Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes (Sept. 9, 2009)

Download the PDF version of the meeting minutes (167K)

Attendees

Advisory Board Members:

• Keven Anderson, Minnesota DOT
• Ron Baumgart, River Cities Public Transit
• Julie Bommelman, Metropolitan Area Transit-Fargo
• Joe Dougherty, Cheyenne Transit Program
• Bruce Fuchs, North Dakota DOT
• B. Leone Gibson, Utah DOT
• Gene Griffin, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute
• Lyn Hellegaard, Montana Transit Association
• Mary Leary, Easter Seals Project ACTION
• Bruce Lindholm, South Dakota DOT
• Ryan Marshall, Utah Urban & Rural Specialized Transportation Association
• Jim Moench, North Dakota Disabilities Advocacy Consortium
• Vincent Valdes, Federal Transit Administration
• Lori Van Beek, Metropolitan Area Transit-Moorhead

Guests:

• Ryan Aasheim, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan's Office
• Paul Benning, North Dakota DOT
• Charles Dickson, Community Transportation Association of America
• Joseph Niegoski, American Public Transportation
• Francis Ziegler, North Dakota DOT

SURTC Staff:

• Jill Hough, Director
• Alan Abeson, Affiliated Faculty
• Marsha Allahar, Administrative Assistant
• Gary Hegland, Training and Outreach Coordinator
• Jeremy Mattson, Associate Research Fellow
• Jon Mielke, Associate Research Fellow
• Jim Miller, Affiliated Faculty
• Del Peterson, Associate Research Fellow
• Dave Ripplinger, Associate Research Fellow
• William Thoms, Associate Research Fellow
• Carol Wright, Associate Director of Training and Outreach

SURTC Students:

• Mridula Sarker, Student
• Marc Scott, Ph.D. Student
• Yan Weng, MS Student

Welcome and Greetings from UGPTI

Gene Griffin, Director, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute

Gene Griffin welcomed everyone and thanked them for their time and efforts.

Mr. Griffin stated that public transportation and mobility of people and goods is the nexus of everything that is important in socio-economic systems.

Mr. Griffin provided a handout for the advisory board members. He reported on the TIGER grant application/Center for Transportation studies and the RFID chip application program. It is hoped that the TIGER funds would provide 75% funding for the Center for Transportation Studies. The building that will house the Center will include a transportation museum, a traffics operations center and a real time training lab.

The RFID technology would be helpful for transmitting a rider's identity data (not personal information) upon entering the bus. It was clarified that the privacy issues associated with RFID were less hazardous than the data mining capabilities of credit cards/cell phones.

Greetings from North Dakota Department of Transportation

Francis Ziegler, Director, North Dakota Department of Transportation

Francis Ziegler began by welcoming the advisory board members and guests. The NDDOT has been working on several projects from including implementing AVL technology on NDDOT trucks to collecting deployment information. Also undertaken have been two major studies that address the transit needs of the over and under communities with populations of 35,000 in ND. Mr. Ziegler commented that the NDDOT appreciates UGPTI and the valuable leadership of Gene Griffin.

Greetings from Senator Dorgan's Office

Ryan Aasheim, Outreach and Project Development, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan's Office

Mr. Aasheim conveyed the regrets of Senator Dorgan for not being at the meeting today. On behalf of the Senator, He appreciated the opportunity to commend the work done by SURTC in addressing the needs of rural communities, the elderly and people with disabilities to have transportation access to healthcare. The Senator recognizes the great work being done by SURTC and the Upper Great Plains Institute and extends his congratulations!

SURTC - The Year in Review / A Look Forward

Jill Hough, Director, Small Urban & Rural Transit Center

Dr. Jill Hough thanked the NDDOT for their work and their partnership with SURTC. She also thanked Gene Griffin for supporting SURTC. The presentation on SURTC's The Year in Review / A Look Forward highlighted a review of the center's vision, mission, and goals.

SURTC'S intent to achieve being a "Center of Excellence" requires hard work in staying true to its mission by continuing to assist small urban and rural transit systems in conducting the relevant research, outreach and training as well as in providing and facilitating the exchange of information.

SURTC has four established goals:

1. Enhance public transportation systems in small urban and rural communities.
2. Improve accessibility and mobility in small urban and rural communities.
3. Foster and facilitate information exchange among transit stakeholders and decision-makers in public transportation.
4. Contribute to the body of knowledge in transit.

SURTC has expanded the training program to cover more topics as well as more geographic areas. Dr. Hough noted that SURTC is willing to provide training anywhere it is needed and requested.

Recently completed research projects and their reports are available online at www.surtc.org. They include:

• Assessing Impacts of Rising Fuel Prices on Rural Native Americans
• Urban-Rural Classification: Identifying a System Suitable for Transit
• Effects of Rising Gas Prices on Bus Ridership for Small Urban and Rural Transit Systems
• Biodiesel Use in Fargo-Moorhead MAT Buses

Ongoing research includes:

• University Students and Transit: Changing Attitudes and Behaviors (In-Progress)
• Organizing Transit in Small Urban and Rural Communities (In-Progress)
• An Evaluation of Transportation Needs of the People with Disabilities North Dakota: An Update (In-Progress)
• Rural Intercity Travel Demand and Mode Choice under Rising Fuel Costs (In-Progress)
• Roughrider Travel Management Coordination Center
• Defining Rural in the Context of Transit (In-Progress)
• Transit's Role in Small Urban Sprawl (In-Progress)

Jon Mielke, Associate Research Fellow

The Assessing Impacts of Rising Fuel Prices on Native Americans research project was conducted by Jon Mielke, David Ripplinger and Jeremy Mattson.

Mr. Mielke mentioned The Oil Price Information Service survey and some of the findings. The full article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/business/09gas.html. The results revealed that the gasoline crisis is taking the highest toll, as a percentage of income, on people in rural areas of the South, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and North and South Dakota. There were no Native American populations on the list of top five rural areas.

Included in the assessment based on the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS - AAA) study were:

• Miles traveled per year
• Fuel prices
• Amount spent on fuel
• Percentage of income spent on fuel

Looking at the oil information study, Mr. Mielke found a variety of problems. The SURTC study addressed some of these issues as they specifically related to six Native American counties and addressed the percentage of money spent on fuel as a function of personal income, distance travelled, efficiency of vehicle being used and fuel prices.

Discussion followed.

Jeremy Mattson, Associate Research Fellow

Jeremy Mattson discussed the highlights from his study, Effects of Rising Gas Prices on Bus Ridership for Small Urban and Rural Transit Systems. The full report can be found at http://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=602

Del Peterson, Associate Research Fellow

Del Peterson discussed the highlights from his study, Bio-Diesel Use in Fargo-Moorhead MAT buses. The full report can be found at http://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=605

Jill Hough, Director

Dr. Hough reported on the following project highlights:

• Rural Intercity Mode Choice
• Southwest Demonstration Study –to be discussed in more detail by David Ripplinger later in the meeting
• Cluster Analysis of Small Urban and Rural Transit Providers
• Assessing the Impact of Public Transportation on Access to Health Care in North Dakota
• North Dakota Transportation Survey: Aging and Mobility
• To Demonstrate and Evaluate an Application of RFID Passenger Identification Cards for Small Urban and Rural Transit Systems
• Ride or Relocate of Aging population – cost of living at home versus nursing home
• Technology Adoption by Small Urban & Rural Transit Systems
• Assessing Existing and Needed Community Transportation for People with Disabilities in North Dakota

Dr. Hough highlighted SURTC's education program.

The Public Transportation course was taught using UGPTI's Transportation Learning Network to students from ND, SD, UT, PA and WY. It will be offered online in January 2010 and also through the Council of Transportation Centers certificate program that is now newly housed with Dr. Denver Tolliver at North Dakota State University.

The transportation seminar series is being offered as a one credit course. A list of seminars can be found at http://www.ugpti.org/events/seminar/.

Carol Wright, Associate Director of Outreach & Training

Two of the most successful training programs have been the Principles of Transit Management and the Business Plan Training. Partnering with the National Center for Senior Transportation (NCST) allowed for the delivery of the pilot Business Plan Training in Fargo to nine teams over the course of three eight-hour days. A pre-conference intensive session was also conducted at the CTAA expo.

Gary Hegland was involved with the DTA Transportation Coordination Summit and is also the PASS training and re-certification trainer for bus drivers in ND and SD. Two new classes, Defensive Driving and Maltreatment Abuse Prevention were also added this past year.

David Ripplinger partnered with National Training Institute to develop a course on implementing Rural Transit Technology.

Jon Mielke delivered a presentation at an International Tribal Transit conference. One of the future projects would be modify the Principles of Transit Management course and make it applicable to tribal entities.

Upcoming Training: NTI/SURTC "Business Plan Development" training to be held in New Jersey in October 2009. 'The Changing Faces of America" – training delivery to the Texas DOT in January 2010. This training will meet Texas DOT title six requirements on civil rights.

Jill Hough, Director

Dr. Hough presented SURTC's outreach efforts:

• SURTC Blog launch
• Solutions Summit on Workforce Development-September 10, 2009
• Newsletters
• Annual Report
• Presentations (TRB, TRF, and more...)
• Public Involvement Meetings
• Serve on National/Regional/Local Committees
  • Blue Ribbon Taskforce Panel on Workforce Development
  • NTI Board of Directors
  • Chair- TRB Rural and Intercity Bus Conference – October 2010, Vermont.
  • TOPS
  • TCRP Panel
• Carol Wright has also served on the FTA Safety and Security Group

Dr. Hough thanked the advisory board not only for their presence at the meeting but for the continued support and interaction throughout the year. She expressed that many board members have served as reviewers of problem statements, reports and this has been critical to SURTC's continued success. Dr. Hough noted that the she is looking forward to the continued partnership on future projects.

Southwest Demonstration Project

David Ripplinger, Associate Research Fellow

David Ripplinger presented on the Southwest Demonstration Project. The project is jointly funded by NDDOT and SURTC. The study looked at the role technology plays in order to facilitate coordination. The study recognized that there are a lot of students that lived across the Southwest of North Dakota that needed to get to school. Further, there are also lots of people who mobility issues in either in getting to work or in getting final productS to and from markets.

Bruce Fuchs reported on the success of the Joint Powers Agreement THAT allows any available vehicles including coaches to be used to transport all riders (school children as well as adults). The city of Dickinson has taken a leadership role and is very supportive of any initiatives to increase mobility.

Mr. Ripplinger noted that technology was used to complement the system and included RFID fare media, automated notification and trip/rider tracking. Three key findings of the study include barriers to coordination can be overcome, technology is necessary for high levels of coordination, and the value of trailblazing efforts can be of value in finding coordination solutions.

Following the presentation, Dr. Hough introduced Mridula Sarker, the newest Ph.D transportation student –to the advisory board then announced a break.

Break

National Perspective

Vincent Valdes, Associate Administrator for Research, Demonstration and Innovation Federal Transit Administration (FTA)

Vincent Valdes thanked everyone at SURTC for the work done and how important it has been for transportation and transit across the country.

The Research Department at FTA is currently in the process of updating their five-year research plan. Key areas of interest include Hydrogen Fuel Cells and its application to rail, as well as Street Car Technology. The multi-year strategic plan was put together by implementing smaller technology research plans that flowed from it. Specifically, these four smaller plans were written in the areas of 1) Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2) International Development, 3) Dissemination (of information) and 4) HydrogenBattery Technology. In March 2010, an additional $8.5 billion was provided to FTA of which $100 million was allocated to the TIGER program. Mr. Valdes noted that these grants were to be awarded on a competitive basis and that there were over 550 applications received.

It is hoped that the next multi-year strategic plan will address the following concerns:

• To be the lightning rod of national transit research and providing the umbrella guidance for research with research partners.
• To increase transit ridership in terms of increased energy and efficiency.
• To disseminate information on transit research.

Traditionally FTA has been a grant agency that distributes funds whereas FRA has been more of a regulatory agency. However, FTA is now partnering with FRA in their review process of federal rail corridor proposals.

Mr. Valdes concluded by stating that new FTA administrator Peter Appel is very supportive of the importance of the coordination/facilitation of research.

Joseph Niegoski, Director-Educational Services, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

Mr. Neigoski stated that APTA is very committed to establishing a common definition of sustainability for the public transportation industry, Establishing common goals and actions for the industry, sharing best practices and demonstrating transit's contribution to sustainability.

APTA is very engaged in areas of workforce needs and areas of research especially in "green Job" research. Of significance is the Workforce Development Blue Ribbon Panel that was established in October 2008 and is a top priority for APTA's chair Dr. Beverly Scott.

APTA ALSO has a very active and successful standards program. More information on this program can be located at http://www.aptastandards.com/

Mr. Niegoski highlighted that authorization priorities for small operators include increased funding for rural areas-how to keep and/or expand funds; aging bus replacement program; alternative fuel buses; charter regulations – more flexibility; congestion mitigation and air quality and a simplified rating process for all small starts.

Charles Dickson, Associate Director, Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)

Charles Dickson oversees CTAA's technical assistance program which works closely with transit systems and Councils of Government in rural areas.

Mr. Dickson stated that it is estimated that 133% of the poverty level will establish eligibility for Medicaid. In the house version of the health reform bill there is an amendment that states that if healthcare is reformed and Medicaid is expanded, that access to transportation will be part of the bill. One of the overall reauthorization strategies is to diversify funding sources so for example, transit could get some funding from the climate change bill.

CTAA operates four federally funded technical assistance programs. More information on CTAA's technical assistance programs can be found on their website at http://www.ctaa.org/

Work has been done with tribes in South Dakota and in the coming year activity will be done with tribes in Oklahoma and Washington. Initiatives are being done on the development of coordination plans and providing states and communities with the support and resources they need to improve public transportation related to human services.

Two webinars will be held next month- the first will focus on the historical context of Medicaid transportation, while the second will delve into the brokerage issues.

CTAA has several successful training and certification programs, more information is also available on their website at http://www.ctaa.org/

Mr. Dickson reported that CTAA has two electronic publications; Tappy Grams and Fast Mail. The former comes out every month and contains publications and research articles. Fast Mail comes out every week and contains information on legislation and other timely news on the industry.

The meeting broke for lunch at 12 noon and resumed at 12:45 p.m.

Mary Leary, Director, Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA)

Easter Seals focuses on four specific areas with people with disabilities and older adults -1) Training, 2) Technical systems 3) Applied Research and 4) Outreach. Ms. Leary noted that areas of completed research can be found on the website http://www.projectaction.org/

Ms. Leary stated that statistics for employment revealed that people with disabilities are underemployed. Several documents were made available by Project ACTION addressing new pathways and stop analysis, coordinating planning with people with disabilities as well as partnering with university research groups to address universal design in transit stations. In addition, ESPA will be partnering with the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Career Development and Transition to host a pre-event roundtable discussion in Savannah, Georgia. Other partnerships include the Youth Leadership Network and CTAA.

Fifty-two different training activities will be conducted over the course of the year in person or through distance learning. In the past year as much as $700,000 of local grants has gone out to communities, including the "Rides Change Lives" project.

Ms. Leary concluded with an announcement that Project ACTION will be hosting several online conferences. More information can be found on their website at http://www.projectaction.easterseals.com/

Regional/State & Local Reports and Issues

Jill Hough asked the regional and state members of the Advisory Board to address issues where SURTC can help and to give their ideas for the future direction of SURTC.

Joe Dougherty, Cheyenne Transit Program (WY)

Mr. Dougherty noted that Cheyenne transit ridership has doubled in the past seven years. They have spent $4.9 million on buses, approximately $1 million on facilities and about $250,000 to hire two mobility coordinators in two cities of the state for a one year trial program. Mr. Dougherty announced that 'Cheyenne Days' is approaching. This is a local rodeo event that has positively impacted local tourism as people are starting to recognize the value of riding the bus to travel to their destination.

Two important programs in Cheyenne have been seen to promote self sufficiency. One is funded by a grant on the WY division on Aging that allows the seniors in the community to board the bus for a donation of their own choosing. The second is token subsidy program which assist lower income people ride the bus.

Bruce Lindholm, South Dakota Department of Transportation

Bruce Lindholm indicated that SDDOT recently received $7.5 million in ARRA grant funds. $4.5 million was spent on facilities and another $3 million for vehicles.

SDDOT handles local government projects in terms of highways and bridges. Mr. Lindholm noted that if a new airport is added, there is no resistance from the community; however, all transit projects were seen as more of a cost to the community. SDDOT would like to work with SURTC on developing a research project which could focus on rural transit being considered as economic development justifying such expenditures for SD communities in which the funds are spent.

Paul Benning, North Dakota Department of Transportation

Mr. Benning indicated that NDDOT spent $5 million in Bismarck, Mandan and Fargo and Grand Forks on new buses, bus replacements, fare boxes and bus shelters. Dave Leftwich is the current interim transportation planning director and will be in that position until October 2010. Mr. Benning is the interim local government engineer and Stacy Hanson is the interim assistant to the local engineer. Dennis Johnson-from SDDOT was recently hired to be the section leader of the transit department and has about 17 years of DOT experience and 9 years of consulting experience.

NDDOT has a Request for Proposal out for regionalizing two transit areas. There is also an on-going transit needs assessment study to assess what transit needs are not being met. An "Officer I" position is also still waiting to be filled and interviews will be conducted next week. Paula Jacobson took a sabbatical August 1st, however, she will be back in office on October 1st, 2009.

Ron Baumgart, River Cities Public Transit SD

Mr. Baumgart reported that River Cities Public Transit received $5.2 million in ARRA funds to build an addition to their facility as well as a new airport terminal. RFID technology has been implemented in transit agencies to track kindergarten aged children on the buses instead of having to ask each one of them to be identified by name. Mr. Griffin commented on transportation being quite big segment in the economic sector (trucking, rail, supply chain management) and as much as 17% of the economy. Mr. Niegoski also added that on the APTA website http://www.apta.com there is a lot of data on transportation investment and its impact on economic development.

Lori Van Beek, Metropolitan Area Transit-Moorhead ND/MN

Ms. VanBeek noted that growth in ridership translates to the need to get more services on the street, because as more riders are picked up, routes are slowed.

Fargo/Moorhead funded a new mobility manager plan with New Freedom money. She noted that coordination, efficiencies and education aspects of mobility management are going to assist with better management of the growth of paratransit systems. The website http://www.fmridesource.com/ provides the metro area of Fargo and West Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead and Dilworth, Minnesota with transportation options for the elderly and people with disabilities. All of the transportation options, including private transportation providers and government supported transit, are available to the public.

The "train the trainer" program will educate different agencies that provide services for people with disabilities and senior citizens.

Ms. VanBeek commented that Moorhead joined the metro senior ride program in 2008 and this has helped to manage the paratransit services. A large number of senior citizens are ambulatory disabled and would rather ride on a van for seniors than ride on a paratransit bus. A training DVD was done on how to educate riders on the proper way to ride fixed bus routes. It is hoped that more paratransit DVDs can be done in the future.

Keven Anderson, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Mr. Andersen indicated that November may see an increase in funding with the cash for clunkers incentive program, since a large percentage of MNDOT funding comes from the motor vehicle sales tax.

The state transit plan is currently being updated with A local hearing set for October 8th, 2009. When the price of gas is high, there is a larger need for ridership but since service is provided from 7-6 pm or 8-5 pm, it excludes riders seeking jobs and those engaging in recreational activities.

Mr. Andersen suggested that SURTC should address how technology could be incorporated into rideshare. Mr. Fuchs noted that NDinfo.org would be helpful in this area because Minnesota data can be applied to this system that has already been built.

Break

Leone Gibson, Utah DOT

Ms. Gibson stated that UTDOT will be buying two open road coaches for a Coordination project. The Navajo tribe in the South East is also starting another fixed route with ARRA funds.

A statewide intercity bus study is being conducted as a response to increased fuel prices as well as the need for increased connections. There are six mobility management studies currently being undertaken. Two feasibility studies in the central and south parts of the state are going to begin to determine if expanded fixed routes are needed in certain communities.

Ms. Gibson announced that in January 2010, it will be about 2 1/2 years that the state has been working with reporting and application processing software. Sub-grantees found the software useful because it enables them to track vehicles and estimate when vehicle maintenance is needed. Ms. Gibson suggested that SURTC should explore the option of offering their graduate program online so that transit courses could be more accessible to staff in Utah.

Julie Bommelman, Metropolitan Area Transit-Fargo (ND)

Ms. Bommelman noted that in the Fall of 2009, another route was added the day before classes started that averaged about 2000 riders per day. New routes will need to be implemented in SW Fargo because of the increased ridership to the new Wal-Mart and new Microsoft campus. Further, five new vehicles will be coming next summer to also assist with the ridership growth.

ARRA funds were used to finance fare boxes and shelters. MAT has incorporated RFID technology in fare media as well as using AVL technology at the NDSU Memorial Union to alert studentS of approaching buses. Work has been done with Metro COG, ATAC and SURTC to develop a transit signal priority project. It is currently running on one MAT route. It borrows green time from the approaching signal and gains as much as 10 seconds from the signal.

Mr. Bommelman announced that MAT'S was utilizing social networks to reach more riders and has been working with Dave Ripplinger from SURTC on developing Facebook and Twitter pages.

Ms. Bommelman reported on MAT's role in evacuating Fargo-Moorhead during the flood efforts. A 24-7 shuttle using school buses wAS used to transport at least 15,000 volunteers from the Fargodome to the dykes. She noted that she was proud to be part of such a well coordinated evacuation effort.

Bruce Fuchs, North Dakota DOT

Mr. Fuchs noted that this was his last meeting in his current position. He extended his thanks to everyone for the interaction, friendship and communication over the past years. Dr. Hough conveyed her appreciation to Mr. Fuchs and thanked him for his contributions to SURTC over his many years of service.

Lyn Hellegaard, Montana DOT

Montana DOT was given a one-time boost of $300,000 of transit funding from the general fund and a commitment from legislators to work with Montana DOT in the next legislative session to shore up a better funding source that will be consistent from year to year.

Ms. Hellegaard highlighted that the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) funded a fast track (nine-month) study for mobility issues related to veterans. To facilitate this study, a working group was established of veteran's associations, tribal health, disabled veterans, veterans of foreign wars, disabled American veterans and the American legion.

Noteworthy was that the transportation advisory committee in Lake County applied for New Freedom funding to expand a voucher program for mental health patients.

Work is being done to create an integrated software application that allows smaller agencies to send their reportS to several recipients with a single click.

MRTMA is currently servicing fourteen routes. Ms. Hellegaard noted that they have applied for 5309 funding and is currently working with VPSI and CTAA to create a public-private partnership. She is hopeful that car pools, other incentive type programs or incorporating RFID technology can be implemented to track riders as well as assist with record keeping.

Ryan Marshall, City of St. George, Utah

Mr. Marshall commented that the City of St. George has seen a 75,000 increase in ridership over the last year leading to many challenges for a small transit agency. Currently, analysis is being conducted as to whether it would be more cost effective to decreasing routes or reducing headway by putting more buses on existing routes to increase ridership.

Urban and Rural State Transit Association entered into a partnership with the Department of Workforce Services and shared some of their funds to develop public transit positions. $1.1 million in grant funding has been applied to the city garage for an increased number of buses as well as to an administrative building.

Mr. Marshall noted that a lot of smaller transit providers have to come up with the local match for their capital purchases. Mr. Mielke commented on the change in the funding formulas in North Dakota in the last legislative session. Transit was a part of the consortium of all of the road authorities-cities counties, townships, etc. but now transit gets it funding from a percentage of a bigger pot of money so that funding is not only tied to motor vehicle registrations.

Mr. Marshall stated that URSTA is facing problems with implementing solutions especially in the areas of coordination. He hoped the some of the outcomes of SURTC's SW study can be applied to his own agency. SURTC was asked to address low cost technology solutions that can be implemented and applicable for smaller agencies. It was also suggested that SURTC could also conduct cost analysis of a person's spending on public transportation in rural areas.

Jim Moench, North Dakota Disabilities Advocacy Consortium

Mr. Moench commented on how important the legislative sessions were in North Dakota especially from the disabilities interest. Emphasized was that it was very useful for legislatures/communities to see that various groups are interested in the issues. Noted was that following the sessions $800,000 was removed from transit funding.

He stated that communication is the key for people with disabilities. It would be helpful for people with disabilities to have a device installed in their home to alert them of approaching vehicles so that they could then get ready to approach the curb in a timely fashion. However, one major problem that transit providers are experiencing is that they cannot count on people with disabilities showing up at their stop. People with disabilities claim that transit either shows up very early or very late or does not show up at all.

For future work, Mr. Moench asked SUTRC to formulate tools that could be shared with transit associations statewide for getting more satisfied riders. Discussion followed. Dr. Hough described the longitudinal study that focused on change in attitude towards public transportation as students moved through college from freshman to their senior year. Further, some passenger satisfaction data was collected by MAT and as a result a template has been developed to address these issues.

Discussion Points:

• Interest in access to healthcare.
• Coordination/Human Services –coordination is mostly done at the local level
• Cost Sharing (barriers)
• There is need for university research to quantify the value of transit access to health and wellness
• Project ACTION already has a model that is constructed so that human services can accurately calculate their transportation costs.
• Legislative Sessions –Positive feedback, guidebook available
• NDinfo.org - opportunities to address needs that exist.
• Technology in Training
• Industry and Academics -Dr. Hough commented on Vincent Valdes's input into providing input the practical side of industry into Marc Scott's upcoming comprehensive exam.

Dr. Hough concluded the meeting by thanking the advisory board for all of their feedback and comments throughout the day and encouraged the board to look at SURTC's blog and website and continue to email SURTC with any input that could build and improve the program as a Center of Excellence.

The meeting adjourned at 3:30pm

Minutes submitted by Recorder-Marsha Allahar