AC TRANSIT DISTRICT GM Memo No. 09-217d Board of Directors ...

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The following are the numbers of comments received by media/source: Media/Source Count Workshop 395 Public Hearings 138 Testimony, 83 Written Letters 69 E-mail 467 Website 1,226 Phone 98 Petitions 2,283 signatories to 14 petitions Customer Service 19 GM Memo 09-217d Attachment A1 Page 3 of 6 There is some overlap of categories within the counts listed above, as some comments were submitted on multiple lines or by multiple mediums. In particular, many individuals submitted comments at the Public Workshops as well as on the AC Transit Website. As a result, there may be several hundred overlapped comments appearing in the tallies listed above. It should also be noted that not all individual comments were regarding a specific line. Nearly half of all general comments were related to revising the District’s transfer policy to lengthen the amount of time that the transfer is effective. There were also several general comments regarding support for the proposed use of Bus Rapid Transit funds for service preservation and opposition to the District’s use of Van Hool buses. While not route specific, these changes were submitted in response to the Service Adjustments Plan, and so are mentioned here. In an attempt to make the comments as user friendly as possible for Staff, the AC Transit Board of Directors and the Public, the comments received were indexed, in five separate binders, in the following way: • Individual comments were organized by route. • Workshop comments were grouped by workshop location. • Petitions and letters from elected officials and community organizations were separated. • Specific service changes receiving an unusually large number of comments in opposition, such as service elimination to the Oakland Zoo, were grouped together. After categorizing and filing each Public Comment, Staff began analysis of the comments for trends, and to categorize them as either positive (pro) or negative (con) by both individuals and organizations. Comments that we deemed most useful to Staff in planning potential service add-backs were highlighted and entered into a separate document, the 2009 Service Adjustments Plan Public Comment Table (Table 2, SAP Comments). 3
GM Memo 09-217d Attachment A1 Page 4 of 6 General, Non-Route Specific Comments Individual tally counts and highlighted comments can be read in the full SAP Database. However a few summary comments are made here in order to help delineate overarching themes and items of particular interest. The first of these topics concerns suggestions from the Public of how the District might operate more efficiently. Since some of these suggestions seem to come up repeatedly, a few of them are addressed here, and individual examples have been quoted as they were received in the Public Comments. Comment – “Consider smaller buses rather than reducing frequencies” Response – When fuel, maintenance, operators’ salaries (operators are paid the same amount regardless of the size of bus they are driving), etc., are factored in, there is actually no significant cost difference between operating a small bus and larger one. That said, we do use smaller, 30-foot buses whenever we can, most notably on lines in the hills with narrow, winding streets. Even then, smaller buses are not always practical, given ridership volume. It’s important to remember that while you may not see your neighborhood bus full in the middle of the day, chances are that it is well-used during commute times. Likewise, if you see a bus near the end of its line, it will likely have fewer people on it. Comment – “Employ used and older buses/vehicles” Response – AC Transit employs a rigorous system of both preventative and responsive maintenance and tries to maximize the use that we get out of each vehicle purchased. However, buses, like other vehicles, reach an age where it can be more costly to keep repairing the vehicle than to replace it. In addition, the District must adhere to many guidelines for emissions, etc., that older buses may not meet. There are strict guidelines regarding what type of bus may be operated, and the condition that it must be in, that do not always make it possible to keep older vehicles in service. Comment – “Use a Dial-a-Ride type service with vans instead” Response – Operations costs for demand-responsive services, like Dial-a-Ride, are more expensive per passenger than running a fixed route on a given line. As mentioned above, the bulk of the costs associated with operations of a bus route are embedded in labor costs. Provision of fixed route transit allows operators to spread administrative costs over more lines due to the relative efficiency of fixed route operations. In contrast, demand-responsive services require substantially more resources for effective dispatching and are considerably more costly to operate. In addition, demand responsive services of the type described above would hold fewer passengers per vehicle, with the same fare, resulting in a higher cost per passenger. Comment - “Why don’t you cut back on salaries, including the General Manager and drivers, instead of cutting bus routes?” Response – Staff produced $12.9 million dollars in cost savings in Fiscal Year 2009- 10. Staff is committed to implementing more efficient ways to provide service. As a 4
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AC TRANSIT DISTRICT GM Memo No. 09-217d Board of Directors ...

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