 Rossick, I'm your host for the Two-Wheel Revolution here on ThinkTechHawaii.com. This is a program where we talk about actually all kinds of transportation, mostly bicycles and electric bikes, electric scooters, and electric roller skates these days, and, of course, walking, which is an important part of personal mobility. So we have a guest today from AMPO, the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, and her name is Samantha Lara, and she's a traffic planner. Welcome, Samantha. Nice to meet you guys. Actually, I'm a transportation planner, not a traffic planner. I don't plan for traffic. I try to mitigate it. You plan to avoid traffic. Okay, good. I got corrected there. That's great. So AMPO is probably not something that's familiar to many people. We're in an elevator going up to the 25th floor, so give me your elevator speech. What is AMPO? Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization is what we would call an MPO, and every place that has 50,000 people or more has to have an MPO, and they are essentially the ones that decide where the federal funding goes for various transportation projects in any given region. All right. Well, that's pretty concise. So has AMPO been around here in Oahu for a long time? I think most people probably don't even realize it exists. Yeah, it has been, I don't know exactly how many years, but a good while, yes. Okay. In Hawaii, we only have two MPOs. Sorry. So we have an MPO and Maui, and then we have an MPO here too. Okay. Well, I guess the MPO and Maui is going to be pretty busy considering, and it's been a few, it's been a week or two now since the tragedy, they're struck there, and our hearts are still torn by what's going on on Maui, but obviously they're going to have a, there's going to be a lot of federal money, I think, pouring in there, and then so the Maui MPO is going to have a lot of work cut out for it, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. All right. So we'll talk about Oahu mostly because that's where we are. Give me a little more information about how you operate. So we've talked to people here on this program about, to the Department of Transportation, from State Department of Transportation Services, many other agencies, and where does AMPO fit into all of that? So Oahu MPO is an interagency organization. So we kind of work with all of these organizations that you just mentioned. We work with DOT, so the Department of Transportation, work with Department of Transportation Services, HART, they're all of our partners, and the MPO is kind of the agency, I mean, we just give funding mostly. So we have a policy board and they're the ones that decide on things. They make the decisions on, you know, if a plan gets approved or accepted, and we have, it then goes into a tip. So the Transportation Improvement Program is where money is allocated for any specific project. So we are kind of the middleman, if you would say it that way, kind of in between the implementing agencies and the community, we try and funnel the communities which is what they would like to see into the long-range transportation plan, which then is what the policy board, our decision-making body looks at and approves or hopefully approves because can they can't approve it? And then it would go on to inform other plans around the island and the different agencies. Okay, so a lot of federal money came into the, what we're calling the skyline, how will the skyline now, the rail that's opened and is going part of the way. Does MPO monitor that or does the money come through MPO or does MPO suggest how that money is spent? I'm really trying to understand how MPO fits in. Yeah, so the HART project is in our Transportation Improvement Plan. It is a project that has been allocated federal funding through the MPO as far as the design or any kind of decisions that come with the rail itself. That is not what we do. We are kind of the ones that receive the project, they submit the project for funding from us and then we look at it, make sure that it reaches or makes certain qualifications or performance measures or things like that, that make sure it's aligned with the long-range transportation plan and then it would get federal dollars that way. Nice. So, and then the bus also, I know the bus here on Oahu gets some federal money and I think their main, what they're looking for now is especially money to electrify as an electric bus, one of our prides and droves there. So is it the same kind of process that the federal funds that would support the bus would come through the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization? Yeah, so the funding comes from us for the electrification of all of the vehicles or for updating things. They do studies, they just did a transit ridership study, so kind of looking at what people like about the bus, what they want to see in the bus and that kind of also guides where that money is going. So we fund those studies, we fund any kind of projects they have, they give us kind of their budget and from there we allocate it through the tip. Okay, so I don't imagine that there's federal money directly for private electric vehicles, but what about for electric vehicle infrastructure? Is that also something that would come through Oahu charging stations and that kind of thing? Yeah, so we have seen the charging stations, I think that they're starting to build them on all the islands. What I remember, we're looking at mobility hubs, we have a mobility hub study that's being done and that's kind of deciding areas on the island in which having a mobility hub where you would have charging stations, you would have biky dogs, the buses would come there, maybe have some sort of convenience measures, you know, maybe like a laundry mat or coffee shop, something that also has things for people to do in that area while they're charging their cars or whatever is something that the MPO can fund. All right, are there any, do you know off the top of your head if there are there any of these hubs in Prospect now or that's still in the future? I know that they're studying where to put them and there's been interest on having one in town side and then maybe one in Haliva to kind of mitigate any kind of traffic that's coming as they go to the North Shore. Right now there's also a parking study that had been done to kind of see the parking structures that are state-owned how they're being used and if that space can be repurposed for mobility hubs too, so trying to just reuse our resources in a different more efficient way. Yeah, a parking structure would be kind of an obvious mobility hub, it sort of is right now, but it could be turned into something a lot more attractive with amenities and as you say, a place to sit and have a cup of coffee or shop or whatever while your vehicle or your electric bike is charging. Is that the idea? I don't know that it'd be an actual parking structure, so more like the parking lots looking at the space, maybe it's an underutilized space and from there building a mobility hub. Okay, all right, so it would be something you would use the empty space for. So if I have, well first of all, if I have, let's say I just have a great idea for where to put one of these mobility hubs or some other idea, how do I express that? How do I get involved with Ampo or find out what's on the books or can I suggest something? Reaching out to the Ampo is a great way to get any kind of issue you want looked at. If we have an idea for the mobility hub, that would be great. We have our long range transportation plan, which we update every five years and in that process, we're constantly seeking feedback. We put out surveys, we have a newsletter, we have a website that we put all of our information on. We're starting to build out social media, so that's a little bit new, but we're working on that also. Providing comments when we put out the long range plan or the transportation improvement plan, the community can just go and literally read those documents and say, hey, I have questions about this project or I have questions about this, and my job as the community transportation planner is to take those comments and to feed them to either DTS or HDOT or HART or whoever needs to answer those questions and make sure that those questions receive some sort of answer. I also document all of that, so the questions will be put back on the website, so maybe somebody has a question that's already been answered and they can look back at that kind of excel sheet and see what's going on. That's very interesting. So here in Hawaii, we often are in this situation where we're going down a road or a highway or a street or whatever. Is this a state street? Is this a city street? Is this a county street? So if we're not sure, but we have an idea, we could go to you and you'll figure out who has to pay attention to our comments. Is that the idea? Yeah, I can definitely put it to where it needs to be so that we get answered, but we also have a link that I believe is on our website if it's not, it should be, and that one will take you to a map, an interactive map that will show you all of the streets and who is responsible for which one. Wow, that's, again, I've learned something right away, so that's probably on your website. We could find that. That would be a very interesting. I will double check that it's on there if it's not. I can go ahead and send you the link, but yeah, that is something I get questions for all the time. Everybody wants to know is there a map that says which street goes where or who owns it and we have that. All right, well, that's terrific. So, and if, let's say the city, we're always bugging the city. Bicycle people are always bugging the city for more bicycling infrastructure, as I'm sure you know. So if, does the city then, does the bike coordinator or the DTS, do they call up OMPO and say, can you give us some federal money so we can do this? How does that process work? They would submit projects. So we do a call for projects and those go on to the transportation improvement plan and the idea is those projects would relate to the long range plan. So in the long range plan, it says things about safety or building out bike infrastructure and then DTS or HR, whoever puts in a project proposal to the tip and then they tell us how much money they need, kind of the timeline it would take or whatever and that project would get funded. All right, but if it doesn't fit in with the plan, DTS is, I'm sorry, OMPO is in a position to say, no, this doesn't fit into the plan. So don't ask, they don't expect federal money. Don't ask for federal money. Does that, does that happen too? Technically, we do. So the thing about MPOs is that they vary in size. Our MPO is very small and it only looks at our county, whereas other MPOs on the mainland look at multiple counties and in those areas it's a lot more competitive. So you have multiple transportation agencies putting in a lot of projects and those MPOs are physically constrained. So we can only decide how many projects are going to fit into this budget and our MPO is smaller and we only have one county. So we're able to do a lot more with the projects because we're all kind of already working together versus having a more competitive kind of system. All right, lucky you live Hawaii. That's one of our favorite saying. So we do. We are small, but there's some advantages there. Can you give me an example of a big MPO, a huge one that has all this competition for funds? Texas DOT has very large MPOs. I would say California has some very large MPOs. There's one, an MPO kind of in the Midwest that looks at multiple counties and that one's really big too. So it just depends on your population size and how big, how many, you know, that means that our MPO staff is larger or smaller. The more things MPOs can do. Yeah. Since you mentioned, how many staff roughly do we have here on Oahu? Right now we have 10. So our executive director just wrote out a new strategic action plan and that's for the MPO to grow its staff. So we're hoping to do more in-house projects, more in-house studies and just kind of bolster what we can do in our kind of jurisdiction as best we can. So we will be getting more staff at this moment. I think you have 10. Okay. Mark Garrity is the new MPO boss, right? We know Mark, he's been involved with transportation here with Hart and with other, with the bus for a long time. So I think we're probably in pretty good hands there and the fact that he's going out to try to grow MPOs is a good sign for us, I think. Yeah. We're very excited to be able to do more. I mean, obviously staff capacity can be limiting or it can be very empowering. So he's trying to make sure we have everything we need and we can do more things for the community. And my goal is to get the community to know who we are. So that way, if we can use that kind of resources. All right. Do you know roughly how many people are on the Maui MPO? Again, they're going to be pretty busy. I do. So the Maui MPO has one person. It's the Executive Director. And then she also has one kind of staff person, but it's basically an accountant. So it's not really a planner. And I know we do our best to kind of work with them. We have monthly meetings. We try and help her as best we can. She's also a new Executive Director. So she's kind of on her own learning curve too. But Maui MPO is our smaller counterpart. Well, I think, you know, I'm assuming that that will be beefed up as we look to the future of Maui and whatever happens in the redevelopment of Lahaina. So that's interesting. I mean, it's great that there is somebody now who can look at the whole island. So you mentioned safety. And safety is a big issue for a lot of people, especially people, I think, who are walking or on bicycles or skateboards or whatever. And even in cars, we've had a number. This year, we've had a record number of deaths due to traffic crashes. I don't say accidents anymore. I say crashes. And even during the height of COVID, when we thought things should get less, the number of traffic crashes and the deaths and accidents did not fall. And that kind of amazes all of us, I think. Where does Ampo come into this safety equation and how we can make it safer for everybody, for people in cars, for people walking, for people on any kind of personal mobility? I know it's not your main concern, but I think obviously safety is part of the picture. Where does Ampo come in? It is definitely a main component. I would say that the MPO, our goal, or what we're supposed to be doing is developing a vision, goals and objectives for the region of Oahu, and with that, it's supposed to inform and feed the other plans that are the implementing agency's plans. And so when we say that safety is a top priority, we're making that kind of a performance measure, so that way the projects they submit to the TIP have that built in. How is this safe? How is this increasing safety for our region? Is this in any way detracting from safety? Are we looking at pedestrian safety or just the safety of the cars? Because that's a thing too, right? Putting more roads in is making it safer for cars. We shouldn't be reacting by making it easier for the cars to avoid the pedestrian. We should make it to where the pedestrian doesn't need to be avoided. They're co-existing yet, but not taking a measure to just continue to address cars. I think that's great. I think there's always, for a long time, there's been a sort of attitude about walkers. And we have a very fun picture of people walking. Looks like the Beatles going across Abbey Road, but there's been an attitude about walkers and, to a certain extent, cyclists and so forth that it's their fault. They've got to watch out for themselves. Cars own the road and everybody else better look the hell out. But really, when you think about it, to me, somebody in a 5,000 or 10,000-pound vehicle covered by metal and protected has greater responsibility to care for the people that are out there walking or cycling. And if I'm, I hope Bopo looks at it from that point of view. Yeah, and I think I'm also trying to push kind of pedestrian education and awareness. I see where people say that, that it's a pedestrian fault. I don't agree with it, but I do think that we need to build in an educational component so people know how to be educated pedestrians. It's kind of an art, right? It's not something you just learn how to do or just fall into. You have to also practice being a good bus rider, pedestrian, bike rider, all of these things and have that kind of self-awareness. So the MPO is really pushing transportation literacy, teaching people about the transportation modes, the very acronyms that we use, how to be a good pedestrian, how to do all of the things. So yeah, that's kind of how we're trying to address that. Well, that's great because you're absolutely right. As a cyclist or a walker or whatever, you do have a responsibility to not put yourself in jeopardy or put people, anybody else in jeopardy. And after all, if you're a walker or a cyclist, you do have the most to lose from that crash. You do have the most liability. Whether it's fair or not, that's the reality. If there's a crash between a vehicle and a person on a bike or a walker, I think we all know who's likely to take to suffer. But you're right. And bicyclists as well, cyclists need to learn how to do the right thing. At the end of this, we're going to do a little micromobility moment in which I'm going to talk about e-bike safety. So that's kind of fits perfectly, fits right in. So as you and your traffic planner, transportation planner, I got to get that right, you know, plan for traffic. You're a transportation planner. And if you look at Oahu, what do you, what's your, what am I trying to ask you here? What's the biggest need? Where do you see the, you know, where do you see the friction points? So where do you see what we need to do for the future? I think that we have a lot to, we need to be, we need to work more with the land use people with the Department of Permanent and Planning to kind of make all of these things work. It's one thing to put in very hard structures, you know, the rail, for example, but it's another thing to also have land use around there to make sure that there's housing and there's jobs and there's things for people to do around these areas. And I can see the need for putting in better bike infrastructure. Hawaii is so beautiful all the time. We have the weather for people to be walking and biking more, we certainly do. So we can have that infrastructure, but part of that is really changing travel behavior. And I would like to see that in our future, really trying to figure out how we can get more young people on the bus. For example, what do we need to do to see more women bicycling? What do we need to see more kids riding the bus? Things like that are part of just travel behavior, which I would consider a very soft measure, not actually building something, but teaching people, making it comfortable for them to want to try more active modes of transportation. And that's only going to work if they live and work in areas where there are transportation possibilities, right? If people have to drive and that's how they depend on things, I get it. I totally understand. But if we can kind of expand our infrastructure out to the West side, to the North Shore and create better, more active modes of transportation possible for them, along with building transportation literacy and working on transportation or sorry, travel behavior, I think we can have a much more brighter future. That's terrific. So it's not just the hard stuff. It's not just it's not just the tracks and the stations and the literally concrete stuff. It's also how people use it and interact with it that Ampo is concerned about. So that's a great thing to know. I think sometimes we think, well, it's all federal money's all about pouring concrete someplace and creating jobs, which is fine as far as it goes. But after the jobs are gone, we're left with infrastructure that doesn't necessarily work for the people that are going to use it. So that Ampo is aware of that and is moving about that. That's terrific. Yeah. I think part of my mission too is I don't want everything to be so much about transportation, getting commuting to work. You want to be able to enjoy the place that you are, right? When people travel to Europe, the first thing they say is everything's walkable. I can walk and have coffee and I can walk here or there. And it should be like that here too. It shouldn't just be us going to work. It's such a really rigid mentality. We should be able to find things along our routes and interact with the community. And I really personally believe that's how you build your relationship with the community and maybe you're more cognizant of litter or more cognizant of what you should vote for. All of these things really play into how we interact with the urban forum. And I think that is something that needs to be at a forefront when deciding to plan urban transportation systems. That's great. And you mentioned young people and being, there's a Safe Ridge to School program and some laws about that. Is that also something that Ampo looks at and wants to be involved with? We do work with Safe Rads to School. So we have a Safe Rads to School coalition and we meet regularly. I provide any kind of updates or input from the NPO, any kind of things that they need to support from us. I try to do. I encourage them if they'd like to submit any kind of projects to the tip more than welcome. I think that teaching children transportation literacy is the most important way to change transportation behavior. If we can get them to be using the bus and to feel comfortable riding bikes early, then we're doing a great job. And a city that's safe for kids is going to be safe for all ages. That's very well put. I love that. So one more time, tell us about the website, tell us about how individuals can get involved with this Ampo organization. Yeah, so our website will be shared, but we post all of our information on our website, ways to get involved. I would encourage you to take any surveys that we have, any comments that you have that you send to us. We have a Citizens Advisory Committee that meets on the first Wednesday of every month. And that's just reoccurring someplace that you can go hear any presentations that we have from our partner agencies, get updates on their studies. You can always reach out to me if you have a direct question that you would like me to try and find an answer for. I try to do my best with that. And if we have any events going on, they'll also be on our website that you can come and actually meet us in person and ask us anything that we can help with. The website once again is? It's OahuMPO.org. All right. Samantha Lara, thank you very much. This has been totally enlightening to me. I've always heard of OahuMPO and had no real clue. And I imagine a lot of people don't know either how important, obviously, federal money is very important and federal oversight to make sure all of our various agencies are doing the right thing is really essential. And I think with Mark and I hope our new Maui executive director gets up and running. I think we're going to be in very good hands because the transportation picture is changing here. And that's terrific. So thank you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciated this space. Oh, right. Very good. But we do have a try to end most of these programs. So I call the micro mobility moment. Sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're not so funny. And it's fitting right in with today's discussion. Next slide. The two very prestigious organizations, People for Bikes and the League of American Cyclists, which used to be have a different sexist name, but it's been around for a long time. They have just launched an e-bike education program online. It's called ebikesmart.org. You can go there. They have discussions of safety, batteries and how to deal with them, all that kind of thing. So before you get on one of these lovely things, which I think are terrific vehicles, it would really behoove you to go over there and learn about all the things that you need to know about it. And if we go to the next slide, I would promise you a bit of humor. There's me learning to ride a bicycle at about, I think 14 or 15, long after all my peers had learned to ride a bicycle. I finally learned to ride one. And, you know, right after this picture was taken, I probably fell off, but that's okay. So, and I've been riding ever since, then a lot of cycling, and I think it's a great way to live. So with that, I'm going to say aloha again. Thank you again to Samantha and to Ampo and all they do. And I will see you again in a couple of weeks here on the 2L Revolution at ThinkTech.com. Aloha.