body,date,page,text,path
TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,1,"TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MINUTES
OCTOBER 26, 2005
Chair Knox White called the Transportation Commission to order at 7:35 P.M.
1.
ROLL CALL - Roll was called and the following recorded:
Members Present:
John Knox White
Eric Schatmeier
Robb Ratto
Pattianne Parker
Jeff Knoth (arrived at 7:45 P.M.)
Robert McFarland (arrived at 7:50 P.M.)
Absent:
Michael Krueger
Staff Present:
Barbara Hawkins, City Engineer
Barry Bergman, Program Specialist II, Public Works
Ernest Sanchez, Ferry Manager
2.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Knox White noted that at the September meeting the motion for approval of the July
minutes was made by Commissioner Parker and seconded by Commissioner Ratto. He also
stated that above ""staff communications"" there was a decision to table the discussion of the
proposed task force to address input into selected Oakland projects until the October meeting.
With these changes, the minutes were approved unanimously.
3.
AGENDA CHANGES
Chair Knox White indicated that Item 7A, City of Alameda Ferry Program: Short Range Transit
Plan (SRTP), would be taken up once Staff Sanchez arrives.
4.
COMMISSION COMMUNICATIONS
The Multimodal Circulation Subcommittee will meet immediately after the Transportation
Commission meeting with Staff Hawkins and Staff Bergman to discuss the comments on the draft
proposal plan. On November 2, the Multimodal Circulation Task Force will meet in Room 391
starting at 7:30 p.m. The Subcommittee will then bring the draft plan to the next TC meeting on
November 16th. incorporating feedback from the Task Force. The next two months the TC
meetings will be held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month instead of the 4th due to the holidays.
Since the December meeting is currently scheduled for December 21, which is close to the
holidays, a change to December 14 will be considered at the November meeting, if there are
1",TransportationCommission/2005-10-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,2,"issues that need to be discussed at the December meeting. Otherwise, the December meeting
may be cancelled.
5.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - NON-AGENDIZED ITEMS
None.
6.
OLD BUSINESS
6A.
I-880 Access Issues and Alameda/Oakland Coordination Activities
Chair Knox White recommended that instead of forming a task force, as was previously
discussed that the TC agenda include a quarterly update on all the Oakland projects that affect
the tubes or bridge access.
Staff Parker thought it was a good idea especially with the shortness of staff time and with the
budget. She suggested having a quarterly update on all projects for the first six months, after
which there would be a quarterly written and semi annual oral report.
Chair Knox White agreed.
Staff Hawkins responded that the recommendation will be brought to the City Manager, who will
present it to the City Council.
Commissioner Parker moved to accept the recommendation and Commissioner Knoth
seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously.
Commissioner Parker asked if the membership in the Chinatown committee was accurate.
Staff Hawkins said that a representative of the Alameda Planning Board as well as two
representatives city at large should also be included.
Commissioner Parker asked that the description be modified to reflect that.
Commissioner Ratto asked why PSBA is not part of the process for the Park Street Triangle
project.
Staff Hawkins said that Oakland was asking that Alameda take responsibility for notifying
interested community members and will let us know when the meetings will be held.
Staff Bergman added that he had included Commissioner Ratto's name on the list to be notified
about upcoming meetings for the project.
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TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,3,"7B Transportation
Systems
Management/Transportation Demand Management
(TSM/TDM) Plan
Staff Bergman summarized the staff report. He noted that there are two activities associated with
the TSM/TDM Plan that are currently beginning: 1) the employee sponsored transit pass, about
which there have been discussions with AC Transit, which has developed some preliminary
costs. The program is being looked at for City of Alameda employees, but could potentially
include employees of the college and the Alameda Unified School District. 2) a study exploring
the feasibility of shuttles. A demonstration on an electric bus was done earlier this year. Staff is
proposing to bring a consultant in to do an evaluation on different types of technologies that are
available for shuttles. Any proposed shuttle would involve connecting to the regional
transportation system, such as especially BART and the ferries, but the proposed study would not
include an analysis of routes. Staff Bergman passed out a general description as to what the
consultant could do to help us get a handle on the pluses and minus of the different technologies
and operations scenarios.
Commissioner Parker mentioned that there have been studies in the past by WABA and other
organizations on this. She asked if these studies had been considered.
Staff Hawkins and Staff Bergman responded that they were not aware of any such studies.
Commissioner Parker recommended that staff to look into any work of this type that has already
been completed.
Commissioner Parker asked for clarification regarding the cost of the transit pass.
Staff Bergman said that the number is a preliminary number depending if the schools and college
would be participating. Was discussed at the Inter Agency Liaison Committee Councilmember
Matarrese suggested that we do some kind of transit pass purchase as a pilot program to see what
response we would get.
Commissioner Parker asked if the cost of the pass accounted for City costs to administer the pass
program.
Staff Bergman stated that the cost is preliminary. It could change if the College of Alameda and
the Alameda Unified School District decide to participate. He noted that at the October 12
Interagency Liaison Committee meeting, Councilmember Matarresse suggested that before
entering into a program for all City staff we could try purchasing transit passes on a trial basis for
staff to see what kind of response there would be.
Commissioner Parker mentioned that there are members of City boards, commissions and
committees that might be interested in participating in the program and could help to boost the
number of participants if that would help to bring the cost down.
Staff Bergman said that they were only looking at full time employees but this could be discussed
with AC Transit to see how it would affect the analysis.
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TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,4,"Chair Knox White asked if the purpose of the consultant work would be to look at the routes or
the potential technologies for the shuttle.
Staff Bergman mentioned that identifying routes would come later. The council has expressed an
interest in electric vehicles, so the intent of the analysis is to get a better understanding of the
costs and benefits of utilizing this type of technology. Looking at the routes would be the next
phase.
Chair Knox White suggested that the program should be developed first, and then various types
of vehicles should be analyzed in terms of how they would help meet the objectives of that
program.
Staff Hawkins said that the Council gave the direction to look at electric vehicles, but not at other
types of vehicles. The intention of this work scope was to assess the advantages and
disadvantages of electric vehicles and provide this information to the Transportation
Commission. The Commission could then pass along its recommendations to the Council so that
they could make an informed decision before making any commitments to buy or lease these
vehicles.
Commissioner Parker expressed similar concerns to Chair Knox White, and suggested that the
purpose of the vehicles should be identified before trying to select an appropriate vehicle type.
Chair Knox White recommended to hold off hiring a consultant until the needs and goals of the
shuttle program are in place especially routing ridership capacity are known.
Commissioner Parker added that it is also important to consider how vehicles could be used by
the City for purposes other than operating a shuttle service.
Chair Knox White moved that the Commission recommend that the City hold off on hiring a
consultant to study shuttle vehicle technology until the needs and goals of the shuttle program,
specifically routing and ridership capacity are known. Commissioner Knoth seconded the
motion. Motion passed, 4-1 (Ratto).
7A. City of Alameda Ferry Program: Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP)
Staff Sanchez presented the staff report. He noted that that the plan assumes that the base level of
operations would continue, that the Main Street ferry terminal would continue to remain the base
of operations in Alameda, and that the City would continue to operate the service.
Public Comment Open
Bill Smith stated that CalStart did a study and a conference on Last Mile Served. He
recommended the development of a bus rapid transit service on the north side of the island and
an associated feeder system.
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TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,5,"Public Comment Closed
Commissioner Parker noted that the Alameda/Oakland Ferry Service is currently running at 16%
occupancy, and asked why the boats are so much larger than the demand.
Staff Sanchez acknowledged that the occupancy load is low, and that the reason is partially
historical. The City was able to purchase the Encinal from Blue and Gold Fleet in 1997 at a very
good price. The existing boat - the Bay Breeze - could carry only 250 people, so people were
being left at the dock. Some runs have much higher capacity than others, especially on
weekends during the summer along with certain holidays, so a decision was made to use the
larger boats to accommodate these heavier used runs. The smaller boat was sent over to Harbor
Bay to run that service. The Water Transit Authority just received bids today to build two 149
passenger boats, and these boats could be available to the City in two years.
Commissioner Schatmeier asked if there was any difference operating a big boat to a small boat
with crew and operating cost.
Staff Sanchez said that the fuel consumption is the biggest cost. Fuel is $2.55 a gallon for diesel
now. The Express 2 uses about 52 gallons per operational hour and the Encinal burns 65 gallons
per operational hour. Staffing costs are about the same, although an additional deck hand is
required if there are more than 200 passengers.
Chair Knox White asked if the document is primarily a financial document.
Staff Sanchez answered yes. The passenger goals come up in the discussion on maintaining the
40% farebox recovery ratio.
Chair Knox White said that he felt it would be helpful to have some information about the
number of people who access the ferries via AC Transit. Also, the report says that passengers
should pay their ""fair share"" which suggests that they are not currently doing so. He noted that a
goal of the plan is to achieve a significant share of trips, but asked if that goal had been
identified.
Staff Sanchez indicated that it has not.
Chair Knox White noted that the plan states that transit times for ferries should be comparable to
other modes, and asked if this is door-to-door or for the transit trip. He said that if it is for the
transit trip only, it would also be helpful to include information about door-to-door times.
Staff Sanchez responded that this was for the transit trip only.
Chair Knox White also noted that the Alameda Oakland Ferry has a significantly higher farebox
recovery rate than other ferry services in the region.
5",TransportationCommission/2005-10-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,6,"Staff Sanchez noted that the farebox recovery rates for the Harbor Bay Ferry have increased from
32% to 49%.
Commissioner Schatmeier noted that the parking lot at the Harbor Bay Ferry seems nearly full,
and asked if this is a constraint on future growth. He also stated that he has noticed a significant
number of people commuting to Alameda, and asked if the City has looked into marketing this
service for commuters into Alameda.
Staff Sanchez said that the parking limitations are not at a cap. Water transit authority has looked
at the potential of providing shuttles, and they have funding from Measure 2 to finance shuttles.
Reverse commute has been looked at, and a free ride was offered on the ferry for riders. The
results of this promotion have not been determined.
Commissioner Parker asked if the Harbor Bay recovery was money generated or if it included
complimentary trips.
Staff Sanchez said that it was calculated by actual revenue divided by actual operational cost.
Commissioner Parker referred to Page VII. She asked why the costs varied so significantly in
the base operating plan from year to year.
Staff Sanchez said it may include capital costs, but that he would look at the numbers. He also
noted that the City does not have money for new vessels or major facility changes, and noted that
all vessels have been refurbished in the last 2 years. If fuel prices were to escalate, the City
would have to determine how to raise fares or cut expenses.
Chair Knox White noted that it is assumed that there will be an annual increase of 3 1/2 % in gas
prices in the next 10 years. Is that low or is it a new industry standard?
Staff Sanchez said this is a standard number but if there are significant changes in gas prices the
City may revisit the plan.
Commissioner Ratto moved to accept report as written with a copy of questions and comments
attached to it. Commissioner Schatmeier seconded the motion. Motion was unanimously
approved - 5.
8.
Staff Communications
TMP Schedule
Staff Bergman passed out the revised TMP schedule. He noted that this includes the remaining
part of the circulation plan, pedestrian plan and the TSM/TDM plan.
Staff Bergman reminded the Commission that Wednesday November 2 is the Task Multimodal
Circulation Task Force Meeting, and the following Wednesday November 9th is the Public
Workshop for the Pedestrian Plan.
6",TransportationCommission/2005-10-26.pdf
TransportationCommission,2005-10-26,7,"Chair Knox White noted that Michael Kruger and Jeff Knoth are on the Pedestrian Plan Sub-
Committee but there is one more space available if anyone is interested.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 P.M.
G:\pubworks\LT\TRANSPORTATIONICOMMITTEES\TC\2005\1105\102605 TC Minutes.do
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