Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes (Sept. 15, 2004)

Attendees

Advisory Board:

• Rich Douglas, Wyoming Department of Transportation
• Bruce Fuchs, North Dakota Department of Transportation
• Julia Bommelman, Metropolitan Area Transit - Fargo
• Lori Van Beek, Metropolitan Area Transit - Moorhead
• Pam Boswell, American Public Transportation Association
• Barbara Sisson, Federal Transit Administration
• Dale Marsico, Community Transportation Association of America
• Tom Seyaert, Montana Department of Transportation
• Ron Baumgart, Dakota Transit Association
• Bruce Lindholm, South Dakota Department of Transportation
• Lyn Hellegaard, Montana Transit Association
• Sean Solan, Wyoming Public Transportation Association
• Carol Wright, James River Transit

SURTC Staff:

• Gary Hegland, Associate Research Fellow
• Jill Hough, Director
• Jon Mielke, Associate Research Fellow
• Jim Miller, Faculty Associate
• Del Peterson, Associate Research Fellow
• David Ripplinger, Associate Research Fellow
• Susmit Sarker, Graduate Research Assistant
• Dustin Ulmer, Graduate Research Assistant

Agenda

• Tour and overview of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) facilities including the Advanced Traffic Analysis Center, TEL8, DOT Support Center, and Mountain Plains Consortium
• Welcome & Introductions, Alumni Center
  • Gene Griffin, UGPTI
  • Tim Horner, NDDOT
  • Erin Prochnow, Office of Senator Byron Dorgan
  • Jill Hough, SURTC

SURTC Update

Jill Hough, Director of SURTC, began by reviewing the mission, vision and goals of SURTC. She then recognized the employees that had been hired since the last meeting: Jon Mielke, Dave Ripplinger, and Susmit Sarker. Research that has been completed or soon will be completed was presented. These projects included the North Dakota Coordination Report, the creation of a fixed route in Jamestown, the campus transit study, and the completion of a non-profit transportation book chapter. SURTC is continuing to study mobility within North Dakota, the benefits of ITS in encouraging coordination, demographic research, a commuter van pool study, a commuter express bus service study, as well as research on the transportation of the elderly and the transportation of students on school buses.

With regard to education, a distance learning graduate/undergraduate course in public transportation was offered and a bus shelter design competition was sponsored. Two training sessions were offered: "Managing by the Numbers" and "Marketing on a Shoestring". For next year, training in web-page development, developing a business plan, and developing surveys are planned. Training will also be offered on-site for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), in suburban Detroit within the next few months.

SURTC continues to maintain its web site, as well as those of the Dakota Transit Association (DTA) and Montana Transit Association (MTA). It also publishes its newsletter biannually and edits and publishes the quarterly DTA newsletter.

During the past year, SURTC staff made presentations at the Rural ITS Conference, the Transportation Research Forum Annual Meeting, at the MTA and DTA annual meetings, at the APTA University and Community Transit Meeting, and the Rural and Intercity Bus Conference. Director Hough will also be presenting at Bus Con later this month.

National Perspective

Barbara Sisson, Associate Administrator, Federal Transit Administration
Ms. Sisson highlighted a number of things that are occurring at FTA. Within the next few weeks, FTA will be unveiling a web site describing best practices in public transportation. It was also pointed out that the administration is focused on the customer, as well as on providing local agencies flexibility in providing services. The Office of Research and Technology, of which Ms. Sisson is head, is currently working on gleaning data from the National Transit Database to provide local decision makers and advocates of public transportation with relevant information. The office is also evaluating grant-making procedures to insure that high-quality products are delivered.

Dale Marsico, Executive Director, Community Transportation Association of America
Two important issues were highlighted by Mr. Marsico. The first focused on the reauthorization of the transportation bill which remains unfinished. All parties involved with the bill have provided strong support for small urban and rural public transportation. He also spoke about the contributions of congressional members from North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. His second point involved the need for Medicare to include a transportation benefit.

Pam Boswell, American Public Transportation Association
Ms. Boswell also spoke about reauthorization and the fact that a number of proposals made by smaller operators have been supported by APTA during the legislative process. She briefly spoke about the importance of security in the industry and the impact of public transportation on the economy, as well as the increasingly important role of transit in communities with universities. She also discussed the importance of standards with regards to vehicles, processes, and integration of operations.

Regional, State, and Local Issues

Rich Douglas, Wyoming Department of Transportation
Mr. Douglas spoke about WYDOT's success in preserving intercity bus service following the startling announcement that Greyhound would be ending service.

Bruce Fuchs, North Dakota Department of Transportation
Mr. Fuchs began by addressing the inability of local entities to meet federal financial match requirements and presented the idea of allowing local providers to receive a refund of federal fuel tax dollars. He also spoke about the demands of completing the necessary paper work on transit providers.

Julia Bommelman, Metropolitan Area Transit - Fargo
Ms. Bommelman questioned why the MAT must complete the same paperwork as a city such as Minneapolis, when the data is not used in the same way once received by the federal government. She informed the group that a new transportation director began on Monday with the Metro COG. She also pointed out many of the challenges that exist because of the many political boundaries that exist in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area.

Lori Van Beek, Metropolitan Area Transit - Moorhead
An innovative program with Fannie Mae will begin shortly. It will allow riders with FNMA mortgages to ride the MAT free for six months.

Tom Seyaert, Montana Department of Transportation
Mr. Seyaert commented on the challenges regarding coordination and the impact of United We Ride. He also had concerns regarding funding sources.

Bruce Lindholm, South Dakota Department of Transportation
Mr. Lindholm commented on South Dakota's continuing program to building bus barns with section 5309 funds using donated property for the necessary match. He also brought up the need for scheduling and dispatching software other than those provided by the larger vendors whose programs are both expensive and overpowered for rural needs.

Ron Baumgart, Dakota Transit Association
Mr. Baumgart spoke about the tremendous increase in ridership in the short time since taking the helm at River Cities Transit, Pierre, SD. He also related the need for help in providing benefits for employees, and health and property insurance which may be possible by individual transit providers joining together. Mr. Baumgart also noted that he is looking at developing a web page for his group.

Lyn Hellegaard, Montana Transit Association
Ms. Hellegaard noted that civic groups who raise money for transit prefer that it go to child-focused programs or vehicles and not operating costs or the elderly. She also commented on the fact that there is a threshold beyond which counties cannot give. Also, MTA has developed web-based software that allows for the booking of rides across transportation providers that is going to be integrated with physicians' offices in the near future. There is also work being done to develop ride-matching software to encourage car-pooling. Ms. Hellegard is also working with an insurance company that may provide property insurance. Health insurance seems less likely because of differing rules across states. She believes that counties will allow participation if the rates are at or below those that currently exist. A new, program in Montana allows for individuals with non-running vehicles to have them repaired. Owners must provide some sweat equity and parts are purchased with public funds.

Sean Solan, Wyoming Public Transportation Association
Mr. Solan spoke about the large geographic area he is responsible for, the lack of support from local public officials, and his dedication to service. A definite challenge is that transportation providers, such as those from senior centers, do not cross borders. Mr. Solan also shared the success he has had transporting 400 Head Start students daily.

Carol Wright, James River Transit
James River Transit is studying the feasibility of adding a fixed route, designed with help from Del Peterson of SURTC, to provide a lower-cost alternative to its existing demand-response service. They will also be building a new bus barn using 5309 money and land donated by the county.

Program Input/Future Direction

Strong interest was expressed in pooling RTAP funds and technical resources to develop an expert and a centralized location for these resources.

Mr. Lindholm commented on the need for research into the causes of increasing ridership. He pointed out that drivers have a tremendous impact on ridership.

The question of determining where funds would best be used was also raised. This stemmed from a GAO study that reported on the high cost of non-emergency transportation by ambulance funded by Medicare relative to other less costly transportation alternatives.

There was interest in compiling additional information on potential sources for matching funds.

There was interest in researching options for implementing United We Ride.

There was interest in compiling data for comparison of performance of different routes and providers of similar size across the region.

Appropriately priced and scaled software for scheduling and dispatch was discussed. Mr. Ripplinger described a software package which was developed in New Mexico that may meet these needs.

The mission, value, and goals of SURTC and possible changes were discussed. The creation of subcommittees was raised. Volunteers for the CCTM manual review were accepted. Section 1. Transit Development consists of Del Peterson, Bruce Lindholm, Lyn Hellegaard; Section 2 Financial Management consists of Jim Miller, Ron Baumgart, and Bruce Fuchs; Section 3 Operations Management consists of David Ripplinger, Lori Van Beek, and Julie Bommelman; Section 4 Human Resources consists of Gary Helgand, Carol Wright, Pam Boswell, and Lyn Hellegaard; Section 5 Procurement and Contracting includes Jon Mielke, Julie Bommelman, Sean Solan, Lori Van Beek, and Tom Seyaert.

The importance of making sure that the SURTC Newsletter makes it to local decision makers was brought up.

Possible new members were discussed.

Closing

The next SURTC advisory board meeting will be held in the fall of 2005. The date and location of the next meeting is yet to be determined.