Area Transit District

MIDDLETOWN AREA TRANSIT Minutes for Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Meeting Thomas A. Cheeseman Transportation Center, Middletown Area Transit Maintenance Facility, 91 North Main Street, Middletown, CT 1. Call to Order - B. Lawerence called the meeting to order at 5:13pm. Board Members Present: Beverly Lawrence; James Dunn Board Members Absent: None Voting Members Excused: None Guests Present: None Staff Present: Lisa Seymour; Whitney Klare, Clerk Public Present: Robert Haramut, RiverCog 2. Public Comments - L. Seymour stated that Gardner Hudson passed away January 06, 2018. 3. Approval of Minutes of November 8th Board Meeting - J. Dunn MOVED to approve the minutes from the November 08, 2017 Middletown Area Transit meeting. B. Lawrence SECONDED. MOTION PASSED unanimously. 4. Correspondence - DOT approved MAT’s request to increase the paratransit fares. 5. Administrators Report - L. Seymour presented the Administrators Report. DOT has approved payment of the Routematch Training. DOT will also pay for the three Operator Trainings that are scheduled. The storage shed has been constructed. First Transit has scheduled a site visit or an environmental inspection of the wash bay and fuel tanks. This is included in the First Transit Contract. There has been continual rectifying of ADA clients and processing new ADA client applications with new certification criteria to ensure only qualified individuals receive ADA Paratransit service. 40 recertification letters are being sent out every two weeks. No Show Policies are being sent out to clients with montly No shows. Thursday January 04, 2018 MAT closed at 11am. due to the snow storm. There were no accidents reported but one driver slipped on ice and fell. He was only out one day and is alright. 6. Financial Report - L. Seymour presented the Financial Report. MAT is within budget except with ADA. L. Seymour states it will take some time to resolve that. MAT’s budget will be completed in 4-6 weeks. A bookkeeping firm has been hired to complete this task. L. Seymour will email board members with budget when she has it. $60,000 has been put towards credit repayment, MAT has paid $20,000 per month since November 2017. B. Lawrence inquired about Saturday Night Owl. L. Seymour explained that because the Saturday Night Owl was taken off the road, it now needs DOT approval to go back on the road. J. Dunn inquired about how frequently MAT receives local funding. L. Seymour explained Middletown pays quarterly and other towns pay twice a year. Cromwell pays once a year in January. J. Dunn asked to see a quarterly cash flow chart. L. Seymour stated she will present that information to J. Dunn and B. Lawrence in March 2018. J. Dunn MOVED to accept the MAT Financial Report of January 10, 2018. B. Lawrence SECONDED. MOTION PASSED unanimously. 7. Operations Report - L. Seymour presented the Operations Report. There will be a new operations manager in February 2018. In December 2017 overall ridership was down 20%. In January 2018, MAT ridership and Dial-A-Ride has increased. The senior center will directly pay MAT for the fare of their seniors, there will no longer be a separate bus route to the senior center. MAT will give a presentation in the senior center in February 2018 in order to educate seniors about how to use Dial-A-Ride service. Bus drivers and administration at senior center have been instrumental educating seniors about upcoming changes. Seniors will not be denied a bus ride during this transitional period. Many seniors are conveniently filling out the Dial-A-Ride application on the bus during their transit. MAT is taking greater efforts to accommodate seniors during this transition. J. Dunn inquires if MAT customers will be able to pay for their bus fare with a credit card. L. Seymour states that MAT is moving in that direction. CT Transit will be one of the first to implement a smart card system but that will not happen in the immediate future. L. Seymour states a GPS system will be launched in approximately two weeks. She expressed confidence in the system and stated it will be very convenient for customers. It will tell customer’s where the nearest bus is located and it will also track movement of the bus. Customers will have the ability to access exactly when the bus will arrive. 8. Old Business - None. 9. New Business - None. 10. Adjournment - J. Dunn MOVED to adjourn. B. Lawrence SECONDED. MOTION PASSED unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:48pm. Respectfully submitted by Whitney Klare