May 5, 2012 – Meeting Minutes - City of Santa Clarita Transit

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that the changes being made were for the cost of the monthly passes. For two reasons:one to bring the cost more in line with what other agencies in the region are charging andtwo keeping more in line with what the actual cost of the service. The subsidizedprogram will still be in place based on income requirements for seniors. The followingare some examples of the proposed changes: local monthly pass going from $30 to $32,there will be a new monthly pass for the North Hollywood route which will be $100 andthe reduced fare will be $50. The changes being made are for the commuter routes atapproximately $5 more per month and the reduced fare will be 50% less then the actualfull fare. Another change is the cost of the subsidized fare for DAR from $.50 per trip to$.60 per trip. These subsidized tickets used to be called “punch tickets” and we havestopped selling the paper tickets 4 -5 months ago, therefore no longer valid as of May 1,2012. Now it is a subsidized fare purchased on TAP cards. The public hearing scheduledfor the proposed changes is May 24, 2012 as part of the regular council meeting. Ifadopted the new rates would be effective August 5, 2012.Someone asked for the rationale of charging personal care assistants (PCA) whentraveling with a disabled person.Adrian Aguilar stated that the City was not part of the ASI Free Fare Program. The Cityof Santa Clarita is a stand alone program and not reimbursed by Access. When theprogram originally started it was designed to allow seniors to ride local service for freeand provide seniors additional independence and increased mobility throughout the City.Adrian stated that they received feedback that people with disabilities should be includedin this program, therefore, Santa Clarita City Council stated that persons with disabilitieswould be included in the program but PCA’s would have to pay the fare.Someone stated that charging the PCA defeated the purpose of having increased mobilityfor seniors or the disabled if they did not have the money to pay for their PCA to comealong with them.A discussion was made about Access and Metrolink issues. Adrian Aguilar addressedthis issue by saying that it had nothing to do with the local service. The issue had to dowith citizens getting off Metrolink and wanting to continue on the City’s commuterservice for free.Someone suggested a system of using a DAR and/or Para transit vehicle deviated from itsfix route in highly utilized areas for patrons to use by calling in a day in advance.Adrian Aguilar stated this was a good introduction for Jim Moore’s presentation of theTransit Development Plan. In which they will be looking at the Para transit and fixedroute service, its current and future demands, how we can meet that demand, andrecommendations of how it can be financed.Jim Moore of Moore and Associates introduced himself and his business partner Eric, amarket research survey and outreach specialist. Moore and Associates is creating a fiveyear business plan for the continuing development of public transit services in Santa
Clarita. His business is based out of Valencia but they work all over the country andhave experience with implementing DAR zonal fare. The TDP is the blue print that willguide the Santa Clarita plan over the next five years. Moore and Associates encouragespublic participation opportunities and in the last week have administered communitysurveys in 3-4 neighborhoods in Santa Clarita and have received positive feedback. Theywill be conducting additional surveys online, sending out 2000 mailers and issuing DARsurveys focusing on geographically based groups, focus Groups such as senior center andCal Arts. Finally, Moore and Associates will be conducting community workshopswhich will present the information gathered from the surveys to the community. JimMoore wanted to address the committee and wanted to know if the survey was on targetand looking for recommendations for how to reach out to seniors and the disabled tofacilitate their participation.Jim Moore opened up for group discussion, Keith Curry had a question and Jim Mooreresponded by stating that question #6 pertained to the satisfaction regarding possiblecharacteristics most common to the service offered and if he wanted to add another partto the characteristics being addressed Keith could make a suggestion and they would takehis suggestion into consideration.Another question was asked by Kurt Baldwin about how the survey was addressing DARand Access as one survey. Adrian Aguilar addressed this question by stating that thesurvey was originally for DAR but they did not want to exclude Access riders. JimMoore also added that most customers do not differentiate the service as Access and/orDAR; they are more concerned about using the bus to get to and from their destination.Jim stated if the committee felt the need for differentiation he was ready to hearsuggestions for such a change.Further discussion was made about the survey. Adrian Aguilar addressed the concernsand stated that the surveys would help with future planning and give the City ideas ofhow to market and how to better serve the community. Adrian also stated that this couldlead to another opportunity to continue annually to be able to measure trends. Jim Mooreclosed by saying that comments were welcome and appreciated from the committee andthis was only the beginning to finding out the needs of the community.Old BusinessAdrian Aguilar updated everyone on overall On Time Performance for DAR 90.32% and91% for Access. Adrian stated there was a slight drop in call volumes and thought thisdrop had to do with the use of technology and has seen the largest drop in transit relatedcalls.A suggestion was made regarding looking into a system of having the call center callpatrons back instead of holding on the phone. It was discussed that this was something toconsider.
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May 5, 2012 – Meeting Minutes - City of Santa Clarita Transit

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