The board had authorized a revised version of its 2011-2015 plan last year on Aug. 24, 2011. That revision was made in order to accommodate three projects: (1) the Blake Transit Center (BTC) reconstruction in downtown Ann Arbor, (2) the bus storage facility expansion, and (3) the bus maintenance facility upgrade.

This year’s program also includes those projects. The resolution adopted by the board at its Jan. 19 meeting includes an additional use of grant funding of up to $1.5 million – $1.2 million in federal formula funds and $0.3 million in state funds – for the planned reconstruction of the downtown Ann Arbor BTC. That brings the total BTC project budget from the previously reported $5.5 million to as much as $7 million.

The AATA does not think that it will be possible to construct the center’s design for $5.5 million, but the board is not necessarily committed to spending the entire $7 million. Some of the additional cost involves technology for informational displays. The resolution approved by the board on Jan. 19 sets that additional funding as the final maximum amount for the planned BTC reconstruction.

According to the resolution, the final cost estimates for the planned BTC reconstruction are due by March 2012. For a more detailed description of the planned new center – which will be reconstructed on the opposite end of the same parcel where the current center sits – see “AATA Preps Stage for Future Transit Choice.”

Also at the Jan. 19 meeting, the board authorized its CEO, Michael Ford, to submit applications, certifications and assurances to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), when the AATA asks for funding from that agency. The FTA requires the AATA to have passed such a resolution. The board’s resolution also authorized the CEO to execute contracts with the FTA on behalf of the AATA.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The desire of the AATA to acquire the six-foot strip has been mentioned at several AATA board meetings during routine updates. It’s part of the AATA’s plan to reconstruct the BTC on the South Fifth Avenue side of the block; the BTC currently stands on the South Fourth Avenue side, with a canopy that stretches towards Fifth. The AATA hope to finalize the design of the new transit center by the end of December 2011, with construction to start in early 2012.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

This AATA-owned parcel, where Blake Transit Center is located, sits in the middle of the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth avenues on the west and east, and by Liberty and William streets on the north and south. Among the outstanding issues in a project to rebuild BTC is discussions with the city of Ann Arbor over a city-owned 6-foot-wide strip that runs along the southern edge of the parcel's western half. (Image links to higher resolution view. Parcel map and aerial photo from Washtenaw County's website: gisweb.ewashtenaw.org/website/mapwashtenaw/)

The contract with Ford renews annually on Oct. 1 unless terminated by Ford or the AATA. Ford will earn the same salary as he did previously – $160,000 – but will receive a lump sum payment equal to 4% of his salary dating from July 20, 2009, when he was first hired. Board members uniformly praised Ford’s work for the AATA since he was hired in the summer of 2009.

Approval of the construction manager contract for the downtown Blake Transit Center sets up the reconstruction project possibly to begin in earnest later this year. AATA has so far declined to release any schematics or drawings of the proposed new transit center to the public, citing as-yet-unfinalized details, including issues related to a city-owned 6-foot-wide strip on the southern edge of the parcel’s western half.

The new transit center will be built on the same AATA-owned parcel where BTC is currently located, between Fourth and Fifth avenues, north of William Street and a city-owned surface parking lot. The current building sits at the northwest corner of the parcel, long Fourth Avenue – buses enter from Fifth Avenue and exit onto Fourth Avenue. The planned design calls for a new building to be constructed kitty-corner on the parcel from the existing building, which would be demolished. The new transit center would sit at the southeast corner of the parcel – buses would enter from Fourth Avenue and exit onto Fifth Avenue.

At its meeting, the board also heard its usual range of reports and commentary. Among those reports, Ford told the board that two local governments – Ann Arbor Township and Superior Township – have voted to sign an Act 7 agreement. That’s a step that will allow their joint participation and representation in a countywide transit authority.

Construction Manager for Blake

The board was asked to consider a contract with Spence Brothers for up to a total of $384,000 to oversee two major construction projects for AATA: (1) demolition and reconstruction of the Blake Transit Center on Fourth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor [$253,000]; and (2) expansion of the bus storage facility at the AATA headquarters located at 2700 S. Industrial [$131,000].

The need for a construction manager was identified by representatives of the Federal Transit Administration after reviewing AATA projects that are being funded with federal dollars.

At its May 12, 2010 meeting, the AATA board had approved a $343,439 contract with DLZ Michigan Inc. for architectural and engineering services to reconstruct the transit center.

At this month’s board meeting, CEO Michael Ford asked Terry Black, AATA’s manager of maintenance, to give an update on the Blake Transit Center reconstruction project. They’re still working on design and aesthetics, Black reported.

Remaining issues include working on a 10-foot-wide green strip as a border with the federal building property on the north side of the site. The AATA and the city of Ann Arbor are also still working out an agreement on a city-owned 6-foot-wide strip along the southern part of the parcel’s western half. The construction manager contract, on which the board would be voting, Black said, would provide a check and balance on the design firm. From there, the project could start rolling, he said.

In reporting out from the planning and development committee, AATA board member Rich Robben noted that in the resolution on the Blake Transit Center construction manager contract, the fees could be as high as $384,000 – but might turn out to be less because it’s negotiated under the Brooks Act.

The federal Brooks Act requires that the selection of contractors be based on qualifications, not price. The AATA received proposals from the following firms for the construction manager work:

• Braun Construction Group, Farmington Hills, MI
• The Christman Company, Livonia, MI
• DeMaria Building Company, Detroit, MI
• Irish Construction, Howell, MI
• T. H. Marsh Construction Company, Ann Arbor, MI
• O’Neal Construction, Ann Arbor, MI
• Owen-Ames-Kimball Co., Grand Rapids, MI
• Park Avenue Consultants Inc., Ann Arbor, MI
• Phoenix Contractors, Ypsilanti, MI
• White Construction Co. Inc., Detroit, MI
• Spence Brothers, Ann Arbor, MI

The breakdown for the Blake Transit Center work and the bus storage expansion to be awarded to Spence Brothers is (1) $253,000 for BTC, and (2) $131,00 for the bus storage. In a staff memo, the Spence Brothers’ proposal is evaluated as being in line with industry standards when expressed as a percentage of total construction costs: 5-6%. That translates to $4.2-5.0 million for the project. Funding sources for the transit center reconstruction, based on previous Chronicle reporting – from December 2009 and October 2010:

• $1.6 million federal grant
• $0.4 million state match (25% of $1.6 million)
• $0.735 million federal grant
• $0.183 million state match
• $1.0 million federal state-of-good-repair match

Outcome: The construction manager contract was unanimously approved by the board.

CEO’s New Contract

Before the board for approval was a new employment contract with its chief executive officer, Michael Ford, who was hired in the summer of 2009. [For a report on Ford's April 2009 final interview: "AATA, CEO Candidate Start Talks"]

The contract, which is renewable each year on Oct. 1, pays Ford $160,000 a year – the same compensation he received last year. Ford is not receiving a raise this year, but will receive a one-time additional payment equal to 4% of his annual salary – his base salary will not change.

Board members at the meeting praised Ford’s work over the last year in leading the AATA’s countywide transit master planning effort.

Roger Kerson led off board commentary by saying that Ford’s efforts on the transit master plan (TMP) have been extraordinary. Sue McCormick added that she wanted to say how pleased the board is to move forward with another contract. Board chair Jesse Bernstein said he was especially pleased that they have a clear process for evaluating the CEO, which ties performance to the budget. David Nacht said he appreciated the leadership of Bernstein and McCormick for providing to the board a timeline on the budget process and CEO evaluation process in a simple, laid out presentation.

Nacht said he’d appreciated the work of the committee – Bernstein and McCormick – who had negotiated the new contract with Ford. He noted that it’s difficult to negotiate a contract with a serious professional in the current economic climate, when there’s a need by the community to watch every nickel spent. At the same time, Nacht continued, the AATA has to respect the level of performance it’s getting. The community should feel comfortable. Bernstein said he is thrilled with the job Ford has done. The board and the AATA have accomplished a great deal over the last couple of years, and could not have done it without Ford’s leadership, Bernstein said.

Anya Dale added that through her work with Washtenaw County as a planner, she talks to representatives from other communities. And they report how wonderful it’s been talking to representatives of the AATA – she felt it was the first time the AATA has been a real leader.

Charles Griffith reported that he’s heard sentiments similar to those Dale had reported. He said he’s glad Ford has decided to stick with the AATA and to sign up for another year. Hopefully, Griffith said, he’ll sign on for many more.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the new contract.

Board: Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its May meeting, the board entertained various communications, including its usual reports from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, the planning and development committee, as well as from the CEO, Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights not included elsewhere in the report.

Comm/Comm: Board Reappointments

In his report to the board, CEO Michel Ford acknowledged the reappointment of Charles Griffith and Rich Robben to the AATA board through May 2016. Their nominations were confirmed by the city council at its May 2 meeting. He thanked Griffith and Robben and other board members for their support and help in moving the AATA forward.

Comm/Comm: Rail Transit Funding

Ford reported the recent news that some funding for rail transit had come through the Michigan Dept. of Transportation from the Federal Rail Administration – the city of Ann Arbor had been awarded $2.8 million for the Fuller Road Station project. [Recent Chronicle coverage: "PAC Gets Update on Fuller Road Station"]. Ford called it “exciting news,” and said it gets the city closer to an intermodal facility. He pointed out that the station is included as a part of the AATA’s transit master plan (TMP).

Comm/Comm: Connector Study

Ford reported that the Plymouth-State connector study project continues to move forward. URS, which is the consultant on the project, had given a presentation to the board a couple of months ago, Ford reminded board members, and will give a presentation to the city probably sometime in the fall. The next steps would include a preliminary engineering and environmental assessment, Ford said. [Coverage of the URS presentation to the AATA board: "AATA: Transit Study, Planning Updates"]

Comm/Comm: Transit Master Plan, Governance

Ford said the leadership team for the transit master plan had met, moderated by board chair Jesse Bernstein. Community outreach meetings continue to take place. [A Chronicle column that includes reporting from one of those meetings, which took place in Ypsilanti: "Column: Chevy Volt – Private Transit Choices"]

Discussions on the governance of a countywide authority continue, said Ford. He’s continuing to meet with representatives of various municipalities. He reported that Ann Arbor Township and Superior Township will sign an Act 7 agreement – that will allow their joint participation and representation in a countywide transit authority. By way of background, Act 7 is the Urban Cooperation Act of 1967. [.pdf of Act 7] It’s not specific to transit issues, but rather provides a framework for different units of local government to form agreements with each other. [Previous Chronicle coverage on countywide transit authority governance: "Concerns Aired Over Transit Governance"]

Board member Roger Kerson asked Ford for more details on governance discussions. He asked what Ford was imagining as far as sequencing and timing.

Ford said he’d met with Ann Arbor Township and Superior Township officials, and that they had actually voted on an Act 7 accord. Ford said he’d also talked to other local units, but no others had yet voted. He hoped everything would be in place by fall – that is, that each group of governmental units in the sections of the county that had been identified would get to determine their participation in a countywide transportation authority, based on Act 7 agreements. Ford said that the AATA has a lot of work ahead of it in the next several months. By fall, he said, an “unincorporated group” should be able to start forming.

Comm/Comm: Living Wage

Reporting out from the planning and development committee, Rich Robben spoke about a living wage policy that the AATA has been considering at the committee level. AATA staff had provided some information to the committee, Robben said, and had followed calculations by the city of Ann Arbor. Staff will make updates based on committee suggestions, and it will likely come back before the committee for its June meeting. The committee may recommend that it come before the full board.

By way of background, the board had passed a resolution at its Dec. 16, 2010 meeting to explore some kind of living wage standard for its contractors. The city of Ann Arbor’s ordinance for its contractors is tied to federal poverty guidelines and was earlier this month increased by a percent. [Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor Law Nudges Living Wage Upwards"]

Comm/Comm: Ridership, Fuel Prices

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Charles Griffith said they went over AATA’s financial and performance reports as usual, and found the agency is in pretty good shape financially – it’s doing well on its performance metrics, he said.

The ridership on the express routes – from Chelsea to Ann Arbor, and from Canton to Ann Arbor – have shown some increase in ridership, Griffith said. That’s probably due to efforts on the part of staff and the University of Michigan to send email alerts, as well as a promotional 10-ride ticket sold at a discounted rate to try to get people into the program, he said. Performance on those routes will continue to be monitored, Griffith said.

Jesse Bernstein followed up a few minutes later by asking if there was any data about the impact of fuel prices, or if that would not be apparent until next month. Phil Webb, AATA’s controller, told Bernstein that ridership has increased, but it’s difficult to say how much is attributable to fuel costs. As far as the AATA’s own fuel costs, Webb said, the organization is actually under budget, because the AATA buys fuel futures contracts.

Comm/Comm: On-Time, Website, Rotating Auditor

Continuing his update from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Griffith said the committee had received a report on on-time performance. In a report they’d heard a few months ago, they had focused on very late buses. More recently, they’d looked at each time point – a bus might arrive at its route end at the Blake Transit Center on time, but be late at time points along the way.

The committee had also received a presentation on website development and information architecture, Griffith said. “It’s not exactly fun reading,” he allowed, but it gives an idea of what the architecture of the AATA website is. The committee had provided a little bit of input for the wording on the top buttons on the site, and would receive more updates as the website redesign progresses.

The committee had started discussion about an auditor rotation policy, but had not gone into detail, because committee members wanted to have board member Sue McCormick at a meeting before they proceeded. She had been the one originally to raise the issue. [McCormick had raised the issue at the board's Sept. 16, 2010 meeting, when board members approved a contract with Rehman as its auditor, but only for one year.]

The issue needs to come before the board at its next meeting so that there will be time to issue a request for proposals in time for next year’s audit, Griffith said.

Comm/Comm: Local Advisory Council – Driver Appreciation

Jody Slowins reported out from the AATA’s local advisory council, beginning by saying that she’d been involved with the LAC for more than 12 years. In that time, she said, the whole tenor has changed a lot. People initially wanted to be on the council and just wanted to complain. It’s evolved into a more involved council, she said. The LAC has been working on a new driver appreciation program. She extended compliments to the staff liaison to the LAC, Brian Clouse – he’s been a wonderful connection between AATA and the council, she said. The driver recognition program program would recognize people for positive behavior. She hoped drivers would try to aspire to be recognized. The program would be about rewarding people, instead of cutting them down in a punitive way.

Comm/Comm: Accessible, Affordable Transportation

Thomas Partridge spoke during both opportunities for the public to address the board. He introduced himself as a Washtenaw County and city of Ann Arbor resident, and advocate of county residents who need and deserve public transportation the most in the current economic climate: middle-income families, students, seniors and disabled people. At the most recent Ann Arbor city council meeting, he reported, the increase of taxicab rates “sailed through” council’s approval. Even though the council consists all of Democrats, they didn’t even discuss the issue he’d brought forth during the public hearing, he said – namely, the general negative impact on those who need AATA’s service.

Partridge asked that the AATA board continue to make accessible, affordable transportation and para-transit its top priorities and to keep rates affordable and expand the service countywide. The board should find subsidies to reduce rates for seniors and disabled people. He noted that one reason Michael Ford was hired as AATA’s CEO was to institute an affordable, accessible countywide transportation system.

During his second turn at the podium, Partridge said the county needs transit on a more open, accessible and friendly basis than it’s currently being provided. He criticized the board for discussing issues in skeleton terms, with a predetermined agenda, and decisions already made. Agenda items are mentioned in passing and then given unanimous approval, he said. Discussions need to be more full and open.

Partridge said he’s critical of the board chair, the AATA’s CEO, the mayor and the city council for not making greater efforts to unite governmental units in county. Partridge said he attends Ann Arbor city council meetings as much as possible, and the sense he gets is that there’s not enough person-to-person contact between the AATA appearing in public in front of the city council and the Washtenaw County board of commissioners. Both of those organizations want to be in on the decision-making of this body, Partridge concluded. [The last occasion on which a representative of the AATA appeared at the city council was the Ann Arbor city council's Jan. 20, 2009 meeting. Then-board chair David Nacht appeared before the body to give councilmembers an update.]

Present: Charles Griffith, David Nacht, Jesse Bernstein, Sue McCormick, Rich Robben, Roger Kerson, Anya Dale

Next regular meeting: Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

The need for a construction manager was identified by representatives of the Federal Transit Administration after reviewing AATA projects that are being funded with federal dollars.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the Ann Arbor district library, where the AATA holds its meetings. A more detailed report of the meeting will follow.

One of those community forums was held on Thursday, an hour prior to the AATA’s monthly board meeting. But no one from the public showed up to that particular event – several other meetings are scheduled. The board meeting that followed was over within an hour. In addition to the master plan, the board discussed the most recent quarter’s on-time trip performance, which board member David Nacht described as “abysmal.”

Countywide Transportation Master Plan

AATA’s countywide master plan, due to be completed next year, aims to see what the public transit system could become in the decades ahead. AATA staff has scheduled a number of meetings around the county to get input and feedback on the plan. Details about the effort – called Moving You Forward – are available online.

The project came up during Thursday’s board meeting.

“We want to look at the draft of comments from meetings that [AATA CEO Michael Ford] has been holding,” said board member David Nacht in his report on the planning and development committee. “We’re curious as to how staff and consultants will combine that with the scenarios.”

Jack Eaton raises his hand to speak at the public forum held on Oct. 6 at the downtown public library. Eaton wanted more detail about how the SEMCOG population and jobs projections had been calculated for Ann Arbor over the next 30 years. Eaton, an attorney who ran unsuccessfully in the August 2010 Ward 4 city council Democratic primary, was a bus driver earlier in his career. (Photo by Dave Askins.)

The “scenarios” to which Nacht referred are those being developed by staff and consultants based on information gathered from the community. Hypothetical examples of the kind of scenarios that could be produced are a paratransit-intensive scenario, a rail-intensive scenario, a low-funding scenario or a high-funding scenario. Eventually, a preferred scenario will be identified and form the basis of the master plan.

The board will continue to set aside time before upcoming board meetings to see if the public takes advantage of the chance to discuss transportation issues, said board chair Jesse Bernstein. The community forums include staff presentations on the process for service changes and potential service changes for next year, along with discussions on topics brought up by the public.

Several forums were held earlier this month, and several more are scheduled in the next two weeks:

• Monday, Oct. 25: Saline City Hall, 6‐8 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 26: Ann Arbor District Library, Pittsfield Branch, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 26: Ann Arbor District Library, Malletts Creek Branch, 6‐8 p.m.
• Wednesday, Oct. 27: EMU Student Center, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Wednesday, Oct. 27: Dexter Township, 6‐8 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 28: Manchester Village offices, 6‐8 p.m.
• Wed, Nov. 3: Milan Senior Center, 6‐8 p.m.

MDOT Contract Approval Process, On-Time Performance

During Thursday’s meeting, board members unanimously passed the only resolution on the agenda, allowing AATA CEO Michael Ford to approve contracts up to $1 million with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation without waiting for board approval. Board member Sue McCormick said state programs often have to be approved within 30 days, and since the AATA meets monthly, that could prove to be a problem. Now Ford can approve those contracts himself, though he agreed to inform the board whenever that was done.

In discussing other issues during the meeting, Nacht mentioned that the on-time performance for buses this past summer was “abysmal.” For the three-month period from July-September 2010, 83.3% of trips were on-time. AATA’s goal for this service metric is 95%. Over the previous four quarters, on-time performance ranged from 82.8% at its lowest, to a high of 89.5%.

“On behalf of our riders, this is a big deal,” said Nacht. “If we are going to be a service provider, this is important.”

Bernstein agreed that the numbers were important, but said the numbers were understandable this past construction season when traffic was blocked on many streets. That includes the closing of South Fifth Avenue for construction of the underground parking garage next to the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown building, where the AATA board meetings are held.

The extensive repaving of Plymouth Road was also a serious problem. “I don’t even know how we got the buses moving on Plymouth,” Bernstein said.

A note in the board packet indicated that the July-September period consistently shows the lowest on-time performance, due to road construction as well as University of Michigan student move-in during September.

Also during Thursday’s meeting. Chris White, AATA’s manager of service development, told the board that a study on the feasibility of a route connecting the corridor from Plymouth Road down to South State Street should be ready in January. [See Chronicle coverage: "Transit Connector Study: Initial Analysis"]

AATA staff also reported that work is continuing on efforts to design and reconstruct the Blake Transit Center, the downtown terminal for all bus routes. The AATA announced earlier this month that it would receive a $1 million federal grant for the work. The center is located north of William Street, between Fourth and Fifth avenues.

At the news conference held on Oct. 11 to announce the grant – which featured remarks from Congressman John Dingell – AATA’s manager of maintenance Terry Black told The Chronicle that the newly reconstructed facility will be nestled in the southeast corner of the same parcel of land where the current facility and drive are located. The direction of bus traffic on the driveway, which splits the block between Fourth and Fifth avenues, will reverse its current configuration, which takes buses from Fifth to Fourth. The driveway for the newly reconstructed center will send buses out onto Fifth Avenue. Black also indicated that a board room, which had been previously mentioned as a possible feature of the new center, would not be included in the new design.

The grant opportunity itself, part of the State of Good Repair Bus and Bus Facilities Initiative, was identified by Chris White, AATA manger of service development, who told The Chronicle in a followup phone interview that he’d seen it on a Federal Transit Authority email list to which he subscribes. He reported that he’d vetted the allocation of resources to make the grant application with other staff, including CEO Michael Ford.

Their decision to invest the time in applying, White said, was based on the good fit between the grant criteria and the Blake replacement project. Because the AATA was well along in developing plans for replacement of Blake, White said, the challenge of the relatively short application window back in the spring – about six weeks – was somewhat easier to meet. White responded to a Chronicle request for a copy of the grant application by emailing a .pdf file, which includes, among other information, a detailed list of the current structural issues identified with the 23-year-old facility. [.pdf of grant application]

Public Commentary

Two people spoke during public commentary at Thursday’s meeting.

Jim Morgensen told the board he is concerned that the board will concentrate so much on attracting new riders that it forgets about the people who depend on the service to get around. Later in the meeting during another opportunity for public comment, he also noted how difficult it is to determine the source of about $2.4 million paid to AATA by the University of Michigan, which picks up the cost for its affiliates to ride AATA buses.

Alex Holden, representing the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living, also spoke during public commentary, telling the board that many of the people who use the center live outside of town and have a problem with the bus routes ending at 6:45 p.m. on weekends.

Board members present: Jesse Bernstein, Charles Griffith, Roger Kerson, Sue McCormick, David Nacht

Absent: Rich Robben, Anya Dale

Next regular meeting: Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor. The board meeting will be preceeded by a community forum on AATA’s countywide master plan. The forum will start at 5:30 p.m. [confirm date]

Chronicle editor Dave Askins contributed to this report.

The mailbox at the AATA headquarters on South Industrial. There's no particular connection between the mailbox and this meeting report – it's here for pure aesthetics. (Photo by the writer.)

The meeting had been rescheduled from its usual slot on the second-to-last Wednesday of the month to avoid additional absences.

The four board members who were present listened to a glowing review of the AATA from McCollom Management Consulting, which had been hired to perform an organizational audit.

The only business transacted by the board was to approve a contract for architectural and engineering services to design a replacement of the downtown Blake Transit Center. The $343,439 contract was awarded to DLZ Michigan Inc., which had three representatives on hand at the meeting to field any questions. [The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority may eventually provide a grant to the AATA for foundation work related to the newly constructed transit center.]

Before the meeting, the trio from DLZ clustered in conversation in the board room and noticed the missing members in the set of official framed board member photos hanging on the board room wall – “Where’s Paul?” one asked.

Who’s on the Board?

The “Paul” in the DLZ question was Paul Ajegba, whose term on the AATA board expired on May 1, 2010. According to the monthly report from Michael Ford, AATA’s CEO, Ajegba did not seek reappointment. He was first appointed in October 2004 to fill the vacancy of Steve Thorp, and was then appointed to a full five-year term in June 2005.

The framed photograph of Ted Annis was also missing from the board room wall on Wednesday. As The Chronicle previously reported, city administrator Roger Fraser had pitched the idea to Annis of serving on the Ann Arbor Housing Commission board shortly before the council dissolved and reconstituted that body in mid-March 2010. [Chronicle coverage: "Housing Commission Set to Hire Director"]

Annis responded to the offer by saying that he’d prefer to continue his service on the AATA board. But as of Wednesday, there was still no clarity about the possible reappointment of Annis or a replacement for him. From the CEO’s monthly report dated May 10: “Since AATA Board members cannot continue until reappointed, we are awaiting word on the  reappointment of Ted Annis.”

At the city council’s May 3, 2010 meeting, mayor John Hieftje did not mention a reappointment of Annis when he nominated Washtenaw County planner Anya Dale to replace Ajegba on the board.

But in an email sent to media on Thursday morning, May 13, Annis reported that he’d met with the mayor – who makes the nominations to the AATA board, which must be confirmed by the city council – and that he’d agreed with the mayor that he would take a break from the AATA board, but would be willing to come back in 2011. Hieftje had told him, Annis wrote, that the AATA board composition would change via two new appointments this year and two next year. [The terms for Charles Griffith and Rich Robben expire in May 2011.]

In the fall of 2009, their fellow board members elected Ajegba as chair of the AATA board and Annis as treasurer. On Wednesday, Charles Griffith, who serves as the board’s secretary, chaired the meeting, and Rich Robben filled in as secretary.

The first order of business for Griffith was to thank Ajegba and Annis for their service and their work, but he stressed that the two would be acknowledged in a more formal way at a future meeting. Griffth indicated that he would not be seeking to fill either one of the two vacant officer positions on the board – chair and treasurer – and offered to served as the nominating committee of one. He asked board members to let him know if they were interested in filling one of those positions – there’ll be an election of officers possibly at the next board meeting in June. Griffith said he hoped that by June the board would hear something about a replacement for Annis.

Consultant’s Report: ATTA Boy, AATA

Jack Doolittle of McCollom Management Consulting delivered some welcome news to the board on the organizational audit he’d conducted across the organization.

Doolittle told the board that the review had begun in February 2010. Overall, his findings indicated that the organizational structure and the senior management team was well-qualified to meet the goals of the organization, in particular with respect to its fixed-route service. The efficiency of the driver workforce, he said, was the highest in the peer group of similar transit authorities used to benchmark AATA – Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Madison, Toledo,  Urbana, South Bend, Lexington, Durham, Little Rock,  Syracuse and Tallahassee.

The peer institutions, Doolittle said, were chosen based on factors like population, miles of service provided, and number of passengers. And an effort had been made, he said, to include as many communities as possible that were also university towns. Most of them, he noted, were in the upper Midwest.

The “fixed-route” bus service operated by AATA is the regularly-scheduled service. That’s complemented by “paratransit” services offered to seniors and handicapped people on an on-demand basis. For paratransit services, Doolittle told the board, the AATA went above and beyond what is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Compared to the peer group, Doolittle told the board that AATA buses carried 4% more passengers per service hour, their drivers worked 7% more hours, and they achieved 4% more service hours per employee. He also told them that the administrative staff was 8% smaller, with roughly the same cost and revenue per service hour. The staffing, he concluded, was appropriate for the current mission, but needs additional professional skills in order to tackle the new, countywide mission.

The cost controls that had been set in place, Doolittle continued, had resulted in cost increases over the last six years for the AATA averaging around 1.4% per year, compared to 4% per year for the peer systems.

As a potential problem, Doolittle identified the fact that the operating workforce has a high level of seniority – which is a function of the fact that the top pay rate is achieved after just three years of service. So about 70% of the drivers, he said, are paid at the top wage rate. Because vacation time is also a function of seniority, he said, the high percentage of top seniority drivers reduces availability and flexibility for scheduling.

Doolittle characterized the online, real-time supervision of the system as effective.

Commenting on the AATA bus fleet, Doolittle described the coaches as modern and well-maintained with their size and age at industry standards. He said there’d been an 86% improvement in reliability of the buses over the last six years. One problem with the maintenance program, he said, was that the inventory of parts was too large for the fleet. There was a one-year inventory on hand, when there should be something like a 6-7 month inventory. The inventory management system, he said, needs to be upgraded or replaced.

Doolittle characterized the headquarters facility as well as the bus shelters as in “good shape.”

Commenting on the ridership levels, Doolittle noted that from 2006 to 2008, ridership had increased 50%, from 4 million per year to 5.9 million – largely due to the impact of the MRide program, which allows University of Michigan staff and students to ride AATA buses without paying a fare when they board a bus. From the period 2003 to 2008, Doolittle said, the amount AATA spent per passenger ride had dropped from $3.39 to $2.37.

Commenting on the presentation from Doolittle, board member Jesse Bernstein noted that in the performance monitoring and external relations committee meeting, they’d delved into the draft report from McCollom in more detail than the 50,000-foot level view the board was being presented. Bernstein wanted to know if the report was available online. Answer: not yet. The final draft has not yet been prepared.

Charles Griffith said he found it reassuring that their costs are in line with those of other systems once adjustments are made for the cost of living. He characterized the report as a useful tool.

Bernstein asked for some additional clarification on how the federal Section 5307 formula funds are used by AATA as compared to the peer systems. Brian McCollom fielded that question. He explained that such funds can be used on two main categories of items: (i) capital expenses – like buses, shelters, and terminals, and (ii) preventive maintenance on capital assets. The Section 5307 funds pay 80% of the costs, he said, with a 20% local match expected.

In the peer systems, McCollom said, about 11% of operating budgets were paid out of Section 5307 funds, compared to 10% for the AATA. Looking at the balance between capital expenses and preventive maintenance in the Section 5307 funds, the AATA has a 60-40 split, whereas peer systems show an average of a 33-67 split for capital expenses and preventive maintenance.

The analysis of AATA’s use of 40% of its Section 5307 dollars on preventive maintenance, compared to a 67% portion by peer systems, may have given board member David Nacht some comfort. Nacht has often expressed concern about the use of preventive maintenance dollars. Most recently, at the board’s March 24, 2010 meeting, he had cautioned against using preventive maintenance dollars for budget fixes:

Nacht concurred, saying that financial direction was especially important, given how easy it is to use preventive maintenance dollars for temporary budget fixes.

Board member Sue McCormick noted that sometimes she hears snippets of conversation from the community about the AATA operating a “gold-gilded service.” She asked Doolittle and McCollom to comment on any aspects of the AATA’s service that might fit that description.

McCollom indicated there was nothing that he thought would merit that description. He reiterated that the AATA’s numbers were good – 31 passengers per service hour was a good number, he said. On the paratransit side, he said, the peer systems they had evaluated just meet the letter of the ADA law. “You go beyond that,” he told the board. But that’s a policy decision, he said, concluding, “I’m uncomfortable saying that’s excessive.”

During the first public commentary time slot, which immediately followed the consultant’s presentation, Carolyn Grawi, who works with the Center for Independent Living, responded to the consultant’s comments on the ADA requirements, describing the accessibility requirements this way: “That’s the bottom, not the top.” She described the AATA paratransit system as a “model system,” but said it still had gaps. In Mount Pleasant, she said, it cost $1 for same-day on-demand paratransit service, compared with the $4 charged by the AATA.

In an email sent to current board members on May 13, the day after their meeting, former treasurer Ted Annis questioned why the consultant’s report did not include a contrastive analysis of the AATA with the University of Michigan bus system, which operates at $55/service hour compared with $105/service hour for the AATA. In his email, Annis also noted that overpayments made by the AATA for its on-demand paratransit service were less than what had previously been identified. But even with the different analysis of overpayments, Annis wrote, the AATA was paying $444,000 a year too much for paratransit service.

Architect for Blake Transit Center

At its Dec. 16, 2009 meeting, the AATA board had approved issuing bids for the reconstruction of the Blake Transit Center (BTC) on the same footprint as the existing facility on South Fourth Avenue. [Chronicle coverage: AATA Board: Get Bids to Rebuild Blake] On Wednesday night, the board approved a $343,439 contract with DLZ Michigan Inc. for architectural and engineering services.

The AATA sent its request for proposals on the project to 49 firms and received 15 qualified proposals in response. Three top proposals were identified: DLZ Michigan; Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment Inc.; and Parsons Brinckerhoff Michigan. Oral presentations from the three were heard on May 4-5, 2010.

At Wednesday’s board meeting, Fred Pezeshk, Brad Funkhauser and Michael Vernich of DLZ were available to answer questions, but there were no board questions that could not be handled by Terry Black, who’s manager of maintenance for AATA. Black answered a question from Jesse Bernstein about construction start and timeframe by saying that they expected to start in the spring of 2011, with an 8-10 month construction period. Black confirmed that the AATA was coordinating with the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority on the underground parking garage project the next block over on South Fifth, which will still be under construction during that time period.

Black indicated that temporary quarters would likely at least in part take the form of trailers located on the parking lot at Fifth & William. Sue McCormick confirmed that the AATA’s local advisory council, which advocates for seniors and handicapped riders, would be included as an internal stakeholder as the project moved from a conceptual phase to actual design.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the contract with DLZ for the design and engineering of the Blake Transit Center reconstruction.

At Wednesday’s meeting, McCormick noted that the city of Ann Arbor engineering staff, who assisted with the review of the responses to the RFP for Blake, had been very complementary of the AATA process and implementation by staff. Michael Ford, AATA’s CEO, returned the praise to the city staff.

Also included as part of the review team for the Blake Transit Center proposals was Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. Earlier Wednesday morning, Pollay had told the DDA board’s partnerships committee that she would be asking the DDA’s full board for a grant to help fund more substantial foundations and footings than would be required for the current concept for reconstructing the Blake Transit Center. The conceptual design, also done by the architectural and engineering firm DLZ, includes two levels on the existing 3,675 square foot BTC footprint.

The thought behind a possible DDA grant would be to allow for a taller structure to be built in the future on top of the building that’s currently planned. Pollay has floated the same idea previously – for example, at the January 2010 meeting of the DDA partnerships committee. [Chronicle coverage: "DDA Floats Idea for Fourth Avenue"]

Reports from the CEO and Committees

Michael Ford, CEO of the AATA, is approaching the first anniversary of his service at the AATA, and expressed his appreciation for the staff’s hard work so far. He’s previously mentioned that he’s been running them hard.

Ford noted that the AATA had launched the informational part of the countywide transportation initiative. It’s supported with a  new website – movingyouforward.org.

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Jesse Bernstein said that some of the initial meetings with public officials were starting to take place and that some of them were starting to “get it” – the AATA is not asking them for money, but rather asking what the plan should be. At the board’s April meeting, a contract with an outside consultant to develop the countywide plan – a transit master plan (TMP) – had been approved.

[Bernstein has written some pieces for Concentrate on the subject of the countywide transit plan.]

What the Plan Should Be: Public Comment

Though they were not speaking directly to the question of what the countywide transit plan should be, two people made remarks during public commentary that could be taken that way.

Tim Hull, a freshly baked University of Michigan master’s degree holder and now UM employee, asked the board to reflect on the efforts the AATA made on behalf of commuters – the Chelsea-Ann Arbor Express and the Canton-Ann Arbor Express services, as well as the new park-and-ride lot at US-23 and Plymouth Road, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday. Hull suggested that those services needed to be funded by the communities where the commuters live: “I question whether Ann Arbor should be funding this.” Hull supported the idea of such services, but stressed that Ann Arbor transit tax dollars should go to services that are useful for Ann Arbor residents.

Also addressing the issue of park-and-ride lots, and how they can affect the bus service for those who use the system to get around town, Jim Mogensen related an anecdote about a ride he’d taken recently on the Number 2 bus from downtown. It was on the Thursday that the city hall had experienced the carbon monoxide episode, he said. [The date was April 15, 2011 2010. Coverage is included in the city council's April 19, 2010 meeting report.] He was downtown and decided to take the bus home. He noted that when he takes the bus, he plans strategically, because he uses a walker to get around. When he tries to board a bus at the Michigan League, he said, the number of students boarding buses makes safety an issue – for him and the students.

So he boarded at Blake Transit Center, he said. The bus wound its way through the UM campus accepting a full complement of passengers, then letting them off. By the time the bus reached the next-to-last stop, where he got off, there was only one other person on the bus. The one remaining stop on the route, explained Mogensen, was the new park-and-ride lot. Yet the route had been reconfigured specifically to serve the park-and-ride lot. The number of passengers on that route, he said, would continue to reflect high ridership, but the effect might not be to serve the park-and-ride lot – even though the route had been reconfigured, accepting the possibility that it was less optimal for local transit riders.

Present: Charles Griffith, Sue McCormick, Rich Robben, Jesse Bernstein

Absent: David Nacht

Next regular meeting: Wednesday, June, 23 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at AATA headquarters, 2700 S. Industrial Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

At Fourth & William streets in downtown Ann Arbor. The view is looking to the north. At right is an AATA bus shelter – further in the background on the same side of the street is the Blake Transit Center. Opposite the AATA facilities is a parking deck. (Photos by the writer.)

At the transportation committee meeting, Susan Pollay, the DDA’s executive director, floated an idea for partnering with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority on improvements to the South Fourth Avenue corridor, between William and Liberty streets. The partnership would include a grant to the AATA in connection with the reconstruction of the Blake Transit Center. No numbers are yet attached to the concept, which Pollay described as a possible “transit mall” – she was checking with the committee for their basic reaction to the idea. That reaction could fairly be described as warm, with some caution expressed by DDA board member Leah Gunn, when she arrived for the operations committee meeting.

Starting last month, the last half hour of the  transportation committee’s meeting has been configured to overlap with the operations committee’s meeting, so that the two groups can meet jointly to discuss a directive from the city council to the DDA to deliver a parking plan to the council by April. A preliminary outline of that plan was discussed on Wednesday.

Fourth Avenue

When DDA executive director Susan Pollay articulated the concept for creating something like a “transit mall” along Fourth Avenue on Wednesday morning, it was not the first time transportation committee members had heard the idea. As a part of The Chronicle’s coverage of the AATA board’s December meeting, we reported on last month’s DDA transportation committee meeting as well:

At the Downtown Development Authority’s transportation committee meeting earlier in the day, executive director Susan Pollay had focused on the 50% of those passengers who did not transfer, but rather had downtown Ann Arbor as a destination point. The DDA, she said, needed to make sure that for those passengers, the area around the Blake Transit Center was a welcoming place. DDA board member Newcombe Clark concurred with Pollay’s suggestion of putting “everything on the table” – including Fourth Avenue as a transit hub, possibly integrating the Fourth and William parking structure, with getDowntown offices constructed in that structure. [For the complete Chronicle article, see "AATA Board: Get Bids to Rebuild Blake"]

At Wednesday’s meeting, Pollay offered the idea in somewhat more concrete form, though it could fairly be described as still conceptual. Her goal, she said, was to see if the idea resonated with the transportation committee, before trying to attach some dollar figures to it.

The Jan. 27 DDA transportation committee meeting. Starting at the near corner moving clockwise: DDA executive director Susan Pollay; board members John Mouat, Joan Lowenstein, Keith Orr, Gary Boren, Jennifer Hall; getDowntown director Nancy Shore; city of Ann Arbor forester Kerry Gray; DDA intern Amber Miller.

The concept includes four elements. First, it would include a grant to the AATA in connection with the reconstruction of the Blake Transit Center, which is located on that block. The current conceptual design for the new BTC is for it to be a two-story building located on the same footprint as the current one-story facility.

The DDA grant to the AATA would go towards providing additional structural support in the new facility, so that additional stories could be added later – possibly in concert with development that might happen on the old YMCA lot, which directly abuts BTC to the south.

A second element of the concept would include installation of pedestrian-friendly amenities along the block, like trees and planters, or colorful banners and the like. A third element would be informational electronic signs mounted on the Fourth and William parking structure facing BTC, so that bus passengers could see arrival and on-time data for the next buses.

A final element of the transit mall concept would include building out the ground floor of the Fourth and William parking structure to accommodate retail/office space, to give the corridor a more human feel and generate more activity there. Offices for getDowntown was a specific suggestion – that organization recently relocated to Washington Street office space when the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce ended their arrangement to provide in-kind support.

Transportation committee member John Mouat suggested that a place for the AATA board to meet could be a part of the space built out in the parking structure. Finding a location for the AATA board that is more accessible to the public than their current board room at AATA headquarters on South Industrial Avenue has become a priority for the AATA.

About the concept Pollay said, “I’m feeling ambitious,” and the transportation committee seemed to concur in principle. Pollay will now work with deputy director Joe Morehouse to develop some dollar figures and present those to the transportation committee at its February meeting. At that point, the committee could choose to send a recommendation to the full board.

If a recommendation comes to the full board that includes building out retail/office space in the parking structure, board member Leah Gunn will likely need to be convinced that commercial enterprises that might use the new space would not be subsidized to compete with other businesses. That was the sentiment she conveyed later during the joint transportation and operations committee meeting, which followed the transportation committee’s session. [Gunn serves on the operations committee.]

Chronicle readers might have already seen Gunn’s view on the subject. She left a comment following a recent Chronicle article about the closing of the John Leidy shop, expressing much the same sentiment:

And who is to say that an existing business should not be helped as much as a “start-up” business? (Could your tax money have kept Shaman Drum or John Leidy open?) [link]

Parking Report

At their last meeting of 2009, on Dec. 21, the city council approved its part of an arrangement with the DDA that would direct net revenue from the surface parking lot at the old YMCA site to the city of Ann Arbor. [See Chronicle coverage: "Also: Most aspects of parking deal approved"] The DDA agreed to the deal at its Jan. 6 meeting. [See Chronicle coverage: "DDA Ponies Up: Parking, Pipes, Planning"]

Originally part of the city council’s Dec. 21 resolution was an extension of evening enforcement of parking meters downtown, but that was swapped out in favor of a resolution calling on the DDA to provide the city council with a plan:

RESOLVED, The City requests that the DDA present a plan to Council at its April 19, 2010 meeting for a public parking management plan. The plan should include but is not limited to:

• a communication plan to Downtown patrons, merchants and evening employees
• options for low cost parking for evening employees
• variation of rates and meter time limits based on meter location
• hours of enforcement
• methods of enforcement

So on Wednesday, a draft outline of the presentation was discussed by the joint assembly of the transportation and operations committees of the DDA board.

The outline of the presentation was a comprehensive look at the entire parking program of the DDA – in terms of the city council resolution, it appears that the “not limited to” language is being taken seriously. Leah Gunn remarked: “I don’t think the council realized how big an assignment they gave us.”

Executive director Susan Pollay clarified for committee members that the outline was far more comprehensive than what the city council had asked for – the DDA was taking the opportunity to provide a complete overview. She reminded the committee, however, that the audience for the April presentation – the city council – would be listening for some very specific information: How much revenue would evening enforcement generate?

At its headquarters on South Industrial Avenue, the AATA board tried out a makeshift venue for its Wednesday board meeting, because it offered an additional 12 seats for audience members, compared to the actual boardroom. Conceptual plans for the new Blake Transit transit center downtown include a boardroom. (Photos by the writer.)

The conceptual design calls for the new center to be constructed on the same footprint as the old center, with flexibility to expand, if abutting property were to become available.

The hope for flexibility on the Blake Transit Center design had also surfaced earlier in the day, at the Downtown Development Authority‘s transportation committee meeting. There, the concept of Fourth Avenue as a transit corridor had been floated by DDA executive director Susan Pollay.

In other business, the board kept the discussion going on the question of how to proceed in expanding its service to include more of Washtenaw County. But they did not consider any resolutions related to formation of a new, expanded public transit authority. As part of the effort to expand, a general board consensus emerged that the public needed to be educated about what public transit is, and how the AATA worked.

Related to the need to educate the public about what the AATA does was the treasurer’s report, submitted by Ted Annis, which recommended greater financial transparency through posting various financial data on the AATA website. The specific suggestion to post employee salaries was not embraced by all on the board, but the suggestions were remanded to the performance monitoring and external relations committee (PMER).

And a response by staff to the November treasurer’s report highlighted a potential point of contention in estimating revenues available for funding an expanded service. Specifically, how much revenue could be expected from fares in an expanded service?

CEO Michael Ford’s report to the board contained a bright bit of news: AATA’s employees had raised $4,500 through its adopt-a-family program, enough to sponsor two families. Board member Jesse Bernstein made a motion to acknowledge AATA staff for those efforts, which was unanimously approved.

Blake Transit Center Replacement

At its previous regular meeting on Nov. 18, the board had discussed the Blake Transit Center and the need to address its current dilapidated condition. In board discussion on Wednesday evening, it was the poor condition of the structure, plus a narrow window of opportunity for use of available funds, that led the board to pull the trigger on the initial authorization to solicit bids for the demolition, design and construction of a new transit facility on the building’s existing footprint.

That required some alteration of the original resolution, which had authorized the demolition, design and construction activity without explicitly building in what board member Sue McCormick called “a need for the board to pull the trigger a second time on this” – namely, the approval of the contracts.

The narrow window of the funding opportunity was laid out by Chris White, AATA manager of service development. AATA has a $1.6 million approved federal grant, which is matched at 25% by the state. The federal grant has no expiration date, but at the AATA’s most recent triennial review by the Federal Transit Administration in 2009, the lack of activity on the grant was noted. Further, the state grant is due to expire in September of 2010, after already having been extended two years at the AATA’s request.

There is an additional earmark to the AATA for $735,000 in the previously authorized federal transportation bill, with $183,750 in state matching funds. But on reauthorization of the federal transportation bill, those earmarked funds would be lost. The timing on that reauthorization is uncertain.

[The reauthorization of the federal transportation bill is being followed closely by city of Ann Arbor staff, because it is hoped that the influence of Congressman John Dingell, among others, can achieve an earmark that would help pay for the Stadium bridge reconstruction.]

Board treasurer Ted Annis asked whether Fuller Station – the proposed new structure to be built near the University of Michigan hospital campus in a city-university partnership – was factored into the decision about Blake, given that 50% of all passengers to Blake are transfer passengers. [Chronicle coverage of Fuller Station: "Council OKs Transit, Recycling, Shelter"]

Board member David Nacht replied to Annis that the question had been raised. However, Nacht said, there was not a comparative analysis done considering all the various options. Rather, the planning and development committee had considered the ADA compliance and deterioration issues, Nacht said, and considered the open variables of other transit initiatives to be not yet answerable. They had therefore concluded that their fiduciary duty was “to take care of business now.”

At the Downtown Development Authority’s transportation committee meeting earlier in the day, executive director Susan Pollay had focused on the 50% of those passengers who did not transfer, but rather had downtown Ann Arbor as a destination point. The DDA, she said, needed to make sure that for those passengers, the area around the Blake Transit Center was a welcoming place. DDA board member Newcombe Clark concurred with Pollay’s suggestion of putting “everything on the table” – including Fourth Avenue as a transit hub, possibly integrating the Fourth and William parking structure, with getDowntown offices constructed in that structure.

During Wednesday’s AATA meeting, board member Jesse Bernstein referred to Nacht’s “open variables” in subsequent deliberations, citing his own “other jokers in the deck”: The WALLY north-south commuter rail, development on the Fifth Avenue lot next to the library, and development on the old YMCA site at Fifth and William, which is now a surface parking lot. Annis described what the board was doing as “making a decision in an imperfect world.”

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi of the Center for Independent Living lamented the fact that up to now the CIL had not been included as a stakeholder in conceptual design work for the replacement transit center. During the meeting, board member Sue McCormick suggested that the AATA’s local advisory council should be included as a member on the project team itself.

McCormick also suggested that someone from Ann Arbor’s city staff needed to be a part of the project advisory committee – there would be right-of-way issues to deal with.

The regular AATA boardroom. This room was not used for the most recent meeting of the board.

The conceptual design, done by the architectural and engineering firm DLZ, includes two levels on the existing 3,675 sq. ft. footprint of BTC. There would be a canopy covering the entire area, which would ultimately reduce maintenance costs – there’d be less need to shovel and spread ice-melter in the winter, for example.

Annis expressed his hope that the new design would also eliminate the need to staff the facility with a security guard.

In the future, after the replacement had been built on the existing footprint, there would be room for expansion outwards towards Fifth Avenue, as well as upwards to three stories, according to architects from DLZ. Based on Ann Arbor’s zoning allowance for floor area ratios, they said, it would be possible to build 50,000 sq. ft.

The conceptual design also shows the possibility of a boardroom in the new Blake Transit Center. Board member Jesse Bernstein expressed some reservations about the need for a boardroom in the new facility, saying he was hard-pressed to justify that.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the resolution to solicit bids for design and construction of a new Blake Transit Center.

Treasurer’s Report: Video, Website

The adequacy of the existing boardroom was one of two main points in the one-page treasurer’s report for December [searchable PDF scan of December treasurer's report]. In that report, Ted Annis cites several aspects of the current boardroom that are inadequate:

The current meeting room is too small and it has no CTN broadcast capability. Frequently, there is not sufficient room to seat all attendees. There is not sufficient room to seat the CEO and his staff together and in proximity to the Board table. The CEO is forced to sit at the Board table and his staff are forced to sit in the audience and participate from there. There is no timer to measure the speaking limit of public speakers and there is no early warning signal for the speaker. There is no built-in projection capability. There is no microphone capability. There is no video record capability.

The Board meeting room needs to be enlarged (by about twice) and equipped to eliminate the above noted shortcomings. An inspection of the meeting room at the AADL Main Library (fourth floor) would seem to be useful.

Expressing support for the idea of video recording, board member Jesse Bernstein suggested that the video could be digitized and made available on the AATA website.

In board discussion of video recording their meetings, board member David Nacht said that he was personally in favor of video recording meetings, but noted that the board had recently voted down a proposal to video record meetings, and that lacking new information, out of respect for previous board decisions he was disinclined to support it. Responding to Nacht, Annis said that the “new information” could be that the AATA had a new CEO and was exploring an extension of its service to more areas of the county.

Thomas Partridge, who appears frequently for public commentary at AATA board meetings, has in the past often suggested that the board change its venue to the CTN studios located across the street from AATA headquarters, which would provide video recording capability as well as additional space.

In an effort to accommodate more people, the board on Wednesday met in the AATA headquarters lunch room, which afforded space for 12 additional chairs. The narrow configuration, however, resulted in a considerable distance – probably longer than an AATA bus – between the far side of the board table and the rearmost audience seat. Audience members periodically asked board members to speak up so they could be heard. On the plus side, The Chronicle was able to sit at a table, which was more conducive to notetaking.

The other main point of the treasurer’s report for this month was the recommendation to post various pieces of financial data on the AATA website – in the interest of increasing the transparency of the organization as it tried to make clear to the public what the AATA does and how it does it. Those data include:

1. The complete AATA check register for the previous full year.
2. The names, titles, and actual calendar year compensation of all personnel (without Social Security numbers) starting in January 2010 with 2009 payroll data.
3. The aggregate overtime for the previous two full years.
4. The travel and expense reports for the previous two years.
5. The (newly developed) “Report to the Treasurer Financial Statements.”
6. The union contract.
7. The MRide contract. [MRide is a program that allows University of Michigan affiliates to ride AATA buses without paying a fare when they board.]
8. The POSA charges. [POSA stands for "purchase of service agreements," and is the mechanism by which the AATA provides service to municipalities other than Ann Arbor, where service is funded by a city millage.]
9. The cost/bus service hour for the last two years with the comparative data for Bay Metro, Mich.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Reno, Nev.
10. The monthly report by route showing ridership, including MRide.

Regarding items 2 and 3, board chair Paul Ajegba noted that as a Michigan Dept. of Transportation employee, he’d been on the receiving end of the publication of salary information, and reported that the practice was not good for morale. In lieu of posting that information, he said, it would be better to provide information on how to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act, so that people who wanted salary information could obtain it through the FOIA.

The recommendations from the treasurer’s report were remanded to the performance monitoring and external relations committee.

Response to Previous Treasurer’s Report

CEO Michael Ford’s report to the board included analysis of the treasurer’s report from the previous month. In that report was a sketch-up of a possible budget within which a consultant might be asked to design a countywide service system. The budget assumes that Ann Arbor’s city transportation tax would be eliminated, with all county residents – including Ann Arbor city property owners – paying a 1 mill county millage:

        Just A2 Tax  Countywide Tax
Taxes   $9,700,000   $15,000,000
POSAs    1,141,000             0
Fares    4,334,000     7,000,000
State    6,754,000     6,750,000
Federal  3,170,000     4,000,000
Other      361,000       500,000
Total  $25,460,000   $33,250,000

-
There’s a fundamental disagreement between Annis and AATA staff, not reflected explicitly in the tables used for summarizing the respective scenarios, about whether the bus system can be operated at $84 per service hour, which Annis’ scenario assumes. In the most recent year-to-date performance report, the AATA is operating at $106.50 per service hour.

On the same assumption as Annis – eliminating Ann Arbor’s city tax, and levying a 1 mill tax countywide – staff analysis included two additional columns to split out city services and county services:

        Just A2 Tax  City Svcs.  County Svcs. Countywide Tax
Taxes   $9,700,000   $4,700,000  $10,300,000  $15,000,000
POSAs    1,141,000            0            0            0
Fares    4,334,000    3,234,000    1,617,000    4,851,000
State    6,754,000    5,015,000    4,751,000    9,766,000
Federal  3,170,000    3,170,000      830,000    4,000,000
Other      361,000      361,000            0      361,000
Total  $25,460,000  $16,480,000  $17,498,000  $33,978,000

-
Where the two tables differ most dramatically is in the assumed fare revenues and state operating assistance.

Staff analysis assumes that service within the city of Ann Arbor would necessarily drop, because of the decreased contribution (by half) by Ann Arbor taxpayers to the system, and that fare revenues would reflect that drop. From the staff report it’s not clear why there’s an assumed increase in state funding – it effectively balances out the assumed loss in fares. In any case, the budget for a countywide system on either the treasurer’s assumptions or AATA staff assumptions would be quite comparable: $33,250,000 versus $33,978,000.

It’s worth pointing out that if fares are taken as an indicator of the amount of service provided by the AATA, then on the Annis scenario, a 30% increase in revenues would result in a 62% increase in the amount of service systemwide. On the AATA staff scenario, a 33% increase in revenues would result in a 12% increase in the amount of service systemwide. Baked into the Annis scenario, however, is a roughly 20% improvement in operating efficiency, as measured by dollars per service hour.

Countywide Expansion

The AATA held a special meeting on Dec. 8, to which they’d invited the heads of other transit agencies as well as their own legal consultants, to discuss extended service by the AATA to include more parts of the county. [Chronicle coverage: "AATA Gets Advice on Countywide Transit"]

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee on Wednesday, Jesse Bernstein said that what they’d concluded from the board’s special meeting was that they need to do a better job educating the public about what public transit is and how to evaluate how the AATA delivers transit services compared to other communities. He said he felt they were poised to do that.

When the board came to focus explicitly on the countywide issue, board member David Nacht spoke of the importance of knowing what kind of service the AATA wanted to build before talking to the public. He thus suggested it would perhaps be in order to begin to develop concrete plans at the level of establishing priorities –  service to Ypsilanti could be a greater priority than providing access to the far reaches of Washtenaw County.

In response to Nacht, Sue McCormick said that her thoughts were nearly 180-degrees to Nacht’s thinking. She said she’d been impressed with Bob Foy’s comments at the board’s special meeting a week prior – Foy is general manager of Flint’s Mass Transit Authority. And Foy, McCormick reminded her colleagues, had stressed the importance of engaging each community and asking what kind of service they wanted. CEO Michael Ford said that AATA staff was prepared to engage communities and had a list of focus groups.

That brought Bernstein back to his point that in terms of timing and staging, the AATA needed to help the whole county understand what public transit is.

Board member Charles Griffith reported that he was not entirely convinced, based on the special board meeting, that the AATA necessarily needed to convert to an Act 196 transit authority – AATA is currently an Act 55 authority.

Responding to Griffith, McCormick noted that one “toggle point” on the Act 55 versus Act 196 question would be if the Plymouth-State street connector study came back with a recommendation for a fixed-rail system, there’d be a distinct advantage to Act 196. Act 196 provides for the possibility of a 25-year millage if it supports a fixed-guideway system.

Nacht came around to saying that he agreed with what his colleagues had said, and that the AATA was in the best position to play an educational role. While he acknowledged that yes, the AATA needed to hear what the demand was, the public also needed to be educated about what is realistic.

Nacht raised the possibility of beefing up staff for the educational component in the same way that they’d hired someone to manage the WALLY project.

Board chair Paul Ajegba suggested remanding the question to the committees.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Jim Mogensen spoke to the board’s perception that they could determine their own timeline for the countywide question. He noted that at the Dec. 5 Ann Arbor city council budget retreat, the topic of the city’s transit millage money had arisen, and that the city council was looking at the transit millage as a potential solution to budget issues. He suggested that the board needed a plan in the event that a countywide millage didn’t pass and that the Ann Arbor transit millage was cut in half. He noted that it was not just his own pessimism that led him to think of this scenario – the telephone survey of voter attitudes countywide showed just barely over half of voters were inclined favorably towards a millage.

Adopt-a-Family

CEO Michael Ford reported that in partnership with the union, Transit Workers Union Local #171, AATA staff had donated 179 hours of vacation time to raise $4,500 dollars to sponsor two families through SOS Community Services.

Board member Jesse Bernstein moved that the board express its appreciation to the staff for its efforts in that regard, which they did unanimously.

Other Public Commentary

Clark Charnetski: Filling in for the chair of the local advisory council (LAC), Rebecca Burke, who could not attend the board meeting, Charnetski apprised the board of changes in the terminology for bylaws, and on work the LAC was doing to develop a policy on no-shows for the A-Ride service.

Thomas Partridge: Partridge lamented the fact that there was no mention of the board’s special meeting on Dec. 8 on the agenda, and called on the board to begin planning a comprehensive north-south, east-west transportation system that included on-demand service in all areas of the county. He suggested that such a system could become an economic stimulator for the entire county. He also encouraged board members to ride the bus and imagine negotiating some of the more difficult turns the drivers have to make in the dark.

Present: Charles Griffith, David Nacht, Ted Annis, Jesse Bernstein, Paul Ajegba, Sue McCormick

Absent: Rich Robben

Next regular meeting: Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at AATA headquarters, 2700 S. Industrial Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

Michael Ford, left, had extra copies made of the treasurer's report and distributed them to audience members. (Photo by the writer.)

The board’s resolutions were complemented by a treasurer’s report from Ted Annis that laid out a possible budget within which the countywide system could be designed. Presentation of that report revealed some conceptual differences among board members in their preferred approach to engaging an outside consultant to do the countywide system design: (i) Here’s a budget, now design the system; or  (ii) Design us a system, then tell us how much it would cost.

Key to the budget that Annis proposed was the assumed elimination of Ann Arbor’s transportation millage – on Annis’ assumption, Ann Arbor residents would pay the same countywide millage as other county residents if such a millage were approved.

In other business, the board approved service changes to Route #2 in northeast Ann Arbor.

Also generating discussion was the plan to repair, refurbish or reconstruct the Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor, which was described as “dilapidated.”

The board also received an explanation for the decreased ridership compared to last year, and a report on the move to different office space by the getDowntown program.

Countywide Vision for AATA

The adoption of the vision statement itself generated little board discussion – that had happened at the committee level. Board member David Nacht quipped, “I was not there for its creation … a spectacular job was done creating it.”

AATA Vision Statement: The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority shall be the public transportation provider for Washtenaw County. Our customers shall see AATA’s expanded services as the preferred option for traveling to destinations within the county, as well as to and from the county. AATA will offer appropriate modes of transportation with the most efficient use of resources. These services shall enhance the quality of life for Washtenaw County stakeholders while promoting the economy, safeguarding the environment, and strengthening communities.

Outcome: The board unanimously adopted the vision statement.

Countywide Plan for AATA: Wording of the Resolution

Discussion of the resolution to develop a countywide system focused on three issues: (i) the need to educate the public about how the system is currently funded, (ii) the use of the word “staff” versus “consultant,” and (iii) the definition of “values based public transportation systems.” [Original Draft of Countywide Resolution (Scanned and OCRed .pdf)]

Board member Jesse Bernstein, who had attended a meeting of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) earlier in the day, led off discussion of the resolution by saying that the message he’d heard from WATS was loud and clear: Communicate clearly to the public what the AATA is trying to do.

To that end, he suggested amending a “Whereas” clause to make clear where AATA’s funding comes from:

Whereas, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is a recognized provider of public transit services within the city of Ann Arbor, supported by a citywide millage and with purchase of service agreements with local government units …

That suggestion of Bernstein’s met with approval from Ted Annis and the rest of his board colleagues.

In the interest of making clear the enormous number of stakeholders and systems that the AATA would engage in developing the countywide plan, Bernstein then suggested that the resolved clauses be amended to read:

Now therefore it is resolved, staff shall take steps to develop a countywide service plan that includes other transportation initiatives, and positions AATA to identify funding and operating opportunities to coordinate and integrate values-based public transportation systems within all of Washtenaw County, including connecting as appropriate to transportation services of adjoining counties.

And it is further resolved that AATA staff shall seek advice, guidance and approval from the board prior to implementing major segments of the countywide transportation system.

Annis chafed at the use of the word “staff” because the intent of the AATA is to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a consultant to design the system. After discussion of the issue, Bernstein suggested that the wording be changed to “staff, with appropriate outside consultation,” and Annis was amenable to that change.

Annis was also puzzled by another phrase: “What’s values-based public transportation systems?” he wanted to know. CEO Michael Ford immediately jumped, in saying, “I’m the one who put that in there!” He clarified that it was meant to reflect that the transportation system in a particular community would reflect the values of that community – there’s no one level or kind of service that would meet the expectations of all communities. Board member Sue McCormick, Ann Arbor’s public services administrator, confirmed that “values-based” was a term that the city often used in the same context. Annis was then content that it was a “term of art.”

Annis then went on to suggest that the board might want to contemplate changing the name of the agency to the Washtenaw Transportation Authority to make clear what the vision is. “Talk about communicating a message!” he said. In response to the suggestion, the board chair Paul Ajegba cautioned that this was something the consultant should first take a look at. Annis replied, “I would submit that we don’t need a consultant to decide that.” While board member David Nacht agreed that “Ted’s gut feeling is right on the money,” the board did not take up the suggestion that evening.

Outcome: The board unanimously adopted the resolution to move forward with developing a countywide system. [No dollars where authorized with the resolution.]

Funding the Countywide Plan for AATA: Treasurer’s Report

Ted Annis, who serves as the board’s treasurer, produced a report that he’d condensed to a single sheet. In response to board members’ requests, copies were made and distributed to board members who hadn’t brought their own copy and to audience members. [AATA Treasurer's Report, scanned and OCRed .pdf file]

These are the key recommendations in that report:

Treasurer’s Recommendations

• Shift the transportation tax by eliminating the current perpetual Ann Arbor Transportation Tax of 2.06 mills and replacing it with a countywide tax of 1.0 mill. (The elimination needs to be contingent upon approval of the countywide tax.)
• Give the outside consultant an operating budget design objective of $33,000,000/year for the countywide system and a bus operating budget guideline of $84/bus service hour.
• Separate WALLY, the North-South rail system proposed between Washtenaw and Livingston counties, from the above planning and funding; and handle it separately.

The recommended budget objective of $33 million a year is based on the following breakdown of the funding structure. In the left column is the current funding structure, which depends on a 2.06 mill tax levied just in the city of Ann Arbor, plus purchase of service agreements (POSAs) with other communities. In the second column is the funding structure that would result from eliminating the roughly 2-mill tax currently levied in the city of Ann Arbor and replacing it with a countywide tax of 1 mill. For residents of Ann Arbor, on this scenario, their transportation tax bill would be cut in half.

                Just A2 Tax  Countywide Tax
Local Taxes     $9,700,000   $15,000,000
POSAs            1,141,000             0
Fares            4,334,000     7,000,000
State            6,754,000     6,750,000
Federal          3,170,000     4,000,000
Other              361,000       500,000
Total Revenues $25,460,000   $33,250,000

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Annis then prompted some discussion by stressing that it was important to provide a budget constraint within which the consultant should work in developing a plan for a countywide system. He noted that in previous conversation with board chair Paul Ajegba, he’d been offered a different view by Ajegba, which Annis characterized as: “Let the guy design it and see what it costs.”

Board members David Nacht and Sue McCormick expressed their appreciation for the thoughtfulness that had gone into the report. Nacht said, “This a treasurer thinking like a treasurer should.” McCormick said she’d be looking for some additional detail behind certain assumptions – like the increase in revenues from fares – as the conversation moved ahead.

Board member Rich Robben, who is executive director of plant operations at the University of Michigan, drew an analogy to building a new hospital: “It’s important that the program [purpose] for a new building match the budget.” He suggested that it’s more an iterative process of agreeing on a program, then seeing what it would cost.

Ajegba emphasized that the scope of work defined for the consultant should include countywide service provided at the current level of service.

Annis identified Robben’s “iterative process” as something he could support.

Funding the Countywide Plan for AATA: Public Commentary

During public commentary at the meeting, Larry Krieg of Wake Up Washtenaw presented a perspective on funding a countywide system that had been prompted in part by a comment on an Ann Arbor Chronicle article, “AATA Plans for Countywide System,” which suggested that residents of the county did not want and could not afford AATA.

Krieg walked the board through some background data, and arrived at the conclusion that 112,980 households in Washtenaw County have more than one car. He contemplated the possibility that a countywide transportation system could allow 20% of of those households to reduce their car ownership by one car. On the assumption that elimination of one car could save a household $9,190 each year, Krieg arrived at a countywide savings totaling $207 million.

If split 75-25 between households and the public transportation system, that would yield $51 million for the transportation system, Krieg concluded. [Details of Krieg's analysis: "Can we afford a countywide transit system?"]

Service Changes: Route 2

The board also considered a resolution to change service in the northeast part of the city in order to run buses to the new park-and-ride lot being constructed at US-23 and Plymouth Road. [The facility is now waiting for DTE to hook up electricity to the site.] The proposed service change will create three routes out of two existing routes – #2 and #2X. The new routes will be called #2A, #2B, and #2C. [Route details]

Routes 2A and 2B (image links to .pdf document with maps and descriptions of 2A, 2B, and 2C

During public commentary, Jim Mogensen pointed out to the board that the Federal Transit Administration had issued a circular that described how transit authorities receiving FTA funds are supposed conduct a study of any service changes, to ensure that minority and low-income populations are not adversely affected by such service changes.

The circular cited by Mogensen is FTA C 4702.1A, which is available in MS Word document here: [FTA C 4702.1A]

Mogensen also stressed to the board that regardless of whether there was a negative impact, the requirement was for the study to be completed. He also expressed the concern that the service changes were being driven by a desire “to make the numbers work” if a countywide millage did not pass.

When the board considered the resolution changing Route 2, board member Sue McCormick asked Chris White, the AATA’s manager of service development, to speak to the issue that Mogensen had raised.

White declared: “Mogensen is correct.” He confirmed that the staff had done the required analysis and that there was only a small percentage of the protected populations in the service area that was affected, which also factored into the analysis.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the changes in service on Route 2.

Service Changes: Route 6

During public commentary, Carolyn Grawi of the Center for Independent Living reported that she was thrilled to be working with CEO Michael Ford on a tweak to Route 6, a plan which would have the bus turn into Research Park Drive off of Ellsworth as it heads from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor. The obstacle to having the bus enter Research Park Drive from State Street on its way from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti is the need to turn left from Research Park onto Ellsworth, which is difficult without a stoplight.

For now, however, the plan starting in January 2010 is for the bus to turn into Research Park from Ellsworth on its Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor run.

Blake Transit Center

In her remarks during public commentary, Carolyn Grawi expressed some frustration that the Center for Independent Living had not been included as a stakeholder as discussions had proceeded within the AATA about the physical condition of the Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor. There were accessibility issues involved, she said, that CIL would want to have input on.

The board did not consider any resolutions on the BTC, but the work done in the planning and development committee, reported out by board member Rich Robben, did generate considerable conversation at the board table.

The options generated by the engineering consultant were as follows:

Option 1 – Refurbish the existing BTC to bring it up to today’s building standards and maintain the existing square footage. The estimated cost for this option is approximately $1-$1.3million.

Option 2 – Refurbish the existing BTC to bring it up to today’s standards and add approximately 370 square feet to expand the office and drivers’ room spaces. The estimated cost for this option is approximately $1.5- $1.9 million.

Option 3 – Construct a new transit center using today’s codes on the existing footprint that would double the current square footage of the facility. The new building would be two stories and have an estimated cost of approximately $2.7-$3.7 million.

Option 4 – This option was developed at the urging of CEO Michael Ford and included the development of a completely new transit center using the combined footprint of the existing BTC and that of the old YMCA property (where the city of Ann Arbor recently constructed a surface parking lot). The estimated cost of this option is approximately $9.6-$10 million and does not include the cost of the property.

Ford reported at Wednesday’s board meeting that he’d talked to Ann Arbor city administrator Roger Fraser about the possibility of parking located next to the current BTC property.

Board member Ted Annis expressed his view that the newly proposed Fuller Road Station needed to be factored into any discussion about BTC. [For some previous Chronicle coverage on that station, which is to include over 1,000 parking spaces, see "Work Session: Trains, Trash, and Taxes"]

Board member David Nacht said that he’d raise that question during the committee meeting. Whatever happens with Fuller Road Station, Nacht said, BTC needs to continue as a significant presence in downtown Ann Arbor. Half of all morning boardings of AATA buses have downtown as a destination, Nacht said.

In response, Annis pointed out that half of the BTC traffic is transfers, and that it was possible that Fuller Road Station might take some of the transfer load off BTC. Annis also wanted to know what the possible impact of the north-south Plymouth-State Street connector might be. [A study of the corridor – paid for by AATA, the city of Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, and the University of Michigan – is currently underway.]

In the course of discussion it emerged that the federal grant money that would fund the project needed to be committed soon, on pain of losing the funding. It was important to actually use the federal grant so as not to weaken future grant applications – if grants awarded by the federal government are not used, the feds might prefer in the future to award the money to some municipality where it might have an actual impact.

Into the mix, board member Jesse Bernstein threw the question: “How will we make this decision?” The exact answer did not seem to emerge, but there was no argument about the fact that it would need approval by the full board, not just the planning and development committee.

Ridership

Board member David Nacht took a close look at ridership numbers in the performance monitoring committee’s report and wondered about the clear decline in ridership: Was it due to the fare increase that the board had passed earlier in the year?  Nacht observed that the AATA had raised fairs “a lot,” but board chair Paul Ajegba objected to that characterization.

What had drawn Nacht’s attention were year-to-date numbers for the current fiscal year, which begins in October at the AATA. Ridership is down, while revenues are up.

          October 2008    October 2009
Rides      650,238         566,262
Revenue   $377,918        $395,432

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Chris White, the AATA manager of service development, pointed out that there was one fewer weekday in 2009 than in the 2008 period being compared. Further, he said, the number of rides by seniors and those with disabilities had increased on the fixed route system – fares for that category of riders were decreased. [On a related note, in her report from the Local Advisory Council, Rebecca Burke had suggested that the language of the council's charge needs to be overhauled to replace "elderly" with "seniors" and "handicapped" with "people with disabilities." It was a change board member Ted Annis said he welcomed, because he preferred not to be called "elderly."]

The theory that the fare increase had caused a decrease in ridership, White said, was not supported by the fact that among riders who did not pay their own fares (e.g., UM affiliates) ridership was also down.

CEO Michael Ford said that declining ridership was a nationwide trend.

Nacht then inquired about the new Canton-to-Ann Arbor express bus service. Ford allowed that there’d been some challenges. “As bad as Chelsea?” asked Nacht. It was about the same, replied Ford. White allowed that “it’s really disappointing.”

getDowntown Moves

Out of the performance monitoring and external relations committee came the report that the getDowntown program would be moving out of its current offices within the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce to a location on East Washington Street. The move will take place in the next two weeks. The chamber is attempting to sublease its current space to another tenant, and does not intend to continue its current arrangement to provide space to getDowntown.

The getDowntown program has been a four-way partnership between the chamber, the city of Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor DDA, and the AATA. Going forward in the short term while the remaining partners develop a longer-term plan, the AATA will temporarily take over getDowntown’s payroll functions, and the DDA will pay the rent on the new office space.

CEO’s Report: Special Meeting

CEO Michael Ford made a special point of thanking AATA staff, who he said had been “running fairly hard” in the last few months.

He reported some progress in discussions with McKinley properties at Glencoe Crossing on the possibility of allowing buses to turn in there as a way to help solve the situation at Arborland. [In the summer of 2009, Arborland's owner did not choose to continue the arrangement that allowed the AATA to use a bus stop inside the parking lot at Arborland.]

He reported some discussions, which would continue, with the city manager of Ypsilanti to improve security at the Ypsilanti Transit Center.

For the special board meeting on Dec. 8, Ford  noted that he’d invited some CEOs from other transit authorities in the state that had formed under the Act 196 legislation. The AATA is contemplating using that enabling legislation in the formation of its own countywide authority.

Present: David Nacht, Ted Annis, Jesse Bernstein, Paul Ajegba, Sue McCormick, Rich Robben
Absent: Charles Griffith

Special meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. at AATA headquarters, 2700 S. Industrial Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

Next regular meeting: Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at AATA headquarters, 2700 S. Industrial Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

Passenger view of the new AATA fare boxes that are scheduled to be deployed on Feb 6.

On Thursday morning, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority’s Lois Crawford was at Blake Transit Center spreading the word about the new fare boxes, which are scheduled to appear on AATA buses starting Feb. 6.

In addition to introducing riders to the new fare boxes, Crawford was distributing written information about the fare increase proposal and alerting bus riders who were waiting inside Blake to the ways they could give their feedback on the proposed rate hike, which would see the base fare climbing from $1 to $1.50 over the next two years.

Crawford had  one of the Odyssey model boxes manufactured by GFI Genfare on hand,  and powered up for inspection. The green-backlit message screen on the box read: “THANKS 4 RIDING AATA. WELCOME.”

Most riders will notice little immediate difference in their ride experience. One notable exception: M-Card holders. Currently, M-Cards, which are distributed to University of Michigan affiliates at no cost to them, need only be shown to the driver, who manually records the ride as an M-Ride. With the new fare boxes, M-Cards will need to be swiped in the slot that cuts diagonally across the upper right hand corner of the boxes from right to left. But drivers will continue to log every rider who enters the bus with a button press as they do now.

The new fare boxes are compatible with card printers, which can dispense fare cards as change for fares paid with bills as large as $10: Pay a $1 fare with a $10 bill and you get a card worth $9 in future bus fare as your change. This functionality will be up and running immediately on deployment of the new fare boxes. Reached by phone, Mary Stasiak, manager of community relations for AATA, stressed that the change cards are sturdy but not indestructible – care should be taken not to fold or otherwise mutilate them. AATA won’t be issuing refunds for damaged change cards.

Day passes (riders could take unlimited rides in the system for a single fare) can also be set up with the new boxes. The fare boxes can also read credit cards. When they’re deployed initially, the boxes will not be equipped with that functionality, however. AATA is still developing the pass packages and payment options that will be deployed on the fare boxes.

One of the bus riders Crawford interacted with on Thursday morning, Al Skinner, was enthusiast about the possibility of day passes. When you have a lot of trips to make over the course of a day, he said, the individual fares can add up quickly. Such day passes are available in Tulsa, Oklahoma for $3, he reported, a city where he visits a friend from time to time. Skinner is the former holder of a go!pass through the getDowntown program, but he no longer works for a downtown business, thus does not qualify for the yearly pass, which downtown employers can purchase for their employees at a cost of $5 per employee.

Skinner said he been to a lot of different cities, and that on the whole AATA provides on-time service that’s convenient. One suggestion he’d make, though, would be to run Route 20 more frequently and longer into the evening.

Public feedback on the proposed fare increases, as well as payment and pass options people would like to see with the new fare boxes, can be provided to the AATA at a series of public meetings: At the Ann Arbor District Library, Multipurpose Room, 343 S. Fifth, Ann Arbor: Tues., Feb. 10, 1-3 p.m. and Tues., Feb. 17, 6-8 p.m. In Ypsilanti, hearings will be held at the city of Ypsilanti Council Chambers, One S. Huron St., Ypsilanti: Thurs., Feb. 19, 4-7 p.m. and Thurs., Feb. 26, 1-3 p.m. [confirm dates] Details on the proposed fare increases.

Feedback can also be given to AATA on fares by:

• Calling the AATA Service Change Hotline at 734.677.3934.
• E-mailing the AATA at aatainfo@theride.org; put “Fare Changes” in the subject line.
• Faxing AATA at 734.973.6338; address the fax to “Fare Changes.”
• Writing to “Fare Changes,” AATA, 2700 S. Industrial Hwy., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.