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 Good morning, and welcome to this meeting of the Mobility Committee of the City of Denton.

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 We have a quorum present Council Member Byrd isn't able to join us this morning, but two

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 is a quorum.

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 I'm going to exercise a little discretion from the Chair before we get into items for

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 individual consideration.

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 I'll recognize members of the public who would, you know, come and would like to speak

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 to us.

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 I know Ms. Greco is here if you'll give your name and address.

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 I'll start the clock and we'll give you four minutes.

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 There you go.

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 Good morning, Eva Greco, 802 West Oak Street, Apartment 5 in Denton.

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 I feel like I haven't left since yesterday, since last night's pleasure is on mine Ms.

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 McGuire.

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 I have been talking about this GoZone and we were discussing it last night, Mr. Meltzer.

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 My issue is not specifically with temporary change, lack of a better term, it's how everything

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 was done.

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 I am on Citizen Advisory Committee for DCTA and at one particular meeting, Nicole Recker,

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 multiple things that she stated to me turned out to be false and just pushed and pushed,

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 did not listen to the citizens, the ones who use, the ones who make mass transportation,

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 the riders.

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 Nobody listened to us.

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 We were ignored.

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 We've had multiple issues, okay.

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 At the Jazz Festival, GoZone, complete failure.

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 They were not able to accommodate the people.

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 We had a council member or two that I spoke to, they attempted to use the GoZone at the

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 Jazz Festival.

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 Nope, nothing available.

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 We were told months before preparing for the Jazz Festival that GoZone, they were going

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 to make sure they had extra vehicles available.

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 They did not accommodate.

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 Two days, no, yesterday morning or two mornings ago on a social media group, there was an

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 individual who was in a wheelchair, had a doctor's appointment.

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 She went on to GoZone the day before to set up her appointment and she was told that they

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 don't have any wheelchair accessible vehicles.

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 Unfortunately, she had to scramble and she got a ride from a friend the next day.

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 These drivers, it's just how this whole thing was done.

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 The city of Denton gives millions of dollars to DCTA every year.

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 There is no tracking of that money.

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 Where is that money allocated?

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 I've been asking this for about four and a half years.

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 I've been coming to meetings.

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 I've been asking this question, to this day nobody has been able to answer me.

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 I just was hoping, because I had individuals coming to me, "Well, you're from New Jersey.

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 You know mass transportation.

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 Give us ideas, this and that and all."

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 I was just shunned, shunned.

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 It's not fair.

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 You can't take a vehicle that holds six individuals maximum, no social distancing by the way, and

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 you can't tell me that's better than a vehicle that will hold 75 people.

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 Your zones, another complaint from citizens is your zones for GoZone are small.

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 I cannot take, if I am at the bus station on Hickory, I cannot get a GoZone to take

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 me up to the loop.

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 That's a different zone.

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 At a May council meeting, Mr. Suarez stated, and it's not going to be verbatim, that in

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 at least 10 years that he's been with DCTA, he has seen no improvement to the bus service.

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 Well, that leads me and a lot of other people asking, "Well, what have you been doing with

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 the money?"

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 Thank you for your time.

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 Thank you for coming, and I hope you'll stay and hear the update.

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 We're not posted to respond, but I think people who are giving reports, touch on those subjects.

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 That may be helpful.

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 Are there any other members of the public who came and wish to speak to us?

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 Okay.

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 That's great.

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 Let's go ahead with our items for individual consideration.

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 A, consider approval of the minutes of October 20th.

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 I'll entertain a motion, I'm looking for any possible person who could-

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 I move approval of the minutes.

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 Okay.

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 I'll second.

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 All in favor?

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 Aye.

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 Aye.

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 Minutes of October 20th are approved.

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 Item B, receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the City of Denton transportation

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 slash mobility project status report.

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 That's not me, I promise.

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 You're welcome.

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 Maybe.

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 All right.

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 Good morning.

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 John Poulster, Innovative Transportation Solutions.

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 I'm never sure where to look, so if I'm looking down, it's out of disrespect.

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 It's out of visualness.

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 It has to be-

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 Safest choice.

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 Okay.

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 So we'll start with the first project, and I will say right now, overall, these projects

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 are all moving as they should, so there's not a lot of issues we need to talk about

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 as far as negative 2181, we're still on track for completing in August of next year.

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 They have done the traffic switch will be done right after Thanksgiving and before Christmas,

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 and that still works within the timeframe for the contractor to be able to finish the

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 project by August, including the sound wall that has to be relocated, so there's no problems

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 on this job.

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 The Mayhill 35 project, we continue to work with all the utilities in the corridor, and

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 if you'll look, there's quite a few that we're dealing with, but it looks like all the providers

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 are playing nice together, and we are working with the city staff, Becky and Rachel, they

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 stepped in and really have done a good job keeping that project on track for the letting

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 date, and we're still targeting the September 23 timeframe.

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 So everything on Mayhill is tracking as it should, and that's a $72 million job, and

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 I think I told you last time, I can't remember, but the reason the numbers aren't highlighted

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 anymore is because they actually lowered the construction cost to its actual and they matched

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 the category two funding, so it's fully funded, just waiting to get the right-of-way utilities

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 relocated.

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 Then your big job around the corner, the 35E merge, 35W, again, it's on track for that

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 same timeframe of 23, utilities are the critical path item, you'll see again that it's a full

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 page and a half of utilities, same here, Rachel and Becky stepped in and we're on track to

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 keep this project on its current let date, and I'm bringing up utilities because we're

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 in that phase of the project, the design's done, cleared, the right-of-way's acquired,

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 and so the utilities are the critical path item on this project.

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 And again, it is fully funded at the, just shy of $400 million up to 77.

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 Then the breakout job, we are still on track for January, I think it'll be substantial

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 in December, the traffic issues, we are moving to the next phase, probably the next two weeks,

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 which means that the exit ramp will be open and there will then be moving to construct

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 the entrance ramp just north, or just south of 380, north on this project, so everything

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 is progressing well, except for the traffic on the main lanes.

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 And then your $763 million job north of 77 all the way up to the county line, it is progressing

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 for a late 23 let date, again, utilities are a critical path, and we seem to be in a pretty

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 good position on this project, it'll be led as three projects again because of the dollar

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 amount, not because of the, that they need to do it in three projects, they need to keep

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 the contracts below a certain number.

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 Is that a statutory requirement?

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 No, sort of, because if you get above a certain dollar amount, then you have to do a design

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 bill alternative, and TechSoc doesn't want to do a design bill on this, so they have

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 to keep it below a certain dollar amount, and then they can do, it's what's called

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 design bid build, which is a standard contract letting.

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 And you get more contractors bidding on a design bid build than you do on a design build.

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 Design builds are for mega projects that, like when we did 35, AGL stood for Archer

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 Western granite and lane construction, so those are three big companies that came together.

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 I want to make sure I'm tracking, the thing they don't want is to not have the bid stage,

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 they want bidders.

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 They want bidders, exactly, because it attracts more bids.

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 So your main lanes on 35W, we are continuing, we had to resubmit the environmental through

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 the tip cycle, which was October 23 was the deadline, February is when it will be approved.

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 After the tip is revised, then the project will be environmentally cleared, but we've

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 already cleared the frontage roads back in June of 2020, which is the same footprint,

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 and we are being told that we'll have HNTB sometime in November, but they told me in

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 October it would be sometime in October.

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 So we'll see, I'm not sure what the holdup is on that, but they are focusing HNTB's efforts

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 on 407 North to the city of Denton.

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 Now this could change, their contract, they've been selected for the entire corridor with

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 the infrastructure bill, and what we think we're going to hear in December where Houston

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 doesn't make their deadline for the Grand Parkway, that some of that money will come

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 back and then the commission will reprioritize that money to other projects.

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 We think that 35W is pretty high on the list of projects that are eligible.

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 So we might end up expanding in the scope.

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 Okay, so this is the project from Luke 288 out to 377.

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 It continues to move rather well.

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 The speed limit will be enforced, I guess starting seven days ago, six days ago throughout

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 the corridor, and we are progressing on that project, and we are still on track for the

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 December 23 completion date.

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 The east section, we've had a kickoff meeting last week, and then yesterday we met with

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 some of the "keep it, make 380 safe" folks, and we are anticipating this project starting

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 first or second week of January for construction-wise, and again, it's really related to co-serve.

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 So we just got co-served clear, and the reason that's important, now that's co-served gas,

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 electric.

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 We are anticipating them to be done sometime in November, and the reason that's important

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 is because Grande and Suddenlink and several other entities hang on those poles, and they

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 can't move until co-serve gets their lines done.

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 So that's our critical path for this project, but we think we're going to make it, and it'll

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 begin construction sometime in January, and it's a 36-month contract.

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 Okay, so there is a feasibility study completion meeting that will be held December 2nd.

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 This is basically to come in and tell the communities along that corridor what the feasibility

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 study has found, and essentially what it has found is that the most feasible alternative

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 for 380 is a controlled access facility along its existing alignment.

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 And we have buy-in from the county standpoint.

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 We have buy-in from all the communities along 380.

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 The two most impacted are Crossroads and Little Elm, but we're coordinating with them on how

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 we can make that impact less.

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 The Commissioner's Court on Tuesday, I think it was Tuesday, in the past, this month, put

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 a contract, an RFQ on the street for doing the environmental clearance for the Luke 288

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 Brown section as a controlled access facility like it shows up in both the city and the

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 county's thoroughfare plans to add frontage roads.

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 So and then we had a meeting yesterday, that was yesterday, right, yesterday with Tech

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 Stock, the big man himself, the district engineer, Travis, and then Becky and Scott McDonald

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 were there.

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 And we think we've got an interim workaround for the developments that are, you know, have

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 rights there, but we're controlling their access to 288.

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 So we think we've got a solution.

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 We're going to be meeting with Scott and Becky and company and just kind of see what we can

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 do to work it out, but it holds to that philosophy of building frontage roads, either temporarily

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 or permanently, in this section of roadways so that they're not directly accessing the

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 main lanes, 60 miles an hour.

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 In 28 West, we had a kickoff meeting on this project in October and Chank Patel is, Jay

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 Bog is the Tech Stock manager and Jacob Roberts is the PSNE program manager for CPY.

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 And we are just getting started on that, but the coordination is primarily between Chank

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 Patel and the city because this is fully within the city and impacts a lot of the developments

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 going on in the city to the west of 35.

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 1515, again, same thing.

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 We had to do a little bit of work on this one.

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 You'll see that we had a couple of changes to the schematic that required us to do a

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 re-eval.

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 We've got the re-eval done and we are now progressing forward with the PSNE.

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 You'll note that it's about $36 million and we had 500,000.

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 So between now and October of 2024, we got to find a way to come up with $36 million,

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 not insurmountable.

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 1173, again, $47 million job.

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 This was also put on the street for design and it's already environmentally cleared.

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 So we should have somebody on contract probably January, maybe end of December to do the design.

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 And our intent is get the project ready so that when 35 goes under the knife, like this

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 section is 400 million, the section just north of it is almost 800 million.

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 And we're thinking that we can find a way to jam a little $47 million job into that

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 nearly billion dollar project, well, it's over a billion, at the same time, because

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 this section of road is needed, because we're already building the interchange at Barthold

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 and the realignment to 35 job.

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 Yeah, so we are still, text I still analyze in the course and we are scheduling a meeting

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 and we'll get back with city staff to come up with a plan and we're close on it.

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 I don't know if Becky wants to add anything to it, but I think we're close on getting

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 at least a project that we can bring back to everybody to say, here's what we plan on

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 doing.

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 What say you and the intent is to do it in such a manner so that text I can use their

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 maintenance funds as opposed to the actual straight out contract, because that would

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 take time.

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 Maintenance is a quicker route to do it.

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00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:18,600
 Well, I think I'm done with questions, you are quiet today.

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 I noticed in my peripheral vision, Councilmember McGuire, previously writing notes.

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 Do you have questions?

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 No, I just am a note taker.

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 Thank you so much.

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 That's good.

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 I like it when there's no questions.

223
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 Great.

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 All right.

225
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 Thank you, John.

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 Okay.

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 Moving on.

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 Item B, receiver report and hold the discussion regarding the city of Denton, regarding updates

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 on the Denton County.

230
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,700
 Item C, let's do C.

231
00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:55,760
 Receiver report and hold the discussion regarding updates from the Denton County Transportation

232
00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:56,760
 Authority.

233
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:57,760
 Morning, Ray.

234
00:20:57,760 --> 00:20:58,760
 Good morning.

235
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:08,240
 Good morning, Chair and members of the committee.

236
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:16,160
 Let me find, I believe this is it.

237
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:21,600
 And do I need to share the screen or is it already being shared?

238
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,040
 You want to help me out here?

239
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:24,040
 Make sure that...

240
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:25,040
 It's just going to be...

241
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:26,040
 Is that where you are?

242
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:27,040
 Right there.

243
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:28,040
 Yes.

244
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:29,040
 And then just choose the one you're...

245
00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:30,040
 Is that one there?

246
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:31,040
 There you go.

247
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:32,040
 Just pick that one.

248
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,040
 Sure.

249
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:57,920
 And... okay, how are we doing for some reason?

250
00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:58,920
 There we go.

251
00:21:58,920 --> 00:21:59,920
 All right.

252
00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:00,920
 Hopefully, that's sharing.

253
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,840
 Well, good morning.

254
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:06,600
 Welcome.

255
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:12,840
 I'm here to provide an update on GoZone and fixed route service.

256
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:19,320
 Since the launch on September 7th of GoZone, we continue to see significant increases in

257
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,320
 ridership on the GoZone.

258
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:27,520
 The highest ridership day is nearing 1,500 completed rides on a day.

259
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:33,080
 We've seen a significant increase in the number of unique riders, which is good.

260
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:38,800
 Overall, there's a rating function in the app after somebody takes a ride.

261
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,640
 It prompts them, "How was your experience?"

262
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,240
 Overall, it's trending very positively.

263
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:51,240
 We certainly always have concerns by citizens with particular rides, but overall, 4.7 out

264
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,200
 of 5 is a very good rating.

265
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,120
 The average duration on wait times is 12.6 minutes.

266
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:03,920
 Now, I've tried to use the service myself at times, and it can be longer than that,

267
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,320
 but that's the average wait time.

268
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,320
 And the average distance that's being covered by the trips is 3.9 miles.

269
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:11,320
 I'm sorry.

270
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:18,880
 The 12 point -- don't mind going back -- the 12.6 minutes is the wait time, it's not the

271
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:19,880
 ride duration?

272
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:25,240
 Ride duration, so that's how long the average --

273
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,240
 That's the ride, but --

274
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:27,240
 The ride.

275
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:28,240
 Yes.

276
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,240
 I'm sorry.

277
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:30,240
 If I said average wait time.

278
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:31,240
 What's the wait?

279
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:32,440
 Do you have that as well?

280
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:39,480
 So we've been trending under 15 minutes, around 14, 14 and a half.

281
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,880
 The application, the way it's worked, is purely on demand.

282
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:48,840
 We have a zone that covers Highland Village and Lewisville, and a zone that covers Denton,

283
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,120
 and the vehicles, the way it was originally set up, would move to wherever the priority

284
00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:54,120
 is.

285
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:59,160
 So there's been some shifting going along with the number of vehicles in each zone.

286
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:04,720
 We're going to continue to try to smooth that out over time, but that's just a process that

287
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:06,200
 we have to go through.

288
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:11,600
 But it does seem to be hitting around the 15-minute average wait time, which was expected

289
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:12,600
 in the contract.

290
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:13,600
 Okay?

291
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,600
 I shall also ask you -- I mean, I need to ask that for clarification.

292
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:17,600
 Sure, sure.

293
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,080
 Harold, do you want us to hold our questions until you get all the way through?

294
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:21,080
 No, please.

295
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:22,080
 Yeah.

296
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:23,080
 Okay.

297
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:24,080
 However you want to do it.

298
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:25,080
 Yeah.

299
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,960
 So I -- obviously, I've seen -- I saw all of this on Monday, but a question came up for

300
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:40,920
 me since Monday that's only tangentially related to this, but where is VIA's, like, base of

301
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,720
 operations for the GoZone program?

302
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:49,020
 Like, where are -- for example, where are the GoZone vehicles stored and maintained?

303
00:24:49,020 --> 00:24:54,280
 So at the end of shift, in the Denton zone, they're at Med Park.

304
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:55,280
 Okay.

305
00:24:55,280 --> 00:25:02,400
 And what happens once the operators get to their vehicle and they unlock the vehicle,

306
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:11,160
 they're dispersed to -- based on the system's knowledge or the data, it will disperse them

307
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:17,040
 into areas throughout the zone, so they're not all just sitting at the hub waiting.

308
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:18,040
 Okay.

309
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,960
 So first thing in the morning, they get there, they turn the vehicle on, and they'll drive

310
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:28,240
 out to locations around where they typically see active rides happening in the mornings,

311
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:35,920
 and then as the rides start coming in, the system will automatically start combining

312
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:42,040
 the trips that are going within reason to a similar area so that you're getting the

313
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,320
 effect of shared ride service.

314
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:45,320
 Okay.

315
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:46,320
 All right.

316
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:47,320
 Thank you.

317
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:48,320
 You're welcome.

318
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:49,320
 Other questions?

319
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:50,320
 Not at this time?

320
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:51,320
 Oh.

321
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:52,320
 Okay.

322
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,320
 I can always go back on the slides.

323
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,560
 That's just a quick update on what's happening with GoZone.

324
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,880
 Again, we're in our second month and going into our third.

325
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,200
 We're still very, very early, so there's things that we need to work out.

326
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:12,120
 I think VIA has been very responsive in addressing issues, but there's still some, and we'll

327
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:14,840
 work through them.

328
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:19,800
 Really focusing on fixed route, because we have the December 2nd date coming up, which

329
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:24,020
 is an important board date for DCTA.

330
00:26:24,020 --> 00:26:30,160
 Just to ground the conversation before we get into this, the way the vote was cast in

331
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:37,160
 July, the July board meeting, the board agreed and motioned, and it was approved.

332
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:43,400
 That budget would be approved through December 6th, and the intent was that service would

333
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:50,080
 end subject to any data that would suggest that we would need to continue service on

334
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:51,080
 fixed route.

335
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:58,040
 Then it would take a motion by a board member and a second and, of course, approval of the

336
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,140
 board to continue service.

337
00:27:00,140 --> 00:27:08,600
 As it states right now, or as it sits right now, is the service is budgeted through December

338
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,360
 6th, December 2nd.

339
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:15,880
 We're going to walk the board through quite a bit of analysis.

340
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:22,760
 The board gave direction to DCTA staff that they wanted staff to work with.

341
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:28,000
 The experts, in this case, that would be Accenture and VIA themselves, and so we've been through

342
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,620
 a lot of collaboration and discussions about fixed route, what recommendations we would

343
00:27:33,620 --> 00:27:41,720
 make to make it more effective, as you've heard a lot about the ten passengers per hour.

344
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:47,520
 There's certainly portions of the day where we're hitting ten passengers per hour, but

345
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:52,680
 the intent and the direction that was given by the board was to come back and make recommendations

346
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:57,240
 based on what we've heard from board members, from certainly what we're hearing from the

347
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:04,000
 City of Denton about wanting to retain fixed routes, so we'll be making some recommendations.

348
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,880
 Likely we'll receive a report from Accenture and VIA themselves about what they think with

349
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,080
 respect to service.

350
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:21,560
 I think the general direction has been that there's certainly, the data does support keeping

351
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:26,360
 fixed route, but there's going to be some discussion about what that looks like.

352
00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:32,600
 It may not be exactly the same level of service, and I think everyone has suggested that that's

353
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,680
 a reasonable approach.

354
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:41,040
 I have not had an opportunity to present this nor have the experts to the board, but there'll

355
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:46,480
 be a very good, healthy discussion about the data and the dynamics.

356
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,440
 What I want to walk you through today is this data that you're seeing is data.

357
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,080
 It's from September.

358
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:57,840
 The reason for that is it takes a while to gather all the data and parse it out and present

359
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:03,080
 it to the board, so the board, to give you the latest information the board hasn't seen,

360
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,960
 we don't feel like that's appropriate this time, so we will bring the information once

361
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:07,960
 the board has seen it.

362
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:09,780
 We'll certainly share it with you.

363
00:29:09,780 --> 00:29:13,920
 What you will see is September data, but it's still relevant as to how the board is going

364
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,900
 to go through some decision-making processes, and it'll give you an idea of how the data

365
00:29:17,900 --> 00:29:20,840
 actually looks.

366
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:27,520
 These are the primary objectives or the framework that's going to be used for the board with

367
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,320
 regard to decision-making.

368
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,280
 We've all heard about the 10 passengers per hour.

369
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:41,520
 We want to make sure that we're also looking at relevant measures of performance, and we

370
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:49,440
 should be looking at density, productivity, equity, and stability for alternative solutions,

371
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:54,840
 as well as looking at things like what's the seat availability, both on fixed route and

372
00:29:54,840 --> 00:30:01,080
 on demand, what's the on-time performance, what level of trip cancellations we're having

373
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:02,480
 on GoZone.

374
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:07,960
 I will say that the way GoZone has been deployed and some of the feedback that we received

375
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:18,320
 and the data that we've looked at as staff is a 75-cent ride for a three-mile trip is

376
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,920
 the same price that you pay to go completely across town.

377
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:26,480
 The longer the trip, you would think you'd have an opportunity to aggregate more people,

378
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,600
 and it would be more efficient because you can pick them up and drop them off, but it's

379
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:31,760
 actually the inverse.

380
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:38,760
 When you occupy a vehicle for 30, 40 minutes on a long trip, it makes it less efficient

381
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:45,640
 and therefore would argue that we should have more smaller zones as opposed to one very,

382
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:46,640
 very large zone.

383
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:51,440
 But these are the types of things that we're going to be looking at, not only for via but

384
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:58,320
 for fixed route, and then coming back to the board with some of these productivity measures.

385
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:00,760
 And so while you look at average --

386
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:06,000
 If I may ask you a couple of questions.

387
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:07,000
 Yes, sure.

388
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:11,760
 About the idea to be discussed about smaller zones, is the idea that you would only be

389
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,840
 able to ride within a smaller zone?

390
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,760
 No, and actually, let me retract on that, if I may.

391
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:22,680
 I don't know that -- I'm not sure what the data is going to present.

392
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,120
 The consultants have not come back with that.

393
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,560
 I don't know that it'll be a shorter -- a smaller zone.

394
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:33,800
 I believe that there's an option that the zone will stay the same.

395
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:46,080
 But how people travel -- there's a series of variables that will help shape travel decisions.

396
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,000
 Pricing as an example is one concept.

397
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,200
 Right now, we charge 75 cents for a trip on via.

398
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,040
 That's promotional pricing.

399
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,040
 That wasn't the long-term intent of the board.

400
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,940
 It was to get people to start using the system.

401
00:32:00,940 --> 00:32:04,160
 One seat ride on bus is $1.50.

402
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:12,680
 So there's been discussions about -- well, I believe even from council meetings in Denton,

403
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:21,720
 there's been the request of, why don't we make fixed route free, as an example.

404
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:26,640
 So if you start thinking about, well, how does pricing change people's choices?

405
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:32,920
 If you still allow that long trip, as an example -- and it's not 75 cents, but the further

406
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,840
 you go, the more time you're occupying.

407
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:40,800
 Should that person pay a higher rate for the distance traveled?

408
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:47,520
 Or could they alternatively use fixed route if it were priced less expensively or free?

409
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,720
 Those are all things that should be considered when you're looking at how do you build an

410
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,320
 effective and efficient multimodal system.

411
00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:01,040
 So that's one variable.

412
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:05,600
 There's certainly a lot of flexibility in how you shape and design a system.

413
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,980
 One way would be to -- and you've probably heard a lot of first and last mile, so a lot

414
00:33:10,980 --> 00:33:15,400
 of on-demand is what they call first, last mile, connections to hubs, connections to

415
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:20,960
 a rail station, connections to a Fouts Field hub, as an example.

416
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:26,600
 And you can set up a physical constraint that says we have a zone around that within, let's

417
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,400
 say, two or three miles, and everything feeds into that, and you feed into a fixed route

418
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:31,400
 system.

419
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:32,400
 That is one solution.

420
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:38,880
 Another solution is you use pricing and distance to determine -- just like taxicabs and Uber

421
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,280
 and Lyft -- the further you go, the more it costs you.

422
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,800
 So those are all things I believe that the consultants are going to be looking at to

423
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:51,960
 make recommendations on how we leverage both fixed route and on-demand GoZone, and it will

424
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:53,240
 be presented to the board.

425
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:58,480
 I thought you might have been heading -- but I totally take in what you're saying, that

426
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:03,000
 many ways of looking at it are going to be evaluated, but when you talk about smaller

427
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:09,760
 zones, I thought that led is you might have a two-zone ride, but not that -- I think there's

428
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:15,720
 a concern that I've heard that with smaller zones, you can't get there, but I think it's

429
00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:20,560
 really just how do you structure the pricing to make it equitable?

430
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:21,560
 Correct.

431
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,280
 And that's where the expertise of VIA and other on-demand companies that we've worked

432
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:30,240
 with have other ways to allow -- to still allow that trip.

433
00:34:30,240 --> 00:34:34,280
 If you're insistent you need to have it, and you're willing to pay more for it, then go

434
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:39,840
 ahead, but there's also alternative modes of transportation.

435
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:44,880
 So if a vehicle is not available, there's nothing to say you can't call Uber or Lyft

436
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:50,600
 to take a trip with them as well, and so if you go to any major city or where there's

437
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:58,520
 a major event happening, you walk out, there's usually fixed route, there's taxi cabs, there's

438
00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,920
 all different modes of transportation, it's a healthy way for a rider to be able to make

439
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:09,880
 a choice of how -- is money more important to me, savings, or do I need to make that

440
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:14,560
 trip immediately, and if so, I have multiple options on how to get around a city, and I

441
00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,360
 think all of those things go into healthy planning.

442
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,640
 Lots to debate and discuss.

443
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,520
 There's a lot to unpack when you start talking about service planning, and that was not my

444
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:26,520
 intent today.

445
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:27,520
 Sure, sure.

446
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:28,520
 Yeah.

447
00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:29,520
 I did have just one other question.

448
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:35,160
 You've already sort of expressed your decision on this point, but I just say I kind of couldn't

449
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:40,440
 quite let it go that you were saying -- well, let me just ask a part of the question.

450
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:47,880
 Would it be your intent to be able to take some feedback to your update from us and as

451
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,360
 potentially to share with the Board of Laws, we've got a board representative here, too,

452
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:57,120
 but just the reason I ask that is you said you didn't think it would be appropriate to

453
00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:02,440
 share information here that it wasn't shared with the board yet, but if your intent is

454
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:08,800
 to have, you know, comment, filter up, then why would you do that, right?

455
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:15,520
 Because once it goes to the board and it's acted on, then, you know, where's the opportunity

456
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,840
 to potentially, you know --

457
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:21,360
 Well, I don't have the data to share at this point.

458
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:25,800
 Oh, well, that's a different matter.

459
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:26,800
 Okay.

460
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,840
 The consultants -- I'm sorry if I was unclear, but the consultants are still parsing through

461
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:36,080
 the data, and they will be coming back with recommendations, but it's just not available

462
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:37,080
 at this time.

463
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:41,120
 What we're showing you is data, but it will give you a sense for where we're going.

464
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:42,120
 What the issues are, anyway.

465
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:43,120
 Yeah, okay.

466
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:48,600
 And again, I would caution any decision-making to be made because we're talking about a month's

467
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:52,960
 worth of data, and we're very, very early on the service.

468
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,120
 Any questions about this before we move on?

469
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,440
 I'm ready to let you get back on track.

470
00:36:57,440 --> 00:36:58,440
 Let's see.

471
00:36:58,440 --> 00:36:59,440
 Okay.

472
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,880
 So I'm going to rifle through some metrics and trends just so that you can kind of see.

473
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:10,680
 Again, this data in yellow were the GoZone trips in September.

474
00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:16,680
 If you were to see the October/November data -- and bear in mind, we have to provide the

475
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:22,400
 presentation earlier, about a week and a half, I think, before this meeting.

476
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:28,440
 So information that I'm sharing with board even in a weekly report may not be readily

477
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,600
 available for this meeting because we have to submit it beforehand.

478
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:37,280
 But I will say that the October data actually almost shows an inverse where you'll see the

479
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:41,720
 yellow outpace in the number of rides that we have on fixed route.

480
00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:45,560
 Now, as I've mentioned before, with fixed route, we've had on-time performance issues.

481
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:46,680
 We've had lack of labor.

482
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:51,160
 We've had a lot of things that we can shape differently as we move forward.

483
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,160
 But this is an idea.

484
00:37:53,160 --> 00:38:02,240
 This is total by-day GoZone, and you can see by the day of the week how the travel patterns

485
00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:06,400
 and demands change ridership by route.

486
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:14,800
 So we have information here for Route 1 and all the other routes, 1 through 7, and then

487
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:17,720
 by the day of the week and by time of day.

488
00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:22,040
 Time of day is important because there are portions of the day on almost every route,

489
00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:29,600
 for the exception of Route 1, where we actually see that 10 passengers per hour being achieved.

490
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:30,900
 But it's not the whole day.

491
00:38:30,900 --> 00:38:32,080
 It's through a portion of the day.

492
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:38,120
 So that starts providing some insight to how we might shape fixed route and how fixed route

493
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,640
 and GoZone might work together.

494
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:45,240
 This is an interesting way to look at the trip patterns and travel patterns.

495
00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:52,200
 So every little dot or heat map on this slide is a pickup, if you will, from GoZone in the

496
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:53,840
 month of September.

497
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:57,920
 If we were to aggregate September, October, and the first week of November, you'd probably

498
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:04,760
 see very similar patterns, just the map would just start getting hotter and hotter and you

499
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,680
 wouldn't see specific dots, you'd just see a big red heat map.

500
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,120
 Overlaid on that is a specific route.

501
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:19,480
 So you can see of all the dots that were trips on GoZone, how many of those are actually

502
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,520
 on the alignment of the fixed route.

503
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,020
 So some of them are, but the majority of them aren't.

504
00:39:25,020 --> 00:39:28,860
 So this starts to indicate that, well, wait a minute, some of these trips are new trips.

505
00:39:28,860 --> 00:39:33,240
 They're not necessarily cannibalizing fixed route.

506
00:39:33,240 --> 00:39:37,920
 So it starts to inform, and then if you look at the length, and I will say by and large,

507
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:42,960
 most of our fixed routes are very long, and when you have a long route, it means that

508
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,440
 you're on a vehicle sometimes for a very long time.

509
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:51,320
 So one of the things that we would naturally want to do is to improve the frequency, to

510
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:56,080
 address labor shortages, is we'd probably want to see, well, now that we have GoZone,

511
00:39:56,080 --> 00:40:02,160
 it can complement, how do we take these very long legs, shorten those up, allow GoZone

512
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:07,400
 to feed a fixed route service so that we can then increase the frequency of the fixed route

513
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:12,360
 service and have our labor force that we currently have not affected because they're still operating

514
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:13,360
 some fixed routes.

515
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:18,560
 So you can kind of see how we're thinking about life before and after.

516
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,640
 And I'm going to rifle through some of these fairly quickly.

517
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:28,640
 Not spend so much time on the right-hand side because, again, those metrics aren't as relevant

518
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:34,240
 the first few months as they will be in the future, but the travel patterns and where

519
00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:39,280
 you're seeing the pickup and drop-offs tend to be fairly consistent.

520
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:41,360
 This is route three.

521
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:49,440
 You can see out this far leg, it's not heavily traveled with fixed route, but we also don't

522
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:54,840
 see that many trips, at least in the first month or so, coming from that area.

523
00:40:54,840 --> 00:41:02,320
 So this would argue that maybe truncating the route more closely into the center might

524
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:03,320
 make some sense.

525
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,320
 And that's, I think, the process that the consultants are going through and then looking

526
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:11,700
 at, well, are there other places that the route might need to maneuver through to get

527
00:41:11,700 --> 00:41:14,560
 better performance?

528
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:20,440
 And again, route four is a very, very long route.

529
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:26,800
 Probably needs, if we're going to, if the board's desire is to retain routes, this probably

530
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:29,480
 would need to be broken into a couple of pieces.

531
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,880
 Along the top is University Drive.

532
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:34,840
 What's interesting about this, I'll just spend a little bit of time, if you just look at

533
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:38,800
 the heat map, this is UNT in here.

534
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:45,640
 So you can see a lot of likely students are using GoZone price at 75 cents to take a lot

535
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:49,560
 of trips that aren't necessarily along the route.

536
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:54,240
 You can see there's certain portions of the route that are not heavily traveled.

537
00:41:54,240 --> 00:42:01,200
 It might be because there's another form of travel, the density might not be there.

538
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:05,680
 But along, certainly along University, you can see that there is some competition going

539
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,960
 on between GoZone and FixRoute.

540
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:13,120
 And so those are things that you would naturally look at and say, well, why do we have two

541
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:14,920
 modes of service competing against each other?

542
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:18,560
 Is there a better way to entice people to use one versus the other?

543
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:26,480
 And so that's where things like, do we present, and I'm not saying that this is the plan,

544
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:27,760
 but do we want to present--

545
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:28,760
 Just for illustration.

546
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:34,760
 Just for illustrative purposes, do we present multiple options, or do we present the option

547
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:44,040
 that's most efficient, or do we use pricing to help people have a choice?

548
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:46,040
 Just for illustration, right?

549
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:50,480
 That might be one where you'd say, what would the dynamics be if there were a frequent shuttle

550
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:51,480
 back and forth?

551
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:56,360
 You have a frequent shuttle, it's free, or it's priced less expensively than a van.

552
00:42:56,360 --> 00:43:03,680
 And I think even via, with all their experience, will likely suggest something like that would

553
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:04,680
 be my guess.

554
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:10,680
 But you can see that there's a lot of trips happening in and around the University, some

555
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:19,760
 around the mall, along University Drive on 380, and then through the heart here is TWU.

556
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,600
 And so you can see how people are tending to use the system.

557
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:25,760
 And that travel pattern kind of holds true.

558
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:28,240
 We're just going to move it around.

559
00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:34,680
 Route 6 goes from the DDTC straight up, it used to be Bell, I believe it's going up Locust

560
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:44,720
 now, and then up to Discovery Park, and it's a heavily traveled route.

561
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:48,720
 I don't think there'd be many modifications suggested to that.

562
00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:55,600
 But there's quite a few students at TWU and UNT that are finding access and enjoying the

563
00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:56,920
 new service.

564
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:02,960
 But I think fixed route does a very good job of being able to carry more people in a cost-effective

565
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:04,880
 manner on that route.

566
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,680
 Route 7 is our highest performing route.

567
00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:14,240
 It certainly continues to look like it's achieving well over 10 passengers per hour the majority

568
00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:15,560
 of the day.

569
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,360
 And so wouldn't expect a lot of change there.

570
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:25,260
 And this is Route 21 in Lewisville and Route 22.

571
00:44:25,260 --> 00:44:28,340
 And so you can see how we're looking at parts of the day.

572
00:44:28,340 --> 00:44:38,160
 You'll notice that in a lot of these routes, there's a significant amount of ridership

573
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:39,680
 in the midday.

574
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:44,560
 So transit typically looks at travel patterns.

575
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:53,280
 The peak is usually from 6 a.m. to about 9 a.m. pre-COVID, and then roughly 4 p.m. to

576
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:59,240
 about 6 37 p.m., so about 4 hours in the morning, 4 hours in the afternoon.

577
00:44:59,240 --> 00:45:04,400
 Since COVID, we've actually seen the inverse, much smaller numbers, but there's a lot more

578
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:08,560
 utilization during the middle of the day, which means that the people aren't taking

579
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,660
 transit right now.

580
00:45:11,660 --> 00:45:16,000
 For business purposes, going into down, down Dallas or the like, they're using it to go

581
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:17,000
 to school.

582
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:26,240
 It's retail, it's a lot of different types of trips that typically you would see during

583
00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:29,160
 a normal situation.

584
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:35,080
 Under normal circumstances, you'd actually see the peaks grow significantly higher.

585
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:39,080
 And what we're seeing in the middle of the day is what people continuously do.

586
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:45,540
 And so what you're seeing is those important trips that people need to go to the grocery

587
00:45:45,540 --> 00:45:49,680
 store, go to the doctor's offices, all those different things, that's what you're seeing

588
00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:56,320
 as the core that's driving the demand and the ridership day after day, week after week.

589
00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:03,040
 I recall Mr. Polster making a similar observation about highway traffic during, you know, under

590
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:07,120
 COVID that people working at home, so it's kind of when do they get to the point where

591
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:11,600
 they need to get out and get something done or, you know, so it is the inverse.

592
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:19,800
 Well, I think it's important that everybody remember that we're still in a pandemic situation,

593
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:20,800
 right?

594
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:28,120
 So we're analyzing all this data with surgical precision, but we're doing that within a very

595
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:32,620
 abstract time when travel patterns can continue to change.

596
00:46:32,620 --> 00:46:33,620
 So we're going to be making...

597
00:46:33,620 --> 00:46:35,040
 Let's set it for all time right now then.

598
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:36,040
 Pardon me?

599
00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:37,840
 Well, let's set it for all time.

600
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:38,840
 Right.

601
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:43,880
 And so that's what I want to show you as far as the data, and that we're getting a lot

602
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:48,120
 more forensic around the data because we have more, so we're actually...

603
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:53,360
 The next time I present, we'll show those midday travel, the peak, the demand.

604
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:58,880
 You'll see that there's certainly parts of time where fixed route is getting closer and

605
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:01,600
 closer to that 10 passengers per hour.

606
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,360
 On some of these routes, we've actually seen in the month of October a ridership growing

607
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:09,680
 on some of them and hitting or getting really close to that 10 passenger per hour.

608
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:15,240
 So that gives us an idea of, all right, so there's times where fixed route is efficient.

609
00:47:15,240 --> 00:47:17,000
 The length of the trips are probably too long.

610
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:22,160
 We don't have enough operators to operate that service effectively anyway, so there's

611
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:27,200
 some options for us to consider, and we're looking forward to getting a lot of that data

612
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:31,640
 back from the consultants in short order and starting to share that.

613
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:32,640
 So next steps.

614
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:36,840
 We're going to continue to collect the data, we'll evaluate the factors that we just talked

615
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:38,120
 about.

616
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,480
 We have the December 2nd board meeting.

617
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:47,720
 If there's a decision or interest in continuing to advance the routes, then someone will need

618
00:47:47,720 --> 00:47:52,280
 to make a motion to do that, but as it stands right now, the board has these options all

619
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:53,280
 available.

620
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:57,800
 Of course, we know about the elimination, but we can continue to run the routes as is

621
00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:01,960
 or we can modify them, and as you can see, the data starts telling you some things about

622
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,680
 what we might choose to do as a DCTA board.

623
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:13,240
 We'll also sit down with UNT and start having discussions with them about some of the travel

624
00:48:13,240 --> 00:48:19,040
 patterns, how their investments are made with the shuttles, and see if there's interest

625
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:25,080
 for them as well to take out some of their less productive routes and maybe move some

626
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:27,360
 of that over to a different model.

627
00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:33,540
 So we've had a contract with them that runs 10 years, but I think there's interest from

628
00:48:33,540 --> 00:48:35,120
 UNT.

629
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:39,560
 They were very interested to see what was happening with GoZone, very interested to

630
00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:42,600
 see how their students were going to potentially use it.

631
00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:49,640
 We haven't had any discussions about GoZone today, but once the board feels comfortable

632
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:56,000
 in how we're shaping the transit system for DCTA and the Connect system, we'll start having

633
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,200
 conversations with UNT as well.

634
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:03,120
 I keep checking you in my peripheral vision, Councilman, to see that.

635
00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:07,800
 Just a briefing item, the Castle Hills is being, I believe it's already been annexed

636
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,440
 by the City of Louisville.

637
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:16,800
 We will, there was a request by the City of Louisville to start providing connectivity

638
00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:21,720
 to the GoZone, and we're going to do that on January 19th.

639
00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:28,840
 Speaking UNT, is there going to be a change in their own policy in terms of whether students

640
00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:32,120
 can just show their ID and ride?

641
00:49:32,120 --> 00:49:36,320
 That policy has not changed.

642
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:40,240
 So they pay a fee, an annual fee, to ride Connect.

643
00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:44,240
 They show their ID and they can ride the Connect system.

644
00:49:44,240 --> 00:49:48,080
 It's free to the student, the university pays for that.

645
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:58,100
 With the potential decision to discontinue the Connect service, UNT is rethinking what

646
00:49:58,100 --> 00:50:00,680
 they would do with that amount of money.

647
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:03,520
 I believe it's $50,000 that they pay.

648
00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:05,440
 So would they put that in additional service?

649
00:50:05,440 --> 00:50:09,560
 So they're waiting for us to figure out what we're going to do with our fixed route service

650
00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:14,160
 and then determine what they want to do with the money that we're paying in through the

651
00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:15,160
 contract.

652
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:20,240
 There's no proposed changes to date on the UNT service.

653
00:50:20,240 --> 00:50:26,440
 If anything, they're looking at additional, potentially adding a small shuttle route.

654
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:31,720
 It's important to note that they subsidize or they pay for their service, but they're

655
00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:39,480
 considered public routes, and that's important to note so that when you look at these heat

656
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:44,200
 maps and we talk about maybe eliminating a route because it's not productive, it's not

657
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:49,040
 that there's not service there, it's just it's always been thought of as UNT routes,

658
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:57,880
 but they're open to the public and DCTA provides a portion of the funding for that, so they're

659
00:50:57,880 --> 00:51:00,440
 routes too and people can use them.

660
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:02,920
 So there's plenty of fixed route coverage.

661
00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:08,560
 When we come back to the Mobility Committee in the future, I've already given some direction

662
00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:15,520
 to also show the university route so we get a full picture of where there's access, mobility

663
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,080
 access moving forward.

664
00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:19,080
 So that's the briefing item.

665
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:21,760
 I'm happy to answer any additional questions you might have.

666
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:22,760
 Yes.

667
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:30,520
 Yeah, I want to briefly address what you just said about UNT routes being open to the public.

668
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:37,320
 I think it might have been Eva was talking to me just last week about, was it you that

669
00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:40,320
 was turned away from Eva?

670
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:43,120
 On the number 8 bus, which is, yeah.

671
00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:48,240
 So that's, there may be a communication issue with the drivers.

672
00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:50,240
 I'm not sure what you're speaking about.

673
00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:52,240
 Oh, sorry.

674
00:51:52,240 --> 00:51:59,200
 So Eva has been turned away from riding UNT routes on several occasions because the drivers

675
00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:04,760
 were under the impression that the UNT routes were restricted to UNT students.

676
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:07,440
 So there may be just a communication issue.

677
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,440
 That's certainly a communication issue.

678
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:10,440
 Okay.

679
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:11,440
 Yeah.

680
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:12,440
 And that's inaccurate, right?

681
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,880
 Like they should be accepting fares from members of the public.

682
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:15,880
 Okay.

683
00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:19,800
 So that just needs to be something that's better communicated maybe to drivers.

684
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:24,680
 Obviously, you and I have spoken about this, but I was wondering if you could speak to

685
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:33,820
 the public and Mayor Pro Tem Meltzer regarding, my perception is that one of the biggest obstacles,

686
00:52:33,820 --> 00:52:40,380
 if not the biggest obstacle right now to on-time performance and improving ridership on fixed

687
00:52:40,380 --> 00:52:43,440
 routes is the staffing issues that you've alluded to.

688
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:49,080
 I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to the current state of staffing at NTMC

689
00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:55,640
 and what is being done to address those shortages.

690
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:59,400
 So labor shortages are not unique to DCTA.

691
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:07,920
 I think in every form of mode of transportation, there are labor shortages.

692
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:12,700
 They're being experienced not only regionally, but nationally.

693
00:53:12,700 --> 00:53:20,520
 If you look at other workforces for industrial restaurants, entertainment, everybody's struggling

694
00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:23,700
 to find applicants and to hire.

695
00:53:23,700 --> 00:53:27,200
 So that's an issue, probably the biggest one.

696
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:30,960
 Certainly understanding what we're going to be doing moving forward, the feedback that

697
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:35,580
 I've received from the general manager is the sooner we can decide what we're going

698
00:53:35,580 --> 00:53:41,120
 to do, the more stability folks will have in their jobs.

699
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:50,160
 I believe that if it's the desire of the DCTA board to continue to provide fixed route,

700
00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:55,800
 we need to shape the service because I don't see this workforce issue going away anytime

701
00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:56,800
 soon.

702
00:53:56,800 --> 00:54:02,160
 We need to make the service so that it can provide the two most critical things, is it

703
00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:07,600
 on time and how frequent is it because if it's not frequent enough, then I'm going

704
00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:13,840
 to typically look for other modes of transportation, not the service.

705
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:19,680
 So I think it's critically important if there is a desire for fixed route to continue, that

706
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:24,760
 the focus needs to be how do we make a system on time and frequent enough that it just becomes

707
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:26,920
 second nature for people to use.

708
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:35,760
 Now typically in transit, and this is across the nation, you'll work on 5, 10, 15, 20,

709
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:43,160
 30, 45, and hourly frequency depending on the density, if you're in an urban canyon

710
00:54:43,160 --> 00:54:47,220
 in the middle of the city, you're probably going to be running 5 to 7, 8 minute, people

711
00:54:47,220 --> 00:54:51,200
 just walk out and they're not worried about the schedule because they know something is

712
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:54,160
 going to come by any minute.

713
00:54:54,160 --> 00:55:04,000
 For our density and population patterns, 15, 30, 45 minutes seem to work on weekends, hourly

714
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:12,360
 headways seem to be appropriate based on ridership, but there's a lot of desire from board members

715
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:14,160
 to try to increase that frequency.

716
00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:18,300
 In order to do that, guess what, you need more vehicles and more operators.

717
00:55:18,300 --> 00:55:25,980
 So we can build a very aggressive schedule around on time performance and frequency,

718
00:55:25,980 --> 00:55:32,600
 but if we can't deliver the bodies to put in the seats, then all we're doing is we're

719
00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:38,160
 not delivering against the expectations of our riders because they'll open their schedule

720
00:55:38,160 --> 00:55:43,800
 or on their phone and they'll go stand at a bus stop and they'll be looking for a ride

721
00:55:43,800 --> 00:55:46,800
 that may or may not be there.

722
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:55,360
 So NTMC is actively recruiting, they don't necessarily know what they're actively recruiting

723
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:57,720
 to what number they're recruiting to.

724
00:55:57,720 --> 00:56:03,120
 So the sooner the board can make a decision, and I also think that doing this in increments

725
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:08,440
 of two or three months is a big challenge for them.

726
00:56:08,440 --> 00:56:15,880
 They're doing a lot to incentivize operators to retain them, number one, because hiring

727
00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:18,920
 is one thing, just making sure that they're not leaving is another.

728
00:56:18,920 --> 00:56:24,840
 And there's been a fairly consistent turnover rate for a lot of various reasons, it would

729
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:27,120
 take a lot of time to unpack it.

730
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:31,360
 But there's folks that are leaving, so the first thing they're trying to do is make sure

731
00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:37,220
 that we're providing incentives for the operators to stay until we understand what's happening

732
00:56:37,220 --> 00:56:42,360
 with the workforce locally and regionally.

733
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:49,720
 And that's been budgeted and approved through the NTMC board to provide incentives.

734
00:56:49,720 --> 00:56:54,520
 And it's been done, I think, on a monthly increment.

735
00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:58,760
 Now the budget for that is available because if you don't have a workforce that's already

736
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:01,960
 been budgeted for, there's typically money available to do that.

737
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:03,660
 So they're working within their budget.

738
00:57:03,660 --> 00:57:10,680
 So they're actively recruiting, they're trying to provide retention options, incentives

739
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:13,320
 for operators.

740
00:57:13,320 --> 00:57:17,520
 But I think the single most important thing is just trying to understand what we're going

741
00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:18,520
 to be doing long-term.

742
00:57:18,520 --> 00:57:23,540
 - All right, thank you so much.

743
00:57:23,540 --> 00:57:29,760
 And I want to kind of highlight, I think, that you mentioned you were going to be bringing

744
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:38,600
 to the DCTA board a couple of options that involve a budget amendment to fund fixed routes

745
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:44,600
 through March or a budget amendment that will fund fixed routes through the remainder of

746
00:57:44,600 --> 00:57:45,600
 the fiscal year.

747
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:53,080
 - Anticipating questions from the board, we're trying to prepare a few things.

748
00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:58,680
 The board gave direction to go back, talk to the experts, come back with recommendations

749
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:02,360
 on where we might think fixed routes should stay.

750
00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:05,880
 Not to say that it will, but it gives the board an option.

751
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:10,200
 And then, of course, the next logical question is, well, how much is that going to cost and

752
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:12,040
 for how long?

753
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:14,520
 So we think it's important.

754
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:18,640
 We typically will set a budget for a fiscal year.

755
00:58:18,640 --> 00:58:24,120
 So anticipating the question of what will it take for us to get through March, what

756
00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:28,560
 will it take for us to get through the end of the year, we'll provide some options for

757
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:29,560
 the board.

758
00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:34,760
 That way we don't have to wait yet another board cycle, given the fact that it's currently

759
00:58:34,760 --> 00:58:40,960
 budgeted through December 6, it'll give the board an option to determine how long you

760
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:42,800
 want to run the service.

761
00:58:42,800 --> 00:58:47,120
 We'll likely have an average monthly cost in our heads.

762
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:51,680
 I don't know that we can put it on paper yet, because it just really depends on workforce.

763
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:57,800
 The complexity, as you're probably aware, when the universities go on summer break,

764
00:58:57,800 --> 00:59:01,760
 the demand for operator workforce is significantly less.

765
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:08,360
 So it's just a timing thing to kind of understand what the board wants us to do and what the

766
00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:11,360
 ultimate impact would be on the budget.

767
00:59:11,360 --> 00:59:12,360
 All right.

768
00:59:12,360 --> 00:59:14,320
 Thank you so much.

769
00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:15,320
 You're welcome.

770
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:16,320
 Close that?

771
00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:22,480
 Yeah, I got some comments and questions, too.

772
00:59:22,480 --> 00:59:29,980
 I think I can detect the answer, but I'm not 100% sure I've seen the data.

773
00:59:29,980 --> 00:59:35,800
 It seems to me like what you're seeing is -- we've definitely described incrementality,

774
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:40,080
 right, that it's not drawing on necessarily the same population, but is there something

775
00:59:40,080 --> 00:59:45,120
 that would show total ridership is up with the two services operating?

776
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:50,000
 I mean, you'd have to look year over year, but the years are weird.

777
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:53,160
 We report that every month to the board.

778
00:59:53,160 --> 01:00:04,380
 I think the slides presentation on the slides themselves, let me see if I can minimize this.

779
01:00:04,380 --> 01:00:10,620
 The short answer is, yes, we can provide total ridership, and ridership is up from prior

780
01:00:10,620 --> 01:00:11,620
 year.

781
01:00:11,620 --> 01:00:12,620
 I'm never interested in the answer.

782
01:00:12,620 --> 01:00:15,240
 Not that I need you to prove it to me, but just like is that what you are?

783
01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:18,440
 Yes, we're seeing ridership growing over last year.

784
01:00:18,440 --> 01:00:21,200
 It's not where it was pre-COVID.

785
01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:29,000
 I don't think anybody is where it is pre-COVID, but we're seeing significant increases.

786
01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:39,240
 Across the nation, we saw anywhere from about a 50% to 80% decrease in ridership.

787
01:00:39,240 --> 01:00:49,120
 We were probably closer to 75, 76% on rail in the high 70s, and bus were now somewhere

788
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:56,100
 around 60% of where we were pre-COVID, and continuing to grow every month.

789
01:00:56,100 --> 01:01:04,140
 The beauty of what we have done, whether it's been depending on your personal view, is we've

790
01:01:04,140 --> 01:01:12,320
 done exactly what the rest of the nation hopefully is doing, which is responding to significant

791
01:01:12,320 --> 01:01:19,000
 changes in consumer behavior, travel patterns, a lot more people are working from home.

792
01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:28,320
 The CARES Act, the ARPA money, was provided to the Federal Transit Administration and then

793
01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:33,600
 parsed out to all the transit agencies.

794
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:40,000
 One was to try to bolster and keep the transit agencies providing service, but the other

795
01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:46,520
 portion of that was innovates to respond to the changes that are happening across our

796
01:01:46,520 --> 01:01:47,520
 nation.

797
01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:50,800
 I think we've done that exceptionally well.

798
01:01:50,800 --> 01:01:56,400
 What we need to do now is focus on how do we make what we've done more efficient.

799
01:01:56,400 --> 01:02:00,200
 I think from an effectiveness perspective, we're certainly carrying a lot more riders

800
01:02:00,200 --> 01:02:02,660
 than we were.

801
01:02:02,660 --> 01:02:10,400
 What we're seeing is significant growth over last year, which is great, but it's not efficient.

802
01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:15,000
 Our fixed route isn't efficient, VIA is not efficient, and I think we have a wonderful

803
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:19,840
 opportunity here to redesign our network.

804
01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:26,360
 Can we come back on December 2nd as staff and consultants and design a network that

805
01:02:26,360 --> 01:02:28,600
 we can implement in December?

806
01:02:28,600 --> 01:02:36,440
 Likely not, but what we can do is we can make some significant advancements in it and allow

807
01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:43,120
 some time for the consultants to come back with what our future designed, I won't call

808
01:02:43,120 --> 01:02:49,140
 it perfect, but near perfect scenario would be for our transit system to build a healthy

809
01:02:49,140 --> 01:02:52,680
 multimodal transit system for the future.

810
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:55,840
 That's what likely staff will propose to the board.

811
01:02:55,840 --> 01:03:04,000
 I'll tell you, I for one am just so pleased hearing about just the thought process and

812
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:12,280
 about how you might balance the two to create efficiency that there's a way to improve

813
01:03:12,280 --> 01:03:19,040
 the fixed route so that it may end up costing less and arriving more frequently and it may

814
01:03:19,040 --> 01:03:22,120
 have a better paid driver.

815
01:03:22,120 --> 01:03:26,600
 As a result, as you figure out how do you get the workforce where you need it to be,

816
01:03:26,600 --> 01:03:31,760
 I think that's at least a potential direction.

817
01:03:31,760 --> 01:03:42,640
 I'm very optimistic if the board is going to listen to the data.

818
01:03:42,640 --> 01:03:47,240
 I was very pleased with the direction the board gave at our last board meeting which

819
01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:53,200
 was we as a board do not want to be-- and you were there so please correct me if I'm

820
01:03:53,200 --> 01:03:57,840
 paraphrasing incorrectly, but we don't want to be in the transit planning business.

821
01:03:57,840 --> 01:04:04,240
 We'll leave that to the experts, come back with recommendations the board can look at

822
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:07,880
 as we deliberate and try to move the agency forward.

823
01:04:07,880 --> 01:04:10,440
 So I'm optimistic as well.

824
01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:16,640
 Well, thank you for coming again and sharing all this with us.

825
01:04:16,640 --> 01:04:18,400
 Well, thank you for the opportunity.

826
01:04:18,400 --> 01:04:19,400
 Okay.

827
01:04:19,400 --> 01:04:26,840
 You need a break or are you okay?

828
01:04:26,840 --> 01:04:36,000
 I know I tend not to like check and see if people need breaks because I just get fixated.

829
01:04:36,000 --> 01:04:37,000
 Okay.

830
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:43,080
 Item E, Receive a Report, Hold a Discussion and Approve the Mobility Committee Annual 2022

831
01:04:43,080 --> 01:04:44,080
 Meeting Schedule.

832
01:04:44,080 --> 01:04:52,080
 I saw DCTA twice.

833
01:04:52,080 --> 01:04:56,520
 I'm just-- you know, I have a very simple job to do here.

834
01:04:56,520 --> 01:04:58,620
 There's not that many items on the agenda.

835
01:04:58,620 --> 01:05:00,980
 So I apologize for the misdirection.

836
01:05:00,980 --> 01:05:02,980
 Thank you for correcting me.

837
01:05:02,980 --> 01:05:07,560
 There's a second DCTA related item, Item D, Receive a Report and Hold a Discussion Regarding

838
01:05:07,560 --> 01:05:13,440
 the City of Denton's Proposed Application for Funding under the DCTA Reinvestment Program,

839
01:05:13,440 --> 01:05:16,000
 et cetera.

840
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:17,000
 Good morning.

841
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:18,000
 Good morning.

842
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:20,120
 And you were ready to present the correct thing anyway.

843
01:05:20,120 --> 01:05:22,120
 I knew you would get it right.

844
01:05:22,120 --> 01:05:23,120
 Yeah.

845
01:05:23,120 --> 01:05:24,120
 All right.

846
01:05:24,120 --> 01:05:26,560
 So that needs to be right there.

847
01:05:26,560 --> 01:05:27,560
 I'm Robin Davis.

848
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:32,920
 I'm the project manager with Capital Projects and I'm going to be going over this presentation

849
01:05:32,920 --> 01:05:35,720
 with you this morning.

850
01:05:35,720 --> 01:05:41,720
 So this is to discuss the additional funding that we've now been aware that's available

851
01:05:41,720 --> 01:05:48,000
 for the proposed-- the 2020 year fiscal year trip funds.

852
01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:59,160
 Is that working?

853
01:05:59,160 --> 01:06:02,760
 Thank you.

854
01:06:02,760 --> 01:06:08,440
 So you guys just got through talking about the DCTA program.

855
01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:13,200
 This is for the Denton County Transportation Authority DCTA Trip Funds, which is the transportation

856
01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:23,440
 reinvestment program that provides financial assistance to DCTA member cities for their

857
01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:26,960
 long range-- if it's within their long range goals.

858
01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:29,000
 So I'm not going to go through every bit of that with you.

859
01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:34,440
 You probably all know all of that.

860
01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:39,380
 So in 2020, the sales tax performed much better than expected.

861
01:06:39,380 --> 01:06:44,240
 So it is providing an additional $906,000.

862
01:06:44,240 --> 01:06:45,680
 I think that this skipped a slide.

863
01:06:45,680 --> 01:06:51,960
 Hang on one second.

864
01:06:51,960 --> 01:06:57,840
 Maybe there we go.

865
01:06:57,840 --> 01:06:59,120
 And now it's back on that view.

866
01:06:59,120 --> 01:07:00,120
 Let's see.

867
01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:06,520
 I'm not sure how you got it off of that view in the first place.

868
01:07:06,520 --> 01:07:10,560
 There's one.

869
01:07:10,560 --> 01:07:11,560
 Thanks.

870
01:07:11,560 --> 01:07:12,560
 It's moving right back to the same place.

871
01:07:12,560 --> 01:07:13,560
 Do we have one?

872
01:07:13,560 --> 01:07:14,560
 Yes.

873
01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:15,560
 Don't know.

874
01:07:15,560 --> 01:07:16,560
 I'll delete it.

875
01:07:16,560 --> 01:07:17,560
 There we go.

876
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:24,560
 Thank you.

877
01:07:24,560 --> 01:07:30,720
 So for 2021, we submitted projects for the 2022 available funds.

878
01:07:30,720 --> 01:07:36,000
 And those projects were listed below, the A Train to UNT Bike and Pedestrian Path, which

879
01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:37,000
 is along Sycamore.

880
01:07:37,000 --> 01:07:43,560
 It's a 10-foot side path down Sycamore from the DCTA train station to Welch, the All Way

881
01:07:43,560 --> 01:07:48,720
 Crossing Downtown Pedestrian Improvement Project, which is the diagonal crossings that will

882
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:53,180
 be installed at all four intersections around the courthouse on the square, Jennings and

883
01:07:53,180 --> 01:07:59,280
 Alexander Elementary School's sidewalks, which is part of the Safe Routes to Schools program,

884
01:07:59,280 --> 01:08:02,120
 and Nettie Schultz and Pecan Creek as well.

885
01:08:02,120 --> 01:08:06,280
 And also Bell Sidewalk Construction, which is a sidewalk gap on the east side of Bell

886
01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:11,880
 Street between Hickory and Sycamore, and the Med Park sidewalk construction, which is also

887
01:08:11,880 --> 01:08:15,480
 a gap section over there.

888
01:08:15,480 --> 01:08:23,760
 Those were the projects that were submitted for those funds in 2020.

889
01:08:23,760 --> 01:08:28,280
 So the sales tax for that year performed better than expected.

890
01:08:28,280 --> 01:08:32,680
 And so we've got an additional $906,000 in funding available that we would also like

891
01:08:32,680 --> 01:08:37,420
 to apply to two of those projects that we've already reviewed.

892
01:08:37,420 --> 01:08:42,760
 It will help fully fund the construction of the All Way Crossing Downtown Pedestrian Improvements,

893
01:08:42,760 --> 01:08:47,040
 and it'll help reduce the city's obligation for the A Train to UNT Sycamore Side Path

894
01:08:47,040 --> 01:08:52,160
 Project.

895
01:08:52,160 --> 01:08:58,460
 And this is just an overview, the approved DCTA trip funding for those projects submitted

896
01:08:58,460 --> 01:09:04,800
 is in this column, $2.5 million, and the proposed additional funding of $906,000 and how it

897
01:09:04,800 --> 01:09:10,600
 will be applied.

898
01:09:10,600 --> 01:09:16,540
 So the next steps will be upon council approval on December 7th, the Grant Administration

899
01:09:16,540 --> 01:09:22,480
 team will submit the projects, their applications to DCTA for consideration.

900
01:09:22,480 --> 01:09:26,460
 It'll be placed on their next agenda.

901
01:09:26,460 --> 01:09:31,880
 And then we'll be sure to closely monitor all of our projects and report appropriately

902
01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:34,420
 per the agreement.

903
01:09:34,420 --> 01:09:40,960
 And staff will present for the next proposed fiscal year 2021 grant funds, which we think

904
01:09:40,960 --> 01:09:50,440
 will be around $3 million for the December 15 mobility meeting.

905
01:09:50,440 --> 01:09:51,440
 And that's that.

906
01:09:51,440 --> 01:09:53,440
 Does anyone have any questions?

907
01:09:53,440 --> 01:10:00,420
 Yeah, my apologies for my lack of familiarity with the Sycamore Project.

908
01:10:00,420 --> 01:10:02,520
 Can you repeat again?

909
01:10:02,520 --> 01:10:07,440
 It's going to be a bike and pedestrian side path, you said it was going to be eight feet

910
01:10:07,440 --> 01:10:08,440
 wide?

911
01:10:08,440 --> 01:10:09,440
 Ten feet wide.

912
01:10:09,440 --> 01:10:11,200
 Okay.

913
01:10:11,200 --> 01:10:16,000
 And is there going to be any any separation between bike and pedestrian facilities or

914
01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:18,280
 is it just no on Sycamore?

915
01:10:18,280 --> 01:10:19,280
 It's a shared path.

916
01:10:19,280 --> 01:10:20,280
 Okay.

917
01:10:20,280 --> 01:10:21,280
 Ten foot wide shared path.

918
01:10:21,280 --> 01:10:28,080
 And then down at Welch Street from about the existing bike path on that around Eagle North

919
01:10:28,080 --> 01:10:32,000
 to Hickory will be installing a bike path on Welch.

920
01:10:32,000 --> 01:10:33,000
 Okay.

921
01:10:33,000 --> 01:10:34,000
 All right.

922
01:10:34,000 --> 01:10:35,000
 Thank you so much.

923
01:10:35,000 --> 01:10:43,280
 Um, yeah, fantastic and you know, obviously there may be changes to the projected, you

924
01:10:43,280 --> 01:10:48,860
 know, fiscal year, this fiscal year's trip funding because of the conversation we're

925
01:10:48,860 --> 01:10:51,160
 about to have on December 2nd.

926
01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:53,520
 But yeah, thank you so much.

927
01:10:53,520 --> 01:10:57,120
 This is obviously great use of that trip money.

928
01:10:57,120 --> 01:11:01,680
 Yeah, I agree with that prioritization for what it's worth if anyone gets to talk about

929
01:11:01,680 --> 01:11:02,920
 it again when it comes to council.

930
01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:03,920
 Very good.

931
01:11:03,920 --> 01:11:04,920
 Thank you.

932
01:11:04,920 --> 01:11:10,000
 So, I don't know who who's already teed up to talk to us about meeting schedule.

933
01:11:10,000 --> 01:11:14,080
 Item E. Receive a report of the discussion and approve the mobility committee annual

934
01:11:14,080 --> 01:11:16,120
 2022 meeting schedule.

935
01:11:16,120 --> 01:11:20,440
 Is that you, Becky?

936
01:11:20,440 --> 01:11:22,680
 Thank you, Chair.

937
01:11:22,680 --> 01:11:26,040
 Rachel's going to share from down there.

938
01:11:26,040 --> 01:11:32,080
 Just wanted to take the time to go through with you the proposed schedule.

939
01:11:32,080 --> 01:11:37,960
 As you know, there is a ordinance that talks about specifically the times of which we were

940
01:11:37,960 --> 01:11:43,040
 going to meet and that it's always going to be the third Wednesday of the month at 9 a.m.

941
01:11:43,040 --> 01:11:48,580
 And so my hopes with the meeting today, we've reviewed and looked at the spring break calendar

942
01:11:48,580 --> 01:11:54,040
 for the Denton School District, also looked at some of the holiday timeframes and wanted

943
01:11:54,040 --> 01:12:01,820
 to propose these as the timeframes for the I'm sorry, the dates for the 2022 meetings.

944
01:12:01,820 --> 01:12:04,920
 There is a holiday that is the week of the 17th.

945
01:12:04,920 --> 01:12:08,200
 The Martin Luther King holiday is on January 17th.

946
01:12:08,200 --> 01:12:10,640
 But we just wanted to take that opportunity.

947
01:12:10,640 --> 01:12:15,440
 You'll see a difference on the March meeting as the week of the 14th through the 18th is

948
01:12:15,440 --> 01:12:17,560
 Denton School District spring break.

949
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:21,120
 So we're proposing to go to the 23rd.

950
01:12:21,120 --> 01:12:26,600
 And then the other item that you will see is the week of December or week of December

951
01:12:26,600 --> 01:12:32,000
 12, instead of doing the third Wednesday of that month being that it's so close to Christmas

952
01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:36,520
 time, we were anticipating actually meeting on the 14th.

953
01:12:36,520 --> 01:12:40,520
 I know a couple of those are a little bit closer together than our usual span between

954
01:12:40,520 --> 01:12:41,520
 meetings.

955
01:12:41,520 --> 01:12:45,160
 But wanted to go ahead and try to lock those down and get those on everyone's calendar.

956
01:12:45,160 --> 01:12:48,480
 So happy to have any discussion if there's any questions.

957
01:12:48,480 --> 01:12:52,240
 But that was really the purpose of today is just having you have an opportunity to review

958
01:12:52,240 --> 01:12:53,240
 it.

959
01:12:53,240 --> 01:12:59,960
 Yeah, a quick glance through my 2022 calendar, which isn't very full just yet, I shows that

960
01:12:59,960 --> 01:13:01,720
 these look good.

961
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:02,720
 Wonderful.

962
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:07,640
 Yeah, I think none of these dates work for Councilmember Byrd, but she's not here so

963
01:13:07,640 --> 01:13:12,120
 looks good to me.

964
01:13:12,120 --> 01:13:13,120
 Thank you, Chair.

965
01:13:13,120 --> 01:13:14,120
 All righty.

966
01:13:14,120 --> 01:13:17,200
 Well, with that, do we need to make a motion?

967
01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:18,200
 All righty.

968
01:13:18,200 --> 01:13:20,200
 So I will request a motion please.

969
01:13:20,200 --> 01:13:21,200
 Okay.

970
01:13:21,200 --> 01:13:24,880
 I move approval of these dates.

971
01:13:24,880 --> 01:13:26,720
 I second.

972
01:13:26,720 --> 01:13:28,760
 Any discussion?

973
01:13:28,760 --> 01:13:29,760
 Seeing none.

974
01:13:29,760 --> 01:13:30,760
 All those in favor?

975
01:13:30,760 --> 01:13:31,760
 Aye.

976
01:13:31,760 --> 01:13:32,760
 Aye.

977
01:13:32,760 --> 01:13:33,760
 Wonderful.

978
01:13:33,760 --> 01:13:34,760
 Thank you very much.

979
01:13:34,760 --> 01:13:35,760
 All right, you bet.

980
01:13:35,760 --> 01:13:40,080
 Item F, receive a report and hold a discussion regarding an update on sidewalk projects and

981
01:13:40,080 --> 01:13:57,960
 future priorities of the Department of Capital Projects/Engineering Sidewalk Work Plan.

982
01:13:57,960 --> 01:13:58,960
 All right.

983
01:13:58,960 --> 01:14:02,520
 Thank you, Nathan George, Bicycle Pedestrian and ADA Planner for the City.

984
01:14:02,520 --> 01:14:06,560
 I'm going to talk to you about our sidewalk work plan.

985
01:14:06,560 --> 01:14:12,120
 For the purposes of presentation, I included a link in our AIS for this item that will

986
01:14:12,120 --> 01:14:14,280
 take you to the web page that I have on the screen.

987
01:14:14,280 --> 01:14:17,840
 It is an ESRI story map, so we're going to walk through a lot of information.

988
01:14:17,840 --> 01:14:22,760
 I'm not going to read through this word for word because that's not how I present, but

989
01:14:22,760 --> 01:14:28,280
 the key feature that I want to highlight here is that we have a lot of data, and so this

990
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:31,720
 is a good format for us to share that data in an interactive format.

991
01:14:31,720 --> 01:14:34,520
 I'll walk through that as we get into the presentation.

992
01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:37,040
 The subject is our sidewalk work plan.

993
01:14:37,040 --> 01:14:39,480
 How are we going to get sidewalks built around the city?

994
01:14:39,480 --> 01:14:45,280
 Clearly we've got a lot of need, so why are we talking about a sidewalk work plan?

995
01:14:45,280 --> 01:14:51,840
 Well, clearly, folks like to walk, and they prefer, generally, to walk away from cars,

996
01:14:51,840 --> 01:14:54,320
 and sidewalks are a facility that allows folks to do that.

997
01:14:54,320 --> 01:14:58,440
 It's an enjoyable way to get around, but we can't just go out tomorrow and start building

998
01:14:58,440 --> 01:15:03,220
 sidewalks everywhere in the city, so we do need to outline a plan for where we're going

999
01:15:03,220 --> 01:15:05,800
 to build sidewalks and work through that process.

1000
01:15:05,800 --> 01:15:11,200
 I'll highlight some of the features of how we get there as we go through the presentation,

1001
01:15:11,200 --> 01:15:17,160
 but generally speaking, folks do enjoy walking, and we need to have a plan.

1002
01:15:17,160 --> 01:15:22,560
 We do have a long-range plan that guides overall what our vision is for the city, and that's

1003
01:15:22,560 --> 01:15:23,560
 our mobility plan.

1004
01:15:23,560 --> 01:15:28,320
 It outlines where we're going to accommodate cars, bikes, and pedestrians, all the travel

1005
01:15:28,320 --> 01:15:35,720
 modes, and that's a very great plan for the future, but a plan for sidewalks specifically

1006
01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:40,880
 is how we're going to deliver those projects that are necessary to get sidewalks into our

1007
01:15:40,880 --> 01:15:41,880
 different parts of our community.

1008
01:15:41,880 --> 01:15:44,960
 I just wanted to acknowledge that we do have that plan.

1009
01:15:44,960 --> 01:15:48,920
 It takes plans like this that offer that more fine-grained detail of where we're actually

1010
01:15:48,920 --> 01:15:56,920
 going to build sidewalks, so that's how clearly, as we're looking at our streets, there are

1011
01:15:56,920 --> 01:16:00,600
 needs, and where do we need sidewalks?

1012
01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:06,360
 Generally, as I've spoken with this committee before when I first joined the city, it's

1013
01:16:06,360 --> 01:16:09,760
 generally preferred to have sidewalks on both sides of our urban streets.

1014
01:16:09,760 --> 01:16:12,040
 There are exceptions to that rule.

1015
01:16:12,040 --> 01:16:15,840
 Maybe a lower-volume street, we don't need to have a sidewalk on both sides of the street.

1016
01:16:15,840 --> 01:16:19,080
 At a low enough volume, maybe a sidewalk isn't even needed.

1017
01:16:19,080 --> 01:16:23,760
 At a low enough stress level, not a lot of cars on the street, it's comfortable to walk,

1018
01:16:23,760 --> 01:16:27,360
 but generally speaking, we want sidewalks on both sides of the street, and then there

1019
01:16:27,360 --> 01:16:32,120
 are some character differences, so a street may be more rural, and so maybe instead of

1020
01:16:32,120 --> 01:16:35,480
 a sidewalk, we might prefer a side path or shoulders.

1021
01:16:35,480 --> 01:16:41,160
 There are varying levels of pedestrian accommodation that need to be acknowledged, but generally

1022
01:16:41,160 --> 01:16:45,720
 speaking, as we talk about city streets, we want to have facilities on both sides of the

1023
01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:48,800
 street.

1024
01:16:48,800 --> 01:16:54,640
 Another important acknowledgement is not every street in the city is a city street.

1025
01:16:54,640 --> 01:17:00,120
 We do own the streets that are shown in blue on this map, and I'll click here to take

1026
01:17:00,120 --> 01:17:02,120
 that icon away.

1027
01:17:02,120 --> 01:17:05,480
 The blue streets are city streets, but there are also streets that are owned by the state,

1028
01:17:05,480 --> 01:17:09,640
 Texas or TxDOT, shown in red, and then there are also streets that are owned by Denton

1029
01:17:09,640 --> 01:17:13,640
 County, shown in purple.

1030
01:17:13,640 --> 01:17:17,440
 That's an important acknowledgement that just like we can't go out and start building sidewalks

1031
01:17:17,440 --> 01:17:21,520
 tomorrow everywhere in the city, we also need to work with our partners as we're looking

1032
01:17:21,520 --> 01:17:26,280
 at those streets to make sure that everybody's of a common understanding before we get started

1033
01:17:26,280 --> 01:17:27,640
 on sidewalk projects.

1034
01:17:27,640 --> 01:17:31,640
 I'm going to pause here for a moment just to highlight some of the features, the interactive

1035
01:17:31,640 --> 01:17:33,800
 features of the mapping.

1036
01:17:33,800 --> 01:17:40,040
 First, there is the ability to search in the city using the icon that looks like a magnifying

1037
01:17:40,040 --> 01:17:45,600
 glass so we can look at an address in the city, and it'll zoom you right there.

1038
01:17:45,600 --> 01:17:50,960
 There's also an interactive legend that allows you to turn on or off any specific layers

1039
01:17:50,960 --> 01:17:51,960
 of interest.

1040
01:17:51,960 --> 01:18:00,260
 It's a really handy feature that you can isolate where we have TxDOT or county or city roads.

1041
01:18:00,260 --> 01:18:05,920
 That's a feature that's used in this map, but it will be a bit more beneficial in subsequent

1042
01:18:05,920 --> 01:18:06,920
 maps.

1043
01:18:06,920 --> 01:18:11,560
 I just wanted to highlight some of those features for anybody who wants to interact with that

1044
01:18:11,560 --> 01:18:12,560
 tool.

1045
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:17,160
 All right, so how did the staff develop this sidewalk park plan?

1046
01:18:17,160 --> 01:18:19,040
 This has been an iterative process.

1047
01:18:19,040 --> 01:18:21,200
 It's not something that's just happened overnight.

1048
01:18:21,200 --> 01:18:23,840
 Sidewalks have been in development for years.

1049
01:18:23,840 --> 01:18:30,040
 So initially, a lot of these projects were identified and then screened through a process

1050
01:18:30,040 --> 01:18:33,520
 that we call the Pedestrian Potential Index, or PPI.

1051
01:18:33,520 --> 01:18:38,880
 I'm certain you've probably heard of that before, but just a reminder, Pedestrian Potential

1052
01:18:38,880 --> 01:18:44,600
 Index is a measure of where we'd expect to see high levels of pedestrian activity.

1053
01:18:44,600 --> 01:18:49,720
 We also recently completed an ADA transition plan, which gives us a lot of robust data.

1054
01:18:49,720 --> 01:18:56,640
 This entire platform's built using that ADA transition data, which is really rich data.

1055
01:18:56,640 --> 01:19:01,160
 I'll show you that once we get into the maps.

1056
01:19:01,160 --> 01:19:06,540
 The PPI is a way that we can look at these areas where needs occur and then start looking

1057
01:19:06,540 --> 01:19:12,040
 at where the needs align with where those gaps are.

1058
01:19:12,040 --> 01:19:17,320
 So I'm going to go through these Pedestrian Potential Index indicators, and then we'll

1059
01:19:17,320 --> 01:19:19,920
 dive into the data.

1060
01:19:19,920 --> 01:19:26,960
 All right, so to rank each sidewalk segment, we looked at a variety of factors.

1061
01:19:26,960 --> 01:19:28,440
 Some of these factors have changed over time.

1062
01:19:28,440 --> 01:19:32,920
 I'll give you one highlight towards the end, but to walk you through each one specifically,

1063
01:19:32,920 --> 01:19:34,480
 the first is major streets.

1064
01:19:34,480 --> 01:19:38,920
 So pedestrians tend to travel like drivers in the most direct route.

1065
01:19:38,920 --> 01:19:42,760
 Our public major streets tend to be the most direct and connected routes.

1066
01:19:42,760 --> 01:19:49,820
 So each of the sidewalk needs was given a point if they occurred along a major street.

1067
01:19:49,820 --> 01:19:57,320
 So these are our like Loop 288, McKinney Street, Carrable Boulevard major streets in the city.

1068
01:19:57,320 --> 01:19:58,400
 Schools.

1069
01:19:58,400 --> 01:20:03,640
 So schools and students represent a large percentage of our population who aren't able

1070
01:20:03,640 --> 01:20:05,200
 to drive.

1071
01:20:05,200 --> 01:20:10,520
 So our students are certainly potential users, and as they want to express some independence,

1072
01:20:10,520 --> 01:20:15,400
 walk to school, that sort of thing, they're certainly a user that we want to accommodate

1073
01:20:15,400 --> 01:20:16,480
 safely.

1074
01:20:16,480 --> 01:20:22,680
 So sidewalks around schools, specifically our great public schools, that is definitely

1075
01:20:22,680 --> 01:20:23,680
 a need.

1076
01:20:23,680 --> 01:20:25,520
 So we've given a point to them.

1077
01:20:25,520 --> 01:20:26,520
 Government facilities.

1078
01:20:26,520 --> 01:20:31,000
 So this is a factor in our ADA transition plan, and we want to acknowledge that as we're

1079
01:20:31,000 --> 01:20:36,520
 looking at needs for sidewalks to make sure that those public facilities, our city buildings,

1080
01:20:36,520 --> 01:20:41,240
 the park trails, places like that, public libraries, those are places people will want

1081
01:20:41,240 --> 01:20:42,240
 to go to.

1082
01:20:42,240 --> 01:20:46,280
 They're public assets, so we want to make sure they're well connected.

1083
01:20:46,280 --> 01:20:47,560
 And then there's everything else.

1084
01:20:47,560 --> 01:20:51,880
 The points of interest is how I labeled this, but effectively this is your medical office

1085
01:20:51,880 --> 01:20:55,760
 buildings, your shopping, dining, all the other places that people can go to.

1086
01:20:55,760 --> 01:20:59,800
 We have a really rich data set around that as well.

1087
01:20:59,800 --> 01:21:02,660
 So making sure that we acknowledge as people want to get out of their community and walk

1088
01:21:02,660 --> 01:21:09,360
 to places, these are the places that really attract our pedestrian activity.

1089
01:21:09,360 --> 01:21:13,240
 And then the final data point to highlight is safety.

1090
01:21:13,240 --> 01:21:18,600
 So pedestrian collisions tell us where something isn't working.

1091
01:21:18,600 --> 01:21:23,200
 And so it draws our attention to a need to address safety and make sure that folks can

1092
01:21:23,200 --> 01:21:26,920
 get through walking on city streets safely.

1093
01:21:26,920 --> 01:21:34,020
 So we certainly want to look at those locations specifically to see is there a need to address

1094
01:21:34,020 --> 01:21:37,080
 some disconnect.

1095
01:21:37,080 --> 01:21:43,280
 So the process of developing this work plan initially, like I said, it was very manual

1096
01:21:43,280 --> 01:21:50,440
 of looking at a need and identifying a rank and then pairing all of those identified needs

1097
01:21:50,440 --> 01:21:53,920
 to develop a capital program or the sidewalk work plan.

1098
01:21:53,920 --> 01:21:57,880
 So everything, you add up all the checks, you get a number of the PPI score, and then

1099
01:21:57,880 --> 01:21:59,640
 make sure that you have budget to build.

1100
01:21:59,640 --> 01:22:00,640
 No, we already have a process.

1101
01:22:00,640 --> 01:22:02,560
 You just respond to the squeakiest wheel.

1102
01:22:02,560 --> 01:22:03,560
 I'm kidding.

1103
01:22:03,560 --> 01:22:04,560
 Keep going.

1104
01:22:04,560 --> 01:22:05,560
 Never mind.

1105
01:22:05,560 --> 01:22:09,280
 So that's, you know, that was the process that was used before.

1106
01:22:09,280 --> 01:22:12,960
 We're going to talk through how we're accelerating that by using this rich data that we've got

1107
01:22:12,960 --> 01:22:15,020
 through the ADA transition plan.

1108
01:22:15,020 --> 01:22:16,920
 So I have two maps that I'll walk through next.

1109
01:22:16,920 --> 01:22:20,920
 I wanted to pause for a moment and give you an opportunity if you have any questions,

1110
01:22:20,920 --> 01:22:23,880
 you can go through this methodology part.

1111
01:22:23,880 --> 01:22:27,120
 Initially, if not, I can jump right into the data.

1112
01:22:27,120 --> 01:22:31,120
 All right, let's do it.

1113
01:22:31,120 --> 01:22:32,200
 All right.

1114
01:22:32,200 --> 01:22:38,600
 So first, we're going to look at the current projects in the 2021 to 2024 time frame.

1115
01:22:38,600 --> 01:22:42,000
 So these are projects that are currently ongoing in delivery, right?

1116
01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:44,940
 Some are in construction, some have been completed.

1117
01:22:44,940 --> 01:22:49,320
 And then there are those out years that haven't gone to construction yet, but have been designed

1118
01:22:49,320 --> 01:22:52,520
 or will be designed in the next few years.

1119
01:22:52,520 --> 01:22:56,120
 It's important to acknowledge that the purpose of this presentation is to talk about new

1120
01:22:56,120 --> 01:22:58,360
 sidewalks and not ADA transitions.

1121
01:22:58,360 --> 01:23:05,120
 So if it's an existing sidewalk, that's not specifically discussed in this presentation,

1122
01:23:05,120 --> 01:23:11,640
 but we are completing a parallel process to look at sidewalk needs of our existing but

1123
01:23:11,640 --> 01:23:14,680
 out of date or out of standard facilities.

1124
01:23:14,680 --> 01:23:17,120
 So that's something we're looking at separately.

1125
01:23:17,120 --> 01:23:18,440
 All right.

1126
01:23:18,440 --> 01:23:20,160
 So first, our sidewalk projects.

1127
01:23:20,160 --> 01:23:22,400
 So this is sidewalk projects around the city.

1128
01:23:22,400 --> 01:23:27,800
 Again, like I said, this interactive map is really the feature of it that's really helpful

1129
01:23:27,800 --> 01:23:30,880
 is you can isolate data that you want to look at.

1130
01:23:30,880 --> 01:23:34,880
 In the case of projects, you may not want to see the existing, so turning that off is

1131
01:23:34,880 --> 01:23:36,640
 really helpful.

1132
01:23:36,640 --> 01:23:40,360
 And that allows us to look at where are these sidewalk projects around the city.

1133
01:23:40,360 --> 01:23:45,460
 We can also turn off the trails, but we included trails to show that connectivity with other

1134
01:23:45,460 --> 01:23:48,000
 existing facilities around the city.

1135
01:23:48,000 --> 01:23:52,840
 And then you really get an idea of where are those projects being delivered.

1136
01:23:52,840 --> 01:23:57,000
 It's also these projects, some of them are standalone.

1137
01:23:57,000 --> 01:24:02,000
 Some of the projects are also where we've identified where an existing capital project

1138
01:24:02,000 --> 01:24:04,320
 is delivering new sidewalks.

1139
01:24:04,320 --> 01:24:06,040
 So wanted to highlight that as well.

1140
01:24:06,040 --> 01:24:11,680
 When I talked about the richness of the data, a lot of times when we've delivered, when

1141
01:24:11,680 --> 01:24:15,320
 we talk about projects, we're looking at them as like a center line mile.

1142
01:24:15,320 --> 01:24:20,920
 So here's the center of the street and we're going to build a sidewalk from this street

1143
01:24:20,920 --> 01:24:21,920
 to that street.

1144
01:24:21,920 --> 01:24:26,340
 But you can't really understand kind of which side of the street, where is that sidewalk

1145
01:24:26,340 --> 01:24:27,340
 going to be.

1146
01:24:27,340 --> 01:24:31,000
 And this data is actually, where does the sidewalk start?

1147
01:24:31,000 --> 01:24:32,000
 Where does it end?

1148
01:24:32,000 --> 01:24:35,000
 It was built around all of those existing features.

1149
01:24:35,000 --> 01:24:37,200
 So ramps are included in that data.

1150
01:24:37,200 --> 01:24:42,080
 So now we can really look at does a sidewalk get built on the east side of the road or

1151
01:24:42,080 --> 01:24:44,200
 the west or both.

1152
01:24:44,200 --> 01:24:47,640
 So it's really helpful to have that sort of level of data.

1153
01:24:47,640 --> 01:24:53,240
 So then as we look at cost information on a staff level, we can see which side of the

1154
01:24:53,240 --> 01:24:57,920
 street, how much sidewalk is it, how many ramps, how many driveways, the nitty gritty

1155
01:24:57,920 --> 01:25:00,160
 details that we need to look at for cost.

1156
01:25:00,160 --> 01:25:03,260
 But it's also very beneficial from a public perspective.

1157
01:25:03,260 --> 01:25:09,000
 If we're talking about a project, say the Belle Avenue sidewalk along the east side

1158
01:25:09,000 --> 01:25:13,600
 of the street, it's clear the west side has a sidewalk and the east side is where we're

1159
01:25:13,600 --> 01:25:14,600
 delivering a project.

1160
01:25:14,600 --> 01:25:17,760
 And that's really helpful information if you want to get into the specifics.

1161
01:25:17,760 --> 01:25:20,000
 How did all this data get in there?

1162
01:25:20,000 --> 01:25:21,000
 Sorry?

1163
01:25:21,000 --> 01:25:22,000
 Yeah.

1164
01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:23,760
 How did all this data get in there?

1165
01:25:23,760 --> 01:25:26,360
 It looks like naturally everything is there.

1166
01:25:26,360 --> 01:25:32,000
 It was a lot of hard work done by our consultants who delivered the transition plan.

1167
01:25:32,000 --> 01:25:35,960
 And then I've been playing with the data pretty much ever since I got here.

1168
01:25:35,960 --> 01:25:36,960
 Cool.

1169
01:25:36,960 --> 01:25:39,920
 And yes, it's a rich, lots of data.

1170
01:25:39,920 --> 01:25:52,160
 So hopefully that gives you an idea of where we're currently working.

1171
01:25:52,160 --> 01:25:56,120
 These are where the projects that are currently being delivered over the next handful of years,

1172
01:25:56,120 --> 01:26:00,880
 we have a set-aside capital amount of our bond funds that go into these capital projects.

1173
01:26:00,880 --> 01:26:05,600
 And so this is where those projects are being delivered along with existing capital projects,

1174
01:26:05,600 --> 01:26:11,740
 some of our street widenings that are delivering sidewalks as well.

1175
01:26:11,740 --> 01:26:15,760
 Moving on.

1176
01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:21,400
 So the next step is to identify where we're going to focus our attention in the years,

1177
01:26:21,400 --> 01:26:23,460
 the next set of funded projects.

1178
01:26:23,460 --> 01:26:31,160
 And so the PPI, the purpose is to look at where do we have the greatest potential for

1179
01:26:31,160 --> 01:26:36,760
 pedestrian activity that allows us as staff to look at those areas specifically and try

1180
01:26:36,760 --> 01:26:43,880
 to identify where should we allocate resources to build the next round of sidewalks.

1181
01:26:43,880 --> 01:26:48,440
 Could you remind us, and I'm sure you just said it 10 minutes ago, but what drives the

1182
01:26:48,440 --> 01:26:51,240
 PPI, what data inputs drive it?

1183
01:26:51,240 --> 01:26:52,240
 Yeah.

1184
01:26:52,240 --> 01:26:58,760
 So it's a nearness, a proximity of those different variables like schools and parks

1185
01:26:58,760 --> 01:27:02,160
 and safety, like where crashes occurred.

1186
01:27:02,160 --> 01:27:08,720
 So we take all of this data and layer it with a buffer to each of those elements.

1187
01:27:08,720 --> 01:27:15,440
 So it'd be like, you know, city hall and within set distance to like a quarter mile, typically,

1188
01:27:15,440 --> 01:27:19,460
 and any of these features that are within that quarter mile that would get a point.

1189
01:27:19,460 --> 01:27:26,040
 So it's just a GIS analysis where you say, I want to know everything, every sidewalk

1190
01:27:26,040 --> 01:27:30,000
 that's within the set distance, and then I give it points, accumulate the points, and

1191
01:27:30,000 --> 01:27:31,000
 it gives you the PPI score.

1192
01:27:31,000 --> 01:27:36,000
 So proximity to things on my drive traffic or pedestrian traffic, and then how does the

1193
01:27:36,000 --> 01:27:38,520
 safety piece feed into it?

1194
01:27:38,520 --> 01:27:43,640
 So each one of those variables gets points, gets a ranked point.

1195
01:27:43,640 --> 01:27:54,700
 Actually if I click on one of these lines, I think it would give you each of those scores.

1196
01:27:54,700 --> 01:28:02,360
 So we have mobility major, these are major streets, so this particular street was along

1197
01:28:02,360 --> 01:28:08,160
 a major route, it's an existing sidewalk gap, it was within a quarter mile of a government

1198
01:28:08,160 --> 01:28:15,160
 facility, there are points of interest, and there was a crash that occurred within a tenth

1199
01:28:15,160 --> 01:28:16,160
 of a mile.

1200
01:28:16,160 --> 01:28:21,040
 And so the accumulation of all of those drives up to the PPI score of five for the segment

1201
01:28:21,040 --> 01:28:22,040
 that I just identified.

1202
01:28:22,040 --> 01:28:23,040
 Really cool.

1203
01:28:23,040 --> 01:28:27,640
 So it's sort of this layering of a lot of data and a lot of calculation, and then the

1204
01:28:27,640 --> 01:28:34,600
 results yielded are these PPI scores, which the data, these are just numbers.

1205
01:28:34,600 --> 01:28:38,120
 We could certainly play with the methodology, we could apply weighting, but...

1206
01:28:38,120 --> 01:28:42,560
 I just want to understand what you're doing, that's great.

1207
01:28:42,560 --> 01:28:47,600
 Looking at the results, I've been pretty happy to see, you know, one of the things that I'm

1208
01:28:47,600 --> 01:28:53,000
 looking for as I look at this data is to make sure that it's not inequitably applying a

1209
01:28:53,000 --> 01:28:57,980
 lot of priority to downtown or to a place that, you know, we don't want to see the data

1210
01:28:57,980 --> 01:29:05,360
 driving us just to one spot, and there's certainly a range of areas that we see are higher priorities,

1211
01:29:05,360 --> 01:29:09,680
 some along our major streets, some in areas where we have a combination of, like, parks

1212
01:29:09,680 --> 01:29:14,680
 and schools, so that gives us a little more priority of our neighborhood areas that we

1213
01:29:14,680 --> 01:29:21,040
 might want to prioritize for sidewalks, and really the goal is that it tells us where

1214
01:29:21,040 --> 01:29:28,320
 to focus our most direct attention, these higher PPI scores, but then, so I'll move

1215
01:29:28,320 --> 01:29:34,080
 into the rest of the presentation and then we can jump back to this map if it would help

1216
01:29:34,080 --> 01:29:35,080
 for discussion.

1217
01:29:35,080 --> 01:29:39,760
 You know, what's next, what do we do with all this data?

1218
01:29:39,760 --> 01:29:46,440
 So the data tells a story, but we still have to apply some critical thinking to determine

1219
01:29:46,440 --> 01:29:51,000
 where to build the next set of sidewalks, the first part of that is just identifying

1220
01:29:51,000 --> 01:29:52,280
 or the project selection.

1221
01:29:52,280 --> 01:29:57,960
 So typically you run this level of analysis, look at the highest scoring, and then start

1222
01:29:57,960 --> 01:30:05,320
 to apply some other factors to identify where do we want to focus on the next set of sidewalks.

1223
01:30:05,320 --> 01:30:10,280
 Once we've identified a few sidewalks that we think are probably our next priorities,

1224
01:30:10,280 --> 01:30:16,120
 we still have to go through a degree of feasibility evaluations that's looking at, do we have

1225
01:30:16,120 --> 01:30:21,680
 right of way, are we going to run into significant obstacles, things like major utilities that

1226
01:30:21,680 --> 01:30:29,120
 would require relocation, would it be necessary to build a wall, things that are very costly

1227
01:30:29,120 --> 01:30:30,120
 improvements.

1228
01:30:30,120 --> 01:30:35,680
 It's not to say that we won't still work in an area that has a lot of those challenges,

1229
01:30:35,680 --> 01:30:41,000
 but it's, you know, we iterate a lot as we work through developing programs like this,

1230
01:30:41,000 --> 01:30:45,760
 so you may identify a significant challenge and find a way to work around that challenge

1231
01:30:45,760 --> 01:30:49,880
 by, you know, this image example comes from Carroll Boulevard.

1232
01:30:49,880 --> 01:30:53,400
 We may be able to work on a parallel street if we're in a gridded network of streets

1233
01:30:53,400 --> 01:30:59,440
 and accommodate that travel, you know, very short distance, a block away, so, you know,

1234
01:30:59,440 --> 01:31:04,400
 looking at feasibility and balancing priorities and making sure that we're achieving that

1235
01:31:04,400 --> 01:31:08,040
 connectivity objective.

1236
01:31:08,040 --> 01:31:12,320
 Once we've identified segments that are feasible, we still need to go through a design process

1237
01:31:12,320 --> 01:31:16,580
 because, again, we can't just go out with shovels and dump trucks and start building

1238
01:31:16,580 --> 01:31:21,880
 things, so we still need to go through a design process, make sure that everything is balanced

1239
01:31:21,880 --> 01:31:29,080
 from a budget perspective, so we're looking at projects and making sure that we're identifying

1240
01:31:29,080 --> 01:31:36,640
 priorities and building out a program that fits within a set budget.

1241
01:31:36,640 --> 01:31:42,320
 And just to give you guys an idea of what all of this means, we're a little cut off

1242
01:31:42,320 --> 01:31:43,320
 here.

1243
01:31:43,320 --> 01:31:46,880
 Let's see if I can isolate that, there we go.

1244
01:31:46,880 --> 01:31:49,840
 So the summary, what's the overall need?

1245
01:31:49,840 --> 01:31:57,880
 So across the city we have almost 450 miles of sidewalk needs, this is just city, it doesn't

1246
01:31:57,880 --> 01:32:04,400
 include the tech stop or county roadways, but if you break that down into the PPI scores,

1247
01:32:04,400 --> 01:32:11,280
 you see that the areas that have a really high potential pedestrian activity level are

1248
01:32:11,280 --> 01:32:17,480
 small numbers, about a half mile on our highest ranked sidewalks based on this evaluation,

1249
01:32:17,480 --> 01:32:22,160
 then five miles and it continues to grow as we reduce the priority.

1250
01:32:22,160 --> 01:32:26,640
 So that is the ultimate goal of an evaluation like this is to have small numbers at the

1251
01:32:26,640 --> 01:32:29,800
 top so we can focus our attention in those areas.

1252
01:32:29,800 --> 01:32:36,120
 We certainly would pick up any lower ranked sidewalks that may provide a mobility benefit,

1253
01:32:36,120 --> 01:32:42,320
 connecting a network so we don't leave gaps, that sort of thing, but the outcome of this

1254
01:32:42,320 --> 01:32:48,800
 process was really that we can focus in these higher ranked areas and look for the sidewalk

1255
01:32:48,800 --> 01:32:52,760
 segments that we can really achieve those desired outcomes.

1256
01:32:52,760 --> 01:32:58,920
 So that to me says we've got some good results from this analysis, it's not to say we'll

1257
01:32:58,920 --> 01:33:07,860
 just go build the sixes and fives tomorrow, but that's where we're gonna look at first.

1258
01:33:07,860 --> 01:33:18,880
 And then to wrap it all up, this is information that was put out on Discuss Denton to share

1259
01:33:18,880 --> 01:33:24,880
 with the public where we're working on sidewalk projects, so the goal of this presentation

1260
01:33:24,880 --> 01:33:29,180
 or these materials is to continue to drive that conversation.

1261
01:33:29,180 --> 01:33:33,280
 Folks can see where those sidewalk projects are and now we have a map that shows exactly

1262
01:33:33,280 --> 01:33:37,400
 where they are, which side of the street, where they start and end, but also kind of

1263
01:33:37,400 --> 01:33:44,000
 where are the priorities, what's scoring the best, and so continuing to drive everyone

1264
01:33:44,000 --> 01:33:51,600
 to Discuss Denton to continue this dialogue because we talk a lot about living documents,

1265
01:33:51,600 --> 01:33:57,080
 this is living data, we're gonna use this data in an ongoing process to identify projects

1266
01:33:57,080 --> 01:34:02,160
 and deliver the next round of sidewalk improvements around the city, and then we'll have also

1267
01:34:02,160 --> 01:34:07,240
 a conversation around budget and how we're gonna accelerate getting more sidewalks built

1268
01:34:07,240 --> 01:34:08,840
 throughout the city.

1269
01:34:08,840 --> 01:34:13,520
 That concludes the presentation, I'll be happy to answer questions or dive into any of this

1270
01:34:13,520 --> 01:34:16,360
 material as you see fit.

1271
01:34:16,360 --> 01:34:26,840
 - Yeah, so first of all, thank you so much for this, this is, what a fantastic visualization

1272
01:34:26,840 --> 01:34:33,920
 of how these priorities are working out and I think it's very clear, should be very clear

1273
01:34:33,920 --> 01:34:41,800
 to the community now that this isn't happening in a haphazard way, that there's a lot of

1274
01:34:41,800 --> 01:34:48,880
 thought going into how the city is prioritizing these sidewalk projects.

1275
01:34:48,880 --> 01:34:53,680
 I'm sure that there are, if there's anybody out there listening, I know this isn't like

1276
01:34:53,680 --> 01:34:58,880
 a council meeting, so I don't know how many folks might be out there listening, but folks

1277
01:34:58,880 --> 01:35:03,940
 out there listening might be wondering and I'm certainly thinking, it would be great

1278
01:35:03,940 --> 01:35:10,120
 to see, if we could see an expansion of these projects coming up the next few years or an

1279
01:35:10,120 --> 01:35:18,400
 acceleration of the timeline and you bring up very important points about how capital

1280
01:35:18,400 --> 01:35:24,360
 projects are inherently slow moving because there are so many steps that have to be worked

1281
01:35:24,360 --> 01:35:27,760
 through in order to make them happen.

1282
01:35:27,760 --> 01:35:32,440
 And of course, funding capital projects are inherently expensive.

1283
01:35:32,440 --> 01:35:38,200
 The city has to purchase right of way in order to get the right to build sidewalks in certain

1284
01:35:38,200 --> 01:35:43,560
 areas and then the design and the construction requires a great deal of funding.

1285
01:35:43,560 --> 01:35:48,760
 I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to the sources of funding that are typically

1286
01:35:48,760 --> 01:35:50,880
 drawn upon for sidewalk projects.

1287
01:35:50,880 --> 01:35:55,760
 Are they different from the sources of funding for other capital projects?

1288
01:35:55,760 --> 01:36:02,260
 Can you kind of give a thousand foot view of funding for these projects?

1289
01:36:02,260 --> 01:36:05,040
 I may defer to our leadership.

1290
01:36:05,040 --> 01:36:09,800
 I can tell you that we do have a set aside amount of funds for the sidewalk projects

1291
01:36:09,800 --> 01:36:16,960
 that I highlighted in that map, which I believe is $2 million out of a bond fund.

1292
01:36:16,960 --> 01:36:19,520
 And anything beyond that, I'll let Rachel speak up.

1293
01:36:19,520 --> 01:36:20,520
 Sure.

1294
01:36:20,520 --> 01:36:22,820
 So we actually have several sources that fund sidewalks.

1295
01:36:22,820 --> 01:36:26,520
 Of course, anytime we have a major roadway reconstruction project, sidewalks are going

1296
01:36:26,520 --> 01:36:29,680
 to be a component of that roadway CIP.

1297
01:36:29,680 --> 01:36:35,700
 We also had $12 million included in the 2019 bond program, specifically for sidewalks.

1298
01:36:35,700 --> 01:36:39,280
 And in addition to that, we're augmenting it with other sources, including what Robin

1299
01:36:39,280 --> 01:36:44,840
 just presented on the TRIP program and then other Safe Routes to School cog-funded projects.

1300
01:36:44,840 --> 01:36:48,640
 So we do have several different sources, but if it's tied to a roadway project, we use

1301
01:36:48,640 --> 01:36:53,400
 the project budget and the source for those funds to include the sidewalk as well.

1302
01:36:53,400 --> 01:36:54,400
 All right.

1303
01:36:54,400 --> 01:36:55,400
 Thank you so much.

1304
01:36:55,400 --> 01:37:01,080
 And for the public listening, that's franchise fees, impact fees are the primary funding

1305
01:37:01,080 --> 01:37:14,560
 sources for roadway capital improvement projects, right?

1306
01:37:14,560 --> 01:37:18,720
 There are some impact fees that are used for roadway projects, but the majority of the

1307
01:37:18,720 --> 01:37:22,880
 projects that we're delivering right now are through capital programs.

1308
01:37:22,880 --> 01:37:26,720
 And a lot of the projects that we have currently are through the bond actual programs, so the

1309
01:37:26,720 --> 01:37:30,720
 2012, 2014, and 2019 bond program.

1310
01:37:30,720 --> 01:37:32,680
 Thank you.

1311
01:37:32,680 --> 01:37:40,080
 So if I may offer a suggestion, and I concur with the impressive amount of Iowa option

1312
01:37:40,080 --> 01:37:41,080
 in this.

1313
01:37:41,080 --> 01:37:46,600
 It's very slick and I think makes it very accessible.

1314
01:37:46,600 --> 01:37:52,720
 On the map, and I appreciate the fact very much that it's analytically driven.

1315
01:37:52,720 --> 01:37:57,480
 And with the kind of objective criteria, I've made a little joke before about, "No, we just

1316
01:37:57,480 --> 01:38:03,040
 respond to the squeakiest wheel," and that used to actually be the method.

1317
01:38:03,040 --> 01:38:09,880
 So it's much fairer to kind of apply arm's length standards.

1318
01:38:09,880 --> 01:38:20,920
 I do, however, notice that Southeast Denton, which unfortunately has a history within the

1319
01:38:20,920 --> 01:38:27,480
 lifetime of people living in the city, of some pretty heinous neglect on the capital

1320
01:38:27,480 --> 01:38:29,640
 investment front.

1321
01:38:29,640 --> 01:38:34,840
 And I would just say, it's unfortunate that Councilmember Burt couldn't be here today,

1322
01:38:34,840 --> 01:38:38,680
 but it would be worth taking the extra step to sit with her, just see if there's anything

1323
01:38:38,680 --> 01:38:45,680
 that was overlooked that might be a driver of priority, because it kind of stands out

1324
01:38:45,680 --> 01:38:49,360
 as being like all yellow, all low priority.

1325
01:38:49,360 --> 01:38:56,440
 And there might be factors that maybe, you know, you might need a kind of closer understanding

1326
01:38:56,440 --> 01:39:02,560
 of what drives activity at the neighborhood level.

1327
01:39:02,560 --> 01:39:04,640
 So I think it's just worth the extra step to check in.

1328
01:39:04,640 --> 01:39:11,600
 Yeah, to offer a few thoughts on that, I mentioned that when I was going through those priority

1329
01:39:11,600 --> 01:39:17,680
 indicators that one data point that was left out is transit, which is, you know, clearly

1330
01:39:17,680 --> 01:39:22,800
 we want to be prioritizing accessibility around our fixed route transit.

1331
01:39:22,800 --> 01:39:27,520
 We've already heard there are a lot of questions around what that's going to look like in the

1332
01:39:27,520 --> 01:39:28,520
 future.

1333
01:39:28,520 --> 01:39:32,680
 So that's a layer of evaluation that's not in this current analysis.

1334
01:39:32,680 --> 01:39:41,200
 And we want to revisit that once we understand what transit looks like after DCTA's stamped

1335
01:39:41,200 --> 01:39:42,200
 that out.

1336
01:39:42,200 --> 01:39:45,920
 You know, you've identified sort of points of interest in government buildings as drivers,

1337
01:39:45,920 --> 01:39:52,320
 and they may be under they may, in fact, be under invested in that neighborhood, you know,

1338
01:39:52,320 --> 01:39:55,240
 in points of interest in government things, but other things might drive traffic.

1339
01:39:55,240 --> 01:39:58,660
 I don't know that there are any that there are any factors like that.

1340
01:39:58,660 --> 01:39:59,660
 Just more of the extra step.

1341
01:39:59,660 --> 01:40:00,660
 That's all I'd say.

1342
01:40:00,660 --> 01:40:04,200
 But and I take your point on, you know, that that being one, but even what's the point

1343
01:40:04,200 --> 01:40:09,000
 of interest, you know, I just don't know.

1344
01:40:09,000 --> 01:40:12,640
 You know, I would just add to that, you know, obviously, there's a lot that's up in the

1345
01:40:12,640 --> 01:40:17,520
 air with the fixed bus routes, but the downtown transit center isn't going anywhere, right?

1346
01:40:17,520 --> 01:40:22,280
 So that's I mean, that should absolutely be is that considered a point of interest or

1347
01:40:22,280 --> 01:40:24,840
 public facility under your current framework?

1348
01:40:24,840 --> 01:40:25,840
 It is.

1349
01:40:25,840 --> 01:40:26,840
 Yeah.

1350
01:40:26,840 --> 01:40:31,120
 The points of interest is probably 4000 or more points of data.

1351
01:40:31,120 --> 01:40:35,240
 So it's, you know, it's a broad category, if you look at a heat map, it sort of follows

1352
01:40:35,240 --> 01:40:42,120
 the major roads and you can it's sort of logical, it gets drilled down to home based residences.

1353
01:40:42,120 --> 01:40:47,200
 So it's such a rich data set that we actually can start to peel out what's the most important

1354
01:40:47,200 --> 01:40:50,520
 and maybe give a little higher weighting to some of those.

1355
01:40:50,520 --> 01:40:54,880
 Another layer that would be nice to look at as the data becomes available is the next

1356
01:40:54,880 --> 01:40:59,400
 round of census data, because that will give us the opportunity to look at maybe some measures

1357
01:40:59,400 --> 01:41:01,480
 of equity.

1358
01:41:01,480 --> 01:41:06,520
 So as that data comes out through the Census Bureau, that'll be another layer that we can

1359
01:41:06,520 --> 01:41:08,920
 look at or another lens that we can apply.

1360
01:41:08,920 --> 01:41:13,160
 And then there are some other ways we might look at, you know, Safe Routes to School is

1361
01:41:13,160 --> 01:41:19,320
 certainly a tool that Rachel touched on that we could look at specifically based on that

1362
01:41:19,320 --> 01:41:20,320
 funding source.

1363
01:41:20,320 --> 01:41:24,880
 So we'll look at those at funding and pair that with need so we can identify projects

1364
01:41:24,880 --> 01:41:27,440
 based on the funding source.

1365
01:41:27,440 --> 01:41:30,800
 Churches come to mind as possibly drivers of pedestrian traffic?

1366
01:41:30,800 --> 01:41:35,880
 That was that was in the presentation as a point of interest.

1367
01:41:35,880 --> 01:41:40,720
 Yeah, churches, daycare centers, there's a lot of data in that part of the data set.

1368
01:41:40,720 --> 01:41:46,880
 And I just want to, I guess, add my support to Council Member Mayor Pro Tem Meltzer's.

1369
01:41:46,880 --> 01:41:49,280
 Nobody is ever going to just call you Mayor Pro Tem on the first.

1370
01:41:49,280 --> 01:41:54,800
 Yeah, no, that's actually the title, Council Member Mayor Pro Tem.

1371
01:41:54,800 --> 01:42:00,120
 I just want to add support to Mayor Pro Tem's point about, you know, looking at equity and

1372
01:42:00,120 --> 01:42:05,840
 taking into account those communities, particularly Southeast Denton that have historically been

1373
01:42:05,840 --> 01:42:10,280
 under-resourced and neglected when it came to capital projects.

1374
01:42:10,280 --> 01:42:14,960
 Yeah, one anecdote I can share because we are, like I said, looking at the ADA transition

1375
01:42:14,960 --> 01:42:23,120
 priorities is that we had a sidewalk, part of our Southeast Denton neighborhood rebuilding,

1376
01:42:23,120 --> 01:42:26,920
 and we had a segment of sidewalk that was really poor condition that's being delivered

1377
01:42:26,920 --> 01:42:31,580
 as part of that capital project is to repair or replace that sidewalk and break up standards.

1378
01:42:31,580 --> 01:42:37,680
 So there's a good alignment of this data that's not just with our new sidewalks, but it's

1379
01:42:37,680 --> 01:42:42,400
 even catching some of those existing sidewalks that are in desperate need of repair, so I'm

1380
01:42:42,400 --> 01:42:47,120
 seeing really good alignment with the data and really excited to start using that as

1381
01:42:47,120 --> 01:42:53,280
 we work into our capital projects throughout the city, these sidewalk needs.

1382
01:42:53,280 --> 01:42:58,320
 So that's been an exciting development, even as recently as two weeks ago.

1383
01:42:58,320 --> 01:43:01,960
 Is this your first presentation before Ability Committee?

1384
01:43:01,960 --> 01:43:02,960
 I think it is.

1385
01:43:02,960 --> 01:43:03,960
 I mean, other than being introduced?

1386
01:43:03,960 --> 01:43:06,920
 A very brief presentation before this first full presentation.

1387
01:43:06,920 --> 01:43:07,920
 Yeah, okay.

1388
01:43:07,920 --> 01:43:11,440
 Well, congratulations on your first full presentation.

1389
01:43:11,440 --> 01:43:16,080
 I just wanted to mention that we're very pleased with the effort that Nathan and Robin Davis

1390
01:43:16,080 --> 01:43:19,160
 has also put a lot of effort into putting this together.

1391
01:43:19,160 --> 01:43:22,920
 I really enjoyed the way that Nathan is presenting this information.

1392
01:43:22,920 --> 01:43:27,680
 He'll also be presenting this same presentation to the Committee on Persons with Disability

1393
01:43:27,680 --> 01:43:29,240
 tomorrow.

1394
01:43:29,240 --> 01:43:34,960
 And then I wanted to mention that on January 4th, and we will be having a work session

1395
01:43:34,960 --> 01:43:40,400
 on the sidewalk work plan, the ADA transition plan, and the park trails plan.

1396
01:43:40,400 --> 01:43:43,640
 So it'll be an overall conversation.

1397
01:43:43,640 --> 01:43:49,320
 Wanted to bring up the 2019 bond program, as specifically you have spoken about the Southeast

1398
01:43:49,320 --> 01:43:51,120
 Indian neighborhood.

1399
01:43:51,120 --> 01:43:53,760
 Nathan has been a part of the design review team.

1400
01:43:53,760 --> 01:43:59,320
 As you know, Seth Garcia is leading that bond program, and Nathan has been involved in a

1401
01:43:59,320 --> 01:44:01,040
 lot of the conversations and questions.

1402
01:44:01,040 --> 01:44:02,400
 He just mentioned that.

1403
01:44:02,400 --> 01:44:06,880
 I also want to note for the bond programs, I just want to remind you that the bond programs

1404
01:44:06,880 --> 01:44:10,020
 actually are specifically related to street programs.

1405
01:44:10,020 --> 01:44:15,960
 So the funding that will be added to do sidewalks comes from those $2 million that are, you

1406
01:44:15,960 --> 01:44:20,080
 know, they're separate funding buckets, so that comes from that $2 million per year.

1407
01:44:20,080 --> 01:44:23,720
 And the first two years of that are allocated, as Nathan mentioned, on the program.

1408
01:44:23,720 --> 01:44:25,960
 He's currently working through.

1409
01:44:25,960 --> 01:44:28,360
 And the project, Robin's actually delivering those projects.

1410
01:44:28,360 --> 01:44:33,160
 So just wanted to bring to your attention that, you know, we're hoping and trying our

1411
01:44:33,160 --> 01:44:38,040
 best to make projects from a holistic approach, especially with starting with that Southeast

1412
01:44:38,040 --> 01:44:39,040
 Indian neighborhood.

1413
01:44:39,040 --> 01:44:44,160
 It's been very exciting to look at sidewalks and water sewer, street lighting.

1414
01:44:44,160 --> 01:44:48,000
 You know, there's a lot of things that go into evaluating all of those project sidewalks,

1415
01:44:48,000 --> 01:44:49,480
 definitely one.

1416
01:44:49,480 --> 01:44:53,480
 But there is a limited amount of funding in that overall program, and that's the reason

1417
01:44:53,480 --> 01:44:57,760
 why Nathan wanted to show you at the end, you know, the amount of actual sidewalk that

1418
01:44:57,760 --> 01:45:03,280
 actually needs to be installed throughout the city, and that the amount currently allocated

1419
01:45:03,280 --> 01:45:06,960
 is just $2 million per year, so that total of $12 million.

1420
01:45:06,960 --> 01:45:11,440
 So we're going to do our best in every angle we can to fill in those gaps on some of those

1421
01:45:11,440 --> 01:45:18,200
 high traffic areas, use the data that Nathan's put together with the PPI scores and the research

1422
01:45:18,200 --> 01:45:22,480
 that they're actually doing on the ground out in the field to make sure that we're providing

1423
01:45:22,480 --> 01:45:24,960
 the best connectivity we can with the funds available.

1424
01:45:24,960 --> 01:45:25,960
 Great.

1425
01:45:25,960 --> 01:45:29,720
 You know, this is not going to make you any friends on staff.

1426
01:45:29,720 --> 01:45:36,640
 We're all used to doing normal PowerPoints, and now, oh, great, new guy does this really

1427
01:45:36,640 --> 01:45:38,280
 slick colorful thing.

1428
01:45:38,280 --> 01:45:44,960
 Well, and to the point about limited funding, again, for any, you know, citizens who might

1429
01:45:44,960 --> 01:45:50,840
 be out there listening, it's, of course, the job of council to come up with funding.

1430
01:45:50,840 --> 01:45:56,960
 And if we want to see these projects expanded or accelerated, then it's going to be incumbent

1431
01:45:56,960 --> 01:46:01,480
 upon council to come up with that funding.

1432
01:46:01,480 --> 01:46:04,320
 Point taken.

1433
01:46:04,320 --> 01:46:10,880
 I would also add to that point, and certainly want to commend Becky and Rachel and Nathan

1434
01:46:10,880 --> 01:46:15,680
 and everyone on the efforts for this plan, and specifically on the conversations for

1435
01:46:15,680 --> 01:46:18,560
 Southeast Denton and the work that's gone into that.

1436
01:46:18,560 --> 01:46:23,840
 This year, as we go into the budget, we're going to place a priority on the capital side,

1437
01:46:23,840 --> 01:46:28,440
 bring a more formalized capital plan to you for consideration earlier in the budget process

1438
01:46:28,440 --> 01:46:32,280
 so we can have a robust conversation, not just what are we doing next year, what are

1439
01:46:32,280 --> 01:46:36,680
 we doing in the next five years and beyond, and some of that will lend into some of the

1440
01:46:36,680 --> 01:46:39,920
 conversations later as we even think about what does a future bond program look like.

1441
01:46:39,920 --> 01:46:44,000
 So we're really trying to take that long-term view and place a different emphasis on our

1442
01:46:44,000 --> 01:46:46,320
 capital program this year in the budget process.

1443
01:46:46,320 --> 01:46:49,640
 Looking forward to that.

1444
01:46:49,640 --> 01:46:50,640
 Thank you so much.

1445
01:46:50,640 --> 01:46:53,640
 Thanks for your time.

1446
01:46:53,640 --> 01:46:56,720
 All right.

1447
01:46:56,720 --> 01:47:01,000
 So we're up to item G. Did I miss anything?

1448
01:47:01,000 --> 01:47:05,560
 We're up to item G. Okay, staff report.

1449
01:47:05,560 --> 01:47:06,560
 Go ahead.

1450
01:47:06,560 --> 01:47:12,840
 And council member Byrd specifically wanted me to make sure we hear about both more permanent

1451
01:47:12,840 --> 01:47:19,800
 measures as well as, you know, swift measures to address speeding concerns on Curley and

1452
01:47:19,800 --> 01:47:20,800
 Moores.

1453
01:47:20,800 --> 01:47:21,800
 Sure.

1454
01:47:21,800 --> 01:47:22,800
 Thank you very much.

1455
01:47:22,800 --> 01:47:23,800
 Becky Devaney.

1456
01:47:23,800 --> 01:47:28,400
 I just wanted to take the time to go through several of the items that have come up from

1457
01:47:28,400 --> 01:47:33,800
 between the last meeting and this meeting, in the October meeting.

1458
01:47:33,800 --> 01:47:39,480
 So the first question you just mentioned, Mayor Pro Tem, Chair, about the more permanent

1459
01:47:39,480 --> 01:47:42,560
 measures to address speeding concerns on the Curley and Moores street.

1460
01:47:42,560 --> 01:47:47,560
 I will mention that many staff were in attendance last Thursday night at a meeting with the

1461
01:47:47,560 --> 01:47:51,400
 Suddenon neighborhood and council member Byrd where several additional questions have been

1462
01:47:51,400 --> 01:47:53,040
 asked.

1463
01:47:53,040 --> 01:47:57,800
 Staff is currently evaluating, and I apologize, there's a mistake.

1464
01:47:57,800 --> 01:47:58,960
 It's not Malone Street.

1465
01:47:58,960 --> 01:48:04,600
 It's actually Moore Street that's written in that paragraph for a potential roadway diet.

1466
01:48:04,600 --> 01:48:08,380
 So that's one of the things that staff is currently evaluating is the possibility of

1467
01:48:08,380 --> 01:48:14,780
 actually narrowing Moore Street and providing for additional parking, bike lanes, and actually

1468
01:48:14,780 --> 01:48:22,320
 using street marking to provide that one-way traffic in each direction, along with looking

1469
01:48:22,320 --> 01:48:26,620
 and evaluating for additional speed limit signs and some of those driver feedback or

1470
01:48:26,620 --> 01:48:29,480
 notification signs in that area.

1471
01:48:29,480 --> 01:48:33,040
 Other traffic calming measures that are being looked at specifically, I know this states

1472
01:48:33,040 --> 01:48:37,920
 that we currently have no plans to modify the configuration of Curley Street.

1473
01:48:37,920 --> 01:48:38,920
 That is correct.

1474
01:48:38,920 --> 01:48:43,920
 But I will mention that, and I apologize, my voice has been coming in and out since

1475
01:48:43,920 --> 01:48:52,200
 last week, we don't have current plans to modify the configuration, but there are several

1476
01:48:52,200 --> 01:48:54,040
 folks in the room today.

1477
01:48:54,040 --> 01:48:58,280
 We have folks from our fire department, also from our traffic operations department, and

1478
01:48:58,280 --> 01:49:03,640
 then also engineering that will mention to you that we are looking at one of the major

1479
01:49:03,640 --> 01:49:10,120
 themes that came from the southeastern meeting as we've evaluating our traffic calming devices.

1480
01:49:10,120 --> 01:49:15,080
 And there are definitely some concerns with building actual speed bumps as they're damaging

1481
01:49:15,080 --> 01:49:16,080
 the fire trucks.

1482
01:49:16,080 --> 01:49:19,920
 And so we're looking at traffic cushions and several other measures in some of these

1483
01:49:19,920 --> 01:49:22,720
 areas where we've conducted a speed study.

1484
01:49:22,720 --> 01:49:27,380
 It does appear that there are enforcement-related issues that need to be considered, but then

1485
01:49:27,380 --> 01:49:31,540
 also that we can look at some alternative measures such as those traffic calming.

1486
01:49:31,540 --> 01:49:34,120
 So we're taking all of those things into consideration.

1487
01:49:34,120 --> 01:49:38,560
 Unfortunately, we published this document prior to having that opportunity to make some

1488
01:49:38,560 --> 01:49:43,840
 additional comments, but did want to bring up the fact that we are hearing the community,

1489
01:49:43,840 --> 01:49:48,080
 we understand their concerns, and we are evaluating Morris and Curley to a little bit greater

1490
01:49:48,080 --> 01:49:53,600
 degree based on some of the additional feedback we received last Thursday.

1491
01:49:53,600 --> 01:49:57,920
 The next item was talking about the next proposed bond package to council.

1492
01:49:57,920 --> 01:50:02,160
 I think David really kind of just touched on this item, but we're currently working

1493
01:50:02,160 --> 01:50:06,760
 through and assessing potential projects for a future bond program.

1494
01:50:06,760 --> 01:50:11,540
 That election would be something that would happen in fiscal year '22, '23 during that

1495
01:50:11,540 --> 01:50:14,760
 budget process like David just mentioned.

1496
01:50:14,760 --> 01:50:18,200
 The CIP budget planning process, we've already had one meeting.

1497
01:50:18,200 --> 01:50:22,680
 We have another meeting, I believe it's next week, to start that kickoff of the CIP.

1498
01:50:22,680 --> 01:50:26,920
 And then officially we'll begin through our finance capital administration team in the

1499
01:50:26,920 --> 01:50:31,120
 December time frame under the direction of Cassie Ogden.

1500
01:50:31,120 --> 01:50:34,800
 And that will be presented to council during that budget process, but wanted to let you

1501
01:50:34,800 --> 01:50:40,960
 know that we're going ahead and beginning some of those next phases and next steps.

1502
01:50:40,960 --> 01:50:46,160
 The next item I will mention is the, this was one that council member Bird brought up,

1503
01:50:46,160 --> 01:50:49,200
 the curbing signage and tree concerns at Janey Street.

1504
01:50:49,200 --> 01:50:55,000
 So I'm happy to report that the entire length of Janey Street is in the 2019 bond program

1505
01:50:55,000 --> 01:50:58,120
 and Mr. Seth Garcia will be delivering that.

1506
01:50:58,120 --> 01:51:03,320
 The curb and tree issues will be considered during those actual design sections.

1507
01:51:03,320 --> 01:51:07,680
 And we will be coordinating with traffic operations to install that temporary signage for the

1508
01:51:07,680 --> 01:51:10,000
 area until the construction is complete.

1509
01:51:10,000 --> 01:51:14,520
 And for those of you who don't know who the traffic operations team is, Mr. James Andrews

1510
01:51:14,520 --> 01:51:17,280
 is in the room with us today.

1511
01:51:17,280 --> 01:51:19,880
 And so he is the individual that's over traffic operations.

1512
01:51:19,880 --> 01:51:22,320
 So I wanted to take a minute to recognize him.

1513
01:51:22,320 --> 01:51:27,200
 He does a fantastic job with helping our team throughout many items that we come up with

1514
01:51:27,200 --> 01:51:28,800
 and many different ideas.

1515
01:51:28,800 --> 01:51:31,840
 Sometimes he wants to tell us no, but he never says no.

1516
01:51:31,840 --> 01:51:38,080
 And I will make mention of the fact that recently we had some concerns with a particular intersection.

1517
01:51:38,080 --> 01:51:41,960
 He actually stayed late on a Thursday night, made sure that the stop sign, temporary stop

1518
01:51:41,960 --> 01:51:44,080
 signs were installed on a Friday morning.

1519
01:51:44,080 --> 01:51:48,560
 So he is a definite huge asset to our team and we're very pleased to have him.

1520
01:51:48,560 --> 01:51:51,920
 He works underneath the leadership of Daniel Kramer.

1521
01:51:51,920 --> 01:51:55,120
 So those temporary signage we'll be looking into.

1522
01:51:55,120 --> 01:52:01,380
 Just to talk about the street sections, it's Janey Street from Davis to McKinney, Noble

1523
01:52:01,380 --> 01:52:03,560
 to Paisley and then Paisley to Noble.

1524
01:52:03,560 --> 01:52:08,200
 The reason why we break it into sections is because the bond program is typically, as

1525
01:52:08,200 --> 01:52:09,940
 you know, it's based on block.

1526
01:52:09,940 --> 01:52:14,520
 And so I just wanted to let you know those different block sections.

1527
01:52:14,520 --> 01:52:18,760
 And you can see a picture here that shows those trees in the middle of the roadway.

1528
01:52:18,760 --> 01:52:23,800
 So I understand where Councilmember Byrd had some questions as it's a very interesting

1529
01:52:23,800 --> 01:52:25,280
 area part of town.

1530
01:52:25,280 --> 01:52:28,880
 And I would also mention with a lot of the development in the area, as you can see on

1531
01:52:28,880 --> 01:52:32,480
 the right-hand side of that picture, there's been some new developments.

1532
01:52:32,480 --> 01:52:37,960
 So definitely something that we're happy to be taken care of as part of the 2019 bond

1533
01:52:37,960 --> 01:52:39,880
 program.

1534
01:52:39,880 --> 01:52:43,960
 The next item is the Paisley Street and Roodale Street intersection curbs.

1535
01:52:43,960 --> 01:52:47,000
 And so it was asked about the different types of curbs.

1536
01:52:47,000 --> 01:52:51,720
 And I wanted to mention that Paisley Street at Roodale is an older section of street that

1537
01:52:51,720 --> 01:52:55,480
 really has never had curb and gutter installed.

1538
01:52:55,480 --> 01:52:59,440
 Staff is currently studying the potential impacts of installing curbs and gutters.

1539
01:52:59,440 --> 01:53:04,960
 But currently, the street department does not have a plan to execute putting any curb

1540
01:53:04,960 --> 01:53:07,240
 and gutter in or the funding identified.

1541
01:53:07,240 --> 01:53:12,840
 I also will mention, as you know, water flows naturally across the ground.

1542
01:53:12,840 --> 01:53:17,440
 And so if you install curb and gutter, what's sometimes hard to remember is it also will

1543
01:53:17,440 --> 01:53:21,800
 take into consideration infrastructure that actually has to be built underneath the roadway

1544
01:53:21,800 --> 01:53:26,080
 to collect that water and then convey it across underneath under the ground.

1545
01:53:26,080 --> 01:53:29,640
 So just wanted to make note of that.

1546
01:53:29,640 --> 01:53:34,640
 There was also some questions about the curb cuts and crosswalks on Hickory Creek Road to

1547
01:53:34,640 --> 01:53:40,640
 connect the Lake Forest Park Trail and Cross Timbers Park Trail.

1548
01:53:40,640 --> 01:53:43,240
 Those are mouthfuls.

1549
01:53:43,240 --> 01:53:47,200
 There is no current plan to have the Lake Forest Park Trail or Cross Timbers Park Trail

1550
01:53:47,200 --> 01:53:50,040
 connect to the Hickory Creek Road.

1551
01:53:50,040 --> 01:53:54,600
 Pedestrians will be able to walk the Lake Forest Park Trail via the Waterside Place

1552
01:53:54,600 --> 01:54:00,500
 by walking down the west side along Hickory Creek Road using that existing five-foot sidewalk

1553
01:54:00,500 --> 01:54:05,360
 that will connect to the planned eight-foot sidewalk along the north side of Hickory Creek

1554
01:54:05,360 --> 01:54:06,360
 Road.

1555
01:54:06,360 --> 01:54:11,720
 Then, pedestrians can cross Hickory Creek Road at the planned signal at Montecito Drive.

1556
01:54:11,720 --> 01:54:16,120
 And then they can then use the planned eight-foot sidewalk along the south side of Hickory Creek

1557
01:54:16,120 --> 01:54:20,840
 Road that will then connect to Cross Timbers Park Trail.

1558
01:54:20,840 --> 01:54:26,160
 The planned eight-foot sidewalk along Hickory Creek Road and the signal at Montecito is

1559
01:54:26,160 --> 01:54:28,600
 estimated to be complete in March of 2022.

1560
01:54:28,600 --> 01:54:33,480
 It's hard to believe that we're already saying March of 2022.

1561
01:54:33,480 --> 01:54:39,200
 So this graphic describes what I tried to read to you, but you can see where folks will

1562
01:54:39,200 --> 01:54:44,840
 go from Cross Timbers Park down to Hickory Creek Road, down Hickory Creek Road, across

1563
01:54:44,840 --> 01:54:47,080
 Montecito and then back.

1564
01:54:47,080 --> 01:54:51,160
 So it's taking you all the way down and across on one side of the roadway, you'll get to

1565
01:54:51,160 --> 01:54:57,600
 the signalized intersection at Montecito and then travel back to the west.

1566
01:54:57,600 --> 01:55:02,120
 The next question that was asked were details on the long-term plan for McKinney Street

1567
01:55:02,120 --> 01:55:05,520
 from Limp 288 to Woodrow.

1568
01:55:05,520 --> 01:55:09,840
 And obviously, Woodrow is one direction, Audra the other direction.

1569
01:55:09,840 --> 01:55:15,600
 A roadway safety audit meeting is scheduled for December with COG.

1570
01:55:15,600 --> 01:55:20,080
 At this meeting, staff will be making recommendations for additional improvements to McKinney Street.

1571
01:55:20,080 --> 01:55:24,880
 COG will then decide if the recommendations qualify for funding for any improvements.

1572
01:55:24,880 --> 01:55:30,240
 And I also wanted to mention that this is a section that we have included, Rachel and

1573
01:55:30,240 --> 01:55:36,080
 myself worked on a plan to include several different projects to the Denton County 2022

1574
01:55:36,080 --> 01:55:39,280
 bond program that we understand will happen in November.

1575
01:55:39,280 --> 01:55:44,160
 And so we submitted a list of multiple projects and this was a part of that project as the

1576
01:55:44,160 --> 01:55:49,680
 city currently does not have funding for improvements on McKinney Street from the loop to the Woodrow-Audra

1577
01:55:49,680 --> 01:55:52,520
 intersection.

1578
01:55:52,520 --> 01:55:58,240
 The next question that came up was to address concerns about Malone Street speeding and

1579
01:55:58,240 --> 01:56:02,280
 bicycle safety between 380 and Scripture.

1580
01:56:02,280 --> 01:56:08,200
 We had a Friday report item, I'm sure you both read that, on October 29th that talked

1581
01:56:08,200 --> 01:56:13,560
 about and I know Mayor Pro Tem, you requested that staff evaluate this.

1582
01:56:13,560 --> 01:56:18,160
 You noted that there had been drivers using the middle turn lane to pass other cars and

1583
01:56:18,160 --> 01:56:19,760
 people were speeding.

1584
01:56:19,760 --> 01:56:26,760
 We actually conducted a traffic study from October 18th to October 24th where speeding

1585
01:56:26,760 --> 01:56:32,960
 was observed with a 9.3% of the drivers going over the posted speed, which is a less than

1586
01:56:32,960 --> 01:56:35,720
 that 15% threshold.

1587
01:56:35,720 --> 01:56:40,080
 Staff is currently evaluating different calming measure, traffic calming measures at Malone

1588
01:56:40,080 --> 01:56:44,380
 and also Cordell and we'll report back in a future Friday report.

1589
01:56:44,380 --> 01:56:50,040
 We also requested the police department enforce in this area and it's also been added to their

1590
01:56:50,040 --> 01:56:52,800
 high visibility engagement list.

1591
01:56:52,800 --> 01:56:57,200
 They have a list that we currently coordinate with them on current areas where there are

1592
01:56:57,200 --> 01:57:04,280
 visibility, I'm sorry, to raise the visibility of the concerns that are addressed and those

1593
01:57:04,280 --> 01:57:07,800
 items are speeding, crime, and other traffic related issues.

1594
01:57:07,800 --> 01:57:13,880
 Did you see the correspondence from Susie Remore about questioning whether the study

1595
01:57:13,880 --> 01:57:18,080
 was done in the right place, you know, that she didn't, because she lives there, didn't

1596
01:57:18,080 --> 01:57:26,760
 observe it, being on Malone, did see it, I think on Cordell, did we confirm back to her?

1597
01:57:26,760 --> 01:57:31,520
 We did receive a correspondence from Ms. Rumer and we're currently evaluating her correspondence.

1598
01:57:31,520 --> 01:57:37,760
 Chandra, who is also in the room, there he is today, has been working on a response back

1599
01:57:37,760 --> 01:57:43,880
 to her and working to address her questions and we plan to submit that back to Ms. Rumer

1600
01:57:43,880 --> 01:57:49,420
 and offer up that conversation with her later this week, but yes, we did receive her correspondence.

1601
01:57:49,420 --> 01:57:50,420
 Okay.

1602
01:57:50,420 --> 01:57:52,980
 I think that will be helpful.

1603
01:57:52,980 --> 01:57:57,880
 And with that, I believe that those are all of the items we currently have.

1604
01:57:57,880 --> 01:58:04,000
 I know there is one item that was mentioned at the last meeting and I wanted to make sure

1605
01:58:04,000 --> 01:58:09,200
 we have addressed all of the current items we have, minus one, and that was the questions

1606
01:58:09,200 --> 01:58:13,760
 about the timing for the 35 and Bonnie Bray projects and we will be bringing that back

1607
01:58:13,760 --> 01:58:18,600
 to you on the December 15th meeting as we're currently working through some items with

1608
01:58:18,600 --> 01:58:24,320
 text-out and some internal planning items and so that definitely will be addressed during

1609
01:58:24,320 --> 01:58:30,000
 that December, I'm hoping it's 15th, that's what's in my head meeting, so look forward

1610
01:58:30,000 --> 01:58:32,600
 to having that conversation with you at that time.

1611
01:58:32,600 --> 01:58:35,480
 So, future items then?

1612
01:58:35,480 --> 01:58:36,480
 Yes, sir.

1613
01:58:36,480 --> 01:58:37,480
 I'm ready.

1614
01:58:37,480 --> 01:58:47,120
 So, I don't know if this necessarily calls for a specific report to the Mobility Committee,

1615
01:58:47,120 --> 01:58:52,640
 but I wanted to address with you something that came up in, I attended the DCTA Board

1616
01:58:52,640 --> 01:59:01,200
 Members Orientation on Monday, and there was some talk about if Denton is going to keep

1617
01:59:01,200 --> 01:59:08,720
 its fixed bus routes, which seems likely, but is certainly not a sure thing, that moving

1618
01:59:08,720 --> 01:59:19,120
 forward it might be wise for there to be greater coordination between DCTA and city capital

1619
01:59:19,120 --> 01:59:29,440
 projects planning to ensure that things like the curb radius is adequate for buses to make

1620
01:59:29,440 --> 01:59:39,400
 turns and there was a suggestion that streets that have a lot of bus traffic could be planned

1621
01:59:39,400 --> 01:59:45,720
 with cutouts for the buses to pull, you know what I'm talking about, like into a separate

1622
01:59:45,720 --> 01:59:53,160
 drive that's off the street, so that's very nonspecific obviously, but it's just something

1623
01:59:53,160 --> 01:59:59,200
 I kind of wanted to bring up and put on your radar as future projects are being planned

1624
01:59:59,200 --> 02:00:06,240
 and designed that I think it would be great to have increased cooperation on those types

1625
02:00:06,240 --> 02:00:07,240
 of things.

1626
02:00:07,240 --> 02:00:08,240
 No, I appreciate that.

1627
02:00:08,240 --> 02:00:13,400
 I will mention that Rachel and myself have reached out to Raymond and Brittany and asked

1628
02:00:13,400 --> 02:00:17,160
 that if they would like to have a standing meeting that we would have a standing meeting

1629
02:00:17,160 --> 02:00:22,160
 with them and we've given them access to all of the tools just to share with them all of

1630
02:00:22,160 --> 02:00:25,160
 the current capital projects that the city has going on.

1631
02:00:25,160 --> 02:00:27,360
 We're very excited about our new CIP map.

1632
02:00:27,360 --> 02:00:29,800
 We think that's going to be very helpful.

1633
02:00:29,800 --> 02:00:35,040
 And they also receive our street construction report to talk specifically about construction.

1634
02:00:35,040 --> 02:00:40,200
 If there are changes for designs of roadways and those types of things, those are things

1635
02:00:40,200 --> 02:00:43,640
 that we want to be able to catch with them on the beginning of projects.

1636
02:00:43,640 --> 02:00:47,120
 And so I think we've mentioned this to you before, but we actually have something called

1637
02:00:47,120 --> 02:00:53,480
 a racine that we run through when we have a project that is in that initiation phase

1638
02:00:53,480 --> 02:00:57,920
 and beginning in the design phase, and we've actually added some external stakeholders.

1639
02:00:57,920 --> 02:01:04,740
 It typically was internal stakeholders, but there are folks such as DCTA, TWU, UNT, TXDOT,

1640
02:01:04,740 --> 02:01:08,100
 other folks that we want to continue coordinating with and collaborating.

1641
02:01:08,100 --> 02:01:12,200
 And so we're working through addressing some of those concerns so that they have an opportunity

1642
02:01:12,200 --> 02:01:17,480
 to have their eyes on some of the designs and some of the areas of which they have concerns.

1643
02:01:17,480 --> 02:01:22,060
 We also are paying very close attention to those actual routes.

1644
02:01:22,060 --> 02:01:25,880
 Because there's other things, they're not the only big vehicle that tries to travel

1645
02:01:25,880 --> 02:01:26,880
 through.

1646
02:01:26,880 --> 02:01:31,720
 I mean, we have fire trucks, we have solid waste, you know, obviously the trash trucks

1647
02:01:31,720 --> 02:01:37,240
 are very large, wastewater collections has a number of trucks, also line trucks for DME.

1648
02:01:37,240 --> 02:01:40,600
 So there's a number of considerations that go into play, but I do appreciate you bringing

1649
02:01:40,600 --> 02:01:41,600
 that up.

1650
02:01:41,600 --> 02:01:44,960
 It's just more reason why they need to be a part of the conversation at the very beginning

1651
02:01:44,960 --> 02:01:48,640
 of the conversation versus at the end when something's going into construction.

1652
02:01:48,640 --> 02:01:53,120
 Of course, yeah, if we're talking about, you know, cutouts for buses to pull off the street,

1653
02:01:53,120 --> 02:01:56,440
 that's something that needs to be designed right from the very beginning when there's

1654
02:01:56,440 --> 02:01:58,800
 right-of-way acquisition happening and all that.

1655
02:01:58,800 --> 02:02:05,000
 Yeah, so I'm so glad to hear that that seems like that increased coordination is already

1656
02:02:05,000 --> 02:02:06,000
 in the works.

1657
02:02:06,000 --> 02:02:07,000
 Yes, ma'am.

1658
02:02:07,000 --> 02:02:08,000
 Great.

1659
02:02:08,000 --> 02:02:09,000
 Thank you.

1660
02:02:09,000 --> 02:02:11,300
 I have just a few questions.

1661
02:02:11,300 --> 02:02:15,720
 How is the intersection of Parkway and Locust going?

1662
02:02:15,720 --> 02:02:20,040
 You know, that was signalized in the past.

1663
02:02:20,040 --> 02:02:24,680
 It was, you know, it wasn't obvious why it was taken out and then it stopped signs, not

1664
02:02:24,680 --> 02:02:26,120
 stopped signs with little flags.

1665
02:02:26,120 --> 02:02:30,760
 I mean, is it working or is there something else that needs to happen there?

1666
02:02:30,760 --> 02:02:35,920
 Any, maybe if you're not ready to address it now, we can pick up next time.

1667
02:02:35,920 --> 02:02:36,920
 Oh, no, sir.

1668
02:02:36,920 --> 02:02:37,920
 Sure.

1669
02:02:37,920 --> 02:02:38,920
 We can bring your report back.

1670
02:02:38,920 --> 02:02:43,280
 I will tell you, that's the actual project that I'm talking about, that James stayed

1671
02:02:43,280 --> 02:02:44,280
 here overnight.

1672
02:02:44,280 --> 02:02:50,400
 They're late Thursday night when I realized and Chandra and I evaluated some of their

1673
02:02:50,400 --> 02:02:54,520
 most recent crashes and some of the concerns I had in that area.

1674
02:02:54,520 --> 02:02:58,480
 You know, our building is right there at that corner also and we witness or hear accidents

1675
02:02:58,480 --> 02:03:00,160
 from time to time.

1676
02:03:00,160 --> 02:03:03,520
 And so it was definitely something that was high on my radar.

1677
02:03:03,520 --> 02:03:10,080
 Chandra and I evaluated that and worked with James and Danny to get those additional stop

1678
02:03:10,080 --> 02:03:11,080
 signs.

1679
02:03:11,080 --> 02:03:15,760
 And I can tell you from what I can see, and I actually obviously use that every day, multiple

1680
02:03:15,760 --> 02:03:16,760
 times a day.

1681
02:03:16,760 --> 02:03:19,200
 So there are multiple staff that we have.

1682
02:03:19,200 --> 02:03:23,400
 From all indications, the stop signs are working very well and the permanent stop signs have

1683
02:03:23,400 --> 02:03:24,400
 been installed.

1684
02:03:24,400 --> 02:03:29,000
 And from all indications, it appears that that is the traffic measure that was needed.

1685
02:03:29,000 --> 02:03:33,560
 But we'll continue to evaluate if there's additional concerns.

1686
02:03:33,560 --> 02:03:38,520
 If there are, would flashing stop signs be sort of the next step up?

1687
02:03:38,520 --> 02:03:40,880
 There's many different options that we can look at.

1688
02:03:40,880 --> 02:03:47,480
 There are ways to make, you know, I mean, more noticeable, such as a flashing stop sign.

1689
02:03:47,480 --> 02:03:51,360
 But that's something that we would really rely on our traffic operations team for their

1690
02:03:51,360 --> 02:03:53,640
 recommendations and we'll work through that with them.

1691
02:03:53,640 --> 02:03:58,920
 But currently, we are not having as many concerns and we have been working with the police department

1692
02:03:58,920 --> 02:04:02,520
 and meeting with them monthly when different concerns and questions come up.

1693
02:04:02,520 --> 02:04:04,880
 And that's one of the intersections of which we did discuss.

1694
02:04:04,880 --> 02:04:12,480
 Okay, great, apparently you need to have your office move around so that you're, if you're

1695
02:04:12,480 --> 02:04:14,720
 hearing the crashes, right?

1696
02:04:14,720 --> 02:04:20,640
 Well, believe it or not, I spend a lot of time following social media and looking at

1697
02:04:20,640 --> 02:04:22,520
 where accidents are happening.

1698
02:04:22,520 --> 02:04:23,720
 I pay attention to those.

1699
02:04:23,720 --> 02:04:27,960
 I do talk to the police department when they do happen almost immediately to ask if it

1700
02:04:27,960 --> 02:04:33,400
 is an engineering related concern or something where a driver might have been impaired.

1701
02:04:33,400 --> 02:04:37,660
 And our entire team spends a lot of time driving through the community, especially if we receive

1702
02:04:37,660 --> 02:04:38,660
 a concern.

1703
02:04:38,660 --> 02:04:42,240
 We drive it ourselves so that we can understand what that concern is.

1704
02:04:42,240 --> 02:04:47,640
 Many times we may not be on that roadway and taking our own venture and going on our own

1705
02:04:47,640 --> 02:04:50,360
 field trip is a very useful tool.

1706
02:04:50,360 --> 02:04:51,480
 Yeah.

1707
02:04:51,480 --> 02:04:55,040
 This is an incredibly tiny point, but I noticed that when we're going through the sidewalk

1708
02:04:55,040 --> 02:05:01,120
 plan that in the visual, there was one of the wayfinding signs pointing to development

1709
02:05:01,120 --> 02:05:06,200
 services where it no longer is, and I just wondered, did we catch that?

1710
02:05:06,200 --> 02:05:09,240
 Have those signs been updated?

1711
02:05:09,240 --> 02:05:12,840
 Some of those pictures that Nathan used were older pictures.

1712
02:05:12,840 --> 02:05:16,320
 He might not have even been aware of where, he has no idea where the development services

1713
02:05:16,320 --> 02:05:20,160
 building used to be, but it's definitely something we can check out, so thank you for bringing

1714
02:05:20,160 --> 02:05:21,160
 it to our attention.

1715
02:05:21,160 --> 02:05:23,840
 I did not notice that level of detail, so I appreciate it.

1716
02:05:23,840 --> 02:05:24,840
 That's my job.

1717
02:05:24,840 --> 02:05:25,840
 Absolutely.

1718
02:05:25,840 --> 02:05:31,960
 Yeah, just lastly, just because concerns have been expressed to me, would you mind speaking

1719
02:05:31,960 --> 02:05:39,360
 for a moment about how you're just coping with the difficulty of recruiting engineers?

1720
02:05:39,360 --> 02:05:42,240
 How are we getting the work done?

1721
02:05:42,240 --> 02:05:43,320
 Sure.

1722
02:05:43,320 --> 02:05:48,720
 Our team is obviously very committed to making sure that we are getting our work done.

1723
02:05:48,720 --> 02:05:53,440
 We have the authority through the city manager's office to look at contract help as needed.

1724
02:05:53,440 --> 02:05:59,620
 We currently have a consultant on board assisting with our drainage engineer position.

1725
02:05:59,620 --> 02:06:04,580
 As you may be aware, Chandra has taken a new position and moving to an assistant director

1726
02:06:04,580 --> 02:06:06,800
 at NTTA.

1727
02:06:06,800 --> 02:06:07,800
 We currently have a...

1728
02:06:07,800 --> 02:06:12,320
 Which incidentally I did not get permission for.

1729
02:06:12,320 --> 02:06:14,880
 Get in line.

1730
02:06:14,880 --> 02:06:20,040
 I would just tell you that we are very pleased for him and very happy with his new opportunity

1731
02:06:20,040 --> 02:06:25,340
 that he's taking and I know we've had many conversations, he's very sad about leaving

1732
02:06:25,340 --> 02:06:29,760
 the city, but it brings me much pride to see someone like him move up in his career to

1733
02:06:29,760 --> 02:06:30,760
 the next level.

1734
02:06:30,760 --> 02:06:31,760
 Good luck and congratulations.

1735
02:06:31,760 --> 02:06:36,880
 I'm very proud of him, but I will tell you that we do have a transportation engineer

1736
02:06:36,880 --> 02:06:41,640
 still on staff and I will tell you that we're currently evaluating.

1737
02:06:41,640 --> 02:06:46,240
 David and I have had multiple conversations also with human resources and working through

1738
02:06:46,240 --> 02:06:50,320
 some different measures, whether it be hiring a contract on staff.

1739
02:06:50,320 --> 02:06:52,080
 We are having weekly meetings.

1740
02:06:52,080 --> 02:06:56,960
 I should say I am with HR talking about filling some of these different positions, but there

1741
02:06:56,960 --> 02:07:01,720
 are things that we have to do sometimes to hire contract labor just for the stopgap.

1742
02:07:01,720 --> 02:07:06,680
 That's the short answer, right, is the contract labor gets us through till we solve the longer

1743
02:07:06,680 --> 02:07:07,680
 term.

1744
02:07:07,680 --> 02:07:08,680
 That's absolutely correct.

1745
02:07:08,680 --> 02:07:13,440
 And so obviously it's one of my top priorities is to get our team fully staffed.

1746
02:07:13,440 --> 02:07:18,800
 I will mention Rachel is only down in her division, one individual.

1747
02:07:18,800 --> 02:07:23,320
 She has a new individual starting on Monday, December 2nd.

1748
02:07:23,320 --> 02:07:24,320
 Okay.

1749
02:07:24,320 --> 02:07:26,720
 Trevor has two new individuals that are actually starting Monday.

1750
02:07:26,720 --> 02:07:31,120
 That'll be the first time the public works inspection division has ever been fully staffed.

1751
02:07:31,120 --> 02:07:33,120
 And so engineers are a hot commodity.

1752
02:07:33,120 --> 02:07:36,880
 I will tell you, I have a lot of conversations with others in the community.

1753
02:07:36,880 --> 02:07:41,440
 My father, my husband, they are all in the business and I will tell you, I have reached

1754
02:07:41,440 --> 02:07:45,280
 out to many of my resources and they're having the exact same problem the city of Denton

1755
02:07:45,280 --> 02:07:47,560
 is with hiring engineers.

1756
02:07:47,560 --> 02:07:51,560
 Down to the point where many people are not even looking at hiring professional engineers.

1757
02:07:51,560 --> 02:07:55,840
 They're looking at hiring engineers in training, which do not have their professional engineering

1758
02:07:55,840 --> 02:07:56,840
 license yet.

1759
02:07:56,840 --> 02:08:00,480
 We'll be working through those next steps to get their professional engineering license.

1760
02:08:00,480 --> 02:08:04,560
 So it's a good time to be an engineer, but it's also a sad time when we really want to

1761
02:08:04,560 --> 02:08:06,720
 work on focusing on hiring our individuals.

1762
02:08:06,720 --> 02:08:12,360
 But it is definitely our intention to make sure that we take all steps necessary to make

1763
02:08:12,360 --> 02:08:15,520
 sure that we have that contract help as needed.

1764
02:08:15,520 --> 02:08:20,800
 And we've worked really hard with this new drainage contract and I actually have an individual

1765
02:08:20,800 --> 02:08:24,200
 on staff that's managing that contract and that process.

1766
02:08:24,200 --> 02:08:28,960
 And I plan to do the same for the transportation to make sure that we have an individual that

1767
02:08:28,960 --> 02:08:29,960
 can help.

1768
02:08:29,960 --> 02:08:33,000
 But there are still some other folks on staff too that are working through transportation.

1769
02:08:33,000 --> 02:08:34,960
 So I appreciate you bringing it up.

1770
02:08:34,960 --> 02:08:36,720
 It's definitely top of my priority.

1771
02:08:36,720 --> 02:08:40,680
 If I told you that it didn't keep me up at night, I'd be lying to you.

1772
02:08:40,680 --> 02:08:44,760
 But I know that I have the support of the city manager's office to make sure that we

1773
02:08:44,760 --> 02:08:46,780
 get all the stuff that's necessary.

1774
02:08:46,780 --> 02:08:51,000
 And our HR department is solid and really helping us through these different steps that

1775
02:08:51,000 --> 02:08:52,000
 we go through.

1776
02:08:52,000 --> 02:08:53,520
 So it's just another part of the job.

1777
02:08:53,520 --> 02:08:58,520
 Okay, kids, if you're thinking about career choices, if you can handle the math, you may

1778
02:08:58,520 --> 02:09:00,080
 want to look into engineering.

1779
02:09:00,080 --> 02:09:01,560
 100% agree with that, sir.

1780
02:09:01,560 --> 02:09:06,000
 I can't talk to enough high schools to explain to children how important it is.

1781
02:09:06,000 --> 02:09:07,680
 Engineering is a great career.

1782
02:09:07,680 --> 02:09:10,320
 My own son says, "No, mom, I want to be an architect."

1783
02:09:10,320 --> 02:09:13,760
 I try to tell him an engineer would be a fantastic career.

1784
02:09:13,760 --> 02:09:18,520
 But I definitely understand and happy to have those conversations with those young children

1785
02:09:18,520 --> 02:09:20,960
 to explain to them what a great career it really is.

1786
02:09:20,960 --> 02:09:21,960
 Okay.

1787
02:09:21,960 --> 02:09:22,960
 Phil, thank you so much.

1788
02:09:22,960 --> 02:09:23,960
 I think that's it.

1789
02:09:23,960 --> 02:09:24,960
 Yes, sir.

1790
02:09:24,960 --> 02:09:29,160
 Unless we have anything else for concluding items, we usually kind of did that.

1791
02:09:29,160 --> 02:09:31,600
 So by the way, I'm the son of a high engineer.

1792
02:09:31,600 --> 02:09:33,760
 I don't know if you ever had that conversation.

1793
02:09:33,760 --> 02:09:35,400
 I didn't know that.

1794
02:09:35,400 --> 02:09:36,400
 Yeah.

1795
02:09:36,400 --> 02:09:38,800
 So we will conclude our meeting at 1110.

1796
02:09:38,800 --> 02:09:39,600
 Thanks, everyone.