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Home My Public Portal About05 May 30, 1989 Citizens Advisory Committee/Social Service Advisory CouncilRiVER816E COUNTY TMNSPORTATIONtiOMMISSION AGENDA CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE/ SOCIAL SERVICE ADVISORY COUNCIL 1:30 P.M., TUESDAYS MAY 30 1989 SCAG RIVERSIDE COUNTY SERVICE OFFICE 3600 LIME STREET, SUITE 216 RIVERSIDE, CA 92501 1. Call to Order. 2. Approval of Minutes. 040263 ACTION 3. FY 1990-94 Riverside County Short Range ACTION Transit Plan. Included in the agenda packet is a copy of the Short Range Transit. Staff will give an oral presentation at the meet- ing. 4 Callbox Update. UPDATE Staff will brief the Committee on the status of callbox for Riverside County. 5. Other Items. 6. Adjournment. v 22 DATE cJo) t4B4 C3AX,;►�tA,S NAME Px 6A Yt- 1 CUL U 3 CAli&v:kctrISS 4c. REPRESENTING N4J1- 6.0.4y Idcar4 -=ate=-/AZ ,e0Ag..4-6( ti ), -fry. V/qq c D /Ds, PHONE 37o -0 it) . 'Lj 76Y—d1ZL-- `� / -(``t 7�z 6"/ /':?i RIVER81R COUNTY TRANSPORTATIOAOMMISSION Minutes of the Citizens Advisory Committee/ Social Service Advisory Council April 24, 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 1:42 p.m., at the SCAG Riverside County Service Office, 3600 Lime Street, Riverside. Members present were: Terry Allen Ace Atkinson Ray Baca Cathy Bechtel Mike Beggins Herb Krauch Don Kurz Members absent were: Rose Eldridge Arnold Dickson Don High Others present: Joanne Moore Lori Nickel Leon Overton Rena Parker Chuck Schmitt Don Senger Dick Weeks Jim Judge Jim Kenna Paul Blackwelder, RCTC Steve 011er, RTA Jo Sanford, Caltrans District 8 Hideo Sugita, RCTC Scott Richardson, RTA 2. Approval of Minutes. Don Kurz noted that on Page 3, 3rd Paragraph, when he said "...dial -a -ride service in the Rubidoux area", he meant "...dial -a -ride service in the Riverside area". M/S/C (ALLEN/KRAUCH) to approve the minutes of the March 27, 1989 meeting as amended. Leon Overton abstained. " " Page 2 3. Fare Minimum Requirement - Riverside Special Services. Paul Blackwelder, Assistant Director, informed the Committee that the Riverside City Special Services did not meet the requirement of minimum fare revenue to operating cost ratio of 10% last year and will probably not meet it this year also. State regulations require that the transit operator must meet the minimum fare revenue ratio to operating expense ratio required to be eligible to receive Local Transportation funding. A provision was added to State regulations last year whereby counties with transportation sales tax measures could use revenues from such measures to assist transit operators to meet their required minimum fare revenue ratio. He proposed that a policy be adopted to allow transit operators to claim Measure A funds to comply with the minimum fare revenue ratio to operating cost ratio required for LTF eligibility. Transit operators must document that the Measure A funds will be limited to the amount of fare revenues that would otherwise be collected from increasing fares and/or eliminating discounts for elderly and handicapped passengers. Rena Parker asked if having such policy would open up the possibility for transit operators to use and request more Measure A funds in the future. Paul Blackwelder stated that having such a policy will not encourage the use of Measure A funds to supplement the operators' budgets. When filing the claim, they would have to provide documentation that Measure A funds are only needed to supplement fares for the elderly and handicapped. Chairman Schmitt reminded Committee members that one purpose of the Measure A is to hold the fares down. M/S/C (ALLEN/MOORE) to recommend that the Commission adopt the following policies to provide Measure A funds to subsidize fares for the elderly and handicapped for public transit operators to meet their minimum fare revenue to operating cost ratio required by the State for funding eligibility under the Local Transportation Fund program: A. Measure A funds claimed will subsidize only the difference between the actual fare revenue collected from elderly and handicapped passengers and fare revenues that would be otherwise collected from the elderly and handicapped if fares were raised or discounts were eliminated. " " Page 3 B. The operators request for funding must be accompanied by adequate documentation allowing the Commission to determine that funds requested will subsidize only fares for the elderly and handicapped and not fares for the general public. At this time, Herbert Krauch stated that there was an item before the Board of Supervisors this morning to adopt a resolution to apply for $1 million bridge replacement funding for the Sanderson Bridge. S.K. Jain, County Road Department employee, stated that it will take 3-4 months after adoption of the resolution to know whether funding is approved. The matter was continued for a week because Supervisor Corky Larson has indicated that if the County adopts the resolution, they would not be eligible to request, this year, funding for five bridges in the Coachella Valley. Herb Krauch said that Measure A was passed in the Hemet Valley by a big majority because of the promise to build the Sanderson Bridge. He asked whether an action could be taken by the Committee. Paul Blackwelder explained that Sanderson Bridge is included on the list of projects to be funded by Measure A funds. The reason that Riverside County is taking such action is to get as much funding as possible from the State. He indicated that the County has a good chance of receiving the $1 million for the Sanderson bridge. 4. Park and Ride Lot Security. Jo Sanford, Caltrans District 8, stated that there are 27 park and ride lots in Riverside County. He briefed the Committee on the location of the lots. He said that vandalism is an on -going problem especially at the Corona park and ride lot. He has spoken to the Police Chief of Corona regarding this problem and he indicated they would increase patrols in the area. A joint venture with a private enterprise is being proposed for the Corona park and ride lot. Also under study is the expansion of the Corona park and ride lot. There are $20 million in UMTA funds available for a joint development program. Jo Sanford said that in Montclair, they are proposing constructing an elevated guard shack in the lot to be manned on a random basis. Paul Blackwelder said that a year ago, Caltrans discussed the possibility of joint use venture for their park and ride lots in San Diego. He asked Jo Sanford to provide a status on this to the Committee. Jo Sanford said that San Diego has discussed the possibility of a joint use venture with a mini -storage facility. He is not aware of the status of this proposal. In this area, Caltrans District 08 has contacted the Goodwill Industries to propose a joint use project. " " Page 4 Paul Blackwelder requested that Caltrans also check with the recycling business. He requested that Caltrans either provide oral information or submit a memo for the next meeting. A discussion followed regarding the types of crimes committed at the park and ride lots and possibilities of areas to locate additional park and ride lots. 5. Callbox Accessibility. Hideo Sugita gave a brief report on the status of handicapped accessibility of motorist aid systems. He said that he and Chairman Schmitt are participating in a subcommittee of the California SAFE Group to come up with a uniform way of approaching a number of operational items. One of the more significant issue is how to provide accessibility to handicapped individuals. A meeting was held with vendors of the various manufacturers and other interested parties to address the issue. Four ways of addressing accessibility are: 1) Placards and Signs; 2) Make Callbox Sites more Accessible; 3) Remote Electronic Devices; or, 4) Cellular Phone. He said that report on handicapped accessibility of motorists aid systems will be forwarded to the California SAFE Committee on May 2nd. Terry Allen inquired what the status is on callbox accessibility. Chairman Schmitt said that the recommendation was for the subcommittee to report back to their respective SAFE on what is considered as the best way(s) of providing callbox service access for handicapped persons. It would be up to each SAFE to carry this forward. 6. Social Service Delivery Study. Hideo Sugita said included in the agenda is a first draft Technical Memorandum #1 from Pat Piras Consulting Services for the Social Service Transportation Delivery Study. The Technical Memorandum #1 outlines a generic definition of public transit and social service transit. The memorandum which identifies functional indicators and operational indicators, the differences between the two types of services, and financial indicators, which names the fund sources available and where those funds are currently directed. Also included is an excerpt from the Governor's proposed budget on what social service funds are available within the State. Ace Atkinson noted that the draft technical memorandum failed to mention the intent of the California Legislature for the people of the State of California about what " " Page 5 transportation is supposed to do using the Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds. He sees TDA as providing transit services to transit dependents as a major category or statement that was left out. He added that with regards describing transit as a continuum, he perceives a continuum visually as a line and that things are spread along the continuum. The visual impression that he gets from the memo is that it is dichotomous rather than a continuum. Terry Allen said that since this is the first draft, he suggested that perhaps Pat Piras could meet with Ace Atkinson the terms and issues that Ace has questions on. Ace Atkinson also noted that on Page 7, 4th Paragraph, that "...efficiencies are based on mass transportation..." He said that SunLine has a bigger farebox revenue return on serving people with development disabilities than it does on its fixed route service. He said that efficiencies are based on mass transportation. He also noted that on Page 8, the Governor's Proposed Budget FY 1989-90, should also show the TDA funding. Cathy Bechtel said that she had the same comment but Pat Piras explained that in this paragraph she was discussing the concept and not specifically Riverside County. Also, she commented on the following: 1) Page 5, the intended purposes of funding sources is only when they cannot use public transportation then they use social service transportation; and, 2) Page 7, add "subscription service as part of public transportation". 7. FY 1989-90 TDA Unmet Transit Needs. Hideo Sugita stated that included in the agenda packet are two list containing requests obtained through the unmet needs hearings testimony and letters sent to the Commission. One list is comprised of those requests that are unmet needs and the second is a list of service requests, other than unmet needs. Staff will contact Omnitrans to work out a contractual arrangement to provide service from Calimesa to San Bernardino County. With regards to additional inter - and intra-city service for the Sun City/Hemet/San Jacinto area, RTA is planning to develop a significant response to the identified needs particularly on Lines 27, 31 and 32 to make sure that social service agencies are serviced. He said that they reviewed the service request received from Cathy Bechtel to the Valley Resource Center and found that the Valley Resource Center is located at a dead end road. It does not look hopeful it could be addressed. RTA will increase frequency from 5 to 11 on Lines 22 and 27 and will stop in Kaiser Hospital in Riverside. At this time, it is not possible to provide service in the Idyllwild area but " " Page 6 this would be addressed by RTA at their comprehensive cooperational analysis when they review the type of trips that are generated in the Western County area. Hideo Sugita continued and said that in terms of the SunLine situation, included in the unmet needs response are two Board actions taken last year. One, taken by the SunLine Board, was to discontinue the intervalley transit service to the Foundation for the Retarded. As part of the unmet transit needs findings last year, the Commission took action that SunLine continue the service until the Social Service Delivery Study is completed. The study is underway and staff will recommend that the Commission take a similar action to support the service. Cathy Bechtel has been working closely with SunLine and the Riverside County Schools to try to incorporate a contractual agreement whereby County Schools would be the service provider. It hit a snag when the scheduler retired and Laidlaw put together a proposal with an unreasonable rate. Cathy Bechtel added that Dick Cromwell is still trying to talk to the retired scheduler and hire her as a private consultant because he feels that Laidlaw could have done a better job with the routing. He is willing to hire a private consultant to go in and do the routing, however, they would have to obtain permission from the County Schools and Laidlaw. The private consultant was going to determine if it is worthwhile for him to do this. At this time, SunLine is working on a contract with a different provider for the summer because of the air-conditioning problem. Cathy Bechtel, with regards to the recommendation to the Commission on unmet transit needs, stated that she would feel more comfortable if funds could be set aside for SunLine to continue the intervalley handicapped service. Also, she noted there was not a response to her testimony with regards to back-up equipment with wheelchair lifts. M/S/C (WEEKS/ALLEN) to recommend to the Commission that based upon review of unmet transit needs testimony and service requests and review of existing services as well as service changes and new service(s) planned to be implemented, to find that there are no unmet transit needs which can be reasonably met in Riverside County and request that SCAG concur with this finding. Steve 011er informed the Committee that with the exception of five '60 vintage buses, all RTA buses are lift -equipped. In reviewing the record for the month of March, RTA has successfully carried 660 wheelchairs. He understands that " " Page 7 from time to time, if a lift is not operable, the bus driver just waves and do not stop but he has not seen this type of type of complaint in a long time. Management has discussed this issue with the union so that they understand the importance of providing accessible transportation. RTA has changed its work rules, operations rules and regulations and added a specific section devoted to wheelchair lifts, lift failures, etc., Chairman Schmitt stated that he has always found RTA management to be very sensitive to the problem of passengers that need wheelchair lifts or special accommodations. Unfortunately, he is not sure that even with work rule changes, that it is effectively communicated to the drivers. He still thinks that there is a problem between management and operators because it is being reported to him far too often. At this time, Ace Atkinson reported that an action has been taken to report to the Justice Department the alleged discrimination on the part of SunLine with regards to transit service. 8. Adjournment. There being no other items before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned at 3:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, aul Blackwelder Assistant Director NK