested the TTAC participate in TriMet open houses to make suggestions for improvements. He also requested that this committee provide him with a formal request through Judith and include the TTAC's recommendations. He advised the committee when making recommendations that the best routes have lots of varied/mixed businesses, residents, or destination stops. He will look into analyzing the latest census data. He indicated that the recession has cut many existing routes and restoring those services will be TriMet's first priority over establishing new routes or extending routes. He said TriMet would be willing to look into tweaking existing routes if it doesn't cost more money, if the community will accept it, and if it won't degrade the frequency of the existing service. He suggested establishing Park and Rides in key areas as improvements. This subject will be added to a future agenda to continue discussions to make formal suggestions and recommendations to TriMet. 3. 2010-11 Paving Report—Mike McCarthy Mike McCarthy explained the City's basic strategy for maintaining existing pavement to counter the effects of deterioration. Residential streets tend to deteriorate most from the top down due to weathering, and Slurry sealing (thin layer of a mixture of liquid asphalt and sand) is typically most effective on these streets. Streets with high traffic volumes or high truck/bus volumes tend to deteriorate most from the effects of repeated vehicle loading, and these streets are typically maintained by overlaying new asphalt (2 inches thick) over existing deteriorated areas. Mike reviewed the report and maps that outlined where work was done in 2010 and those proposed for future paving maintenance in 2011. The City will be following neighborhood boundaries with the slurry seal project so neighborhood notification of effects and parking options will be addressed more easily. Notifications start two months before they begin the work by providing general information, then more specific details will follow as the date approaches. Pavement overlays are chosen on a street- by-street basis on the basis of pavement condition. Mike reviewed the graph on page 3 of the report regarding the Pavement Condition Index (PCI). The Citywide PCI has increased from 68.1 to 68.7 Although the City is below the optimal goal of 75, we are above the forecasted PCI of 67.9 primarily for three reasons: 1) $1.1 million in Federal ARRA stimulus funding used for pavement overlays; 2) completion of a large slurry seal project in southern I:\Transportation Advisory Committee\2011\050411\Minutes 05-04-11.docx Page 3 of 5 and northwestern Tigard; and 3) a competitive bidding climate, likely due to the poor economy, resulting in low paving prices. While revenues are increasing due to adopted increases in the Street Maintenance Fee, the size of the annual paving program is not increased until these revenues are received. Pavement overlay and slurry seal work will be done in July and August this year. Depending on bid prices received, the size of this summer's pavement overlay project will be adjusted to meet the available budget. He indicated that although oil prices are higher this year, contractors are hungry for work and he's heard that prices will most likely remain the same as last year. 4. Joint Council/TTAC Meeting The group discussed various ideas in preparation for the joint meeting between TTAC and the Tigard City Council. • TTAC will make informed recommendations to Council • Some education may be helpful for councilors who are newer to transportation issues. • Recommendations should be weighed carefully and time and knowledge valued • Council makes the final decision based on TTAC's research and recommendations • Sometimes it takes a very long time to accomplish certain things that require repeated presentations, expanded research and recommendations • TTAC should continue to make recommendations to Council on issues of importance • Gretchen could ask key questions to steer issues the committee wants to focus on • Express TTAC's excitement to move forward with education and research on transportation issues • TTAC makes direct contributions in accomplishing Council Goal 1 A and C through recommendations regarding the Tigard Triangle, High Capacity Transit (HCT),land use, etc. • Staff will make an outline for the next TTAC meeting The joint meeting will be 30-60 minutes with the Council. The work session could include a presentation by several members that could include discussing issues, concerns, project identification, HCT planning, TTAC accomplishments, background, priorities, current and future action items and goals, CIP, design issues, Bike map, Bike/Ped. sub-committee, make suggestions about TriMet, and should include a question and answer period for both sides. Asking key questions is helpful. TTAC will revisit the joint meeting plans and gather more ideas to discuss and finalize at the June 1st meeting. 5. Staff Updates Mike McCarthy recommended revisiting the fees again and will put on an agenda in the future. Judith mentioned the two meeting sessions on May 25 and asked committee members to RSVP about which session they will attend. I:\Transportation Advisory Committee\201 1\05041 1\Minutes 05-04-11.docx Page 4 of 5 Transportation Planning Rule (TPR) deals with development issues that need roads —Judith will present at Council on May 10. There is momentum at the state level to modify TPR to accommodate planning and development. Mike said that staff and Council would have liked to follow TTAC's recommendation of Walnut Street improvements, but federal funding didn't go through. Metro has the say in how those funds are used and they have stated a preference for Main Street over Gaarde. Some group members indicated a desire to find a way to get the Walnut Street project constructed soon. 6. Adjourn —The meeting was adjourned at $:3$ p.m. Twila Willson,TTAC Secretary ATTEST: Christopher Warren, Cha' The next TTAC meeting will be held on Wednesday,June 1, at the Tigard Library 2nd Floor Conference Room, 13500 SW Hall Blvd. from 6.•30pm —8.30pm. I:\Transportation Advisory Comrruttee\2011\050411\141inutcs 05-04-11.docs Page 5 of 5 Exhibit A What Makes Transit Work Doesn'tWorks ' - • High • Low • • Small blocksStreet • Long, winding streets • Grid system Dead-end roads, cul de sacs WX of • Mix (commercial, residential, and • Single use (e.g., all residential or all office uses) industrial) ' - - • Wide sidewalks • Narrow sidewalks • Good lighting • Poor lighting • Street amenities • No intersection markings or signals • Well-marked intersections with signalized crossings Sit- Design Buildings front the street and • Building setback from the street entrances are near the sidewalk and surrounded by parking Parking • Limited • Abundant • Fee-based parking • Free