U-PASS Advisory Board Meeting January 26th, 2018 1:00-2:00 HUB 238

Attendees Bucoda Warren Sydney Pearce (proxy for Tori Hernandez) Eryn Hall Anna Johnson Brian O’Rourke Noah An Jacob Turpin Evan Ulman Jacob Brett Zach Howard Absent Jonathan Dang Anne Eskridge Steven Tuttle Jacob Turpin Tori Hernandez Rene Singleton I. II. III.

Five Minute Public Comment Period a. No public comment. Approval of the Agenda and Previous Meeting Minutes a. The agenda and previous meeting minutes are approved. U-PASS Financials Update a. KEENEY: Revenue is up from what is projected in the budget. Total funding is coming in at $7.6 million and we were planning for a little less than that. Our total operating expenses are down too. What that does is creates a surplus of about a quarter million less than $3 million. b. CONT: The second page is a detail of the other program expenses. The transit fees make up a large majority of the expenses. c. CONT: Are there any questions? d. HOWARD: Our agreement with the Advisory Board (AB) is that we will propose any changes to the U-PASS fee in January for the next academic year. There is no change this year, but just to be formal, Transportation Services proposes that the fee be kept the same at $84 for the 2018-2019 academic year. e. WARREN: Are there any things we need to do in relation to the financials? f. HOWARD: Because there are no changes to the fee, there is nothing the AB needs to do.

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g. CONT: We are nearing twice the amount of the budgeted surplus held in trust. The question then, is, how much surplus is too much? This is really something for the Advisory Board to answer. I don’t see any reason to make any changes at this time but questions may arise from your constituents about the purpose of the trust and why we collect the money that we do. h. KEENEY: Were we going to make any comments about rate adjustments on the part of the transit agencies? i. HOWARD: Sure. The reason why we have the fund balance is to protect against changes in transit expenses, like King County Metro’s (KCM) fare simplification. Any difference not covered by existing revenue would be extracted from the trust. We are glad that we have a sufficient cushion to absorb the impact from the simplification, which is estimated at over $500,000. Sound Transit (ST) is also considering fare simplification but that would likely result in less than a $100,000 difference. There is a link to a public comment survey online about fare simplification in advance of next Generation ORCA. j. AN: Which ST proposal would have the least impact on the U-PASS? k. HOWARD: The one that involves express buses, which would have a negligible but non-zero increase on the U-PASS program’s costs. l. BRETT: We don’t have a lot of usage on the transit modes affected by that rate change proposal. m. CONT: There is also the potential for monorail integration with ORCA, but given the fact that the monorail line doesn’t connect to campus, we don’t believe there will be any significant impact on U-PASS. n. HOWARD: There is also an expansion of the fast ferry service planned for this summer. The fares for those trips are expensive and add up quickly but are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. o. WARREN: Asks for any other questions and comments. Seeing none, moves on. Work Plan Report Out a. WARREN: Are there any updates on marketing ORCA Lift to students? b. HOWARD: The Transportation Choice Coalition is looking to establish an organization like UW Transportation Services (TS) in the U-District which would alert citizens about transit options with other employers besides the university. They are in talks with ORCA Lift about partnering to sell discounted ORCA passes to eligible customers. We want to make sure we have clear messaging on ORCA Lift eligibility and enrollment ourselves. At the end of Spring Quarter, we send out an email to everyone who has not registered for summer quarter with information on how to sign up for ORCA Lift. c. WARREN: And this group is looking to establish that organization in the long term? d. BRETT: Yes. The intention is to make sure everyone in the U-District has the resources to commute. e. WARREN: In the long term, would this be a group we can collaborate with instead of calling in King County to register students for ORCA Lift? f. HOWARD: We can certainly consider that. It’s really not an issue to have representatives from King County come to campus to register students, but having a location to do so in the U-District could be more convenient to some.

g. WARREN: Are there any updates on bike share changes? h. BRETT: Right now we are looking at overhauling our contract model [with the bike share companies]. Our main goals are to figure out how we can improve right-of-way access on campus, like when bikes are parked improperly. Another big piece is the subsidized bike helmet program. We are currently drafting an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ASUW Bike Shop to use grant money to distribute helmets on campus at a lower cost. We are also talking about ways we can distribute helmets on a quarterly basis. i. HOWARD: We are still unsure whether it would be possible to integrate the Husky Card with the bike share apps. We are talking with other universities to figure out what kind of promotions they are negotiating with bike share companies on their campuses. j. WARREN: Do you have any interesting updates on electric bike share units? k. BRETT: That should be rolling out from some companies in February. However, the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) says that electric bikes cannot be used on paths or walkways, so we are working on our messaging so students know the lawful and safe way to operate electric bikes. l. WARREN: Will there be any enforcement methods TS will be forced to take? m. HOWARD: We have met with UWPD to explore this. We are looking to educate riders ahead of time. It will be challenging, and we are looking to amend the WAC in light of the new units. n. HALL: Gives update on U-PASS outreach. Says HERNANDEZ and myself were working on including safety information in our outreach materials. o. WARREN: Is there anything new about the Link Light Rail extension? p. HOWARD: None that I have heard of. Relatedly, the University District Partnership is coming up with a plan to improve [the location of the new light rail station] in the U-District to make it better integrated for pedestrians and cyclists. That may be some opportunities for public input coming shortly. q. WARREN: Are there any updates with UW Bothell’s and UW Tacoma’s U-PASS [programs]? r. HOWARD: We spoke with UWT about their survey progress. They would welcome your outreach to student leaders at UWT. Their current U-PASS is $45 per quarter which is subsidized by parking fees. They are making changes to their parking fees and so they want [to switch to] a universal model. If the survey comes back affirmative, the U-PASS becomes universal and stays at $45 per quarter. If it fails, their U-PASS will lose much of its subsidy and go up to $80 per quarter. s. CONT: The AB came about as a result of robust student advocacy. If you want to have that conversation with UWT student leaders, we can facilitate that. t. WARREN: I will definitely reach out to their student leaders. u. CONT: Are there any other updates? v. JOHNSON: One of our senators was following [transportation policy in] the legislature. One house bill (HB) would undermine light rail extension. Can you elaborate on that?

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w. BRETT: There is a big debate about car tab taxes. Under ST3, car tabs went up greatly. This HB in question would eliminate this increase and impact the funding of ST3. Potentially, light rail development could be delayed. x. HOWARD: It is worth noting that the Northgate expansion is ST2 and would remain unaffected. y. JOHNSON: I might pass my senator on to you guys [to help answer his questions]. z. WARREN: Let’s move on to the next agenda item. Marketing and NightRide Updates a. BRETT: We met with UW Shuttles and they said that it might not be best to expand U-PASS during Dawg Daze. The [NightRide] shuttles have a capacity of about 30 and the expected attending is 1,200. It might be a negative experience if all of those people wanted to use the shuttle during that time. b. CONT: This could be managed better by marketing the NightRide service better. The better option would be to pursue a contract service, like a bus, but there is not enough money in the budget to do so at this time. c. HOWARD: The ask would be whether the AB thinks it is a prudent use of funds to contract a service for Dawg Daze. d. BRETT: The two options we have from First Year Programs (FYP) is to not expand shuttle service at all, decide whether to contract a service, or do Shuttles and market it better (sic). e. WARREN: If we contract a coach, does that come from the reserve? f. HOWARD: Yes. You would need to justify for that. The question for you to decide is, is this the best use of student U-PASS dollars? g. ULMAN: Last year there was a promotion with Uber where student received free rides back home from one of the events. I do not know if that promotion is ongoing, but if so, it reduces the need for extended NightRide during that week. h. JOHNSON: I am hesitant that an expansion of service during Dawg Daze is necessary. It seems like there are a large number of volunteers could coordinate safe travel home. i. BRETT: FYP suggested the same. Suggests voting on this issue next week. j. O’ROURKE: Couldn’t the bus just drop students off at a different location closer to the dorms? k. AN: I believe they do that already. l. WARREN: We can come back to this next week. m. HALL: For marketing, we are interested in producing a video to promote NightRide. HERNANDEZ had asked for the TS marketing team’s contact information to begin work on that. We also considered analyzing other school’s marketing materials to help our own campaign. Additionally, we would like to create an online resource where students can find links to download transit apps. n. HOWARD: We can get you in contact with our Communications team. We can also suggest transit apps that we think are useful; we also have a personalized commute planning service which we can include in these promotions. o. WARREN: If there are no more work plan updates, let’s move on to the next agenda item. Senate Presentations Overview

a. PEARCE: HERNANDEZ has asked me to say that she would prefer TS present to the GPSS Senate. b. HOWARD: We think it best that the AB present to their Senates. We are beholden to the AB, not the student senates. Leadership on this issue should really come from the AB as the governing body of the student U-PASS. We consider this crucial for accountability. We are of course happy to help with presentations in any way possible. I suggest that AB members deliver these presentations. We will be available for questions, but if students are clamoring for policy options, they should direct those ideas to the AB. c. WARREN: I can talk with HERNANDEZ about that. d. JOHNSON: O’BRIAN and myself can collaborate on our presentation with the Senate. e. WARREN: I can speak on our work plan and our job in general before our senate. f. JOHNSON: I will check with our senate leaders to schedule a time to hold that presentation. g. WARREN: Are there any last comments before we adjourn? h. BRETT: We have received preliminary data back from our survey team and it looks like U-PASS satisfaction rates are up from last year. We will be able to give you more information about survey results next week. i. WARREN: Seeing no further comments, moves to adjourn. Adjourned at 1:49

Meeting Minutes Prepared by EVAN ULMAN U-PASS Liaison