Travis County Commissioners Court
May 29, 2007
Item 25
25. Receive update and take appropriate action on the commute solutions innovative program grant award.
>> good morning, Commissioners court. It is with great pleasure -- delma
>> [indiscernible] for the record is my name. It is with great pleasure today that I announce that we have been awarded the grant to offer free bus passes for three months for up to 450 Travis County employees to ride the bus for free. As of this date, we have had 90 people respond to the survey that I have sent out requesting a bus pass and we've had about 10 other people respond by calling myself to express. We are still short of 100 people, which is my goal of riding the bus, we will continue marketing strategy to get more people to sign up for the bus.
>> last
>> [indiscernible] take place the amount of persons that are responding to -- to requests. When was that done last?
>> Friday.
>> this past Friday?
>> yes, sir.
>> so it's a continuing movement as far as trying to acquire persons to fill the amount of passes that you have to deal with? Is there a certain cutoff time line?
>> no. There is no cutoff time. Anyone can apply for it. The program will be from July through September, July, August, September. If someone wants a bus pass September 15th, then they can have one, as long as they are available.
>> as long as they are available.
>> yes.
>> all right. Thank you.
>> you're welcome. And we will --
>> there are some rules that go along with acquiring that pass, right?
>> yes, there are a few. In that a recipient will sign a statement stating they will be the only person using the bus pass, they will not give it away, will not sell it. Should they terminate their employment with Travis County, they will turn in the bus pass to myself. At the end of the program, they will return the bus pass to me. The bus pass will work just like your -- called a smart card just like the pass that you use to get into the building in the mornings, you just swipe it whenever you get on to the bus and your record of riding the bus is automatically recorded. So we will be able to generate electronic reports showing whether people are actually riding the bus and how many routes that they will be taking.
>> what commitment do the card holders make who in fact ride the bus?
>> there is no commitment. It's just a fact that they will -- they agree to at least try it at least one time and hopefully they will continue to ride the bus and we will also be doing some marketingouts reach beforehand. We will plan on having some brown bag lunches with capital metro to come out here and give talks and show people how simple it is to ride the bus, what they can expect and help people finding appropriate routes for them.
>> of the 90 folks that responded -- how many of them are already bus riders if.
>> approximately 65% of them. Are we going to do our on reporting with regards to how often the people use it. Have some sort of -- of verification as to why people decide not to if they get the free pass. We -- are we setting up for our own usage a -- a model so that we can identify -- hopefully 90 people will use it three or four days a week. But I would like to know that we are going to really -- you know, do some sort of a detailed compilation of responses, you know, information gathering that you can bring back to the court. After -- after this 90 day period.
>> yes, we are. The smart card will let -- has a unique i.d. Number for each person. So it's not just everyone riding the bus. We can tie it to each person to see how often each individual who is using the card is riding the bus. Also at the end of the survey grant we will do another survey to find out whether people -- will they like to continue riding the bus, what were their main reasons for not riding the bus. The majority of people who have completed the survey have said that they would ride the bus three times a week or more.
>> so we are looking at somewhere between 55 and 60 people of the 90 that already use the bus as their major mode of transportation, right?
>> correct.
>> okay. So if we are -- that 35 folks that have said okay well let me give that a shot, how many of those 35 have a parking space?
>> that I do not know.
>> well, I would like to know that.
>> I will add that --
>> what we are really after here, given the fact that we are going through this process of -- of trying to determine, you know, how can we lighten the load, so to speak, that Travis County has to pay for parking spaces, that would be a really important number for me to have, I mean, I think that the court might be interested in that as well.
>> one thing that we discussed actually adell and I discussed is the poablg of possibility of a transportation diary. That might be a component that we can add. We have had issues in the past where you have had health diaries, you can't compel someone to do it. You get spotty data. But it could be useful, for those willing to do it. But think I think is going to create a control set basically for us to look at, of individuals who have parking spaces, those who don't, those who ride regularly on the bus, those who don't. What the difference is that we can target the populations appropriately for bus passes, parking spots, other modes of transportation.
>> well, I also have a feeling that we will have some data that we can use that would bring additional changes to -- to the organization so that we can allow for people to bus -- to ride the bus. And because right off the top, we know that -- that they compete with cars in traffic so they are not going to be able to get here any faster than cars do. Although -- although it was a lot easier this morning because school is out. And -- and but -- but you know I think on the other things, other bits of information that we can use to -- to make it all workable.
>> the amount of money within
>> [indiscernible] that we are looking at, how many eligible or how many uses -- passes would be allowed under these -- the amount of money? Secondly, how -- how do we expedite I guess notify as many folks as possible to make sure that they have an opportunity to participate, in other words, what -- have all bases been covered? From the initiation period to the expose -- to expos what we are doing to the employees to ensure that they have notice that this is an opportunity for them to utilize? If so how is that being done?
>> there's 450 bus passes, for Travis County employees. And I've been sending out weekly e-mails under the public interest that goes to all state -- county -- sorry, pardon me, all county employees receive these. And I'm not sure if everyone is reading these, so I'm going to come up with another strategy.
>> that's what I'm -- the question. But anyway go ahead.
>> trying to come up with a second strategy to make sure all county employees know about the program. But there have been twice weekly e-mails going out.
>> how much does each ticket cost us?
>> $10.
>> are you
>> [indiscernible]
>> I have not, I have been in contact with people on the parking committee.
>> are we able to identify employees who do not have parking? Lynn ought to have a parking wait list. I would make sure that all of those individuals know about the availability of this pass. I would think they would be more motivated, if they were driving -- I guess they can get parking on their own or a daily basis trying to find a vacant space.
>> give them a chance to try using the bus, eliminating the need for parking. But -- I mean I don't think there -- I would think they would be a likely target for us. Maybe the parking committee would be able to assist you. If you got 100 e-mails or so, multiple subjects discussed, just kind of hard to stop and read down through there. So an e-mail deal is exclusively with this program. Can citizens communication --
>> him happy to -- I'm interested in that as well. But -- but what I'm really entered in would be the 11 -- interested in would be the 1100 people that would have a parking space, how many of those people might choose to use this program versus having a parking space.
>> the answer would be none.
>> because parking is a benefit. Once you receive that benefit, you are unlikely to give up that benefit. Are we going to treat parking as a benefit or are we going to treat it as an additional perk. Right now employees who have it think of it as a benefit. But then of course employees who don't don't get compensated for not having that benefit. I mean, I don't think -- I don't think we should even play around with the idea of getting people to let go of their parking spaces in exchange for a bus pass. That's simply not going to happen. I think that really the other -- the more realistic question is how do we compensate those who don't have that benefit.
>> I think both of those, I don't disagree that that's important as well. But there is a point to be made here. If were offering a freeway to get to work versus the expense of gas, the expense of your car, I mean, you know, yes it doesn't cost you to park here, but there ought to be, you would think that there would be, albeit small, a percentage of people that would say you know what, that really is a benefit to me to -- to have that free pass and give up my parking space. If that's not something that's going to happen, you are exactly right. Why go through the exercise, which is exactly what we go through the exercise with continuously on -- on thinking that you are going to get people out of their cars into alternative modes of transportation. I mean maybe, you know -- maybe we will be surprised. Maybe there would be, you know, a few people that would do that. But I'm -- I'm not opposed to -- to getting both of the points of information but I do think that it's going to tell us something both of those facts are going to tell us something.
>> with the price of gasoline over $3 a gallon, I have been receiving a few responses of people saying they are giving up their cars for a bus pass.
>> giving up your car to use the bus. I -- to me this exercise is not about figuring out how we can -- we can -- we can provide less parking spaces or minimize our cost to the county of parking spaces. For me this exercise is about reducing emissions. But I think that the -- the rational choice for someone who lives more than 10 miles from the workplace, if they have the choice, is to -- to keep their parking space and use the bus as frequently as possible. That's how you get the biggest bang, reduce the amount of gas that you have to buy, you reduce the wear and tear on your car and you have a parking space on the days that it's raining and you have to take your sick kid to the pediatrician. The rational choice will be hold on to your parking space and use the bus as much as possible. I think that we have to recognize that's going to be the rational choice here.
>> thanks for giving us an opportunity to discuss this fascinating subject.
>> I guess we want an update every two or three or four weeks as the situation becomes available.
>>
>> [indiscernible] movement there, capture it with -- will find out.
>> it's underway. This is just -- this is just in case -- the additional recommendation.
>> okay. The -- the only thing new and different is the county status report is every two weetion too often? Well, actually I would wait until mid July or the first of July first for when the program is actually starting.
>> but the employees who believe in their Commissioners court, if there's anything that we can do to motivate our workforce, let us know.
>> thank you.
>> right? There may be one or two ideas out there
>> [laughter]
>> give me their names, I will take them to lunch
>> [laughter]
>> thank you. Anything further?
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 8:00 AM