Everett Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

TAC MINUTES February 18, 2018 In attendance: Members Staff Guests T.J. Fournier George Baxter, Transit Bob Creamer Renee Quistorf Sabina Popa, Transit William Weber Ryan Sass, Public Works Robert Strickland Tim Miller, Public Works Victor Harris Kelsey Svaren, Public Works Tyler Rourke Scott Bader, City Council Richard Smith Ken Dorn, Police Meeting was called to order at 8:06 a.m. chaired by Tyler Rourke.  Tyler opened the meeting by expressing his thanks to T.J. for his service as TAC Chair. Several other member of the committee echoed the same sentiment.  M/S/P for January 2018 minutes. Announcements & Requests to Add Agenda Items  George informed the committee that this would be his last meeting as a representative for the Transit department. He will be retiring in March and Sabina will be the new Transit representative moving forward. George expressed his thanks to the committee, and attendees congratulated George on his upcoming retirement.  Victor let TAC know that the Planning Commission is going ahead with the Everett Metro plan to ‘prepare Everett’s Metropolitan Center for future public and private development and growth.’ Victor relayed that the Commission has no intention of presenting any plans or ideas to TAC for thoughts and consideration, but they rather expect comments to be made as private citizens. This project appears to be on the fast track and may be done by spring 2018. Victor felt that the project is on track overall, but expressed that he has concerns regarding the bicycle component. Other members of TAC also expressed their concerns regarding the bicycle and parking components. Ryan told the committee that he would speak with the Planning Department to see if they could arrange a presentation for TAC.  Tyler asked whether the city has ever utilized paid street parking, especially for the downtown business district. Ryan said that they began looking at this idea in 2006 and 2007, but it was halted by the recession in 2008. They have recently looked at parking utilization rates and the numbers are similar to the 2006/2007 numbers. Ryan stated that the projection is that the City may need to start charging for street parking within about 5 years if present trends continue.  Tyler noted that the website for TAC needs to be updated. The page should include bicycle and pedestrian needs as a part of transportation, in addition to updated links. The idea of including separate bicycle and pedestrian specific web pages was also proposed.  The Downtown Everett Association has been issued a permit to place pedestrian scale wayfinding signs in downtown Everett. Tyler and Tim volunteered to see if a presentation to TAC regarding the project would be possible at a future meeting.   Tyler noted that with the new YMCA being constructed on Colby Avenue, it may be necessary for street improvements to be made to Rucker Avenue to combat higher volume traffic and ensure safety for citizens.  Tyler announced that the 2nd Tour de Everett Fire Department (EFD) will take place on Saturday, April 21st. There were 65 participants on the tour in 2017. The tour starts at Fire Station 1. Citizen’s Comments  None. Engineering Report  Ryan began his report by welcoming Councilmember Scott Bader back to TAC.  Ryan gave a brief update regarding the US 2/SR 204 Interchange Justification Report. He anticipated that there will be some draft results issued soon and that the final report is due in June. He also noted that westbound trestle replacement strategies are currently being talked about in the Legislature with regard to next steps.  The streetscape 2 project on Hoyt between Wall and Pacific is undergoing review at WSDOT. It will go to bid as soon as WSDOT concurs. Police Report  Officer Dorn announced that Brett Yeadon is the new Administrative Sergeant for the EP South Sector, replacing Sergeant Zeka. Sergeant Yeadon is planning to attend the next TAC meeting on March 15th. Transit Report  George announced that all projects for transit are moving forward. The electric buses are on schedule to arrive in the spring, new Paratransit vans are due to arrive any day, and the infrastructure for the electric buses is being installed. George estimates that the city will have 15 completely electric buses by 2020. He also noted that Tom Hingson is looking at opportunities to reorganize the staffing structure at Transit while they replace George’s position.  Sabina informed the committee that the third phase of the long range plan has been pushed back a few weeks. Transit is planning to present findings as an agenda item at the next TAC meeting. Sabina noted that there are minor service changes planned, beginning March 1, that will affect route schedules. In honor of the City of Everett’s 125th-year celebration, Everett Transit will be printing new bus schedules in a vintage style. Transit is also planning to participate in a summer event for the city’s 125th year anniversary.  Victor asked if the decision to move toward electric busses was based on consumer interest or a federal directive. George replied a major factor in moving toward electric busses was the opportunity to receive more grant funding. At the moment, electric busses are more expensive at the initial purchase than those that run on diesel fuel and there are more Federal Funding Grants specifically for no/low emission vehicles. A few years ago, the University of Texas completed an assessment of Everett to see if we would be good candidates for electric busses. The preliminary results came back very positive and have helped Everett with grant applications. From a user standpoint, the new electric buses will look slightly different from the  buses currently being used. They will also be quieter. It’s going to be up to the city if that’s the direction Transit will continue on in the future.  Victor asked if the new uni-body designed bus will be cost effective, as Transit would be forced to replace the whole shell of the bus, rather than pieces if it is damaged. George noted that the new busses have been designed with carbon fiber bodies. This will reduce the weight of the vehicles, but will also be more durable than the buses currently in the fleet, which damage fairly easily. The new buses will be easier to take care of because Proterra has opened up a shop nearby to show their customers how to take care of and repair the vehicles properly.  Ryan asked about the projected cost of ownership over the lifetime of the two types of busses. George acknowledged that the most costly part of owning an electric bus is the initial purchase of vehicle and the charging stations. He stated that the electric buses will show a mileage improvement of approximately 30 percent. It would be appealing for Transit not to have to purchase fuel and the other liquids needed for a diesel engine. Eliminating those makes the cost of operating electric busses much cheaper. The busses from Proterra are designed to last for 15 years.  Sabina noted that Transit currently uses 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel on an annual basis. George interjected that they have seen improvement on that number since introducing semi electric buses to the fleet. Transit is hoping to have one of the electric buses available for public viewing during the city’s 125th year celebration this summer.  Victor asked if there is a threat to federal funding of ST3? George replied there hasn’t been any clear information yet from Federal Transit Administration regarding a potential cut to federal funding. It would be a big hit on Transit Agencies around the country, if so. Agenda Items: Item 1: Challenger Elementary School Safety Recommendation Requested – Tim Miller  Tim gave a presentation regarding the intersection of 100th and Holly. This particular intersection is placed at a significantly skewed angle and was brought up at the January TAC meeting as a safety concern for pedestrians. Tim noted that it is a four-way stop intersection with three street lights, which will be changed to LED’s by PUD. Every direction has a separate left turn lane except the north approach. Challenger Elementary School posts a crossing guard during school crossing times, and no major pedestrian-related accidents have been reported in the past 7 years.  There was a short discussion regarding the total number of pedestrian incidents during that time frame, with the committee being able to account for 4, in addition to Tyler’s accident that occurred in March 2011.  Tim informed TAC that the Health Department has offered $500 in grant money for portable signs that could be placed at each intersection during school crossing times.  Considerable discussion ensued regarding permanent and temporary options to increase pedestrian safety, particularly for school-aged children.  The committee passed a motion to approve the request of creating portable signs to be used at the intersection of 100th and Holly during school crossing times. Item 2: Seattle and Washington DC Bike Share Field Summary Informational Briefing – Tim Miller  Tim gave a presentation on preliminary findings regarding Seattle’s use of bike share programs. The report was released on December 4, 2017, and included three companies, Limebike, OFO, and Spin. The report looked at information regarding app accuracy, parking placement, and bicycle defects/damage. Seattle contacts indicate bike share companies make income from the data showing where people using the bikes are traveling to and from.  After conducting several 8-hour studies for different areas in the city, it was reported that only 10 percent of the bicycles had a major defect, 74 percent of bikes were parked correctly after use, and several bikes were found that were not showing up through the app’s GPS.  Tim noted that bike share programs typically are at no cost to the city and would require minimal effort to maintain, as the companies would field complaints and responsibility of the bikes. The city would be responsible for forwarding on complaints and working with the companies to ensure compliance. He also informed members of TAC that the city looked into this option in the past and it was concluded that Everett wasn’t the right size to generate interest and usage at that time.  Questions and discussion followed regarding the practicality of bike share programs in Everett. Members of TAC expressed their interest in hearing a presentation, including the challenges and pitfalls that Seattle has faced so far.  A motion was passed to recommend that Tim look into having Limebike present at a future TAC meeting.  Adjourned at 9:47 am Next Scheduled Meeting: March 15, 2018