Travel Reduction Program Regional Task Force (TRP RTF)

Transcription

1 Travel Reduction Program Regional Task Force (TRP RTF) Minutes of January 26, 2009, Meeting Committee Members Present Catherine Arnit, Tucson Airport Authority Charles Franz, University of Arizona Ron Gonzales, Raytheon Missile Systems Barbara Ricca, IBM Jenny Sirnio, alternate for Kate Riley, Sun Tran Willie Wash, AZ State Prison Tucson Complex Jurisdiction Representatives Nancy Ellis, Town of Oro Valley Beth Gorman, Pima County DEQ Monique Manriquez, Town of Marana Yolanda Parker, City of Tucson Staff Rita Hildebrand Gayle Johnson Zonia Kelley Johnnie Kelly Ruth Reiman Audience Tanaporn Ayres, Afni Angela Berry, Golden Eagle Distributors Curt Campbell, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Ken Gaylord, State of Arizona John Gomez, Santa Catalina Villas Bill Hixon, Brush Ceramic Products Angela Jackson, Southwest Gas Maxima Miller, Citi Cards Delea Moffitt, Geico Liz Ramos, The Chamberlain Group Gina Rodriguez, JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa Victoria Rubio, Comcast Communications Andi Watson, Golden Eagle Distributors Pima Association of Governments 177 N. Church Ave, Suite 405, Tucson, AZ (520) [tel] (520) [fax] [web]

2 1. Call to Order and Introductions The meeting was called to order by Rita Hildebrand at 10:05 a.m. and introductions were made. 2. Call to the Audience No comments were provided. 3. TRP Status Update/Announcements 2008 Major Employer Summary Report The report will be final for 2008, when the four plans on the agenda are approved by the TRP RTF and lead agencies. The 2008 year ended with 291 sites and 190 employers. Plans for 2008 included the 15 new sites, and all 2007 sites submitted letters providing their transportation coordinator information, number of employees and a commitment to continue their 2007 activities for The summary of the 2008 plan year will be provided at the next meeting. New TRP sites for 2009 Three new employer sites have joined the TRP: Child & Family Resources with 150 employees, Carondelet Health Network with its new site on Forbes with approximately 200 employees, and returning to the TRP is Villa Campana with 120 employees. The current 2009 count for TRP is 294 sites, 192 employers and 130,680 employees active in the ordinance program. Business Development Activities Johnnie Kelly reported that staff has continued to contact various employers for participation either as a TRP employer with more than 100 employees or contact information to participate in the RideShare program. Johnnie has met with 21 new employers and 13 of those have joined the TRP with over 100 employees. Johnnie continues to meet with approximately 160 employers for updates. Employer sites that were previously assigned to Mary Ann Soto, over 100 sites, have been redistributed among Gayle, Rita and Johnnie. Each employer contacted is informed of the benefits of the TRP or RideShare services. -Downtown Merchant Coupon Book - Rita Hildebrand reported that the Downtown Merchant Coupon Book has been completed and in the first few weeks of January, 120 books had been sent to new registrants to the RideShare database. There was no cost to the merchants and there are 41 merchants in the book. The promotion is running January through the end of March but the coupons will be good to the end of June, Over half the coupons in the book also are valid after hours and on weekends. Promotion of the coupon book includes: Bus Card Posters in 235 buses, an article in the Tucson Citizen front page, coverage by KGUN 9, articles in the Downtown Tucsonan newspaper with a free 1/8 page display ad, the Metropolitan Chamber is also including an article in its membership newspaper. Article in the December issue of the TC Coordinator Update Newsletter, and an with a flyer and information to all 336 TC and RideShare contacts. Information tables will be staffed at various employers and locations in the downtown area. Staff will be at the State buildings on Jan. 28, 2009,

3 City County Public Works building on Feb. 3, 2009 and the main City Hall on Feb. 11, Task Force members and TCs at the meeting were given coupon books and posters and flyers were available to take back to the work sites. Coupon books are mailed to the registrant s home address. -Vanpool Program - Gayle Johnson reported that the number of vans in the regional program has grown from 14 to 21 vans with another new van starting on Feb. 1. Gayle gave an update on all the employers she is working with and who are interested in the potential of vans for their employees. Gayle mentioned that all of the regional program vans will be decaled with the new branding that is being introduced by Sun Tran. Gayle has available an updated rate sheet for the vans in The coupon book also has a one free month coupon for rental of a vanpool. -Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) - Ruth Reiman also reported that staff had been meeting with a few of the resorts explaining the potential for Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) federal funding that could be used for vanpools for employees to commute to the outlying work sites. The main issue is that the federal money requires a match of funds from 20 percent to 50 percent depending on the program set up. The vanpool provider is willing to add some flexibility to the vanpool program to accommodate the reverse commute program. Ron Gonzales, Raytheon, mentioned that there were six Raytheon express buses that are empty on the way for pick up of employees, three to Oro Valley and three to the Northwest area of town, on the way to begin the route in those areas. There does have to be a sponsor who will provide the match for buses to run in the JARC program and as of now that has been the hold up to use the funding available. Brown Bag Lunches Downtown Handout The brown bags lunches were held in the first floor conference room with the space donated by Presidio Management Group in partnership with RideShare. The first brown bag was held Nov. 12 and presented by Matt Zoll, Pima County Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. Bicycle and safety information was given to ten attendees. The second brown bag was held Dec. 4 with information on Sun Tran and proposed new express routes. The room was overflowing with approximately 50 in attendance, definitely interested in the proposed express routes from Oro Valley and Rita Ranch to downtown. The third brown bag was on carpool and vanpooling and presented by Gayle and Rita to five attendees. Staff is working on presenting all the modes into one 30 to 45 minutes overview which would be available to present at an employer worksite either as a brown bag or department staff presentation. RidePro Database Matching update Ruth Reiman, TDM Manager, announced that the RideShare database interactive system was Live the beginning of December. A demonstration of the Web site was given and pages reviewed. The welcome page instructs commuters to enter their profile, and when completed a password will be e- mailed to them. Registrants then can run a carpool match list which shows potential carpool partners and a map that shows the general location of where the commuters live and work. Registrants can the prospective carpoolers or contact them by phone. All applications are controlled by the user. The mapping is linked to Google maps and we re one of the first companies to use this software. There is also a link to transit routes available and right now the system will be used just for commutes to work. The software also has a function that companies can use to have employees

4 record their type commute mode and can be used for drawings or recognition. There are currently 3,000 commuters in the database and approximately 63 percent have e- mail addresses. These registrants were sent an and asked to log in and update their profile. If you are previously registered with the database and don t remember the password given to you, there is a function where you can recover a password and have it ed to you. When you receive it, you can go in and edit and change your password. Staff now has a laptop with broadband Internet connections to bring out to the worksite and assist employees to register their profiles. Clean Air Activities 2009 Beth Gorman, PDEQ, reported that there has been a great team effort with various sponsors and participating agencies to promote and have people try various alternate modes of transportation. There are over 24 various events scheduled during the month of April. There are a lot of new first-time events this year and will have something of interest to everyone not only at work but also at home. There will be contests for participating and a great opportunity for everyone to participate and learn. Brochures will be available both printed and electronic for distribution in the next few weeks. The Web site is TRP Regional Task Force has historically agreed to provide mailing labels for the TRP TCs and those will be made available for PDEQ. Sun Tran Express Service/Branding Jenny Sirnio, Sun Tran, reported that there will be three new express routes funded by the RTA and starting Feb. 15. One from Oro Valley to the airport, one from Oro Valley to downtown and one from downtown to the Rita Ranch area. New park-and-ride lots will be developed in the Rita Ranch and Oro Valley area. A rebranding effort is now under way as the concept of a seamless service which includes new looks for the buses and a new smart card technology to use on all the systems. Plans for the future also will include one ride guide and one central customer service contact for all the services. A video was shown that explained the seamless concept and the plans for implementation. Jenny further explained the way the smart cards would work and how employers will be able to offer the different values for their employees. EXPO9 March 6 & 7 and Beat Back Buffelgrass day Feb. 7 Dennis Dickerson, PAG - Posters were distributed promoting the volunteer day of the community efforts to eradicate buffelgrass and the dangers to the desert environment if buffelgrass would continue spreading in the region. Dennis asked that the posters and effort be promoted at the work sites and the contact number for more information. The Sustainability and Energy EXPO9 is the second event sponsored by PAG. There will be over 60 venders showing alternative energy options including vehicles and many more electric vehicles, there will be a panel discussion, featured authors, displays and raffle prizes available. Staff mentioned that there was a discount coupon available for admission to the EXPO9. PAG Regional Outlook December Handout was distributed to members. The agency newsletter highlights many of the projects going on at PAG and is available electronically. TRP TC Update Newsletter December Handout - Staff continues to receive very good feedback from the TCs and that they are distributing the newsletter to their employees. Next issue will be coming out in March. Staff will continue to feature employer TCs and a bicycle spotlight.

5 TRP RTF Work Site Activities Charles Franz, UA, reported that they have been having meetings with VPSI staff to look at various ways to promote vanpooling. Flyers will be printed promoting the vanpool and mailed to all faculty and staff on campus. Additionally, staff is working on a car sharing and bicycle sharing programs and a bike kiosk all depending on the available budget. 4. Approval of Minutes of Nov. 17, 2008 Barbara Ricca moved to approve the minutes of November 17, Beth Gorman seconded, and the minutes were unanimously approved. 5. In-Kind Forms6 Information/Discussion: The Task Force signed the Local Share Contribution Form for matching funds and attendance. 6. Staff report on Travel Reduction Ordinances (TROs) Draft replacement Ordinance. Information/Discussion: Ruth Reiman, TDM Manager, PAG has been looking at updating the ordinances to make them more flexible and with a greater reach in the community than is currently under the TRP. Many discussions have taken place with US EPA, ADEQ and PDEQ. The initial discussion was to rescind the Ordinances. However, it was agreed that the best way to proceed was to revise the Ordinances in order to continue with the requirements under the State Implementation Plan for air quality in the region. The ordinance included in the meeting package is still a draft, being presented to various committees and comments are still being collected. When agreement is reached on the language, the Ordinance will then go to legal review and jurisdictions for public comment and ultimately adopted by the jurisdictions. Comments and suggestions are welcome from the employers in the program. The key points of change are: Definitions Lead Agencies will be the Departments of Transportation in the jurisdictions, the TRP regional task force will be eliminated but discussions are to have a working group of affected organizations including TCs for input. Goals have been eliminated; the survey and plan are eliminated. The ordinance does mention a survey upon request by PAG, which will be more of business development tool on a voluntary basis, to assist employers on what would encourage employees and what activities would be best suited to encourage alternate mode usage. An activity inventory report will be available as an electronic tool to report what an employer is currently implementing. The inventory will be a very easy to answer and this will enable staff to work with the employer to increase alternate mode usage and to share with employers what other sites are using. Being added into the ordinance is a category of minor employers, 20 to 99 employees asking them to comply with minimum requirements. Minor employers will be asked to provide contact information so that we can make program marketing efforts available to smaller employers to pass on to their work force. The new marketing approach of Sun Rideshare needs to be communicated to the community so that the program efforts are understood in the community. Comments are welcome and encouraged from the employers while the draft Ordinance is being developed. The schedule for the adoption is hopefully by June 30, Comments from employers were encouraged within the next few

6 weeks. Another addition to the new ordinances is to have the two Indian nations also adopting an Ordinance as they are participating in the PAG Regional Council. 7. Review, discussion and action on four (4) 2008 Baseline Plans from new TRP employers. City of Tucson Town of Oro Valley Kohl s Pantano Wal-Mart Oro Valley #3379 Macy s West Tucson Mall University Physicians Healthcare Elvira Rita Hildebrand gave a review of each of the plans presented. Barbara Ricca moved to approve the four 2008 baseline plans. Willie Wash seconded the motion, and the baseline plans were unanimously passed. 8. Future Agenda Items next meeting date: Monday, March 16, 2009 Clean Air Days Update Update on Travel Reduction Ordinances Regional Transportation Authority Project Update Travel Demand Management Project Overview EPA Ozone Designations Report on 2008 TRP Plan Summary Demo of 2009 Activity Inventory Report 9. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 11:20 a.m.