Regional Transit Partnership (2017-2025) Meeting   7/22/2021

Now we're legal, I think.

That's great.

Welcome, everybody.

And I am pleased to see all of you at the Regional Transit Partnership meeting.

And today is Thursday, July the 22nd.

It's gorgeous outside.

I think we should be outside for our meeting.

But welcome, everyone.

The first order of business, as you all know, is to read the

Notice of Electronic Meeting, so let me do that first.

This meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership is being held pursuant to Code of Virginia 2.2-3708-2, which allows a public body to hold electronic meetings when the locality in which it is located has declared a local state of emergency.

The catastrophic nature of the emergency makes it impractical

or unsafe to assemble a quorum in a single location.

And the purpose of the meeting is to provide for the discharge

of its lawful purposes, duties, and responsibilities.

This meeting is being held via electronic video and audio, meaning through Zoom online meetings, and is accessible to the public with closed captioning, and there will be an opportunity for public comment during that portion of the agenda.

Notice has been provided to the public through notice at the TJPDC offices to the media, website posting, and agenda.

The meeting minutes will reflect the nature of the emergency.

The meeting was held by electronic communications means and the type of electronic communication means by which the meeting was held.

A recording of the meeting will be posted at the tjpdc.org website within 10 days of the meeting.

So with that, we have an agenda before us.

And I need approval of the agenda.

I believe I would entertain

Oh, attendance.

I'm sorry.

I forgot about that.

I'm following my script incorrectly, I guess.

Sure.

And everyone, as always, I won't be able to see you.

So please respond verbally.

Lucas Ames, John Urban,

Has B joined us?

Not yet.

Nikaya Walker, City of Charlottesville.

Present.

Thank you, Hal.

Becca White, UVA.

I'm present, thank you Garland Williams, Cat Present Karen Davis, Jaunt Present Jim Foley, Albemarle County Student Transportation I am present Sandy Shackelford, MPO Staff Present Sarah Pennington, Rideshare Present Sally Lebeau, UVA Hospital

Peter Thompson, Charlottesville Area Alliance.

Great.

Thank you very much.

And our next order of business is to approve the agenda.

So I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda, please.

I move we approve the agenda.

That's Becca and second?

Second.

Who was second?

Oh, Nakaya.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed in any abstentions?

So we have an agenda before us.

And the next order of business will be the matters from the public.

And the public has three minutes to speak.

It looks like there is one member of the public who's joining us.

Great.

Let's see if she does.

If you wish to speak, you can just unmute yourself.

You have three minutes.

The next item on the agenda is approval of the draft meeting minutes from June.

So are there any comments, edits, questions about the minutes as they were presented?

If not, I'll entertain a motion for approval.

Yeah, sorry.

That's okay.

That's a good catch.

So the letter was not in our packet, is what you're saying.

So Christine is nodding her head and Jessica is nodding her head.

Yes.

OK.

So I'd like, however the record can show, of course, the letter will be there.

And Christine and I have talked a little bit about this.

But there's a statement in the letter about UVA.

changing the letter or anything, of course, but I just if there's an opportunity to add to this meeting's minutes, a comment on the minutes and Christine said I could do this, is that there's a reference to UVA getting our transit fleet to 100% EV by within some number of years.

And I just wanted to clarify that UVA does not has not published a timeline for our

exploration into EV transit buses, and that the statement I'd like to make is just that we're exploring that option to meet UVA sustainability goals.

We can surely do that.

Thank you.

And I see the correct nodding of heads from the right folks.

So with that, I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes with that additional statement from Becca to be included.

Is there a motion from someone?

So we have a motion and a second.

Any abstentions?

One.

Nikaya, probably because you were not present, I would

You had to leave early.

I remember, Nikaya.

Okay, anyone voting no?

So the motion passes with one abstention.

All right, so we have our meeting minutes completed.

Member Spotlight is next, and it looks like to me Neil Sherman and Garland Williams are going to be the Spotlight folks.

which is exciting.

So with that, would you all like to take it away?

The spotlight is of course, as you all know, an opportunity to get to know everyone.

For those who, I think I've been coming to the meetings for about two years now, I'm Neil Sherman with the Department of Real Public Transportation and I'm the Director of Statewide Transit Programs and I guess normally I would tell you how long I've been in the state, but since there are people here at this meeting who weren't born when I started, I'd prefer not to go in that direction.

but I will tell you I started at the Virginia Department of Transportation and was able to move over to what was then a Division of Department of Rail and Public Transportation and later became the Department of Rail and Public Transportation and I will tell you the difference has been working in a large program at VDOT and coming into DRBT is just a wonderful thing.

We're a small agency

and so we've always had situations where we can get out to work with the public and work with our agencies, our grantees and I think as an agency we've had a lot of successes throughout the state and I think the enjoyment is

working with the transit systems and seeing what they're trying to do and helping them out as best we can because they're on the front line doing that.

And so I will tell you, I spent a lot of time in the first part of my career is working with the elderly disabled programs in public transportation and human service.

So I've always found that to be a wonderful benefit to working and seeing

What produces out there when you put vehicles out there that are useful?

I know that I've been told many times the vehicles we provide, provide people to get to programs that they could not get to before and see where they go.

And so I think that's been vital, but in the last five years,

This has been, I've been as a director working throughout the state and everything but Northern Virginia, just seeing the growth of transit.

knowing the work that provides state funding.

And there are a lot of states that don't.

We do meet with the other states to see what our role is.

It's just beneficial.

And I think just in the last 15 months, and I really want to compliment the transit systems and the programs that had to put

put transit out during the COVID and to continue, which is still the pandemic going on, that we were very excited and proud to say that we had very

Very few shutdowns or slowdowns and people really, drivers and directors went out in the front line to get service out there to people who normally couldn't get to shopping and medical trips and things and so just

You know, I would say the last two years have benefited working in state and seeing what that is.

And, you know, I think we provide some assistance to getting state money, early day agencies, and then later to working with the federal program to do that.

So just just like to say, you know, we've always as agency, most of the places we go, we feel welcome when we come.

because we do go out and do meetings and we do go out and do tours and we're not always doing compliance reviews.

That's great.

I appreciate it, Neil.

Very interesting.

So it's fun to learn a little bit about all of our members as we go through these, uh, get to know yous.

Hey Garland, do you mind if I step in really fast?

We have a call-in number.

I want to ensure that B is on the line.

I apologize for jumping in.

Very good, thank you so much.

Can you hear me?

And then yes, we can hear you perfectly well.

Yep, sorry Garland.

Thank you, Christine, for taking care of B.

Sure.

So following Neil.

So I finished Virginia Commonwealth University in 1993 with a degree in economics.

At that time, it was pretty tough getting the job, but I did find an opportunity with the state at that time.

And I enrolled in the state's management apprenticeship program for transit.

That program was headed up by Darrell Fiesel at the time.

And I was sent out to Roanoke, Virginia.

So I spent two years working with Radar, which is their paratransit provider, and Valley Metro.

After those two, about two and a half years, I was going to graduate school, going back to VCU,

Got an opportunity to go to GRTC as a planning assistant at the time.

That's where I met Neil Sherman.

That was 1995.

So we've known each other for over 25 years, dating ourselves here.

The director at that time was Raul Axton.

He's passed away now, but Raul was a great guy and we've had, so I spent

Seven and a half years working my way up through transit at GRTC.

I was assistant director of scheduling at the time and left, went to the city of Richmond just before the change over in government.

So I worked with the city manager there before it became a strong mayor form of government.

I was a senior planning and management assistant

I'm planning management analyst at the city of Richmond.

Worked my way up to the assistant director of budget strategic planning before becoming a senior assistant to the chief administrative officer.

So at that time I left, you know, the transition happened and worked with Mayor Wilder who was a governor and switched over to mayor.

That was a eye-opening four years.

And then Mayor Jones came in after that and spent eight years under Mayor Jones and then went back to GRTC as the director of planning and scheduling at that time.

Finished graduate school and had an opportunity to work on some pretty interesting projects.

Expanded service in Richmond,

Probably doubled our range and radius.

Got the BRT project, which is one of the most successful ones that's been implemented in probably the last 10, 15 years.

Hopefully going to do something like that here.

So looking forward to doing more innovative things.

We've got a great team here.

Money always helps.

So more money we got, the more things we can do, the more it helps to move things around.

I want to say publicly to Neil and the team, they've been wonderful to CAT, and they've been wonderful to the state, the other transit agencies around the state, but you know, their tutelage has been outstanding.

If I can, I just want to introduce somebody who just popped up.

Samuel Sanders is the city's new deputy for operations.

So he just popped up and he will be taking, he's the senior representative from this, the city of Charlottesville that sits on RTP.

He's taking, I guess it was Mike Murphy and then Paul Obendorfer.

So it's spam now.

Hello, everyone.

Sorry.

Apologies for my tardy.

I was trying to wrap up at the same time that this one started.

So welcome, Sam.

And this is a time when we get to know people.

OK. All right.

Will do.

I won't go on like Garland.

I'll make sure it's even shorter.

So I am just relocated from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama is home, but been in Louisiana for quite some time.

That's where my wife's neck of the woods.

So I decided to take her home from Newport News when I finished school at Christopher Newport.

So this is coming back to Virginia for me.

It's been an interesting ride.

Didn't know what I was going to do with my life when I first finished at CNU and thought I was going to be a war correspondent and ended up fighting wars all over neighborhoods and community development kind of became my priority.

So I care about people and making sure opportunity reaches them.

So I've been doing a variety of things.

I've found my way over the past 15 years specifically into a number of different conversations.

And I think the job that Chip called me about checks all those boxes.

Most of what I'm now overseeing is where I've been complaining a lot about what's not working and wanting to figure out how to make systems work.

Well, that's great.

Well, welcome.

There is a connection.

We did have the pleasure of working with each other.

I will tell you, I was one of Chip's chief complainers when things weren't working.

And one of the key departments that he worked in, he got to know me because I did not bite my tongue about complaining about what's wrong.

And I wasn't one that always came with just the problem.

I came with solutions.

So we built a great connection there.

Well, great.

I appreciate it.

I knew you were going to tell me that.

I thought you were waiting to tell me later, but you're right.

Jessica may have had her timer going, I'm not sure.

But between you and Neil, and it sounds like to me, Sam and many of the other people on this screen, we really have people that have had a lot of time and experience with transit, which is wonderful.

And we are very appreciative of that.

Oh great.

Hal, hey.

And I'm sorry because I think I was busy trying to get Bea online when you jumped on and I apologize.

Welcome.

Well, let's see, I have about 40 years experience in public transportation.

I've worked for the American Bus Association, a couple of consulting firms working from projects for their Federal Transit Administration.

Until I retired in 2018, I was 25 years with the Taxicab Limousine and Paratransit Association.

And I was on the TRB Rural Committee and the Rural Inertiary Bus Committee and the Paratransit Committee for a number of years.

This is just getting to be all homely, can't it?

And Karen, thank you for interrupting me to point that out.

I really appreciate it.

That's great.

All right, so I think now we're good.

And I'll go on and move us on to the next agenda item, which is the election of officers.

And at the last meeting, I

requested or asked if Lloyd Snook and B currently from the city and the county would be our nominating committee for our officers for the next year.

And Lloyd and B are both on the line.

And I checked in with Jessica this morning.

And I know that a blast went out to folks asking

if anyone was interested in the position.

And Bea and Lloyd, would you all like, you're in our nominating committee, would you all like to take over for me?

Bea, I was going to suggest that you do it.

My internet connection here is so unstable.

I don't hear more than about one out of three words that other people are saying.

Bea?

He's unmuting, I think, I hope.

Well, if not, I can go ahead and I can go ahead and talk.

I may not hear what he's saying to me, but I can talk.

OK.

I second that.

And B is back on.

I'm back on, yes.

OK, great.

So we have people.

So I would be interested in remaining as the chair, but having said that, I want to make sure that there's no one else

on the board that would be interested in that position.

I'm happy to take a nomination from the floor.

All right, well, hearing no nomination from the floor then.

I did express an interest today when I talked to the nominating committee.

So, Lloyd has made a motion and Bea has seconded

So all those in favor of my continuing as chair, please say yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Any abstentions?

And any no's?

Okay, and thank you guys very much.

That's lovely.

I'm just thrilled to have the city as a partner.

It was great to have John and have some other folks, but it's really great to have Lloyd join the team.

So are there any other folks that would express an interest in vice chair?

All right.

With that, then we have a nomination for Lloyd to be vice chair and we have a second.

Aye.

Aye.

Who was the second?

I'm sorry, just for our records.

I thought I heard a second.

Did I not hear a second?

I will second it.

Thank you, Diane.

I actually thought I heard a second, but I can make a quick second.

So there you go.

Yes.

Any abstentions and any no's?

All right.

We have a team, Lloyd.

And I appreciate Lloyd and Bea both calling in or Zooming in this afternoon.

And Lloyd, can you hear?

Oh, there's his picture.

He just jumped up.

We really appreciate it.

And with all of that, I appreciate Lloyd volunteering and I appreciate the support and we probably should move on with the meeting.

Yes.

Yeah.

I'm going to have to sign off because I'm, like I said, I'm going to be boarding soon.

Okay.

All right, sweetheart.

I think we're okay.

Okay.

Where you're at.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

See y'all later.

I've got it on.

Bye bye.

Thank you.

Our next agenda item is move to health equity coalition.

And Peter, I see your face somewhere on here.

If I can find you on the screen.

I lost you.

I'm here.

Yes, thank you.

So my name is Peter Krebs.

I'm a planner and community organizer from the Piedmont Environmental Council.

Generally speaking, I work on regional transportation, transit connectivity and quality of life issues.

The Piedmont Environmental Council is one of about 30 organizations that work together as the Move to Health Equity Coalition.

If I may, I'd like to share my screen.

Sure.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.

So the MOVE to Health Equity Coalition is a group of about 30 different organizations that are familiar to you all.

Groups like St. Terra Martha Jefferson, the YMCA, Java, the center, who are working to create a community that's healthier and more

active.

And it started, I want to say about eight years ago, as a specific venture to decrease childhood obesity.

Since that time, the coalition has expanded its work to really focus on getting people moving and preventative healthcare with a focus on equity.

We work in four specific areas.

We have action teams that are pulled from each of our organizations that focus on access to healthcare, active communities, healthy food systems, and healthy spaces.

It's important to, I think, understand also that this

This is a regional group and its service area corresponds with the health district, which also corresponds to the planning district pen.

So about almost a year ago, the various focus areas, the work teams got together and

came up with a work program.

And in this case, the active communities and the healthy spaces team both decided to collaborate on surveying Charlottesville residents about how they get around the community and what barriers exist for them.

The survey was funded by a grant from Sentara, Martha Jefferson Hospital,

This survey is a little bit different from other research.

First of all, it's focused on neighborhoods, but it's not focused on a specific piece of a neighborhood.

So there's lots of research about mobility in Charlottesville and Albemarle, and there's research about how a given project will impact a community, but there's not a lot of neighborhood level research.

Secondly, this project tries to focus really on residents and what they need to get what they need.

So what transportation barriers get in their way and how can transportation better help them live healthy lives?

I'm trying to get a little bit past the mode, although the

The various ways of getting around do show up in the survey.

So the survey asked people about transit.

It asked people about walking or driving or rideshare or taxis and that sort of thing.

Because this survey was launched during COVID, from the start, we decided that it would not be possible or appropriate to get definitive

answers from the community about really any question.

So really, we're thinking about this survey as almost a beta survey that will ask top-level questions that will inform our future follow-up research.

So today, I hope to be super brief and just let you know that we're doing the work.

And hopefully in the future, you'll have me back to talk about some of our preliminary findings and ways we might go forward.

The survey being a neighborhood focused survey is being distributed through neighborhood associations, but also we think about neighborhoods in ways that are not the same necessarily as the specific boundaries of the city's neighborhoods.

So, for example, we're working with the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, but we're also working with the community leaders in the Greenstone on Fifth Street, which is within Fifeville.

This organization, this coalition, Move to Health, has everyday access to regular people, so we're working directly with clients at the Y,

directly with the Sentara Community Health Center, directly with doctors' offices.

City of Charlottesville has helped us get the word out.

There are posters in the cat buses, posters around town, social media, and we're excited that starting in August, we're going to start pushing in gently into actual community events.

So we hope to be at the back to school bash

albeit the basketball tournaments in Tonsler Park and other community events.

For now, the plan is to round the survey up around Labor Day.

But we're going to see how much response we have by then.

So once we've concluded the survey, we're going to, first of all, look at our numbers and see if we have

numbers that are large enough to make statistical quantitative inferences.

We are going to especially zero in on who we're not hearing from and evaluate refocusing on those areas.

And the survey also asks a lot of qualitative questions.

And we think that we will certainly have good qualitative

questions or information that will help us go forward with our next set of questions.

And so we'll have that information in the fall and I hope to check back in with you all then.

And for now, that's what I have.

I didn't want to take a bunch of your time without having definitive stuff to say, but if folks have questions, I'll be glad to

Thank you, Peter.

So this is the survey.

I'm just running through it super quick.

It's formatted really narrow on the screen because it's a very mobile device oriented.

So this is how it all flow on somebody's mobile phone.

It looks strange on the computer screen.

Great.

So let me open it up for questions if anybody has any questions for Peter.

We appreciate you bringing this to us.

Any thoughts or questions?

All right.

I'd be glad to do that.

Furthermore, at that moment, we'd like to get feedback on our next round of research questions.

So we want this to be a learning opportunity for all of our partners.

We're saying the same thing to the community leaders we're working with.

What's going to help you do your work better?

So thanks for letting me be here.

Sure.

Absolutely.

We'd love to have you stay.

And you might want to put the link into the chat.

for the survey so people can take a look at it.

That's great.

All right.

Next, we have transit needs discussion for 29 North between Airport Road in Ruckersville and Lucinda, I think this is your item, your agenda item.

That's me.

Can you hear me okay?

I'm going to share my screen.

I have some slides.

Still working on my zooming skills.

So we're working with VDOT on a corridor study of Route 29.

The area will be from Airport Road up just a little past Rutgersville.

So I'm going to give you a little background about the study and then ask you, we're really looking for multimodal needs and that's why I'm coming to you today.

So after I give you the background, I'm going to show you a map of where the study is and what the intersections that are prioritized are.

And then hopefully I'll get some feedback from you if you know of any needs in the multimodal area transit

So we started the study in May and we hope to end it early next year.

And we're going to have two public meetings.

Plus we're reaching out to groups like this and other community members.

And we'll also have a survey.

So we have developed some goals and then some studies on the current traffic conditions.

And I'm just going to go over the goals with you.

So the first goal is to improve safety.

reduce managed vehicle conflict points, provide pedestrian crossing opportunities around commercial areas and provide separation between vehicle and bike ped modes.

There is a plan, the Thomas Jefferson Regional Ped Bike Plan has a multi-use path that goes up one side of 29 North to the Greene County line.

So that is planned and it hopefully will be part of the study.

Managed congestion is the second goal and the objectives are to increase person throughput capacity, evaluate best intersection control types, reduce travel time variability, make efficient use of right-of-way for all users.

The third goal is to increase multimodal usability and accessibility, to provide bicycle facilities that connect to nearby parks and other amenities, provide ADA accessible transit stops along the corridor, and provide safe pedestrian crossings at target intersections.

I've already heard that the pedestrian crossings is a high priority for the community.

The fourth goal is to support future growth

The objectives are to develop access management strategies, support local traffic as well as regional demands, provide transit services that offer another mode choice for commuters.

And the fifth goal is to support economic development.

and the objectives are to accommodate for prominent trucking and shipping operations, provide for mode choices and access to employment opportunities and to beautify the corridor.

These are still draft goals and we're working on refining them.

They'll be presented at the first community meeting and the community will have an opportunity to refine these goals as well.

These goals will be used to, so the study will identify kind of the problem areas, intersections where there's a lot of need for an intervention.

And then they will, the study will develop some preliminary alternatives and get feedback from the public on the alternatives.

And so those alternatives or recommendations to improve the intersections and the corridor

will be evaluated by these goals and objectives.

So that's how we can kind of weigh in on that.

So here's the existing corridor overview.

There's six traffic lights.

And the vision for the project is that US 29 is a corridor that provides safe travel and adequate capacity for all users and users of the vehicle.

Oh, okay.

I missed a PowerPoint slide.

But basically, some of the intersections that have a high incidence of congestion and safety incidents are the Frays Mill Road, the Lewis and Clark Drive, and Camelot Drive, kind of most in the south order, but up north, there's the Frays Mill Road intersection that scores very high on the

need for VDOT areas.

So they'll be looking at those intersections through this corridor.

And what I'd like to hear from you and I'm asking tonight is if there are areas where you know of needs, multimodal needs that we could include in the study and hopefully address those needs as well.

I've already gotten some feedback from some other committees.

I just wanted to make sure that you all had an opportunity and were aware of this project.

And also, please feel free to contact me anytime via phone or email to talk about those needs offline as well.

Let me open this up.

Yeah, Becca, go right ahead.

I'm just wondering if you've made proactive contact with the UVA Foundation or NJIC

who are, I guess, have large employment areas right there, number one.

It's just the 29 corridor, but the airport is one of the attractions that we want people to be able to get to.

So it is kind of included in that.

Yeah, the local community asked the study group to include the parks, Chris Green and Freddie Creek Park and access to those.

I know that I've heard that Frays Mill Road is

Thruway for some cyclists.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Maybe we're ready Lucinda for you to take the presentation down.

Yeah, and then I really appreciate the map though.

It's helpful to see that.

It's just hard for me to tell if anybody has anything they want to say.

Any comments or questions?

I have to say I didn't realize this study was happening, so this is really good to know.

Thoughts or questions?

I will say Lucinda that we in Albemarle talked about Frays Mill because it's such a dangerous intersection.

And we were talking at one point about the possibility of an, I think it was an R cut at that particular intersection.

And I can't remember the outcome, but it's not on our, it's not being planned right now for some reason.

And I just don't remember the outcome.

I just know that R cut went away, that suggestion.

But it is a pretty dangerous intersection.

Yeah, so that ARCA is part of the study.

The study team, the consultants had it as the solution would be an ARCA, they made that assumption.

And in our last meeting, the community asked if we could roll that back and look at other options.

Maybe there's some more low cost options like putting in a warning light for the traffic stop because most of the accidents are rear ends at that traffic light.

So if you put like rumble strips or something in, it would be a lot less expensive than modifying the entire intersection.

And that might work.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

The community did not like or didn't want the R cut.

It is interesting, though, because there is going to be an R cut right down the road at North Point, and it'll

So it remains to be seen.

The ARCA will be introduced probably through the North Point.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So all right.

Any other comments or questions?

This is an exciting study, I think.

Yeah.

Any other comments, questions?

All right.

What do you need from us?

Do you need us to advertise help?

Do you want to put the dates?

Yeah, we haven't solidified the exact date for the first public meeting.

It's going to be in mid-September.

Okay, so when you get that, when it's all in stone for you, will you let Jessica know and then we'll share it out?

Okay, I'd like to at least listen in, that's great.

All right, thank you Lucinda, I appreciate it.

Next one is Sarah Pennington, who's going to give us a presentation on rideshare.

And we had in our packet, the presentation, I believe, for us to review.

Sorry, I was muted.

This is just an update to let folks know what to expect and what we have coming up in the next fiscal year for Rideshare.

The work plan, like you said, was there for everyone to look over, and so I just wanted to highlight a couple of little things.

Some of the big

Items for promotions that we have coming up is the Afton Express, which I'll talk about more in just a moment.

We have Tri-Transit and Rideshare Week.

Those are both usually fall events.

And so we have already been in discussion with some of the transit

service providers about ways we can partner and work together to promote transit in Tri-Transit Week.

Of course, there is always the ongoing promotion of telework, both through the Department of Rail and Public Transportation and then on the employer end here for ride share, looking for ways

Creative Ways We Can Partner for Earth Week, which we have done in the past with the Eco Fair and some events at UVA, and then Clean Commute Month and Bike Month coming up in May.

So those are all things to have on your radar that you'll be getting more information about.

One of the big tasks that we are undertaking in this coming or in this current fiscal year

Here is looking into some marketing research and implementation proposal with some consultants.

So it has been a little while since we have redeveloped a lot of our materials and coming out somewhat of the pandemic, we feel like this is a really great opportunity to reevaluate

the folks that we want to reach with our TDM messaging and the best ways to reach those folks.

So we're going to really hone in on solidifying brand awareness with Rideshare and what that means and that it's more than just carpooling and all the different services we have to offer with our trip planning that coincides with a lot of the transit offerings.

We really want to pick out some key markets and audiences that we can really focus some of this messaging on.

And both print and digital we're looking for updates for a lot of our printed materials.

So very excited about this opportunity to really take a deep dive into what are the best ways we can reach folks with this message of alternative transportation in the area.

One of the big ones that I think you will probably see us talk about a lot are the environmental impacts.

You know, there have been some really interesting things that have come out of COVID and one of the ones that I think is the most fascinating for us and Rideshare is the great impact that telework had on the environment and with climate change and the climate action groups, both at the city and the county being very focused and very dedicated to really see this as an area that we

want to capitalize on and really focus on with some of our messaging because the environmental impacts are so important and so obvious.

We, like I said, will continue to promote telework with telework VA services.

So this is a program that DRPT

has that is free for employers to take advantage of to really help solidify and create the best telework programs they can.

Obviously, most people created some level of telework formal or informal during the pandemic, but telework VA services are still there to help make sure

that employers are getting the most effective telework program out there.

They will take and look at what programs are already doing, assess those needs, make sure that those needs are matching up with the outcomes that they're wanting to get.

And again, this is a completely free service.

You just have to reach out to RideShare and we can get the ball rolling and get that set up for folks.

Last but not least, we are going to be promoting our rewards and app system.

That kind of came at the tell end before the pandemic happened.

So we really haven't had a chance to make sure that everyone is aware of the great benefits with this.

One of the cool features that I love about the app is you get your own personal dashboard that shows you what your impacts of taking alternative transportation are.

And then it also will snapshot that for the entire area as well.

So people can really see the dollars that are saved, the emissions that are saved.

If they're biking, they can see how many miles they biked for commutes.

So it's kind of an interesting way to make your commute personal to you.

And like I said, this would be fairly brief, but this is my contact information.

Kind of the new quote, don't be afraid to embrace the new normal.

And that involves all levels of TDM that we're looking at for our new normal.

As people are really migrating back into their offices, this is a wonderful time to reach them and help people re-imagine the commute that they can have.

Thank you.

That's interesting.

That app is really great.

Very interesting.

Open it up for questions for Sarah.

Rideshare questions, comments?

Okay, Sarah, I think you have the next one as well, the Afton Express update.

Yeah, so.

Some new folks that may not know a lot about this particular, so this is great.

Yeah, we're very excited about Afton.

Afton Express.

Presentation mode, yeah.

There we go, it's lagging a little.

Okay, so active express.

The Afton Express is a service that will be starting September 1, so very, very soon, which is why we wanted to get this presentation out to you.

It will be connecting folks in the Stanton, Fishersville, Waynesboro area with both Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

The service is operated through Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission with a demonstration grant that they were awarded

from DRPT to start this service.

So, as some of you may know, public transportation between the valley area and Charlottesville has been studied and looked at many, many, many times.

We have tried vanpools.

We see a lot of carpoolers who are making that particular journey across Afton Mountain.

So with all of those studies and looking at the plans of the localities that this program would service, they were able to apply for a demonstration grant through DRPT to start this particular service connecting folks on that I-64 corridor.

One of the wonderful things is all of the stakeholders who have taken part in helping develop the Act and Express.

You can see a list of the partners there.

The partners have not only committed financial contributions to the local match, but they have also been participating in the study that preceded this particular transit demonstration grant, and then as well as the development of what the service and the routes were going to look like.

So there will be stops in both Stanton, Fishersville, and Waynesboro across the mountain and then multiple stops on our side of the mountain to drop folks off to at UVA and then the downtown transit station as well as the Fifth Street station there at Wegmans.

This is what the service schedule is currently looking like for the kickoff for this.

So as you can see, there are four runs in the morning and then four runs in the evening so that the service really is designed for the commuter, which are the folks that have been asking for this for a number of years.

The cost to ride is $3 one way or $6 round trip.

They will be offering a fare card for $25 that would provide 10 rides.

So that way folks that will be riding frequently which we hope is the majority of people will be able to reap some sort of discount and get a benefit with that as well.

We had a really fun photo shoot that we participated in with CSPDC.

This, you get to see, is what the bus will look like when it comes to town September 1.

A lot of amenities to make this the comfortable commute.

High back chairs with cushioned seat belts.

There will be overhead storage available for folks if they have backpacks and other things that they need to store above.

There is of course a wheelchair lift and two wheelchair positions and drivers will be assisting and operating the lifts and getting those folks comfortably secured onto the bus.

There will also be bicycle racks.

We anticipate that many of the folks who will be taking this service on a regular basis, kind of like the Crozet Connect, will need the bike or want to use their bike to then get around town in between their rides to and from work.

There will also of course be Wi-Fi handy for everyone on the bus as well.

So you literally can board the bus and sit back and relax for that 20 or 35 minute commute across the mountain.

What we have been doing right now in preparation for this is creating a very robust marketing and promotion campaign.

There is a dedicated website that just went live this week.

It'll be on the next slide for you to see.

We are anticipating some in-person events, including a ribbon cutting.

There will be additional updates and information through social media, press releases, and some advertising.

And then we are also doing some outreach to some of the park and ride lots that the Afton Express will serve or will serve nearby for folks to know what to expect.

So it's all very, very exciting.

I feel like it's been years in the making and so we're so happy to see it here and kicking off September 1 and be here before we know it.

Sarah, can I go backwards?

I tried to load the app that you spoke about on the ride share.

Yes, if you just put in Rideshare.

Sadly, Rideshare, when it was established in the 80s, did not get the full domain access to just Rideshare.

And Sarah, will you go back for me on the slide?

Well, that's okay.

Sure.

I was just wondering.

No, I can't.

I wanted to see actually where it's stopping and the location.

Sure.

Cause I didn't have a chance to really see.

Yes, I would happily share it.

It was not quite ready for us when the packet went out.

That would be great.

And I, cause I'd like to share it with others, you know, with the supervisors.

Absolutely.

So it leaves from the Stanton mall, Fishersville park and ride.

And then we have the Ivy River, Lane and Waynesboro.

Okay.

All right.

Here we go.

That's great.

And then it's running at five and seven and then comes back to, okay.

And all of the time schedule in the map is also on the website for the Acton Express as well.

That's great.

That's great.

Okay, thank you very much.

So let me open it up for comments and questions.

UVA has been a wonderful supporter of the Akron Express.

Thanks Sarah and for all of this I just wanted our ATP to know that we do plan to have a very direct communication based on our HR data and zip code analysis to very directly market this option to the people that have the zip codes that

that would match up with the stops.

So we're thrilled about it.

So can't wait for it to start.

The Bovaro bus stop and the Health System bus stop are shared by the Connect Services.

So I think it's a really, really nice start to create a hub.

Cat Route 7 also uses the same stops.

Any other comments or questions?

Thanks, Becca.

It is exciting because of just being able to reduce some of the traffic.

Yeah, so I just encourage any other large employers or influence you may have over other large employers because you may

Yeah, but the people think about it, they're very self centered.

But I just if anybody has that option, I'm sure the city of Charlottesville employs a lot of people that commute and the county as well as employers.

Yeah.

All right.

Any comments, questions?

We'll get the presentation.

That's great.

And I can at least share that out.

I appreciate that.

Great.

All right.

Well, if there aren't any other comments or questions, we'll move on then.

Yes, that's right.

So this is your regular update on our transit grants.

So the first one we're going to talk about today

is the Regional Transit Vision Plan.

So at your last meeting, you guys all had a memo explaining that we had made our decision and the consulting team we are working with is composed of AECOM, the Jarrett Walker team, and EPR.

That team held a kickoff meeting with the project management team, which includes many of you on the RTP as well as staff here at the TJPDC.

Our staff are continuing to meet with the consulting team every other week just to make sure that things are going along smoothly and we met with them today.

Things are going along very smoothly.

They have a public engagement plan already in draft form.

They've begun work on the website and we should see that up and live soon.

The consulting team is planning to come to a regional transit partnership meeting in the fall to talk about the work that they've been doing and

how the RTP is going to continue to help with this project.

So that's really the update I have on this one before I move on to the next grant.

Can I add just real quick, Jessica, that in our meeting today, they wanted to let us know that they're about to put a nudge out to any of the partners that need to provide data.

Yes.

Speak up if you have a question or a comment or anything because I can't see your faces or your hands.

But everybody okay?

Great.

And if questions come up on this, feel free to ask later.

Alright, and the other grant we are working on is the Albemarle County Transit Expansion Study.

So the technical committee for this study continues to meet on a monthly basis.

A public engagement plan has been drafted and reviewed by that technical committee so far.

Work on early deliverables is already underway.

So the two main early deliverables are a market analysis and a transit potential analysis.

So the market analysis focuses on density, demographics, land use, and built environment to highlight demand for transit.

And the transit potential analysis focuses on residential and employment density to better understand what service types are the best fit for each area.

The website for this study is live, and it's linked on our new transit planning page.

There's the link there.

It sounds like Sarah and I together have a lot of, and Lucinda, have a lot of information to share with the RTP, so I will send out a follow-up email that's gonna include all of these useful links for you guys.

Additionally, public and stakeholder engagement begins next week.

It's gonna be a very busy week next week for this study, and here are some dates

All of the public engagement and the stakeholder meetings will continue to be held virtually.

So that information has gone out through Albemarle County's communications department and we have put it on the TJPBC social media.

Again, we'll share this info with you as a follow-up email to this meeting and you can share the link information with your networks.

So the first public meeting is going to focus on transit mobility in the 29 North corridor.

And it is going to happen on Monday next week from 6 to 730 p.m.

The second public meeting is going to focus on transit mobility in the Pantops area.

And that one is going to happen on Wednesday at the same time from 6 to 730.

So those are the only two public meetings.

And then there will be stakeholder meetings for each of the study areas.

So those are going to happen Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week.

from 10 to 1130 AM.

These are really by invite only.

So if you feel like you should be on one of these stakeholder meeting invite lists, please let me know.

But we compiled a really robust list with the help of Albemarle County staff.

And we think we've included a lot of very important voices for each of these areas.

That really

concludes my update.

Opening up for questions.

And all of those meetings you said, Jessica, are by Zoom?

Yes.

All right.

Yes, so you do have to do a bit of clicking.

So you go to that transit planning link that Christine put in the chat, and there we have all of our active projects, which includes a link to the RTP page, but it also includes a link to the project website that we've been talking about for Albemarle County transit expansion.

So maybe it's too much to ask, but I can't imagine that at least some of these folks aren't interested in these public meetings.

Yeah, I will send it out in that follow-up email.

That would be lovely.

Thank you.

If we can have it all in one place, that would be great.

Okay.

Any other thoughts, comments?

I really am happy that this is moving, these two, both of these grants and this work is moving forward.

It's great.

Yep.

I think the Albemarle County one has, as you all know, a much quicker timeline.

So it's a much more aggressive timeline.

And with that, I'm just looking in the chat, Peter says, the relevant CAC list should definitely get those notices.

Yes, and he's exactly right.

Our Citizens Advisory Committee in Albemarle County is what he's referencing.

Samantha, you don't even need to worry about it.

Yes.

So there you go.

Great suggestion, Peter, and see we're all geniuses together.

Okay, so with that, let's go on to Sandy.

I am.

So typically I come to you the day after the MPO meeting, but because the month started on the Thursday, you get to hear everything a week before the MPO does.

But just a quick little teaser for what's upcoming.

The MPO policy board is going to be hopefully adopting the remote work meeting participation policy that you all adopted last month.

The CTAC, the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee, and the technical committee for the MPO adopted those earlier this week.

I'm going to come back to SmartScale in a minute, just in case you all have some more specific questions.

But the other things that might be of interest to you all is that Lucinda has been working really hard to revise our public engagement plan, which basically documents how the MPO is going to remain compliant with all the federal regulations and ensuring that there is

appropriate opportunities for citizens to engage in our planning processes.

So she will be, we'll be having a public hearing on that next week and adopting that and Lucinda did a really good job of reformatting that policy to make it a lot more user friendly and a lot less technical in nature.

So she did a really good job with that.

The project that you all might be interested in hearing a little bit more about is in our FY21 work plan we included an equity analysis.

And so, Nick Morrison has been working on that and one of the things he really focused on was

Getting familiar with a tool that allows you to do a walkshed analysis using GIS data so you can pick different points of interest or different types of geographic features and conduct an analysis on who's within a 10 minute walk to those features, who's within a 15 minute walk to those features and that kind of thing.

So he's been able to take that data and overlay it with

different demographic information that's available through the Census Bureau to start just helping us develop some tools on how we can do a better job of making sure that we're considering some of these equity impacts as we're evaluating our transportation projects.

So he's going to be presenting that to the MPO Policy Board if anybody's interested in joining us for that presentation.

And when is that?

It does sound interesting, Sandy.

When is it for everybody?

When is it?

Next Wednesday.

You can, yep.

There you go, Jessica.

That would be great if you don't mind because I would be interested in this equity study.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The other thing that I mentioned before, like I said, we'll get into smart scale is that Christine and I had an initial conversation with the Stanton Augusta-Wainsboro MPO staff earlier this week.

Each year, it's been

Standard for the last couple years that we do a joint meeting with them at least once a year between the policy boards.

So we'll be talking to our policy board next Wednesday as well to see if they are interested in tentatively scheduling a joint meeting

with the state of Augusta, Waynesboro MPO a little bit later this fall.

We had some really interesting topic ideas for things that have affected both of our regions and it allows us an opportunity to talk about things like how did the mudslide on 250 impact transportation and give people an opportunity to experience the Afton Express

writing experience, things like that.

So we will let you know if that joint meeting moves forward based on the policy board's feedback.

So I'm not going to go into too much depth on SmartScale because I don't want to spoil too many things for Councilman Snook and Mr. Garland Williams for next week.

But I do want to just show you where we are real briefly.

So I am going to just share my presentation and I promise I'm not going to go through the whole thing, just a really high level view.

So where we are right now is, if you look at this timeline, we are at a point where we are going to be asking the policy board this month to determine which of the projects that have been discussed they would like to move forward for

for us to develop into smart scale applications.

And as you'll recall, we can submit four as the MPO total and then two of those projects that they can identify can be based on needing a higher level of engagement or resources to develop into applications.

So again, the staff had met between Albemarle County, City of Charlottesville, VDOT, we had all met to discuss really how are we going to evaluate the projects and how are we going to move them forward.

And so these are just some of the goals that we want to move forward projects that we think will be competitive to actually receive funding that have already been through a public process and have public support.

And of course, move things through a pipeline of existing plans and studies.

And just real, real briefly, I'm not going to go into each of these in detail.

We started with the slate of projects that are shown with the red arrows, starting with the two projects that are on the prioritized list in our long range transportation plan, which came out of the hydraulic small area plan.

It is in the county now that I think of it.

I'm getting mixed up.

In an extension of Hillsdale Avenue to extend it from where it currently connects at Hydraulic Road down to connect directly to 250.

And what would happen along with that project is it would remove some of the existing ramps between 250 and 29 and redirect some of those traffic movements through a local road network.

I think we've already talked about the Ravenna River Bike and Pedestrian Crossing to provide some sort of river crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists generally in the Pantops, Will and Mills area.

And then there were two studies that were recently completed for Avon Street and the 5th Street corridor.

And so we were looking at developing some packages.

This last project, the US-29250 flyover, was submitted later by a CTAC member and I can go over it if you're interested in it, but this is not a project that's recommended to move forward at this point.

So I'm not going to go through each of the projects individually.

But what I what I will do is let you see what the recommendation is.

And if you have questions about any of them, I'm hoping to go back.

I'm happy to go back.

But again, looking at the cost benefits, looking at all of the

and all of the planning processes that have already been in place and looking at what that criteria is.

Basically, what the staff is recommending is that the four projects that should move forward to be submitted by the MPO are District Avenue because that has been identified as a high priority project for a while now.

The Ravana River bike ped crossing and then staff as well as the MPO technical committee both supported moving.

They had very specific projects that they were recommending to move forward out of the Avon Street corridor and 5th Street corridor studies.

Hillsdale South, even though it's a high priority project, it's also very expensive, $34.3 million.

And so the concern is that it probably isn't going to score competitively.

So what we had discussed is that if we get to the point where we're ready to submit applications, and the PDC, who also has four applications, isn't using all of their application

opportunities.

We could submit Hillsdale at that point, but it doesn't make sense to submit it if there are other projects that are also really important to the localities if we don't think that it's going to score well enough to actually get funding.

Yep, that one also may not be very competitive.

Okay, let me open this.

Is that the last of your slides, Sandy?

Oh, you have some more.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Nope, that's it.

Okay.

Anybody have any questions?

Some of those are really great projects, the ones that are recommended.

They are great projects.

They'll really make a difference.

We're going to have some

Transportation projects happening over the next few years in this community that are really going to make a difference.

Yeah.

Comments, questions?

All right.

With that, then we're going to go to our, what I call our round robin, the transit provider updates.

Right.

Well, I guess our big news is that we reopened our main facility, our main building with the telecommuting policy in place, which Sarah is so excited about.

And actually, you know, we have a serious parking problem at our main facility between the staff parking and the bus parking.

And the telecommuting policy has really made a positive impact on that.

We were bracing ourselves and it's at a

had a good impact, a really positive impact.

It was great to have everyone back in.

The drivers are back in the building for the first time in a year and a half, which, yeah, so it feels good to have everyone together again and connected.

In addition to that, we move forward to returning to full capacity on all our buses.

We are following the FTA regulations, of course, with everyone wearing masks, including the drivers, but we have had pent up

demand, and we were analyzing it across the state.

And we found out that about 50% of the systems have already gone back to full capacity.

And we have such good vaccination rates in the area, we made the decision to move forward.

And that has definitely relieved a lot of scheduling and pent up

Tension and reduce the denial rate that we've had.

So those are two really important things for us.

Any questions for Karen about junk?

We're glad you're back.

I'm sorry, Karen, any update on

Yes, and we'll put out a press release about that.

Thanks for asking, Becca.

Our plan is to get it back up and running on its regular schedule.

So just for anybody that's new that might not know, Crozet Connect is the commuter service that Jaunt runs for us between Crozet and a couple of spots downtown in the university.

Thanks, Samantha.

All right.

Well, it's a great, have we saw, and I think I ask you this all the time, have we solved the bicycle problem?

I think I asked you this last time.

The what problem?

All right, sounds good.

It's all good.

Thanks, Diana.

Like Garland, we're trying to fill open driver positions, which is true of 90% of the districts in the state.

I haven't heard if we'll receive the grant for the two electric school buses yet.

Charging was going to be expensive, but Dominion actually stepped up and will pay for any charging stations that we need, which is, that's good news.

We have one more week left of summer school.

We put HEPA filters in all of our school buses, so that will actually filter out the virus, like in an airplane.

We'll be at full capacity next school year, and I'm looking forward to the normal chaos of a school year out of this COVID stuff.

That's great news.

And the HEPA filter idea is really great to be able to do that.

That's really great.

And that'll help even, you know, after COVID, because a lot of our employees have, you know, sensitivity to pollen and dust.

Yeah, that's one of the good outcomes, I think, of all of this.

We're learning how we can take care of people better.

And some of this filtering and air filtration is part of that.

So it's all good.

That part's good.

Questions for Jim?

All right.

Hey, good afternoon.

So UTS continues to have about a, well, we have a 60% capacity on our buses, which is 30 passengers.

and of course, the mask mandate for public transit remains.

We have our modified routes that kind of emphasize McCormick Road as a walking site and really emphasizes transit trips from the endpoints in.

We anticipate continuing that into the fall semester.

Like everyone, we have a very critical approach

open positions, open bus driver positions.

It's very, very significant.

I think we are all going to have a major whiplash.

The students, first year students will be moving in on August the 18th.

So I think we're gonna go from what happened.

That first week of school is called Wahoo Welcome.

That's the new

thing for that week.

So August 18th, it'll hit.

And we have a football game on September the 4th, September the 11th and Friday, September the 24th.

So we will go from, you know, our sort of lulled into semi-consciousness to full bore crazy couple of weeks.

starting on the 18th of August.

Thank you.

I don't see any questions, so thank you, Becca.

So on the Cat side, we have been holding public meetings.

We've held two

for our changes as a FTA requirement.

We've gotten a number of suggestions about modifications to the proposed route modifications.

We're going through each one of those.

There'll be an FAQ question kind of thing that we'll put on our website to kind of make sure that everybody's aware.

We'll pass that information along to city council members and the board members of Albemarle County so you can see

what those questions were, what those suggestions were and how we have handled those.

We are still potentially moving forward with a potential schedule of about the second week of September to launch all the adjustments unless something, we can't get all of the bus stops in place by that time.

But that's, we're still trying to move forward to that.

There will be some changes that have to occur and we've had some good

from suggestions from the public.

We will incorporate those, but everything can't be done, unfortunately.

On the school bus pupil side and the ANCAP public side, we're still short on drivers like everybody.

So it's a national issue.

So it's, Charlottesville is not immune to that

That bug.

So we are hopefully looking at all of our, you know, all our resources to try to get more drivers.

And we're also recruiting on mechanics.

We need to elongate our number of hours to be able to work on our vehicles.

That's one of the positive things, unfortunately, of the pandemic is we had a number of vehicles down for a long period of time, we were able to get a lot of the larger work done.

which has really been good.

Some engine changes, some transmission changes.

So we've taken advantage of that.

The school bus, we have had with council's blessing, ability to entice folks with a $2,400 sign-on bonus or retention bonus for our drivers.

School Bus and Pupil to make sure that we don't lose anybody or hopefully recruit some more school bus drivers and cat drivers to help with our model.

And we're also going to, for the healthcare benefits side of the house, where individuals are like part-timers, we're going to pay the difference so they will have full-time benefits, equivalent to a full-time benefit.

So we're hoping that will entice individuals to also come and stay with that.

What's the dollar?

$2,400.

It started with council's approval two nights ago.

So we're working through the mechanics of it.

I'm sorry, was that Monday night?

So three nights ago.

So we're working through that model as to when it will launch, when the person is hired, their first 30, 60 days is we're trying to get them through.

Garland, your current employees receive that as well, right?

Our current employees will receive that as well, so it's a sign-on for the folks who are coming and the same amount for individuals who are here as a retention bonus.

Is that school bus or school bus and transit?

I'm doing everybody.

I don't want to lose a soul.

We're going to make sure everybody gets the money.

Staff?

Everybody.

You?

You getting that?

I don't know about me, but we'll see.

I'm making sure my whole...

Sorry, I shouldn't have asked that.

You said your head already.

We're trying to make sure that I'm trying to...

trying to make sure I'm not going to lose anyone.

Yeah.

Garland, you're a popular guy tonight.

I really am only just going to say that the thought about looking at the school system bus service in the future would help solve this problem for at least Charlottesville and Albemarle drivers and school systems.

Maybe.

Yes, I think it would be really interesting.

Yeah.

So let's do it.

Yeah.

Right.

It is.

And I understand that, but it's also could save everybody a lot of money.

And anyway, and what I'm referring to is the idea of the two school system, student systems coming together in a fashion so that they're under one, one, um, division.

with the same salaries and the same benefits and everything.

I do have a few things to say.

I announced that Commonwealth Transportation Board yesterday approved our new trip program.

And this will be offered to our transit systems beginning actually August 1st.

and I believe it goes through some part of September and it has two elements to it.

This was a legislative program approved by General Assembly and the 20th General Assembly that will have one piece for certain urban areas to do regional transportation projects.

Charlottesville is included in those urban regional areas.

And then the second piece, which is completely sort of separate, but is to look at, and this has actually passed before the pandemic, but it was to look at fare-free programs or zero fares.

And so this will be a program that we'll be looking at

transit systems in some cases to continue to stay fare free.

And this is the first year of the program.

So we did some, I think last spring, we did some RFIs.

In other words, we had the intention of some people to apply to maybe guide them into situations of what we're looking for.

But

I know we will be doing a webinar, I believe sometime in the next, actually on looks like Thursday, next Thursday, the 29th.

And so we do expect, hopefully all our transit systems will be a part of that.

We're excited about this program.

And again, it is the first year of it.

So we were looking at, you know, hopefully those who,

whatever reason we don't fund, how we can work with them that have legitimate projects that we can move on to the future.

And so in some cases, there'll be multi year funding projects also.

At the same time, the General Assembly this past year approved a study that we're doing, which is an equity and modernization study that we are working on very speedily.

Kimberly Horn is the consultant on it.

And just to give you an idea, it is to look at access to bus service, whether it's the physical bus stop being accessible with shelters and benches and ADA, but also the access of people getting to bus service.

And at the same time, looking at modernization as we're all looking at

whether your fuel systems and things like that, electric, natural gas.

And so we're sort of on a strict schedule for this.

There is something we have to deliver to the General Assembly in December, but the final report will actually follow after that.

The request for the study hopefully will lead to funding for us also as we move along.

So that's two things.

And then I guess the final piece is that we are, as people talk about social distancing, it looks like we will be removing some of the social distancing on our Virginia Breeze buses.

We hope to be marketing very quickly some new marketing.

because I know that we started the route pretty much while UVA has been shut down but we hope to increase that and Becca I'm sure will air marketing people will be contacting you or and on that so we're looking to increase that service we are actually looking at a fourth quarter really won't affect Charlottesville but we are looking at a bus that'll start in Bristol, Virginia and we'll go up down the 81 corridor

up to Dulles and Union Station.

So we've had some increases on that ridership as the summer's gone along on all our buses, especially the bus that now goes from Blacksburg to up 81.

Great.

Thank you.

Becca.

Well, I think we're looking to lift it actually.

We're working with the contractor.

We will still be wearing masks.

But air issue and maybe an issue that was the issue everybody has is that we've had to add extra buses in certain cases where in our case, we're taking extra buses from

Washington, D.C., off to Blacksburg to start, and so we are at this point looking to lift it.

We haven't made that final decision.

I have a question there.

Well, we're looking at very good.

And again, we haven't made that final decision yet, but we're working with the contractor who is Dylan, who actually runs Megabus.

So we're looking at the national trend a little bit to see what somebody's interested in.

City carriers are doing and things like that.

So yeah, I can't say that the final decision has been made, but we certainly have discussed it a lot in the last few weeks.

And so I think we actually

In some ways we may test, I say the test is question some of the riders as we're moving into those months.

Riders that are now riding in social distancing, whether that would be an issue or not.

But as some systems have been lifting it, we feel that we'll probably move in the same direction.

Now, as we all know, that could change next week in the opposite direction, the way things are going, some ways things are going.

Kaya, did that help answer your question?

She makes a good point about how you can track.

Right, and so we already have people who bought seats.

And so those buses, you know, we feel that they probably bought those under certain conditions that they were gonna be, we said social distancing.

We're probably gonna look at as we move into future reservations, whether we can do that.

And so that, I know that September is not that far off, but that would be sort of direction, but we have a lot of buses in August that have already met the 29 or 30.

And so we automatically add another bus in to the system when it does that, so.

Yeah, as we're seeing that of the rights, you know, the right and I think that's why I said it could change back to not happening, too.

The guys out with the Delta variant in the, you know, the

People come in contact with the virus, their viral load, the closer they are to someone else that increases and that then increases their potential to transmit the virus to other people.

So that close proximity in an enclosed space has been one of the driving factors.

And we've never had sufficient contact tracing, so there's not going to be a lot of data on that.

But it's just something to really pay attention to.

Yeah.

Okay.

I think we, did anybody have any questions for Neil?

Right.

And you know, I don't have a question.

I just want to have a comment.

Part of Neil was talking about the trips program.

We are, CAT will be applying for that trips program.

We've actually had cursory conversations, Karen and I about

Looking at it, and I know we're both having studies done right now to look at the impact of if we're going to take advantage of the funding, there's a, on the back end, how do we afford it when the state funding goes away?

So that's part of what the study is looking at.

And that's one of the things that the state wants us to do as a part of looking at and applying for the grant.

So that's going on behind the scenes right now.

Kat and John are both doing that.

Hopefully with the speed this process up, middle of August, be able to have the first draft.

So the end of August, we'll be ready to submit our grant proposals.

Okay.

All right.

And any other comments or questions from folks?

I see that I think Lloyd is still on.

putting him on the spot, perhaps.

His connection was so bad when we talked about his election as vice chair.

I was wondering, Lloyd, did you want to come on and try it again?

Did you have anything you wanted to say?

You look like you're still frozen, Lloyd.

Are you there?

Right, I heard that.

Okay, I just wanted to give you the opportunity.

All right.

Well, with that, folks, unless someone else has something they want to put on the table to discuss, I am going to adjourn us until I think it's August the 26th will be our next meeting at four o'clock.

We will gather around.

And in the meantime, you all stay safe and have a lovely summer.

Students will be back by then, Becca.

All right.

See you guys later.