Transit- Meeting Agenda (12/18/1997)

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Director Kelley asked whether the Wheels Program operated by the Oregon Housing and Associated Services (OHAS)-could be of assistance - -- to seniors in West Salem. Mr. Whittington said Ms. Simpson certainly would be eligible to use Wheels to access Roth's Grocery Store and the post office. Randy Morgan 1115 Madison Salem, Oregon Mr. Morgan said he wished to comment on the possible idea of having night service in December fareless as it was in Decembe~ 1996. The dark winter months are somewhat of a disincentive for people who drive cars to ride the bus. Reimplementing the fareless idea would be a tremendous boost to the December holiday program. People might be more indined to leave their cars and ride the bus in the evening. The fiscal impact is small, and the DistricYs budget is not so tight that it could not accommodate the effect of a no fare program in the evenings, and it would be good for the community during the holiday season. Valerie Schaaf 4508 N Newcastle Cr NE Salem, OR 97305 Ms. Schaaf said she and he~ counselor went up and down Lancaster Drive, and could see that there are not very many bus shelters. During wet and rainy weathe~, many people have to wait for their buses 10-15 minutes longer than normal when it is busy. President Caraballo said there will be further discussions about bus shelters. They are out to bid at present. REPORTS Marsha Clark, Chair of the STF Advisory Committee, said the Committee has been very busy wo~lcing on their planning process for a coordinated Advisory Committees regional system. She said her intent was to update the Board on where they are and how they got there. In their charge to identify and recommend Special Transportation Fund programs to the Board they had come up against some issues that made it (STF) Advisory Committee difficult to select and choose providers in the system. Some of the issues were that they did not have information on services available in the regions, and there were no clearly defined goals or plans for transportation in the region. The lack of ~esource information and a plan made reviewing provider applications and recommendations extremely difficult, and very few efforts were being made to coordinate services and resources fo~ special transportation in this region. Available inforrnation was used and the best possible decisions were made. However, this lack of plan, infonnation, and difficulty in provider selection led them to the conclusion that a regional plan needed to be developed to address the issues. In July the Committee embarked on the process of developing a strategic plan for the Marion and Polk regions. At the same time, the State was launching their Transit in Transition campaign which generally means that the State is redesigning their distribution of funds and that local programs seeking funding need to have a needs assessment and local plan in ptace. Along with their facilitator, Trans Watch, the Committee developed a process. The Committee's next step is formulation of strategies. The Committee's first meeting was in August, and the mission statement was developed as follows: "The Marion and Polk County's Special Transportation Advisory Committee enables the Salem Area Mass Transit District Board to make informed decisions by providing transportation policy and funding recommendations based on sound infoRnation and input addressing future regional transit needs " This mission statement has not been adopted into Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting Salem Area Mass Transit District November 20, 1997 - Page 7