160620 Transit Pilot Committee MINCommunity Transportation Pilot Program Steering Committee (Tillsonburg)
Minutes
June 20, 2016
Minutes Taker: Deb Clarke Time: 10:00 -11 :30am
PRESENT: Geoffrey Reekie, Executive Director/CEO, Tillsonburg & District Multi-
Service Centre; Marty Graf, Chief Executive Officer, Community Living Tillsonburg;
John Verbakel, Chair; Carolijn Verbakel, Community Advocates Tillsonburg; David
Calder, CAO, Town of Tillsonburg, John Preston, Community Transportation
Coordinator, Larry Ongena, Bus driver
REGRETS: Ashley Farrar, Social Planning Council Oxford, Brian Stephenson,
Councilor, Town of Tillsonburg
1. Welcome:
John V. welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. Brief Update/Ridership Stats -John Preston:
• Ride request -ridership stats as of June 15 we are at 94 rides this month with
23 riders. April we had 19 and in May we had 23.
• The bus is busy and we are getting people to where they need to go.
• Larry has been working out great., Larry is working an average of 28
hours/week and has been driving the Special Olympics people to their events.
• The try T:GO days will be on Sunday, July 17 and August 14, 2016.
• Every Sunday will be free for groupsresidents, church groups etc.
• Children Services has approached John to pick up and bring back 6 25 children
per day for the day care camp for 6 weeks.
• Pharmasave wants to work with John on getting there senior customers to their
stores. Maple Lane wants a pick up 1 day a week and John
is in talks with Harvest Home.
• Easy 101 -on-air spots start today.
• Geoff offered John help in getting him connected with people who are in the
Youtube Industry.
• Ridership -Seniors are the most riders, social services programs and day care
programs. A couple youth were using the bus for work but one feels it is too
early on the route and some are walking due to the nicer weather.
• Stats -Subsidize, Applying for gas tax.
• John to have monthly appearances at the town council meeting as the Pilot
Program will be coming up for renewal March 2017.
• Geoff gave his stats from the Simpli Software Program -640 riders, -April 208
rides, May 207 rides, month of June 152 rides to the 17 and 304. We have
increased 100 rides which is a 30% increase since we have Larry driving and
John is freed up to promote T:GO.
• John is looking at another software program for later down the road called My
Bus.
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3. Budget Bottom Line -David Calder:
• Town has received 90,000 from the 100,000 at the end of February and the
project runs until March 2017.
4. Operational Budget Update and Discussion -Marty/Geoff/John:
• The ridership needs to be strengthened.
• The MSC Employment Program have been pushing the T:GO to their clients.
• The daycare is using the bus for day care to transport the kids to day camp.
• Have we thought about using the bus as a charter to groups for specific events;
school activities etc .. ? If we can grow the numbers by another 20% that would
create our sustainability.
• $2.00 is a standard fee for subsidizes rides.
• We would be tracking the $1,500.00 that came in as income for sustainability.
• Children Services -6 weeks for 25 free rides -need to figure out how this will
get paid through Community Living Tillsonburg.
5. Confirmation of Clear Communication Pathway for Committee Items:
• John V. requested that all committee members who have committee items to
discuss to go through the chair and the chair will forward the information so that
everyone has clear communication.
6. What Do We Report At Our June 27 Council Delegation Opportunity?
• John P. can talk on the operational part of the program and it was suggested
that some of the users come as well. This is a different model than a trolley bus
that is going around with no riders.
• Geoff reported that we have moved some of our riders to T:GO. Geoff wants to
sit down with John and Chris Yancy to work on better communication practices.
• Can we promote booking a ride more? Find a friend app? We can have a
dispatch process? Implementing the rides to the Regional Share Program.
• We still need an elevator speech so that the message is clear and consistent.
7. Easy 101 Radio Sport:
• Confirmation from the committee to proceed with setting the on-air ads; and one
to two sentences on how to present T:GO to the community for the ad -not
resolved at May 2 meeting.
• June 20 and 21 the Easy 101 Radio Sport starts today.
• Wednesday, June 22, or Thursday, June 23 John will have an interview and
has invited a couple of committee members to join him -John and Caroliyn
Carolijn V.
will go with John P.
• John P. to track if the volume of phone calls and bus rides since the on-air ads.
• What is the plan for when the bus goes into out of service service during peak
hours.
• Enterprise has vehicles we could use. John is also in communication with
Stonebridge if the bus is going to be down and for them to be on standby.
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8. Report on Action Items from previous meeting:
• Testimonials from SPCO client interviews -Ashley/Carolijn.
• We did an impact study.
• We reported to town counsel.
• Ashley and Carolijn will continue to do impact studies. It changes people lives.
• Larry Ongena (bus driver bio and picture posed on Facebook) -John P.
John will have Larry's bio on Facebook today.
• Brief update sent to all pilot supporters -John V.
• We have 15 letters to send out to supporters.
• John will include the impact statements when sending letters to the supporters.
• One-on-one Rogers interview with Brian Don levy-John P./John V./Ashley.
• This has not happen nor has it been set up as of yet.
• John P. will look into this.
• Driver modelling the "friendly bus" -John/Larry.
• The committee is hearing positive comments.
• The riders like the $2.00 fare.
• The riders like that the bus is on a route.
• We are still driving the route even if no one is riding to encourage people to flag
down the bus.
• Bus driver training to deal with sensitive situations -Marty.
• NVCI needs to be scheduled for Larry. John P will talk to Marni Stefan to see
when the next class will be and sign Larry up.
• Enhanced signage on T:GO bus -John P. It's done except one piece that John
is working on.
• Promotion of T:GO using the bus at the June 11 Golf Tournament -John V.
It was on displayed at the Golf Tournament.
9. Other Business:
• Linked In -Article: My Conversation the Secretary of Transportation.
• Update on Linking Regional Rideshare
• To put on the town website -Call and ask for Colleen
• T:GO Bus Application -CRA
• Draft Agreement between the Town and Community Living Tillsonburg -Marty
reviewed the draft agreement with the committee.
10. Next meeting, Monday, July 11, 2016 (10:00-11:30am).
11. Adjournment
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