The May 6, 2014 tax proposal received clear majority support overall (70.6%) in all jurisdictions: Ann Arbor (71.4%); the city of Ypsilanti (83.4%); and Ypsilanti Township (61.6%).

Overall, the proposal from the AAATA received 70.6% votes in favor. That percentage reflects 13,949 votes in favor and 5,783 against.

The new tax, which can be levied for five years before it again needs approval by voters, is supposed to fund a five-year service improvement plan.

The tax received clear majority support in all jurisdictions: Ann Arbor (71.4%); the city of Ypsilanti (83.4%); and Ypsilanti Township (61.6%).

Across all jurisdictions, the turnout was 12.7% of registered voters. Turnout was helped by sunny weather with high temperatures in the low 60s. By jurisdiction, turnout varied a bit: Ann Arbor (14%); Ypsilanti (12.6%); and Ypsilanti Township (9.5%).

Including all cash reported under late-filing rules, the Partners for Transit millage campaign raised $54,427 in cash. The anti-millage campaign committee, which called itself Better Transit Now, accumulated $17,817 in resources, when $15,037 of in-kind contributions – in ad purchases – by McCullagh Creative are included.

The May 6, 2014 tax proposal received clear majority support overall (70.6%) in all jurisdictions: Ann Arbor (71.4%); the city of Ypsilanti (83.4%); and Ypsilanti Township (61.6%).

The clear majority achieved by the millage contrasts with a great deal of uncertainty among Ann Arbor elected officials about its prospects. Some council sources indicated they expected it to fail or else to just squeak by.

Along nearly any cut of the poll results, the transit tax gained a clear majority among voters. In Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, the proposal passed in all precincts. In Ypsilanti Township, 12 out of 14 precincts gave it majority support. In the two precincts where the proposal failed, it fell short by a total of just 14 votes with a combined tally of 173 in favor and 187 against.

Among absentee voters, the millage support was not as strong as among in-person voters, but it still achieved a clear majority. Ypsilanti did not tally absentee voters separately. But across Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Township combined, the in-person majority was 72.2% compared to 60.1% for absentee voters. In Ann Arbor, the in-person majority was 73.2% compared to 62.25% for absentee voters. The millage failed to achieve a majority among absentee voters in just one precinct two precincts in Ann Arbor (Ward 2, Precinct 9 and Ward 1, Precinct 3) – where the tallies were 43 in favor to 45 against and 1 in favor and 3 against, respectively. In Ypsilanti Township, the in-person majority was 65.8% compared to 57.4% in absentee.

The first element of the five-year service plan will be implemented in August 2014: extension of the end time for weekday fixed-route service on most of AAATA’s routes. Most routes would be extended from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. The second element of the plan is later evening service on weekends. Service currently ends between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on most routes on Saturday, so starting in August 2014, Saturday service would be extended about an hour on all routes in the first year. And then in August 2015, service would be extended essentially on all routes to between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays.

Also included in the five-year service plan will be: greater frequency on some routes, additional routes, as well as new route configurations for some areas. Some of the improvements will need to wait 18 months, because the new buses they require will take up to 18 months to be delivered after they are ordered.

The board of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority had voted at its Jan. 16, 2014 meeting to adopt the five-year service plan the millage. The following month, at its Feb. 20, 2014 meeting, the board voted to place the measure on the May 6 ballot.

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Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority board member Eric Mahler was discussing the potential for disparate impacts on different populations as a result of service changes. (Photos by the writer.)

The issue of the May 6 millage vote came up during public commentary. In addition, CEO Michael Ford delivered some prepared remarks meant to dispel what he called myths about the AAATA that are being promoted by opponents of that millage. [.pdf of press release from opposition campaign]

One myth is that the AAATA is inefficient, Ford said, when in fact the AAATA has 17% lower cost per passenger and has 18% fewer employees per passenger than its peers. Another myth, Ford said, is that the AAATA has 52 managers. “It’s just simply not true,” he said. Ford explained that the AAATA has 52 employees who are non-union – 11 of whom are managers. That includes administrative assistants, IT staff, customer service, human resources, safety and security personnel, dispatchers and others, Ford said.

The assertion that the AAATA will use millage revenue to fund a train service is untrue as well, Ford continued. The AAATA had intentionally not put rail service in the ballot language. AAATA has been acknowledged in USA Today, by CNN, and by independent transportation associations as one of the nation’s best-in-class in terms of ridership, operational efficiency, fiscal stability, and technological innovation, Ford said. And that’s why he was hopeful that voters in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township would say yes when they go to the polls on May 6.

The concrete work contract was awarded to Saladino Construction, for a one-year period and the possibility of four one-year renewals. Board members subjected the item to a relatively lengthy discussion as far as AAATA board discussions go – as they had questions about the amount of future work there would be, how workmanship is verified, and how pedestrian flow at bus stops is maintained during the work period.

Also given a fair amount of discussion was the policy on service equity required under Title VI. Board members had several questions, including one about the action that is required if a disparate impact on low-income riders is found as a result of a fare increase. AAATA staff stressed that there is not currently a fare increase on the table.

Small Concrete Work Contract

The board considered a one-year contract with Saladino Construction for small concrete jobs. The contract, which has the option to be extended for four additional one-year periods, will cover work for access walks, shelter and bench pads, sidewalk extensions, curb extensions and bus pullouts.

The one-year contract is expected to be worth about $54,000 a year, which is under the $100,000 threshold requiring board approval. But because the board was approving potentially a five-year period, with the value of the work expected to exceed $100,000, the contract required board approval.

Saladino was selected from four bidders for the work. Even though 445 vendors were sent notice of the RFP, only four bids were received: Audia Concrete Construction of Milford; Hartwell Cement of Oak Park; Luigi Ferdinandi and Son Cement of Roseville; and Saladino Construction of Ann Arbor Township. The AAATA staff analysis indicated that small concrete jobs at multiple locations are not attractive to many contractors.

Small Concrete Work Contract: Board Discussion

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson said the committee had discussed one agenda item – the contract for small concrete jobs. Saladino had been chosen, he noted. It was not the low bid, but had the best combination of cost and performance. Saladino has done work for the Washtenaw County Road Commission, the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, he said. Kerson called the company very well-qualified with good references.

Kerson characterized the small concrete jobs as basically fixing the bus stops – the sidewalk approaches and the ramps around the stops. The estimate is for $54,000 per year, with a potential renewal up to five years, Kerson said. The committee had given that contract a thumbs up, Kerson concluded.

When the board reached that item on the agenda, Larry Krieg had a question about what the cost figure had been given as an “estimate.” Is that the amount that is budgeted or is that a cap on expenditures? If it turns out that all of the bus stops need to be redone, and it costs twice as much, what would happen?

Chris White, AAATA manager of service development, noted that the request for proposals included unit costs – for linear feet of concrete and for square feet of concrete. In order to compare proposals, AAATA had included an estimated amount of work that would need to be done based on past history. The amounts are not budgeted as part of the operating budget. That’s because grant funding pays for this type of project – as part of the capital and categorical grant program, White explained. AAATA knows roughly how much work there will be in a given year, but it can vary little bit. If a curb needs to be extended to make the bus stop accessible, then that may cost a little bit more, he explained. The estimate is based on previous experience, he reiterated.

AAATA board member Gillian Ream Gainsley.

Gillian Ream Gainsley noted that there was more damage to the roads because of the severe winter. Was there a similar impact on bus stops? Would the AAATA have a greater need for concrete repair at bus stops this year? White described the work covered by this contract as not really repair work. He described it as mostly new work: new shelter pads, and new access sidewalks.

Board chair Charles Griffith indicated that he hoped this cost figure would need to be reevaluated, if the transit millage passes. That’s because the AAATA will have more stops that need to be serviced.

White noted that the AAATA already has agreements for two new shelters on the proposed new Route M – a route that would start operation in August 2014 if the millage is approved. So the AAATA is already doing that kind of preparatory work, he said. The performance monitoring and external relations committee would be receiving the bus stop work plan at its next meeting, White said.

Sue Gott wanted to know what the typical warranty is for work performed under the contracts. She wanted to know who inspects the workmanship when it’s done: Is inspection done by staff within the AAATA’s organization? She was also curious to know how pedestrian circulation is ensured through areas where work on a sidewalk is being done.

On the question of workmanship, White explained that city inspectors are used for jobs that are done inside the city of Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti. Washtenaw County Road Commission inspectors are used for jobs in the townships. That kind of expertise doesn’t exist on staff at the AAATA, he said.

About work zones, White said that one of the reasons Saladino was chosen is that the company has done this kind of work in all the jurisdictions – so they know what is required as far as work zone safety. That includes directing people at the beginning of the block where they need to cross the street and that type of thing, White said. The bus stop coordinator, Jeff Murphy, oversees that element of the work, he said. CEO Michael Ford indicated that information about warranty of the work could be provided as a follow-up.

Eli Cooper stated that he would be supporting the resolution. Although it’s a small amount and the word “small” is in the resolution, he noted, this is a really large improvement for customers. It’s “moving that bus stop out of the proverbial mud puddle,” he explained. It appears to be “small concrete,” but as you consider access to the system, it’s important for people who have mobility challenges, as well as for able-bodied people. Even on a sunny day, if there is difficult terrain to overcome, that’s challenging, he said. Cooper asked staff to continue to review the amount of work – not just based on prior experience, but based on what true needs are, so that the AAATA is doing an appropriate amount of large improvements that need little amounts of resources.

Griffith asked how someone goes about asking for a bench to be installed on a bus stop near one’s own property: “How much money would it cost me if I wanted to take up a collection for it?” White indicated that it would probably cost nothing, pointing out that what the AAATA needs assistance with is maintenance.

If the AAATA can get an agreement from a property owner to do snow removal and maybe empty trash, the AAATA would work on installing a bench. Typically the AAATA prioritizes benches and access improvements at higher-volume bus stops. But the AAATA would bend that policy if there are willing policy partners to help, he said. Jeff Murphy has been active in soliciting adopt-a-stop agreements from adjacent property owners, White said. Many of those property owners are commercial property owners, but some homeowners are also interested enough that they’ve agreed to clear the snow if an access walk is put in.

Cooper noted that the installation of that kind of feature in the public right-of-way should follow city rules. There’s a right-of-way encroachment permit and sidewalk occupancy permits. There are review processes and fees associated with that, Cooper said. If a private property owner wants to install a feature on public property, that would then potentially be reviewed by the city’s planning department.

Cooper appreciated – from the standpoint of transit operations – that it would count as a benefit, but he wanted to make sure that any amenity was put in an appropriate place, in an appropriate manner, and that it be properly reviewed prior to its installation. White noted that the concrete contractor is responsible for obtaining the relevant city permits.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the contract for small concrete jobs with Saladino.

Title VI Policy

On the board’s agenda was a policy on service equity analysis, which is required as part of the authority’s Title VI compliance. Title VI is the civil rights legislation that, in the context of public transportation, requires proof that a service change has no adverse effect on disadvantaged populations. [.pdf of Title VI policy included in April 17, 2014 AAATA board packet]

The policy on equity analysis comes in the context of a 5-year service improvement plan the AAATA hopes to implement if voters approve a millage request on May 6, 2014. The AAATA is required to have such a policy as one element in a Title VI program submitted to the Federal Transit Administration by October 2014.

The policy includes a method of analyzing disparate impacts on different populations for various changes in service, including: fare increases, decreases in frequency of service, decreases in span of service, and reduction in days of service.

Title VI Policy: Public Commentary

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Jim Mogensen addressed the board on the topic of the Title VI policy. Mogensen noted that he had just had orthopedic surgery, so he had not been able to comment on the draft policy as early as he wanted to. There were some technical issues, which he had already talked to Chris White about, that he felt should eventually be considered. The first related to some technical issues associated with census data.

Jim Mogensen.

The second point related to the analysis of differential fares. He noted that low-income people who have applied to the AAATA are offered reduced fares – half the cash fare for the general population. That could impact how the analysis is done, Mogensen said. He described a scenario where the basic fare went up to $2 [from its current rate of $1.50], so a half fare would be one dollar. But the effect might not show up if the fare that the University of Michigan pays on behalf of its affiliates – which is $1 – did not go up.

Later in the meeting, AAATA manager of service development Chris White acknowledged Mogensen’s point, saying that fares for UM affiliates are paid by the university – so if UM fares do not go up in connection with a general fare increase, that would certainly make a difference in the impact of a fare increase on low-income people.

Mogensen also ventured that there could be differential impacts on neighborhoods, depending on the service level – which makes a difference when you have what are called “minority routes.” When a route is very long, like Route #6, it might not qualify as a minority route because it is so long, but there is a minority neighborhood on that route that would be impacted. So that kind of situation should also be incorporated into the policy, Mogensen suggested. He described the policy that was on the board’s agenda as “almost there, but not quite.”

Thomas Partridge addressed the board during both opportunities for public commentary. Aside from the Title VI policy, Partridge said, the AAATA needs to analyze the impact of changes that have yet to be made and yet to be proposed – that would ameliorate, if not wipe out discrimination in ride services for the most disadvantaged members of our community. Discrimination still persists, Partridge contended, in terms of ride scheduling and the type of vehicles and drivers who come to pick up people for the senior ride and paratransit program – the A-Ride program.

Partridge was concerned that with all the discussion about the technical aspects of Title VI policy guidelines, it did not touch on the substantial needs of senior citizens and disabled persons. He called for policies that would preclude discrimination in transportation for seniors and disabled persons in the current senior ride program. Current forms of discrimination exist that are particularly odious and particularly harmful to senior citizens and disabled persons, Partridge said, because of lack of adequate funding for vehicles on the road to service A-Ride. There are vehicles that should never be on the road and drivers who are ill-trained to serve handicapped people and senior citizens, he said. Partridge called for a review of the vehicles offered by the AAATA and the SelectRide company for A-Ride service.

Title VI Policy: Board Discussion

Sue Gott reported out from the planning and development committee that the group had spent quite a bit of time on the Title VI policy. The committee had spent a lot of time going back and forth with staff on the policy, she said. She thanked AAATA staff, and Chris White specifically, for the time and effort he had spent listening to a number of concerns and questions. White had also gone back and coordinated with the regional civil rights officer to identify opportunities for some improvements and on clarity in the language. White had also consulted with the AAATA’s legal counsel.

AAATA board member Sue Gott.

When the board reached the item on its agenda, Gillian Ream Gainsley also noted that the planning and development committee spent a lot of time going back and forth with staff on the policy. She really appreciated the time and effort that Chris White had put into it. She felt that White had been put in a challenging position and had really stepped up to the plate – because the federal requirements in Title VI don’t give you a lot of guidance about how to approach enforcement of the rule, she said.

So she felt that the AAATA was pioneering something in terms of determining exactly how they want to define disparate impact. She did not feel that the policy was going to be set in stone, saying that she felt the policy would a living document. The AAATA would continue to improve on the policy over time, she felt. But she called it an incredibly good start and appreciated that the AAATA was willing to go above and beyond what was required of it. She would be supporting the policy, she said.

Eric Mahler echoed Ream Gainsley’s remarks and appreciated the amount of work that Chris White, as well as the rest of the staff, had done. Mahler had a couple of questions about the policy and the methodology for measuring disproportionate burden in connection with fare increases.

For minority populations, the policy’s definition of disproportionate burden is: If a minority population bears a 5% greater burden from a fare increase than a non-minority population. The policy’s definition of disproportionate burden for the low-income population is: If low-income riders will bear a 10% greater burden from a fare increase. Mahler noted that the fare for low-income persons is half the full cash fare for the general population. And that is a justification for finding a disproportionate burden only if the low-income population would bear 10% more of the burden – as opposed to the 5% threshold used for minority ridership.

Back and forth between Mahler and White ensued on the topic of the interplay between the impact of a fare increase on low-income riders and the fact that the fares for low-income riders are by policy already supposed to be half the full cash fare.

White noted in the course of that back-and-forth that the AAATA has had a half fare for low-income riders for a long time, venturing that the AAATA was fairly unique in having such a program. White added that there’s a choice to make when the fare is an odd number. When the fare was $0.75, the AAATA had a choice to make – between a half fare of $0.35 or $0.40. The board chose at that time to make it $0.35. If the board had chosen to make the low-income fare $0.40, that might have made a difference in the calculation of disproportionate burden.

White stressed at several points that the AAATA is not contemplating a fare increase at this time. The Title VI policy is being put in place to deal with any future situation. For a fare increase, the analysis of disproportionate burden is a little more straightforward than with a service increase, White said – because an actual calculation can be done. The intention is that a chart would be prepared that shows all the fare categories. Because the AAATA collects information on the fare for every rider who boards, the AAATA can compare any proposal for a fare increase and see what additional burden would be carried by low-income persons.

If a disproportionate burden were found, White said, the AAATA would have to go back and revise the fare increase to get rid of that disproportionate burden, or would have to demonstrate that the purposes that the AAATA was trying to achieve were legitimate, and this was the only way to do it. That would be a tough case to make, White felt.

Mahler asked what would happen if the disproportionate burden for low-income riders was only 9% more than for other riders. White replied: “It would be up to the board of directors.” Once the board has the information that shows the effect of the impact, the board would need to make a decision. Board chair Charles Griffith noted that ultimately the board has the final say: If there is some disproportionate impact – even if that disproportionate impact does not exceed the threshold defined in the policy – the board could still decide that it’s more disproportionate impact than the board was comfortable with.

Mahler came back to the policy language that specifies what is to be done if a disparate impact is found. The first step is to “review the objectives of the proposed change to determine if the evidence supports the legitimacy of the objectives.” Mahler was not sure what that meant. What evidence are you looking for? If there’s some evidence out there that could actually trump the disproportionate burden or the disparate impact, are we going to use that? Mahler asked. White replied: “That’s an interesting question to answer.”

The regional civil rights officer had reviewed the AAATA’s draft policy and came back with couple of comments, basically saying that the policy looked pretty good to her, White reported. But she made a very specific comment about wanting that specific language, which Mahler had asked about, inserted in the policy. White allowed that it was not entirely clear to him exactly what the language means. A lot of times a service change is meant to achieve multiple objectives, where some people are impacted negatively a small amount – but other people are impacted positively a large amount, and you have to weigh that without a numerical basis.

Mahler said that the only thing he could think of was if there were some segment of the population that was not being served at all, and that for some reason the AAATA decided there’s some compelling, overwhelming interest in serving the neglected population now and service needed to be extended to that geographic area – that might trump the disproportionate burden threshold.

White noted that they’re dealing with civil rights legislation, so it’s about equal treatment, not about a right to service. White ventured that the federal guidelines themselves were misguided in the following sense: The AAATA does analysis of proposed service changes and fare changes before they are ever made as a proposal. This kind of analysis is part of what the AAATA does initially. So if there is a disproportionate or disparate impact, the AAATA would revise its approach – before ever putting a proposal forward. If the AAATA were ever to propose service changes that had disparate impact, the AAATA would likely already have its arguments in place to defend those changes. In most cases, White felt, the analysis done after the proposal was made would show that the change did not have a disparate impact.

AATA board member Roger Kerson.

Roger Kerson noted that although the AAATA is not contemplating fare increases at this time, it certainly is proposing service changes and has made service changes recently. The major service increases that have been done recently involved Route #4 and Route #5, he said. He did not know if the disproportionate impact analysis had been done for those changes, but ventured that for those routes you’d find the opposite of a disparate impact – in terms of low-income and minority populations.

White told Kerson that the AAATA has the analysis for both of those route service changes and it was provided to the board ahead of time. The difference in the new regulations is that the AAATA had to define a threshold for disparate impact and disproportionate burden. The actual analysis has been done for many years, he said.

White explained that there is a definition of “minority route” and a “low-income route.” When you make a service change on the whole route, that’s the level of analysis you use. But if you’re doing a change on less than a whole route, the fact that it’s a minority route or a non-minority route doesn’t enter into the analysis, White said. The analysis is done on the area that is being affected and the population of that area – not the route as a whole, White explained.

Larry Krieg reiterated the board’s thanks to Chris White for undertaking the analysis. He called it an immensely complex and puzzling thing to work on.

Charles Griffith also appreciated the work that had been done and thanked the committee. He echoed the sentiments of Ream Gainsley, saying that the policy is a step forward: “Let’s think of it as a living document,” he said.

Outcome: The board unanimously to approve the new Title VI policy.

Title VI Policy: More Public Commentary

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Jim Mogensen said he would continue to work with Chris White on the Title VI policy. Some of the mysterious language is related to case law, he ventured. That’s why they are so specific about specific phrases. That’s sometimes the case with a 50-year-old law, he noted. Mogensen observed that there are people who think there should not be a Civil Rights Act and that people should be allowed to do what they want to do.

May 6 Millage Vote

The board had no formal business related to the upcoming May 6, 2014 vote on a proposed 0.7 mill tax – to be decided by voters in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township. But the millage vote was touched on during the meeting. The board voted at its Feb. 20, 2014 meeting to place the millage on the ballot.

The proceeds of the millage are to pay for a set of service improvements over a period of five years. Those improvements include increased frequency during peak hours, extended service in the evenings, and additional service on weekends. Some looped routes are being replaced with out-and-back type route configurations. The plan does not include operation of rail-based services.

The AAATA has calculated that the improvements in service add up to 90,000 additional service hours per year, compared to the current service levels, which is a 44% increase.

May 6 Millage Vote: Michael Ford’s Remarks

CEO Michael Ford eschewed his typical wide-ranging report of activities for the previous month in favor of some remarks focused on the upcoming May 6 millage vote. Ford reviewed how the AAATA was asking Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township voters to approve a millage of 0.7 mills for five years on Tuesday, May 6.

At the April 16, 2014 mayoral candidate forum, Ward 2 councilmember Sally Petersen said she was still on the fence about the May 6 millage. The other three candidates for Ann Arbor mayor – Sabra Briere, Christopher Taylor and Stephen Kunselman – have all endorsed it.

The AAATA’s five-year plan is based on overwhelming demand from local residents, businesses and elected officials, Ford said. The millage will help fund transit improvements that will better serve the community, provide 44% more service, and help spur economic activity in the greater Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area.

For the average household, Ford continued, this millage amounts to less than the cost of a cup of coffee per week: “We think that’s a good value considering the additional 90,000 hours of service it will provide annually.” The response from the community to the AAATA’s proposal has been overwhelmingly been positive, Ford said.

Civic leaders and organizations that often disagree have united to endorse the goals of the AAATA five-year public transportation improvement plan, Ford said. He then ticked through several organizations and individuals who have endorsed the millage. [.pdf of extracted pages from board packet with a list of endorsers]

Ford noted that endorsers included three of the four candidates for Ann Arbor mayor.

By way of background, the candidate who has not yet endorsed the millage is Sally Petersen. At a candidate forum held on April 16, 2014, she stated:

I am leaning towards supporting it right now, but I am a little bit still on the fence. The reason why I would support the millage for the expansion of the five-year plan is because I do believe in the first place that urban core and making the connection between [Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township] easier and expanding those routes so we have fewer cars on the streets is better for the road, better for the environment and it leaves more parking spaces for Ann Arbor downtown. I also think we need a robust transportation system, for those who can’t drive, those who are elderly or have disabilities and I think we need to expand services for that. But I live in a ward where there is quite a bit of opposition to the transit millage and on April 29th, councilmember [Jane] Lumm and I are hosting a Ward 2 meeting … I want to hear from opposition and how TheRide leadership is going to answer some questions before I endorse.

Ford continued by saying there’s a recognition that Washtenaw County urban core communities will benefit from more routes and longer hours of service. Echoing the pro-millage campaign slogan, Ford said “more buses, more places, more often” will help retain talent, jobs and businesses, helping to ensure that the local economy remains vibrant.

But Ford allowed there has been some criticism of the millage proposal. He called it unfortunate that some people have chosen to misinterpret data about public transportation or mislead people into thinking that the public does not want to invest in public transportation. Nothing could be further from the truth, Ford contended.

Ford then addressed some of the specific claims that opponents of the millage have made: “I would like to address some of the myths.” One myth is that the AAATA is inefficient, Ford said, when in fact the AAATA has 17% lower cost per passenger and has 18% fewer employees per passenger than its peers. Another myth, Ford said, is that the AAATA has 52 managers. “It’s just simply not true,” he said. Ford explained that the AAATA has 52 employees who are non-union – 11 of whom are managers, he said. That includes administrative assistants, IT staff, customer service, human resources, safety and security personnel, dispatchers and others, Ford said.

The assertion that the AAATA will use millage revenue to fund a train service is untrue as well, Ford continued. The AAATA had intentionally not put rail service in the ballot language.

AAATA has been acknowledged in USA Today, by CNN, and by independent transportation associations as one of the nation’s best-in-class in terms of ridership, operational efficiency, fiscal stability, and technological innovation, Ford said. And that’s why he was hopeful that voters in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township would say yes when they go to the polls on May 6.

May 6 Millage Vote: Public Commentary

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Thomas Partridge introduced himself as a previous candidate for the Michigan state legislature. He called on everyone involved, including the public, to put forward all the positive reasons for voting on May 6 to support the transit millage. Passing the millage would be a positive step toward accomplishing what still needs to be done to develop true countywide transportation. That goal, Partridge said, requires the leadership of the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township. Passing the millage and the expanded service will reduce the amount of traffic on our roads and the amount of rush hour traffic, he contended. It would spur economic development, he continued, and would have a positive impact on the need for affordable transportation for disabled people and senior citizens.

Partridge also addressed the board at the conclusion of the meeting during public commentary. He noted that Easter weekend was coming up and this time of year was of significance to most of the major religions of the world. Partridge said we should ask what Christ would advise on the vote to take steps to encompass the city of Ann Arbor, city of Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township into an area-wide transportation authority. Better transit would ameliorate the effects of climate change and air and water pollution, he said.

Lloyd Shelton spoke representing those with disabilities in Washtenaw County, saying that he’s also part of the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living. The Ann Arbor CIL and people with disabilities across Washtenaw County stand firmly in support of this millage, he said. Shelton encouraged everyone to move forward on May 6 and to pass the millage.

Calisa Reid told the board that she’s a person with a disability, and she also lives in a rural area. As she was listening to the discussion of service changes, she hoped for service to the rural parts of Washtenaw County. She lives in Augusta Township and she ventured it would be hard to get a millage passed there. She suggested that maybe two times a month a shuttle could pick up people in rural areas of Washtenaw County so they can pay their bills or go grocery shopping. That might be a stopgap measure that could be implemented before more substantial changes come, she suggested.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its April 17 meeting, the AAATA 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 CEO Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: Retreat, Work Plan

Reporting out from the planning and development committee, Sue Gott said the committee had spent a lot of time talking about the first draft of a work plan for 2015. She reminded board members that in order for the board to approve the budget for next year, the board first needs to review and approve a work plan – as a basis for putting the budget together.

In discussing the work plan, the committee had gone back and forth on a discussion about the retreat. Last year, she noted, the board had a quite extensive discussion about the work plan at its retreat. One of the questions on the table at the planning and development committee meeting was whether the board should spend as much time at this year’s retreat focusing on the work plan or perhaps keep the discussion of the work plan at a higher level – in order to allow other topics to receive greater time and priority at the retreat.

The outcome of that discussion was a bit of a hybrid, Gott said, in that the committee still wanted to have a review of the work plan at the committee and make it available at the retreat. But they wanted to use the time at the retreat to talk a little bit about the AAATA’s current and future roles and relationships, including what the AAATA’s place is within the region. To allow that topic to go wherever it needs to go during the retreat, the committee wanted flexibility in the retreat agenda, so that topic of future roles and relationships could be explored deeply.

Comm/Comm: Blake Transit Center

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that the committee had met in the meeting room at the newly constructed Blake Transit Center, which is now open. About the BTC, Kerson reported that people are liking it. The final outside work was described as needing another 6 to 8 weeks of work, after the frost laws are lifted.

Comm/Comm: Financial Update

Roger Kerson reported on a financial update that the performance monitoring and external relations committee had received. Revenue is 0.2% under budget, but expenses are 2% under budget. So the budget is in good shape, Kerson said. There’s a surplus of $258,000 so far this year. The fund reserve balance is still under the level it should be based on board policy [three month's worth of operating expenses], because of a van purchase that needed to be made, for which the AAATA could not use federal funds. AAATA controller Phil Webb is hoping that the reserve balance will get closer to the minimum level it’s supposed to be as the year goes forward. Part of that will depend on the outcome of the millage vote, Kerson said.

Kerson also noted that a correction in accounting needed to be made due to a software glitch. The software the AAATA was using did not understand how to depreciate land – which does not depreciate. Because the AAATA had bought a strip of land [from the city of Ann Arbor] in order to construct Blake Transit Center, that had “messed everything up,” Kerson said. The auditor had found that mistake – and that is why you do audits, Kerson said. It has now been corrected.

Comm/Comm: Ridership

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson reviewed some ridership data. Fixed route ridership was higher in March 2014 compared to March 2013, but it is still down for the year – because January was so severely impacted by the weather, he said.

Comm/Comm: AAATA Website

Kerson reported that the AAATA website still needs some improvements, and ongoing discussions are taking place with the vendor about that. The plan at this stage is to hire a developer in-house, Kerson reported, so that the AAATA has its own capability and is not dependent on the vendor for the ongoing management of the website. Kerson felt that was a very good strategy. He described it as a very key hire, saying it was important to get the right person with the right set of abilities.

Comm/Comm: Onboard Survey

Continuing his report from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Kerson said the onboard survey of riders has now been completed and the results of that would be released soon. The survey showed overall that customers have a very high satisfaction with the AAATA service, he said.

Comm/Comm: Local Advisory Council

Cheryl Webber gave the report from the AAATA’s local advisory council – a body that advises the AAATA on issues related to the disability community as well as seniors.

Cheryl Webber of the AAATA’s local advisory council.

She said there was a nice discussion at the LAC’s last meeting about the new Ride Guide and the changes that have been made to it. There was a good discussion also about how the paratransit A-Ride service works – and doesn’t work from time to time. Representatives of SelectRide, the vendor that provides the A-Ride service, were present and were able to respond to people’s concerns, Webber reported.

Two LAC members had expressed some interest in putting the LAC at the board’s disposal – saying that the person who represents the LAC at the board meetings is well-suited to bring back to the LAC any questions the board might have about anything pertaining to paratransit or the accessibility of buses. Members of the LAC have been consumers of the transportation service for a very long time. They’ve also provided input on how transportation service has been provided over a very long time. So LAC members have a unique perspective, Webber said.

Comm/Comm: Meeting Schedule Religious Holidays

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Jim Mogensen also told the board that he had left a church event in order to attend the board’s meeting that evening. He asked the board to think about dates of religious holidays when they set the board’s meeting calendar at the beginning of the year. [The meeting fell during Passover and on the Thursday before Easter.] The Interfaith Roundtable of Washtenaw County might serve as a resource for information on that, Mogensen said. Not all religious holidays are the same, he continued, pointing out that some of the holidays are more important than others.

Present: Charles Griffith, Eric Mahler, Eli Cooper, Sue Gott, Roger Kerson, Gillian Ream Gainsley, Larry Krieg.

Absent: Susan Baskett, Anya Dale, Jack Bernard.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, May 22, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor. [Check Chronicle event listings to confirm date]

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Looking north on Fifth Avenue at the AirRide stop, just south of the newly opened Blake Transit Center. (Photos by the writer.)

The only voting item handled by the board at its March 20 meeting was the extension of a contract with Michigan Flyer to provide service between downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport. The board authorized the first of three one-year extensions on the initial two-year contract for the service, called AirRide.

For the third year of the agreement, the not-to-exceed amount is $170,000. That compares with the first year of the contract that was not to exceed $700,000. The drop in the cost to the AAATA stems from a revenue-sharing agreement based on fare revenues – and ridership has exceeded projections.

The board also received an update on statewide transit issues from Clark Harder, executive director of the Michigan Public Transit Association, and Dusty Fancher, a lobbyist with Midwest Strategy Group. A main theme from their presentation was the need to focus on overall funding increases, as opposed to trying to fine-tune the part of the funding formula that divides public transportation funding among the 78 transit agencies in Michigan.

Harder also described an initiative to provide a non-emergency medical transportation brokerage that would tap public transportation resources. A demonstration program, to be provided through the newly formed Michigan Transportation Connection (MTC), could be up and running by Oct. 1, 2015, Harder reported.

Another highlight of that presentation included the idea that the abysmal road conditions – which have resulted from the long and harsh winter – could be a rallying point for more transportation funding. To the extent that additional money for transportation is funneled through the general transportation funding formula, that would lead to an increase in public transportation funding, along with funding for road infrastructure.

The harsh winter and the challenge of clearing snow at the 1,200 bus stops was also a part of another basic theme of the board’s discussion – accessibility of the bus service to those in the disability community. Carolyn Grawi of the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living addressed the board to stress the importance of making sure all the bus stops are accessible. She also reiterated the CIL’s support for the upcoming May 6 millage vote.

Other highlights from the meeting included a round of applause for AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black, who managed the Blake Transit Center construction project. The driveways still need concrete to be poured before the project is completed, but the building itself is now open to the public.

AirRide Contract

The board considered a contract with Michigan Flyer to provide transportation between downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport for a third year, in a service called AirRide.

The average number of passengers for the last four weeks is 1,406, according to the AAATA.

Two years ago, the board had authorized Michigan Flyer’s two-year contract, with the possibility of three one-year extensions, at its Feb. 16, 2012 board meeting.

The first year of the contract specified an amount not to exceed $700,000 per year. The first year’s cost proved to be less than half that ($326,600) due to higher-than-projected ridership. The anticipated cost for the second year of the agreement was expected to be $216,522.

Based on additional negotiations, the cost of service for the third year is not expected to be more than $170,000. That cost will include AAATA’s share of an AirRide/Michigan Flyer staff position – who will help passengers board and load luggage. The drop in cost to the AAATA is in part attributable to Michigan Flyer’s receipt of a federal Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) grant. The third year of service includes adjustments that eliminate the stop on the University of Michigan central campus transit center, but add a 13th trip between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport.

AirRide Contract: Board Discussion

During her report out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Anya Dale reported that ridership on the AirRide service is up 22% for the year. The average number of weekday riders for AirRide has hit 200, she said. Dale also described the historical background for the contract.

When the board reached the resolution on its agenda, board chair Charles Griffith called it an incredibly nice trend to see the cost of the service coming down each year as the ridership on the service continues to increase. He called it a great story. It reminded him of the transit improvement millage that’s on the May 6 ballot – because you take a leap of faith when you keep hearing from people about the service they want, and you think it’s the right thing to do, and then you actually provide the service.

AirRide is an example of where people really did line up and take advantage of the service, Griffith said. He ventured that it might be possible eventually to bring the price of the service down. Michael Ford noted that the AAATA is adding even more customer service components to the AirRide – as assistance loading luggage and boarding is now being provided.

Eli Cooper called the service “really outstanding.” When it was first started, the AAATA was thinking about spending around $750,000 on it, but now the cost is down to $170,000 year. It’s just remarkable, he said, what this public-private partnership has achieved. The efficiency and effectiveness of public transportation is clear in select markets, Cooper said, and it was being demonstrated here in Ann Arbor. It’s not so much a cost reduction in the contract, Cooper said, but rather a reflection of the efficiency and effectiveness of working with Michigan Flyer.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the AirRide contract with Michigan Flyer.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi of the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living called the AirRide service fantastic, saying that she and her family had used it several times going to and from the airport as well as going to and from East Lansing.

Statewide Perspective

The board received an update from Clark Harder, executive director of the Michigan Public Transit Association, and Dusty Fancher, a lobbyist with Midwest Strategy Group. Their presentation had been originally scheduled for the board’s Jan. 16 meeting, but was cancelled due to bad weather.

Statewide Perspective: MPTA History, Purpose

Clark Harder, executive director of the Michigan Public Transit Association, opened his remarks by thanking the AAATA board for the invitation to come down from Lansing and speak. He noted that some of the faces on the board were recognizable from his last visit two years ago, but others were new to him. He allowed that sometimes local transit authority boards don’t really understand what the MPTA does or why they do it. So he wanted to share some information about the MPTA.

The Michigan Public Transit Association was created in 1977, he said, as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit. The MPTA exists to be an educational and advocacy arm for members of the association. Out of the 78 transit authorities in the state of Michigan, 50 are members of the MPTA, he said. He characterized 50 members as a high-water mark for the MPTA, and it’s been at that level for a number of years. Some of the smaller systems, which the MPTA would love to have as members, have not joined. Harder ventured that sometimes the reason was budgetary, or for very small systems they did not see any reason to be involved. But for a very small system, he continued, that’s all the more reason to be involved. “We are all working collectively for the same goal, which is stronger support, stronger funding for public transportation,” he said. That’s why the MPTA was created, he added.

The MPTA was created with a lot of direction and support from the Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT), Harder explained. In the early days of public transit in the state of Michigan, MDOT noticed that all the other entities it dealt with – like road commissions – had some kind of association to represent them. But public transit authorities had nothing at that point. So at that time a number of different people came together – including the forerunner of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), which was called the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA), and the Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) in Lansing. Those two entities were instrumental in creating the MPTA.

It wasn’t very long after the initial creation of the MPTA that the long-standing association between the MPTA and AAATA came into being, Harder said. “You are one of early members and one of our very active members.” He pointed out that Dawn Gabay, deputy CEO of the AAATA, is the AAATA’s representative on the MPTA’s board of directors. AAATA manager of service development Chris White had been extremely active in the MPTA across the years, and AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black chairs the maintenance committee at the state level, Harder pointed out. So the AAATA has a high level of involvement and a large stake in what the MPTA does.

The MPTA was created for advocacy, but over the years that role has evolved, Harder said. About 10 years ago, MDOT – which had previously done a lot of training and educational programs – stepped back and said it could no longer afford to do it. As a result of that, MPTA had moved into a variety of educational and training programs, he explained. So now the MPTA has a dual role: advocacy and education/training. As a result of taking on the additional role of education and training, Harder explained, the committee structure that already existed was made more robust and more active. The MPTA now has a very strong committee structure, he said.

There are four annual conferences a year and an annual meeting, which is always in August. There’s a legislative conference in February. There’s a rural transit managers workshop typically at the end of March. And every June, the MPTA holds a transit vehicle maintenance seminar. That was something that historically MDOT had done. They stopped doing it for four or five years and a lot of transit systems approached the MPTA and asked for that program to be restored.

During question and answer time with Harder and Fancher, board chair Charles Griffith asked if the MPTA offered anything for board members by way of training on how to be a good board member, or on governance issues. The AAATA is not the only transit agency that is looking to expand, he said, and the AAATA has learned a lot about several related issues – so maybe some of that information could be shared with other transit authorities.

Michigan Public Transit Association executive director Clark Harder told the board that state public transportation funding had remained basically level over the last 10 years, which was a success in the context of other departments that had seen drastic reductions.

Harder told Griffith that it had been one of the long-term goals of the MPTA to have a transit boardsmanship training program – similar to what the Michigan Municipal League does for city council members. Some steps have been made in that direction, he said. He provides one-on-one training sessions with transit authority boards. He does not charge anything to members for that service, because he thinks that’s part of what MPTA members already pay for. He does not push it or advertise it a lot. He hoped that one day there would be a transit board certification program that would be offered on an ongoing basis.

Another program the MPTA has launched this year is called the “Route to Excellence” customer service training program, Harder reported. It’s the first one of its kind in the nation, he said, and the first one of its kind that he was aware of that any state transit association has put together. It’s a transit-based customer service program. The MPTA has been in the process of rolling out that program.

Statewide Perspective: Funding Levels

The MPTA’s main focus over the years has been to advocate for transportation funding – for operating funds and for bus capital, Harder stressed.

The MPTA had been successful in that advocacy over the last several years, he said. Throughout all the state cuts that every other department has faced, transportation has been able to hold its funding. He allowed that due to the cost of doing business rising, the dollars don’t go as far.

But in the face of severe budget cuts, public transportation is one of the very few things that has remained consistent across the board over the last decade, he said: “We are rather proud of that fact.” The MPTA’s current focus is on the transportation funding package in front of the legislature.

Fancher explained that the state is in the middle of the budget cycle for fiscal year 2013-14. A supplemental budget bill has just been passed in Lansing, she said.

Statewide Perspective: Funding Levels – Potholes

The big issue surrounding the supplemental bill was the condition of the transportation infrastructure, Fancher said: “You may have noticed there are a few potholes. I saw some coming down Main Street tonight!” There’s been discussion in Lansing for a long time about how to come up with a solution, she said, to solve transportation funding. There was a budget surplus this year, and the legislature decided to spend $250 million of that surplus to go toward the road budget. Some of that will take care of winter maintenance – salt and overtime to cover plowing activity. There’s also some additional money to go out and “cover up some of those potholes.”

AAATA board members Eli Cooper and Gillian Ream Gainsley.

Fancher ventured that the long winter had awakened a new sense of urgency for the public to do something about road funding. And that urgency has been lacking up to now. Everybody recognizes the need to fix the roads, but nobody wants to pay for it, she said. Right now there are a lot more holes in the road and it’s definitely going to get worse as the spring freeze-thaw cycle continues. So talks on the issue are starting back up, she reported.

Democrats are talking to the Republicans and they are sitting at the table and they are having conversations, she said. She wished that they were talking about a larger dollar amount, but at least they were talking. She was happy that they’re talking about a dollar amount that will flow all the way through the transportation funding formula – that is, to public transportation systems as well. When you hear people talk about “road funding” in the newspaper, it always makes her nervous, she said. While road funding is a part of transportation funding, it’s also important to make sure that it flows through to all the other parts of the transportation system. So she’s encouraged that the talks continue to focus on the entire CTF [comprehensive transportation fund] formula.

When the board was given a chance to ask questions, Eli Cooper noted that because the potholes are real and people see them, it might give cause for action. But the needs for the transit industry go far beyond just those visible infrastructure deficiencies, Cooper stressed. Funding is woefully lacking with appropriate regional and local transportation in the Ann Arbor community, in southeast Michigan and statewide, Cooper continued. He told Harder that the AAATA looked to the MPTA to advocate so that the legislature and state administration understands the need.

Cooper thought there’s a real responsibility to review both the levels and the mechanisms for funding local and regional authorities. So he asked Harder and Fancher to please keep that in mind as they head back up to Lansing and talk with other authorities. There’s an opportunity right now because the potholes are creating focus. “We should never let a crisis go unused,” he quipped. Harder agreed with Cooper, but said that some of the MPTA members get a little antsy and concerned when everything they read in the newspaper is about potholes. But that is what drives the message statewide. And if that is what they have to use to get more funding for public transportation, then Harder was OK with that –as long as they don’t lose sight of the big picture.

AAATA board member Larry Krieg. He represents Ypsilanti Township on the board.

Larry Krieg offered a suggestion as a slogan that could be used, which he’d heard from AAATA staff: “You are one pothole away from public transit.” Krieg noted that public transit had taken a hit as a result of the snow, and the impact was felt not only on the roads. Krieg cited a figure from AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black – that nearly $144,000 extra was needed for snow removal contracts alone, not to mention the overtime of the AAATA’s own staff.

So when we think about regional transportation, we also need to keep ourselves running, Krieg stressed.

During his report to the board, Michael Ford – chief executive officer of the AAATA – noted that he’d had an incident with a pothole this week and found himself taking the bus. “It’s nice to have that option,” he said.

Statewide Perspective: Funding Levels – By Formula

The transportation budget for the fiscal year 2014-15 – which will start on Oct. 1, 2014 – is currently being debated, Fancher told the AAATA board. She expected the state House of Representatives to vote their budget out of committee later this month. She thought that funding for transit would remain about the same. In the last two years, there has been a $5 million operating line item that MDOT could use for discretionary funding. The MPTA had argued to get that in because of the southeast Michigan regional transit authority (RTA), which creates a disruption in the funding of the system. She did not think that the $5 million would be part of next year’s budget.

She was hearing that there might be some money in the budget – whether it’s in MDOT’s budget or in some other budget – for the RTA. The MPTA had advocated for $2 million in the supplemental budget bill, but there was “not enough education on the House side” to get that done, she said. So what the governor’s office has done is to say “we will find the money for fiscal year 13-14 … we’ll figure it out.” And then the governor’s office would advocate for the remaining money in the next year’s budget. That would allow RTA members to go out and educate members of the House of Representatives. She pointed out that the RTA is a member of the MPTA.

Board chair Charles Griffith recalled the situation last year when there had been an interpretation of the CTF formula that had been unexpected – and it took almost a year for the AAATA to get the money back that it had expected. “Has that been fixed in a permanent way, or is that still something we still need to get done right for the long-term?” Griffith asked. Fancher indicated that it was in fact something that could happen again. She reviewed how the Detroit Dept. of Transportation’s reduction in funding had impacted other transit agencies when the regular funding formula was applied. There has not been a permanent fix for that, she said. She would be happy to find a permanent solution moving forward. She felt there was interest among legislators in finding a permanent solution. But she said the focus right now is on finding an overall transportation funding increase “before we bust into fixing things inside Act 51.”

Harder added that the MPTA has tried to spur that conversation with MDOT, but said that the MDOT was not just rather resistant, but “adamantly resistant” to carrying on that conversation – until there is new, additional funding for the formula. They’ve made that pretty clear, he said. That’s clearly coming from the governor’s level – that they don’t get into these conversations until they get appreciable new funding.

Eli Cooper added that a couple of days ago there was an article in the local media that talked about 15,000 new jobs coming into the Ann Arbor community. That’s 15,000 people looking for ways to get to work. In our economy and our community and in this state, we need to have travel choices – proper local travel choices, regional and statewide travel choices, Cooper said.

Cooper appreciated the MPTA’s work and encouraged the MPTA not to argue over the smaller pieces, but to look more broadly and into a brighter future where transit authorities and transit services in our community and statewide are adequately funded – so that local transit agencies have the ability to provide the service without worrying about whether a millage is passed or not.

In response to Cooper’s remarks Fancher said her focus was on making sure that everything goes through the formula.

Statewide Perspective: Detroit

Eric Mahler noted that in Detroit’s state of the city address, mayor Mike Duggan had made it clear that public transportation is a focus. Duggan had also said he was looking to the federal government for buses and other things. Mahler asked if Harder and Fancher had heard anything from the state level about partnering between the federal government and the city of Detroit and some kind of collaboration for other transit authorities around the state.

AAATA board member Eric Mahler.

Harder told Mahler that he had heard there was interest on the part of the administration in Washington to try to identify some additional funding. Of course the issue for the state is the match for any federal dollars on the bus capital side. Harder said that Gov. Rick Snyder’s recommendation is still very strong on the bus capital match side – and that is one of the things that Snyder’s administration had prioritized right from the start.

Harder indicated that right now, on the federal side, the reauthorization for transportation funding is being discussed. He allowed that the state of Michigan is not doing as well now, as when earmarking was the normal process. “We had a senior delegation and we did very well with earmarking,” Harder said. But “earmarking” is a dirty word in Washington now, so they don’t do that, Harder said.

On a more positive note, Harder pointed out that right now the city of Detroit and the new mayor have the ear of the U.S. president. And sometimes miraculous things can happen because of that kind of relationship, Harder said. Mahler was right about Duggan being a very strong supporter of public transportation – as a former manager at SMART. “[Duggan] gets it in terms of fixing what’s wrong,” Harder said. Fancher added that she has heard that MDOT is trying to turn over every stone to make sure that they are making the best use of grants that are available and are really trying to help out as much as possible to pull in federal funding.

Statewide Perspective: Regional Thinking

Eli Cooper recalled about a year ago a conversation about the RTA and the state budget. It focused on whether money was going to be available and that local CTF funds would be supporting the RTA. It sounded like things might be a little bit different this year, he ventured. The AAATA had wanted to support the RTA – but not at the expense of the rides that are provided within local communities, he said. Cooper was looking to the MPTA to continue to advocate on the AAATA’s behalf.

Statewide Perspective: Non-Emergency Medical Transportation

MPTA executive director Clark Harder reported that last year, the MPTA has put a lot of time into researching non-emergency medical transportation with the goal of creating a statewide public-transit-based brokerage for those non-emergency rides. There’s been great input from the AAATA on that topic. Vanessa Hansle, the AAATA’s mobility manager, has been leading the mobility management aspect of that study, Harder reported.

In just the last month, the MPTA has authorized moving that forward, creating the Michigan Transportation Connection (MTC), which will be the coordinating body. They will soon be bidding out some of the managed care contracts across the state. It’s possible that by Oct. 1, 2015 there will be at least one demo project up and running to handle Medicaid non-emergency medical transportation, coordinated through the MTC, Harder said.

Later in the meeting, Midwest Strategy Group lobbyist Dusty Fancher mentioned that she had been advocating legislatively on the issue of non-emergency medical transportation – within the state’s Dept. of Human Services budget. She had arranged for the committee to hear from Harder, and he had testified in front of that committee. It had put on the committee’s radar screen that they could be thinking about public transportation as a tool to save on Medicaid dollars. There’s no reason to contract out transportation service at a higher rate than what could be provided by the local public transportation service. People are already paying tax dollars for that, she pointed out, so full advantage should be taken of it.

Dusty Fancher is with Midwest Strategy Group, a lobbyist firm in Lansing.

Responding to AAATA board questions about overall transportation funding in Michigan, Harder said one reason he was excited about the non-emergency medical project is that he sees a lot of potential to alleviate some of the pressure on the existing funding formula. That’s because it’s a new source of funding that does not come with the same strings attached as the current formula. But Harder could also see the benefit that it would bring to moving the conversation forward on a regional basis. In the time he has worked for the MPTA, he’s concluded that is really what is needed – something that can drive the arguments regionally. Those who work in public transit understand the importance of moving toward regionalization, he said. But there has not been an overriding issue that they could fall back on and point to and say: This is why we need regional transportation and here’s an example of how it pays off and works.

A non-emergency medical transportation brokerage is regional transportation, Harder said. If success is achieved with that, they would be brokering rides for people – whether it is rides on public transportation or private transportation. That will help to build the case that people don’t just live within the confines of their city or their county. Services are not just confined to the city or the county where people live, Harder said. People need to get across those artificial boundary lines that have been put up. He said public transportation was initially set up in ways that actually helped to encourage those artificial boundary lines – so that now they have to be broken down. The MPTA felt that the RTA is a wonderful thing that needs to happen – but not if it’s funded on the backs of all the existing transit agencies in the state. That would tear down the infrastructure that has taken 35 years to build.

Accessibility

Accessibility of the AAATA’s service – particularly to those in the disability community – was a significant theme of the March 20 board meeting. Clark Harder, with the Michigan Public Transit Association, gave a presentation to the board about the MPTA’s efforts on behalf of its member transit authorities, of which AAATA is one. He fielded questions from AAATA board members after that presentation, including one from Jack Bernard.

Bernard wanted to know what the MPTA is doing for riders who have disabilities. He asked what was happening in Lansing specifically with respect to disability issues. Harder replied that MPTA has a strong partnership with the state-level disability organizations. In the past, the MPTA had led coalition efforts involving disability groups, but had backed off in recent years, he said. A new coalition called Transform had emerged. MPTA had encouraged the groups that they had previously worked with to get involved with Transform.

Transform had some funding available and was able to do some things that MPTA was not able to do, Harder said. The MPTA would continue to work closely with the disability network – saying that they had always worked very closely with United Cerebral Palsy and groups like The Arc. He could not tell Bernard that there are any new sources of funding being identified for persons with disabilities in terms of public transportation usage. But he felt there was a keen awareness that for many people who have disabilities, public transportation is their only way to be mobile in our society. He felt that there is certainly room to add funding to assist persons with disabilities.

Accessibility also came up in connection with the issue of snow clearing at bus stops. During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that it had been the worst winter in many years, and with that came many challenges. Shelters and walkways get cleared and then the street plows come along to do their job, which means that the AAATA needs to redo its job. That’s particularly difficult with 1,200 bus stops, Ford said. The effort is actually coordinated, Ford added, between various agencies and contractors. AAATA works with the city of Ann Arbor and the community standards department to address sidewalk complaints. And as the season draws to an end, the AAATA staff will be meeting with representatives of the city of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County to review how things went this year, and to start thinking about how things can be improved and coordinated next year.

AAATA board member Jack Bernard.

During the “question time” agenda slot, Jack Bernard told Ford that he appreciated the emphasis that Ford had placed on making services accessible. It’s of critical importance that the AAATA do that, Bernard said. The AAATA is uniquely situated to be able to serve populations who cannot drive or who don’t drive, so it’s critical that the AAATA make its services accessible.

On the topic of snow removal, Bernard allowed that it’s very difficult to make sure the 1,200 bus stops are accessible for all of the AAATA’s patrons so that they can get on and off buses safely and conveniently. He allowed that not every bus stop could be cleared the way the AAATA would ideally like it to be cleared. But when the AAATA knows that there are particular patrons who had disability issues or have difficulty boarding, he wondered if snow clearance could be prioritized in those spots. He allowed that it’s important to get every spot, but AAATA drivers know their passengers – so he thought it might be possible to target those spots.

Ford responded to Bernard by saying an internal meeting had been held recently on that topic. Ford said the AAATA wants to make sure it does the best job possible. Accessibility is definitely a high priority for the AAATA, Ford said.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi of the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living commented on the snow removal issue. She reported that she gets calls from people who are able to get out on the bus, but when they come back – because of the way things get plowed, or shoveled after they’ve left their home – they are stuck. Bus drivers try to be helpful in helping people off the bus, but the drivers can’t leave the bus.

Grawi noted that the University of Michigan has a strategy where patrons can provide information about where they live and where they need to go – and as a result, certain locations receive an asterisk so that they receive extra attention for snow removal. But it’s not just a question of where the person lives or where they board on a regular basis, she cautioned. Because the bus will take us wherever life takes us, and people are getting on and off the bus everywhere in the community. So it’s every curb ramp in every subdivision that needs to remain cleared, she said. There’s still ice on some ramps, even though a lot of it has melted. She suggested that in the spring, the AAATA and others should start to think about a plan so that for next winter a plan is in place.

Ford also acknowledged the issue during his March 20 report to the board. He noted that during its Feb. 20 board meeting, the board had also heard about the critical need to make the system accessible. He noted that Carolyn Grawi of the Center for Independent Living had met with staff during the past week to discuss specific concerns. Making services and systems accessible is a priority for the AAATA, Ford said, and will continue to be.

The board also received a report from the local advisory council, a group that provides input and feedback to AAATA on disability and senior issues. Rebecca Burke reported from the most recent LAC meeting, that the group had received a presentation on the Jewish Family Services (JFS) vehicle accessibility plan. The group had also reviewed a users guide, which is due to be out in May. They had also reviewed data from a survey from a small population of users. The survey had covered items like destinations that users would like to reach that are currently not served by AAATA.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its March 20 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 CEO Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: Financial Report

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Anya Dale gave an update on the financial report the committee had received. Revenue is under budget by 0.1% but expenses are under budget by more than that, she said. Some of the extra costs the AAATA has incurred involved additional expenses due to weather-related items, she noted. Because of the very cold weather in January, ridership had dropped off. But the other indicators – operating expense per passenger, operating expense per service hour, operating expense per service mile – were all slightly better than budget for the fiscal year, she said. In that context, everything is still doing well, she said.

Ridership on ExpressRide is doing well – as it is up 10% for the year, Dale said. There is an increase in ridership on the Canton route, so that Canton and Chelsea are now about equal in ridership, Dale said.

Dale reported that the committee had received a presentation from the getDowntown program director Nancy Shore. Shore had presented the committee with results from a survey of downtown business owners and commuters in 2013. Dale pointed her board colleagues to the full report, which is available on the getDowntown website. Something that stood out for Dale was that employers considered the go!pass program a significant benefit used to attract and retain employees – with 76% of businesses using it as a way to recruit people. Among bus riders, 34% of respondents said they would be driving downtown if they did not have a go!pass. That’s 1,000 people who are choosing to ride the bus rather than driving, she said. Results from the AAATA’s ridership survey are in draft form and that would be available later, Dale reported.

AAATA controller Phil Webb.

During question time, Gillian Ream Gainsley asked about the “interest, advertising, and other” line item. She recalled that last year, advertising revenue had exceeded expectations. She asked if there were any insights that could be provided into why it’s down this year, or if there is anything that can be done about it. AAATA controller Phil Webb explained that the budget line item is a combination of a few different items.

It includes advertising revenue and some other revenue from the getDowntown program. He allowed that advertising revenue is a little bit down compared to budget. Just this week, however, he’d received a report for February, and revenue had shot back up again. The monthly amount received by AAATA was $26,000 – which was ahead of the monthly average, whereas in January it was below average for that month. “It’s starting to come around,” he said.

On the topic of low ridership in January, Charles Griffith said that a lot of people just did not get out on the very cold days. As a regular bus rider, he said, there were a lot of days he would’ve been very unhappy, if he’d had to take his car out. But the buses were still running. And “miraculously,” he said, buses were running for the most part on time. He was able to commute to work very consistently, saying it was almost kind of surprising. Off mic, Ford lightly ribbed Griffith about the idea that it was surprising to him. Griffith responded by noting that everyone else was struggling out on the roads, but the buses have good traction and they get around quite well.

Comm/Comm: Blake Transit Center Opening

In his report to the board, Michael Ford noted that the new Blake Transit Center had opened. It’s located on South Fifth Avenue across from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library, north of William. It had been opened as part of a soft launch on Monday, March 17. Staff had been on hand throughout that day to share information, he said. The new center will better serve passengers and employees, Ford said. The facility also provides a chance to make the urban core communities a more attractive place to live and work. Ford thanked everyone who had helped with the Blake Transit Center. Ford noted that additional work still needs be done – including concrete that needs to be poured.

Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority maintenance manager Terry Black got a round of applause at the March 20, 2014 board meeting. He was project manager on the construction of the new Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor, which had a soft opening on March 17.

Ford thanked staff for all the hard work that it’s taken to get things to this point: “I think it’s a magnificent facility. I also just want to acknowledge Terry Black for all of his hard work and effort. This guy has been relentless day in and day out, just being there making sure everything is going to work, and I just want to thank you personally for all your hard work.” Ford’s remarks prompted applause for Black.

Board chair Charles Griffith noted that some board members had an opportunity to get a tour just before the board meeting and he’d visited the facility on Monday during the soft launch. He asked Black for a report on how things had gone with the BTC construction. “You don’t have to tell any horror stories – we don’t need to hear those,” Griffith quipped.

Black reported that most of the feedback he received so far has been very positive. A lot of staff had worked really hard on Saturday and Sunday to get the facility to the point where it could be opened on Monday, Black said. He felt that the reaction had been positive – as far as the bus drivers and passengers were concerned. Like any new building, there are some things that need to be tweaked, he said. He was looking forward to a little warmer weather so that the concrete could be poured.

Eric Mahler asked Black to summarize some “lessons learned.” Black replied that there were a lot of lessons learned and he wanted to leave it at that. Those lessons would be incorporated into the AAATA’s future work on the Ypsilanti Transit Center.

Comm/Comm: May 6, 2014 Millage Vote

The upcoming millage, which the board approved for the May 6, 2014 ballot at its Feb. 20, 2014 meeting, came up at several different points during the March 20 board meeting.

During communications time at the start of the meeting, Gillian Ream Gainsley reported some “really great endorsements” had come out of Ypsilanti. She thanked the AAATA staff for coming to give a presentation to the Ypsilanti city council. That same morning, AAATA staff had presented to the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority. The Ypsilanti DDA had passed a resolution of support for the millage with wording similar to that of a resolution passed by the Ann Arbor DDA – saying that if the millage passes, the Ypsilanti DDA will increase its support for transit and transit-related activities.

During his report to the board, Michael Ford noted that the ballot language for the 0.7 millage request had been delivered to the Washtenaw County clerk the day after last month’s board meeting. During the last four weeks, staff had been hitting the road and hitting the pavement with the message about the urgent need for improved transportation services within the community and within the greater Ann Arbor area. As campaigns often go, he said, the AAATA had received some negative press recently. Ford said he recognized that’s part of the process and said the AAATA would do its level best to balance that part of the equation by continuing to provide good factual data. Internally, the AAATA is engaged in a readiness process to ensure that it’s in a position to deploy new services shortly after funding is approved, if it is approved, Ford said.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi of the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living reiterated her support for the May 6 millage vote. Grawi said she was pleased to see the number of endorsements that were starting to be announced. The whole community benefits from transit expansion, she said. We need the service now – we need the service today, she concluded.

Comm/Comm: Connector Study

An alternatives analysis is currently being conducted by the AAATA for the corridor running from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street, then further south to I-94. The alternatives analysis phase will result in a preferred choice of transit mode (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and identification of stations and stops. The study has winnowed down options to six different route alignments.

During his report to the board, Michael Ford gave an update on the connector study. The project team recently reviewed updates on the timeline, modeling, and finances. Ridership estimates are scheduled to be completed at the end of March, he said. He was recently in Washington D.C. and met with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials, who support the connector study concept and had agreed to meet with project partners to discuss possible opportunities for federal funding.

Comm/Comm: Ann Arbor Station Environmental Review

During communications time at the start of the meeting, Eli Cooper reminded the board that the Ann Arbor Station environmental review project was getting underway. The first of a series of three public meetings would be taking place on April 2, he said. Meetings will take place at the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, he noted, starting at 4:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. For people who want to come earlier in the day or those who preferred to attend later in the afternoon, there would be opportunities to attend. At those meetings the project would be introduced, he said, and the dialogue would begin – which he hoped would culminate in the identification of an appropriate intercity passenger rail station for the city of Ann Arbor and its environs.

Comm/Comm: Annual Board Retreat

Eric Mahler reported out from the planning and development committee meeting. The committee has spent a great deal of time planning for the board retreat, he reported. The committee had discussed what it wanted to get out of the retreat. They were at this point looking at June as the likely time for the retreat, he said.

Present: Charles Griffith, Eric Mahler, Susan Baskett, Eli Cooper, Anya Dale, Gillian Ream Gainsley, Jack Bernard, Larry Krieg.

Absent: Sue Gott, Roger Kerson.

Next regular meeting: April 17, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor [Check Chronicle event listings to confirm date]

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Michael Ford, CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, just before the start of the Feb. 20, 2014 AAATA board meeting. (Photos by the writer.)

That main item was a board vote to place a millage request before voters on May 6, 2014. The request – on a 0.7 mill tax that would be levied to pay for additional services over the next five years – would need a majority of votes across the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township to be approved.

The millage is supposed to pay for a set of service improvements over a period of five years. Those improvements include increased frequency during peak hours, extended service in the evenings, and additional service on weekends. Some looped routes are being replaced with out-and-back type route configurations. The plan does not include operation of rail-based services.

The AAATA has calculated that the improvements in service add up to 90,000 additional service hours per year, compared to the current service levels, which is a 44% increase.

The board’s vote to put the question on a May 6 ballot was unanimous, and came after more than a dozen people spoke during public commentary at the start of the meeting, urging the board to take the step of making a funding request of voters.

Elected officials as well as leaders of the faith, labor and disability communities all spoke in favor of making the request of voters to fund the service expansion, citing arguments based on economic and social justice. They pointed to the long period of planning that had begun about three years ago with a much more ambitious effort to expand service countywide. The current, more limited approach – focused just on the “urban core” area of the city of Ann Arbor and the two Ypsilanti jurisdictions – was a way to meet urgent transportation needs, they said.

After the board’s vote, during public commentary at the end of the meeting, one Ypsilanti resident recalled her own history marching with Rosa Parks down Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Although she’s been involved in activism for many years, she told the board, she could not think of anything that she was in the room to witness that was this important to her personally and to the city in which she lives.

Compared to typical AAATA board meetings, the atmosphere was relatively boisterous, as supporters at times chanted, “More buses, more places, more often!” But one speaker at the end of the meeting cautioned against the celebratory mood, saying there was now a lot of work to do. A counterpoint to the solid support the board heard from most of the speakers had been offered by the very first speaker of the evening. He asked the board to delay the election until November, arguing that it would save the roughly $80,000-$100,000 cost of holding the May election, and result in broader participation in the vote. Another point raised by that speaker was concern that everyone pay an equitable share for the additional transportation.

Although the main event was the resolution that placed the millage question on the ballot, the board’s agenda featured nine other items, many of which were at least tangentially related to the millage question.

For example, in other action the board approved a change to its budget to allow for up to $100,000 to be spent on the cost of holding the special election. The board also approved a funding agreement with Ypsilanti Township, to make explicit what will happen to the township’s existing purchase of service agreement (POSA) if the millage is approved. And as part of the board’s routine annual business, it approved a funding request to the state of Michigan – but did not factor in an increased level of service in the budget submitted to the state. That was done on the instruction of the Michigan Dept. of Transportation. That request can be amended if the millage succeeds.

Also at the Feb. 20 meeting, the board approved changes to its bylaws. Those changes were prompted by a change in governance to the AAATA last year – the addition of the two Ypsilanti jurisdictions. With the increase from seven to 10 members, the definition for the number of board members constituting a quorum or a majority needed to be modified. Out of that review of the bylaws came a decision to increase public speaking turns from a two-minute time limit to three minutes.

In other business, the board approved the hiring of a consultant to help the AAATA with a planned upgrade to its computer-aided dispatch and vehicle locating software. The board also approved the recently completed audit report for the 2013 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2013.

Another item approved by the board was a new contract for unarmed security services. And finally, the board authorized a contract for an insurance broker.

Among the various operational updates received by the board was the announcement that the newly constructed Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor would be open by March 17, 2014.

Ballot Question

Several items on the Feb. 20 agenda related to putting a 0.7 mill tax proposal on the May 6, 2014 ballot.

Ballot Question: Public Commentary – Meeting Start

Brian introduced himself as a 10-year Ann Arbor resident. He asked that the board delay the placement of the millage question on the ballot until the November 2014 general election. Given a multi-million dollar investment, a delay of six months would not be that significant. He felt there was no real reason not to talk to “the majority of citizens who want into this, or potentially not into this.” He pointed to the additional $80,000-$100,000 the AAATA would need to spend to hold a special election in May instead of waiting until November.

He also asked that all communities pay an equal millage rate. [The millage to be levied by the AAATA, on which voters will decide on May 6, will have an equal rate across all three jurisdictions. The point being raised was that the city of Ann Arbor and the city of Ypsilanti already levy city millages that are dedicated to transit and are passed through to the AAATA.] Ann Arbor property owners have paid a millage for many years, he pointed out, and that has bought a lot of capital, infrastructure and equipment to support the transportation system. Ann Arbor residents have fronted a lot of the cost to the AAATA, so it would be fair for everyone to pay equally into the system. He concluded by thanking the board for their time and service to the community.

State representative Jeff Irwin (D-53), an Ann Arbor resident, thanked the AAATA for the excellent service that is provided in his community. He reported that he’d had the opportunity to use the service many times. It was wonderful that a small Midwestern like Ann Arbor can have a bus service as great as the AAATA.

State representative Jeff Irwin (D-53).

He supported the AAATA’s effort to continue to examine and propose to the public a plan to really expand that service – to increase the amount of service in the evenings or on Sundays. But he also encouraged the exploration of expanding service in a more thorough way outside the boundaries of the city of Ann Arbor. That would respect the economic reality of the region we live in, Irwin said. It’s important to do a better job of serving Pittsfield Township and Ypsilanti Township and the city of Ypsilanti.

This is a great idea, Irwin said, because when you connect people and places, then great things happen. That’s because people have an opportunity to get to the doctor or get to church or get to the store. Businesses and people also connect, he said. He asked the AAATA board to continue the effort to propose new options for citizens, so that the transportation network in Ann Arbor can expand in a complete way to include all of Ann Arbor’s neighbors “in a way that our citizens deserve.” He hoped he had a chance as a citizen to vote on this issue – because we’ve been talking about this for a long time. “The community is ready for expansion, I believe, and I’m certainly ready for expansion.”

Mark Coryell introduced himself as president of the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3907, which represents employees of the Environmental Protection Agency lab in Ann Arbor. He was also speaking on behalf of WeROC – the Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition. He asked those who were there to support the board’s vote to stand – and around 30 people rose from their seats. He called the analysis that the AAATA had put into the question “really quite impressive.” He called Irwin’s comments on point, and told the AAATA it was a national leader. What WeROC sees is a good community investment in the future, at a time when other communities are disinvesting in the things that would bring them a future – future jobs, future growth and future quality of life. WeROC represents a lot of labor and faith-based organizations, he said.

And the people WeROC represents and ministers to would be using these services, Coryell said. He added that we shouldn’t take for granted that everyone owns a motor vehicle. When you arrive in southeast Michigan from a major metropolitan area in another part of the country, it’s amazing how dependent Michigan is on the motor vehicle, he said. “We are behind the times in adjusting to the new future of sharing our transportation systems,” he said. When the snow melts, people will be reluctant to drive on the roads, and he ventured that a lot of people would want to take the bus to work. So WeROC sees a lot of benefit to those people that the organization represents.

Ypsilanti mayor pro tem Lois Richardson told the board she was speaking with her political hat.

For workers, it would help get them back and forth between a job, he said, and public transportation makes it cheaper for them. WeROC supports the millage, Coryell concluded, and would like to see the board vote affirmatively.

Lois Richardson introduced herself as mayor pro tem of the city of Ypsilanti.

It’s been a real pleasure to work with the AAATA’s CEO, Michael Ford, over the last year or two to bring more service into Ypsilanti, she said. She’s looking forward to the expansion and she would support it. She’s a member of WeROC, she noted, but right now, she was speaking with her “political hat.” She appreciated the bus service in Ypsilanti.

She had moved away from the area for a while, and when she first moved back, she was a regular transit customer and always got good service. Now, she reported, she’s an occasional transit customer. And the service she gets is good. She thanked Ann Arbor for the years it has supported the bus service. She was looking forward to expanded service in Ypsilanti. Richardson congratulated Ford for doing a good job bringing the effort to this point: “You need my help? Call me.”

Dave Hendricks introduced himself as pastor at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Ypsilanti.

He wanted to look at the issue from a religious perspective. His congregation serves a population in Ypsilanti that is sometimes forgotten, he said. They provide food pantry options, clothing and a hot meal during the week. The folks who need those services, he said, are the people who need bus services.

Pastor Dave Hendricks of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Ypsilanti.

Just from a theological perspective, he and his congregation feel that the transportation expansion is an opportunity to serve people who are sometimes marginalized. He hoped the AAATA would continue its efforts.

Roderick Casey introduced himself as an elected Democratic delegate for Ypsilanti Township, and also a member of WeROC. He told the board, they were doing a great job. In the 36 years he’s lived here the population has boomed, he said. But he was now very concerned about a phenomenon that has come to Ypsilanti: insurance redlining. It’s really hurting a lot of people in the city of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township – because it causes the price of insurance to go up. So right now transportation expansion is needed. He asked the board to continue to support expansion of service.

Jim McAsey introduced himself as an organizer with the Graduate Employees Organization, also a member of WeROC. “Is WeROC in the house?” he asked, and that drew applause and cheers. “We believe passionately that public transportation is a social justice issue,” he said. There are many people in the community who don’t own cars who still need to get around. GEO members don’t make a lot of money and cars are very expensive, he said. So a lot of GEO members depend on buses – because rent is expensive in Ann Arbor and they need to get back and forth. Many GEO members live in Ypsilanti and they have trouble getting back and forth on the weekends or late at night. GEO members need better public transportation, he said. “The bus system here is fabulous, but let’s make it even better,” he told the board. GEO supports the millage. “Let’s get it done. We’ll help you get it done,” he concluded.

Lionel Swan introduced himself as an employee of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD). He works in the young adult program – which is for 18-26 year-olds. The WISD tries to teach skills like being able to get to their jobs. These are kids with cognitive disabilities, he said. The bus system is “absolutely essential in our program,” he told the board. He agreed with everyone who spoke in favor of expansion. He allowed there were some routes he would like to see extend a little farther. He told the board he rode the bus about four times a week – and he was always impressed by the timeliness and cleanliness of the buses and the friendliness of the drivers toward a very needy group of folks.

The proceedings were documented by several people in the audience using smartphones.

Sam Facus introduced himself as a graduating senior at the University of Michigan. He’s very dependent on the bus service in Ann Arbor, he said. As a graduating senior who’d like to stay in the community and not own a car, it’s very enticing to him to have better public transit options to get where he needs to go and to live a sustainable life.

Joel Batterman told the board he now lives in Detroit, but he’s an Ann Arbor native, so he feels a close connection with his hometown. Since he was a high school senior at Huron High School, he’s been interested in how to improve transit – in the area and in the wider Detroit region. He now works with MOSES, which does congregation-based community organizing in Detroit. WeROC is the Washtenaw County affiliate. Better public transit is a key pillar to a prosperous region, he said.

He’d heard some concerns about the multi-jurisdictional nature of the millage. It’s a new and different thing for this community, but it’s urgently needed, he contended. Growing up in Ann Arbor, he didn’t get over to Ypsilanti that often. But he’s come to understand that the communities – in the county and in the region – are really intertwined. “We can’t allow the boundaries that Thomas Jefferson’s surveyors drew 200 years ago to get in the way of providing transportation … wherever people need to go.” Batterman concluded his remarks by saying he was looking forward to extended hours on Route #2 and Route #4 whenever he’s home.

Martha Valadez, an organizer with Partners for Transit, told the board she was happy and pleased to see the turnout at the board meeting in support of the expansion. She told the board the attendance at the board meeting by residents of all three jurisdictions was evidence that they really are adamant about the need for more transit now.

Her group was happy to see that the planning and development committee had recommended the 0.7 mill tax be placed on the ballot. It’s important that additional services be put in place this year, she said. Last week, Partners for Transit held a coalition meeting with over 35 organizations that are really passionate about transit. After the board’s decision, she said, she hoped they would be able to move forward by getting the word out about the importance of transit expansion.

Susan Borey [unconfirmed spelling] introduced herself as a former member of the Washtenaw County committee for disability issues. At that time she was employed and mostly used taxicabs. Now she’s unemployed and a senior, and she relies on the buses. She called the AAATA bus drivers the “finest ladies and gentlemen I have ever known,” which drew immediate applause.

Ian Robinson, president of the Huron Valley Central Labor Council.

She was very concerned about maintaining the quality of service in Ann Arbor as the AAATA expands. For example, seniors need bus shelters and benches. There’s no longer a shelter along Huron Street near Lurie Terrace, she said. She pointed out that there’s not good public transportation that lets you off directly at the Quality 16 theater on Jackson Road, in Scio Township. She also described how the bus service is wonderful in this town – but bus stops are not cleared of snow. The curbs are absolutely and positively treacherous, she said. She couldn’t imagine how people with disabilities manage with wheelchairs and scooters.

Ian Robinson introduced himself as a University of Michigan faculty member and the newly elected president of the Huron Valley Central Labor Council.

The council will be discussing endorsing the millage to support the expansion of transit at its next meeting – the first Tuesday in March. He plans to argue in favor of it on two grounds: (1) regional development; and (2) social justice.

It’s critical to have sound regional infrastructure, Robinson said. It’s critical that people can still get transportation to work. Good public infrastructure is a core principle of sound economic development, he said. As far as social justice goes, he added, the labor council stands for all working people.

Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (CIL) director of advocacy and education Carolyn Grawi addressed the board. She told the board that if there were better transit across the state, she could have arrived 25 minutes earlier.

Carolyn Grawi, Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (CIL) director of advocacy and education.

She’d just come from Lansing. She then led supporters in a chant: “More buses, more places, more often!” We need services everywhere, she said. Some community members across all three areas of the urban core do not have service today: “We need services to get where we need to go.”

The services from AAATA have been outstanding for many years, but improvement in necessary, Grawi said. We need to make sure that anyone who wants to ride the bus or wants to board a paratransit vehicle can get to where they need to go, as often as it’s necessary.

Right now there are people who are missing medical appointments and who can’t get jobs because of a lack of transportation. The AAATA gets lots of people where they need to go on a timely basis, she said. But there are a lot who are still waiting to get there.

Grawi concluded by telling the board that Ann Arbor CIL has endorsed the millage proposal. The Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition (WBWC) also endorsed the millage, as did Partners for Transit.

She concluded with another round of chants: “More buses, more places, more often!”

Ballot Question: CEO’s Remarks

About the millage request, CEO Michael Ford called the vote “the big ask that’s on the agenda.” He called the vote to put the millage on the ballot one of the most important actions taken by the AAATA in the last decade or so. The board had demonstrated its commitment to the vision last month when it approved the five-year program. The next commitment was to take a step toward approving the funding component of that program, Ford said. He believed that the AAATA had sufficient support, saying “I’ve heard a lot tonight.” He pointed to grass-roots organizations, businesses, community leaders, employees who had participated in the planning process – as well as bus riders.

Ford said that to get to this point, the AAATA had engaged citizens, business leaders, elected officials in pursuit of a plan to provide improved public transportation service. The AAATA had heard over and over again about the unmet service demands. The leaders of the urban core communities had supported the effort. Ford then ticked through the names of those who’d participated: Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje; Ann Arbor city councilmembers Sabra Briere, Sally Petersen, Stephen Kunselman and Chuck Warpehoski; Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber; Ypsilanti city councilmember Pete Murdock; Ypsilanti city manager Ralph Lange; Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo; and Ypsilanti Township clerk Karen Lovejoy Roe.

Supported by that leadership, Ford said the AAATA had developed the five-year service plan. Based on input from the community, riders and others, adjustments had been made to the service plan. The final component is the funding proposal, Ford said.

Ford stated that the funding proposal had been fully supported by a financial task force led by former Washtenaw County administrator Bob Guenzel. Ford invited Guenzel to the podium to summarize the task force’s report.

Ballot Question: Financial Task Force

Guenzel began by congratulating Ford and the board for bringing the process to this point. He put the current financial task force in the context of the original task force that dated back to 2011, when the now-demised countywide initiative was underway.

From left: former Washtenaw County administrator Bob Guenzel and AAATA outside legal counsel Jerry Lax.

The AAATA had asked some people to come together to test that countywide plan, to see whether it was accurate in its assumptions about services, and also about the amount of money it would take to fund that plan.

A sub-group had been established to work closely with AAATA staff and issued a report saying the countywide plan was well prepared, complete and reasonable, he said.

Now, a couple of years later, Guenzel continued, we’re at a very different point. The group was asked to conduct the same kind of review for the five-year urban core transit plan.

The group had met in December, January and February, Guenzel reported. That resulted in a consensus finding that the AAATA’s methods and assumptions related to that plan were reasonable.

He read aloud from the document produced by his work group [.pdf of Feb. 5, 2014 financial task force finding]:

Findings and Recommendations. The FTF recognizes the accomplishments of the Service Review Sub-Group, as follows:

• The Service Review Sub-Group was charged with examining a Five Year Transit Improvement Program budget containing a list of proposed services for the Urban Core communities of Washtenaw County. As the result of the deliberations, analysis, and effort, the Service Review Sub-Group determined that the funding analysis (Appendix 1) is reasonable.
• The Service Review Sub-Group reviewed the development of the service program that includes later night service on weekdays, more hours of service on weekends, new service for both the east and west sides of the service areas, and more service for seniors and people with disabilities. The Service Review Sub-Group found no material issues with the method used in calculating the service hours and the proposed schedules. (Appendix 2)
• The Service Review Sub-Group discussed the assumptions made for the ridership level estimates identified in the program. Staff shared the estimates of Steer Davies Gleave (SDG) estimates and increases seen on Route 4 serving Washtenaw Avenue combined with the general system growth over the past ten years, as data supporting assumptions regarding ridership growth. SDG estimates were interpolated by Authority to arrive at annual growth rate assumptions. (Appendix 3)
• The Service Review Sub-Group further discussed revenue vulnerabilities related to ridership forecasts and 2012 legislation repealing the personal property tax beginning in 2014. The Service Review Sub-Group requested a ‘what-if’ analysis of two questions:
  1. What is the financial risk of a 25% shortfall in projected ridership growth, and therefore passenger revenues?, and
  2. What is the financial risk of an uncompensated shortfall in the personal property tax revenues? (The 2012 legislation will exempt personal property from taxation by local jurisdictions by 2023, but a referendum scheduled for August 2014, if successful could make up at least some fraction of the revenue shortfall.)

About the personal property tax question, Guenzel summed up the financial task force view as: “Who knows for sure?” It might affect the AAATA by a maximum of about $300,000, Guenzel said. There’s enough flexibility in the long-term plan to take care of that, he added. A shortfall in ridership projections could also be absorbed by the plan, Guenzel said. So the task force felt confident in the soundness of the planning work the AAATA had done.

Guenzel summed up by recommending that the financial task force be allowed to continue to meet from time to time. More importantly, he continued, the funding level is complete and they found it to be reasonable. So the task force found the AAATA’s assumptions to be reasonable – concerning the level of services and that a 0.7 mill tax, combined with the rest of the revenue, would support that program over five years.

After Guenzel concluded his remarks, Ford wrapped up by saying, “Tonight it’s up to you, the board, to take the next step, to make this plan a reality.”

Ballot Question: Issue Analysis

AAATA strategic planner Michael Benham gave a presentation to the board on the issue analysis. From the board’s information packet, here are the pro-con arguments listed for making a funding request.

Arguments in favor of TheRide placing a property tax levy on the ballot:

• The need for improved transit service is immediate as evidenced by the many requests for service that TheRide has received during the planning period and on a day-to-day basis, and TheRide has worked with the community to propose a specific program of services that responds to that need.
• Millage funding will allow TheRide to leverage State and Federal dollars that would not otherwise come to the region. It is estimated that each new local millage dollar will attract 2 additional dollars of State and Federal money.
• TheRide’s funding sources have been relatively fixed for many years, while demand for service in all areas has increased. TheRide provided a record setting 6.6 million trips in 2013 for example. The unmet need for transit services will only be satisfied by additional service, which must be paid for with new funding sources.
• In the particular case of Ypsilanti City, their general revenue millage has reached its cap and an Authority millage is the only way to pay for additional transit services.
• As TheRide system becomes increasingly regional – with many routes crossing jurisdictional boundaries – it makes sense to begin the transition to a more regionally funded system.
• Community surveys conducted in 2011 and 2013 indicate that support for transit is extremely high, that TheRide is regarded as a very well-run organization, and that there is significant willingness on the part of voters to support a millage for transit.
• TheRide’s reputation as a very well-run organization is reinforced by comparisons to other transit agencies, as evidenced by the findings of our recent Peer Comparison.
• The recent Annual Audit and the findings of the Financial Task Force also reinforce TheRide’s reputation as financially sound and well-managed.

Risks / Issues related to placing a property tax levy on the ballot:

• The most obvious risk is that a majority of the people will not vote for the millage and it will not be approved. However, if this was the outcome, TheRide would continue to provide service, making minor improvements within existing budget constraints, as it has for many years. Existing service would continue and unmet needs for transportation would remain unmet.
• Passage of an Authority millage will create a new level of accountability for TheRide, requiring the Authority to ‘prove’ the value of its services every five years (and this might be considered an advantage by some). TheRide’s Continuous Improvement Program will need to expand to track new services and make any needed adjustments.
• The emergence of a 4-county Regional Transportation Authority has raised a concern that a separate millage might be sought by that organization. The State Law that created the RTA provides for additional regional taxing mechanisms that might be more closely aligned with and acceptable for funding regional transportation services than local property tax millages. There is no Regional funding request planned currently. It could be years before the RTA identifies its preferred funding level and approach. Most importantly, the RTA is primarily concerned with regional (4-county) transit issues while TheRide’s program is focused strictly on meeting local transportation needs with local services.
• Many of the proposed services in the program are during off-peak travel times like evenings and weekends when fewer people are traveling. Ridership can take years to build to expected levels. TheRide will have to carefully manage expectations so that evolving services are given a chance to develop.
• TheRide’s funding model is not well understood by some, which has led to questions as to whether the funding model is ‘fair’. The 5YTIP has been designed to ensure that each community pays for the service they get, either via a millage or through a Purchase of Service Agreement. Ann Arbor will pay more for service because Ann Arbor will receive more service.  The other communities pay less for service because they get less service. POSA communities pay for their services based on fully allocated costs. A particular concern voiced by several individuals is that the transit millage should be ‘flat’, that is, levied at the same rate throughout TheRide’s jurisdiction. The recommendation for funding is a flat 0.7 mil levy across the entire jurisdiction of the Authority.
• A question has been raised about the role of passenger fares in paying for the services proposed in the 5YTIP. Passenger fares currently account for about 20% of operating costs, which is typical for a transit organization of TheRide’s size. The funding proposal for proposed new services is expected to maintain that ratio over the long run. TheRide’s last fare increase was implemented in two phases, with an increase from $1 to 1.25 in May of 2009 and an increase from $1.25 to $1.50 in May 2010. There were corresponding increases in reduced fares for special users at the same time. Fares for advanced reservations on A-Ride (services for seniors and individuals with a disability) also increased during the same time period from $2.00 to $2.50 to $3.00. TheRide’s fares are in line with those seen in the industry as a whole. It is believed that another fare increase so soon after the 50% increase during 2009- 2010 would be excessive and detrimental to ridership. Staff recommends consideration of a fare increase during the implementation period of the 5YTIP, but not to include it as a foregone conclusion.

Ballot Question: Survey Results

Reporting out from the planning and development committee, board member Eric Mahler summarized a presentation from Hugh Clark of CJI Research that was given to the committee at its Feb. 11 meeting. [For earlier Chronicle coverage of those survey results, see: "Survey: Majority Favorable on Transit Tax"]

The survey of 842 registered voters in the three-member jurisdictions of AAATA was conducted by CJI in late 2013 to gauge support for public transit and possibly a future millage. It found that 63% of those surveyed would probably or definitely support a transit millage.

AAATA board member Eric Mahler.

Mahler highlighted some of the other results of the survey: about 54% think that changes in the area are taking us in the right direction; and 59% think that in general, development improves things, while 21% think that development hinders the area. That’s counter to national trends, Mahler said. People here are feeling good about the direction the area is taking and about where they live, he said.

Of those polled, 57% reported that they’d used the AAATA in the last year, Mahler said. [The survey question asked if the respondent or anyone in the household had used the AAATA in the last year.] Of those surveyed, 79% had a favorable opinion of the ride, Mahler said. Only 6% had an unfavorable opinion, he said.

On the millage question, Mahler noted that for a survey question asking if respondents had heard anything about the proposed expansion of the AAATA’s member jurisdictions, 49% said they had not. About 45% said they’d heard something. Of those who use the AAATA at least once a month, 53% said they were likely to use the new service, Mahler said.

Mahler also noted for the survey question on additional services for seniors, 45% said they’d be in favor of more taxes to support additional services for seniors, while 40% said they would not. Mahler said that even without the educational effort that’s still to come, those numbers are good news for the AAATA.

When asked what priorities public transit should have, the top response was that public transportation supports seniors and those with disabilities – with 93% saying that is an important aspect of public transportation. Attracting jobs came in at 85%, and 83% said that it gets more people to more jobs. That’s what the message has to be, Mahler concluded.

It was clear that there’s an opportunity and a need to educate for this effort, Mahler said. It’s also clear that the AAATA has credibility and trust with the public that it’s willing to listen.

Ballot Question: Board Discussion – Ballot Language

When the board reached the item on its agenda, board chair Charles Griffith said it was a historic move for the AAATA, so the board did not take it lightly.

From the audience, Carolyn Grawi asked that the resolution be read aloud. Griffith then read aloud the entire resolution.

The specific ballot language that Griffith read aloud  differed from the language drafted and included in the original board packet. The approved language explicitly highlights the capture of a portion of the millage by TIF (tax increment finance) authorities. The approved language also swaps in “seniors” for “the elderly”:

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT MILLAGE

To improve public bus, van, and paratransit services – including expanded service hours, routes, destinations, and services for seniors and people who have disabilities – shall the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority levy a new annual tax of 0.7 mills ($0.70 per $1000 of taxable value) on all taxable property within the City of Ann Arbor, the City of Ypsilanti, and the Charter Township of Ypsilanti for the years 2014-2018 inclusive? The estimate of revenue if this millage is approved is $ 4,368,847.00 for 2014. This revenue will be disbursed to the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority and, as required by law, a portion may be subject to capture by the downtown development authorities of the Cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, the Washtenaw County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, and the local development finance authority of the Charter Township of Ypsilanti.

The ballot language is subject to requirements in Michigan’s General Property Tax Act.

Earlier in the meeting, reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson said the committee had talked about the ballot language “a lot, a lot, a lot.”

AAATA board member Roger Kerson.

They thought it had been finalized, but then it had to be tweaked, he said, describing a couple of cycles of finalization and further tweaking. They’d worked very hard to be compliant with all the laws that apply when you make an ask from voters. It must be clear what the money is to be used for.

The proposed language will be used for buses, vans and paratransit, he said, not airplanes, helicopters or trains. After much analysis, Kerson continued, there’s a requirement that it be noted in the ballot language that some of the new tax would be captured by tax increment finance authorities (TIFAs) like downtown development authorities and brownfield authorities.

Kerson said that the “huge majority” of the funding, 97-98%, would go to the AAATA, but that the remainder could be captured by TIFAs. The PMER committee concluded that this is “the right move at the right time.”

Ballot Question: Board Commentary

Larry Krieg led off comments by saying it’s a historic event for the AAATA. It’s important to take a moment to think about it and say why it’s important, he said. He was a teacher at Washtenaw Community College for 25 years, he said. Something he noticed when he taught there was “when a student’s car failed, they would be very likely to fail my class.” Many of his students lived in Ypsilanti Township or other parts of the county that are not served by the AAATA. That’s important because “education of our people is going to be the root of our future prosperity.”

He also saw WCC grads who were looking for jobs, who did not own cars. Even though they were qualified for certain jobs, they were sometimes not able to accept available jobs, because they could not get to those jobs. By having better transportation, job seekers will have the ability to reach other parts of Ypsilanti township and city.

Krieg said he was impressed by the careful work that AAATA staff had done in preparing the proposal. Some people might wonder why the board did not vote on this last month, he said. The reason is that there needs to be careful analysis of the likelihood of success and exactly what the money is going for. He’s now convinced that the analysis has been done and the AAATA has an excellent chance of going forward with this.

Responding to the issues of fairness that had been raised, Krieg noted that the millage rate is flat. But he allowed that Ann Arbor residents will be paying more – through an existing millage. Ann Arbor also gets more transportation services, he noted. He had checked with the staff and gone over the figures and had determined that what AAATA strategic planner Michael Benham had said in his presentation was true: People will get what they pay for. About Ypsilanti Township, which he represents on the board, Krieg said: “We are paying less, and we are getting less.”

One thing a lot of people don’t realize, Krieg said, is that a gas pump works two ways: it pumps gas into your car and money out of the state and out of the local economy. On the other hand, when you pay a few cents for a transit tax, the vast majority stays in our community, he said. Michigan is a donor state as far as money that leaves the state and goes through the rest of the county.

Roger Kerson observed that when the AAATA board had started the conversation about expanding transit, he thought there were only three current board members serving on the board at the time. [Charles Griffith and Anya Dale were also serving at the time.] At that time, the AAATA had a more expansive [countywide] vision, he said. The nature of the AAATA board is to be collaborative and transparent, he said, so that expansive plan was adjusted based on feedback from constituents and others.

What the AAATA is doing now is downscaled compared to the original vision of a countywide authority. The current plan “is the right plan and it’s the right time,” he said. It’s been an educational process, and he was glad the AAATA went through it. He felt the right lens through which to view the issue is “needs.” People need to get around, he said. He also stated that this is a “pay to play” financing mechanism.

Board chair Charles Griffith offered a final comment of his own. He told the people who came out to the meeting that the board appreciated hearing from them. Over the years, many people had asked the AAATA for this or that additional service. When those had been small requests, the AAATA had sometimes been able to meet the request. But for other larger requests, he noted, the answer had always been the same: Unless a new source of revenue can be found, a new service can’t be added without taking away some other service. Now the AAATA can finally say: If the voters agree, the AAATA can provide you with that additional service.

Griffith’s remarks prompted a standing ovation from the audience.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to place a 0.7 mill transit tax on the May 6, 2014 ballot.

Ballot Question: Public Commentary – End of Meeting

Harvey Summers told the board that he was a member of WeROC. He thanked board members for their vote and looked forward to supporting the millage with his vote.

Carolyn Grawi spoke on behalf of CIL, WBWC and Partners for Transit. She thanked the board for their vote and the AAATA staff for their hard work.

John Waterman thanked the board for their work. [Waterman was one of five finalists for the initial appointment to the board of the southeast Michigan regional transit authority. He founded the nonprofit Programs to Educate All Cyclists (PEAC).] A good plan has been laid out, but the “game is on,” and he cautioned that there is a lot of work to be done. He also cautioned against the celebratory mood. He would put efforts of his staff and students to help pass the millage.

Michelle Barney.

On the topic of paratransit service, Waterman stressed the need to train as many people with disabilities as possible to use the fixed-route service, which is more cost efficient and leads to greater independence. It also opens up paratransit service for those who cannot do without it, he said.

Michelle Barney told the board that she wanted to thank them for their vote, saying, “I was almost on the verge of tears when you voted,” because it meant that much to her personally.

She told the board that the community was losing University of Michigan grads who are moving away due to a lack of transit. There’s a real sea change going on, she said, with many young people opting not to try to own cars, because they’re sick of them. It also provides service to people of different racial groups.

She recalled her own history as a bus organizer in 1959 for a youth march for integrated schools started from Cass Tech in Detroit to Washington D.C. She also recalled marching down Woodward Avenue with Rosa Parks in 1964-65.

She’s been involved in activism for many years, Barney told the board, and she could not think of anything that she was in the room to witness that was this important to her personally and to the city in which she lives.

Funding Agreement with Ypsilanti Township

By way of background, the 0.7 mill tax, if approved on May 6, 2014, would be the first ever levied by the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority. Existing dedicated transportation taxes, levied by the two cities and passed through to the AAATA, would remain in place.

For Ann Arbor, the rate for the existing tax is 2.056 mills, which is expected to generate a little over $10 million by 2019, the fifth year of the AAATA’s transportation improvement plan. For the city of Ypsilanti, the rate for the existing transit millage is 0.9789, which is expected to generate about $314,000 in 2019.

For the owner of an Ann Arbor house with a market value of $200,000 and taxable value of $100,000, a 0.7 mill tax translates into $70 annually, which would be paid in addition to the existing transit millage. If the millage were to pass, the total Ann Arbor transit tax paid on a taxable value of $100,000 would be about $270 a year.

If it’s approved by voters, the total amount of revenue expected to be generated by the 0.7 mill tax in 2014 is $4,368,847.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of how the roughly $4.3 million generated by the new AAATA millage would fit into the overall funding picture for AAATA services:

Revenue Source     Amount
State              $12,910,884
Federal            $4,507,490
Fares              $8,801,200
A2: 2.056          $10,980,259
A2: 0.70           $3,387,910
Ypsi C: 0.9789     $313,798
Ypsi C: 0.70       $202,730
Ypsi TWP: 0.70     $778,207
POSA               $1,087,344
Third Party        $1,204,196
Advertising        $375,000
TOTAL              $42,969,822

-

Here’s how that breakdown shapes up as a pie chart:

Pie chart of revenue sources for AAATA five-year transit improvements. (Data from AAATA, chart by The Chronicle. )

In Ypsilanti Township, the AAATA calculates the 0.7 mill levy to be commensurate with the level of service the township would receive as a result of transportation improvements. But the 0.7 mill levy would generate about twice as much as the amount paid by the township in its current purchase of service agreement (POSA). So Ypsilanti Township’s POSA amount would not be paid in addition to revenue from the 0.7 mill tax.

The board considered an additional item at its Feb. 20 meeting – a funding agreement with Ypsilanti Township governing that POSA. The agreement makes clear that if the 0.7 mill tax passes, then the township’s service, which would increase under the transportation improvement plan, would be paid by the 0.7 mill tax. [.pdf of AAATA agreement with Ypsilanti Township]

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson described the funding agreement with Ypsilanti Township.

From left: AAATA board members Eli Cooper and Larry Krieg.

On joining the AAATA, the township had pledged to continue to provide the same amount that it’s currently paying through its POSA, Kerson explained. If the millage passes, it will generate more than twice what the POSA amount is – $800,000 compared to about $325,000, Kerson said.

That’s the amount of service Ypsilanti Township will get, he said. So as far as fairness goes, everybody gets the service they pay for, he said. That’s why the committee recommended the agreement to the full board.

When the board reached the item on its agenda, Larry Krieg – the Ypsilanti Township representative to the AAATA board – asked the board to support the resolution on the funding agreement with the township, saying that without this agreement, the rest of the five-year plan wouldn’t work.

Outcome: The board voted to approve the funding agreement with Ypsilanti Township.

Budget Change to Cover Cost of May Election

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that because the AAATA millage would be the only item on the ballot, the AAATA would need to pay the cost of administering the election. That would be between $80,000 and $100,000, Kerson said. So the board would need to amend the budget to do that. He pointed out that in this scenario, the millage would generate $4.3 million, which would be matched about 2:1 by federal and state revenues. So if the millage proposal passes, that would equate to $12 million annually, against a $100,000 one-time expense.

Those remarks came as an indirect response to public commentary that had called for a delay until November 2014 to hold the election in order to save the cost to the AAATA of holding the millage vote.

Given the views that had been expressed during public commentary about the need for rapid implementation, Kerson said, the committee concurred that the AAATA should go ahead with that cost.

When the board reached the item on its agenda, there was no further discussion.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the budget change to pay for the cost of the May 6, 2014 election.

Bylaws

The board considered approval of several changes to its bylaws. One change gives speakers during public commentary an extra minute per turn to address the board. The time limits per speaker for each of two slots on the agenda are increased from two to three minutes as part of the bylaws changes. So someone could address the board for a total of six minutes at a meeting.

That additional change to the bylaws comes as AAATA board members reviewed their rules and revised them to reflect the addition of two new member jurisdictions in addition to the city of Ann Arbor: the city of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township. It was last year, under separate processes, that the two Ypsilanti jurisdictions were admitted into the AAATA. The authority also changed its name at the time to include the word “area.” [.pdf of AAATA bylaws changes]

The bylaws changes considered by the board included some straightforward consequences of the increase from seven to 10 board members, such as: changing the definition of a quorum from four to six members; and raising the majority approval threshold from four to six members – for items like adopting a labor contract or approving a financial transaction in excess of 5% of the annual budget.

A change that was independent of the board size was also considered for some other voting items: relaxing the requirement from “a majority of the Board duly appointed and confirmed” to “a majority vote of board members present.” That means some types of resolutions could win approval with support from as few as four board members at a meeting.

In a separate board action, before the bylaws change the board considered a resolution to waive a condition in the bylaws that requires written notice be given to board members two weeks before a vote on a bylaws change. The resolution was prompted by additional amendments that had been made within the two-week window. One of the bylaws changes considered on Feb. 20 was to relax the requirement of notice to just one week in advance of a vote.

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that as some later amendments were made, the board had not provided the full period of notice to board members to take action that night – under the bylaws. The bylaws have a provision for waiving that notice, which the board would be using that evening.

Bylaws: Board Discussion

When the board reached the item on the agenda, Eli Cooper asked if there had been any follow-up on the voting provisions in the bylaws – about how other entities handled similar issues.

AAATA board member Jack Bernard.

AAATA financial analyst and planner Bill De Groot responded to Cooper, saying staff had looked into the question of voting power with respect to the possibility that a minority of the board could count as a majority for a vote. For important business, he said, there was the greater requirement of majority already in the bylaws and that was increased consistent with the added members of the board.

Jack Bernard said he wanted to mention for the record that the newly revised bylaws include a specific time reference, related to the terms of appointments for individual board members. ["The term of office of a Board member shall be five years other than for members of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority Board as of June 15, 2013, who shall serve for the remainder of their terms, as provided by the Articles."]

The next time the bylaws are changed, Bernard said, the time reference should be removed.

Outcome: On separate votes, the board unanimously approved the waiver of the notice requirement and the changes to the bylaws.

State Funding Request

The AAATA has to apply every year to the state of Michigan for its state operating assistance. According to staff memos in the board’s information packet, the Michigan Dept. of Transportation instructed AAATA not to include assumptions of the five-year service improvement plan in this year’s application.

So this year’s application to the state for the AAATA’s portion of Act 51 money will include a budget as follows: estimated federal funds of $5,348,338, estimated state funds of $9,905,017, estimated local funds of $11,241,134, estimated fare box of $6,184,503, and estimated other funds of $647,288 – with total estimated expenses of $33,326,000.

That application for state operating assistance could be amended, if the millage vote on May 6 succeeds.

Reporting from the planning and development committee, Eric Mahler said the committee had heard a review from AAATA manager of service development, Chris White, on the AAATA’s application for state operating assistance. That includes both capital and operating funds. Because the millage has not yet passed, MDOT had requested that the AAATA not include expansion of services in the request. Mahler ventured that the request from the state could be amended when the millage passes, which White indicated was the case.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the application for state funding assistance.

CAD/AVL Consulting

The board considered awarding a $168,000 consulting contract to TransSystems of Boston, Mass. to assist the AAATA in making an upgrade in its computer-aided dispatch and vehicle-locating software (CAD/AVL).

As part of a planned upgrade for this type of software for its regular fixed-route buses, the AAATA is also looking to bring in-house the reservation and booking of paratransit rides. That’s currently part of its contracted paratransit service provider’s scope of work. That service provider is SelectRide. The switch to in-house paratransit bookings is planned for May 1, 2015, the day after the AAATA’s current contract with SelectRide ends. That contract was recently extended through April 30, 2015 in action taken by the AAATA board at its Dec. 19, 2013 meeting.

By implementing the paratransit part of the project, the AAATA wants to get some experience with the upgraded software before moving forward with its regular fixed-route buses.

According to staff memos in the board’s informational packet for the Feb. 20 meeting, the type of CAD/AVL system that the AAATA is upgrading allows dispatchers to locate, track and manage fixed-route bus operations. It also provides information on real-time adherence to the bus schedule. Further, it monitors and reports the status of engine components and on-board systems, such as the wheelchair ramp.

Reporting out from the planning and development committee, Eric Mahler noted that the consultant is important to make the most of the opportunity to upgrade the technology in a cost-effective way. Without the consultant, it’s felt that the AAATA might miss important opportunities to improve the service and to save money. Mahler said the urgency of hiring the consultant had been well established, saying that it’s important that the project get started right away because the upgrade to the AAATA’s systems depends on it.

When the board reached the item on its agenda, Eli Cooper noted that Ann Arbor is a place where networked automobiles are being piloted. He would willingly support keeping transit in the high-tech game.

Jack Bernard noted that the advanced system is critical for better paratransit service – so that a rider can, for example, have as much notice as possible that a ride won’t be arriving until the end of a scheduled window. He urged the board to support the resolution.

Larry Krieg wanted people to understand that the system the AAATA will be replacing was cutting edge 15 years ago. Equating one software year to 10 human years resulted in a system that was 150 years old, he said. Some of the problems that the AAATA has had with locating buses for interactive maps relates to the way the “elderly” system is trying to get information out.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the contract with TransSystems.

CAD/AVL Consulting: Public Commentary

During public commentary at the end of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi spoke on behalf of the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living. And she responded indirectly to some of the remarks on accessibility.

“As you know, I have high expectations,” she said. The mobile app is great, but she wanted to note that about one-third of the population or more can’t use it. It’s important that when a new feature is launched, it’s launched to be accessible from the start. The print size for the mobile app is too small and does not change in size. She was excited to see the board moving ahead with the AVL/CAD consulting, which will lead to a software upgrade. Scheduling is a nightmare right now, she said. She also told the board that the AAATA doesn’t have enough paratransit vehicles on the road.

FY 2013 Audit

The board was asked to consider a resolution accepting the audit report for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2013 (FY 2013). [.pdf of FY 2013 audit report]

FY 2013 Audit: Presentation from Auditor

David Helisek and Josh Yde of Plante Moran gave the board a presentation on its FY 2013 audit. The AAATA fiscal year runs from October through September, so the FY 2013 audit was for the year ending on Sept. 30, 2013. Two documents were presented: the financial statements, including the federal programs audit; and the required communications to those charged with governance.

From left: Dave Helisek of Plante Moran and AAATA controller Phil Webb.

Helisek reported that the presentation had been made in greater detail to the AAATA’s performance monitoring and external relations (PMER) committee earlier in the week.
Helisek noted that the bulk of the first document is the AAATA’s document – the financial statements. The only part of that contributed by Plante Moran are the first two pages, which includes the independent auditor’s report.

Helisek told the board that the report showed an “unmodified opinion,” which is the highest level of assurance that an auditor can give a set of financial statements, he said. That means that the statements fairly reflect the position of the authority as of Sept. 30, 2013 as well as the changes in that position. That’s the opinion that the AAATA strives to achieve on an annual basis, and it’s the one that Plante Moran has given for the third year in a row, he said.

Josh Yde highlighted some details from the balance sheet. He first noted that GASB 63 standards had changed the wording from “net assets” to “net position.” The total assets are now up to $66.2 million, he noted, which is up by about $12 million compared to FY 2012. Most of that is due to the increase in capital assets with the construction of the Blake Transit Center. Equipment is also up about $6.8 million, he noted, mostly due to new bus purchases in the current year.

Liabilities increased from about $2.9 million to $4.4 million. Most of that is due to accounts payable – related to the Blake Transit Center as well as other outstanding expenses. Finally, the net position increased to about $62 million, up from about $51 million last year. Most of that is due to the investment in capital assets, he said.

The unrestricted net position is up about $400,000 this year, Yde said. That means the current revenues are covering the cost of AAATA’s current costs of providing services. He noted, however, that of the $14.7 million, about $7.5 million relates to property tax revenue that will need to be used for operations in FY 2014.

The statement of revenues, expenses and changes in net position shows that operating revenues increased about $3.2 million. The largest portion of that is due to the increase in the depreciation in all the new assets, as the infrastructure continues to grow. Operating revenues are up about $240,000. Most of that is due to AirRide revenues, which was in operation for the full fiscal year.

The non-operating revenue is all up, Yde continued. Local non-operating revenue is up about $1.4 million. And most that is due to property tax revenue as well as purchase of service agreements  (POSAs).

Before capital contributions, Yde said, all that leads to a change in net position of about negative $4.7 million. After the capital contributions of $15 million, that results in a change in net position of positive $10.4 million.

Helisek picked up the presentation from there. He reviewed the federal compliance portion of the audit. If you spend more than $500,000 of federal money, then a federal compliance audit is required, he explained.

The amount of federal funds spent by the AAATA in the FY 2013 was just under $17 million. Helisek told the board that they tested the federal transit cluster of about $14 million. So about 83% of the funds that came to the AAATA were tested. He said that they’d come across no issues of non-compliance as it relates to deficiencies or weaknesses.

Helisek noted that there was one finding on the last page: related to a depreciation expense calculation. As part of the audit, they did some testing and noted there needed to be some adjustments to some specific assets related to depreciation. That was brought to the attention of AAATA financial staff and they agreed with Plante Moran’s view, and they made the adjustment. He told the board that while it was an adjustment, it was a “non-cash adjustment.” It did not affect the budget over the year. However, auditing standards do require that the issue be communicated to the board.

As far as the letter to those charged with governance, Helisek noted that the first section is pretty much boilerplate. What you’re looking for are problems, he said, adding that there’s no communication on problems. The audit went very well and there were no disagreements with management on standards or the application of auditing standards.

The second section of the letter is more focused on legislative issues and informational items – things that might be “hot in Lansing,” he said. The one item that has been hot for the last 18 months is the state’s personal property tax, and the election that’s coming up in August. That could change how property taxes are collected, and would affect any entity that relies on property taxes. [The Aug. 5, 2014 ballot measure would mitigate against loss of personal property tax revenues by replacing part of the state use tax with a local tax administered to the benefit of metropolitan areas in Michigan.]

FY 2013 Audit: Board Discussion

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that on page 8 of the audit report, the amount the AAATA had spent on administration had gone down [$7,258,563 in FY 2013 compared to $7,277,201 in FY 2012] but money spent on operations went up [$24,811,414 in FY 2013 compared to $21,635,160 in FY 2012]. That showed the AAATA was putting its resources into “putting buses on the street,” he said, calling it a good sign.

When the board reached the item on its agenda, there was no discussion.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to accept the FY 2013 audit report.

Insurance Broker

The board considered awarding a new five-year contract to Marsh USA Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich. – the same insurance broker that’s consulted for the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority for the last 10 years. The contract is for up to $270,000 of consulting work.

Marsh USA will provide insurance brokerage services for general, automobile, workers’ compensation, property and public officials/employee liability insurances.

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that the AAATA purchases about $1 million worth of insurance every year, which is necessary given that the AAATA is driving buses around. So the AAATA uses a broker to help get the best price, Kerson said.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the contract with Marsh USA.

Unarmed Security

The board considered awarding a contract for unarmed security guard services to DK Security. The contract covers three properties: AAATA headquarters at 2700 S. Industrial Hwy., the Blake Transit Center at 328 S. Fifth Ave. in Ann Arbor, and the Ypsilanti Transit Center at 220 Pearl St.

The contract was for one year, with an option to extend the contract for four one-year periods.

The contract conforms with AAATA’s living wage policy, which mirrors that of the city of Ann Arbor. The policy currently requires vendors to pay a minimum wage of $13.96 per hour without providing health care benefits and $12.52 per hour when providing health care benefits.

The amount of the contract is not to exceed $270,400, which provides up to 14,299 hours (holidays included) of security coverage at a fixed-hourly rate.

The previous vendor, Advance Security, was one of 15 bidders for the work, but was not selected.

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that the bids that came back for the unarmed security work were a little bit lower than the incumbent vendor had bid, so the AAATA would be saving a little money on that. He noted that the new vendor still complied with the AAATA’s living wage policy.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the unarmed security contract with DK Security.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its Feb. 20 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 CEO Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: Ridership

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson updated the board on ridership. Ridership is down due to the weather, he said, which would probably affect the yearly total because the drop was fairly significant in January.

Comm/Comm: Blake Transit Center

As part of his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the AAATA had received a temporary certificate of occupancy for the new Blake Transit Center last Friday (Feb. 14, 2014) and the move into the facility is scheduled for the week of March 10. The building will be open by March 17, which is St. Patrick’s Day, Ford pointed out. There’s still more work to do, but Ford wanted to thank AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black and anyone who had anything to do with supporting that project.

Ford also thanked the bus riders and the drivers for “hanging in there” during the transition. It’s been a struggle, given the weather conditions.

Comm/Comm: Blake Transit Center Art

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson said the committee had previewed the public art component for the BTC, saying it “looks really cools.” It’s a tile mosaic of figures representing the diversity of the community, he said. It’s less than $100,000 so the board does not need to approve it, Kerson noted, but it the board will be kept in the loop.

Present: Charles Griffith, Eric Mahler, Susan Baskett, Eli Cooper, Roger Kerson, Anya Dale, Gillian Ream Gainsley, Jack Bernard, Larry Krieg.

Absent: Sue Gott.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor [Check Chronicle event listings to confirm date]

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AAATA board chair Charles Griffith was interviewed after the meeting by Andrew Cluley of WEMU radio. (Photos by the writer.)

The AAATA board had already given approval to say yes to the township’s request to be added as a member – on Sept. 26, 2013. And Ypsilanti’s city council – the other recently-added jurisdiction – had given approval of the move at its Oct. 15, 2013 meeting. The Ann Arbor city council had considered the question at its Oct. 21, 2013 meeting, but had postponed action until Nov. 18, 2013.

The addition of Ypsilanti Township as an AAATA member will increase the number of positions on the AAATA board from nine to 10, with the additional member appointed by the township. Board chair Charles Griffith indicated at the Nov. 21 meeting that the name of Larry Krieg would be put forward by township supervisor Brenda Stumbo for confirmation by the township board of trustees. It’s hoped, Griffith said, that Krieg would be able to attend the next meeting of the board, on Dec. 19, as a member. Krieg attended the Nov. 21 meeting as an audience member. During public commentary at the meeting, Krieg called Ypsilanti Township’s admission into the authority a “victory for regionalism and common sense.”

In its one piece of new business on Nov. 21, the board approved an increase to the AAATA’s contract with Advance Security, to allow for around-the-clock security service coverage at the Blake Transit Center construction site. According to the staff memo accompanying the board resolution, the additional security is required until the new building can be outfitted with doors, windows and locks. The last time the board approved the annual contract it was for $205,000. The increase brought the annual value of the contract to $242,000. The BTC is now expected to be completed by the end of January 2014.

Another highlight of the meeting was a presentation on a comparative analysis the AAATA is conducting of its performance, using statistics from the National Transit Database, and a set of 20 peer transit authorities. The peer set was determined by a tool that is available through the Florida Transit Information System (FTIS). Three key metrics were presented at the Nov. 21 meeting: operating cost per service hour, rider trips per service hour, and operating cost per rider trip. While the AAATA’s operating cost per service hour is greater than its peer group average, according to the AAATA that’s counterbalanced by the number of rider trips per service hour – which leads to a lower cost per rider trip than its peer group average. In this report, The Chronicle presents that data as well as examples of other kinds of data that can be compared across the peer group.

The AAATA board also gave some discussion to a recent presentation given to its planning and development committee from Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) staff on plans for US-23. MDOT intends to use an Active Traffic Management (ATM) system to direct traffic and decrease congestion in the US-23 corridor – because there’s no funding to add an additional lane. That’s hoped to be implemented by 2016. The ATM system would involve upgrading the median shoulder, installing intelligent transportation system (ITS) equipment, constructing crash investigation sites and periodically using shoulders as travel lanes. The plan will also include widening three bridges from North Territorial Road to Eight Mile Road. The AAATA has been asked by MDOT to consider providing park-and-ride service from those bridges.

During the meeting, the board also watched a video that has been produced to explain the connector study – an alternatives analysis for the corridor running from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street, then further south to I-94. The alternatives analysis phase will result in a preferred choice of transit mode (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and identification of stations and stops. The study has winnowed down options to six different route alignments.

At its Nov. 21 meeting, the board also heard its usual range of reports and communications.

Urban Core Planning

The Ann Arbor city council’s Nov. 18, 2013 vote to approve Ypsilanti Township as a member of the AAATA was mentioned at several points during the AAATA board meeting. The admission of Ypsilanti Township comes in the context of a plan to increase transportation service in the member jurisdictions – the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township – likely through a millage that voters would be asked to approve sometime in 2014. The current “urban core” effort is more limited in scope than a countywide effort the AAATA made in 2012. On Nov. 14, 2013, the AAATA concluded a series of 13 public meetings to explain the service plan expansion and to get feedback on it.

Urban Core: Ypsi Twp. Membership

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the Ann Arbor city council had voted unanimously to approve the admission of Ypsilanti Township to the AAATA. Ford’s announcement drew applause. He called Ypsilanti Township’s admission to the AAATA a “critical development” in the urban core program and he appreciated everyone who’s been involved, thanking several AAATA staff members: Michael Benham, Mary Stasiak, Bill DeGroot, Deb Freer, and Chris White. He called it a team effort. Ford also extended his appreciation to Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo and clerk Karen Lovejoy Roe for their diligence and support throughout the process.

During question time, board chair Charles Griffith echoed the thanks to AAATA staff on the Ypsilanti Township membership question. He also thanked members of the Ann Arbor city council. He said he took his “hat off to Ward 3 city councilmember Stephen Kunselman, who promised he’d help shepherd it through. Congratulations to everybody for getting that done.” Griffith also recognized the extra time and work that staff had put into the series of 13 public meetings. Griffith said he was eager to hear the compilation of all the comments, and the possible revisions that the AAATA might want to consider.

The likely AAATA board appointee from Ypsilanti Township is Larry Krieg. Krieg serves on the Ypsilanti Township planning commission, writes the blog Wake Up, Washtenaw!, and has addressed the AAATA board advocating in support of various transit initiatives over the last few years.

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Krieg thanked AAATA staff who did the presentations on the urban core plan: Michael Benham, Chris White and Deb Freer. He said they’d been very diligent and well organized. The addition of Ypsilanti Township to the AAATA was a “victory for regionalism and common sense.” Having a concern about where people come from and where they’re going is not really something that will create a vibrant economic region, he said. No one community’s government in the county or in the region is sufficient to build up the kind of economy that’s needed, he said. He was glad that the AAATA is working to bring the county and the region together.

Larry Krieg, who is the likely appointee to the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority board from Ypsilanti Township.

Following up on Krieg’s commentary, board chair Charles Griffith noted that Krieg had been nominated to represent Ypsilanti Township on the AAATA board. Griffith hoped Krieg would be sitting with the board in the near future. CEO Michael Ford noted during his report to the board that he hoped Krieg would be sitting at the board table at the board’s next meeting, on Dec. 19.

Ford had asked Krieg before the meeting started: “Will I look forward to seeing you soon?” Krieg told Ford that he’d been nominated by Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo, but that the appointment would still need confirmation by the board of trustees. Krieg told The Chronicle that Stumbo has checked about potential conflicts between Krieg’s service on the AAATA board and Krieg’s service on the citizens advisory committee of the southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Indications based on inquiries through Dennis Schornack – who is senior advisor to Gov. Rick Snyder on transportation strategy and provides staff support for the RTA – were that there would not be any conflict.

Urban Core: 5-Year Plan

During his report to the board, Ford said that feedback on the urban core “listening tour” – a series of 13 public meetings held from mid-October to mid-November – was being compiled. Updates to the 5-year plan would be made where they make sense and where they’re appropriate, Ford said. He also reported that a community survey that had begun in late October was nearing completion. Among the questions being asked include questions about specific services and the willingness of survey respondents to support transit services financially. An issues analysis is being prepared for the board to consider, Ford said, which would include the 5-year plan, funding, survey data, peer review, and equity analysis, including Title VI analysis. That analysis would first be presented to the standing committees and then at some point to the full board.

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Jim Mogensen noted that during the AAATA’s series of public engagement meetings that were held over the last month, there’d been a lot of focus on making sure that the people in the urban core are “paying their way.” So he drew the board’s attention to the suggestion from MDOT for the AAATA to serve park-and-ride lots between North Territorial and Eight Mile Road on US-23 and the idea of paying for buses out of the millage. He felt those were issues that needed to be made very clear in the AAATA’s 5-year plan.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Mogensen responded to the idea that an issues analysis on the 5-year plan would come before the board. Alluding to the Title VI analysis, he suggested that when you increase service, the AAATA won’t have a problem. But what happens if the AAATA doesn’t increase the service because the millage doesn’t happen. He wanted that scenario to be a part of the analysis.

When Sue Gott reported out from the planning and development committee, she noted that the committee had received some public comment at that meeting expressing appreciation for the series of public engagement meetings.

That’s reflected in minutes from the Nov. 12, 2013 PDC meeting, which include the following:

Vivienne Armentrout stated she had attended one of the public meetings about proposed service improvements for the Five Year Transit Improvement Program and said they were very well organized. The meeting she attended was interactive and encouraged dynamic discussion between the presenters and the meeting attendees.

Gott agreed that the urban core meetings had been very well managed.

Blake Transit Center

The new Blake Transit Center, currently under construction on Fifth Avenue across from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library, factored into the board’s discussion in more than one way. The board got a construction update, handled an item on increased security during the final construction phase, and received an update on the upcoming sale of the city-owned property just south of the BTC.

BTC: Construction

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford said that just before the board meeting, some of the board members and he had taken a quick tour of the under-construction Blake Transit Center. A lot of progress is being made, he said, but there’s obviously a lot more work to do. Ford said that AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black had to leave the tour he was leading to attend to a power outage at the AAATA main headquarters on S. Industrial Highway, which was affected by an area-wide outage in the southern part of town. The AAATA is moving forward with portable trailers to serve the function of the old BTC, which was demolished in early November. The new building is supposed to be finished by the end of January 2014.

During question time, Charles Griffith, who’d been along on the tour, said it was pretty fun to see that new building take shape. It’s possible now to imagine what it’s going to be like for passengers. He’s looking forward to the facility being open.

BTC: Security

The board considered an increase of the $205,000 annual contract with Advance Security, authorized by the board at its April 19, 2012 meeting, to bring the annual value of the contract to $242,000.

BTC under construction on Nov. 21, 2013. View is from Fifth Avenue looking southwest.

The increase will allow for around-the-clock security service coverage at the Blake Transit Center construction site. According to the staff memo accompanying the board resolution, “This additional security service is required until the installation of doors, windows and locks has been completed on the new building to help prevent trespassing, vandalism, loitering, etc.”

That increase in the contract amounts to 18%. Under the AAATA procurement policy, increases of contracts over 10% require board approval. That’s why it was before the board on Nov. 21, 2013. When the board approved the $205,000 in April 2012, that was for the fourth year of a contract first authorized by the board on March 19, 2009 for one year. That contract increase came before the board because it increased the amount of the contract from the previous year by more than 10% – from $150,000 to $205,000, or 36.7%. That new contract was based on hourly wages between $14.33 and $19.67 per hour for a regular shift, and between $21.50 and $29.51 for extra hours and holidays.

The April 2012 increase in the Advance Security contract was based on the need to make the hourly wages in the contract meet the city of Ann Arbor living wage standard, which was adopted by the AATA board at its June 16, 2011 meeting.

The increase the board was asked to approve at its Nov. 21 meeting was for $30,000. The living wage policy had previously increased the amount from $205,000 to $212,000 – an amount that did not require board approval.

BTC: Security – Deliberations

In reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations (PMER) committee, Roger Kerson noted that the committee had reviewed one action item: the increase in the security contract. “We basically need more people watching the [BTC] project.” About the extra expense, Kerson said, “We kinda need to spend the money.” He also pointed out that the AAATA’s security expenses have gone up considerably because of the living wage. That means the AAATA is spending more on people at the lower end of the compensation scale – for the security contract and likely for the janitorial contract as well.

When the board came to the item, Charles Griffith noted that the board had heard during committee reports the rationale for the need to change the contract. The board voted without further deliberations.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the Advance Security contract increase.

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Jim Mogensen told the board he’d worked on the living wage campaign in Ann Arbor 14 years ago when that effort was made, so he was glad that the AAATA had adopted the city’s living wage ordinance. He drew the board’s attention to the fact that one of the citations of the actual wage likely had a typo in it.

BTC: Dahlmann, Y Lot

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that in the context of the city council’s action to approve a sales agreement with Dennis Dahlmann for the old Y lot downtown – which is just south of the Blake Transit Center – board chair Charles Griffith would be assigning a subcommittee to work with Dahlmann. Ford noted that the rider agreement included a requirement that Dahlmann work with the AAATA toward its goal of not using on-street areas for bus boardings. From the rider agreement:

Discussion with AAATA. Purchaser agrees to discuss with the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (the “AAATA”). in good faith whether the Purchaser can help facilitate AAATA’s goal of limiting on-street bus transit and/or storage on Fifth and William within the immediate area of Blake Transit Center. This covenant shall survive Closing.

Ford said he looked forward to working with Dahlmann to meet “our collective goals.”

MDOT: US-23

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the planning and development committee (PDC) had received a presentation from MDOT staff on improvements on US-23 between North Territorial to Eight Mile Road. [Former AAATA board member Paul Ajegba was one of two MDOT staffers who gave the presentation.]

MDOT intends to use an Active Traffic Management (ATM) system to direct traffic and decrease congestion in the US-23 corridor – because there’s no funding to add an additional lane. That’s hoped to be implemented by 2016. The ATM system would involve upgrading the median shoulder, installing intelligent transportation system (ITS) equipment, constructing crash investigation sites and periodically using shoulders as travel lanes. The plan will also include widening three bridges from North Territorial Road to Eight Mile Road.

The AAATA has been asked by MDOT to consider providing park-and-ride service from those bridges. Ford said the AAATA would be considering that request to see how it fits into the AAATA’s work plan.

CEO of the AAATA Michael Ford conferred with staff during the meeting.

Sue Gott reported out from the planning and development committee that the committee had spent quite a bit of time discussing the MDOT presentation, to understand the type of modeling that had been done by MDOT to identify the congested nature of US-23 and how the proposed use of the shoulders addresses congestion management. Gott felt there was an understanding that AAATA staff would follow up with MDOT about the potential for AAATA to be a partner for construction and operation of a new park-and-ride lot to be located along the corridor. Gott looked forward to more feedback from staff about the traffic modeling and the benefits and the opportunities for thinking about an HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lane – allowing there are some state restrictions on HOV lanes. She concluded that there was some opportunity, and that the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) would also be looking at this issue.

In reporting out from the PMER committee, Roger Kerson commented on the presentation that the committee had received from MDOT about US-23. He ventured that MDOT is not going to re-do the exit ramps twice. “If you wanted to have a park-and-ride near one of those spots,” Kerson said, “this is the time to do it.” On the other hand, the AAATA has the urban core initiative and the connector project going on. He characterized the US-23 project as intruding on the AAATA’s agenda, even if it’s not in AAATA’s plan – because MDOT can proceed with its project on its own. “It’s their road. If they want to not widen it, but make it wider, they can!” he quipped.

Board members Sue Gott and Roger Kerson.

During question time, Kerson said he wanted to throw on the table a timeline for the AAATA to interact with MDOT’s US-23 project. His sense from MDOT is they have a schedule – so he thought that as an organization the AAATA board needs to spend some time thinking about it. A park-and-ride is not a part of any of AAATA’s recent plans, but it’s an opportunity to do it in an efficient way – with MDOT willing to contribute land acquisition. One concern, which Anya Dale had raised at the committee meeting, is that it’s making individual vehicle operation and travel easier. So it’s not clear if setting up a park-and-ride lot at that location is the AAATA’s best action, Kerson said.

Kerson wanted some time to reflect on what it is that the AAATA wants to do. It raises a lot of questions that he didn’t know the answers to. Ford said there are some additional parties that he wants to talk to. Staff is putting together some information for the board. Ford recognized it’s a “meaty issue.”

Charles Griffith ventured there is already a park-and-ride lot at the North Territorial interchange. Responding to Griffith, Chris White explained that there’s a distinction between a carpool lot and a park-and-ride lot. Griffith wondered if MDOT would not be seriously considering rebuilding the carpool lot anyway. He was curious to know how dependent MDOT’s decisions would be on a decision by AAATA to serve that lot. Griffith noted that the lot is well used, saying he uses it himself on trips to Lansing, when he carpools with colleagues.

Connector Study

The board got an update on the connector study – an alternatives analysis for the corridor running from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street, then further south to I-94. The alternatives analysis phase will result in a preferred choice of transit mode (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and identification of stations and stops. The study has winnowed down options to six different route alignments.

The board also watched a video that has been produced to explain the project. Later in the meeting Roger Kerson asked who had produced the video. Community relations manager Mary Stasiak indicated that it had been produced by Quack!Media.

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that on Nov. 14 three public meetings had been held to highlight the six different potential alignments for a route and station locations. About 50 people total had attended the meetings, he said. Ford characterized most of the feedback as positive or constructive. The board was shown a 4-minute video that has been produced to explain the connector study. Spring 2014 is the timeframe for sharing the preferred alternative with the community, Ford said.

Board chair Charles Griffith said the connector study was approaching an interesting phase in selecting routes. He was eager to see some of the modeling results. From the community and business perspective, he ventured, “it’s going to change the look and feel of the city in some significant ways.” He urged the rest of the people in the community who were interested in how the city is going to look in the future to get engaged and weigh in.

During question time, Sue Gott thanked board members who were able to attend the meetings on the connector. She encouraged other board members who could not attend to take the time and effort to review the materials. She wanted the board to be engaged and to “maintain pace” with the study. Now modeling will be done and the outcome of that modeling will shape the study committee’s recommendation of a preferred alternative. The degree to which board members can stay engaged and ask questions will be very helpful, she said.

In spring 2014 that committee will be looking to make a recommendation, so it will be important for all of the AAATA board members to maintain enough connectivity to the study to be able to support the outcome, Gott said.

Disability Issues

Sue Gott reported out from the planning and development committee that the committee had begun a review of the capital and categorical grant program. They’d been assured there’s enough funding for the projects in the program. Part of paratransit improvements would include purchase of buses for A-Ride instead of having the contractor provide the vehicles. AAATA currently owns six small A-Ride vehicles, but under the new capital program, AAATA would own all vehicles for the A-Ride program to increase flexibility and give the AAATA a higher level of control.

In reporting out from the PMER committee, Roger Kerson said that board member Jack Bernard had raised some issues about the AAATA website with respect to accessibility – involving selection of colors. Making sure the website is accessible would continue to be on the AAATA’s agenda, he said.

Rebecca Burke reported from the AAATA’s local advisory council (LAC), a group that provides input and feedback to AAATA on disability and senior issues. She reported that the group had met on Nov. 12. She noted that Jack Bernard had attended the meeting as the liaison from the board to the LAC. She felt that would improve communication between the board and the LAC.

Michael Benham, strategic planner for the AAATA, had given the LAC a shorter version of the 5-year improvement plan presentation, Burke said. She called the question-answer period very productive. A representative from Jewish Family Services had attended the meeting to explain their accessibility plan, and expressed an interest in providing a paratransit option in the county. The LAC had also approved a change to its bylaws to reflect the addition of the word “area” to the name of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority.

AAATA board member Jack Bernard.

Bernard followed up Burke’s remarks by calling his first meeting a really wonderful meeting. The committee had heard from citizens at the meeting, who’d come with specific stories about their experiences using the AAATA’s services. He’d found the AAATA staff to be “incredibly receptive” to hearing those experiences. He said that staff had provided good approaches to dealing with various issues. He’d gotten the impression that those who attend the meetings to share their concerns are still very happy with the service. Bernard also encouraged other board members to “stick your head into that meeting.” He felt they’d find it refreshing, and they’d see the staff interacting with passengers.

During public commentary time at the end of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi, Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living director of advocacy and education, noted that she works with and behalf of people in the community with disabilities. She said she loved the fact that the peer analysis included the paratransit service. Oftentimes people with disabilities are not included in such reports. Grawi also reported that Barrier Busters is now a member of Partners for Transit.

Peer Analysis

AAATA staffer Julia Roberts gave the board a presentation on a peer review analysis. Some of the information from the report had been presented at the final public engagement meeting for the 5-year improvement plan held on Nov. 14 at SPARK East in Ypsilanti. [.pdf of presentation slides]

To determine its peer group, Roberts explained that the AAATA had relied on a tool that is available through the Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) based on recommendations from the Transit Cooperative Research Program. The tool relies on the following criteria to establish a “likeness” index between a transit agency and other transit agencies nationwide:

• urban area population
• total annual vehicle miles operated
• annual operating budget
• population density
• percent of college students
• population growth rate
• percent service purchased
• percent low-income population
• annual delay (hours) per traveler
• freeway lane miles (thousands) per capita
• percent service demand-responsive
• distance between agencies

Based on the “likeness” index, it’s possible to select the top 20 (or any number) of other transit agencies to analyze in comparison to the AAATA. Measured on the above criteria, the most similar 20 organizations to the AAATA are transit agencies in these peer communities: Peoria, IL; Lexington, KY; Moline, IL; Lansing, MI; Syracuse, NY; Savannah, GA; Champaign-Urbana, IL; Roanoke, VA; Concord, CA; Erie, PA; Kalamazoo, MI; Harrisburg, PA; Fort Wayne, IN; Rockford, IL; Shreveport, LA; Hartford, CT; Fort Collins, CO; Scranton, PA; Gainesville, FL; and South Bend, IN.

To illustrate how the AAATA compares to that peer group, Roberts then presented charts for three key metrics for the fixed-route service: (1) operating cost per service hour; (2) rider trips per service hour; and (3) operating cost per rider trip. While the AAATA’s operating cost per service hour is greater than its peer group average, according to the AAATA that’s counterbalanced by the number of rider trips per service hour – which leads to a lower cost per rider trip than its peer group average. Using the same tool, The Chronicle was able to replicate the AAATA’s result in determining the peer group as well as the comparative analysis for those three metrics. In the charts below, the AAATA is always presented in the leftmost bar, and the other transit agencies are presented from left to right in their rank order of “likeness.”

AAATA Operating Expense per Revenue Hour compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA are based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

AAATA Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

AAATA Operating Expense per Trip compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The Chronicle performed additional comparative analyses on the same peer group set. The average headway – a measure of how frequent the service runs – shows that the AAATA provides service more frequently than its peer group. A lower number indicates more frequent service:

AAATA Average Headway compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The AAATA’s buses are slightly newer than its peer group’s buses:

AAATA Average Age of Fleet compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

AAATA buses have slightly better than average fuel consumption, measured against its peer group:

AAATA Miles per Gallon compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The AAATA provides fewer route miles of service per square mile of its service area compared to its peer group:

AAATA Route Miles Per Square Mile of Service Area compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The AAATA spends very close to its peer group average on maintenance per mile of service:

AAATA Maintenance Expense per Revenue Mile compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The AAATA buses travel about the same as its peer group average before they break down:

AAATA Revenue Miles Between Vehicle Failures compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The AAATA has about the same farebox recovery ratio as the average of its peer group:

AAATA Farebox Recovery compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

The AAATA provides more passenger trips per employee than its peer group average:

AAATA Trips per FTE compared against FTIS Top 20 peers. Top 20 peers to AAATA based on Florida Transit Information System (FTIS) analysis. Data from Integrated National Transit Database Analysis System (INTDAS), developed for Florida Department of Transportation by Lehman Center for Transportation Research, Florida International University, http://www.ftis.org/intdas.html, accessed Nov. 22, 2013.

Roberts also presented data from the AAATA’s paratransit operation: operating expenses per service hour, rides per service hour and operating expense per service hour. Whereas its fixed route service shows significantly more trips per service hour compared to the peer group average, the AAATA’s paratransit service provides about 20% fewer rides per service hour than the peer group average. Roberts said that this is countered by the fact that AAATA provides more than twice as many service hours and service miles than its peer group average.

In concluding the presentation, Roberts noted that the AAATA carries about 6 million passengers annually – or 50% more passengers per service hour than its peer median. The AAATA’s fiscal performance is strong, she said, and the AAATA’s commitment to quality is “unwavering.” One of the highest priorities of management is to “control operating expenses, while meeting increasing ridership demands,” she said. So the AAATA would keep working to identify and implement efficiencies to reduce costs.

Peer Analysis: Board Discussion

Commenting on the peer group comparative analysis, Sue Gott asked that the presentation be emailed to board members. Jack Bernard asked how the peer data helped identify what the AAATA should focus on. “What does that peer data tell us that we want to work on next?” He wanted to know how the peer review sets the AAATA’s trajectory and agenda for the future.

Eric Mahler said he also thought the peer review was very helpful. He was curious to know about additional financial metrics: How does the AAATA compare on overall financial health?

From left: AAATA manager of service development Chris White and controller Phil Webb. Webb was turning on White’s microphone, so that his remarks would be picked up by the CTN recording.

Some back-and-forth between Michael Ford and Mahler focused on what kind of information Mahler wanted. Manager of service development Chris White noted that the National Transit Database doesn’t include balance sheets. He was not sure that the NTD would provide an indication of overall financial health.

Controller Phil Webb indicated that when he thinks about overall financial health, he thinks in terms of reserves, debt structure, working capital and that kind of information. It would require looking at the audits of each transit organization.

The comparables could be a little tricky depending on what kind of accounting those agencies used. Mahler said he didn’t want to create extra work for anyone. If it was already part of the study, then he’d wanted that to be included. Charles Griffith also expressed interest in seeing a more detailed report on the comparative analysis

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its Nov. 21 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 CEO Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: RTA

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that Richard “Murph” Murphy will not be seeking another board term on the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority. That position is expected to be filled by the end of the calendar year, Ford said. It’s an appointment made by the chair of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners, Yousef Rabhi.

Comm/Comm: Financial Report

In reporting out from the PMER committee, Roger Kerson said the financial reports had some typical first-quarter anomalies, and the AAATA was a little bit under its reserves. But that was expected to be straightened out in the next few months, Kerson said.

Comm/Comm: Ridership

In reporting out from the PMER committee, Roger Kerson noted that ridership is now looking flat compared to a year ago – as compared to the steady increases that had been seen previously. Kerson said Chris White’s best guess was that it had something to do with gas prices – because they are not as high as they were last year. Kerson noted that the AAATA had not lost riders when gas prices went down, which to him indicated that you keep the riders you attract due to increased gas prices.

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the AirRide service to Detroit Metro Airport was averaging over 1,200 riders per week in the last five weeks. On Nov. 15 an additional trip had been added, bringing the total to 13 round trips daily, Ford said.

Comm/Comm: Birthdays

During public commentary, Jim Mogensen bridged a four-decade span by highlighting a city council resolution from 1970 congratulating Jerry Lax, who was Ann Arbor city attorney at the time, on his birthday. Mogensen noted that Lax had attended the city council’s Nov. 18 meeting – as the AAATA’s legal counsel – and that had reminded him of the resolution, which he had in his files. Mogensen read aloud the resolution.

Comm/Comm: Partridge

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Thomas Partridge addressed the board. He asked for board leadership in removing discrimination and poor performance and “outright incompetence” in operation of AAATA programs like the senior ride program and the A-Ride program – the AAATA’s paratransit programs. Those programs have been long-standing sources of neglect, abuse and discrimination, he contended. He’d called for such reforms at several meetings over several years. But the contractor is still sending out vehicles that shouldn’t be on the road and drivers with questionable ability and poor attitudes, he claimed.

During public commentary at the end of the meeting, Partridge recalled that 50 years ago in November 1963, he was doing homework as a Michigan State student with the expectation of a good November weekend – an expectation that was upset with the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. He had come into office with high spirits and energy. Kennedy had called on everyone to contribute, Partridge said, and had declared that a torch had been passed to a new generation. Partridge wanted us to live up to Kennedy’s vision.

Present: Charles Griffith, Eric Mahler, Sue Gott, Roger Kerson, Anya Dale, Gillian Ream Gainsley.

Absent: Susan Baskett, Eli Cooper.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. at the fourth-floor boardroom of the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown location, 343 S. Fifth Ave. [Check Chronicle event listing to confirm date]

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Authorization to use those printing shops was given by the AAATA board at its Aug. 15, 2013 meeting. Even though resolution giving the authorization mentioned smaller print jobs of $3,000 or less, board approval was needed because the total cost was expected to exceed $100,000 for the five-year period. The threshold for required board approval is $100,000.

The Ride Guide, which contains all the routes and schedules, is printed under a separate contract from those authorized under the Aug. 15, 2013 resolution.

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

Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber attended the May 16 meeting and discussed Ypsilanti’s desire to join the AATA, citing several signs of  Ypsilanti’s support for transit – including the request to join AATA and the dedicated transit millage approved by Ypsilanti voters in 2010.

At the Ypsilanti city council’s April 23 meeting, councilmembers had made a formal request to join the AATA under the transit authority’s existing enabling legislation – Act 55 of 1963. For the city of Ypsilanti, joining the AATA represents a new way to generate more funding for transportation. Because the city already levies at the state constitutional limit of 20 mills, the city itself can’t add an additional tax burden.

But the AATA could ask voters of all member jurisdictions to approve a levy of its own – something that it currently does not do. And that would not count against the 20-mill state constitutional limit that Ypsilanti already levies. The city of Ypsilanti and the city of Ann Arbor each have a millage dedicated to transit, which is not levied by the AATA itself.

Adding Ypsilanti to the AATA would also require the cooperation of the Ann Arbor city council – to amend the AATA’s articles of incorporation. At a meeting of the urban core communities held on April 25, 2013, Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje indicated his support for the idea, suggesting that the seven-member AATA board could be expanded to nine seats, one of which would be appointed by the city of Ypsilanti.

Meetings among nearby surrounding jurisdictions – including the cities of Ypsilanti and Saline, and the townships of Ypsilanti and Pittsfield – have continued after the demise of an effort in 2012 to expand the AATA’s service and governance area to the entire county. The smaller group of government units has been presented with a set of increased services and various funding and governance options. Among those options is the possibility of Ypsilanti and other nearby jurisdictions joining the AATA.

While there had been some speculation the AATA might act immediately to approve admission of Ypsilanti as a member, the AATA is taking a somewhat more deliberative approach. That’s due in part to the fact that the board has a natural opportunity to discuss the issue in the context of broader planning issues at an upcoming annual retreat that had already been set for this general timeframe. That retreat will take place at 12:30 p.m. on May 22 at the Holiday Inn Express (Gresham Room), 600 Briarwood Circle.

At the May 7, 2013 meeting of the AATA board’s planning and development committee, a rough outline of possible steps toward Ypsilanti’s membership was discussed. From the committee minutes:

• Ypsilanti Mayor Paul Schreiber would meet with the Ann Arbor City Council to discuss the request to join the Authority;
• AATA would then adopt a resolution supporting Ypsilanti’s request and send it to the Ann Arbor City Council;
• The Articles of Incorporation would need to be modified to include Ypsilanti, and then be sent to City Council;
• AATA would then ask the City Council to approve and file the Articles of Incorporation.

The next meeting of the urban core group is June 27 at the Pittsfield Township hall starting at 4 p.m.

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]

AATA governance expansion options.

However, at the more recent meeting in Saline, which took place on April 25, 2013, Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo stated her expectation that the city of Ann Arbor would provide the necessary leadership for better transportation. The meetings of elected officials, which have been coordinated by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, include representatives from the cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Saline, the village of Dexter, as well as the townships of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti.

The effort to focus on improved transportation within a narrower geographic footprint near Ann Arbor – instead of the whole of Washtenaw County – has come after an attempt to establish a countywide transit authority unraveled in the fall of 2012. Of the communities in the more narrowly focused urban core, Ypsilanti has been the most assertive in pushing for action.

At the Ypsilanti city council’s April 23 meeting, councilmembers made a formal request to join the AATA under the transit authority’s existing enabling legislation – Act 55 of 1963. That request will now be considered by the AATA board. It also will require the cooperation of the Ann Arbor city council – to amend the AATA’s articles of incorporation.

For the city of Ypsilanti, joining the AATA represents a new way to generate more funding for transportation. Because the city already levies at the state constitutional limit of 20 mills, the city itself can’t add an additional tax burden. But the AATA could ask voters of all member jurisdictions to approve a levy of its own – something that it currently does not do. And that would not count against the 20-mill limit.

Ann Arbor city councilmembers who attended the April 25 urban core meeting expressed cautious support of the idea of adding Ypsilanti to the AATA. Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) described himself as “tickled” to see the analysis and breakdown of governance and funding options in the meeting packet. Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5) ventured that if the effort required a “coalition of the willing,” then he was willing. But he expressed some caution about the amount of additional tax money Ann Arbor voters might be willing to approve.

Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje ventured that the Ann Arbor city council might be able to address the issue in June – after the fiscal year budget is approved in May. He suggested specifically an additional AATA board seat for Ypsilanti as well as one for Ann Arbor, which would bring the board to a total of nine. Hieftje indicated a possibility that the August deadline for placing a millage on the November ballot could be met. Sally Petersen (Ward 2) expressed her view that Ann Arbor voters would need a clearer idea of what the improvements would be, before they’d support an additional tax.

If a decision were not made until August to place a measure on the November ballot, that would result in a relatively aggressive timeline for a millage campaign. For the AATA’s part, board chair Charles Griffith reiterated at the April 25 meeting the same sentiments he’d expressed a week earlier at the board’s April 18, 2013 meeting – that the AATA would give Ypsilanti’s request full consideration. He also stressed that the AATA didn’t want to take an action that could preclude other approaches to governance.

Those other approaches to governance could include a range of possibilities, such as membership of additional jurisdictions in the AATA – like Pittsfield and Ypsilanti townships. But in terms of their readiness to see a millage put on the ballot, neither township seems as ready as the city of Ypsilanti.

Based on remarks made on April 25 by Stumbo and township clerk Karen Lovejoy Roe, Ypsilanti Township’s first priority is to get a fire and police services millage approved by voters – likely in August. After that, they’d turn their attention to transportation. At the earlier urban core meeting – which took place at Pittsfield Township hall on March 28 – Lovejoy Roe had expressed some enthusiasm for moving ahead more quickly with transportation in November. But recent minutes of the township board indicate a desire to keep November as a possibility for a re-ask, in case the fire and police services millage doesn’t pass in August.

For Pittsfield Township supervisor Mandy Grewal, it was the cost allocation in one of the proposed transit scenarios that appeared to give her some pause. On that scenario, the cost of services compared with the amount of revenue generated resulted in Pittsfield Township getting back $0.79 in services for every dollar that residents contributed – the least of any jurisdiction in the mix.

Saline mayor Brian Marl expressed solid support for some kind of expansion of services to include the city of Saline, but reserved comment on the details of any of the cost or governance proposals.

This report includes more details on the governance and cost proposals, as well as some of the commentary from elected officials at the April 25 urban core meeting. 

Opening Remarks

After introductory remarks by Saline mayor Brian Marl, AATA board chair Charles Griffith, and AATA CEO Michael Ford, attendees gave each other a status update on their thinking since the March 28 meeting at Pittsfield Township hall. Remarks are grouped by jurisdiction, which did not necessarily correspond to speaking order.

Opening Remarks: Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor city councilmember Chuck Warpehoski described himself as “fairly close to where I was at the last meeting.” That meant that he was fairly excited about moving forward. He felt that getting everyone to talk together was helping the process advance. He said he had two things on his mind.

First, Warpehoski had had some conversations over the last couple of days that reminded him of the need to think of the broader community. Obviously he had a responsibility to Ann Arbor, he continued, but he felt there was a danger of taking too narrow a view of that responsibility. He wanted to make sure that Ann Arbor gets value for the money it’s paying for transportation, but he did not want to have a bus that doesn’t go past US-23 – because that didn’t help a lot.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Chuck Warpehoski.

Second, Warpehoski offered a point of clarification to remarks by Michael Ford, who had characterized the March 28 meeting of the urban core communities as yielding a “roundabout consensus” in favor of improving and expanding transportation service. Warpehoski said what he himself had heard at the previous meeting was more of a “split consensus.” He’d heard a very strong consensus about the idea of the need to improve transit services. He’d also heard a strong desire to expand services, but also some uncertainty about how far people would be willing to go in that direction. The distinction between improving, and improving and expanding, is something that he saw as one of the questions before the group that evening.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Sabra Briere said that over the last month, most of the people who talked to her about transit are concerned about whether transit is convenient and quick. She’s been reading a lot about the need to rethink the way we see our community, she reported. One person she’d spoken with suggested that if a developer were allowed to build an apartment building with 500 bedrooms, there should be a requirement that a 500-car parking structure be built to go along with it. That idea had taken her aback, she reported, because it would not be possible to make such a requirement within the current zoning of the city. That’s because the resulting structure would simply be too tall.

And the person Briere was talking with had replied: Right, so they couldn’t build it! But Briere’s response was that the city would, in that case, have to change the zoning, if that much parking were required. She used the anecdote to illustrate the tension between increased mobility provided through individual vehicles versus public transportation.

Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje said he continued to be influenced by two main factors. The first is that a new generation is growing up that is not necessarily wedded to the automobile, he said. It’s something that he’s wanted for the city of Ann Arbor and in the region – the ability to live without a car. In the case of a family, he wanted that family to be able to live with just one, but not two cars.

A second factor that influenced Hieftje is that jobs are growing in the region, and specifically in the city of Ann Arbor. If jobs continue to grow, he continued, some transit puzzles need to be solved. There are about 68,000 people who now commute into the city of Ann Arbor every day, Hieftje said. If Ann Arbor is going to continue to grow jobs, then parking structures would need to be built.

The city of Ann Arbor had just finished a large parking structure [Library Lane on South Fifth Avenue] and the University of Michigan would be starting construction on a big one in about a month, Hieftje said [on Wall Street]. Since the year 2000, he contended, 3,000 new parking spaces had been constructed. But he said he would rather not build new parking structures. Hieftje also pointed to increased congestion during rush hour, saying that if nothing were done, then we were looking at gridlock in the year 2020.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Sally Petersen.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Sally Petersen elaborated on Warpehoski’s thoughts about where the group of urban core communities stood consensus-wise. She felt it was perhaps somewhere between “improve” and “improve and expand.” She herself was leaning toward the “improve” side of things. She continued to hear from constituents the need to improve scheduling and logistics for the current service. She felt it was important to have the best model locally before talking about expanding it. It’s important first to take care of the needs of the current customer base, she said.

The current customer base, she continued, was anticipating additional needs. She pointed to Arbor Hills Crossing – a development located on the southeast corner of Platt and Washtenaw – which is expected to be completed in 6-9 months. It’s on the on edge of Ward 2 [which she represents] and Ward 3. The area is already congested, she said, and when Arbor Hills Crossing opens, a new traffic light is going in. She’s already getting calls, she reported: How will we take a left hand turn on Washtenaw Avenue? What does that mean for local service for the Arbor Hills neighborhood?

Petersen said she was happy that everyone was collaborating – because it’s better than the alternative, for sure. When it comes to expansion, the discussion had been about using purchase of service agreements (POSAs). Expanding beyond Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, she felt, could not happen without a realistic conversation about funding. Petersen said she was willing to have that conversation. But she wanted to proceed with caution.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Stephen Kunselman.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Stephen Kunselman said he was pleased to be there: “In fact, I’m tickled to see the information in front of us that I have been talking about over the past year” – using a governance model with Act 55, and funding options that involve all the communities. Ultimately the responsibility falls on the Ann Arbor city council to amend the articles of incorporation.

Kunselman said he had always felt that because the city of Ann Arbor is the biggest stakeholder and contributes the most money to the AATA, Ann Arbor has greater responsibility. He appreciated what the other elected representatives had said. [Kunselman spoke last, having arrived a few minutes late.] He repeated something he’d also said at the March 28 meeting – that he’d been riding University of Michigan buses and AATA buses since he was six years old. He ventured it’ll still take some time to implement changes. A year had been taken up talking about a countywide authority and only now were communities talking about something that made a lot more sense, he said.

Kunselman appreciated the AATA’s staff work to compile information for this meeting. Ultimately it would be the voters who had to approve the funding, he noted – whether the city of Ann Arbor itself approves a Headlee override [restoring the transit millage from just over 2 mills to the original voter-authorized level of 2.5 mills] or the AATA asks for a millage. “We can talk about the need all we want, but the voters will have to be sold on the importance and the logistics and the sensibility of it.”

Opening Remarks: Saline

Mayor of Saline Brian Marl told the group that in the time since the previous meeting, he described his position as having only been strengthened. One of the main needs for the city of Saline is to connect to the Ann Arbor area with some kind of express service during key times of the day and the week, he said. The economic livelihood of many of his constituents depends on transportation to the city of Ann Arbor. And for better or for worse, a number of cultural amenities are located in Ann Arbor, which his constituents use, Marl said.

Saline mayor Brian Marl and Ann Arbor city councilmember Sabra Briere.

Marl had also had a number of conversations with residents in the Saline area over the last month, about expanding transit options for people in the community. He reported feeling that without more public transportation services, Saline risked losing constituents who would simply relocate somewhere else.

He supported having a robust discussion and dialogue, saying he felt there was a lot of merit to expanding service, but he allowed that “the devil is in the details.” Marl also noted that the representatives from Ypsilanti Township had been very articulate on this point – that there is also a need in the greater Saline community for some kind of dial-a-ride, or door-to-door service for the 65+ demographic.

Opening Remarks: Washtenaw County

Yousef Rabhi, chair of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners, began by acknowledging Felicia Brabec in the audience, who also sits on the county board. [Brabec's district covers Pittsfield Township. Rabhi is one of the county commissioners from Ann Arbor.] He also pointed out that the two Washtenaw County appointees to the southeast Michigan regional transit Authority (RTA) were in attendance – Liz Gerber and Richard “Murph” Murphy. About the two, Rabhi said: “They are wonderful – they are, it’s true. Ask them yourselves!”

Washtenaw County appointees to the board of the southeast Michigan regional transit authority: Liz Gerber and Richard Murphy.

Rabhi indicated he was there to play a supportive role, and he wanted to ensure that the process moves along in a way that is both fair and that respects equity. He explained that the two terms might sound similar, but they are, in fact, different. He meant “fair” in the sense that people are contributing to the overall system and ensuring that there is fairness and how the millages are levied and how people contribute.

But there should also be “equity,” Rabhi continued, in the sense of ensuring that we have social equity in our region – that people who can’t afford to buy a car can still get to where they need to go, in order to work. That’s an issue that needs to be addressed, he said. He felt that Washtenaw County does a pretty decent job of that already, but that work needs to continue.

So Rabhi wanted to “lean on” the local leaders at the table to provide insight and direction to their communities. He allowed that he represented Ann Arbor on the Washtenaw County board, but noted that he was chair of the board of Washtenaw County – so he felt that the interests of the entire community need to be taken into consideration, as well as the interests of each individual community.

Opening Remarks: Townships

Pittsfield Township supervisor Mandy Grewal framed remarks in the context of the intrinsic link between transportation and land-use planning. She reported that the township board had recently adopted a new zoning ordinance. The new zoning ordinance is a comprehensive revision, and for the first time promotes dense development and calls for “centers” to be created in the township.

Grewal felt that the great regional plan that the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority had put together is something that needs to be kept in mind. That plan is focused on getting people from destination to destination and was not restricted to the geographic boundaries of jurisdictions, she noted. She felt that if the “nodes” in the county could be linked from one point to another, that would result in transit that is more usable and accessible to people. That would make for a more sustainable model of bus transit in Washtenaw County, she said. The land-use planning perspective, she reiterated, is a critical piece of creating a usable transportation system.

Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo indicated that Ypsilanti Township was very appreciative of the city of Ypsilanti’s request to join the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority under Act 55. She observed that it had been a suggestion of Stephen Kunselman’s at the previous month’s meeting. “Thank you for moving the ball down the court,” she said.

Stumbo reported that Ypsilanti Township currently has a millage proposal for the August ballot that would address police and fire services. The need for the millage increase was due to a 35% drop in property values throughout the township, she said. After the fire and police millage, the township would turn its attention toward the possibility of a transportation millage.

The issue of transportation was something that needed to move forward, Stumbo said, and she felt that the city of Ann Arbor should lead the effort. The city of Ann Arbor had been a leader in environmental issues, planning issues, economic development, biosciences, and education. In order to make transportation a priority in the county, she felt it needed to come with the support and leadership of the city of Ann Arbor. She said that Ypsilanti Township is proud to be a part of that.

Stumbo felt that the economy has caused “the walls to come down” and to allow people to work together and sit at the same table. Ypsilanti Township was proud to be there and wanted to be a part of better transportation. “Transportation is not just for poor people,” she said. There are people who just need public transportation to get to their jobs, she said.

Stumbo lamented the fact that the issue had been just talked about for two years – which seemed a very long time to her. She hoped that this would not result in AATA staff becoming discouraged and leaving. She told the AATA staff that she did not want them to leave, saying “you guys are great.” She observed that some kind of millage request might come from the southeast Michigan regional transportation authority (RTA). But she felt it was important to give residents a chance to vote on any millage.

Ypsilanti Township clerk Karen Lovejoy Roe.

Ypsilanti Township clerk Karen Lovejoy Roe recalled how two years ago the AATA had managed to put a mix of people at the same table during several of the meetings connected to the countywide transit initiative. At one of the meetings, she’d sat with a top executive of Thomson Reuters, who’d told her that the company made decisions on location for new operations based on public transportation. She called Ann Arbor an “economic engine,” but said it doesn’t work if you can’t get to the jobs.

Like Stumbo, Lovejoy Roe noted that the tax base in the township had lost 35% of its value. But she pointed to some signs of recovery, saying that building permits are way up and that trend is continuing. She noted that south of Ford Lake, a considerable amount of development had taken place, but there is no transportation service.

It has become “cool” and culturally acceptable for young people to live without a car, Lovejoy Roe pointed out. She wanted people who wanted to live without a car to be able to stay in Ypsilanti Township.

Opening Remarks: City of Ypsilanti

Ypsilanti city councilmember Pete Murdock indicated he wouldn’t repeat all the reasons people had given for supporting public transportation, because he agreed with all the things people had said already. He observed that the city of Ypsilanti was in a somewhat unique position with respect to public transportation – having been in a partnership to provide public transportation since at least the 1970s. But like Ypsilanti Township, the city of Ypsilanti has had some hard times for the last 10 years at least.

Ypsilanti city councilmember Pete Murdock.

Everyone would like to see improvements and expansion, Murdock said, but something needs to change even just to maintain service, he cautioned. The city of Ypsilanti doesn’t have the ability to raise more revenue through a general fund millage. So any additional millage would need to be enacted through some other kind of regional entity. Things would need to be planned a little better so there are not “Ypsi Routes” and “Saline Routes” and “Pittsfield Routes” and “Ann Arbor Routes” – because improvements in the city of Ann Arbor do benefit Ypsilanti residents. It’s the financial part of regional governance that’s most important to Ypsilanti at this point, Murdock concluded.

Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber echoed Murdock’s sentiment that the city of Ypsilanti has always been very supportive of public transit. A lot of people rely on public transit to get between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor for work, he said – pointing out as an example that half of the employees of Zingerman’s [in Ann Arbor] live in Ypsilanti. He has friends who sometimes drive to Ann Arbor and other times take the bus, depending on what they’re doing that day, he said.

Schreiber described Ypsilanti as really in a “funding box.” That meant that the city of Ypsilanti has reached the 20-mill state constitutional limit for a home rule city. The city of Ypsilanti can’t ask voters for more millage money for its general fund. Of the 20 mills, .9879 mills is dedicated for transit, Schreiber said. Voters had approved that millage in 2010 by a vote of 3:1, which he described as a “huge margin.” That’s huge support for transit, Schreiber said.

When the Act 196 countywide effort fell apart last year, Schreiber was glad that the Ann Arbor city council included in its resolution [that opted out of the new authority] the direction to the AATA to continue conversations with the urban core communities. Schreiber indicated he had been very encouraged by the March 28 meeting, saying “Ypsilanti has to do something to get more funding for transit.” The only option Ypsilanti has, he continued, is to join some type of authority. “There’s an authority around already, and it’s called the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.” He noted that under Act 55, which was the incorporating legislation, there is a way to add additional municipalities.

Adding Ypsilanti, Schreiber explained, involved the Ypsilanti city council passing a resolution asking the AATA board to approve a request for membership. The next step after the request would be for the entities involved to start amending the articles of incorporation. So on Tuesday [April 23] the Ypsilanti city council had passed a unanimous resolution requesting that the city of Ypsilanti be allowed to join the AATA.

If Ypsilanti’s membership goes through – and Schreiber hoped it does – it “puts a big stake” on the eastern side of the county – and immediately goes from being an Ann Arbor transportation authority to an Ann Arbor area transportation authority. He drew a parallel to the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. This step would open the doors to regional cooperation and to improving the service between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, but also opens the door to expansion.

However, communities need to expand “at their own pace,” Schreiber said, and they have to prioritize. For the city of Ypsilanti right now, the timing is good to request membership. He also agreed with Stumbo’s remarks that Ann Arbor really is an economic driver. Ypsilanti is lucky to be able to ask for membership in the AATA, he said. Schreiber felt that another thing that would help is to have longer purchase of service agreements (POSAs) – instead of relying on annual agreements. It was important to have, say, five-year agreements so that the AATA board could plan new routes without having to worry about how much revenue was coming in year to year.

Schreiber appreciated the continued effort to meet. He felt that the Ypsilanti city council might not have passed its resolution requesting membership in the AATA if the urban core meetings hadn’t taken place. He thanked the Ann Arbor city council for asking people to continue to meet.

Opening Remarks: Dexter

Village of Dexter trustee Jim Carson told the group that even though the village of Dexter is not included in any of the possible organizational themes, he appreciated being a part of the conversation. Dexter is in the Ann Arbor urban area, he observed, and supports public transportation. Dexter residents support public transportation, which was demonstrated during the district advisory meetings that took place as part of the 2012 countywide transit effort.

Carson said that whatever happens, at some point the village of Dexter will benefit. He pointed out that Dexter already had some public transportation in the form of the Western-Washtenaw Area Value Express (WAVE). Carson noted that in addition to being a village trustee, he serves on the WAVE board. Dexter had helped that service grow. Dexter has some door-to-door service and some lifeline service through the WAVE, he noted, but would like more of it.

Additional Services

The materials provided to attendees of the March 28 meeting sketch out some of features of additional transportation services that the AATA could be in a position to offer, given additional funding. [.pdf of March 28, 2013 meeting packet]

For Ann Arbor, two broad categories of additional service are improvements to the west side of Ann Arbor, and improvements in the connection eastward to Ypsilanti, through Pittsfield and Ypsilanti townships. On the west side of town, changes to the service contemplated by the AATA include:

• Route 8 Pauline: More frequent peak, extended hours.
• Route 9 Jackson: Becomes two new routes (B, C), providing greater coverage, extended hours and improved evening frequency.
• Route 12 Miller/Liberty: Becomes three new routes (A, D, G) providing greater coverage and extended hours.
• Route 15 Scio Church/W. Stadium: Becomes two new routes (E, F) providing greater coverage, extended hours and improved midday frequency.
• Route 16 Ann Arbor-Saline and Route 17 Amtrak-Depot St: Extended hours.

Possible AATA service improvements in west Ann Arbor.

For connections on the east side of town, service improvements being considered by the AATA focused on extending hours and increasing frequency, with some service being made more direct (express):

• Routes 1 Pontiac-DhuVarren: Extended hours.
• Route 3 Plymouth: More direct, extended hours.
• Route 4 Washtenaw: More frequent all day long, extended hours.
• Route 5 Packard: More frequent evenings, extended hours.
• Route 6 Ellsworth: More frequent peak, extended hours.
• Route 22 North-South: Extended hours.

Possible increases in AATA service to the east.

For the Ypsilanti Township, expanded service could include:

• New and extended routes serving residential areas, commercial areas, the district library and Ypsilanti Civic Center.
• New ExpressRide service to downtown Ann Arbor and University of Michigan.
• New Park and Ride Lot in the vicinity of Huron St. and I-94.
• Township-wide dial-a-ride services for seniors, people with disabilities, and the general public, including connections to neighboring communities.

Possible AATA service expansion in Ypsilanti Township.

For Pittsfield Township and the city of Saline, expanded transportation services would be similar in nature to those that would be possible for Ypsilanti Township:

• New and extended routes serving residential areas, downtown Saline, Briarwood, Walmart, Meijer, Pittsfield Township offices and others.
• New ExpressRide service to downtown Ann Arbor and University of Michigan.
• New Park and Ride Lots at Meijer, Walmart and in the vicinity of Carpenter Road and I-94.
•  Township-wide dial-a-ride services for seniors, people with disabilities, and the general public, including connections to neighboring communities.

Possible AATA service expansion in Pittsfield Township and Saline.

Governance, Funding

At the April 25 urban core meeting, Jerry Lax – the AATA outside legal counsel –  reviewed some of the options available for new governance. He began by anchoring the conversation with the existing arrangement: The AATA is an authority incorporated under Act 55 of 1963, which does not itself levy any taxes. [.pdf of April 25, 2013 meeting packet]

The main local funding sources for AATA services is through a perpetual millage levied by the city of Ann Arbor – initially authorized at a level of 2.5 mills, but reduced through a Headlee rollback to just over 2 mills. Ypsilanti also levies a millage dedicated to transit, which was authorized in 2010 – for .9879 mills. Other local funding for AATA services comes from purchase of service agreements (POSAs) with other jurisdictions. The Ypsilanti millage, for example, is put toward the Ypsilanti POSA.

A summary of the various options:

1. Current governance: AATA with multiple POSAs. AATA could levy a new millage, which would apply just to Ann Arbor. Or the city of Ann Arbor could ask Ann Arbor voters to approve a Headlee override to the existing transit millage, restoring it to the original level of 2 mills. That would mean an increase of about 0.5 mills.
2. Ypsilanti joins AATA (possibly becoming Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Transportation Authority) and other jurisdictions contract for service through POSA. If the new AAYTA levied a millage, it would apply to both member jurisdictions, including Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The existing charter millages levied by the two cities would remain in place and flow to the AAYTA.
3. AATA remains the same authority but provides additional services under contract with a new “collar authority” consisting of Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, Pittsfield Township, and the city of Saline.  There are various ways to form a “collar authority”: Act 196, Act 55, or simply through Act 7. One downside to forming an agreement under Act 7 is that the arrangement would have no power to ask voters to approve a millage.
4. Expanded new transit authority consisting of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, Pittsfield Township, and the city of Saline. The options for governance would be similar to those under (3): Act 196, Act 55, or through Act 7.

By way of more background on Ypsilanti’s now pending request of the AATA to join – under option (2) – the request would be made under a provision of Act 55 of 1963, under which the AATA was originally incorporated. [.pdf of AATA articles of incorporation] [.pdf of Act 55 of 1963] Admission of Ypsilanti as a member would require a majority vote by the AATA board. It would also require that the articles of incorporation for the AATA be amended – which might require action by the Ann Arbor city council.

Act 55 states: “If a political subdivision joins the authority, the board shall amend the articles of incorporation accordingly.” In the past, however, it’s been through a resolution of the Ann Arbor city council that the articles of incorporation have been amended. In that case, the number of board members was increased to seven.

Cost Scenarios

The cost of the additional services that the AATA could be in a position to offer are roughly divided into three basic sets of services: maintain, improve, improve and expand. [.pdf of March 28, 2013 meeting packet]

The group’s discussion at the April 25 meeting was grounded on the cost for the “fully-loaded” scenario of “improve and expand.” That set of additional new services would cost a combined $5.483 million.

If a uniform millage were levied across all five jurisdictions (Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, Pittsfield Township, and the city of Saline), then it would need to be a tax of 0.706 mills to cover the $5.483 million [One mill is a dollar for every $1,000 of taxable value.] On governance models where the jurisdictions were a part of the same transit authority, the millage rate would need to be uniform across all member jurisdictions.

If a jurisdiction contracted with the AATA under a POSA – instead of joining the AATA – then the uniform millage rate would not be an issue. Under a POSA, the question is less about the millage rate, and more about the cost charged to the jurisdiction by the AATA to provide the service. If a jurisdiction wanted itself to levy a millage to cover its POSA cost, it could simply calibrate the millage rate to cover the exact cost.

If every jurisdiction contracted for service from the AATA under a POSA, then the cost analysis is important, because it determines the exact cost a jurisdiction pays. Under a uniform millage approach, the amount a jurisdiction pays is settled through the millage rate. But the cost analysis is still important, because it allows a resident of a jurisdiction to evaluate the equity of the arrangement: How much in transportation services am I getting in return for my transportation dollar?

Discussion at the April 25 meeting centered on this question of equity, based on different cost methodology.  [.pdf of equity analysis] Using the numbers provided by the AATA, The Chronicle has developed a visual representation of the four different ways of calculating cost, and the resulting equity for the jurisdictions on the assumption of a uniform millage.

Chart 1: Numbers from AATA. Chart by The Chronicle.

Blue shaded bars are the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Pittsfield and Ypsilanti townships are red-shaded bars. And the black bar is the city of Saline. The 0 on the vertical scale means that the ratio of benefit to revenue is 1:1. A positive bar means that a jurisdiction gets more benefit (services with greater cost) than the jurisdiction would contribute under a uniform millage. A negative bar means a jurisdiction gets less benefit (services costing less) than the contribution of that jurisdiction in a uniform millage.

From left to right, the four ways of calculating cost are: (1) service hours; (2) population; (3) increase in access to transit; and (4) resident-benefit based approach. The fourth way of calculating the cost was unveiled for the first time at the April 25 meeting.

In the course of the discussion, AATA strategic planner Michael Benham briefly alluded to consideration of the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti as one “unit.” Extending that idea to considering the two townships as a single unit yields the following visual representation:

Chart 2: Numbers provided by AATA. Chart by The Chronicle.

Fairness, Equity

AATA strategic planner Michael Benham describes how he’d had a conversation with an AATA board member in which the board member had insisted on an answer from Benham to the question: Of these funding approaches, what do you recommend? Benham reported that he’d responded by saying it’s a political discussion, not a technical discussion. But the board member had pressed him: But what do you recommend? So Benham passed out a sheet, which he hesitated to call a recommendation – because there are issues of value, and there are political issues, which “planner-technician” types like him didn’t necessarily feel totally comfortable dealing with. The sheet was nevertheless, he said, as close to a “recommendation” as they could get. And that was what the sheet called the “equitable distribution of costs.”

Benham said AATA staff had sifted through the various options that had been presented to the urban core group and then did things a little differently in what they were calling a “resident-benefit based approach.” In some of the other approaches, costs for the express services that are serving primarily the two townships had been distributed across all five jurisdictions – “just because it’s clean,” and based on a service-hour approach, Benham explained.

They decided not to do that, Benham said, and to take a different approach that basically assigned the cost of those express services to the townships. The origins of the riders of the services would be from the townships – so the cost of the express services would be assigned to the townships. He allowed that those riders would be arriving in Ann Arbor and providing benefit in Ann Arbor – but under this resident-benefit based model, those costs would be assigned to the townships. The cost of new dial-a-ride services that are based in the townships were also assigned to the townships or the city of Saline, respectively. Benham explained that the various models of cost assignment shared the basic idea that the number of miles of regular, non-express fixed-route service inside a jurisdiction was a factor in assigning cost to that jurisdiction.

Benham then explained that staff then assumed a uniform millage would be applied across all jurisdictions, and used that for the different models to compute a ratio for each jurisdiction: [cost of service]/[revenue contributed]. If a jurisdiction got exactly $1 back in service for every $1 of funding contributed, then that would be 100%. A percentage less than 100 would mean that a jurisdiction gets back less in services than it contributes. Similarly, a percentage greater than 100 would mean that a jurisdiction gets back more in services than it contributes.

Under the resident-benefit approach, Pittsfield Township supervisor Mandy Grewal asked if it would be fair to say that out of $1 the township would be contributing in millage funds, it would be getting back $0.79 in services. Benham allowed that was accurate, but also noted that none of the calculations he was presenting accounted for the state and federal funding that would be “attracted” by each dollar that is spent.

Benham said that AATA staff were pleased to see that variations in the differences were reduced greatly compared to the other approaches, saying that it had “leveled the playing field” in terms of equity. In the case of Ypsilanti, he allowed, the benefit is a bit higher. For Ann Arbor, he said, it’s a bit lower. But if you consider the two as a unit you start to approach parity, he said.

Grewal pointed out that Pittsfield Township, on the resident-benefit approach, has the least parity – at 79%.

Pittsfield Township supervisor Mandy Grewal.

But Benham came back to his point that the resident-benefit based approach came closer to being an equitable model than anything else that had been considered. Benham said that rather than simply presenting the range of options, AATA staff had been asked to present something that could be a potential solution, and let that be the starting point for the conversation about the “difficult issue of equity.”

Ypsilanti city councilmember Pete Murdock drew out the fact that the costs considered for the analysis were the additional costs – for both the “improve” and “expand” service improvements – above and beyond any existing revenues.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Sabra Briere said it’s easy to focus on apparent disparities. She compared the transit that goes through Pittsfield to the transit that has Pittsfield as a destination. She asked what could be changed in the service plan to improve transit to the township. The potential benefits to Ann Arbor at 85% parity didn’t sound like it takes into account the existing benefit that Ann Arbor is already getting, she said.

Benham confirmed that the focus of discussion was new costs of service. Briere observed that a lot of the existing transit for Ann Arbor was already accessible within a 1/4-mile walk and there was little opportunity for improvement on that metric. But in Pittsfield Township, for example, that kind of improvement had more potential. So Briere wanted to know what service changes could be made to bring more parity for Pittsfield.

Benham told Briere that AATA staff was relatively pleased with the amount of parity that had been achieved – but it was up to elected officials now to talk about the relative benefits of connecting communities. Elected officials could talk about whether some of the remaining “lack of parity” might be justified. As a planner or a technical person, Benham said, he didn’t have much more to add to the conversation. He felt it needed to be a discussion among the elected officials for a community to pay a little more relative to what they are getting, because there’s some intangible benefit related to the benefit of being connected.

By way of additional background, at the March 28 meeting, Ann Arbor city councilmember Stephen Kunselman had talked about the fact that everyone knew that improvements in Ann Arbor service would have a spillover benefit to Ypsilanti, which he supported. He expressed less enthusiasm for that same kind of spillover extending to wealthier townships. Also at that meeting, Ann Arbor city councilmember Chuck Warpehoski had expressed a willingness to be somewhat  ”fuzzy” with respect to equity, saying he didn’t see it as necessarily desirable to try to insist on a reckoning down to the penny.

At the April 25 meeting, Grewal was keen to see a breakdown for a comprehensive figure that included all the existing services and revenues, not just the cost of new services.

Benham told Grewal that AATA staff could provide that additional, more refined analysis – because that was the staff’s job. As far as the equity issue, however, that was a discussion elected officials should have.

Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber came back to Grewal’s point that the information being presented at that meeting covered the additional costs that would come from additional services – and did not include the existing services or revenues. He also suggested that benefit could be measured in terms of parking structures: How many more parking structures would you have to build if you did not increase transit? He pointed out that for Ypsilanti, for the resident-benefit based approach, the numbers didn’t look too much different from the population based approach.

Schreiber alluded to comments that representatives from Ann Arbor had made at both the March 28 and the April 25 meetings – that there would be increased congestion and parking structures or additional public transit. Briere ventured the latest average figure for parking structure construction was in the neighborhood of $42,000 per space.

Thoughts on Next Steps

Ann Arbor city councilmember Chuck Warpehoski appreciated the effort to create the estimates based on a resident-benefit approach. He characterized the challenge of pulling out specific services for different allocations as “tricky.” He followed up on Schreiber’s comments to the effect that not all of the value was necessarily captured, even with that approach.

Warpehoski floated the idea of a senior citizen in a township using dial-a-ride service to the Necto night club in downtown Ann Arbor: Ann Arbor gets some of the value from that. What was common to all the approaches, Warpehoski said, is that they are all approximations of understanding value. It looks very precise to say 79% or 85%, he said, but it’s actually not that precise.

When he looked at the costs, the $2.727 million – an allocation of cost based on population – would equate to about 0.6 mills for the city of Ann Arbor. For him personally, the improvements along the Washtenaw Avenue corridor are important and add value to Ann Arbor above and beyond the services that are offered specifically in Ann Arbor. So he was willing to “go north of” 0.6 mills in terms of the amount of value the city of Ann Arbor was getting. This opens up options, not just for governance and funding – but also for the service plan. He suggested that equity could also be adjusted through adjusting actual service.

Warpehoski indicated that participants at the March 28 meeting had expressed some apprehension about coming up with a number. For him, he felt that Ann Arbor would be “fairly served” at a millage-equivalent at around 0.65 – assuming other communities are buying in.

Asked what they thought their voters would support, other elected officials were mixed but overall somewhat supportive.

Saline mayor Brian Marl indicated he was being intentionally reticent. He said he had a hard-and-fast rule that when he was presented with data for the first time, he wanted to take some time and absorb it. He felt he wanted to check back with the Saline city council to determine what the preferred path would be for governance and funding.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Sally Petersen said for Ann Arbor it’s important to define what improved service really means: Is it more buses? Buses later at night? What does improved service look like that you’re asking Ann Arbor residents to pay for?

Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber reiterated that Ypsilanti would like to join the existing Act 55 AATA, and become a part of the urban transportation network. He allowed that Ypsilanti was already a part of the network, but would now like to be recognized as a part of it. Whatever Ann Arbor came up with, he pointed out, if you put the voters of Ann Arbor together with those of Ypsilanti, there’s a 6:1 ratio of population. So in a millage vote, he said, “obviously, Ann Arbor is going to be calling the shots here. But you’ll have a supportive partner in whatever you decide.”

Townships would need to pursue things at their own pace, Schreiber allowed. But he thought the fact that Route #4 on Washtenaw Avenue had increase ridership by 30% by increasing frequency of service showed that the urban core could be improved as a first step.

Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje picked up on Petersen’s remarks, saying that voters are very savvy and will break down any proposal and see what they’re getting for their money. Some benefits would require more explaining, he ventured. He sees a benefit from people riding buses into work instead of driving – which addresses the need to build parking structures. He hadn’t heard anybody stand up yet and say they don’t want job growth.

On governance, Hieftje said he would entertain a proposal of expanding the board from seven to nine members, with one of the two additional representatives from Ypsilanti – chosen by Ypsilanti. He also felt that having two additional representatives would help spread out the workload.

Petersen wondered if it might be appropriate to have two Ypsilanti appointees. Hieftje indicated he felt that would require mutual discussion on the part of both communities.

Ann Arbor city councilmember Sabra Briere observed that the current transportation model is geared toward commuters. That’s a benefit for Ann Arbor, she said, because she doesn’t want to build more parking structures. “There’s a significant benefit – if we can’t imprison people within city lines – to providing bus service from other communities into Ann Arbor so they can work in Ann Arbor.” But a lot of people who want to get rid of their only car or get rid of their second car, really want to have transit that works for them, she noted – not to go downtown, but to go to non-employment destinations.

As examples of those non-employment destinations, Briere gave Meijer on Carpenter Road or Lowes, or the doctor, or the Kroger on South Maple – saying that people want to get to non-employment destinations in an efficient way. And that means they really want a broader service than one that requires that they go downtown first. It would be really good when talking about service improvements within the city to talk about the idea that “You can get there from here,” she said.

Warpehoski noted that he’d heard his council colleague Stephen Kunselman talk about wanting to see an incremental approach to this. A pathway to that incremental approach, Warpehoski said, would be for Ypsilanti to join the AATA. That would give a way to start improving urban core collaboration funding and improving services. He’d heard Ypsilanti Township officials say that they’re interesting in participating, but not interested in putting a millage in front of their voters at this time. [Warpehoski had observed that the representatives from both the townships had needed to depart from the meeting by this point.]

Washtenaw County board chair Yousef Rabhi demonstrates the usefulness of  striving for equitable height with a conversational partner. Seated is former Washtenaw County commissioner Vivienne Armentrout.

So the next step he saw was for a “coalition of the willing” to act, adding quickly: “I’m willing!” He felt the next step should be an Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti coordinated effort, and then build step-by-step from there.

Washtenaw County board chair Yousef Rabhi felt that some of these discussions would be valuable to have on an individual basis, too. He appreciated the planner’s perspective of wanting to take a systemwide approach, but in each community different voters will have different tolerances for paying for different things. Different voters will have different willingness to share in the greater system or protect their money for their services, he noted.

It’s important to be informed by the leaders of the communities who want to participate in the process, Rabhi continued, because they’ll know what their constituents’ level of comfort is for participation in the process. It’d be good to know what a community is thinking before you give them a model of what you believe they should be thinking.

Hieftje felt there was some urgency to establish funding for keeping the robust routes between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. He did not know why Ann Arbor would not take Ypsilanti’s request to join the AATA to heart. Based on the Ann Arbor city council’s schedule of work in May, when it would be focused on the FY 2014 budget, by June Hieftje felt the council could turn its attention to the question of Ypsilanti joining the AATA. He said it might be important to be able to put a millage proposal before the voters as early as November 2013. He noted that if something were to be put on the ballot for November, he expected that decision would come in the third week of August or so.

Marl indicated that his approach for Saline would be to review the material thoroughly and then check back with the Saline city council. He felt it would be a good idea for the AATA staff to come to the Saline city council for a working session on the topic.

Michael Ford, CEO of the AATA, wrapped up by saying that the AATA wanted to keep the process moving – they didn’t want to let it die. There’s a need for transit services, he said, and it’s possible to talk about it. But people really need the services. It’d be a shame if a commitment couldn’t be made to make that happen, he said.

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Sec. 4A
(1) A county or a municipality may withdraw from an authority within 1 year after creation of that authority under this act by a resolution of withdrawal approved by a majority vote of the members elected to and serving on the governing body of that county or municipality.
(2) A county or a municipality may withdraw from an authority at any time after 1 year after creation of that authority under this act by a resolution of withdrawal approved by a 2/3 vote of the members elected to and serving on the governing body of that county or municipality.

The wording of the bill indicates that the opt-out option is available to more than just the four counties that are members of the RTA – Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb and Oakland. Any municipality in that four-county region would appear to be able to opt out.

The Ann Arbor city council had passed a resolution shortly after the original enactment of the RTA bill, objecting to the inclusion of Washtenaw County. That council resolution echoed sentiments of a resolution approved shortly before that by the Washtenaw County board. And a resolution of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board, approved in February 2012, had supported the concept of an RTA, but conditioned that support on the coordination of new funding so that existing levels of transportation services provided by the AATA are maintained.

Rep. Jeff Irwin, whose 53rd District includes most of Ann Arbor, had opposed the RTA legislation. However, he does not support the idea incorporated into the current draft of HB 4637, which has been referred to the transportation committee. In an email to The Chronicle, responding to a query, Irwin wrote: “I don’t have a good sense of whether this will move.” But for his own part, he continued:

I don’t support this idea. The Swiss cheese model of public transit authorities is contrary to best practices and is intuitively a problem for the provider. SMART currently operates on the Swiss cheese model, driving through communities like Livonia and failing to serve citizens in communities like Canton. In short, the Balkanization of SE Michigan is a limitation, not a feature, of Michigan’s governance model. This bill moves further in that direction. Even though I opposed the RTA bill last winter because of the rail exclusion language and the mismatch of AATA with DDOT/SMART, I still want to have a functional system in SE Michigan. This bill will make that even more difficult.

The Act 196 authority, created in mid-2012 and spearheaded by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, was for all practical purposes ended late last year when the Ann Arbor city council voted to opt out of the transit authority at its Nov. 8, 2012 meeting. Of the 28 municipalities in Washtenaw County, the city of Ypsilanti is the only one that hasn’t opted out.

The county board’s April 17 resolution rescinds a board resolutions that created the transit authority, and requests that the state legislature also take action to dissolve the Washtenaw Ride, in accordance with Attorney General Opinion #7003. That AG opinion stated that “the dissolution of a transportation authority organized under the Public Transportation Authority Act requires an act of the Legislature and may not be accomplished by the unilateral action of the city in which it was established.” [.pdf of AG opinion 7003]

The county’s role in creating the transit entity had been laid out in a four-party agreement with Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and the AATA, which commissioners approved on Aug. 1, 2012 in a 6-4 vote. Subsequent revisions involving the other entities resulted in the need for a re-vote by the county board, which occurred on Sept. 5, 2012.

There are two other transit efforts now under way. Washtenaw County is part of a southeast Michigan regional transit authority (RTA) created by the state legislature late last year. The RTA was formed to coordinate regional transit in the city of Detroit and counties of Wayne, Macomb, Oakland and Washtenaw. Conan Smith has been a strong advocate for the RTA, and made Washtenaw County’s two appointments to the RTA board before his term as county board chair ended on Dec. 31, 2012.

Separate from the RTA effort, the AATA has been meeting with representatives of the county’s “urban core” communities to discuss possible expanded public transit within a limited area around Ann Arbor. It would be a smaller effort than the previous attempt at countywide service. The AATA hosted a meeting on March 28 to go over details about where improvements or expansion might occur, and how much it might cost. [See Chronicle coverage: "Costs, Services Floated for Urban Core Transit."]

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]