1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,000
 Good afternoon everyone, it is Friday the 18th of June at 3 o' 1 and we're here for

2
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,680
 a special meeting of the committee on persons with disabilities.

3
00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:25,400
 Thank you committee members for taking your time for being here.

4
00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:31,520
 That's regularly an off day. My name is Val Behr, I'm the chair of the committee and we're

5
00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:37,040
 getting started. Ryan, do we have absences to report?

6
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:43,000
 Mr. Chair, we have three absences, Joe Revis, Sam Alphonse and Sonya Redwine.

7
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,080
 Okay. Well, take that back, Joe Revis just joined

8
00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,440
 us so just Sam Alphonse and Sonya Redwine and they've not been listed as excused at

9
00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:57,120
 this point. Thank you. And as a special meeting we basically

10
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:07,480
 only have two items for consideration. We'll go with item A, CPD 21-020, consider the

11
00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:21,880
 approval of the minutes for the May 20th, 2021 meeting. And we'll just go down the list, get everyone's approval. John?

12
00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,760
 Yes? Mr. Chair, you may have to call for a motion

13
00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:25,760
 to approve. I'm sorry.

14
00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:26,760
 That's alright. All right.

15
00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:38,120
 It's at the meeting, the minutes. Okay. Great. Second. Second. Great. So now, Ali?

16
00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,320
 I approve. Samara?

17
00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:46,440
 Yes. Okay. Beth?

18
00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,240
 Approve. Okay. Sally?

19
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:59,280
 What was that? You're muted, Sally.

20
00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,960
 Approve. Okay. Thank you.

21
00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,800
 Thank you. Joe?

22
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:17,520
 We're also muted, Joe. Okay. Thank you.

23
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:28,920
 And John and Val made the motion, so meeting minutes are approved for our May meeting.

24
00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:38,080
 And our second item, CPD 21-021, is receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff

25
00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:47,680
 direction regarding information provided by the DCTA proposed GoZone on-demand service.

26
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:53,440
 I believe we have a representative from DCTA to give us a presentation, so.

27
00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,440
 Yes, Mr. Chair, and I'll let Sarah introduce herself, and I would like the minutes to reflect

28
00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,800
 that Sonja has joined us, so she is with us for the meeting.

29
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:01,800
 Oh, great.

30
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:08,000
 But we do have DCTA here to present on their GoZone, our proposed GoZone program. Sarah?

31
00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,080
 The floor is yours. Please take it away, and I'm going to drift into the background here.

32
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:20,080
 Thank you very much, and thank you again for letting me be here today to speak with everybody.

33
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,400
 I'm going to give an overview of what the proposed service is, and then this is part

34
00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:30,240
 of our public involvement process where we're trying to collect feedback. So if it's okay

35
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,320
 with everybody, I'd like to go through the presentation first and then get into answering

36
00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,920
 questions, have discussion. That way I can record your feedback because all of your feedback

37
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:45,640
 today will go to DCTA staff and our board of directors who ultimately make a decision

38
00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:50,760
 on this proposed service. So if that's okay with everybody, I'll go ahead and share my

39
00:03:50,760 --> 00:04:10,400
 screen with the presentation. Can everybody see this okay? Okay, great.

40
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:15,600
 So what we're going to talk about today is DCTA's proposed GoZone on-demand ride share

41
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:21,560
 service. We've been in a public involvement period since April 19th and will be until

42
00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:29,640
 June 25th where we've been going to numerous groups, public events, online, virtual events,

43
00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,680
 all sorts of things over the last few months, and really glad to be here today as one of

44
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:40,520
 those. So this is just a little introduction into what I'm going to talk about today. The

45
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:47,840
 proposed service is called GoZone, and what it is is a zone-based on-demand ride share

46
00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:54,760
 service. It brings in the ability to book by app, and it would be operated in partnership

47
00:04:54,760 --> 00:05:00,880
 with a company called Via. This would replace the majority of connect fixed routes for the

48
00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:06,160
 bus service and replace it with on-demand zone service. It would extend our service

49
00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:13,240
 area beyond the existing service structure, and overall typically create an improved customer

50
00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:21,200
 experience. So all these topics I'll delve into in more detail. The reason why DCTA is

51
00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:26,600
 looking at GoZone is that it offers several benefits. On-demand services typically have

52
00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:32,440
 an improved rider experience, enhanced service delivery, and they also build the agency's

53
00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:38,200
 overall service efficiency. There is with on-demand typically shorter wait times for

54
00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:43,960
 your ride. There's the ability, and we are going to, if the service goes through, have

55
00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:49,200
 bike racks on every vehicle to accommodate our bike riders. It would expand our service

56
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:57,520
 to 365 days a year. Much of the fleet would be, about 30%, let me be a little specific

57
00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:03,680
 right there, would be retrofitted for wheelchair accessibility. This would be in addition to

58
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:11,040
 our existing access paratransit service we have today. So that would be about one-third

59
00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:17,520
 of the GoZone fleet plus the access service would still be there. It would extend the

60
00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:22,320
 service area, and I'll show you some maps of that. It brings in the ability to book

61
00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:31,080
 by app if a customer wants to, and it has the ability to pre-book trips. The partner

62
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:37,160
 that was selected to have this proposed on-demand service is RiverNorth Transit. They do business

63
00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:43,360
 as VIA. VIA was founded in 2012. They are well known throughout the transit industry

64
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:48,640
 as a visionary market leader, and they provide software and service delivery to over 200

65
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:55,340
 partners across the globe. Regionally, they have service in the city of Arlington. They

66
00:06:55,340 --> 00:07:00,760
 service the entire city of Arlington. They also work with Tranny Metro over in the Fort

67
00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:05,480
 Worth area where they have multiple what they call zip zones, which would be similar to

68
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:14,220
 the on-demand zones we're proposing. So there would be two major changes when you switch

69
00:07:14,220 --> 00:07:20,560
 over from fixed route to on-demand. One would be the fleet. Instead of seeing a lot of DCTA

70
00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:28,120
 buses moving around, you would see the renderings at the bottom of the screen. It would be Chrysler

71
00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:34,280
 Pacificas, and they would be branded with DCTA logos. There would be seating for up

72
00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,920
 to six passengers. Now, many of these, like I said, will be retrofitted for wheelchair

73
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:45,080
 access, so there wouldn't be six people plus the wheelchair in there once crowded up, but

74
00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:50,640
 the ones not retrofitted could handle up to six passengers. And one really good thing

75
00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:56,140
 about the fleet with VIA is that they're able to scale the quantity of vehicles up and down

76
00:07:56,140 --> 00:08:02,840
 based on ridership. So if we saw that ridership increased rapidly, we'd be able to bring in

77
00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:10,040
 more vehicles very quickly. Another big difference would be virtual stops. Right now we're all

78
00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:14,160
 used to seeing physical bus stops. This would be swapped out for what's called a virtual

79
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:20,920
 stop. And since this is a software-based service, we would be able to put many, many virtual

80
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:27,040
 stops across the city, far more than the physical bus stops we have now. And this would just

81
00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:32,760
 ultimately provide the passengers a lot more pick up and drop-off locations. They would

82
00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:38,880
 be on most street corners, and then we're able to add them into different locations

83
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:46,800
 around the city that would be strategically placed for them with best efficiency. For

84
00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:52,400
 the fares, there will be a six-month promotion with a proposed service, and it would trade

85
00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:58,600
 out the fixed route access for GoZone access. So fare structure you're used to today would

86
00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:04,360
 stay in place, but instead of getting on a bus, you would get on the GoZone instead.

87
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:09,360
 Then the data used during that six-month would be used to determine the final fare structure,

88
00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:16,140
 which is slated for March of 2022. The existing DCTA local regional pass will still provide

89
00:09:16,140 --> 00:09:20,240
 access to all services, but if you didn't want to buy a day pass, you just wanted to

90
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:30,000
 go on a single GoZone ride, it could be purchased for 75 cents. So since this technology brings

91
00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:35,400
 them the ability to book by app, I always kind of wanted to touch on how that works.

92
00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:39,920
 To your left, you can see what it would look like when you open up the app. You would select

93
00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:45,760
 your location and destination. The Rider app would then give you a ride proposal with the

94
00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:51,920
 pickup location, wait time and fare. And then you would receive your virtual bus stop location,

95
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,960
 and it would tell you exactly where to go. And like I said earlier, there's going to

96
00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:02,960
 be a very high number of virtual bus stops around the city. You would then be able to

97
00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:09,760
 watch your vehicle approach in real time. And then after you get on, you were able to

98
00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:15,160
 watch your vehicle move throughout your trip and see your estimated time of arrival. At

99
00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:21,320
 the end of the ride, you're able to rate your driver and your experience. I do want to clarify

100
00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,660
 here because we do get this question a lot. What if I don't want to book by app? You don't

101
00:10:25,660 --> 00:10:31,720
 have to if you don't want to. We will have our customer service department still in place

102
00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:36,520
 and there will actually be extended hours and people can call in and they can book your

103
00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:41,240
 trip. They can do it in advance or they can do it in real time. And also people are able

104
00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:46,060
 to book by personal computer. So you're able to do it from your own computer, iPhone or

105
00:10:46,060 --> 00:10:55,920
 the app. So the GoZone service is proposed to go in a phased approach. So begin with

106
00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:01,760
 a base service. And then there are several add-ons to the base service. And this has

107
00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:06,280
 to do with the flexibility of on-demand. There's a lot of things you can do with it. And I

108
00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:11,520
 will go into more detail, but you can see we're going to have a phase one, phase two A and

109
00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:19,040
 phase two B. So I'll talk about each one of those phases in greater detail. Phase one

110
00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:25,400
 is the base service. This would launch on September 7th. The base service would replace

111
00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:31,920
 the majority of connect fixed route service and it would have enlarged zones and didn't

112
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:37,240
 the Louisville and Highland village, which are DCTA's member cities. It would provide

113
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:42,520
 service Monday through Saturday and it would extend the hours of service. So on the right

114
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:49,480
 hand, the screen, you can see what the base zones for this proposed service would be.

115
00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:55,040
 And then just to clarify and talk about those virtual stops a little more within those zones

116
00:11:55,040 --> 00:12:01,400
 would be a lot of virtual stops you could travel to and from.

117
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:06,280
 So with on-demand, you're able to do a lot of different things. It's very flexible and

118
00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:11,120
 these are the things that we identified in talking to the cities would be the best add-ons

119
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:16,600
 for the service. These would also launch on September 7th and it would provide service

120
00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:24,200
 to new areas and the DCTA service area. It would also increase the hours of service and

121
00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:31,600
 that should say Saturday from 8pm to 11pm. It would also allow us to have service on

122
00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:38,160
 Sunday, which is not something we currently have. We would propose to start serving the

123
00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:43,440
 Denia neighborhood by doing extension. You can see that on the map on the left hand side

124
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:50,560
 in yellow. There would be an addition of the Dart Frankfurt station to the Louisville Highland

125
00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:55,640
 Village Go Zone. This is because workers are trying to get into those cities for their

126
00:12:55,640 --> 00:13:01,400
 employment and that would be Monday through Friday during commuter hours. Another add-on

127
00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:08,880
 as proposed is the Business 121 North expansion and then also a guaranteed ride home expansion,

128
00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:14,600
 which would be provided Monday through Saturday and this would be a guaranteed ride home program

129
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:19,760
 for three additional hours after the base service ends. So as you can see by this list,

130
00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:24,080
 there's a multitude of things that can be done with on-demand service and these are

131
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:34,880
 the areas that we've identified to add into the service plan. Phase 2A would look to incorporating

132
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:40,520
 our current access service, which is our ADA paratransit program, plus the addition of

133
00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:48,640
 adding a Castle Hill Zone. So this is pending launch around March of 2022. It's not definite

134
00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:53,800
 yet and it would entail having an entirely separate public engagement process but I'd

135
00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:58,360
 like to talk about it now today and get your feedback at the end of this presentation on

136
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:06,560
 this phase as well. So this would be our paratransit service offered within all active Go Zones.

137
00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:11,520
 The days and hours of service may differ than the base service and the separate access fare

138
00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:16,520
 structure would still apply. Now we'll say with on-demand technology for clarity with

139
00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:21,400
 the bringing in access service is I talked about virtual bus stops earlier with access

140
00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:26,680
 service with on-demand technology. It'll come, it'll do curb to curb service just like our

141
00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:33,160
 access service does today. Phase 2 also looks at incorporating Castle Hills. This is because

142
00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:40,560
 the city of Lewisville is in the process of annexing Castle Hills and this would be post-annexation

143
00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:46,480
 and their service days and hours would also align with base service. And as I said before,

144
00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:53,960
 a secondary public involvement process would occur before any of these changes took place.

145
00:14:53,960 --> 00:15:00,600
 Phase 2B is weekday late night service hours. This would be pending launch of summer 2022.

146
00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:06,320
 This is where we will look at how the service is doing and then we'll assess that data and

147
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:10,640
 the ridership performance and decide if we want to add additional three hours of service

148
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:18,880
 each night Monday through Thursday. So I talked a lot about service hours and this just kind

149
00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:25,480
 of shows that to you graphically. On the left is our current hours of operation and on the

150
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:31,120
 right with all those yellow dots around it would be the expanded days and hours. So you

151
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:36,640
 can see some major differences there would be with we could run later at night, we would

152
00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:45,200
 add in Sunday and we would operate 365 days a year.

153
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:50,060
 So for clarity I'm just going to go through this list and go through exactly what changes

154
00:15:50,060 --> 00:15:56,560
 and what stays the same. The A-Train service would remain the same and the Phase 1 add-ons

155
00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:02,680
 would just enhance the A-Train service delivery. The proposed GOZONE covers the entire fixed

156
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:09,680
 route territory of the Denton Connect bus and routes 1, 2, 4, and 6 would be removed.

157
00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:14,720
 Routes 3 and 7 would still operate for at least the first six months of GOZONE service

158
00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:21,160
 and then they would be reassessed. For the Lewisville Connect bus the proposed Lewisville

159
00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:27,520
 Highland Village GOZONE covers that entire territory and beyond and so routes 21 and

160
00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:34,480
 22 would be removed. And then we have on-demand zones currently the Lewisville Lakeway Zone,

161
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,800
 Highland Village Lift Zone, and Denton Evening On-Demand Zone all that would be replaced

162
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:44,360
 with GOZONE. We also have a Lewisville to Flower Mountain lift program with very low

163
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:51,360
 ridership so at this time it is being proposed to be removed as well.

164
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:58,200
 So there has been an update since this last presentation. It says right there that MK101

165
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:04,360
 would be replaced with GOZONE. That has been changed based on feedback so MK101 would stay

166
00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:09,960
 in place. The North Texas Express would be proposed to be removed. That is because of

167
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:16,400
 low ridership on that service. Access service as I said before would remain the same and

168
00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:21,680
 the vanpool program would remain the same. We do have different Cs that we contract service

169
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:27,920
 with. Collin County, Capelle, Frisco, all of those would remain the same. Our UNT shuttle

170
00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:33,600
 services would remain the same and our UNT late night lift program would remain the same.

171
00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:38,040
 Students, faculty, and staff would still require their appropriate fair media if they wanted

172
00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:44,360
 to choose to ride GOZONE. New areas of coverage just to recap we'd have extended Saturday

173
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:50,520
 hours, the addition of Sunday service, the Denian Neighborhood expansion, Business 121

174
00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:58,280
 North expansion, and Castle Hillstone expansion. So as part of the public involvement process

175
00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:03,920
 our team built a website solely dedicated to this proposed service and getting the community's

176
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:08,760
 feedback. It's been open since April 19th. We've had a lot of feedback come through and

177
00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:14,560
 we're very excited about that. It's a great site. It's dctafeedback.net as seen on the

178
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:19,960
 screen and I would really encourage everybody to go to it if you have a moment. You're able

179
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:25,960
 to see the map and it's an interactive map. You can comment directly on that map. You

180
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:33,040
 can even like, dislike different parts of it. It goes over the service in great detail.

181
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:38,200
 It goes over the proposed fare structure and it allows people, you can ask questions, you

182
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:43,240
 can just give your thoughts on the service. And there's also three very quick easy to

183
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:49,460
 take surveys that we really hope people will participate in. All of this feedback goes

184
00:18:49,460 --> 00:18:56,200
 to DCTA's executive team, our board of directors, so just please if you have time our staff

185
00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:03,080
 would really appreciate it if you could go on visit dctafeedback.net. We're also taking

186
00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:07,080
 for requests for presentations like I did today. If you know of another organization

187
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:11,120
 that'd be interested, I can hear about that today. Today's the cutoff, but if you have

188
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:16,980
 any ideas, I'm happy to take it today. And then if you want to have a one-on-one question

189
00:19:16,980 --> 00:19:21,760
 and answer session, you're welcome to sit down with staff and we can just answer questions

190
00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:35,680
 directly as well. So I'm going to exit out of here. Okay. And then, if y'all will bear

191
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:43,040
 with me a moment, I'm going to open up a note screen. And so today, because this is part

192
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,920
 of our feedback process, if you have feedback, questions, things like that, I'd like to go

193
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:50,840
 ahead and get that information for you so that it can be presented to staff and our

194
00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:57,440
 board members and then questions. I do work in operations and I work with on-demand technology,

195
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,720
 so I'm a very good person to answer those questions. If there's anything I don't know,

196
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:07,600
 I'm happy to find out the answer and get back with you on it.

197
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:14,000
 Thank you, Sarah. I think right now for the question and answer, we'll just go down the

198
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:20,560
 line on my screen. If you don't have a question right now, we'll move on and then come back

199
00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:26,360
 to you. I want to make sure everybody has an equal opportunity and time for the Q&A.

200
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:34,280
 So I'll start with John if you have any questions. Yeah, I have a couple of questions. One is,

201
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:45,080
 has the app been tested, the Apple voiceover? It's the one that we use where the phone talks

202
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:51,640
 and Android has something similar called TalkBack and Braille displays. Have you tested it all

203
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:57,960
 with that because there are apps that aren't set up well, that aren't accessible for blind

204
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:06,600
 people that use those technologies? I can check specifically on those, but I do know

205
00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:12,920
 one of the reasons we chose Via is because their app has better accessibility than others

206
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:18,040
 in the transit industry and since they work with public transit, they're highly focused

207
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:24,600
 on it. So they're highly focused on making sure that blind, like there are a lot, anything

208
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:29,840
 that can be done, I think they have done. But I can ask specifically about the Apple

209
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:36,560
 voiceover. And then they also, I'll put out there, there's multiple languages involved

210
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:45,120
 with it too. It's a very sophisticated app. I looked at many options. I work in on demand

211
00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:50,200
 and I can say across the industry, I feel most confident in terms of accessibility with

212
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,200
 this app. Okay. Well, that's true. They've been around

213
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:59,640
 a while. I didn't know that the app was through that company, that it's their app. Okay. And

214
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:05,840
 then as far as payment goes, do you pay through the app? Do you use a debit card with the

215
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:14,920
 driver? What are those? How's that? So you can pay through the app if you want.

216
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:19,740
 You can also call customer service and use a credit card over the phone. But we have

217
00:22:19,740 --> 00:22:24,160
 worked out with VIA, that's the main way they do it, but we have negotiated with VIA that

218
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:29,320
 we would also like our passengers to use the same fare media they can use today. They can

219
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:35,920
 even use cash if they want to use it. So we don't want to take anything away. In terms

220
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,840
 of payment, we're just looking to bring in additional options for it.

221
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:48,000
 Okay. I think that's all I had, actually. Thanks, John. Tamara? Do you have anything

222
00:22:48,000 --> 00:23:01,840
 right now? You're still on mute, Tamara. There you go.

223
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:18,140
 We are talking to them right now. They have agreed to doing exact cash fare right now.

224
00:23:18,140 --> 00:23:25,120
 And so I can confidently say exact fare. I don't know at this time if they'd be able

225
00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:32,000
 to change because this is new for their drivers to accept cash. But they're very insistent

226
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,760
 that they do. Thank you.

227
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:49,720
 Beth, do you have any questions right now? Yes, I have a couple of questions. Do you

228
00:23:49,720 --> 00:24:00,920
 know the vehicle height and how people would be able to get in and out of the seats if

229
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:10,640
 they had balance disorders or lower body challenges?

230
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:17,560
 I don't know the exact height. I could find that out and return the information to me.

231
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:25,480
 I'm happy to do that. With the app and service and like the software, if a passenger has

232
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:32,640
 specific needs, then that can be added to your personal account. And when you go to

233
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,040
 book a trip, it'll be configured into the ride booking that there are special needs

234
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:44,880
 for that passenger. And it only has to be done once. So like if a person has a mobility

235
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:49,400
 device, they put it in one time when they sign up for the account. And every time they

236
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:54,000
 go to book, the software will configure for that.

237
00:24:54,000 --> 00:25:00,200
 So if you needed a spinning disk to get onto the seat, would you need to bring your own

238
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,480
 or is that something they would have in the car?

239
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:07,440
 They would not have that in the car. So you would need to bring your own.

240
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,840
 Correct. Okay.

241
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:20,040
 I spent time on the website today and I wanted to give you some feedback. I have a mild head

242
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:29,680
 injury and watching the video, there was way too much information that came way too fast

243
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:38,800
 and I was not able to process or understand a lot of the information about the route changes,

244
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:47,200
 the different phases and things like that. And I think that there are other people with

245
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:53,280
 intellectual disabilities or brain injuries that may have trouble comprehending some of

246
00:25:53,280 --> 00:26:02,640
 this information. Tamara is nodding. I'm also concerned about the app because there are

247
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:10,840
 a lot of people like me that are not good with apps. Tamara is also shaking her head.

248
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:16,120
 Is there any way that there could be like a class for people to learn how to use the

249
00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:17,120
 app?

250
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:27,360
 So I'm just typing this up. I just want to make, bear with me as I type your feedback

251
00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:33,040
 and answer, I just want to make sure I capture everything. Yes, absolutely. There would be,

252
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:38,760
 if this is proposed service, so if it was adopted, DCTA staff would be out heavily in

253
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:45,760
 the neighborhood and educating customers on how to use the app. And like I said before,

254
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:50,000
 if you don't want to use the app, you're welcome to call our customer service and they would

255
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:57,000
 book it on your behalf. You know, that said, a couple years ago when I came to this agency,

256
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:01,840
 one of the reasons they really liked me as a candidate was because I spent quite a bit

257
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:08,920
 of time in the public sector with all different types of the public and teaching them how

258
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:14,160
 to use technology. I have worked with people who have never touched a computer or tablet

259
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:20,440
 or anything. And, you know, it takes a lot. And, you know, I've really explained this

260
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:26,920
 to my agency, the outreach that'll need to be done. Fortunately, VIA is also very experienced

261
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:33,120
 in this area as well because they have launched in so many cities. So the outreach and education

262
00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:39,120
 would actually be your DCTA team and VIA together getting out in the neighborhood and showing

263
00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:48,680
 people how to use the technology. Okay. I have one more question. What is the driver

264
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:56,560
 training as far as, like, their safety record? Do they have to have a CDL license for this

265
00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:03,720
 or is it just a regular license? They do not have to have a CDL. And that is actually a

266
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:08,440
 positive in the industry right now because there's a severe shortage of CDL drivers across

267
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:14,080
 the transit industry. And it would be a ban. So CDL would not be required. Now, like, today

268
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,960
 when you see the smaller DCTA vans, a CDL is not required for those either. It's required

269
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,840
 for the, like, the big green buses you've probably seen going downtown. One of the reasons

270
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:31,640
 VIA was selected was because they have a very robust driver training program. I mean, they

271
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:37,240
 definitely have to, you know, have a criminal background check and they have to pass alcohol

272
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:44,920
 and drug testing and meet all those requirements. But there is also a lot of training that VIA

273
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:50,560
 does and they require defensive driving. They require sensitivity training. And then even

274
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:57,240
 after all the training is done, they have very high standards for driver conduct. And

275
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:04,080
 they also have zero tolerance policies in place for drivers. So I personally, because

276
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:09,560
 I was very picky in this area, you know, looking at the different providers, I think that they

277
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:14,080
 do very well with the standards that they've set for their drivers.

278
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,400
 All right. Thank you for answering my questions. Thank you.

279
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:24,160
 Thank you, Beth. I'm going to jump in because Beth is reminding me of a couple of questions.

280
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:33,520
 In reference to the 30 percent that would be retrofitted for a wheelchair access, A,

281
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:42,360
 how do those vans look as far as entering? Are there rear entry or side entry? B, would

282
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:49,000
 those vans also be available? I'm assuming they'll be available for the public in general.

283
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:56,400
 So if those vans are out and about during service, a potential disabled person could

284
00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:04,000
 potentially be a little more delayed because the vehicle is not available. Correct?

285
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:12,400
 They would be open. Yes. All of them are open to general public. So there could potentially,

286
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,320
 but that's one of the nice things about the technology is that we're able to watch it

287
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:22,600
 in real time. And if we start seeing that if our passengers who need the accessible

288
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:28,560
 vans are getting longer wait times, then we can add more and we can do it far quicker

289
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:35,360
 than we could with the bus. I mean, it's like two to three weeks to add in another van.

290
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:41,320
 That is very important from an equity standpoint that we're watching that data closely and

291
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:49,520
 making sure that our persons with disability in the community are not having to wait longer.

292
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:55,440
 And then as far as the actual physical access to the vehicle, is that a rear entry ramp

293
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,960
 or a side entry? I haven't seen the final vehicle yet. I've

294
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:03,820
 seen all the renderings and everything, but I believe that the final vehicle retrofitted

295
00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:09,240
 should be through the rear. Okay. And then so will the bus, I guess quote

296
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:19,320
 unquote bus stops, will obviously those would be accessible? So locations or virtual stops

297
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:25,820
 or whatever? With virtual stops, they're just like in

298
00:31:25,820 --> 00:31:31,680
 the software, like I showed you that picture of the zone map. So in the software you have

299
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:36,480
 little dots all over the place and those are your virtual stops. It tells the driver where

300
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:43,640
 to go. And so when you're on the app or you book with customer service, you will be directed

301
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:51,240
 to your closest virtual stop. But like I said, there are numerous ones, far more than there

302
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:57,640
 are physical bus stops today. So we say to assume that every virtual stop

303
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:02,560
 will be accessible. They won't be, since they won't be physical.

304
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:11,200
 Oh, okay. You're making to make sure. Right. So I live on the corner of A and B street

305
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:17,580
 and that's a virtual stop. I'm assuming that stop would be accessible for me to get to

306
00:32:17,580 --> 00:32:26,960
 and to safely get on the vehicle. Yes. Yes, I don't. Correct. I think that that's

307
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:35,040
 really good feedback and I'm, I feel like I can 99% sure say yes to you. But I, since

308
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:42,920
 VIA is designing the virtual stops, let me make 100% sure on that, if you don't mind

309
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,360
 and report back to, is it okay if I report back to Ryan with the information?

310
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:56,720
 Sure. Okay. Sure. I'm having a little difficulty in like understanding the virtual stop thing.

311
00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:03,360
 Would it be at a parking lot in front of the Walgreens? Would it be in front of an apartment

312
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,960
 building? It can be. Yeah. I mean, strategically you want

313
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:13,280
 to put them at the different corners and then place like if there's an apartment complex

314
00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:18,080
 makes complete sense to put it right in front of it. If there's a senior apartment complex

315
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:24,680
 makes sense to put it right in front of it, you know, to make it as convenient as possible.

316
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:30,920
 My hesitation with answering that question is if the city of Denton, like if they have

317
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:37,920
 parts of their sidewalk or anything like that that might hinder travel, that would be out

318
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:46,280
 of DCTA's control for me to guarantee you. But I think that your distance to traveling

319
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:52,200
 to a virtual stop is far less than a physical bus stop. So I think there would be less barriers

320
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:58,000
 overall. Now, if anybody needed it, if there's a need for it, like I said, we can do curb

321
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,560
 to curb service. We would just probably look to do that through the access program.

322
00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:10,200
 Right. In which you would have to do an application and qualify and those kind of things. I'm

323
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:16,800
 sorry, I have another question. So you mentioned that the city and the sidewalks and bus stops,

324
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:23,760
 will the current, some of the current bus stops be used as a virtual stop?

325
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:31,640
 They can be. I think that it's, we noticed that there are kind of excessive amount of

326
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:39,400
 bus stops in some areas, right? Like along the road by TWA, there's like four on within

327
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:44,120
 a block, you know, so we would want to clean that up with this opportunity. But for the

328
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,400
 most part, you know, we would want to make sure that, you know, I've made several statements

329
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,960
 about this and I think it's gotten through. So the rest of the staff I work with, you

330
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,160
 know, I think a lot of people have chosen where they live based on there being a bus

331
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:03,720
 stop nearby. And we need to make sure that we have virtual stops by existing bus stops,

332
00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:09,000
 because that's what, you know, we don't want to hinder somebody's life if they are dependent

333
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,680
 on transit and they made the choice to live by a bus stop. We certainly don't want to

334
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,240
 take things away. We want to add to with the service.

335
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:25,960
 If those bus stops or some are being used, and it's a rear entry vehicle, how would a

336
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:35,680
 wheelchair user then enter the van? If it's basically, you know, come to the curb where

337
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:45,120
 this physical bus stop is, and the rear entry would basically go out into the street. I

338
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:53,720
 can see that being problematic if they're going to be using the actual bus stops that

339
00:35:53,720 --> 00:36:00,880
 are up now. Because as you said, the city's, you know, that's been an issue with we have

340
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:06,880
 accessible bus, but not accessible bus stops. So the bus stops are going to be used and

341
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:13,480
 we still have that issue. Okay. I could be wrong. I could be side-entrusted.

342
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:20,000
 Let me clarify that first. I haven't seen the final design yet. A lot of that has to

343
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,920
 do with this is proposed. So we don't have a vehicle yet, you know, until this is actually

344
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:29,880
 adopted. I think that's an excellent point. And I will look into that and give you some

345
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:34,000
 clear answers on it. My feedback, though, would be to ensure that

346
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:43,680
 especially the 30% flee, you know, the virtual stops are not where access is an issue. It

347
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,960
 would defeat the purpose. We don't mind if I type some notes.

348
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:53,360
 Sure, please. So, yes, I think that's excellent. And I mean,

349
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,880
 that's one of the reasons I was excited to speak to this group today to get some really

350
00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:03,880
 good feedback. And I think that's really good. Because again, the history of inaccessible

351
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:10,560
 bus stops, DCTA saying the sidewalk doesn't belong to them, the city saying the bus stop

352
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:16,840
 doesn't belong to them. So, meanwhile, disabled individuals are not able to use an accessible

353
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:26,480
 bus because said bus stop is, you know, belongs to no one, therefore, it's not accessible.

354
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:35,480
 I mean, and I think, you know, the vehicles are, the service is still proposed.

355
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,200
 Right. It sounds like.

356
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:44,160
 And the rear entry is actually nice. Because you have to do the rear and you sit between

357
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:51,440
 two seats. So, you can sit next to your caretaker partner, what have you. But that hasn't been

358
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:57,640
 done, like I said, and they say parking lot and somewhere where they would have to pull

359
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:07,080
 into a larger apartment community or hospital medical setting or or shopping center. But

360
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:13,220
 to use it at a bus stop that would not be there. There's no way that a wheelchair user

361
00:38:13,220 --> 00:38:19,760
 could I cannot assume that sidewalk would let me out into the street to go to the back

362
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:27,360
 of the van to enter the van. Side entry. Okay, let me take that and clarify with them that

363
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:35,840
 side entry would be, it may be that their door to door service, like rear entry might

364
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:42,400
 be more helpful if they can pull into a driveway. You know, and get closer. But I think that's

365
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:48,120
 an excellent point. So I will find out the details on that and get back with this group.

366
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:55,520
 Thank you. Anything else has things like that? I'm so happy to hear them. You know, we want

367
00:38:55,520 --> 00:39:00,920
 to get if this proposed service goes through, I can tell you working in operations department,

368
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:07,040
 we're going to want to know these things in advance so that we're putting out a good product

369
00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:12,760
 for the community. I know the disability community has a lot of concerns and I think a lot of

370
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:20,040
 the details are what needs to be addressed because once it started, it's hard to go back.

371
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:24,400
 So you know, a lot of people don't consider that quote unquote little things that we have

372
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:30,120
 a rear entry bus or van that we're using this bus stop on McKinney. So you're gonna have

373
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:36,800
 to roll your chair onto McKinney Street, risk your life just to get a ride on the van because

374
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:46,520
 that bus stop will not be accessible. So those are the kind of things that need to be addressed

375
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:53,920
 beforehand. And again, the rear entry, I prefer it, but then they're the virtual stops that

376
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:59,720
 would have to be, it would have to make sense for a rear entry vehicle to be used at that

377
00:39:59,720 --> 00:40:08,520
 place. So I mean, and these are, these are really good questions for via, I mean, they

378
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:12,280
 are very experienced in doing this in a lot of cities. So it's likely I'm going to come

379
00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,280
 to them with this and they're gonna be like, we do this, we know what we're doing, you

380
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:24,320
 know, but let me, I want to be able to communicate it to you. So what do you have any questions?

381
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:35,520
 Hello? Yes. Yes. Are you talking to me? Sorry. Yes. Yeah. We're talking to Sally, Sam. Hold

382
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:43,480
 on. Okay. Thank you. One thing I wasn't clear about. So right now, I know if I have a doctor's

383
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:50,440
 appointment at Medical City at four o'clock, I can get the number four bus over here on

384
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:58,680
 university and, and I can see the time that my bus will arrive so I can judge what bus

385
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:05,280
 I'm going to take. How do you, how does a person work out the timeliness of appointments with

386
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:11,520
 the new schedule? There's an arrive by function. Okay. You can let it know and you can book

387
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:17,200
 in advance or you can book real time. I would recommend in advance if you have an appointment.

388
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:21,080
 Okay. Or have that. But you say, you know, if you have a four o'clock appointment, I

389
00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:26,400
 want to arrive by three 55 and the software will take it from there and it'll let you

390
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:32,000
 know what time you need to be picked up by in order to do that. We do do that now in

391
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:37,280
 our Lewisville Lakeway zone, which I've worked with over the last couple of years and it's

392
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:42,840
 a function I'm very fond of. I've used it myself. You know, sometimes I have to get

393
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:48,840
 on a little earlier, but it gets me, you know, it allows me to get there in time for is I

394
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:53,880
 I'm typically going to our admin office is in Lewisville and I office out of Denton and

395
00:41:53,880 --> 00:42:00,080
 so I need to arrive by the meeting time and I use that function. Okay. And I have a couple

396
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:06,080
 other questions. Um, I was really sad to hear that we're losing the bus to Fort Worth and

397
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:11,920
 I understand what you're saying about ridership, but I know a lot of people, uh, that have

398
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:17,040
 disabilities that like to take the train. You can take the bus right to the train station

399
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:24,320
 in Fort Worth. You can also catch a bus there. Uh, you know, it just provides more than just

400
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:31,360
 transportation of Fort Worth. It can, it's like $24 to ride the train one way. You can't

401
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:40,800
 beat it. You know, so it's a very, uh, I think it's a really necessary, uh, service for persons

402
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:51,040
 that have disabilities. So bear with me as I, I want to make sure I type that one up

403
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:58,640
 for sure. Um, the, so route 64, the North Texas express, it, it has had lower ridership.

404
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:03,480
 It's, um, a very expensive service. And so that's why they put it out there as part of

405
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:08,800
 this public involvement process. A lot of that, I think it's good for route 64 to be

406
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,320
 included in this because otherwise it's public involvement process would be small. And so

407
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:18,000
 it's getting more attention with this one, because we're also talking about GoZone. Um,

408
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:22,640
 I've seen other comments come through about it. And so I'm going to take yours and add

409
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:27,280
 it to that. And so, like I said before, it, this ultimately would be a decision by the

410
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:34,760
 DCTA board directors, but anybody who wants to keep 64, um, just highly encourage them

411
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:40,280
 to voice their opinion on it. Cause the more voices, you know, that the board, you know,

412
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:45,140
 I can't say what the board will decide. They'll have to look at all the different factors,

413
00:43:45,140 --> 00:43:51,000
 but I do think that community voices do matter to our staff and board. So I will definitely

414
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:58,640
 include that in our feedback to them. Thank you. And I do have, um, one other question.

415
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:06,360
 So let's say I go in my electric wheelchair over here to Kroger's and when I get out,

416
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:10,760
 it's just hotter than I thought it was going to be. And I just can't even imagine just

417
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:17,160
 going home. Uh, so I decide to take the bus typically, uh, you know, there's a bus that

418
00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:26,000
 I can catch at least once an hour, uh, to get back to my house unexpectedly. What's

419
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:36,560
 the time expectancy, uh, given this scenario, given what I just, uh, proposed to you, about

420
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:44,320
 10 minute wait for average. Um, I know it can be a little less than that if you're not

421
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:49,680
 in peak time. So if you're in peak time, like, you know, high commuter times, I think the

422
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:56,040
 maximum wait time we'd really, if we started crossing over 15 minutes, we would need to

423
00:44:56,040 --> 00:45:01,560
 add more fleet. Um, but you know, if you, if you're not in a peak time, you could get

424
00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:06,720
 a ride in like five minutes. So that's one good thing about if you're booking on the

425
00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:11,520
 app is that it'll give you the proposed time. Cause this has happened to me before where

426
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:16,000
 it was like, uh, I'm getting to the train station and I go to book it. And it's like,

427
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:20,360
 we'll be there in two minutes. I'm like, Oh no, I'm not going to book it yet. Cause I'm

428
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:27,680
 still 10 minutes away. You know, um, the guy, they tend to 11 minutes is the goal. And then,

429
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:32,680
 you know, if it started getting longer, you know, over 15 minutes consistently, that's

430
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:40,880
 when we could look to adding more fleet. And you can take all your shopping bags with you.

431
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:46,080
 We have not heard, we have not determined policy wise and we still need to get feedback

432
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:51,840
 from the public. So that was actually a question I was going to ask this group today because,

433
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:58,040
 um, you know, if you rely on transit to get to grocery stores and things like that, what

434
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:03,360
 is your, like right now our bus drivers can take supposed to take two or three bags, but

435
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:11,000
 I think that they take a lot more, you know. Um, so what would be your expectation for

436
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,360
 how many bags you could bring onto these rights?

437
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:29,640
 Four. Two for each hand. That's what I see people carrying. That's reasonable. So thank

438
00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:35,080
 you for that. Okay. But yeah, I just, you know, the Fort Worth thing, like I said, there's

439
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:41,320
 a lot of people that do like to take the train and you can go to San Antonio, you know, you

440
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:46,880
 can get a lot of places without taking a plane for a much more affordable price. So I just

441
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:52,000
 really hate to see us completely lose that because I don't see any other way to get there

442
00:46:52,000 --> 00:47:04,800
 really. You have to go through Dallas. Yeah. And nobody's gonna want to do that. Thank

443
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:13,400
 you so much. I'm here today to hear what you guys have to say. So this is great. Thank

444
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:25,720
 you very much. Um, Joe, do you have any questions? Joe? No? Okay. Um, Sonya? Do you have any

445
00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:32,080
 questions? One question. And Val, I think you covered one of my questions already just

446
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:37,560
 about accessibility. I know that's something we've talked a lot about with DCTA and the

447
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:43,520
 current bus stops and not having adequate platforms and sidewalks and all of that. And

448
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:52,280
 so I'm glad you asked that question, Val. Um, my question is, um, the area in between.

449
00:47:52,280 --> 00:48:03,240
 So I know NCTC is there and they're in Corinth. Um, any proposals on, um, getting, um, Go

450
00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:13,360
 Zone into that area? Um, thinking about, uh, individuals in that, um, area of Denton County.

451
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:23,600
 So the reason we had NCTC, I got my associates there. Um, the reason we had service there

452
00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:31,380
 before was because the school paid for it and then they elected to stop COVID hit. Um,

453
00:48:31,380 --> 00:48:36,260
 so that's why that service ended. We don't service Corinth because Corinth has not elected

454
00:48:36,260 --> 00:48:44,480
 to have public transit. Um, we would love to, but we need the city of Corinth to request

455
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:54,560
 it. Okay. Um, I know one of the things, um, that we've talked about in the past is just

456
00:48:54,560 --> 00:49:02,160
 accessibility and into some of the rural, more rural areas of Denton County. Um, any

457
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:09,000
 discussions on, on Go Zones in those areas, you know, even Sanger getting into Denton

458
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:14,880
 for doctor's appointments and, um, some of those, especially in the Northern part of

459
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:22,360
 the County, the Northwest part of the County. It does the, um, proposed zone. It does extend

460
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:27,400
 far beyond where our current routes go. Um, Sanger would be out just like Corinth unless

461
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:32,680
 they would elect to have us. And like I said, we're more that we would love to service the

462
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:38,120
 whole County, but it is, it is up to the cities themselves if they want to dedicate, you know,

463
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:42,520
 our Denton Highland village in Louisville for clarity, if anybody's unfamiliar how we're

464
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:50,400
 funded, um, half a cent of the sales tax goes towards DCTA and that's 51% of our funding.

465
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:55,520
 So if we service to any other cities, it would be taking money from Denton, Louisville and

466
00:49:55,520 --> 00:50:01,040
 Highland village and basically giving it to another city. So, um, but there really needs

467
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:07,120
 buy in from those communities, um, for their residents. We do. And it's somewhat, you know,

468
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:14,240
 if they want, um, we do contract with cities. Like that's what I work with primarily with

469
00:50:14,240 --> 00:50:18,520
 my job. And that's why I work with on demand quite a bit. It's because those cities like

470
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:23,200
 to use on demand. Um, but like I work with the city of McKinney and the city of Frisco,

471
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:28,640
 they just have a smaller scale transit system than what the mail, uh, member cities have.

472
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:35,280
 And then they pay, um, for it with their own funds. We can't do stuff like that. You know,

473
00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:40,200
 we understand that some rural communities can't necessarily afford a robust transit

474
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:44,160
 system, but they might want something smaller. So we're willing to talk with and work with

475
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:46,940
 any community on that.

476
00:50:46,940 --> 00:50:52,440
 Thank you, Val Morgan. Do you have any questions?

477
00:50:52,440 --> 00:51:00,320
 I think I just need to piggyback. Thank you, Val, uh, on one of your questions about the

478
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:09,320
 virtual stops and pickups. Um, what if multiple people have requested a service that, and

479
00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:16,200
 it's had a particular virtual pickup get there and the vehicle is already full. Is there

480
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:21,160
 an instance where that could happen?

481
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:27,680
 Not with the way the software is written. So, um, worst case scenario, someone might

482
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:32,960
 be there ahead of you. And you know, the, if the van was full, there might be one seat

483
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:37,640
 left, but you're the app or if you call customer service, they would let you know you have

484
00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:43,800
 a 10 minute wait and maybe you walked up behind somebody who was already waiting. Um, but

485
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:49,080
 the software will not allow more than six passengers at a time to be booked on one day.

486
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:52,920
 It would send another van to pick up.

487
00:51:52,920 --> 00:52:01,860
 And during your presentation, there was a question about, uh, drivers and that they

488
00:52:01,860 --> 00:52:07,360
 are vetted through via, are they hired through that organization and you all contract with

489
00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:09,880
 via, is that how that works?

490
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:11,380
 Correct.

491
00:52:11,380 --> 00:52:18,200
 And with the Arlington service, how long has that been in place?

492
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:24,040
 At least two years. Um, I believe it's more like three and they, they started off smaller

493
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:29,600
 and then they just recently this year expanded city wide. They've also, uh, with via are

494
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:37,560
 doing some, um, autonomous vehicle projects with, uh, University of Texas at Arlington.

495
00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:42,160
 So, uh, they, at least three and maybe longer than that.

496
00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:48,000
 Okay. And so what is the, I'm sure that their fare has kind of leveled out. So what is the

497
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:55,740
 average cost of their fare? I'll say, do you get it by mile or is it just a flat rate wherever

498
00:52:55,740 --> 00:52:58,840
 you're going within the zones?

499
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:04,400
 So the city of Arlington, they just changed their fare. They increased some of it for

500
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:08,600
 longer travel. And I think that really has to do with, they opened up the entire city

501
00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:14,720
 to it. So the highest fare, I believe is $5 and then $3 was their standard fare. And that's

502
00:53:14,720 --> 00:53:21,200
 how they started their program. It doesn't, we aren't limited to that fare structure with

503
00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:28,020
 via though. Via can work around any fare structure we want. Um, so for instance, Trinity Metro

504
00:53:28,020 --> 00:53:33,120
 and Fort Worth uses them, they use them in a completely different way than Arlington.

505
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:40,320
 They take their zip zones with via and incorporate them into the bus and train passes. So it's

506
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:48,440
 not, um, it's definitely not limited to paying X amount each time you get on it. There's,

507
00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:52,840
 and when we kick off the program, um, it'll be based on our current fare structure with

508
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:54,600
 day passes.

509
00:53:54,600 --> 00:54:00,600
 Okay. Oh, I think that's it. Thank you. I enjoyed your presentation.

510
00:54:00,600 --> 00:54:05,280
 Thank you very much, Allison or Abby. Do you have any questions?

511
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:10,520
 I do. I have a couple and thank you so much, Sarah, for being here. And yeah, thanks for

512
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:15,960
 all of your questions. Uh, committee. Um, one of the questions that I do have is about

513
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:21,160
 the drivers because via is going to be the ones employing all of these drivers. Uh, what

514
00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:25,880
 kind of protocols are they going to have, for example, for emergencies or let's say someone

515
00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:29,440
 that has a disability, like maybe someone with epilepsy has an episode or an issue that

516
00:54:29,440 --> 00:54:33,960
 they have to deal with. Uh, what kind of training and protocols will be, will the drivers have

517
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,080
 for any sort of situation like that?

518
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:43,760
 When we talk about sensitivity training, that is diving into, you know, a lot, um, a lot

519
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:48,840
 of issues, you know, in such, it goes into all different areas. It sounds kind of, to

520
00:54:48,840 --> 00:54:55,840
 me, it sounds very broad. Um, but that kind of training typically goes into medical conditions.

521
00:54:55,840 --> 00:55:01,800
 Um, you know, anything from disruptive passengers, not, you know, there's a lot of different

522
00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:09,640
 areas. Um, for a specific, like a seizure, I imagine that they would call 9-1-1 because

523
00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:12,880
 that's what our bus drivers would do today.

524
00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:19,280
 Okay. But I mean, there, there is like specific training that they get in emergencies and

525
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:23,880
 I just wonder what, if there was like, I guess sensitivity training, they would have like

526
00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:29,140
 understanding of intellectual disabilities, et cetera. Okay. And then the other question

527
00:55:29,140 --> 00:55:33,200
 that I have on that too is, um, Beth kind of touched on this a little bit with some

528
00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:37,720
 of our older generations having issues with the apps, et cetera. Uh, but what about passengers

529
00:55:37,720 --> 00:55:44,240
 that, for example, are very routine based? Um, what kind of assistance will be provided?

530
00:55:44,240 --> 00:55:50,720
 For like standing order type trips, like where they're going same time every day.

531
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:55,560
 Right. Right. Or, or even just like, for example, like, let's say that I'm someone that I'm

532
00:55:55,560 --> 00:55:58,720
 very, you know, on my routine and I get up and I get on the bus at eight o'clock in the

533
00:55:58,720 --> 00:56:01,480
 morning or whatever. And if that bus route is suddenly gone, like, is there going to

534
00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:05,200
 be any sort of like education or outreach to those people will be there? Will there

535
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:08,520
 be someone at the bus stop? Does the bus stop just disappear and the bus never shows up

536
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:14,960
 again? Uh, cause yeah, that's kind of a, I guess an issue that I would, I could see happening

537
00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:15,960
 for some people.

538
00:56:15,960 --> 00:56:20,400
 I, and I had the same thought, like, cause there is going to be a very, there's been

539
00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:24,320
 a huge public involvement and then there's going to be a huge community engagement if

540
00:56:24,320 --> 00:56:31,200
 this plane gets adopted. Um, but I, we have discussed that with via on what about if there

541
00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:36,760
 are a few people out there who didn't hear about it and they go to their bus stop and

542
00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:41,920
 they've actually talked about, um, some different solutions they've done in different cities.

543
00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:46,880
 And so we are talking to via and trying to figure that out. Um, cause I think that that,

544
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:52,160
 I agree is you can try to reach every single person in the community, but it's difficult,

545
00:56:52,160 --> 00:56:58,200
 you know, like even in this public involvement, um, you know, we, we have put it in ads, we've

546
00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:03,480
 put it in the news newsletter. We have done tons of meetings and stuff, but you still

547
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:10,480
 wonder who doesn't know yet. Um, so there via did give us some different options, but

548
00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:14,680
 we'll have to talk about it more internally and what the best one would be. But that is

549
00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:20,520
 something I could follow up with you guys on that determinations made, but they did.

550
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:26,120
 Um, and I will say that that was one of the reasons we wanted to use them was their level

551
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:31,680
 of experience with launching programs and that they would have ideas about those kinds

552
00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:38,480
 of things. As, as far as like time straight, um, like if they're used to the bus being

553
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:43,200
 at eight o'clock every day, this would be a difference because you would get a pickup

554
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:48,360
 time or, you know, you could say you want to ride by such and such time, but since it's

555
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:53,400
 shared ride, you're going to get, you're not going to get an eight o'clock on the button

556
00:57:53,400 --> 00:58:00,640
 pickup time. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much for that. Do you have any

557
00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:05,600
 additional comments you want to make? I mean, I'm happy to take any thoughts, opinions at

558
00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:12,260
 all today. I just think that, I mean, I don't have an issue or even like necessarily an

559
00:58:12,260 --> 00:58:18,560
 idea of what would fix it. Um, I just think that it's important that the people that,

560
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:21,520
 you know, that are routine based, maybe, you know, they live on their own and everything

561
00:58:21,520 --> 00:58:26,000
 like that, but maybe they have an intellectual disability and they get up and they get on

562
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:29,560
 the bus and they go to their job and they get off of work and they go to the bus and

563
00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:35,400
 they go home. And with that bus changing or anything like that, just some way to make

564
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:39,760
 sure that they know and understand, right? Like, I mean, I understand even reaching out

565
00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:44,360
 to maybe some of our older community as well and teaching them how to use the app, et cetera.

566
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:49,360
 Um, but I just feel like outreach to those kinds of communities might be a little bit

567
00:58:49,360 --> 00:59:02,640
 tricky. Um, sorry. I'm bear with me going back and forth typing up your feedback. Um,

568
00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:09,000
 I agree. I, I've done a lot of public outreach over the years and I agree. I am, I think,

569
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:14,560
 you know, we live in a virtual world right now and that's great and it's effective and

570
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:18,320
 cost efficient, but I think that there's real value in getting like a boots on the ground

571
00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:24,380
 approach. Um, I would definitely, if this, if this service was proposed, I don't work

572
00:59:24,380 --> 00:59:30,200
 in marketing and communications. I'm an operations person, but I would be heavily involved with

573
00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:36,320
 the outreach and want to be, um, one of the things I would want to do is actually connect

574
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:44,280
 with this group. So if anybody here, um, if it does, if this plan is adopted, um, if anybody

575
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:52,200
 here would be interested in working with us on identifying, um, you know, different groups

576
00:59:52,200 --> 00:59:57,520
 or helping us coordinate to get people together to educate them, we'd be all ears. Um, another

577
00:59:57,520 --> 01:00:04,240
 big plus is that Denton has a lot of social service, a surf social service agencies and

578
01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:08,720
 they're very willing to work with us. They've been working with us for a long time now.

579
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:14,640
 Um, we meet regularly with them and they are a great resource for reaching out to the community

580
01:00:14,640 --> 01:00:22,720
 for education as well. But, um, yeah, I, I think we should do a huge push for public education.

581
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:27,000
 I know a lot of staff agrees with me, so that would be top priority and we would be very

582
01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:34,600
 open to any assistance from the community. We could get an identifying people who need

583
01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:44,880
 it. Yes, Beth. We have, um, Sam next time. Sam, do you have any questions? Yeah, I have

584
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:54,800
 a few actually. Um, the first thing is the, the 64 bus that I know that's a, um, expensive

585
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:59,920
 route, which you said before, but is it a way where they could, uh, instead of using

586
01:00:59,920 --> 01:01:06,400
 like a big bus, use like a little, a smaller bus to still be able to have that service

587
01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:14,800
 there and then that way it won't be as expensive using the big bus. I can definitely put that

588
01:01:14,800 --> 01:01:27,880
 in the recommendations, Sam. Let me make sure I capture that really quick. Okay. And the

589
01:01:27,880 --> 01:01:36,000
 other thing, um, a lot of us have ADA certified passes. How would that, with the new VITA system,

590
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:44,040
 will we have to get new passes or, you know? So for the, the first six months of that transition

591
01:01:44,040 --> 01:01:54,320
 phase, we plan on all, um, existing fare structure to stay in place. Okay. Another thing too,

592
01:01:54,320 --> 01:02:04,480
 um, what Val was saying, it's, I know they have a, a bus stop by Mesa, but they have

593
01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:10,920
 another one that, that's, I think when you, by that bridge, it's a few places and then

594
01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:16,400
 it's very dangerous to cross whether you have a wheelchair or, or you have a king or whatever,

595
01:02:16,400 --> 01:02:23,120
 you know, because, um, they don't have the right, you know, proper bus stops, you know.

596
01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:29,200
 And the one is, one is by the, I think the vibe apartments, because it's not really like

597
01:02:29,200 --> 01:02:33,720
 a bus stop. You're getting let out in the street basically and you have to cross over

598
01:02:33,720 --> 01:02:39,800
 and you have traffic coming from both sides of the street. Do you know what street corners

599
01:02:39,800 --> 01:02:46,440
 those might be at? It's, it's a, it's on McKinney, but it's after you pass the, uh, 7-Eleven

600
01:02:46,440 --> 01:02:49,680
 and it's, the name of the apartment is called the vibe apartment, but it's a designated

601
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:55,920
 stop that, you know, that has to, uh, uh, take them before you go to the, um, I'm trying

602
01:02:55,920 --> 01:03:00,240
 to think after that, you go to, uh, the veranda. But like I said, that stop is in the street

603
01:03:00,240 --> 01:03:03,840
 and it's kind of dangerous because like I said, it's not really, this is like a little

604
01:03:03,840 --> 01:03:08,080
 sign that they have there, you know, on both sides and it's traffic coming to both sides

605
01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:17,120
 that is very dangerous. Oh, like I said, it's, it's.

606
01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:23,280
 I think that's good information. Um, specifically cause I've asked via, they will be designing

607
01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:31,440
 zone and stops, but, um, in speaking with them, I've asked to make sure to have DCTA

608
01:03:31,440 --> 01:03:37,760
 staff, um, have their input about the stops because we do feel some need to be put in

609
01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:43,040
 different places. And just like you're saying, um, so if anybody has any stops they want

610
01:03:43,040 --> 01:03:49,820
 to call out, I'd be happy to, you know, be your voice for that in terms of planning out

611
01:03:49,820 --> 01:03:55,440
 the virtual stops. We might, we might be here all day during that.

612
01:03:55,440 --> 01:04:02,720
 Okay. Um, anyway, if we want to figure out a way, um, I can, I can leave all my contact

613
01:04:02,720 --> 01:04:08,480
 information with you guys. If anybody's interested in giving, um, like putting a list together,

614
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:13,840
 giving input on that, I'm happy to take it. Yeah, that work that we have like a, like

615
01:04:13,840 --> 01:04:19,320
 a, like a sheet and to make it better to, you know, for the, for the riders, is it not

616
01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:24,080
 just this, not just a disabled people, but the riders in general, but you know, like

617
01:04:24,080 --> 01:04:28,280
 I said, it needs to be addressed because we don't want to buy to get hit by a car or bus,

618
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:34,680
 you know, because they trying to cross the street to get a bus. Yeah. Yeah. I, I mean,

619
01:04:34,680 --> 01:04:39,200
 I agree. Like I've, I've had this conversation. I don't work on fixed route. I basically work

620
01:04:39,200 --> 01:04:44,800
 on the on demand technology. Um, but I know that in talking with the director of operations

621
01:04:44,800 --> 01:04:51,800
 who does work heavily with us, uh, with the fixed route portions, um, he feels very strongly

622
01:04:51,800 --> 01:05:00,160
 that if this goes through, this is an opportunity to get rid of any dangerous bus stops. So

623
01:05:00,160 --> 01:05:06,680
 maybe Sarah, you can be happy to hear what you have to say about if there's stops that

624
01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:11,120
 you are not comfortable with, um, don't want to see any more, something better. We're happy

625
01:05:11,120 --> 01:05:17,880
 to hear that. It's the same Sarah. Maybe you can share your information with Ryan and Ryan

626
01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:24,720
 can send the committee your contact information and we can funnel it that way. Yeah. I'd be

627
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:33,600
 happy to do that. Is that okay, Ryan? Okay. Okay. Great. Sam, did you have the last question

628
01:05:33,600 --> 01:05:42,440
 or? Um, I'm trying to think. I think we covered just about everything. I mean, we talked about

629
01:05:42,440 --> 01:05:50,760
 the drivers and drivers and, um, the thing, another thing too, uh, is the hours. Would

630
01:05:50,760 --> 01:05:55,440
 the hours be extended or would it be, you know, like the same? Cause we've been running

631
01:05:55,440 --> 01:06:02,440
 like on Saturday schedule since last year, DCTA. They'd be extended and they'd be consistent.

632
01:06:02,440 --> 01:06:07,000
 So right now you'll see the hours change a lot, um, because of the university, because

633
01:06:07,000 --> 01:06:13,040
 our ridership drops dramatically in like summertime. And then we have an influx in the fall and

634
01:06:13,040 --> 01:06:18,800
 spring. Um, I can pull that screen back up really quick, but yeah, it would be, there

635
01:06:18,800 --> 01:06:26,360
 be a good increase. Um, I, I feel that's one of the benefits of this service is the, um,

636
01:06:26,360 --> 01:06:35,680
 increase in service area and increase in service hours. So, and I'll check on that. This would

637
01:06:35,680 --> 01:06:40,780
 be with the yellow box around it would be your new service hours. Okay. Another thing

638
01:06:40,780 --> 01:06:47,600
 too with the trains, why don't the train have more extended hours? I mean, cause it'd be

639
01:06:47,600 --> 01:06:53,640
 better because people would actually use the train more. It's a south is the hours is longer

640
01:06:53,640 --> 01:06:57,200
 because currently you only have like two days that that's like late. You have the Thursday

641
01:06:57,200 --> 01:07:03,600
 and Friday and Saturday. I think no, no Friday and Friday and Saturday. Cause I know like

642
01:07:03,600 --> 01:07:08,480
 a lot of times, I think recently when they had the thing for the fair, the people had

643
01:07:08,480 --> 01:07:13,560
 a rush to the train because the train has stopped running at a certain time, right?

644
01:07:13,560 --> 01:07:24,120
 I'm typing up a bunch of messy notes. Um, okay. So the, uh, the, the service hours extension.

645
01:07:24,120 --> 01:07:28,640
 So the one, the train doesn't run on Sunday. Yeah, I know that. I know it's Sunday. Don't

646
01:07:28,640 --> 01:07:37,520
 run on Monday. Yeah. This would replace it on Sundays and it would also, um, take it

647
01:07:37,520 --> 01:07:43,640
 later on. Sorry. But I did just jot down, uh, longer train hours. Let me stop the share

648
01:07:43,640 --> 01:07:52,080
 on this one real quick. Um, I can, I can share that feedback. I think, you know, probably

649
01:07:52,080 --> 01:07:57,800
 one of the main reasons is extremely expensive to run trains. And so that's why it wouldn't

650
01:07:57,800 --> 01:08:04,800
 have extended hours. Um, it's much more cost efficient to bring in more on demand service.

651
01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:13,240
 Um, and so those like kind of late nine hours, Dart does run later than us. Yeah. We're looking

652
01:08:13,240 --> 01:08:18,640
 to extend those hours to where if you do use Dart later in the night, we can pick you up

653
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:24,760
 with the goes on service at trendy mills and be your, you know, to take you home the rest

654
01:08:24,760 --> 01:08:28,880
 of the way. Yeah. Cause that's, that's been a problem with that, you know, at a certain

655
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:33,160
 time you don't get it. You pretty much have to get an Uber to get back to your house.

656
01:08:33,160 --> 01:08:38,380
 And that's part of this proposed plan is to fix that, you know, and we've used the example,

657
01:08:38,380 --> 01:08:42,160
 a lot of people want to go down to American airlines. If you live all the way up here

658
01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:46,600
 and you want to go to a Mavericks game, but then after you get out, you can't get back

659
01:08:46,600 --> 01:08:54,120
 up here. So, um, part of this plan is to propose to fix that. Yeah, that would, that would increase

660
01:08:54,120 --> 01:08:58,120
 ridership, uh, you know, cause people want to, you know, go to the fair and those games

661
01:08:58,120 --> 01:09:01,000
 with it. And like I say, when you get back to training mills, if you're not there at

662
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:08,360
 a certain time, you know, you S O L, you gotta take a Uber back or live. Yeah. I think that,

663
01:09:08,360 --> 01:09:12,600
 and that will be, and that is part of this proposal. So, um, um, still range on your

664
01:09:12,600 --> 01:09:21,400
 feedback, but just kind of writing it in favor of that part of the proposal. Thank you, Sam.

665
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:27,480
 Um, okay. We've gone around once. I see Tamera has a hand up. Go ahead, Tamera.

666
01:09:27,480 --> 01:09:44,040
 Nadia. Baby, DQTA could have the disability community, members of our committee,

667
01:09:46,360 --> 01:09:53,640
 our friends, I don't like to France because I'm a hands on person.

668
01:09:53,640 --> 01:10:03,480
 I learned best. I don't need experience in it.

669
01:10:03,480 --> 01:10:12,600
 I, I think a lot of people are hands on. And so, um, yeah, in terms of educating, um, yeah,

670
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:16,840
 I think one of the most successful, like it's great to have online classes and meetings and stuff,

671
01:10:16,840 --> 01:10:22,200
 but as more of us are getting vaccinated and feel comfortable coming together in person, um,

672
01:10:22,200 --> 01:10:26,920
 I know I'm vaccinated and I'm happy to get out in person and teach people how to use technology.

673
01:10:32,680 --> 01:10:43,640
 Is for us, for us, for us, for us bands of country. But Tamera said the idea

674
01:10:43,640 --> 01:10:51,320
 for individuals to actually go to the band and use them to practice boarding.

675
01:10:51,320 --> 01:10:55,960
 Yes. Okay.

676
01:11:00,840 --> 01:11:08,040
 Some more notes. I actually was going to go to that. Will there be an opportunity for

677
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:11,240
 especially people with mobility devices to

678
01:11:11,240 --> 01:11:20,280
 practice boarding one of these vehicles and I'm assuming the driver will be strapped in

679
01:11:20,280 --> 01:11:27,720
 wheelchairs and get on the buses. So will there be that kind of opportunity for individuals?

680
01:11:29,320 --> 01:11:36,120
 Where I've missed the first part for the tech to have technology or for individual mobility devices

681
01:11:36,120 --> 01:11:42,840
 at wheelchairs to actually practice boarding one of the bands, getting out one of the bands

682
01:11:42,840 --> 01:11:53,000
 for, for the phase one goes on. It's designed for the bus routes and, um, being able to independently

683
01:11:53,000 --> 01:12:01,000
 navigate the system now. But that's why we're kind of leaving access secondary so that there

684
01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:07,800
 can be a whole other separate outreach and education for that. But if anybody, I would

685
01:12:07,800 --> 01:12:16,120
 recommend, if you need any assistance, then access would be the best for boarding and onboarding. If

686
01:12:16,120 --> 01:12:21,080
 you need assistance getting on and off. Let me rephrase that. Okay. Yeah, sorry.

687
01:12:22,280 --> 01:12:28,360
 So with the GoZone bands that are going to be retrofitted, so I, as a wheelchair user,

688
01:12:28,360 --> 01:12:34,200
 I've never used one. So maybe I don't want to wait to my first trip. I would like to try it out and

689
01:12:34,200 --> 01:12:42,120
 make sure that I understand how to get on or that my wheelchair fits properly, things like that. So

690
01:12:42,120 --> 01:12:48,200
 will there be opportunities like that? But I guess the second part of the question, will the GoZone

691
01:12:48,200 --> 01:12:58,520
 drivers of those vehicles be required to put straps on your wheelchair? Or do you just roll

692
01:12:58,520 --> 01:13:08,040
 the end and then that's it? Because I know that's being discussed, like finalizing the details

693
01:13:08,040 --> 01:13:13,800
 between access and GoZone. Right. Because with a fixed route, even a regular fixed route, I believe

694
01:13:13,800 --> 01:13:22,840
 the driver would get out of his seat and strap the restraint on a wheelchair. So it's a hard kind of

695
01:13:22,840 --> 01:13:30,040
 ply down. Ply down is what they're called. Yeah. And that's how I would perceive it to be in these

696
01:13:30,040 --> 01:13:36,680
 bands. Like you would need to have some safety calls in place. But obviously a wheelchair user

697
01:13:36,680 --> 01:13:41,160
 cannot, most of us will not be able to do that, reach down and do it on our own.

698
01:13:42,920 --> 01:13:48,760
 So. And that makes sense and your bus drivers do that now. Right. So I was asking, will there be,

699
01:13:48,760 --> 01:13:56,680
 you know, before services start or even during, will there be an opportunity to physically go

700
01:13:56,680 --> 01:14:03,800
 somewhere to get on a GoZone van to be comfortable and say, "Okay, I can do this. Thank you."

701
01:14:03,800 --> 01:14:12,680
 Yes. Okay. Not only will there, we will be looking for people to come out and try the service.

702
01:14:13,640 --> 01:14:21,000
 Basically like a soft run, dry runs is what they are. Yes, we would welcome people in the community

703
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:25,560
 who are interested to come out and try it and tell us what they think before we actually open it up

704
01:14:25,560 --> 01:14:35,080
 to the public. And I think that, you know, using, I would say it would be more of a test run to

705
01:14:35,080 --> 01:14:41,480
 involve individuals who have mobility devices, service animals, you know, different types of

706
01:14:41,480 --> 01:14:47,480
 disabilities where a non-disabled person could just get in and out of a van with no problem.

707
01:14:47,480 --> 01:14:57,640
 So. If the service is adopted, the proposed service, after all this public involvement,

708
01:14:57,640 --> 01:15:04,920
 I would be happy to reach back out to Ryan and let him know when we're doing those dry runs and

709
01:15:04,920 --> 01:15:12,200
 looking for volunteers to ride the service. Perfect. That's great. Okay. Beth, do you have a question?

710
01:15:12,200 --> 01:15:26,040
 Would passengers be allowed to ride in the front seat? Because I know I can't get in the back of

711
01:15:26,040 --> 01:15:34,760
 a van. I would have to sit in the front passenger seat. I don't know that for sure. And I, but I

712
01:15:34,760 --> 01:15:40,920
 can ask Bia if they make exceptions and allow people to sit in the front. I can find that out

713
01:15:40,920 --> 01:15:46,760
 and relay anything. Ryan, if you're okay, anything I don't know for certain today and want to get

714
01:15:46,760 --> 01:15:57,000
 back with you guys, is it okay if I put it all together and give it to you? I can't quite hear

715
01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:05,000
 you, Ryan. You're off mute though. You're off mute. I think your mic might be disconnected.

716
01:16:05,000 --> 01:16:13,160
 Okay. Technical difficulties. Let me type that one down while he's doing that.

717
01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:23,720
 And just to piggyback off of Beth's question, I think it would make sense to allow that and

718
01:16:23,720 --> 01:16:30,280
 especially the retrofitted vehicles, because since they will not be allowed to fit six,

719
01:16:30,280 --> 01:16:37,560
 the retrofitted vehicles will probably fit three or two. Yeah, it'd be much less.

720
01:16:37,560 --> 01:16:45,080
 Six is for the one, yeah, up to six. That's the max capacity for one that is not

721
01:16:45,080 --> 01:16:50,200
 and that you're really only going to see during those peak commuter times.

722
01:16:54,680 --> 01:17:00,040
 Ryan's still having, just give us a thumbs up, Ryan, if it's okay for her to talk.

723
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:10,120
 Thank you, Ryan. Beth, did you have a final question? Yes, going back to what Ali had been

724
01:17:10,120 --> 01:17:16,920
 talking about for people that are used to a routine and how to educate people more,

725
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:24,600
 and I tried to tell you that some of the things on the website were, the graphics were just very

726
01:17:24,600 --> 01:17:33,400
 confusing. If there could be a poster made that simplified everything and that it could be put

727
01:17:33,400 --> 01:17:41,000
 at the bus stops and at every social service agency and at every police station and every

728
01:17:41,000 --> 01:17:47,160
 firehouse and every place you could think of that would teach people how to use the system,

729
01:17:47,880 --> 01:17:52,120
 but in a very simple, simple graphic design.

730
01:17:52,120 --> 01:18:03,640
 Just typing all this up. So if the service is adopted, part of our outreach would definitely

731
01:18:03,640 --> 01:18:09,320
 be to get those materials out at all those places you mentioned. Those are all great ideas and

732
01:18:09,320 --> 01:18:14,920
 definitely the bus stops, social service agencies. I think firehouse is a great idea. I think all city

733
01:18:14,920 --> 01:18:21,800
 facilities and I know from having worked on the city side for a long time, cities are very gracious

734
01:18:21,800 --> 01:18:28,440
 about helping public transit and working with partners. So I think that's a good idea and I

735
01:18:28,440 --> 01:18:35,160
 really appreciate you pointing out the difficulty with some of the material out there.

736
01:18:35,160 --> 01:18:40,360
 So I will get back with our marketing team with those thoughts and kind of pointed out

737
01:18:41,000 --> 01:18:45,240
 that we need to have a more simplified graphics going with those.

738
01:18:45,240 --> 01:18:57,080
 Thank you Beth. Okay Joe, you have a question that I see your hand on. Go ahead Joe.

739
01:18:57,080 --> 01:19:17,160
 Call from wireless caller. Call from wireless caller. Okay thank you. We are at the airport.

740
01:19:19,320 --> 01:19:37,960
 Or the DINN airport where I missed. DFW. Okay all right. You would still have to connect to

741
01:19:37,960 --> 01:19:46,120
 DART because Dallas's DART system, we can connect you to DART through the Trendy Mill Station,

742
01:19:46,120 --> 01:19:49,560
 but then you would need to get on DART to make it the rest of the way.

743
01:19:49,560 --> 01:20:00,200
 Okay. Valerie, you have a question. Not a question this time, but just a recommendation

744
01:20:00,200 --> 01:20:10,360
 as you go more into informing and educating is to try and connect with the ARC of Denton County.

745
01:20:10,360 --> 01:20:19,000
 It's an organization that supports individuals with disabilities and they work with individuals

746
01:20:19,000 --> 01:20:24,040
 who are out into the communities. So I think this would be a nice organization for you to

747
01:20:24,040 --> 01:20:30,360
 coordinate with. Thank you so much. There's a chance that our community relations manager

748
01:20:30,360 --> 01:20:35,720
 might already be connected to him. She is very good at reaching out to the social service agencies,

749
01:20:35,720 --> 01:20:41,800
 but I will absolutely bring that back. And if anybody else has recommendations, I'm very happy

750
01:20:41,800 --> 01:20:51,720
 to take them. Does anyone have any last questions or recommendations, suggestions, ideas?

751
01:20:51,720 --> 01:21:01,000
 No? All right. Thank you Sarah for all the information and for taking your Friday to

752
01:21:01,000 --> 01:21:04,920
 present to us. We really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much. This is

753
01:21:05,720 --> 01:21:13,960
 the best presentation I've done so far with this involvement. You guys are very engaged and gave me

754
01:21:13,960 --> 01:21:20,280
 a lot to go back with on feedback and consider and think about. So thank you very much for your time.

755
01:21:20,280 --> 01:21:26,120
 It's very helpful on my end and for the agency. Awesome. Thank you. We look forward to getting

756
01:21:26,120 --> 01:21:34,520
 those questions answered and that information back. Absolutely. Great. Thank you. Okay.

757
01:21:35,720 --> 01:21:46,760
 We will move on, I think that is it. We have our concluding items. Anyone have any special announcements

758
01:21:46,760 --> 01:21:51,000
 at all? No?

759
01:21:51,000 --> 01:21:59,880
 Just remember, we're still in Pride Month, so Outreach Denton, I know, is doing

760
01:21:59,880 --> 01:22:06,120
 and last events. Juneteenth is this weekend. So if you're feeling like getting out about,

761
01:22:06,120 --> 01:22:14,280
 that's happening. And again, July is Disability Pride Month. So there's also events going on with

762
01:22:14,280 --> 01:22:25,160
 that. Just FYI. So unless anyone has anything, we can move to adjourn.

763
01:22:27,880 --> 01:22:30,920
 I'll make a motion to adjourn. All right. Anyone second?

764
01:22:30,920 --> 01:22:39,080
 I second. All right. Great. All right, ladies and gentlemen, 423 again. I appreciate everyone

765
01:22:39,080 --> 01:22:48,600
 coming to this special meeting. Enjoy your weekend and we'll see you in July. Thanks, guys.