U-PASS Advisory Board May 28th, 2013 Present: ASUW Miles Fernandez Sean Wilson GPSS Zach Nostdal Greg Behrens Transportation Services Celeste Gilman Katie Bass Lee Schooley Guests KK Saha I. II. III.
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Call to order at 9:10 am Public comment period a. No one is present to speak Approval of minutes a. Motion (Sean): So moved b. Second (Zach): Seconded c. No objections Approval of agenda a. Motion (Sean): So moved b. Second (Zach): Seconded c. No objections NightRide Project Preliminary Update – Schooley a. Comment (Lee): I oversee the NightRide contract that this body provides funding for. Earlier this year you all agreed to a pilot project to expand service hours for the NightRide shuttle. As you know, we have been doing a pilot project to test expanded hours, I am here to report the first month of data that we have from the pilot project. Just to remind you, we have a new 12:30 am, 1:00am and 1:30 am shuttle run using one vehicle as our pilot project. We saw 392 riders in April. There was an average of 18 passengers per night, or 6 riders per shuttle. The cost breakdown is $6.02 for those riders. The cost per ride not during the pilot hours is $1.75 lower than that. I would impress upon the group that a decision about the success of the project needs to be made either at the end of this quarter or over the
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summer. The vendor needs 30 days as per their contract to change their operating hours. Comment (Sean): My inclination is to wait before we make any sort of decision. I think that we might be getting more riders on the later shuttles as we get closer to finals week. It’s possible that ridership behavior is different that week. I think that it would be important to capture that information before we decide. i. Comment (Lee): I entirely agree. Comment (Zach): What’s important too is that it’s a new service, so people are probably still learning about the extended hours. That will likely change behavior over time. Comment (Lee): I agree. Also perhaps of interest, the last run of the evening is the most popular. Question (Celeste): Wasn’t that also the case before the extended hours as well? i. Comment (Lee): I haven’t looked at that data, so I’m not sure. Comment (Sean): I’m not sure if we are meeting this summer or not, it might just be the Association presidents that meet in our stead, but either way, we will have a decision about the NightRide pilot before time runs out in the fall. Comment (Lee): I’ve talked to the vendors about how it’s going. Basically, they say it’s going well. However, the drivers say that with only one shuttle operating, it is sometimes tough for them to get back in time for their next run. I think that if we continue this, and if ridership goes up, we will probably want to look at changing the schedule or adding a second shuttle for East and West. However, that would double the cost, so it’s something to think about. Question (Sean): Can you remind me of where the East and West zones split? Comment (Lee): It gets split along 15th. It goes to 35th, Ravenna, the ship canal and I-5. The dispersion of where people are going is wide. Question (Celeste): So what would the Advisory Board like to know in order to make this decision? Comment (Sean): I think the numbers Lee gave were pretty solid. I would want continuation of those numbers. It would also be nice to know where people are getting dropped off. Comment (Lee): We are working on plotting it on a map. Comment (Miles): We might be able to consider this issue at our transition meeting/Board retreat. Comment (Lee): So, should I plan of presenting to the group again when we have more robust data or just sending everything to Katie so she can send it out to the group? i. Comment (Sean): Our next meeting is probably too soon for you to have more robust data. So, let’s shoot for a few weeks after the end of the quarter for you to update us.
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o. Comment (Lee): If there are other factors that you want to consider in order to make this decision, let me or Katie know and we will work to get it to you. p. Comment (Celeste): I think that ridership over time would be interesting to see. Contingency update – Gilman a. Comment (Celeste): There really isn’t anything to update at this point. Advisory Board Retreat – Fernandez a. Comment (Miles): ASUW appointments to the Board will be up by Monday. We have a record number of people applying to get positions on this Board. I don’t know exactly when we want to set our retreat since we don’t have everyone on board yet. Also, I don’t know about GPSS and when they are going to appoint a third member. b. Comment (Zach): I talked to someone in one of my classes about joining. He was interested but I’m not sure where in the application/appointment process he is. c. Comment (Sean): We can also help him get through that process if he came to our meetings. d. Comment (Miles): I supposed we can talk to Chris, the incoming GPSS President and see if we can get that figured out. Katie, have you heard any word from Erin? i. Comment (Katie): No. I haven’t. e. Comment (Miles): Steven Do wants to stay on, but I think that he’s the only one. f. Question (Miles): Do we know when our appointments officially end? g. Comment (Katie): According to the bylaws, they are through the end of May. So, Miles if you would touch base with me when you have new appointments, we will get a time scheduled for the Board retreat. Agenda setting a. Comment (Miles): Is there anything anyone wants on the agenda for the next meeting? b. Question (Katie): How/when are we going to schedule that? c. Comment (Miles): I think that falls to the next board. Adjournment at 9:30 am