In the absence of chair McCallum as and as the vice chair is my pleasure to run the meeting this morning
So I'm gonna call the meeting to order and we'll start with our safety pretty briefing Frank cast alone
Would you please give us a safety briefing? I don't know if there's any comment on the hillside in San
Clemente is a safety hazard if that's in your jurisdiction or if we will have a report from our CEO, but anyway
That's certainly a hazard. So if you go see our usual safety briefing
Yes, sir. So good morning. Vice-chair chafee and members of the board
So I will now present to you the most exciting part of your Friday morning safety briefing
so in the event of a fire drill or
Smoke alarm we are going to exit the building together including the audience members. We're going to go down into Pat's horse Plaza
wait for Metro security to give us the all clear sign or we will take direction after that.
In the rare event we actually experience an earthquake. We are going to shelter in place, get underneath an object,
doorway,
archway, etc., until the shaking stops and do an assessment of whether or not we'll clear the building.
An event of a first aid
situation, I'm going to nominate myself to provide the, be your first aid provider. Hopefully we don't get to know each other any better.
But if that is the case, I'm going to ask my partner here Jerry to call 911 and contact Metro Security
In the event of an active shooter or active attacker
I brought an insurance policy represented by our representatives for our Metro link contract the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Bureau
But we always do say in the event of active attacker run height fight and lastly to your question director Chafee
as it relates to the slide the situation is stable now we have proper protections in place for both our workers in the system and
For particulars I will turn it over to operations and to our CEO later to comment on that
Thank you. Are there any questions or comments from our board?
Seeing none. Thank you, sir for their safety briefing this time. I'd like to add tanned when if you would lead us a pledge
It would be my honor. Thank you
Please stand and face our great nation's flag and please recite the Pledge of Allegiance ready begin
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for all
Please be seated. Thank you
May we now have the roll call?
certainly
director Wapner
Vice chair chafee
Director Marquez
director Dutray
director new in here
director Murphy
second vice chair Burkson
director Spiegel present
director Middleton
director Vargas
director Tremblay
director Chavez
director Barger
director Krekorian
director Najarian
director Solis
director Hughes Leslie
Director O'Connor
director Allen
director Presiado
chair McCallan
We do have a quorum present
Thank you
We now have public comment. Madam chair. Do we have any public commenters?
We do not have any requests to speak
I did receive a written public comment from Paul Dyson with a map
Related to his comments from our last meeting that I will be emailing to the board after the meeting
Thank you with that. I will not read the usual instructions regarding public comments
Instead we're going to go right on to our consent calendar, which is items 12a through 12 point L
I believe
Do we have any request to pull an item from our board?
Are there any members the public would like to have an item heard separately?
Seeing none may have a motion to improve the consent calendar
The second okay, we have a motion and a second. Are there any abstentions?
Are there any objections?
Motion carries unanimously now. We're going to be taking things out of order mr. Del Rio. Would you please?
Advise this on a closed session item
Thank you chair. The board will now go into closed session on a lot item 11 a as described in today's agenda
Conference with labor negotiator pursuant to government code section five four nine five seven dot six. Thank you
We'll now adjourn to the
Close session room and we'll be back after we finish that
Close session to do the rest of our agenda
We return for closed session. I'm going to call the meeting back to order mr. Del Rio. Do we have anything to report out?
Thank you chair based on the board's discussions related to the negotiation with the ATU
The board is prepared to consider item 7a on today's agenda. Thank you
This is the successor collective bargaining agreement with the amalgamated transit union local
1277 be presented by Alyssa de Caspares
Get your name right our chief people officer
I am here happily to present to you that
Metrolink and ATU have come to a successor collective
bargaining agreement with ATU's Local 1277.
Gives you some of the terms and conditions
that we came up with.
So highlights.
Next slide, please.
So we began negotiating on November 4th, 2022.
Our initial CBA actually ended on December 31st, 2022.
I'm sorry.
So negotiations began November 4th, 2022.
The proposed duration that we came to was three and a half years.
So it's going to go now from January 1st, 2023 till June 30th, 2026,
which aligns with our fiscal, our annual fiscal year in terms of financials.
We reached a settlement agreement April 4th, 2023 after 20 bargaining
sessions and exactly five months.
Co-Chief Negotiators or myself,
Yerma Rodriguez of Atkinson-Ansleson,
Loya, Rod, and Romel.
And we have 47 members in this ATU classification
that includes train dispatchers,
supervising dispatcher operations,
senior customer relations representatives,
and customer relations representatives.
We did change the titles of the train dispatcher
to the rail train controller,
and we change the title of the supervisor dispatching operations
to the rail train coordinators.
Next slide, please.
So a wage and benefit agreement retroactive, retroactivity until March 5th,
2023, a three and a half percent increase, July 1st, 2023, a three and a half percent increase,
July 1st, 2024, 4% increase, and July 1st, 2025, 4% increase,
which will go through June 30th, 2026.
The employees are now going to pay 12.5%
of the medical benefit premium costs,
which is what the rest of the agency is paying.
We did add, excuse me,
Cesar Chavez and Juneteenth
as two additional paid holidays.
And we did add critical stress days for our employees
who are directly involved in a critical incident.
For example, something that happens at LA US
where our staff either visualize it
or are negatively impacted by it.
And we thought that was very important
to make sure that our employees are safe
and they feel supported by us.
Next slide please.
And as I stated earlier, we have the title changes
of the train dispatcher to rail traffic controller
and the supervisor to rail traffic coordinator.
We did remove something called off-assignment differential.
Off-assignment differential was a part of the contract
that provided for additional pay for things
such as changing the person's day of work,
changing the person's hours, the employee's hours,
so instead of coming from seven to four,
we would ask them to come in from nine to five,
and they would get paid a differential.
We changed that, and we now have daily and weekly overtime.
So daily overtime would be over eight hours or 10 hours,
depending on the schedule,
and weekly is, as you know by the federal standards,
over 40 hours.
We adopted an attendance and tardiness policy
for our ATU represented employees.
It's based on a point system
and it also has a separate disciplinary system,
not our regular disciplinary system,
but it's got a separate step in discipline.
And we have a quarterly joint labor management committee
for to enhance collaborative labor relations.
That's something that I have done before
and it actually creates a much better environment
with the employer and the employer union.
Next slide please.
So our costing chart is here.
The total increase with compounding is 16.56%.
You can see across the board what the annual salaries are,
what the dollar increases and what the percent increases.
Next slide please.
Other economic proposals, we, as you can see,
we did the medical premium.
I'll be paying 12 and a half percent as everybody else.
The critical incident stress days, that's new.
We did it, we, when we costed it,
we did it as though everybody was going to get one.
So that's where you'll see that costing
and the two additional holidays.
We went from 10 to 12 just as the rest of the agency.
Next slide, please.
So we are recommending that the board approve
the ATU 1277 Metroland contract
for the period of January 1st, 2023
through January 30th, 2026.
Next slide, please.
If you have any questions, I will attempt to answer them.
Are there any questions from any board member?
I see none.
I'd like to thank you for the outstanding job
and also your counterparts on the union side.
Everyone had to come together and agree.
So now maybe you'll get more sleep
after the last session taking you to 3 AM.
I'm over the weekends.
All right, if we may have a motion.
I'll second it, Parker.
Moved and seconded, any dissent?
Any abstaining, seeing none, motion carries unanimously.
It's a happy day to get this done, so thank you.
Thank you, I just wanna let you all know
and let the attendees in the audience know
that we will have copies of the CBA outside on the table.
We'll put them out now.
Okay, thank you.
Now we have a receiving file item.
It's an update on cooperative planning initiatives
between Skira and Desert Express Enterprises.
It's a Nevada limited lively company
doing business as Brightline West.
I have Roderick Diaz, our director of planning
and development will make the presentation.
So Mr. Chair, if I could real quickly,
as Roderick comes to the podium,
as does Bright Line West's Sarah Watterson.
This has been placed on the agenda
at the request of Chair McAllen.
He is very engaged in watching
what's happening with Bright Line.
He shared with me his disappointment
in not being able to be here today
to be part of this presentation,
but we have been working quite closely with Bright Line West.
As you with those boards are aware,
we have a memorandum of understanding
on a number of areas where we're working
to bring the systems together.
I will not steal any more thunder
from Roderick or from Sarah.
So with that, Roderick, are you the first up?
Sarah's the first up.
Okay, so very good.
So thank you so much for having me here today.
I've met with many of you before,
and just, I guess, first off,
wanna thank you so much for your continued support
for our project, and you know, what I'm gonna share,
we wouldn't be able to come half of the way
that we've come so far if it wasn't for your support
from MetroLink and the many other areas that you represent.
Thought it'd be fun to start off with a video.
It's Friday after all, I think, as Frank said before.
So we'll start with a video and then just a few comments
for me and then Roderick will share a little bit about,
at our Ranch Cucamonga station,
there's a seamless coordination between our station
and the Ranch Cucamonga MetroLink station
and we'll show you some designs and flow
and happy to answer any questions.
Around the world, the most important cities
are connected by modern high-speed passenger rail. But in America, we lagged behind. Since
the 1950s, we built our prosperity on Eisenhower's interstate system, fueled by cheap gas and
our love of Detroit's finest. Today, we've reached the end of the road, backed up, behind,
and looking for an alternate route. America needs to build a better way to get there.
We have a huge opportunity here to provide fast, safe, reliable, clean transportation
in this country.
And like the rest of our infrastructure, we're way behind the rest of the world right now.
We need to remember, we're in competition with the rest of the world.
Introducing Brightline West, America's first true high-speed rail project.
Brightline West, in partnership with the Nevada and California Departments of Transportation,
will reset the global standard for high-speed train travel in America, connecting two of
the country's most vibrant regions, Las Vegas and Southern California.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a state-of-the-art high-speed rail system,
the first of its kind in the West.
This modern eco-friendly high-speed rail network will strengthen our economy, create new opportunities
for everyone and reinforce American competitiveness to rival the best of Europe and Asia, laying
the foundation for the greenest form of transportation in the world.
Having Bright Line West come to California is going to help jump start us in achieving
our zero emission vehicle goals.
Today, about 50 million annual trips occur between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
85% of them by car, a trip which is unpredictable, unreliable, and challenged by congestion.
Flying too is inefficient, expensive, and filled with delays.
Brightline West is based around the company's first system built in Florida, which launched
in 2018 connecting Orlando to Miami.
Both systems will transform how we think about our nation's infrastructure, using existing
roadways for high-speed rail.
West is engineered to utilize the middle of the existing I-15 freeway giving new life
and value to one of our most traveled and critical highways and creating the model that
can be replicated across other city fairs that are too short to fly and too far to drive.
After having ridden Brightline in Florida, you're excited to have Brightline West come
to California.
The experience starts at one of our new multi-modal stations and continues as you board the fully
electric trains packed with innovations and amenities that bring comfort, convenience
and safety to every journey. Riding in American made trains that can hit speeds of 200 miles
per hour, passengers will glide past traffic jams and enjoy the dramatic landscapes, arriving
refreshed and ready at their final destination. Years in the making, the time has come to
stop dreaming and start building. After 17 years of study and approval, engineering and design,
and learning from the heralded proof of concept operating in Florida today, the moment to act
is now. A comprehensive environmental approval process is nearly complete. Next generation trains
and stations conceived through the lens of today's traveler are ready and will be American made.
smart, efficient systems have been engineered and a skilled union workforce stands ready to deliver.
Today proudly showcasing American ingenuity and resources, Brightline West is shovel ready. Set
to break ground in 2023 to tackle one of our country's greatest infrastructure challenges.
Tomorrow, travel will be safer, faster, greener, and more enjoyable. We have to do more than just
build back, we have to build back better. And today we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity
to make investments that can help America get back on track.
The landscape of transportation is changing through this unique public-private partnership
and supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Nevada Department of Transportation
and Brightline West will lead the high-speed rail revolution in the U.S., transforming
the travel experience, producing fire-reaching environmental benefits, creating thousands
of jobs, and stimulating billions of dollars in economic activity.
We are Brightline.
And together, we are building America a better way to get there.
This was a little long video, but I think it gives a good color on who we are.
Again, I've met with a lot of you before and given you a chance, given you an overview
of Brightland, Florida and a little bit of what we're building here.
And so I'll be brief two minutes, I promise, and then turn it to Roderick.
But I just wanted to share the progress that we've made, our system today, in terms of
the stations that we're building to and then what it means, I think, for everyone in this
room and others.
So our system is 218 miles between Ranch Cucamonga and Las Vegas in terms of what we're building.
And then it's about a 40-mile connection from the Ranch Cucamonga station to the Union
station on the San Bernardino line. As you saw in the video, it's a massive travel market
and only growing. And, you know, because of cost and emissions and just sheer, you know,
physical boundaries, you know, I-15 can't be expanded to, you know, meet all the traffic
demands along the way. And so, you know, introducing a train is, you know, one of,
you know, the biggest way is to solve that. We take, in our travel, about 20% of the I-15
off the road, in terms of our ridership.
Our trains will be true high-speed trains,
186 miles or higher, all capable of going 200 miles an hour.
And so, you know, really, in tying to the other systems
that you can see on the map, with stations in Victor Valley,
a local rail station in Hesperia that will only serve
between Hesperia and Ranch Cucamonga station,
and then the Ranch Cucamonga kind of, you know,
flagship terminal station, we're able to connect
into both local transit as well as the high desert corridor connecting it to
Palmdale which will ultimately connect into California high-speed rail as well.
With that like we have the high-speed rail system of the West like we've
brought all our systems together and really created it and you know I believe
that with the you know speed at which we're able to start in 2023 we're able
to jumpstart that as a demonstration project the proof of concept that will
help you know spur the connection to these other projects as well. Our
Our companies invested $600 million since getting involved in this in 2019.
So in a very short amount of time we've worked with our partners, NDOT, Caltrans, Bureau
of Land Management, City of Ranch Cucamonga, SBCTA to acquire all of the critical station
land and alignment right of way.
We are working with the Federal Railroad Administration and 10 other, 10 plus other federal and tribal
partners on our permits and environmental approvals, which I'd say is the ninth inning
FRA is July 15th as the end date for that.
And then our team, led by my colleague Adrian,
really on engineering and pre-construction planning,
he actually spearheaded our system in Florida
and all the engineering for our Brightline Florida.
You know, we're well advanced and ready to begin work
by the end of the year.
So as part of this, it is a $12 billion project.
It's about $55 million a mile,
very in line with other high-speed rail systems
around the world.
It sounds like a big number, but it's a big project.
218 miles of infrastructure, civil work, structures, trains, track, overhead catenary system,
you name it, power connections, and it's really covering everything for those 218 miles.
The bulk of that will be paid by private funds, about 70% of that will be paid by private
funds, but we've recently, as of last week, applied for a portion of the Infrastructure
investment in jobs act through the fed state partnership fund alongside the state of Nevada.
And so state of California applying for projects like high desert corridor and California high
speed rail we're going to apply with Nevada for our project which is I think a bigger
boon because state of Nevada will get money that actually will benefit the state of California
too which is pretty cool.
With those things coming together we hope to break around at the end of this year.
We would start on certain packages and expand through there and that would let us get open
before June of 2028, which is right ahead of the LA Olympics.
And so, you know, we're pushing timing, you know,
very closely in terms of, you know,
really asking a lot for many people.
And, you know, we appreciate it.
But it's because we want to meet this deadline.
It's really important.
I think, you know, I know you guys are all working very hard
of, you know, been in D.C. of, you know, really pushing
for transit in California, especially southern California,
to be great ahead of the Olympics.
And we think we could be a big part of that.
just a few things and I'll turn it over to Roderick,
but the video touched on a few of, I think, our benefits.
If I were to hit on our, what I think are the kind of
largest three and group them, but the first one is,
we've signed agreements with California, Nevada
building trades and 13 operating rail unions.
So all of the major kind of operating rail unions
that we will be a union start to finish job,
both in constructions and operations.
With that, our goal is really, we have a project in Florida,
we have a project here, we hope this is the start
of many other city pairs in the country
and can really create a high speed rail industry in America
for making trains and for making different parts
that belong to the trains as well.
Of that, right now, just including kind of what's there
to date, 95% of our project will be sourced
and built in the US and among a smaller number
of manufacturers and we hope that number
can expand over time.
Our train system is fully electric,
emission-free, powered through power by Southern Cal Edison.
We're working with them.
They're about 60% emission-free right now.
Goals of getting to 100% emission-free ahead of 2045.
We're actually gonna work with them on pilot projects
so that we can get even more emission-free before that.
And so it is as green as it gets in terms of transportation
and will result in about 400,000 tons of CO2
out of the air each year,
which is the equivalent of three million cars
and 16,000 short-haul flights,
not driven or not flown.
So really, a big boon.
I would also say, and it is like,
NDOT and Caltrans do a tremendous amount of work
to make I-15 as safe as it possibly can be.
But because of its rural location,
because of the topography, it's hard.
And so getting people off the road,
naturally results in a large reduction
in highway-related deaths and injuries
in terms of less traffic, less movement on there.
And so we're projected to reduce by about 75 deaths
and serious injuries per year, which I'd like it to be even
more, but it's phenomenal.
Like, one would be a phenomenal number.
And then the last thing I would say is, again, our hope is,
we as the West have the first true high speed rail system
connected amongst ourselves, California High Speed Rail,
High Desert Corridor, to really create
what I think the rest of the country will then look to
as a proof of concept, and we hope to be
the demonstration project to be able to do that
and get a lot of this off the ground.
So with that, I'm happy to actually,
if there's any questions on Bright Lane West
before we jump to the Ranch Cucamonga station,
I'm happy to answer anything ahead of time.
Sir, why don't we go ahead and have Roderick
say a few words on our side and then open it to the board.
My lot.
I'll just quickly run through the areas of coordination
that we've been undertaking over the last few months.
As you know, this is a significant system,
so I'll walk through our schedule alignment,
project development, and station design and circulation.
First is schedule alignment.
We are now on a path to have aligned schedules
with Brightline West.
So originally, we were at, when trained, an hour,
where Metrolink on the San Bernardino line.
If we kind of look at the ideal connection time to Brightline West, they were at 45 minutes.
And so the 30, 60 minutes is offset for 45 minutes.
That means the best connection is not achieved.
With alignment of schedules, we achieve the ideal connection for all trains and all arrivals.
So San Bernardino Line train, each San Bernardino Line train meets a Bright Line West train.
That sanctity of the connection is achieved even when frequencies are doubled
to both trains at 30 minutes.
So the achievement of an aligned schedule is quite a significant one.
Next, Sarah alluded to this, they applied for Bright Line Federal-State Partnership
just last Friday and hope to break around by the end of the year.
Just to look at the pedestrian platform and underpass and access, we've been working
with Brightline West and the design of the station to facilitate flows between Brightline
West and the Ranch San Bernardino line at Rancho Cucamonga.
This is a view somewhat toward the southwest of you looking at the Metrolink line and Bright
Lane west just above it to the south with the parking garage below.
This is the planned view of the connection.
As you can see, all of the connection is focused on an main entry area noted in red.
The main flow of pedestrians and passengers follows a diagonal axis governed by the existing
underpass underneath the station to the north platform.
The north platform is headed to Los Angeles, the south platform is headed to San Bernardino.
So the main pedestrian flows to eastbound traffic are shown in the arrows and toward
Los Angeles similar flow and just show you some views of the station. Here's the
flow through the mentor link platforms, the bus, a lower perspective, a view from
the platform back toward the entryway and the view toward the Bright Line
station above. Coming up in the next few months we'll be talking more about more
detailed schedule coordination, the transfer process at Rancho Cucamonga, what the baggage
requirements are for loading and unloading baggage if it's going to be checked, and vehicle
fleet planning is especially related to interior features.
Are there any questions or board members?
Yes, please go ahead.
I have a couple.
No specific order.
One was when you're talking about the partnerships with all the rails, absolutely needed.
My concern is when we're talking about taking 3 million cars off the road, that's a good
thing.
But when you talk about the less short flights, have we had discussions with the airlines
to make sure that there's not controversy there?
It's a negligible amount of airline flights.
And so it's actually in both airports, as you guys know here, too.
region capacities and so you know the it's like less than ten percent of the
actual flights that were taking out of airlines it's predominantly people off
the road as you can see by the three million cars but it is a negligible
amount of airlines just in terms of you know they're typically with airline
riders they have more price choice and so you know that they will choose purely
based in that moment on what is most convenient to them versus a rider who's
looking for utility, price, convenience, time, and schedules a little bit more ahead of time.
And then I'm trying to figure out when you start about the line, the schedules or the
number of stops, the bright line won't have as many stops, correct?
Or you...
It's not the number.
It's the number of trains.
So we originally were riding 45-minute headways, so every 45-minute a train would leave both
Rancho Cucamonga in Las Vegas and keep going in that direction.
We changed when we started working with Metrolink, and honestly, other systems within California.
Typically California systems work on hourly headways, and so we actually changed our headways
to be 60 minutes.
So we'll run about 35 trains a day, 17 in one direction, 18 in the other.
So that is 17 trains we'll meet up with Metrolink trains one way, 18 in the other.
Wow.
That's a lot.
My last question is, is watching that film, I mean, I kind of know the answer, but just
a little concerning on the support from California when the Governor's not in that film. I know
that Fiona Mall was, but it just is alarming, and I know that we kind of talked over here
because it's a competition with the other, the other train, but is that going to be a
challenge?
No, and I don't think there's a lack of support. I mean, there was a press release where Governor
Newsom actually spoke on behalf of not only the train, but we're participating in three
wildlife overpasses, you know, just in addition to the project, honestly, in the high desert
corridor and he gave a quote both in support of Brightline and the wildlife overpasses.
It's natural.
We want, I mean, we want California to get money for California High Speed Rail and other
projects and then, you know, you also want this to get built and so, you know, we actually
work together to decide and talked for a while when this, when the IAGA first came out, what
That is the most efficient way to do that.
The Governor Lombardo who spoke in there too, he recently was elected in November and it's
incredibly impactful for Nevada.
It made a lot of sense to apply with them as a partner.
I totally agree in partnerships.
The most successful projects are done in partnerships.
I have no question.
I'm just saying it was just for me, and I don't know if anybody else caught it, it was
kind of obvious when our governor wasn't in the video.
If you're really pushing something that's done by the two states, I don't know, maybe
I just made a bigger deal.
I don't think it's for lack of support.
Treasurer Ma was the first person who reached out.
She is our day one supporter.
So I wouldn't necessarily say it's for lack of support.
It's because she was day one when we came on to this project.
She came to visit Florida.
She really put the time in to make sure that it was a viable company, it was a viable project,
and she deserves, as we do break around, she deserves a lot of credit for that.
I'm just saying it's just usually when you do that you have the same positions talking
about support.
I'm just saying appearance that's all I'm saying so.
If I could just real quickly chime in I think you know obviously this is a video that's
describing what Brightline West is doing.
The Brightline West has agreements with the state of California for the use of the right
away that were all negotiated and approved by the current administration.
The fact that the governor's not included in the video,
but Secretary David Kim at the time,
who, again, was appointed by this governor,
was the negotiator.
There has been steady administration support.
Again, the nature of the video, notwithstanding,
I think this administration has generally
supported the effort to the point
where they've provided the right away on the I-15 corridor.
And in coordination with the Fed-State Partnership Grant,
we submitted letters with over 200 signatures.
Most of them were from California
and from state agencies with appointed relationships
with the governor or the governor.
You know what I mean?
So it was, there was a lot of support
throughout the entire thing for that.
I hear what you're saying in the video,
but I wouldn't look too far into it, I guess.
But if I noticed it, I just,
if you have to explain something,
you should look at the reason you have to explain it.
So if I'm thinking that, and I know these things,
and I'm having the opportunity to hear it,
but I don't know where the video's being used.
That's just a point.
Thank you, Director Spill, Director Marquez.
Yeah, so I'll tell you the way it runs in Florida today,
and it'll run pretty darn similarly here.
So it is not as much security as you'd see in an airport,
but there are magnetic detectors.
There's an area where you put your baggage through,
check baggage, get screened.
So there are limitations.
don't allow firearms and things of that nature,
so things are screened for size of bag,
prohibited items and things of that nature
before you walk in.
However, it's not, in terms of thinking about
the timed connection to Metrolink,
we think about 15 minutes or less,
including like a trip to the bathroom,
is more than enough in terms of a time connection
with Metrolink.
Sure, so I would just say probably in a number of different
ways, there's the Wildlife Overpasses Project
that I mentioned before, we're also working with them
on the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative
in terms of we have fiber that runs
through all 218 miles of train.
A lot of it through more rural areas
in San Bernardino County where there isn't access
to fiber today.
And so our team is working with the state of California
to actually run fiber for California's use
in terms of reaching a lot of those rural communities
to just increase our trenches a little
versus having to do it, you know,
themselves through a different trench
and be able to add that as addition to our project.
Director Wapner.
Thank you.
I have a question and then some comments.
as far as timing between transferring on the trains is this going to delay excuse
me the metro link trains waiting for folks to get off Brightline and again on
ours particular connections the act of connecting to the San Bernardino line and the timing of the trains does not affect it however the way the luggage is
So it is going to impact at least the amount of trains or the headways that we have on
the San Bernardino line, because the time has to come from somewhere, right?
I've never seen anyone get off a train, get on another train in a minute, but we'll see
what happens.
if you comment if you don't mind.
Yuck, uh-huh.
We're not amending our schedule to meet your schedule.
It's not the other way around.
And that's what has been the MOUs,
just so you guys know, too.
We are amending our schedule to meet your schedule.
It will not be the other way around.
We're a single user system, so we
can change our system more regularly and more readily
than you guys can.
We have not sorted out baggage yet,
so I won't necessarily mention that.
But in terms of even what the MOU says,
we're not looking to change your timetables.
We'll amend ours to meet yours.
Thank you.
Yeah, I just want to say this.
SPCTA is obviously very supportive for a few reasons.
One, it's probably going to eliminate the money
we're going to have to put into adding capacity to the 15,
especially through the past.
It's going to save us a lot of money there.
Secondly, we're going to be able to,
and we didn't mention, no one mentioned this.
There's going to be a tunnel
between the Cook Among Us station and our airport,
which means there'll be a direct connector
between Vegas, LA, and our airport,
which we're very, very happy about,
and SBCTA is moving forward with constructing that.
But the thing I want to say about Brightline is this,
is that we started working with Brightline many years ago.
I had an opportunity to visit Miami,
and I don't know if you'll agree, sir,
but the way I describe Brightline is it's a development
company that also runs a railroad,
not a railroad that runs a development company.
If you go down there, the development's
this incredible Class A office, retail,
apartments, all that kind of stuff,
and that's certainly what we want to bring here.
has a huge economic impact.
The Rancho Cucamonga Station is owned equally
between SBCTA and Cucamonga.
And the development we're gonna be able to use
with that flat parking right now,
it's just gonna be incredible.
So again, it's gonna be a huge economic development
as well as a mode of transportation.
Thank you, Director Whopper.
See a light on down here?
Go ahead.
One, is this a single track
or a double track that you're building?
Single track with passing sidings.
So there's 30 plus miles of passing sidings along the way
and the rest is single track.
No, no, there's turnouts at each of these passing sidings.
So it's common in European high speed systems
where there's nodes basically on the track
that allow at all times to know where every train is
so that the passing sidings can allow.
They're long, each passing siding is 10 plus miles.
So they're very long and it allows for time to pass.
and again, we're only doing hourly headways,
so it's not like we're running 30-minute headways
with double track, so it's normal in other systems.
So I can tell you there are multiple times a year
at my city that we're getting shut off of.
There's PS events.
We're working, yeah, no.
We have more schedules as well.
It's something we focus on very closely, by the way.
We would be critical infrastructure.
So we would be a critical piece of infrastructure.
It's a life safety.
If you have people on a train,
we're obviously working really hard to make sure
trains, if there ever was an incident, can handle power and AC for long periods of time
to leave people there, but it's a piece of critical infrastructure with 400 plus people
on each train, and so they have special provisions for that.
I would also say that in terms of we also look at fire hazards and things like that.
In our area where we're running trains with them, they have never had an outage in any
part of the recent past, and Adrian can attest this.
I ask them this every single month, so I'm on top of this, but they've also been really
They've been you know, good partners in helping us plan this so far because it is reaching a new territory for them
Yeah, so
Obviously, it won't open till 2028. So what we've looked and we've had feasibility studies run
It's about $90 each way for an average ticket and when you compare that actually to gas
parking especially in Vegas
It's it's basically in line with driving 90 90 each way
Yeah, no, I it's a
Yeah, if you obviously there will be variable times on peaking weekend you there's there's a what we call like a
Smart class and a like a premium class and so there's different prices between that but that's what ridership studies have focused it on now
Director larger. Thank you. And thank you Sarah. It's good to see you and you know to your point
director Spiegel
California very much is engaged because in fact Brightline
Supported an application that we did for a successful is it T T. I R CP
Yeah, yeah for the design and and then they're helping us with an application for the rail quarter program
But the state did fund our requests for that TCRP TP ABC
We got the full funding and so the state is very very engaged on this
This rail project and so I'm excited, but I really do appreciate
The update and I look forward to when you're gonna break ground
Yep, thank you. Thank you director barter and duet turn went. Yes. Thank you, chairman
Great presentation my first time watching the video very inspiring
It made me very proud to be an American and the potential for this
I wanted to just hearing all the questions and answers. I got a lot of background on this project
One question I had is how is this going to be different from the Florida one in terms obviously that that's that's the similar
The similarities you talked about but maybe you can elaborate on what the differences are what will make this new or better
More from lessons learned on the Florida project
Environmental so in Florida
We will start with so Florida we used biodiesel trains, but they were not fully electric. They were not emission free
As a derivative of that they also are not true high speed so trains in Florida are getting tested at 130 miles an hour
And we'll usually go they'll hit top speeds about 125 miles an hour again
These will hit top speeds of 186 miles an hour be capable of going even more than that those rights
They are the two biggest ones the other thing which is really important and you know more of like a nerdy thing
But not to be overlooked
There's 300 plus grade crossings in Florida because we built in the right-of-way where a system had been built in the 1890s
originally and so not only can that not allow you to hit top speeds of, you know, 186 like
we're doing here, but it also is, you know, it presents more safety parameters that you
have to worry about. Here, this will be a fully barrier protected single-user corridor
and you know, it's, you know, as you guys know from Metrolink, having accurate crossings
is tough and so having no accurate crossings for this entire system is a really big boon.
I would then say the last thing is the experience.
We, I'm very proud of what was built in Florida,
super proud for those of you who have visited.
Like, you know, it's an enjoyable experience.
People have a lot of memories when they leave it.
This will be our 2.0.
So we're getting to add, you know, new bells and whistles
given the destinations that we're going to
that I think will be pretty cool.
I'd ask if directors have any more questions.
Otherwise, I'd like to thank you for a great presentation.
I think you can see there's a lot of excitement
among our board here.
It's fun.
It's like it's so good.
More to ribbon cutting.
Yeah.
Can I just say to Director Wapner, when you're going to Vegas, one minute is nothing.
You just get in and out.
So believe me, they may even leave their luggage behind.
Yeah, that's right.
Words of wisdom.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
This is a receive and file item.
There's no action being taken.
So we'll move on to our next presentation, which is another receive and file item.
status Olympic Games 2028 preparation and coordination. Again, Roderick. Thank you,
chair and members of the board. I'm here to discuss our cooperation with Planning
for the Southern California Olympics 2028. As we indicated in our last meeting,
it's really a partnership of at least five agencies called an agglomeration
called the Games Management Executives. We meet at least once a month at the CEO
level and at the staff level. We had a vision that we marked out earlier on
that indicated a goal, a target goal of 30-minute service on our trains for
those segments that served venues and hourly service for those segments that
did not serve venues. An interesting development is that as of last month,
the venue of Lake Paris for rowing and canoeing has been replaced by Long Beach
Memorial Long Beach course in Alameda Bay, so that removes the necessity to
have 30-minute service all day to Lake Paris and focuses on four corridors to
Ventura County, Santa Clarita, San Bernardino, and Orange County. That
suggests that most of the score development in phase one of the score
program will achieve the Olympics vision in terms of service.
However, there is a big gap in terms of necessity of equipment and trains and maintenance facilities
to support that level of service.
The network is advancing, but the fleet is not yet.
The fleet need is significant.
close to $710 million, which includes both rehabilitation of existing cars,
rehabilitation of existing locomotives, adjustments to maintenance facilities,
and new fleet associated with expansion of service. We're still finalizing some
projections with LA-28 in other activities. We're looking to finalize the
events program, games route network, worker accommodation, visitor estimates, and special
events and transportation demand management.
As the announcement of the change in venue last month shows that we just need to be nimble
as an organization to respond to these changes.
The biggest challenge, as I mentioned, is fleet readiness.
We still need to rehabilitate 15 locomotives for which we applied for a recent grant to
the RAISE program with FTA. We still need to rehabilitate 71 cars and acquire 13 new
trains. It is getting close to the end of the window when the purchase of new trains
would make it in time for the Olympic period. So we are exploring different other options,
such as purchase of retired vehicles or borrowing vehicles from other entities. We're entering
into conversations with Caltrain coming up soon.
So, that is my update in terms of our coordination
with LA 28 and you're happy to answer any questions.
Any questions from any director?
Yes, Director Marquez.
In order to purchase new equipment, you probably need
to enter into those types of decisions within the next year because both development of
the specification and response of the vendor community would take about four to five years.
So we're running up against that limit. For borrowing of equipment, that time period would
be much lower. I need to get back as far as the timeframe goes. I imagine it might be
just a few years. Director Spiegel.
Same focus that Mr. Marquez is and that is because I just know what we went through on
tier four getting those locomotives in was a very long time. So I would be concerned.
Could there be consideration of reducing trains in other areas in our system, which I hope
not.
I'm not advocating for that by any means because we will hear about it lifetime versus short
time for an Olympic, so are there any other outside the box thinking that we're looking
at?
Certainly everything's on the table.
However, we do want to maintain that we are a functioning railroad that has value for
people in all parts of the network, and we need to kind of keep that in mind as one variable
in that thought process.
Thank you.
I just want to make sure the integrity of our system is kept, not just thrown into the
Olympics, which the hype can do it, so I just want us to be very conscious of that, so thank
you.
Dr. Tremblay?
Thanks, Roderick, for a good presentation.
I want to explore a little bit more.
Could you expand on what the effort and cost would be and any impediments relative to,
for example, procuring cars from Caltrain or another provider?
I just want to know a little bit more about that and how could you paint a little broader picture
of that, particularly from a costing standpoint?
We're barely at the beginning stages of that exploration,
so I hesitate to kind of indicate any concrete costs.
Real quick, I'll chime in on that remark.
So just so the boards where Caltrain,
which is our sister agency to the north, runs the peninsula,
they are completely upgrading their fleet
to an electrified fleet.
So they are going to have a significant amount
of surplus equipment over the course of the next several years
because they will be electrified fully within two or three.
So we do have a neighbor that has conventional equipment
that can be available.
We're already in conversations on that.
So I think that that'll certainly be a place we can go
if we're not able to get the 13 train sets
that Radhuk was speaking to.
They also have locomotives and as do several
of our other sister agencies.
Caltrain is probably going to be our best bet and that is
because they are going to, they are electrifying for all intents
and purposes their whole system with the exception
of the last couple of miles, last I think 10,
20 miles that gets them down to Gilroy.
But generally speaking, they're going
to be running an electrified system.
So they will have a significant amount of surplus equipment
that we can lease, borrow, however we
might approach an arrangement for that period of time
if that's where we get.
So that is some positive.
It's going to be difficult to find it from elsewhere
throughout the country because commuter railroads generally
run very lean.
We don't have high spare ratios.
If someone were to ask, come to us and say,
hey, can we borrow some equipment, we would,
sorry, we can't help you.
We have the benefit in Caltrain that we
may have that opportunity.
Just as a follow-up editorial comment,
and I appreciate that, Darren.
I think, particularly since we're getting
near the end of the window, we have about a year,
I certainly, and we may end up going to alternatives.
It sounds like perhaps a Caltrain's alternative
is appropriate.
I'd certainly like to see something
in the next six months or so that would be a matrix
that would say, all right, pros and cons.
Here are the costing elements.
Here are impediments, if any, relative to these alternatives and have a presentation
on that so we know where we're going.
I mean, I can see some upsides to going this route and taking those cars on a temporary
basis and then returning them, but I'd sure like to know everything that goes into that.
So if I could ask, I guess my request would be to come back at some point in the near
future as appropriate, you know, six months to go, however the timing is appropriate and
give us that matrix and say here's where we're going in order to satisfy these requirements.
Yeah, Director Tremillier, I think you're reading the mind of Chair McCallin who's asked
for us every six-month update on this item, so we will add that.
He has a much greater mind than I do, so I've never been able to read it, but okay.
I'm glad to know we're aligned on that.
We're aligned.
Yes, sir.
Director Bergson?
I think the rental of equipment is only great for that.
These quicker services, we're going to need more things.
So we should be looking at two things.
One, obviously bring back.
Secondly, incorporating the SCORE program.
How is that, you know, it's a $10 billion program.
I don't recall exactly how many billions
you might be into it at this point.
Ensure that we continue a basis to people
that can give us those funds,
and then decide if we're going to be investing
people, local motors, in addition to the other capital and
payment projects that that is supposed to fund.
So I mean, there's things that I think are still a far cry
out that we can kind of hone in on.
But we really should start kind of focusing.
Just a few weeks ago, myself and several of the other
members of the Games Mobility Executives were in Washington
meeting with USDOT, making exactly that point.
In particular, as it spoke to those 13 additional
train sets, because one of the things we hope is that we create a legacy out of any investment
that we get from the USDOT or from Sacramento for that matter, and I actually, I, Director
Brooks and I, I spoke to that point that on the San Bernardino line with Brightline, if
we have those 13 train sets and we're running trains every 30 minutes at that peak, we're
going to need that equipment that's going to have a legacy not just for the Olympics
but long into the future.
So we see that as an opportunity.
We continue to make that point.
Sarah Watterson has left, but she shared with me.
Oh, no, she hasn't.
She said, OK.
She's just hiding in the corner.
She shared with me that she made a pitch for Metrolink
for that exact purpose on the additional train sets,
because we do see that level of opportunity
should those trains be available.
You make a good point, these 13 trains are not just for the Olympics effort, they in
fact would supply the trains necessary to fulfill this score phase one service level.
I can just follow my comment up then on that is the only problem I see with that is at
some point even those trains are not going to be allowed to be, you know, with the gear
toward electrification or alternative fuels,
they'll still be short-lived, so if we could capitalize
on the Olympics and use pressure to the government
to give us something that they could have a gift bill for,
even if it's colored under the skies of the Olympics,
that we could continue to keep those onsite
and use those for decades to come,
grabbing what we can as much as we can.
Dr. Tremblay?
Just one follow up comment.
I want to clarify that my request or my ask regarding
costing includes not just capital costing, but operational.
And moving forward operationally,
particularly if we're going to end up utilizing
those additional train sets out of the future
because we certainly have those challenges
from an operational standpoint.
So I'd like to see something that's
relatively comprehensive.
And I know it's a little bit of crystal balling,
but that's what we do, right?
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
Are there any further questions?
It's an exciting time, bringing the Olympics here,
and it's a challenge moving what may be
a million people a day to the venues.
So a lot of thought is going into that,
and it looks like there's some angles
that can give us some advantage for the future.
So thank directors for all your thoughts on that.
All right, this is a receiving file item.
And I'll move on to the Sustainability Initiatives
for our third quarter.
Good morning, Vice Chair, members of the board.
The CARB board meeting was yesterday,
and CARB staff presented the recent updates
to the regulations, including additional details
on the alternative compliance plan provision.
We are supportive of this ACP pathway option,
and our consultant provided public comments
at the meeting, conveying our support.
Many CARB board members expressed appreciation
for passenger rail and all of the collaboration
we did throughout the entire process.
And Director Krakoff, specifically think
MentorLink and CTA.
At the conclusion, the board did approve the plan.
As you're well aware, MentorLink today
operates the cleanest passenger rail locomotive fleet
in the state with our tier four fleet
and using 100% renewable diesel fuel.
And with the plan transition for the remaining fleet
to transition to tier four,
our projected emissions for PM and NOx
will be below the CARB regulatory limits through 2040.
Any rail agency that opts into this
alternative compliance pathway
would not be required to set aside funds
into a spending account.
And you may recall that during prior draft versions,
this would have created an extreme financial hardship
for Metrolink, requiring us to set aside
and hundreds of millions of dollars through 2050.
Next slide please.
Additional highlights I'd like to point out about the ACP.
Plans have a five year period
and we're in the process of drafting our ACP.
Our activity will cover in this first ACP
January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2029.
starting in January 1, 2030.
Passenger rail needs to purchase zero emission equipment,
but locomotive operators may purchase tier four
or cleaner equipment up until a deadline of December 31, 2029.
By December 1, 2027,
CARB will publish an assessment
of ZE locomotive availability,
as well as supportive infrastructure.
And should ZE locomotives not be readily available,
they will amend those regulations
and the time will be delayed
for a full implementation of ZE technology.
Then to reporting, operators will be required
to report annually on their activity
for the prior calendar year under an ACP.
And then what I'd like to point out
is that make the connections with our ACP plan.
And this pathway that we'll pursue is actually in line with our board approved climate action
plan.
And it follows the exact same transition that we set out for ourselves to get to zero emission
over two years ago.
But digging in further, a little bit to the technical details of the calculation, CARB
has established a formula that's shown here on the slide.
And to calculate the annual emissions threshold, it's based on inputs of PM and NOx emission
factors and locomotive uses in megawatt hours.
The inputs for our assumptions provide that we will replace the remaining Tier 2 fleet
with Tier 4 prior to the 2030 deadline, and our fuel use is based on the most conservative
assumptions and the levels of our highest historical consumption during 2019.
This graph shows the comparison of our NOx and PM reductions under a spending account
scenario, and it compares that to our emissions under an ACP.
We'll operate a Tier 4 fleet 100% by 2030, by 2029, the deadline.
And starting in 2040, when our oldest Tier 4 will age out, we will begin replacing those
with ZE locomotives.
And then under this ACP pathway,
our admission rates for NOx and PM will be much lower
than the CARB requirements through 2040.
So that concludes my report and update
on the CARB regulations.
I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
Any questions from any board member?
Director Tremblay.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
So I do have a few questions
because this topic came up in our committee meetings
and we wanted more specific information
on this alternative compliance plan.
So a couple of questions.
First of all, why did the five year period be selected?
It just seems awfully short.
That's a good point.
And I think CARB has designed this
because at this time they're making this regulation
that technology is not readily available,
what they're asking us to transition to.
And there's many unknowns.
So they feel it's easier to manage
a transition to zero emission and five-year blocks.
So it is at their request,
and that's what they've written into the regulation.
Well, this is probably, well, no, it is editorializing.
I have two concerns, and I'm really glad
that we have this ACP, and I salute our Chair McAllen
and everybody else who made this pathway possible.
But just two things.
One is, I would hate to see ourselves put in a situation
where we have an approved five-year plan
and then within the next 18 to 24 months,
we're immediately into the application process
for the next five-year cycle.
In other words, it's just like a rolling,
it's so short that once we find ourselves
having one approved five-year plan,
because it has to be approved, correct?
Correct, and let me add this,
that the deadline to submit your plan
is due to CARB six months prior to the commencement
of that next five-year period.
OK.
Yeah, so we do have a bit of time, right?
And the other is, and forgive me
because I'm drawing from a totally different background
as a sanitary district lawyer for public entities for 40 years,
the permit periods for wastewater
are typically five years for your what
are called the NPDES permits.
And what happens is you get your NPDES permit,
and then the regional board turns around and says, oh, well,
we have a whole host of new requirements
for you to meet and trying to meet your existing requirements require you to spend an awful
lot of money from a capital standpoint to satisfy things and then all of a sudden the
goal posts change or get added to and what my concern is is with this five-year plan
I would hate to see CARB turn around and say ah, you've got a new set of goal posts in
terms of emission requirements for you to meet in your next five-year iteration.
Is there any discussion relative to that concern when the ACP was being adopted?
Yes.
Understand that two, there is an annual reporting mechanism.
So every year we will be working with CARB, right?
So we're going to have this ongoing annual relationship where we're going to give them
our data, they're going to look at it, we're going to be always comparing it to our ACP.
So it's not something where it's, you know, five years and you put it in the file bin.
It's every year we're going to be working closely with them on that.
But sorry, what's the question?
I'm not too worried about our reporting to CARB.
I'm more worried about what CARB.
More concerned about what CARB may come back.
Yes.
I guess I would just close with this to say, you know, we should emphasize all of the investment
that we have done in each annual report and in each five-year iteration, because I would
I would hate to see the goalposts change.
And let me add this too.
That's why in Congress right now, by the way, there's a movement to put in PDS permits from
five years to 10 years, but this is a totally different policy area and I don't want to
get into that.
But know that, again, just to emphasize, we run the cleanest fleet in the state and through
the carb regulations, we're actually 200 tons on NOx lower than the carb requirements and
on PM we're eight tons lower.
are ready, we are way below their requirements and as you see how long it took for them to
put this regulation in place, it's going to be very difficult for them to, you know,
change it.
Right.
Well, they're always growing pains.
No.
They're always changes with every new regulation that comes in and it needs to be, you know,
it will evolve through time.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Director Spiegel.
And maybe I get this wrong, because obviously I had it wrong before you guys.
We have silos.
We're focusing now about the Olympics and getting the trains up and how we're going
to deal with that, and that's before 2029.
We were talking about having the Caltrain or whatever.
And now we're having where we have 15 tier two that we have to replace.
I'm hoping we're looking at the two things together to make sure we're not just focusing
on one, to get this business taken care of, and two, to get this business.
Absolutely. It's a very holistic view that we need to take about our future.
It's, you know, the trains we're running today, obviously we want to grow ridership.
We want it to go beyond 2019, and hopefully we need more trains, as well as the 28 Olympics,
as well as Brightline. All these things are coming together, and we have to have a macro
view on this, and that's why I'm in the Strategy Department, because that's how we're going
to strategically look at it.
So it made me wonder what are the Caltrain locomotives?
The existing Caltrain locomotives are going to be Tier 2s.
So as we borrow those, I don't think they have any Tier 4s.
And it might be a little older too, but they're older equipment.
Obviously we'll be running them on renewable diesel, but yes, we'll have to see what our
ridership and how long we would need to run those and that's why this all has to be looked
at from all these different issues coming in.
It's complicated and we have to look at it at a macro level.
No, I'm very glad to hear that quite often.
We don't do that and we've, many agencies, I'm involved in other ones
and we're trying to get to be more, like you called it, macro
because silos get us in trouble.
So I'm glad you're looking at the holistic of the big picture.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Any other comments from directors?
Seeing none, I'd like to thank you for your report.
You do have one quick addition.
I have one really fun thing for you to end.
OK, let's have the fun.
I'm really excited to introduce to you two of the six USC
students who will present the highlights of their research
project.
Next slide, please.
The study of how we in a hybrid workforce
will impact future transit ridership growth,
especially for Gen Z riders.
I'd like to turn it over now to Celine de Villa and Chelsea
Nguyen.
Good morning, everyone.
Hi, I'm Celine de Villa.
Thank you for your time.
We are the USC research team that
was chosen to work with Metrolink these past few months.
We are joined today with our other research members, Lydia,
Brandon, Alvin, and Adrian.
And also joining us today is our professor,
R. Buck, and our research advisor, Steph.
So the US Metrolink research team
conducted our studies on the following research question.
How might we help Metrolink grow their ridership, especially
among Generation Z.
With this question, we have compiled our research
to answer three specific focus issues
we believe Metrolink should focus on
when trying to increase ridership for Generation Z.
This includes differentiation,
untapped riders, and user experience.
And in terms of our methodological approaches
and how we conducted our research,
we were able to conduct two focus groups,
two groups of four to five USC students.
And our goal was to learn more about the participants'
perceptions of public transportation as a whole,
to understand more contextually forward generation
Z and public transportation.
And in addition to learning specifically
about their perceptions and experiences with MetroLink,
and then to inquire how MetroLink can
improve their ridership as well.
Additionally with that, we also were
able to conduct a survey that we were able to get 129 college
student respondents and our goal there was to investigate why students do or
don't take public transportation and to also understand what drives the market
for public transportation among Gen Z college students, so overall really
trying to get a larger broader context of our students and how to increase
ridership among public transportation. Through our research approaches we were
able to discover particular findings that we believe is important for
Metrolink to take into account attempting to increase ridership towards Generation Z.
I want to first introduce our findings for what we call differentiation.
From our survey, 77% of our respondents did not know the difference between Metrolink
and LA Metro.
Most respondents in our survey and in our focus group used the terms interchangeably,
and some even indicated that they did not see the difference.
Moving on to sustainability.
We asked our survey respondents to rank each factor's importance in determining whether
or not they would take public transportation.
Our data revealed that most college students ranked sustainability as the lowest factor.
The top two priorities that most college students considered were affordability and safety.
Next, we discovered that most college students do not know the existence of Metrolink, and
is caused by the lack of reach towards Generation C audiences by Metulink.
While there may be attempts and actions taken, they are not reaching our Gen Z
audiences, especially through Instagram or even TikTok. Most of Gen Z students
are not able to find advertisements on platforms that are heavily populated by
Gen Z. Later we will introduce different solutions that Metulink can adopt in
in order to solve these issues.
But moving on to an important finding
that Metrolink has also been working closely with is safety.
Unfortunately, our findings reveal
that many Gen Z writers perceive Metrolink as dangerous,
due to their bad experience with LA Metro.
And since most Gen Z students cannot differentiate
between the two Metro systems,
they immediately assume that the two are the same.
However, experienced Metrolink Gen Z writers
did not express any feelings of danger
when riding the Metrolink.
Onto my next point, our survey reveals
that Gen Z riders who have taken the Metrolink
have expressed that Metrolink lacks reliability
due to frequent late trains.
They've also expressed that there are very little
availabilities of trains to take them to their destination.
Efficient and effective approaches for train schedules
are highly recommended by Gen Z,
especially in this conversation of safety.
And lastly, usability for Metulink's website.
While the website does provide us very good information
about Metulink and their train operations,
our usability test reveals that first-time users
often feel very overwhelmed by the website,
and when we provided them tasks
of how to navigate through Metulink,
they were often faced with difficulty and confusion.
It is usable, however, we can make it more user-friendly.
Regular users cited dissatisfaction
with mobile experience and desktop experience.
Though, there have been mixed responses
for both current writers and non-writers.
All in all, these findings specifically represent
the Gen Z population's way of thinking
when considering whether or not
to take the public transportation
or Metrolink in general.
I'll pass it on to Chelsea to discuss
our proposed recommendations on how Metrolink
can resolve and respond to these findings.
So from our findings, we have uncovered
four distinct solutions or areas that Metrolink
can focus on in order to increase ridership
amongst Gen Z, and that includes partnerships,
marketing, untapped riders, and user experience.
In terms of partnership, SoCal Explore is a great program,
and we would like to see its expansion with more
partnerships to move more from a leisure-focused experience to something that people can use
daily, additionally enabling existence of more reliable length loyalty programs and expanding
that and making that even stronger and assembling the teams necessary in order to revamp this
program and really push it to its full potential. In terms of marketing, there are various avenues
that we can take in order to increase ridership and one very important one
among Gen Z is to obtain Instagram verification particularly that is going
to increase brand protection discoverability on Instagram and is a
great way to protect the brand. In addition to that, in order to reach Gen
Z audiences collaborating with micro influencers and hiring Gen Z interns
will increase the scope of your research and enable you to stay connected with
the Gen Z audience specifically if you have them working alongside you on your
team. Additionally there is a lot of great space in the trains and we suggest
that you display advertisements and use it wisely in order to increase market
revenue in addition to improving your merchandise designs to target Gen Z
very specifically and get them to engage with the products more. Furthermore and
And under untapped riders, we know that there is a strong push for investment in infrastructure.
We suggest that we prioritize that and improve that.
In addition to promoting the safety strengths from our focus groups, we did note that Metrolink
riders feel very safe, but because of that issue of differentiation, we want to make
sure that we tackle differentiation so that we can promote the safety that Metrolink provides
all riders.
In addition to improving safety where riders have cited low satisfaction, improving it
overall, in addition to expanding service
by adding more train time so that students can be able
to take it to and from home instead of relying
on one or a few trains.
Finally, with user experience,
that is addressing the online portion,
the steps that users take from wanting to plan
to take a ride and then buying that ticket.
So we suggest to redesign the desktop website
in order to make it easier to navigate.
Like Celine has said, it is very usable,
but we can make it better.
Usability tests have shown that users for first time
can complete the task given to them.
However, it takes a lot of navigating
and clicking back and forth with lots of layers,
so we suggest making that more streamlined.
In addition to streamlining the information
in order to reduce visual overload.
There's a lot of great information on the website,
but for first time users, it can be very overwhelming,
and even for experienced writers
that we have interviewed as well,
perhaps making the maps more interactive,
similar to where Bart for their trip planner,
they have a map visualization,
so increasing map visualizations will make it more friendly,
and then also make it more accessible to everybody as well.
And lastly, we suggest that you improve
the mobile experience, both for mobile browser
and for the app as well.
As we understand it, you can purchase the ticket
through the app, however, there's a lot of hyperlinks
to the mobile browser website,
So investing in a comprehensive mobile app
so that the user stays on the app
and has a whole experience there
will greatly increase the user-friendly experience.
And with that, I want to thank the board for your time
and this concludes our presentation
and we are open to any questions you may have.
Other questions from directors?
Would like to thank you for your great research.
I see it as being answers to some questions
I know I've had and suggestions for going forward.
It's terrific. Thank you. I hope that's in writing so we can work on it.
I think the professor should put A pluses in there.
Is that the end of the fun? That certainly will be fun. So we're looking
forward to that one too. All right Mr. CEO, may we have an update?
Yes, thank you Mr. Chair. First off, not part of the slide deck just because of this
this late breaking news from yesterday the board is fully aware about our need to have
to close down the line again through San Clemente. The location continues to be unstable.
We still have debris coming down from the slopes above the tracks where we do have this
debris coming to the point where it's coming within a couple feet of our tracks and we
to continue to see movement in that location.
So for the safety of the workers, of course the railroad,
we have had to see service, and not just our service,
but also of course Pacific Surfliner and BNSF railroad,
the freight railroad is not operating, so stay tuned.
I don't have more information than that.
We're just watching this very closely
as the geotechnical engineers are really just sort of
trying to understand the challenge.
let's go on to the slide deck real quick.
Again, just really pleased with our Earth Day results
on Saturday, broke a new record from the pandemic
of a little over 20,000, 21,000 riders throughout the system.
I won't go into a lot of detail here.
We had a great campaign where riders submitted photos.
If you're watching us on social media right now,
Sounds like we need to do a little bit better job of that
if they're listening to that last presentation.
But we are recognizing the award winners
of our photo contest.
So let's go ahead.
We had a video, but I also wanna respect the board's time.
We'll pass on the video.
Just know that the Earth Day was a huge success.
We had great feedback from our writers.
The video would show that.
But in the interest of time, we'll move on to the next,
It's a minute or so. All right. All right. Okay. Let's. Jerry, roll the film.
Oh, I just learned about Instagram, I'm just scrolling, pretty chill, pretty easy, you know.
It's great, and the kids all love it, you know, I've never really had a problem.
Less stress, for sure.
No driving, nothing, just like work.
Oh, it's your first time?
First time, yeah, and that's another reason why, too.
I think competition will be worse.
Yes, of course, I love the training.
Brightline West in partnership with the Nevada and California Departments of Transport.
We'll get back and ride more mentally, we'll crunch, help, travel different areas there,
you go a lot of places so we're going to do more.
Thank you Director Spiegel for insisting that we run the video.
That was actually taken, Lisa Barr, our new chief of customer experience, did that on
Earth Day, went out and just talked to our writer.
Thanks Lisa for making that happen.
Again, Earth Day was a huge success.
I don't know that this was what's happened, but this week has been a relatively speaking
huge ridership week for us in general, with very, very strong days comparative to the
prior week.
Very pleased with that.
the other good news story that we shared with you is the news about the latest CalSTA awards
from the TIRCP program. Really pleased that we got the $10 million for our fuel efficiency effort
that's going to involve both technology as well as the training of our engineers.
We believe it can save us as much as $2.5 to $3 million at the low end on an annual basis for fuel.
And then the 15.5 million that we did in cooperation
with RCTC for double tracking on the 91 Paris Valley line
between Moreno Valley and Paris.
So, great news there as well.
And that wraps up, I believe.
Next slide, Jerry.
I think that was it.
That's it.
Thank you, members.
I am happy to take questions.
Questions?
Director Nguyen?
Yo, Kettle.
Thanks.
I was wondering, on the slide, thanks for that update.
You mentioned geotechnical.
I was wondering if, in terms of if the slides determined
that it ceased moving and stopped,
how do we know when to resume service?
What are the indicators and factors at all?
So at this point, there's so much movement,
as of the most recent information I've had,
there's been so much movement that it's actually,
they're not able to access the slope.
So we don't even have geotext that it's safe
for them to be out there.
I think it's being monitored from a bit of a distance
and then we'll have geotext that get both the city of San Clemente, as well as ourselves,
we'll have geotext that are out there to discern the nature of the situation.
But it's still unstable enough that it's hard to get good information
to kind of predict that next phase.
Thank you, Mr. CEO.
And now it's up to board members who make any comments they'd like at this time.
I see none.
And Chair's comments are we need to go to a closed session.
Which is our next item mr. Del Rio. I thank you chair. The board will now go into closed session on
Item 11 be as described today's agenda public employee performance evaluation government code section 5 4 9 5 7 b1
Thank you. We will adjourn to closed session. Thank you
Okay, we returned from closed session. Mr. Del Rio and everything to report out
Thank you, sir
At this point, we're simply going to turn the meeting. I look forward to seeing everybody next time