Good morning everyone. It's my pleasure to call this meeting to order.
I'm going to begin with our safety briefing by Hilary Kunzel,
Chief Safety Security and Compliance Officer.
Good morning, Chairman Jaffe, committee members.
In the event of an evacuation or alarm evacuation,
we're going to collectively exit the board room.
We'll take the escalators or the stairs down,
And we'll congregate or meet in front of the Metro customer service office,
which would be to your right when you exit the building.
In the event of an earthquake, we'll drop, take cover.
After the rumbling stops, we'll assess the situation and see if evacuation is necessary.
Just as a side note, there are hazards in the room, chairs, tripping hazards.
So just be mindful of those.
In the event of a first aid situation, we do have an AED located at the security desk,
out in the hallway and we also have first responders
in the room.
In the event we need to down 911,
I'll ask the board secretary to down 911
and notify the security desk.
And if in the event of an active shooter,
we will utilize the run, hide, and fight tactic.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any questions from, and saying none,
thank you for the safety briefing.
Now, Director Brian Bergson will lead us
the Pledge of Allegiance.
I'll now ask the clerk to do a roll call
so may I establish a quorum?
Vice Chair Bergson.
That's correct, I have number one.
I think I got a South Coast agent
being sponsored by legislation.
Do I wanna?
Vice Chair Bergson.
Here.
Second, Vice Chair Tremblay.
Here.
Director Najarian.
Here.
Director McCallin.
Here.
Chair Chief.
Present.
We do have a quorum.
We have a quorum so thank you.
We come to what is our loan action item.
I'm sorry I skipped public comments.
Madam Clerk, do you have any public comments?
We have not received any requests to speak.
However, we have received several written public comments
regarding the elimination of the
Angels Express train service.
The emails will be forwarded to the board later today.
Thank you.
All right, so now we go on to our regular calendar
to our only action item, which is approval of our minutes.
Are there any corrections, additions, changes?
Otherwise, I'd like a motion to approve.
Yeah, I can have one.
No referral.
I have this on my mind at the same time.
Have six to carry out.
Second, if I can.
Second.
I've been moved in second.
Any objection?
And we have to roll call.
I'm sorry, we have our distant people.
Vice Chair Bergson.
Second, Vice Chair Tremblay.
Yes.
Director Najarian?
Yes.
Director McCallin?
Yes.
Chair Chafee?
Aye.
That motion carried unanimously.
Thank you.
Now on to our Metclinc strategic business plan,
which is not an action item,
but we'll have a wonderful presentation
from Brian Jacob, our planning manager.
And Mr. Chair, if I could, just as we introduce Brian,
Brian's gonna proceed with his report
related to our progress report on our adopted strategic business plan, but as we were looking
at the package, it occurred to us that we could probably do a little bit of repackaging
when it comes before the board, which I will likely ask to be on the discussion calendar
because it is a good news story in so many ways of the progress we've made with the strategic
business plan, but we noticed some elements that I think we can package differently when
and the full board sees the document.
So Brian will present on the progress report.
But as you look towards seeing it in the board packet,
there will be some tweaks to the packaging.
So just wanted the members of the executive committee
to be alert to that.
And with that, I'll turn it over to Brian.
Thank you.
Well, good morning, Chair and members of the committee.
Next slide, please.
So by way of background, the strategic business plan,
which was adopted by the board in January 2021,
outlines Metrolink's mission and vision.
Development of the strategic business plan
actually started in early 2020,
prior to the onset of the pandemic,
when ridership projections were optimistic.
However, things kind of changed rapidly by March of 2020,
when the stay at home orders were put into effect
in response to the pandemic.
Like other transit agencies throughout the country,
ridership plummeted.
Metrolink ridership dropped as much as 91%
at the peak of the pandemic.
But despite the drastic ridership loss,
there was still a core group of riders
that depended on Metrolink,
made up of essential workers,
including first responders and healthcare providers.
Nonetheless, the onset of the pandemic
forced the development of the strategic business plan
to focus on survival and recovery.
To this end, the strategic business plan
included short-term, mid, and long-range goals
organized around Metrolink's five core commitments,
including safety is foundational,
customers are our business, connecting and leveraging,
modernizing business practices,
and advancing key regional goals.
Next slide, please.
So approaching the end of the short-range timeframe,
and after steady recovery from the pandemic,
it's time to measure our progress made to date
on achieving the short-range goals.
Each of the 25 short-term goals were assessed
as to whether they are completed, completed,
but still kind of ongoing, in progress, or were attempted.
We're excited to share that 18 of the 25 short-term goals
were either completed or were completed
but still have some ongoing work.
Another six goals are still in progress
while one goal was attempted
but was not pursued any further.
Next slide please, thank you.
So some notable accomplishments
from the short term timeframe include,
we launched the Arrow service,
we introduced flexible fare policies
including the Student Adventure Pass,
we updated Metrolinx Rehabilitation Plan
and developed a state of good repair program,
and we launched Metrolink Reimagined
starting with the October schedule change.
Next slide, please.
So the progress report will serve as essentially a bookend
to this current strategic business plan
as we kick off a new strategic planning effort,
which reflects the current post-pandemic environment
and articulates the priorities of Metrolink's leadership,
which is of course different from January, 2021.
But this progress report will help inform
the new strategic plan by sort of helping identify
which goals need to be retained in the new plan
and help identify how Metrolinx should evolve
its strategic direction to reflect the current realities
and challenges and opportunities moving forward.
Next slide, please.
This concludes my presentation,
but I'm happy to take any questions you might have.
Director, is there any questions?
I can't tell all of the online folks any, no hands up.
All right, this is, you'll hear it again
as part of the regular board reading repackages,
I understand
So with that being a receiving do I see a hand no, okay?
So it's a receiving file item no objection. It is received and filed now. Let's go on to our next item
Which is our quarterly key performance indicator report and another receiving file item
Henning Eichler our senior manager market and insights and analytics will give us another great report
Thank you, and good morning
This item is in response to a request from directors Craig Orion and
Bergson for a report with metrics that would go beyond the already reported measures for
finance and revenue and ridership.
This
set of KPIs provides a more comprehensive view of Metrolinx performance. Next slide, please.
staff has evaluated different measures and is proposing the
Measures that you see here on this slide
they include
financial sustainability measures
Fairbox revenue by train mile Fairbox recovery ratio and
operating cost per train mile these measures will be further broken down by both line and
benchmarked against our commuter rail peers
For safety and security
We report separate measures for safety incidents and for security incidents
for service reliability
Our measures are on time performance and the number of delays
with the further breakdown of delays by duration and
responsible a party
our access and mobility measures
Measure the benefits of Metrolink service for disadvantaged populations, and the region as a whole.
These measures include the reduction of vehicle miles traveled on Southern California freeways,
ridership by disadvantaged groups, and affordability of Metrolink ticket prices.
Finally, the report will include a discussion of the Authority's strategic partnerships.
All measures are further explained in the written board report.
That item also includes a report template which we are presenting for the board's consideration
and feedback.
We will return on June the 13th with a finalized report and then continue bringing updated
reports to the board on a quarterly basis.
That completes my report and I'd be happy to answer your questions.
Mr. Chair, if I could just to quickly follow up on Hennings' remarks, within the board
report there are all of those elements that are those KPIs.
So as you have a chance to continue to review this agenda and as you see it at the board
at the end of the month, please make note that there is all the detail that is related
to these KPIs is included in those packets.
So you can look in some cases line by line, county by county,
but you will be able to see how we're going
to be measuring ourselves.
There's one that's a bit more subjective, of course,
and that's our item regarding strategic partnerships.
It's hard to apply numbers to, OK, how many meetings
did you go to in Washington, DC?
I guess you could do that.
But there are a variety of elements
that are a bit more subjective but are critically
important to share with the board about the things
we're doing as it relates to our our activities in that element of this
strategic business plan. So just a quick follow-up on Hennings remarks. Thanks
Hennings for good work on this one and I'll turn it back to you Mr. Chair for
questions. Thank you. Directors any questions, comments, concerns? I'm not
seeing any hands raised and there are no questions here. Again a receiving file
item. Thank you for the report. Appreciate it. Now we go on to our next item which
is our April legislative update. Another receiving file item to be presented by
Anna Denneke. I say that right.
Denneke, but. Close, okay. Sorry. I hear that one a lot.
Anyway, our Senior Manager of Government Relations.
Good morning, members of the Executive Committee. When, so first on the local side, when instituting
major service changes like we did in October, MetroLink is required to comply with Title
of the Civil Rights Act.
Specifically, the agency must conduct public outreach
and an equity analysis to determine if the change
of service will result in disparate impacts
for minority populations or low-income populations.
A public meeting virtual was held on Wednesday, March 26th,
and it was attended by 61 people with 12 verbal comments
and 25 written comments.
Additionally, an online survey is currently open
to collect public comments and as of yesterday,
we have received 1,600 responses.
The survey will close on April 15th
and staff will provide a summary of comments
from both the public meeting and the survey
as part of our Title VI analysis
at the April 25th board meeting.
Next slide, please.
On the state side, we continue to monitor
a busy legislative season.
We are watching SB741, a bill introduced
by Senator Blakespear.
As originally introduced, this bill would allow
municipalities, counties, and special districts
the ability to issue an emergency declaration
to obtain issuance of coastal development permits
for needed improvements in the low sand corridor.
A hearing is set for April 22nd.
And then AB 394 from Assembly Member Wilson
strengthens existing penalties for assaults
against transit workers and is co-sponsored
by the California Transit Association.
The Assembly Public Safety Committee
passed AB 394 unanimously,
and the bill now heads to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
We support AB 394.
Next slide, please.
And then on the federal side,
it is once again appropriation season in Washington.
We are submitting earmark requests,
also known as community funding projects
with most deadlines later this month.
We hope to have positive news to share
when our delegation submits their requests
to the Appropriations Committee
and the Appropriations Committee finalizes
the list of projects to be included in their funding bills.
Thank you to those of you that have signed letters
of support for these applications
when we've reached out to you.
We really appreciate it.
And with that, I conclude my remarks
and I'm happy to take any questions.
Directors, any comments, reports?
I do have one and that is on the repair
of the hillside along the San Clemente Route.
On Monday, the Orange County Transportation Agency
will be considering approving a request for an emergency
permit from the Coastal Commission.
And so we're hoping that that can move forward.
In the past, we've not been allowed to do that.
It was considered not an emergency.
We don't feel that way because we kind of had the money
to do the repair.
It could happen again before we get out there and do it.
This is a proactive measure.
So we'll be working on that at our Orange County Board
on Monday.
Mr. Chair, just for the executive committee's
awareness, there's a lot of coordination
happening between OCTA staff and Metrolink staff.
We are prepared to be, as usual, a strong partner
in what we need to do to protect OCTA's owned ride away as well
protect the railroad so it very much is a partnership. So we are standing at the
ready for what will be asked of us and we'll be coordinating with the OCTA
staff as we move forward in hopes of getting that emergency permit from the
California Coastal Commission. We've not heard that they've approved that yet so
I guess we're all sort of waiting somewhat patiently to get word on that
And so we will but just know Mr. Chair that we are we're coordinating very closely with those CTA staff
Team effort, so thank all of you for that
Now this is another receive and file item and so now
It will be deemed received and filed
No objection having been raised now. We come to our CEOs report. Thank you. Mr. Chair. Just two brief items
Again want to share with the committee very strong on-time performance improvements on our line
lines across the board over the course of the last several months. We've continued to
see that improvement. Our San Bernardino line is doing exceptionally well on OTP thanks
in part to the adjustments that the team made back at the end of January. And I think we're
going to be in a place where we will be able to – I think our ridership like having the
discount that they've had on the monthly passes these last couple of months. But we
do need the revenue and so we will be back at a point where we will be
charging normal monthly monthly pass numbers here shortly but also on a good
news that you will hear more about as we report on ridership improvements at
the full board meeting is that last weekend we did break not just a post
pandemic record but a all-time record on weekend ridership on our system for
the Saturday and Sunday of that last week. So people are recognizing they can
use the train for a lot of different purposes and we saw that growth and then
this week we have steadily been right around during Monday through Thursday
around close to 23,000 boardings which again are high water marks for us over
course of the week. We will see what happens tomorrow. We understand there's a rally in
downtown Los Angeles that may drive some ridership, so we will see what happens this coming weekend.
But yeah, things are trending in a positive direction. So Mr. Chair, that concludes my
remarks.
Thank you. That's good news. We appreciate that. And now it's committee members, any
anyone would like to make.
Again, I don't see any hands.
So then we'll move on to my comments.
My comments are that I really enjoyed the workshop we had
in Anaheim and it was great to see how on top
of things our staff was on everything.
Everybody knew their specialty and answered questions.
I'm especially pleased to see representatives
from the Burling to Northern Santa Fe agency railroad there.
Not that dialogue. I think will benefit us all on a large number of things
So I appreciate that and with that we come to adjournment
And so we are adjourned into our next meeting whenever that is next month
Okay
next month
We are adjourned. Thank you all