Local Advisory Council (LAC) Meeting August 20 2024
2:00PM Aug 20, 2024
Speakers:
Keywords:
ddot
paratransit
lac
service
staley
meeting
question
ada
detroit
application
city
trips
people
bus
comment
september
community
hear
operators
district
Rest. Good morning. Good morning.
Okay, are we, are we ready to start, or do are we still waiting for people to join? Yep, I think we're ready to start. Yeah, well, okay, yeah, well, good morning everyone. My name is Sharon rambers. I am DDoS regulatory compliance officer and ADA coordinator. My contact information, along with the link for our title six public survey has been added in the chat. DDOT encourages all participants to complete our title six public involvement survey during or either at the end of the meeting, it is voluntary. Your feedback helps DDOT to comply with Title six, which requires a collection of statistical data to accept DDOT outreach efforts. DDOT title six coordinators will handle all information confidentially. We ask for your participation this Zoom meeting is being recorded by participating the Zoom meeting you are granting permission for your name, image, likeness, as well as audio and video recordings to be used By DDA. We would like to acknowledge our interpreters. Applause.
Okay,
Miss, Miss Felder is our interpreter. Are you? You you on the line still? Are you still connected? I
Okay, I see, yep, there you go. Alright, good morning. Up there's our interpreter, alright. So when you give comments, please state your name before speaking for the record. Meeting. Over to the LA chairperson, Mister Andre Bryant, good morning, everyone. I would like to call the meeting this morning at Twitter, at 10:02am
first. Let me. Let me start with, with roll with roll call.
Camera appearing.
Camera appearing. District Two,
James Jones, district three, I
Sabrina rice,
present, yes. District five, Tammy black. District Four, Yvonne Roundtree here. District District Six,
okay,
facial district seven.
Facial
note, okay, and also last but not least, myself Andre Branham, district one. And what was it? Anita Owen,
rich, Spivey Bradley, Oh, okay. Thank you, Anita. Thank you welcome Rick Spivey. Yep. Rick Spivey is present. Okay, okay,
wow. And I'm just thinking, you know, we're gonna get one more meeting till we're out until the next year. Time is really flying. First
as always, let me state the purpose. Let
me state the purpose of the Lac, the purpose of the of the Local Advisory Council, is to serve as a foundation for assessing, planning and strengthening DDOT. DDOT services for older adults and persons with disabilities.
Okay, next
I'd like to like to move to the approval of the May 14, 2024, Lac meeting minutes. Has? Has everyone had a chance to go over the minutes? Yes, okay, okay. I need a Okay.
Can I need, I need a motion?
I move that we accept the meeting amendments from May 14. Thank you Miss Roundtree. Okay, I need a I need a second. I need a second motion. I second that motion. Okay, thank you. Mr. Spivey, okay, um,
all in all, in favor,
in favor, aye.
Okay, any, any oppositions, yes, yes, I heard you. Yes, I heard
Andre, do we have a quorum to take this vote?
I'm sorry. This is Fei Chan. I don't know if I was unmuted.
Okay, hello, Fez. I did. I did call you. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear
you. Yes, I can hear you. Okay, okay, okay.
Again, is any is there any oppositions to the meeting minutes, no,
okay, okay, well, okay, motion carried,
okay, first on my first I do. I do have a I do have a care persons report. I do have a report. I just
want to acknowledge customer service rep from the reservations department, from DDOT. You know, no, I've, I've spoke with him several times. He's, he's really going above and beyond to deliver exceptional customer service. And I just want to acknowledge
that person. His name is David. So I would like to, you know, the administration, to please, you know, pass that on to him, you know, if possible,
okay. And also, I do have, I do have a question, something I was wondering about the DDOT headquarters. The Okay,
the headquarters on 100 Mac, is that permanent? Or is that is, are they going to be moving to get DDOT into a better facility? You know, that's more accessible and more convenient for everyone, for the for the employees and the
and the passengers who come down to to visit. That's something I thought about. Yeah, this is Michael Staley, Interim Executive Director. My understanding is on a short term basis, we will be remaining at 100 Mac. And in fact, paratransit has, finally is almost completely moved into 100 Mac. So, as everybody knows, originally, paratransit was located at 1301 East Warren, they developed an issue with the elevator at 1301
East Warren, so people were working remotely for a while. Now, almost all of paratransit is located on the first floor at 100 max. So that is
part of the near term solution, which is the DDOT admin and paratransit will remain at 100 Mac. There's been some discussion about relocating most, if not all, city departments at one location, but those are just discussions for right now. Okay, it's something I thought about. You know that? Do? I do believe that, you know, D that
the headquarters deserve a better facility, especially they're they're providing them the transportation for the for the city, for our city. So that's just something I thought about. And thank you. Mr. Staley,
okay, okay. Now I like to know, does any other lac members have any questions and concerns?
This is Faith. Janault Johnson, my question is because I've had several people tell me that they've had a hard time trying to get the parent transit applications in, and the process can you get? Give me the process of getting the applications in
is, is Miss Roby on the line by any chance?
How about Miss Kaz Merrick,
okay, okay, this is this Michael Staley, again, you can call into our into The paratransit line, there'll be a prompt for eligibility. We have two ladies that are located on the second floor at 100 Mac that currently, that currently process application
requests and eligibility certification determinations. And so you can request a an application from them, an application is also available on the website. The only piece, the only additional piece of information that's required is is documentation from a medical provider as to as to the nature of of of an individual's disability. So the application,
plus the independent medical
document, serves as the basis for the application. Yeah. Miss Robey, once you go ahead, you can do a better job of explaining this than I can. No worries. Thank you. Just get added as a panelist. So I kind
of cut out when I was kind of cut out when I was at it. But in addition to what Director Staley was mentioning, yes, the application includes information about the applicant, includes information from a some type of verification from a professional that can get doctor, a nurse,
therapist, specialist, that an applicant may see. I'm sorry,
copy of Miss Roby. Your audio is a little bit in and out. Sorry, Hello,
yes,
I guess information about
the applicant, a verification from a medical professional, doctor, nurse, specialist or therapist, that applicant may be seen and a copy of photo ID that can be a driver's license ID, Detroit ID, photo page of a US passport are all accepted. And in terms of turning application back into us, segue, you can mail the application to 100 Mac we do receive applications in person at 100 Mac for business hours, between 8am and 4pm Monday through Friday. And we also have a new email address where applications can be emailed. I can put this information in the chat as well, but it can be emailed to d.so d, d, o, t, p, as
in all t, as in Thomas A, P, P s at Detroit mi.gov so it's d dot, P T apps at Detroit mi.gov and I can, I can also add that in the chat as well. This is again. I guess my question reason why I asked the question, because I have people that have gone to greater Detroit and got applications from them, and I think that delays the process. I didn't realize,
you know that that was an issue, that they could even get applications from other entities, not aware
of that. You said that people are getting applications from their from greater Detroit area on Aging, for the blind.
I they were any applications. I mean, they are people online, so it's possible that they can just that is possible. It delays the process so people can get
applications from the agency. Okay, thank you.
Sabrina,
may I speak chairperson, yes, so Faye, those applications can be printed out. Um, oftentimes, um, they're printed out by the agency because they have an orientation and mobility specialist on staff, and they also have um, certified trainers on staff, so they're eligible to complete the medical part of the application. So oftentimes you will find people in the blind community that go to greater Detroit agency to get those applications completed. Okay.
Thank you.
Does anyone else have any concerns? Yes. How long does it take for the once they send it in, how long does it take for them to get an answer? 21 business days.
That's 21 business days or holidays.
Miss Roby, it's really hard to understand you. That's right. Yeah, let me, let me. Let me just reiterate what Miss Roby said she's still having some audio issues. So the requirements of the ADA is that determinations made within 21 business days. So in the event that DDOT is unable, and that's it's not it does not happen often, but in the event that DDOT is not able to make a determination within 21 days, the law requires us to grant provisional eligibility. The biggest hole that we find in processing the the applications are either incomplete information on the application or the documentation is not there at at that point, we return the application to the individual, and the clock stops on the determination process. But assuming that the application is filled out completely and accurately, we've got the requisite ID and the independent medical verification. Then, again, by law, we're required to turn it around in 21 business days, okay,
all right, I have a call. Thank you.
Does anyone else have any questions or concerns?
Sabrina rice, they go, here's Sabrina. So
My one concern was in regard to the pre pre bid meeting for the same day service, again, as the LAC is working in partnership with DDOT administration,
I was ill informed, sending me a notification. I want to thank Mr. Rambis for his due diligence and actually sending me the notification, but I feel like the LAC should have been contacted prior to the previous bid meeting to be notified that there was actually pre bid meeting that was happening on yesterday. Unfortunately, I had clients schedule and could not attend, and just to receive that information at the last minute is not acceptable.
You don't have a partnership, or you don't have a real
lac, if we're an afterthought, and, you know, I continue to press up on us being an afterthought and not even being included in a pre bid meeting. That needs to change, and it doesn't need to change. It needs to change immediately, because we've been talking about our partnership with DDOT for years and years and years now, and it still seems to be that we're an afterthought. Thank you. And I need again this Michael said, I need to apologize to Ms rice. I don't know what happened to your notification, but to your point, last week, I asked that the notifications be sent out to Lac members. So that was a week in advance of the Monday pre bid. I don't know what happened with the communication to you, but I do know we had a couple of, at least two representatives from the LAC at the at the pre bid meeting yesterday for same day service. That's
because we got notification yesterday. I didn't get one before then I got noted yesterday, so I made the meeting again. I apologize I had asked that lac be notified a week in advance. Whatever the process. It was a process into notification, because they had to be entered into Oracle and things of that nature. So as soon as we received the link, we passed it over to the LEC.
Okay, thank you. Anyone else have any questions or concerns?
Okay, next on the agenda, we move to DDOT administrative reports. First. Let's start with the interim Executive Director. Michael Staley, thank you, Mr. Bryant, so just to follow up on the on the previous comment yesterday, DDOT did hold pre bid conference on same day service. So it was well attended. I think there was probably more than 30 individuals or entities represented on that call. We took time during the during the call to explain some basic requirements for providing a same day service. So essentially, what we what we let the prospective bidders know is that DDOT had gotten a grant from the FTA through the Regional Transit Authority for a two year pilot project that would allow us to operate paratransit service on a same day basis, between the hours of 5am and 7pm Monday through Saturday. Any individual who is currently or in the future would be eligible for the ADA service will be eligible for the same day service, and this will provide eligible individuals with the ability to call on any given day to see if they can, to see if they can book a ride. Currently, as everyone knows, on the ADA service, it's advanced reservation service, so you can book a trip up to one day in advance and as much as 14 days in advance. On the same day service, you would be able to book for that day in question. So we explained the the overall design concept to the service providers. They were provided with information on the Request for Proposal. They were asked to provide questions to Pamela Crump, who's the buyer for OCP,
the Office of contract procurement. Those are due by Friday, response and then a the technical proposal and Pricing Proposal are due by September 9. So it's going to be a pretty quick turnaround. We let people know also that this would be operated as a non dedicated service, meaning that a prospective bidder could use those drivers, those vehicles, to provide other kinds of services. For instance, taxi service, making medicaid medicare trips, other medical trips and the like. But that the ADA service and the same day service, because the ADA service is funded through the city general fund, and because the same day service is coming through a federal grant, those two services need to be separate and distinct. They need to be operated
independently. That's how we're structuring it within DDOT, and that's how the service providers will have to operate the service. So that took place yesterday, on Monday, from about 10am to, I think, we finished up right around noon time with questions and answers. Pamela Crump had asked everybody to submit questions, as I said, by Friday, even the ones that were even the ones that were voiced during the during the pre bid meeting yesterday. So that's on the paratransit
side, on the fixed route side. Originally, we had scheduled some additional service enhancements for September with the next pick where the TEOs, the transit equipment operators,
work. Currently, we have a requirement to have 100 and 168
pull outs in the AM, and a peak vehicle requirement of 178 in the PM. We're going to stay with those same service levels in September, and that's due largely to vehicle availability. So we've got our transit equipment operator number up. We're having some issues with vehicle availability, and so the service changes that went into effect in June will remain in effect in September, but we will not be adding any additional service in September that's expected to take place in January of 2025, with the next pick of the of the transit equipment operators. I think those are the two updates I have right now from paratransit and from fixed route. If there's any questions, obviously, Mr. Bryant through the Chair, I'll be happy to answer those.
Does anyone have any questions?
Okay, well, thank you, Mrs. Daley, thank you, Mr. Chairman, I do, I do have a question. Um, I, I've mentioned over the past few meetings about possibly exploring, exploring a program
where there are voucher vouchers issued. Um, where potentially
you can have like on demand service, like Uber or Lyft through a voucher program. And I'm wondering if that's been explored, it is on a cost basis. Is probably less than having, you know, contracts with different companies. Um, I know Uber has a voucher program. And I'm wondering, has that been explored? I've seen that across many other states and cities, and I've mentioned it before. I know Cook County, the Chicago area, has that program, and I've asked about it before, and I want to know if that's been explored at all. Thank you. When
we were looking at same day service and we were putting together a proposal for the FTA grant process, we did look at some of the voucher
programs. You mentioned, the PACE program over in city of Chicago, the TAP program, taxi asset Access Program, and so we looked at that. And actually the service that we're going to be operating is going to be more cost effective for the for the passenger. So it'll be the same fare
as paratransit, $2.50 at the tap in the TAP program over in Chicago, the passenger pays the meter rate of the taxi provider, less a subsidy from pace. So trust me, over in the city of Chicago, the passengers paying more than $2.50 for a one way trip. So the same day service will operate within the ADA service area, and as I mentioned, it'll operate Monday through Saturday, from 5am to 7pm and it'll remain at $2.50 per one way trip. You would not be able to get that trip in Chicago for that same price.
Okay, so alrighty,
thank you, Mr. Staley, I have several friends that are in Chicago and ride that service, and they pay, on average, about $3 but the what was beneficial about the service is that, after the subsidy of $25 per ride, they can go where they need to go, so that, in effect, would help in two situations. I mean, we live this life every day, so we know, especially as blind individuals,
*we know what we need, and what we need is a service that that not only would cover same day, but would cover a distance. So most of my doctor's appointments are outside of the city, and quite frankly, most of my business is outside of the city, so a voucher program that would allow me to travel eight times in a month to get somewhere outside of the city would be beneficial, *
and the point that I could make the same day trip and that I could use a subsidy to to reduce my rides, I don't know about everybody else, but $5 ride to, let's say, from my house to 12 mile in northwestern if it cost me $5 to take that ride instead of then currently, $25 would be beneficial. I just wish that you guys would really engage with us more and ask the questions and and get the true experience of what it means to be a paratransit rider in the city of Detroit, because we we're only here to help, we're here to help you understand what our lives are as paratransit riders. Um, that's why I speak up and I speak out, because I really want you to get the lived experience of what we're experienced as paratransit riders. You know, when I talk to other paratransit riders, that's their concern. I know that there is an initiative in Oakland County where they're doing this, and we shouldn't be the last to do it. I know that they're doing it in Colorado. I know that they're doing it in parts of Ohio. This is what makes sense, because it's beneficial to the writers.
*Cost effective is not always the best thing when it comes to our daily lives. I mean, some of some of the riders, wheelchair riders, blind riders, don't have anybody that they can call when they get a referral and it's it's out in the suburbs. *
So I'm just asking for you guys to truly engage and ask the questions of, what do you think is best for you? You know, and I, and I firmly believe in this statement, don't do anything about us or talk about us without us. And that's what I'm asking for, is for you to engage with us and ask the questions about us to us, so that we can give you what life really is. Thank you. So I appreciate that. Ms rice, there's two points I need to make to make sure that we've got the record straight. When I came here in June of 2022 and began to work on the existing paratransit system, probably spent about six months talking to various representatives within the disabled community, both individuals with disabilities and advocates for individuals with disabilities. And what I heard was that the existing paratransit system left a lot to be desired. So one of the things that DDOT has been able to do over about the last year, year and a half, is make the complimentary paratransit system one of the best in the United States, currently operating at close to 99% on time, less than four tenths of 1% of the passengers who ride the service have a complaint about the service. So that was the first thing we did. The second thing we did was to begin to explore other options that would help to enhance mobility. And so we heard from some people about they wanted to return the New Freedom Program, which had been discontinued because the grant
money had run out, and a larger number of people had indicated that they would like the convenience of same day service. And so when we were applying for the grant with the FTA, we debated about something that looked like the new freedom service versus same day service, and unfortunately for us, we have to, we have to look at cost effectiveness. But last year, the New Freedom Program, there were 8000 trips. Operated 8000 and largely that number was as small as it was, because those trips that had gone outside of the ADA service area, there was no way to link those trips up with any other trip. So you had a lot of trips going one way and deadheading back ADA service area, or trips making a return trip outside the ADA service area and then having to deadhead back. So 8000 trips the last year that new freedom operated. Our estimate is in the first year of the same day service, we're going to be able to operate over 32,000 trips. So unfortunately, we need to look at the cost effectiveness of it. It made sense to be able to operate 32,000 same day trips, as opposed to 8000 new freedom trips. And
then the second thing is, we did talk to people within the community, and we got we heard from people that wanted new freedom returned, and we heard from more people that wanted the convenience of same day service. So that that's why the decision was made the way the decision was made, but, but to state
that you know, DDOT did not talk to people within the disabled community is just not accurate.
I should have said that you didn't talk to the LAC that's why we're here. And Mr. Sterling, I don't want to take anything away from you. I appreciate the improvement in the overall care, transit service. I've said that many accounts for so I really do appreciate all the service that you have given us in the way that you improve
the overall service. I mean, you've done a great job since you've been here. I'm just saying that there was a viable option for both distance travel. When you do a voucher program, you don't even have to worry about the deadheads. If it's
on Uber or Lyft, they're going to do other service. And as you stated earlier, they can do other things like Medicare and other different type of transportation. So I just think that Uber personally, I just think that personally, I just think that Uber was a better option
and it should have been explored with with the Lac. Thank you. Yeah, just just one last point, just to let you know Uber was on the was one of the companies on the call yesterday. Okay,
okay, thank you. Thanks again. Mr. Staley,
okay, next, next, next move to the Assistant Director of Operations Andre mallet.
All right. Good afternoon, everyone. We don't have a whole lot going on in operations. Just want to kind of update you that we are currently going through our Teo be it which is opportunity for our operators to pick their work assignment for the September pick, which goes in effect September the second, and we are still diligently recruiting new operators. So if you guys have any operators that want to be a part of the team to help move the city forward, please make them aware the city is in the process of still hiring TEOs, and that's pretty much it for me.
Thank you, Mr. Mallet,
next move to paratransit with DeMarcus Garrett.
You
I think you're still muted. Mr. Garrett, we can't hear you.
Yeah, we still can't hear you, sir.
Well now, yes, there you go. Great, perfect. I apologize. Just wanted to give a quick performance update for July, 2024 in July, paratransit performed 26,609 trips at about
1.5 trips per hour. There was one non preventable accident and we did receive 10 valid complaints, two invalid complaints, for a total of 12. Besides that, for paratransit, and besides paratransit, what we're working on outside of the same day service as we're looking at making our open up some some more channels for us receives feedback, which want to make sure that we're giving people the most, the best and most opportunities be able to give us The feedback so that
we
thank you. Mr. Garrett, and next scheduling and planning director, Steve petronick,
yes, good morning, Steve Patrick's juris development and scheduling so Mr. Staley mentioned about the September the September being delayed,
probably until January, so, but we did implement the service improvements that were scheduled for June. And I don't know if you want me to get more specific about what was in there, but I can so for June, we have,
oh, I don't know what's who's got there. I hear a lot of excess noise around here. So for June, we implemented a 15 minute peak service on some of the 20 minute routes, mainly Grand River, Seven Mile and Greenfield. And we implemented 20 minute service on some of the 30 minute routes, which were of evergreen and Warren. And then we implemented 45 minute peak service on a bunch of the 60 minute routes and and then some earlier and later trips on on, on Hamilton
and mid city loop, and on the 31 we Start the 30 minute service earlier in the morning, and 50 minute daytime service on the joy route and and then we we adjusted the schedule for the Jason Hargrove transit center that opened back in May, but We couldn't adjust the timetables at that time because, because of the issue with the pick and and the supplemental trips on the 39 Puritan so the service changes we had planned for September, which will Probably be delayed until January, I will include some some more 20 minute peak service on 30 minute routes and and then also moving up to 12 minute service on Woodward. And so anyway, we'll most likely be doing a public hearing soon, and we'll visit all the changes and collect comments on all of them. So thank you very much. That's all I've got right now.
Thank you, Mr. Patrick Nick, next
vehicle maintenance, maintenance with David Gale geo joy,
good morning, Mr. Brian and Lac members. Geojoy, assistant director of maintenance, just a couple of updates. DDOT maintenance is currently focusing on improving our preventative maintenance on our
coaches, to improve our coach reliability and to prepare our coaches for our September 24 pull out, and we are also started increasing our major cleans on our coaches to make sure our coaches are kids once a month going through Our deep cleaning process. Those are two focuses that we are currently practicing at a maintenance right now. That's all I have. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Mr. Geojoy,
next Chief Safety Officer Corey Holmes, you Hello.
My name is Gabrielle, honey, and I'm actually going to stand in for Mr. Holmes. There are no new updates from the safety department. The only thing we do want to let the LAC know is that we are working on a passenger code of conduct. But as we get closer to being able to present it, we would like to present it to the LAC as well, so that you all can look through it and give your input as well.
Thank Thank you, Miss Honey, you're welcome
next. Ada, coordinator, Sharon Rambus, good morning, everyone since the last lac meeting, the Office of Compliance that monitored 16 ADA routes and trips were the seven ADA regulated areas, which are route identification, boarding location, lift and wrap operation, bus accessibility, wheelchair securement, bus announcements and service animals. And doing our monitoring, we observed at three busses had non working annunciators. Two busses were missing. Know Your right sign, the title, six signs, and one bus was missing a priority sitting sign, and one bus was missing the non working. With the non working, the stop control was not working in a wheelchair securement area, we informed the vehicle maintenance the department, and all repairs and signage installations were made in a timely manner. The Office of Compliance also has investigated 22 ADA fix route complaints for the second quarter of this 22 complaints received, three were found to be invalid, nine were undetermined, and that's because of missing information, wrong bus numbers or bus stops or times, inadequate information, and so that's leading leaving 10 valid complaints for the second quarter, five or 50% of those complaints were mobility device pass ups. We are working with the training and operation Training Center and transportation operation division to reduce the number of mobility device pass up complaints. We have had 384 applicants that were determined eligible for ddots Ada paratransit service for this quarter, there were no denials. Therefore, the paratransit boards, appeals board has not met. We have posted lac meeting notice that both our transit centers on all social media outlets and then the 32 of our senior living facilities. If anyone has any recommendation for centers that we can place our notice, you can verify. You can call me. My information is in the chat, and I will give it out in a couple of minutes, but we like to thank everyone who expressed interest and took time to submit the application for our lac membership. We are in the process of submitting our recommendations to the interim director for approval. Office
of Compliance continually provides FTA awareness, Ada training to new DDOT employees. We outline that the American with Disability Act is a federal civil rights regulation. It's the law, and so DDOT requires to provide accessibility to our services and the rights
for our ADA passengers. If any lac member would like to attend the ADA training session that the TOS our bus drivers receive as part of their training, the invitation has been extended by our training department to do so. We have new classes starting monthly. So if you're interested in attending. My number is 313-316-2793,
you can reach me. Thank you,
and thank you. Mister Ravis, okay, oh, hey, thanks to move the old business, which don't have any old business at this time. Um, new business. Far as new business, I could turn this turn a turn a meeting. Over to Mister, mister Rambus,
alright. Good evening, morning. Everybody again, yeah, we have Miss Erica Alexander from the people mover that would like to give us
some information about what's going on with the people mover for the next couple of weeks. Let me see.
Miss Alexander, are you able to speak?
Everyone hear me? Yeah, there you go. Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. Good morning. Lac members and DDoS staff. I'm Erica Alexander, communications and public relations manager for the Detroit people mover, wanted to address the group today, in case the information had not been previously communicated about our upcoming track improvement project. The track improvement project is going to take place between September 3 and November 22 of this year, so right after Labor Day, it is a mandatory project for us, in which we will be replacing nine sections of rail, which is about 20% of our system. For the very first time. It is a part of our routine maintenance and preventative maintenance program, and the construction it will require that we pause our service for that 11 to 12 week duration, which means there will not be people who were serviced when construction begins. Starting with September 3, we
have had a series of public information meetings, and there is still an opportunity to learn more about the program and monitor our progress, as well as submit public comments for that
on by the 31st of August. And
all of that information is located on our website, www.thepeoplemover.com which will be a live site to learn more about the track improvement program and what will be happening during that process. We also will be having a series of activities at the stations during the 11 to 12 weeks, there will be a number of community sponsored activities just to keep the community informed of what we're doing and how we're doing and Keeping them engaged. So there'll be everything from supporting downtown businesses painting in the stations. We'll be having a decent District Six coffee hour, hosting that at our Grand Circus Park Station on September 20. Just different kind of activities to focus groups, ice cream socials, family fun days, things like that, just to keep the community involved and connected in our process.
Is there, are there any questions about the program or the rail replacement? I
Oh, I see, right. Well, thank you. I think there's a question, okay, well, members from the LAC and others in the district view the cars in Canada. So the cars from Canada is a different project. In fact, our Deputy General Manager is in Canada
right now selecting the cars. That's an 18 month process, and that is, we're very, very excited to be able to replace the fleet for the very first time, and that process really involves him, like I said, selecting the best cars that could be retrofitted for our track and suit our needs. So that's already underway. The clock is started, and we should be good to go and over the next 16 months or so, i
Great. Thank you. If you mind, we might have some other questions come along in our public comment section. If you mind hanging out, hanging out with us a little bit, that'd be great. Or you can put your contact information also in the chat as well. Yes, definitely. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Alright. Next, we have MS, Jill Kahun from RTA.
There was a no comment from Marguerite, Maddox, I'm sorry. Interpreter, okay,
okay, and
we have interpreter two available if we can switch over. Thank you. Okay, thank you.
Okay. All right, interpreters, who can you cut on your camera? Please?
All right, thank you.
Okay,
all right, let me see I'm you
all right. Good morning. Okay. Can you hear me? Okay, yes. Okay, great. My name is Jill Cahoon. I work with a consulting company known as AECOM. We are working with the RTA, and I'm joined by Khalil Davis from the RTA, as well as Elnora ostel, and we are working on a coordinated public transit, Human Services transportation plan. We're just kicking off the plan, and that's about a year process where we're going to be meeting with the four counties in the in the RTA region, the Regional Transit Authority region and the city of Detroit, to look at options to coordinate public transit and Human Services transportation and improve the the provision of services. This
plan is required by the Federal Transit Administration FTA through the FTA section 5310, program. And so the completion of this effort allows the maximum amount of funding to be brought into the RTA region to fund
mobility services. Is Khalil on the line and able to speak, to give a little bit more about the RTA?
Nobody? So can you proceed? Sure, yes. So the as I mentioned, the comprehensive Human Services transportation plan process will be occurring over the next year or so. We're also looking to conduct engagement activities this fall. So we're looking
at four large we're looking at at at interacting with folks over four different levels of engagement. We have large events where we'll be meeting with folks with meetings already scheduled that are open to the public. We'll be having some mini events with the targeted audiences of riders and residents as well as potential riders. And then we'll also be conducting some virtual engagement for folks who can't make it in person to the large or the mini events we're meeting with each of the lacs, and we'll also have questionnaires and a hotline for folks to get in touch with us about their observations and needs for human services and public transit, particularly paratransit, across The region. I think I can jump in. Can I Can you hear me? Yeah, yes, yes. Hi. This is a Laura Estelle speaking, and I'm working with Jill and with Khalil on this project, and my particular focus is public engagement. So I just want to do a quick ask of all of you. So Jill just talk to you about what public engagement is going to look like for the next especially in September and October is when we'll be kicking off public engagement. I really, after listening to this conversation today with all of you, I really want to spend more time with all of you, and whether that is somehow we managed to, you know, have another conversation together online, or whether we will have questionnaires, for example, that will ask you about the service, your experiences with the service, and how we can improve the service, if I can get those questionnaires out to you and you can answer them, and if you could also help me talk to other people who are using this service. Each of you represents a district, and I'm wondering if I've sent you each a copy of the questionnaire. Once it's done, it's not done yet, but once it's done, wondering if I send it out to you, if you could help me get to other people to make sure that they also have an opportunity to fill out this information and tell us what their experience and needs are. So I'm going to, I know we don't have time to do that now for a longer conversation, but I'm going to connect back with Mr. Rambus to figure
out how I can really engage with all of you, and how we can kind of continue this conversation, and that you can so that you your voices are really heard as we try to put this new plan together. So you'll hear from me again. I
Jill, I'll turn it back over to you if you want to go through our next steps or Yeah, y'all see, Khalil is on um. Khalil, would you like to have some brief comments as well?
Hello. Good morning. Yes. Hello. Yeah,
go ahead. Khalil. Oh yes, good morning. Khalil Davis, projects. I work in projects and grants at the RTA. I'm the lead for this plan. I was going to say, I know we're short on time, so I'm going to drop my contact information in the chat. So if you guys want to see the presentation, if you want to engage with us throughout this process. It is about a year long plan. Um, please engage with us again. My phone number is 313-654-6943,
again. Phone number is 313-654-6943,
my name is Khalil Davis, and I'll be working on this plan for a whole year now, dropping my contact information in the chat so we can discuss it further, and I'll hand it back over to the DDOT folks so we can proceed with the meeting. Thank you. RT, hey for that information, I see Miss, Miss Perry, you have a question? Yes, I want to know if their project is going to include I heard them mention across county, so Macomb and Oakland County, is that going to include some type of assistance to transport people who are disabled or have mental conditions and need transportation? Is that going to include them in this project that they
are endeavoring to implement, and how
do they reach out and those other institutions, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Go ahead. Okay, the short answer is yes. So the mobility for all plan encompasses seniors, people with disabilities, veterans and people with limited incomes to understand what's going on within our four county region. That's Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Washtenaw counties. Within this plan, we do have the opportunity to assist with grants that comes, where comes from our 5310, program management plan. So what we will understand from our region is, let's say, for example, somebody needs more rise to and from their medical appointments. So the next step of this plan will be, how can we actually fund these initiatives to get people back and forth to their medical appointments, even though DDOT and smart already provide those services. Is there an extra need outside of that, that community providers or nonprofits could assist with? And there will be a call for projects this upcoming spring of 2025 to say, Okay, if you are a community provider or a nonprofit, please apply for these select few grants to see if we can help those within our region. Did that answer your question,
yes, and make sure that you include neighborhood community block captains, because they have a broad span to help reach out to people in their community with special needs. Okay, that would be great. I did drop my contact information down below in the chat, if you would like to give me a call or send me an email on what you think should happen or what other ways to engage over the next year. That would be great as well. But that is a great comment. Thank you. I will do Thank you. Thank you. Now we move over to our public comments. A couple of house rules. We allow two minutes for public comments.
Note you may be muted if you go over. No person or tax or file language will be tolerated. This includes in the chat as well, so please use the raise your hand icon to request a comment. If you are using a phone, use star nine to request a comment and star six to unmute yourself. You may also place your questions or comments in the chat, alright? So we recognize any hands in the chat as well. Let me see. First we have Rochelle Stewart.
Now Good morning, Lac members and DDOT members. My name is Rochelle Stewart. I'm with Detroit transit justice team, district seven in Detroit. I'm calling
for LAC and DDOT. Call for ethical and low
no emissions. For path para transit. Those low and no emissions busses will not only enhance mobility for individuals who rely on services, but also contribute to the city's goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality. Paratransit services play a crucial role in ensuring that individuals with disabilities have equal access to transportation, fostering independence and inclusion in our community. And I don't want to keep talking because I know it's supposed to be over 1130 and I know which and I know we should have quite a few people online. And that's another thing. How many persons are online in this meeting, beside DDOT and Lac one minute remaining. And also, can we please get LAC and DDOT meetings, that hybrid. We need
to talk to you in person. We can see you, but you can't see us talking to you. So I think that would be something that you really should consider. Covid is over. It's no reason why we can't get out and talk with each other. So please take that into consideration, and please, please go for
that low and no emission for paratransit service. I thank you. Alright, thank you. Anyone for paratransit care to comment about the low emissions request and
Mister RAM this the only, the only thing that I'd remind everybody of is we have contracts with five service providers ago until 2028
but if we brought it back into wooly, into DDOT, you know, we could fund for busses with no and low emissions from paratransit. So really we need to get it all the way back now with contractors fully into DDOT system. No other
way to say it, because somebody please expired.
Thank you for your comment. Now we have Mr. Cunningham,
Lac and DDOT meetings need to be hybrid, like she said, um, the enunciator needs to promote jobs available. That's the audio above. Audio systems on the fixed line route the audio system should advertise jobs available. They only need a driver's license. Make $19 an hour during training. Talk about the good stuff. First, DDOT stuck me with a loss of $120 in 31 day passes. Smart say the passes weren't theirs. They come from DDOT. It was a while ago when they were purchased. But life happens. I can't really afford that 120 loss, but it happened. I talked to Mr. Staley. It is what it is. The DDOT fixed route need to be wrapped. The busses need to be wrapped, like hiring ads on the outside of the busses. I plead with everybody. I'm an outreach person. I use my tax cap to give out bus tickets at the bus stops and then the wintertime gloves and hand warmers. I want to thank Mr. State again for donating.
So if anyone has any creative ideas on how I can purchase more bus tickets while the weather is not as cold. Please inform me not the smartest man in the world, ideas are very, very much needed. I love giving bus tickets and brighten up people's day because DDOT is only on time about 70% of the time. Hotline number 3134449114313444914,
get a pen. 313-444-9114,
and on Facebook, expensive vehicle repairs, and you'll find my Facebook you'll see my, my mom's face on the Facebook page. We did a lot of ride alongs with Rashida Talib Councilwoman Gabriella Santiago Romero, and those videos are found at expensive vehicle repair. You put that in there, you'll see my Facebook page. Thank you, Mr. Bryant, thank you everybody. Thank you. Mr. Staley, unfortunately, I did get stuck with those $120.60
Thank you anytime. Thank you, Mr. Cunningham,
our next we have Miss Marguerite Maddox.
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Thank you, Marguerite, we do have Mr. Mallet on that he can he can address the training or the plan in place to help operators be able to honor the request for lowering the ramp. Mr. Mallet, yes and good afternoon. Miss Maddox is always good to
you know, talk to you and hear your concerns. The Department is currently in a pivotal point where we are attracting and hiring a lot of new operators, and so we have a brand new young workforce. So the average years of service is under five years, and so we really trying to grow the workforce and reiterate the processes that will enhance each and every one of our riders mobility. Um, having said that, we do want to to put it out there clearly that lowering the ramp should, should just be done on a request basis, or and or automatic. So we are in the process of some driver enhancement training, where each and every operator has to be retrained on our ADA processes and procedures. And we greatly appreciate your your concern, and we will address each and every one of them, but we are diligent with making sure our operators are customer focused and lowering the ramp to assist our employees should be automatic. It should not be a request solely based on some type of disability and or need. Um, it doesn't require a whole lot of extra dwell time or time at the bus stop. Um, so that will be added in our our training modules going forward. Alright? Thank you, Mister malastone. Our, our first question was, give towards the people move to how many times would they be able to transport people with
disabilities, and also, will the people mover accept service animals? So Miss Alexander, can you respond to that question? Yes, thank you. Miss Maddox, for your question. The people mover does still accept service animals, and they are allowed to bore with with their handlers. The elevators and escalators are still elevators are still operational for that purpose. And regards to the new trains, those will also be retrofitted for ADA accessibility as well.
Thank you. Next we have a hand. Ms, Linda Wesley,
Hi, good morning, everyone. This is Linda from the office of the Ombudsman. How's everyone today? Great, good. I think this question is for Steve Patrick, you talked about the the pull out times. And hope. I'm hoping that this question is appropriate for this meeting when you talked about the pull out times for September, or what have you. I'm just wondering if those times, if you thought about the school, the children returning to school, in the
increase in in certain routes, has that been thought about as well? Yeah, absolutely. That's why we we added trips during the peak commute periods, and we even contacted a lot of the schools to find out when they start and end.
Okay. Great, great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next we have Larry
verse. Please unmute yourself and ask your question.
Mr. Morris, are you able to?
Okay?
All right, well, we'll come back to you. Oh Sharon, if I can, for the last caller, I do want to add one additional caveat, okay, part of the process for us developing schedules to accommodate our school school kids during the exit there's a slight concern we produce a schedule with anticipation of being able to facilitate moving them in a timely manner. However, the principles of each school is given the prudence to change the bail time, and so we can create the schedule, but we would still have to go back and then readjust at a later time to identify what's going to be the most advantageous, seeing though that the principal does have the proofs to change the bail time, so we produce a schedule with with the knowledge that we're given from the onset. And the principal does have the ability to change the bail time on the exit for school.
All right, thank thank you. And are they letting you know when they're changing the bell time, not always. Sometimes it's a little bit more reactive, but we do try our best to dialog and see there's a couple of different nuances. We had DPS our Detroit Public Schools, and then we have a lot of charter schools, so it's a great outreach that has to take place. All right, great. Thank you so very much. I appreciate the info.
Thank you.
Question, Marguerite, yes, Marguerite,
next, next we have Mr. Robert Pulaski,
good morning. Can everybody hear me? Yes. Thank you so much. Mr. Rambus, good morning everyone. Lac members, members of the public and staff. My name is Robert plowski. I'm a long time transit advocate and a long time DDOT smart bus rider, and I am also the Vice Chair for the Regional Transit Authority Citizens Advisory Committee. So I'm not speaking on behalf of my committee. I'm speaking on an advocate and personal standpoint. I would like to thank all the agencies for being here this morning and really providing us an update on some of the recent updates and projects they'll be doing. And I'd also like to thank Miss Linda Wesley for being here as well and making herself present to really get engaged with a lot of the things that the ombudsman and their departments doing, including what we're doing here as advocates and what
DDOT is doing as well. One of the main concerns I want to bring up during this meeting and as a long time writer, advocate and now Vice Chair for my committee, is the engagement perspective the DDOT meetings and these lac meetings specifically, really need to have more engagement. I do want to echo some sentiments from members here today. It seems like they're not being informed a whole lot, and there's only certain people that are being informed, and I don't want to make any typos and what I'm saying here, but we need to have more engagement. We need to have more meetings. These members need to be informed on what they're getting into, especially what service enhancements that DDOT is doing. They shouldn't have to be required to go to the community input meeting every month to get input or wait on an email or some input from staff if they have a request, they should be able to either meet bimonthly or monthly to have this information. It's being considerate to all the members to making sure they're getting their voices heard. They're getting their concerns heard, but also them having an opportunity to improve the system. That's just my two cents, but I appreciate the time, and thank you so much for all that you guys do. Thank you. Alright,
Mister Bryant, you care to respond on how we how we relate information to to the LAC Yes, um, Mister Pulaski, we were like. We related information by by email, and they are posted on the website. You know, we, we,
we relate, you know, through our personal emails and the websites. You know, I
get the information that that
are passed through from the administration, and I think they're doing a good job. They do a good job as giving us the information that we need. You know, may not be as fast and quick as everybody maybe expect. You know, nothing's perfect. No, we do our best the administration and Lac as well. Thank you. And you've been a really good chairperson for this committee. Just to put that out there, I think this committee has been more efficient than any other committee that I've served on in my previous years. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Mr. Brain, did you have a question? Yes, I just had a question about the just my curious about about the people mover. You know, how many cars are there for the people move that they used, and are the replacement? Are they? Are they replaced with the same amount of cars? Are they got? Are they adding more cars? It's just something I was just curious about. Now, happy to answer that for you. So we are looking to replace the entire fleet, which has been six, two car trains. So we'll be receiving 12 cars.
Okay.
Thank you for the information. Thank you. Move to Reynard.
Hi, good morning. Can I be heard? Yes, good morning. I'm an organizer with Detroit people's platform. My name is Renard shawnsky. I also reside in District Six. I want to support the call for low to zero emission paratransit and educate this body on the importance and equity behind this for fixed line service, which is the bus service that DDOT currently runs. There are efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions by switching their fleet to electric and hydrogen busses. We need to save effort on a paratransit side, given the myriad of health conditions that residents of Detroit
face, and especially our paratransit passengers, we're also one of the cities with the highest asthma and fatality rates and also long ailment rates as well, too, due to our pollution. And I want to send this body language that will support the call for low to zero emissions for paratransit vehicles. I am aware that we're under a contract structure right now, and there could be a call to the current providers to make a commitment to make to provide zero emission vehicles or hybrid vehicles, and this would ultimately improve the health of our passengers as well. Many passengers got COPD
asthma and other conditions. So if this will support the efforts of this body and this board, I would like to know to where I could send this language and also get your support in terms of creating equity and fairness and parity with the bus service in terms of cleaning our admissions and being in alignment with the city of Detroit sustainability goals on reducing our climate impact in creating a zero emission fleet all across the city of Detroit, across All of its services and our paratransit passengers, your time has expired. Thank you. Thank you, Alma. I think Mr. Staley has already addressed that, but if you would like to add anything else at this time,
that language can certainly be sent to me. I'd be happy to look at it.
Okay, thank you. Let's see Mr. Steve Steven has you our next hand.
Took me a minute to find the unmute button. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. First, I'm glad to hear that same day service is going to come around eventually. I'm equally sorry to say that it's a long time after it was promised. And so I regret that part. I think, Mr. Staley that you and Ms rice were talking past each other about two different programs and not understanding each other at all. The program you were talking about that deals with taxi cabs in Cook County has been around before Uber and Lyft existed, and it's not the same program. There is a program in Cook County in Denver and a bunch of other places where riders are able to call a ride share an Uber or a Lyft
in our city, and they pay the amount that they would pay to paratransit then, then the amount that paratransit spends on an average ride is on the city, and then the user, if that ride is not less than those two amounts, absorbs the rest. And that is generally not always. It's not restricted. You could use it inside the city, but it's generally used as a way to get to areas that in Cook County would be would be covered by pace rather than CTA here would be smart, and that's what Ms Rice was talking about. And we're very serious in NFB that we need to bring that program. The Uber Lyft program expired. I had another issue, but I'll deal with it offline, I guess. Thank you. Either you can, you can put it in the chat as well. No, I can't put it in the chat, if I could have, I would have alright. Chat is not very accessible, alright. Thank
you. Our next comment is Miss. Betty Varner,
good morning, everyone. My name is Betty a Barner. This is my first time attending this meeting. I am born and raised in the city of Detroit. Love my city. Been here all my life, senior, a new person to the disability community. So this meeting, I'm being educated learning what services are available. I'm also president of the soda Ellsworth black Association, so I'll be taking information that I do learn. Hopefully I'll be attending again to my residents and my community and to my black club members. I'm attending this meeting because of Mr. Cunningham, I want to thank him for advocating for people who take and use DD ot services. The city is doing a great job in improving on their services, but let's get it to 100% so people can get to work, to the doctor's appointments, or just take care of their business in a timely manner. I also appreciate the work that Ms mannox do. I hear them speak to both of them all the time, advocating for the people who take the bus and for people with disabilities. So thank you for all this information like I say, I'm new to this. I've only been disabled for a couple of years and but I still feel I'm blessed. Thank you for this time. Thank you, and welcome to our lac community. So
it's 1130 we, we thank you all for attending the meeting. Now I'll turn the meeting over to our chairperson. Mr. Andre Bryant,
thank you. Mr. Rambis, yes, at this at this time, I just like to let every everyone know that our next meeting will be on on November 19, 2024 and I would like to ask for a motion to to adjourn a meeting.
I'll make a motion. This is Tamara Pierre, and I make a motion that the meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Brother Cunningham, loves y'all take care, stay prayered up. Can we have Can we have a second motion second?
Hey, thank you, Tammy, you're welcome. Okay. Okay, enjoy, enjoy the rest of your day. Everyone, bye, bye, bye, okay,
and this meeting is adjourned at 11:32am,
thank you. Have a good day, everyone. Thanks, everybody. Take care. Yep.
