The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My Public Portal About06 June 26, 1989 Citizens Advisory Committee/Social Service Advisory Councila1VERSIlnOOVNtY TRANSPORTATION ilp MMISSION 040264 AGENDA CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE/ SOCIAL SERVICE ADVISORY COUNCIL 1:30 P.M., MONDAY, June 26, 1989 SCAG RIVERSIDE COUNTY SERVICE OFFICE 3600 LIME STREET, SUITE 216 RIVERSIDE, CA 92501 1. Call to Order. 2. Approval of Minutes (May 30, 1989). ACTION 3. SunLine FY 1990-94 Short Range Transit Plan. ACTION (Please bring the Short Range Transit Plan which was included in your May agenda packet to this meeting.) 4. Riverside Special Services. INFO. Helen Wariner, Transportation Coordinator of the Riverside Special Services, will present an oral report at the meeting. 5. Social Service Transportation Delivery Study. DISC/ACTION Pat Piras, Consultant, will brief the Committee on the status of the Social Service Transportation Delivery Study. 6. Other Items. 7. Adjournment. " DATE June 26, 1989 CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE/SOCIAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL NAME so.c , . 47- L2/ L ,./49zivc22_ a_c2c.12k1 b/c/c_ h/Efics fir s 6 r6 Pr Pi- REPRESENTING PHONE ice., 47. S /Z l 3fj=577/ &1-1+C. 7 4 ve.,r- c+d - -- Tit " 7rt 1 / q��u X740 737,72 7 1��. 78-6- 07 2 RIVERSIDIPOUNTY TRANSPORTATION Op 'MISSION Minutes of the Citizens Advisory Committee/ Social Service Advisory Council May 30, 1989 1. Call to Order. The meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee/Social Service Advisory Council was called to order by Chairman Chuck Schmitt at 1:38 p.m., at the SCAG Riverside County Service Office, 3600 Lime Street, Riverside. Members present were: Ace Atkinson Cathy Bechtel Mike Beggins Arnold Dickson Rose Eldridge Herb Krauch Don Kurz Members absent were: Terry Allen Don High Jim Judge Others present: Jim Stoffer, RTA Hideo Sugita, RCTC/SAFE Joanne Moore Lori Nickel Leon Overton Chuck Schmitt Don Senger Dick Weeks Jim Kenna Rena Parker Self introductions followed. Chairman Schmitt welcomed Arnold Dickson to the Committee. 2. Approval of Minutes. M/S/C (KRAUCH/NICKEL) to approve the April 24, 1989 minutes as submitted. 3. FY 1990-94 Riverside County Short Range Transit Plan. Hideo Sugita, Staff Analyst, stated that included in the Committee's agenda packet are the Short Range Transit Plans for the seven municipal operators (Beaumont, Banning, Corona, Lake Elsinore, Palo Verde Valley Transit Agency, Rancho Mirage, and Riverside Special Services) prepared by Commission staff. The Riverside Transit Agency and SunLine Transit Agency prepared their respective plans. He noted that a new addition to this year's Plan is a section on " " Page 2 Regional Commuter Rail. This is based upon the Riverside - Orange County Commuter Feasibility Assessment and Perris Rail Extension Study. With regards to the SunLine service area, two items were raised at the unmet transit needs hearing: 1) lack of a back-up lift equipped vehicle for the dial -a -ride services; and, 2) the inclusion of cost for financial commitment to the intervalley handicapped service to the SunLine Short Range Transit Plan. He noted that included in SunLine's Plan is a FY 1988-89 Contracted Services line item for $122,173. Under FY 1989-90, the amount budgeted for contracted services is $340,994. This lump sums all of SunLine's dial -a -ride contracted services. However, the cost for the newly contracted service with Shoreline to provide the intervalley service is not available. According to a statement included in SunLine's Plan, at such time that the CTSA study is completed, this is the amount set aside available to be used for compliance with the study results. In discussing the SunLine's contracted service with Shoreline with Lee Norwine, SunLine General Manager, he has stated that the SunLine Board has taken action that they will not be adding any more clients nor replacing any clients that drop off. Cathy Bechtel acknowledged that she was also informed of the SunLine Board's action and stated that if a client drops out of the service leaving space available, SunLine has indicated that they not pick up a new client. She noted that IRC has clients currently using Laidlaw that live close to where the buses are currently running and they wanted to add them on. SunLine has indicated that the service has to remain status quo until such time the CTSA study is completed. Don Senger stated that it seems like SunLine is trying to phase out the service if, even though there is space available, they will not pick a new client. Hideo Sugita said that since Commission staff has just been informed of this policy direction by the SunLine Board, one of the options that the Committee can take at this time is to withhold approval of the SunLine Plan and reschedule it to the next month's Committee meeting to be on the Commission's agenda for their July meeting. Lori Nickel noted that SunLine has had problems providing the intervalley service ever since she started as a Committee member. " " Page 3 Ace Atkinson suggested that perhaps the Committee's action at this time should be to recommend to RCTC that it postpones a decision on the acceptance of SunLine's Short Range Transit Plan until such time as provisions for service with services for people with developmental disabilities in the Coachella Valley area has been decided. Lori Nickel requested that Commission staff should obtain a legal opinion on SunLine's action regarding to the intervalley service and also direction on how to proceed. Ace Atkinson stated that of the $340,994 budgeted for contracted service for FY 1989-90, since SunLine is trying to expand its contracted service, it is not certain how much is budgeted for the intervalley service, if any. This also does not take care of the issue of providing back-up lift equipped vehicles. Hideo Sugita explained that with Shoreline providing the service, the issue of providing back-up vehicles may be a non issue. Cathy Bechtel noted that Shoreline would have to request its Riverside office for a back-up vehicle should their vehicle breaks down and it will take 1 1/2 hours. Ace Atkinson added that the Desert Blind does not have a back up vehicle. Therefore, should one of the contracted vehicles break down, it will leave people stranded. Don Senger pointed out that SunLine as the contractor to provide the service, even though a service is contracted out, it is still SunLine's responsibility to provide transit service in their area. M/S/C (ATKINSON/NICKEL) to recommend to the Commission that they withhold action on SunLine's Short Range Transit Plan until the July meeting and to request a legal opinion regarding SunLine policy relating to the intervalley service. Hideo Sugita informed the Committee on service expansions/changes and studies to the RTA Plan for FY 1989- 90 as follows: 1) Route 22 (Perris/Riverside) - Increase service frequency from 4 to 9 trips per day, simplify the transfer connection at Wood and Van Buren, and reroute to serve the GAIN Office, with stop to be located at Collier and Chaney; 2) Route 27 (Hemet/Riverside/Perris/Sun City) - Effective September, increase service frequency from 5 to 11 trips per day with all all trips serving Sun City and Kaiser Hospital in Riverside; 3) Routes 31 (Beaumont/Banning/Hemet/San Jacinto) and 32 (Hemet/Valle " " Page 4 Vista) will be realigned to provide service to government offices on State Street; and, 4) Conduct a Moreno Valley area transit study in conjunction with a satellite operations and maintenance facility study to address the unmet transit needs requests in the Moreno Valley area. Committee members discussed the need for RTA to provide transit service for Valley Resource Center clients in Hemet. Jim Stoffer pointed out that if the service was rerouted, schedules for transfers to other lines would be affected. Leon Overton noted that once a fixed route line is in placed, it should not be changed in order to gain the public's confidence regarding reliability of the service. He then requested that RTA look at extending Route 29 to San Bernardino along Rubidoux Boulevard. At this time, Hideo Sugita reviewed capital improvements being proposed by the transit operators. Ace Atkinson questioned why the Riverside Special Services is not proposing to purchase additional vehicles as in the UMTA 16(b)2 cycle, there is a request for four vehicles to service the Riverside area. He requested that Commission staff should pose the question of why Riverside Special Services is not proposing to increase its fleet. Cathy Bechtel stated that Riverside Special Service has indicated that they will be able to serve IRC's expected need in the next year. She expects that the need will increase in the next five years. Dick Weeks noted that the census is due to be taken in two years and should indicate the true population. In addition, one-half of the senior citizens do not reside in the City of Riverside. Ace Atkinson said that the Riverside Special Services Plan, it shows in three years an increase of 13,000 riders. He asked if it is reasonable to believe that their current fleet will be able to handle the increase. Hideo Sugita said a 5% inflation factor was used in the Plan to provide a margin of growth over the plan period. It is not known what the actual growth or service requirements would be. As long as there is an annual review of the Short Range Transit Plan and of the unmet transit needs process, Commission staff will be certain to receive input from the Committee and the public annually. " " Page 5 Leon Overton noted that at the last meeting, RTA stated that with the exception of five '60 vintage buses, all of their buses are lift -equipped. In the month of March, they have successfully carried 660 wheelchairs. He commented that he would like to have the word "handicapped" eliminated. He would like to have those agencies providing service to "handicapped" persons to work out a buddy -buddy service amongst them to use the fixed route lines. To provide a separate service would make them depend on somebody else for everything. Chairman Schmitt responded that the problem with the fixed route lines are myriad for many handicapped people who want public transportation. Perhaps they live in an area where they cannot physically get to a bus stop in wheelchair. They need curb to curb service where they are going. There are many reasons why special transit is necessary in this community. He noted that RTA carrying 660 wheelchairs for the month of March is a great number but many of those people are the same people. However, the number of handicapped people using the Riverside Special Services is also significant and that they are using this service for many reasons. Discussion followed regarding proposed vehicle acquisition for the Riverside Special Services. It was determined by the Committee to request a representative of the Riverside Special Service to be present at the next meeting to provide a status on the current and future service. M/S/C (WEEKS/NICKEL) to recommend that the Commission approve the FY 1990-1994 Short Range Transit Plan(s) for Banning, Beaumont, Corona, Lake Elsinore, Palo Verde Valley, Rancho Mirage, Riverside Special Services, Riverside Transit Agency and for the Regional Commuter Rail. 4. Callbox System Update. Hideo Sugita stated that the Commission has contracted with a patent attorney to conduct an initial review of the draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of a motorist aid callbox system and to develop patent indemnification language for the RFP. The review of the draft is completed and it identified five patents that the RFP may infringe. The patent attorney has recommended not to release the RFP at this time to avoid litigation. A recommendation will be before the Commission to contract with the patent attorney to conduct further work relating to patent infringement. " " Page 6 5. Other Items. Hideo Sugita briefed the Committee on the status of the Social Service Transportation Delivery Study. According to the Commission's Consultant, Pat Piras, the problem in the Coachella Valley is not due to a lack of funding. It appears, conversely, that part of the problem may be attributable to most agencies having adequate funding to provide their clients services. Hideo Sugita informed the Committee that arrangements had been made to have Pat Piras attend the next CAC meeting. 6. Adjournment. There being no other items to be discussed by the Committee, Chairman Schmitt adjourned the meeting at 3:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, nk Hideo Sugita Staff Analyst