Good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure in the absence of our chairman who called me in order. I'm Doug Chafee, your vice chairman.
We'll start with our safety briefing from Frank Costolone, who's our chief safety, security, and compliance officer.
Good morning, Vice Chair Chafee, committee members.
So my message is a reminder of what we will do in an emergency situation.
The fire alarm is activated.
We were all going collectively gather,
go downstairs and stay just outside the core
of the building where Metro customer services
and wait for further instruction.
The event for an earthquake.
I will ask you to stop, drop, cover yourself,
wait for the shaking to stop,
and then we'll do an assessment whether
or not an evacuation is warranted.
In a first aid situation,
I'll be your first aid provider.
I'll ask Ms. Paney out of contact
Metro security front desk where the AED is also located
and contact EMS if necessary.
And in the event of a active attacker, we remind you always to run, hide, fight.
That concludes this morning's safety briefing.
Wish you a happy and good weekend.
Thank you.
Any questions?
So, you know, thank you for the safety briefing.
Now I ask, uh, director Ajaran, would you please lead us to flag salute?
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, the visible liberty and justice for all.
Establish a quorum may we have a roll call, please certainly vice chair chiefy present second vice chair Burkson
director Tremblay
director Najarian
chair McCallen
We do have a quorum present. Thank you
Welcome to public comment. Are there any public comments? I have not received any written public comments or any requests to speak
Okay in that case will
Not read the admonition for public comments
To our regular calendar our first item is approval minutes, which is an action item
Do we have any corrections additions?
move second any objection
abstention
All those in favor in cave is saying aye aye
motion carries unanimously
Now we go on to another action item, which is a title six public hearing for Antelope Valley line schedule expansion
We have David Huang, our planning manager, to present the item.
Good morning, Mr. Vice Chairman and the Member Committee.
My name is David Huang, Planning Manager.
I'm here to report to the committees on the Andal Valley Line Service Expansion Title VI Public Outreach Result.
Next slide, please.
So late last year, Metrolin expanded Andal Valley Line service from 11th weekday train to 15th.
As the operator for the AVL service,
Metrolinx is required to conduct equity analysis
and public outreach by FTES Title VI requirement
for all major service change remain in effect
for more than six months.
In March, the Board authorized the staff
to start the Title VI outreach process.
Today, I'm here to report the result
of public outreach and equity analysis.
Next slide, please.
So the Title VI public outreach process
gathered public comment through online communities,
meeting, surveys, and hearing.
The notice for the event was posted on newspaper,
stations, emails, and social media.
A public meeting was held on April 18, 2024.
Next slide, please.
So for the equity analysis, we found the schedule expansion
does not create disparities, impact, or disproportionate
so no medication is necessary.
The result of the equity analysis
is included in the board report.
For the public outreach, we had 13 people participate
in the public outreach meeting with eight comments.
As of yesterday, May 9th,
we received 66 response to the survey.
Today is the last day to submit comments
and so the number might change slightly.
The public is very supportive of the increased service
and they appreciate the deputies at the Lancaster station
checking in with the train.
The public would like to see the return
for early morning train, the train number 200,
and the more evening trains,
especially during the Dodger game days.
This concludes the report.
We will provide the full reports
in the next meetings on May 24th.
Are there any questions I can help answer?
Any questions, Director?
Seeing none, this is an action item.
I have a motion to approve.
I'll move it.
We've been seconded, any abstention, objection?
All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Motion carries unanimously.
All the rest of the calendar items are received and filed.
And we'll start with status of 2028,
Olympic Games preparation coordination,
something we're all anxious to learn about,
presented by Jeffrey Dunn,
director of government and community relations. Good morning Vice Chair Chafee, members of the
committee. Next slide please. I'm providing this month's update for my colleague Metrolink
planning director Roderick Diaz who is traveling to Germany this week to observe battery electric
and hydrogen powered locomotives to learn and bring back good information about hopefully
what the future will hold here at Metrolink. As noted on the slide and in your report these
games are unique compared to the past because they are car free. It requires that we model in
in a different way for travel demand for transit,
including passenger rail,
for the estimated three million visitors
that will attend or support in some way these games.
Because most will not be able to park at the venues
and will thus be more reliant on various forms
of public transportation to get to and from the games.
To deal with this expected unprecedented demand,
LA Metro and SCAG are developing four mobility hub concepts
that will provide critical linkages
to get people to and from the games.
These are first, venue mobility hubs,
which will be located adjacent to games venues,
that is the last mile of the games first
and last mile connectivity.
Second, central mobility hubs,
which will be located at rail, transit and other stations
that have or will have significant parking infrastructure.
Third, neighborhood and equity focused mobility hubs,
which are located in communities throughout the region
and will use a range of transportation options
to connect people who rely on transit
to get to the venues from those communities,
either by traveling to one of the other hubs
or directly to the venues themselves.
And fourth, supplemental park and ride mobility hubs,
which, as the name implies,
would accommodate a large volume of parking for visitors
who would then use the supplemental bus system
to get to the venues.
As you may know, Metro is seeking to procure or acquire
over 2,000 buses in addition to its existing fleet
to transport people to and from the games.
Metro is working on developing these concepts in LA County and SCAG will coordinate the
work associated with developing these mobility hubs throughout the region.
This work is just beginning so there isn't a lot of detail yet on these hubs beyond the
descriptions I've given but we will provide more detailed information in our regular updates
to you as they are developed.
With respect to ticketing and revenue that too is in the early planning stages but among
the issues we are exploring with LA28 is whether it would be possible to add a surcharge to
games event tickets to cover the cost of public transportation service that will be used by
ticket holders to get to these car-free games. Also under discussion are the possibility
of piloting an open loop technology which allows passengers to use a standard credit
card to pay for fares. Also bulk purchase of tickets for games workforce personnel are
under discussion and await final determination, determination of all
venue locations and workforce housing cluster locations before moving forward.
Again it is early but our hope is by the time of the games there will be either a
ticket surcharge to pay a portion of the public transportation costs for attendees
and or the ability to purchase fares with a credit card under a pricing
structure that would be tailored to the needs and costs of the games and
certainly we would hope we can negotiate bulk purchase of tickets needed by the
games workforce. All of this will continue to be developed and reported on to you.
This brings us to the related and all important issue of funding. How are we going to pay
for all of the things that we need to provide transportation service necessary for these
games in order for them to be successful? There are a number of things summarized in
your report that have been done and are ongoing to obtain the needed funding. The first of
these as identification and communication of Metrolinx need. We have done that. Our
CEO has communicated in writing to the Biden administration twice at its request our agency's
estimated need for rolling stock capital and maintenance facility improvement station platform
upgrades and operational surge in 2028 to provide optimal service for the games. Our CEO also
communicated the same need to the Congress in his testimony before the rail subcommittee of the
the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
in the House of Representatives last month.
Metrolinx also communicated this same need directly
to its congressional delegation members,
including those who are appropriators
on relevant fiscal committees.
So the executive and legislative branches
know Metrolinx's needs.
The administration has informed us
that no significant assistance will be considered or passed
until after the Paris Olympics this year
and the November election.
That means the FY26 appropriation cycle,
which probably will not be funded until mid or even late 2025.
This is important because not only do we need to know how much,
if any, federal assistance we can rely upon,
but when we receive the funding will determine what options are available to us
to procure rolling stock and make infrastructure improvements.
Our funded SCORE projects will continue uninterrupted,
but the level of capital and maintenance upgrades we can make will depend not only
how much assistance is received with the timing of it as well. Of course, sooner
is always better. One immediate and promising effort is that LA Metro led
joint application Metrolink is part of to the Environmental Protection
Administration's Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program, which
includes two Antelope Valley score projects that would be funded with
117 million dollars if the grant is awarded. A decision will be announced
before October this year.
Finally, Metrolink's Ad Hoc Olympics Committee
met last month and has, or very soon will,
transmit a letter to LA Board Chair Casey Wasserman,
formerly requesting a board-level meeting
between the organizations to explore direct collaboration
and support LA 28 and Metrolink can work together on
to provide the passenger service we need
to make the games a success.
This would include direct funding from marketing,
licensing or other gains related revenues that could help pay for these as yet unfunded costs.
We will provide update on all of these efforts in our in our upcoming regular
reporting to the committee and the board on Olympics related efforts as directed by the chair.
Next slide please. Thank you, this concludes my presentation. I'm happy to take any questions
if there are any. Any questions please. I'd like to thank you for staying on top of
Rather complex with a lot of loose ends right now. So thank you for your report
Now we have something fun. We're trying to talk about Brightline. We have an update on a cooperative planning and
between Southern California Railroad Association, which is us desert Express Enterprises, LLC and
Nevada limited company and doing business as Brightline
And we're going to have a presentation by Brian Jacob our planning manager. Take it away, please
Committee by chair and members of committee. I'm presenting an update on behalf of Robert Diaz our
planning manager at Metrolink on
Regarding planning coordination between the authority and Brightline West next slide, please
As background the authority and Brightline West executed an MOU in September of 2022 to guide planning coordination
Particularly as it relates to transfers at ratchet cook among them. I'm happy to report that the authority and brightline continue to have a good working relationship
Since the last update to the board the two agencies have been working on advancing several initiatives
With the help of a letter of support from the authority brightline west secured a three billion dollar federal state partnership for inner city passenger rail grant in
2023
Brightline West also secured a $2.5 billion private activity bond allocation from the US Department of Transportation
on top of the $1 billion allocation that was previously approved.
The authority provided testimony in support of these private activity bond allocations.
With this federal funding support, Brightline West commenced construction with a groundbreaking event held in Las Vegas in April 22nd.
Paul Hubeler, the authority's chief strategy officer represented MetroLink at the groundbreaking
event.
The agencies have also continued to advance preliminary design plans for the Rancho Cucamonga
Station.
The authority has provided Brightline West with right of entry access to allow for geotechnical
and utility surveying, and design coordination meetings have been held to facilitate future
access to the existing communications house at the Rancho Cucamonga Station.
The latest designs shared with authority include an entire floor within the Brightline West
constructed parking garage dedicated for MetroLink passenger use.
Looking forward, the two agencies will continue to coordinate to advance the station design
work and to refine ridership forecasts to assess service and vehicle fleet requirements
in the future.
Next slide, please.
This concludes my presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
I have any questions.
I see none.
Thank you for the report and indeed it's exciting that might actually happen.
Thank you so much.
Mr. Vice Chair, if I could just real briefly, Chair McCallin has certainly made this one
of his priorities during his time as chair and has asked that Sarah Watterson who's been
before the board in the past come and provide an update.
So they were having to wait for some of these financial questions to get resolved and I
would expect that sometime over the course of the next couple months we will have Brightline
and West come in and share a little bit more
what's going on in their schedule and timing.
So again, that's, the chair sees it as a high priority.
We see it as built in ridership for Metrolink
when it happens, so it's a real positive.
I think you'll be impressed to see the progress
that Brightline West is making.
Dr. Burksen.
They just had the groundbreaking up in Vegas
like a week or two ago, right?
Yes, they did, yeah.
Thank you for the report.
We talk about service disruption mitigation study and who next specs are to take
presented by Gina Mac our supervisor of communications
Good morning vice chair and committee members
To improve the agency's customer experience
The strategic planning and development team coordinated a service disruption mitigation study
Through interviews and the sharing of data, the researchers gained an understanding of
Metrolinx response and procedures to provide transportation during unplanned service disruptions.
The study provided key recommendations and insight, allowing the customer experience
team to move forward to the implementation phase.
Next slide, please.
The study highlighted four critical areas, replacement service delivery, internal management
and coordination, external communication,
and restoring normal service.
Next slide, please.
Oh, I'm sorry, can you go back?
The first area of providing replacement service
largely falls upon the communications team
that I'm a part of.
We are also responsible for service recovery efforts
and providing updates of this information
to passengers via social media.
The study recommended different ridership count thresholds
to determine which types of replacement transportation
was best.
For instance, when the passenger count is fairly low
and not great enough to fill a bus load,
the decision is made to order transportation network
companies, including Uber, Lyft, and taxi service
versus bus service.
And vice versa, when the passenger count is larger,
bus service is sought to accommodate
the larger group of riders.
We've implemented this procedure,
and we're also working with our contract and compliance teams
to establish partnerships with more bus agencies,
including transportation services
designed to accommodate electric wheelchairs.
And for the second category,
internal management and coordination,
the study recommended additional security staff
and monitors at the stations.
Our safety, security, and compliance team
has already expanded the number of security monitors
and has also expanded security presence onboard our trains.
And for the third area of external communication,
the primary recommendation was for stronger
customer-centric messaging.
Our frontline staff who deal with those external partners
have already done so,
and we're also building upon that effort
with two critical technology enhancements.
They are first an omni-channel communication tool,
which will allow us to transition away
from using social media to communicate
service-related information.
Instead, it will allow customers to register
to receive trans-specific information via text.
And the second is a chat box website feature
that will allow customers to quickly find answers
to the most common questions.
And lastly, for restoring normal service,
the primary recommendation was to analyze
historic disruption and delay data
to identify critical service lines and locations.
The team has done that and has deployed
additional resources appropriately.
Next slide please.
And that concludes my presentation
if there are no questions.
Thank you for your report.
Director, is there any questions?
Director Bergson.
I have kind of a generic comment
because we're talking about disruptions
and in the conversation we had about the Olympics,
Are we planning to, you know,
is there any thought process here
regarding having our own fleet of buses
during that period of time?
Because in the event we have a pedestrian strike
or any other malfunction that causes delay
from our lines during, you know,
the peak time of people trying to get to those games,
we may not have the ability to get enough Uber
or lift operators to service, you know, at one point.
So I just wanna know if we've even considered
a bus as a backup plan to get us in and out.
So it may not really be relevant to this item,
but just in general.
As it relates to the Olympics, Director Bergson,
we haven't gotten that far into the operations planning
as to what might happen in the case of an incident.
We do know that LA Metro is anticipating
having a bus fleet of 2,500 to 3,000 buses
that are gonna move people all over the region.
I would likely try to tap that resource
if we had something go where we have an incident
on our trains.
I think it's gonna be a real challenge.
The access to buses throughout the region
is gonna be a real difficult one for us all to meet.
But as we look a little bit closer at this,
We'll model that out, but at this point,
we haven't gotten to that point.
I think our expectation would be,
just as we do today, if we have large volumes
of people on our trains, we go to every bus agency
in the region saying, can you help us?
And oftentimes we're able to get that type of response,
not always, and so it is very much a partnership
in that regard, versus us getting a bus fleet
to support our trains, we would likely access those
from other agencies.
Well, and with that point, we've had issues
with all the agencies, all the counties, time to time,
getting bus service to take care of lines.
And the Uber lifting was great as an alternative
because we've used that time and time again.
But when push comes to shove at that particular
two and a half week period of time,
we may want to consider a very short term arrangement
with either LA Metro,
because you're talking about, you know,
somebody from Ventura County,
LA Metro isn't necessarily gonna have a bus out there
or in Riverside, same thing, you know,
so I'll leave that for now, but just came to mind.
So thank you.
Thank you, yes.
Go ahead.
When we offer our riders alternative transportation,
what sort of fiscal impact does that have for us?
Is it a very significant impact or is it something we can deal
with in our budgetary?
It is significant especially like for instance the month
of March and April we had incidents almost every day
the month. So when we have months like that, the alternate transportation costs,
they do exceed what we have allotted for our budget. Do other agencies do the same
thing or are we alone in that? Do we know that? As far as other regional
railroads systems? Like BART or Caltrain or not BART but Caltrain and some of the
It seems like a very generous proposition that shows that we really care about getting our riders where they need to go.
It is very appreciated by our riders that we have programs. We do get that feedback.
We'll do some research on sister agencies, particularly the commuter railroads across the country,
about how they handle these kinds of things when they have a disruption and how they provide alternative transportation.
and we'll get some information back to the committee.
I mean in a sense you could turn into a marketing, if we aren't already, into a marketing slogan
that we get you to your destination, guaranteed, or, I don't know, that's up to the experts,
that are professionals.
All right, Miss Davis, it's up to you.
All right.
That's why we have the professionals.
So thank you for that report and the concerns that we have here. Thank you
Now we come to our third quarter fiscal year third quarter customer experience update
Presented by Sabrina Davis our director of marketing and partnerships
Thank you vice chair and good morning members of the committee. My name is Sabrina Davis director of marketing partnerships
I'm doing the update for the period January 1 to March 31st.
Next slide please.
This slide highlights the marketing and communications campaigns our team worked on throughout quarter
three.
A couple of the key efforts I want to highlight for you are us leveraging our earned media
communications team to build awareness around the copper wire thefts throughout our system
and also to highlight the reintroduction of the Angels Express service after a four-year hiatus.
Next slide, please.
We also continue to actively promote the Student Adventure Pass Program.
Student ridership increased by over 50% since January and continues to climb.
On the right, you can see the proportion of student ridership by line.
Note the aero ridership, which serves the University of Redlands and it reaching 44%
student ridership. Next slide please. Some interesting points to note about the
student adventure pass program. Over 30% of student riders have never taken
Metrolink before. 28% of students had not taken Metrolink for a long period but
returned upon introduction of the program. And 38% of the students were
existing riders but now ride more frequently due to the student adventure
past program. Next slide please. With on campus and other promotional efforts we
were pleased to extend the program through June 2024. We continue to build
on our student and school partnerships with our other campaigns as well, for
instance Earth Day with our sustainable fashion show. Staff have been exploring
ongoing funding options and have made recommendations on how to extend the
the program through the next fiscal year.
And we continue to monitor the program's performance
by serving participants regularly.
Next slide, please.
Our CEO, Darren Kettle, joined other transportation leaders
across the country to join in the fight
against human trafficking, led by the Department
of Transportation.
Staff launched a public awareness campaign in March.
And the feedback from riders has been very positive about building program awareness.
Next slide please.
In partnership with our advertising agencies, staff continued to work around our MetroLink
brand refresh and developed a brand campaign to build awareness about MetroLink.
The link between the campaign theme, it creates conversation to potential riders about the
connection that Metrolink offers not just to the places where we will take them but
also to the connections within their lives.
Next slide, please.
I'd like to share a video we developed as part of the campaign.
Concludes my presentation.
I can answer any questions.
Any questions?
What's that spot going to be shown?
We activated on the campaign this past month and it exists on our landing page and we'll
we'll be executing in social media video format as well.
Great.
I saw a slogan there, we'll get you there.
So that might be part of the.
Exactly.
So thank you for your good work, appreciate it.
Now our board clerk, Michelle Pena,
will go through the Assembly Bill 1234,
meetings attended by members of the Board of Directors.
Thank you, next slide.
Director O'Connor attended the California Transit
Association's Executive Committee retreat
and business meeting in San Diego
from February 22nd through 23rd, 2024.
And the total cost to the agency was $287.97,
broken down as follows.
Meals were $32.92.
Ground transportation was $96.78,
and lodging was $158.27.
And that concludes my report.
Happy to answer any questions.
That was exciting, any questions?
All right, now we come to our May legislative update.
We've sent it to you by Jeffrey Dunn, again, our director of government and community relations.
Thank you again, Vice-chair Chafee and members of the committee.
Next slide please.
In local matters, I'd like to share that the Antelope Valley byline meetings have taken
place as reported the city staff meeting on April 8th, 16th, and the elected official
outreach meeting the following week on the 24th. As with the successful meetings
held last year in the San Bernardino and Ventura County line
communities, these byline meetings focused on the issues that our
communities tell us matter most to them. Expanded service, safety and security,
quiet zones, flexible fare products, and sustainability and quality of life
issues. Participation with our elected official meeting in particular led by
Our CEO, Mr. Kettle, included robust participation with excellent feedback from our local elected
officials and staff.
We were able to discover additional opportunities to leverage messaging with the communities
to get the word out about our student adventure paths and our other fair products to constituencies
along that line.
And we're very grateful for our MetroLink board members and staff who took time from
their schedule to attend these byline meetings.
Next slide, please.
When state matters, in addition to those outlined in your report, the big news is the governor
will release the May revise today at 11 a.m., about 45 minutes.
Because we are now nearing the end of this fiscal year, the administration has a much
better estimate of the actual budget deficit the state misaddressed as it moves to pass
a budget between now and June 15th.
Previously, the estimates have varied widely, with the nonpartisan legislative analyst office
estimating the state's deficit at $73 billion,
while the Department of Finance, only last month,
estimated that number at $38 billion.
Our Sacramento advocates tell us the rumors are
the revised estimate will fall between those two numbers
and closer to the lower one,
but we will know very shortly.
It is especially important because the severity
of the budget deficit will determine what,
if any, cuts or delays to transit funding
may ultimately pass in next year's budget.
As you may have heard, late last month,
the administration took the step of temporarily freezing allocation of TIRCP transit funding
agreed to as part of the current FY23-24 budget, set to be released on April 30, due to this
impending deficit. Today, we find out how much, with greater certainty, how much that
deficit actually is.
Finally, in state matters, I would highlight again that our CEO, Mr. Kettle, appeared last
week before the Senate Subcommittee on Low-Send Rail Corridor Resiliency in Sacramento to
to give testimony and answer questions on lessons learned
from the recent tract closures in San Clemente,
as well as forward-looking steps
that might be considered or taken to mitigate
the impacts of possible future closures in the corridor.
Mr. Kettle, too, met with state legislative members, staff,
and administration officials to address the corridor
as well as budget issues impact rail operations
and projects in the upcoming fiscal year.
We will continue these discussions and advocacy
informed by the release of the May revise today at the California Transit Association
State Legislative Conference in Sacramento, May 20th and 21st, where our CEO and government
relations team with our partners in transit statewide will advocate the need for uninterrupted
and undiminished transit funding both on the capital and especially the operation side.
We will report further on this as the final budget is negotiated in a past, again, by
before the state constitutional deadline of June 15.
Next slide, please.
In federal matters, your report highlights MetroLink's participation in this year's
national legislative conference held by the American Public Transportation Association
in Washington, D.C., last month.
We advocated directly with over a dozen Senate and congressional offices to ask for member
support of MetroLink grant applications, including our RAISE application of $25 million to fund
seven new tier four locomotives and our joint climate pollution reduction grant application with LA Metro
OCTA Anaheim and LA DOT for
498 million dollars of which a hundred and seventeen million would fund to
Metrolink AVL projects the Balboa to Sierra Highway double-track project and the Lancaster station
improvements project
We also advocated for Metrolink earmarks submissions with each of the offices
we met with. This year, Metrolink will submit 16 earmark requests for improvements across
our network in every county we serve. For now, our attention is on helping to secure
delegation support for the CPRG application with Metro and OCTA I just referenced, and
a joint congressional letter of support to EPA in addition to our continued advocacy
for award of our RAISE grant application. The decision times for these applications are
October for CPRG and June 27 for race. Our CEO will be back in Washington with
Mobility 21 participating in its annual DC Advocacy Trip June 3rd through the
5th and will carry forward these support messages as opportune on this trip.
Finally, we would like to mention again the great news of our CEOs appearance
before the subcommittee and on railroads pipelines and hazardous materials of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last month. Opportunities to
testified before Congress are rare and among the many things addressed Mr.
Kettle was able to get into the official record our Olympics needs for 2028. We
know the Olympics is an issue that resonates strongly with the DNI chair
and other members of the committee so we are hopeful that our needs will be heard
as we continue to press for federal assistance to secure the resources we
need to provide optimal passenger rail transportation for the games which will
be here before you know it. This concludes my report and I'm happy to
take any questions from the committee if there are any thank you any questions
thank you we hope the great mystery of the budget deficit will soon reveal
itself so thank you for keeping an eye on it appreciate it now we have our
chief executive officers report which I know will be good and brief mr. vice
chair as I reported in the prior committee just want to share the good
news that we continue to see good positive movement in trends on
on ridership growth.
We've broken records this week, day after day, Tuesday
and Wednesday, exceeding over 21,500 daily boardings,
which is a very positive trend for us.
And we'll just see that continue.
It's proven out in both revenue projections
as were described in our audit and finance committee.
So just a, that's a quick good news story.
Thank you.
My report will be even briefer, no comments.
This meeting is adjourned, so thank all of you for coming and attending today.