Capital District                                                                                               November 2, 2009

Transportation Committee      

 

 

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COORDINATION COMMITTEE

RECORD OF MEETING

 

DATE/TIME: October 21, 2009 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

 

ATTENDANCE: Michelle Abel—Catholic Charities of Schenectady County Wheels to Work, Luis Acosta—CDTA; Mike Barry—Center for Disability Services; Ed Biitig—Schenectady County DSS; Mary Ellen Casey-Usis—CDTA; Carol Croak—Rensselaer County DSS; Rocky Ferraro—CDRPC; Denise Figueroa—Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley; Paul Germain—Albany County DSS, Elise Relyea—OTDA; Daniel Roberts—VESID; Deb Stacey—CDTC Staff; Kristina Younger--CDTA

 

STUDY DISCUSSION SUMMARY: After introductions, each agenda item was discussed in sequence:

 

RTCC Activities: 

a.   2008 New Freedom Projects — The RFQ for the purchase and installation of scheduling software was advertised in the Contract Reporter; three proposals were received.  An evaluation team consisting of staff from CDTA, CDTC, Catholic Charities and Schenectady ARC evaluated the proposals received and chose ABS as the vendor. The software was recently installed, and training has just begun.  The ABS system is also used by Access Transit, which will allow for additional coordination.   Catholic Charities and Schenectady ARC hope to add other human service agencies to the ABS system as the project moves forward.

Catholic Charities also submitted a proposal to begin limited weekend service on a trial basis for seniors in the county.  Drivers have been identified, numerous meetings within the county have been held and flyers have been printed. The service will begin on October 31st. Two buses will be used to provide service.  To cover required match, Catholic Charities hopes to provide a minimum of 24 one-way rides per weekend day.

 

b.     2009 Solicitation—The city of Watervliet was the only applicant that responded to the 2009 solicitation.  The city plans to institute shuttle service within the city, connecting senior housing with retail and recreation and with parts of Green Island.  The proposed route would also dovetail with existing CDTA fixed route service, making it easier for seniors and mobility disabled individuals to get where they need to go using CDTA.  CDTA and CDTC will meet with the City on October 29th to discuss the proposed route and to review the budget. 

At the June 2009 RTCC meeting, CDTA was asked to look into expending the remainder of the New Freedom allocations on an Accessible Taxi program.  There are no truly accessible taxis in the Capital Region; this was a need identified in the Coordinated Plan.  CDTA put together a proposal and presented it to the RTCC. The RTCC endorsed the proposal.  Several issues were discussed, such as taxi driver training, airport service/medallions, vehicle type (a brochure on a heavier duty taxi was circulated), and local match requirements.  If CDTA can address legal concerns and other internal issues, it looks like the New Freedom program will fund 8-10 accessible taxis.

 

CDTA:

a.     CST Funding Update-- CST 9 funds are being spent by the counties, but CDTA has not been reimbursed for the expenditures.  CST 9 must be fully spent by June 2010.    Each of the four counties in the Capital Region will receive about $55,000 under CST 10. 

b.     JARC—There are now 4 travel trainers, one in each county.  One of the travel trainers is proficient in Spanish. CDTA recently interviewed candidates for the Mobility Manager position.  A candidate has been selected and this individual will be offered the job and will begin working for CDTA shortly.

c.      Other-- CDTA has been evaluating ridership trends, since the fare was increased in April.  Ridership has declined by eleven percent, but it is difficult to pin the decline solely to the fare increase. The prevalence of bikes on buses has increased four-fold, indicating that people are avoiding transfer fees by getting to the mainline by bike.  Fuel prices, weather, the job market and the economy all play a part in the ridership decline.

Luis has been involved with the consolidation of the Access Transit and the CDTA call centers.  All the call takers are now housed in one place (85 Watervliet Avenue).  Labor issues remain unresolved (some of the call takers are in the Union, some are not).  The STAR dispatch will eventually be moved to the new call center.

 

Schenectady Long Term Care Consortium:

The Schenectady County Long Term Care Consortium was formed in 2002 to promote the long term health and well being of Schenectady County residents. In 2006, the Consortium released Building Partnerships for an Aging Community: 2006-2008 Strategic Plan for the Schenectady County Long Term Care. The strategic plan guides the work of the Consortium.  A transportation workgroup was formed to assist the Consortium to identify transportation goals and issues for the senior population.  Mary Ellen Casey-Usis chairs the workgroup; CDTC, Catholic Charities, the Eddy and Schenectady ARC are all members of the workgroup. 

 

NEXT MEETING:

 

The next meeting of the Regional Transportation Coordination Committee is scheduled for Wednesday February 10, 2010 at 1:30 pm at CDTC’s offices.