Minutes 03 14 02
MINUTES OF THE WILMINGTON TRANSIT AUTHORITY March 14, 2002 MEMBERS PRESENT Mr. Dick Scott, Chairman Mr. Howard Capps Ms. Laura Padgett Mr. William Boyd Mr. Mike Saylor Mr. Harry Forden
MEMBERS ABSENT Mr. Steve Stein, Alternate Ms. Rosa Webb STAFF PRESENT Mr. Gary Miller Mr. Albert Eby Mr. Corey Johnson GUESTS PRESENT Bill Hart, New Hanover Transportation Services Nelson
Robinson, New Hanover Transportation Services Debra Houston, New Hanover Transportation Services CALL TO ORDER Chairman Scott called the meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. 1. APPROVAL OF
MINUTES Mr. Boyd pointed out that the date for the next meeting in the minutes should read March 14, 2002, instead of February 14, 2002. Mr. Boyd made a motion to approve the minutes
from the Feb 14, 2001 meeting, as amended. Mr. Forden seconded and the motion was approved. 2. REPORT FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER Bus Shelter Informational Update Mr. Eby reported that
a survey had been completed of the existing shelters and benches and that the conditions had been noted as good, fair or poor. Mr. Eby handed out the results of the survey. Mr. Eby
showed slides of the various states of the shelters and benches. Mrs. Padgett moved that all poor benches be replaced with new benches of a design of the Board’s choosing seconded
by Mr. Boyd. Mr. Scott added that the shelter sub-committee narrow down the selection of benches and present this to the Board for a decision on the type of benches. Bus stop passing
time notification update Mr. Eby Reported that the addition of time points on each sign on all of the routes had been completed. FTA Charter Regulation
Mr. Eby reported that the FTA had provided a new interpretation of an existing rule that severely limits the ability of the WTA to provide charters to anyone including the city government.
He presented a letter from FTA Administrator Dorn and a brochure outlining charter regulations published by the FTA legal department. Mr. Scott said the university used the charter
service on occasion and the university liked the fact that the WTA service was more affordable than outside providers. Mr. Eby stated that he had asked FTA to investigate the use of
charters by entities like the university who contracted with a transit agency and paid for transit services. Taxi Voucher update Mr. Eby Reported that he had received several complaints
about the Taxi voucher program mostly concerning the level of service that was being received by the customers. Mr. Eby suggested that we investigate opening the voucher program to
other taxi companies and see if having some competition would increase the level of service provided. Mr. Eby suggested that the first step be to take a survey of the users of the
program and get some feed back from them. The survey would be coordinated through New Hanover County Commission for the Blind in order to ensure that all ADA regulations were met and
that the survey was legible to the legally blind. If the Commission for the Blind felt the need, the survey would also be printed in Braille. The Board agreed that competition was
the best way to maximize customer service. Amendment to TIP Mr. Eby reported that the NCDOT had released revised estimated for FTA 5307 funding. These new estimates were significantly
larger than the original estimates. NCDOT asked public transportation operators to provide them with a list of what they planned to do with the additional monies. The revised estimate
was $197,117 larger than the original estimate. Mr. Eby suggested that the additional monies be used to purchase technologies on the new buses. This technology could include security
systems, automated vehicle locaters, retail center fareboxes, passenger counters, and voice annunciators, to name a few. Mr. Scott asked for discussion and suggested that some of the
money could be used for planning. Mr. Boyd made a motion to approve the TIP amendment to use the additional 5307 funds for technology. The motion was seconded by Mr. Saylor and passed
unanimously. 3. REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN Multi-Modal Center Mr. Scott asked Ms. Padgett if she could shed some light on the recent negotiations with the Community College and the
Mayor concerning the multimodal Center. Ms. Padgett said that the Mayor had spoken with Cape Fear Community College and that there was some discussion of changing the selected site
from the current Police headquarters to a site on Fourth St. but that none of this has come before the council or the TAC. Mr. Forden moved that the chairman write a letter to the
mayor reminding him that the WTA board had participated in this decision in the past and would like to
be considered on any decision concerning the multi-modal center made in the future. The letter from the WTA Board should remind the Mayor that the initial multi-modal site selection
was a collective work of many agencies, including the WTA and that any changes to the site should go through the same process. The motion was seconded by Mr. Boyd and approved unanimously.
4. Other Business, scheduling of next meeting The next meeting is scheduled for April 11th 2002. Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6.45 p.m. Respectfully submitted,
Albert Eby General Manager