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Staff reports show ridership gains; planning agency to start travel demand study; minutes approved with date correction
Summary
Agency staff reported year-to-date fixed-route ridership up 23.8% and January year-over-year up 16.5%, with on-time performance at about 86%. The planning agency announced a travel demand study and the authority approved last month's minutes after correcting the meeting date.
At a Transportation Authority meeting, staff reported ridership increases and a new regional travel demand study, and the authority approved last month's minutes after a date correction.
A staff member introduced Bobby Edwards as the authority’s new director of operations, saying Edwards has more than 16 years of leadership experience with agencies including Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, Hampton Roads Transit and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
In a staff update, the authority was told that fixed-route ridership year-to-date has increased 23.8 percent and that January year-over-year ridership rose 16.5 percent. Staff reported on-time performance at "almost 86%," noting the authority’s on-time goal is 90 percent. Staff also said another ridership metric had increased by 1.3 percent.
Doug, a planning-agency staff member, announced a regional travel demand study being done with eight other planning agencies, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the UT Transportation Center. He described the study's data collection method as travel diaries to be completed by participants over a couple of days, with an option to download an app. He said the study will begin sometime in March and that thousands of letters will be sent across the region to recruit participants. Doug asked meeting attendees to encourage residents to participate and said information will be posted on the regional planning organization's website.
The authority handled routine business at the start of the meeting. The chair noted a correction to the minutes — the meeting date was listed as the 20th and should be the 27th — and a motion to accept the minutes with that correction was approved after the chair called for the ayes and opposed. No roll-call vote or individual tallies were recorded in the transcript.
The meeting closed after public comment. The chair announced the next meeting is scheduled for March 27 at 3 p.m.; the chair said the authority hopes to return to the main assembly room after renovations.
Ending
The travel demand study will begin in March and staff invited the public to seek more information on the planning agency’s website; the authority approved last month’s minutes with a date correction and then adjourned.
