 Oh, yeah, it really was. We had opposite back end. Okay, everyone, should we get this show on the road? Okay, let me turn on the recording. Thank you. And we should be good to go. Very good. Well, let's call to order this meeting of the transit district board of directors on August 26th. And by my clock, it's nine oh two a.m. Donna, can you do a roll call please? Yes, sir. Director Brown. Director Downing. Present. Director Dutra. Here. Director Colin Terry Johnson. Present. Director Koenig will be absent today. Director Lynn. Here. Director McPherson. Here. Director Myers. Present. Director Pagler. Here. Director Parker. Present. Director Rockin. Here. Ex officio director Henderson. Here. And ex officio director Northcut. And we have quorum. Very good. Thank you. In terms of our next item announcements, I want to note that this is being broadcast by community television of Santa Cruz County. Thank you for your assistance with putting these meetings together and broadcasting them. Any comments from our board? Any directors have comments? I'd like to make it this time. I'd just like to add just a commendation to everybody involved with your employee barbecue because. Oh yeah. It was wonderful. Well done. Great to see everyone and just just couldn't have. Couldn't have imagined anything better. Great job. Thank you. Donna, that's terrific. I'm sorry. I missed it. I would have wanted to be there. Well, surgery takes precedence. I'm afraid so. All right. A lot of our retirees showed up too. It was really great to see folks that have been driving for the district districts for decades ago. Yes. Yes. And I appreciated the photos as well that were shared in various places. All right. We have at least one letter that arrived just by email. Has there been anything else? Donna. There has not been. Okay. And that additional letter was from friends of the rail trail. I think Mark, the CD Miller. Correct. Thank you. All right. We do have a hand raised. Thank you. Very good. Let's go over there. That would be Brian from trail. Now Brian, would you like to speak? Yes. Hi, this is Brian from trail. Now thank you for letting me speak. We included in our notice, a written comment. About the importance of the three main corridors. Highway one. So Cal and the coastal corridor being open as transportation resources. It's very important that the coastal corridor be opened in a different way. It's very important that it's open. It's very important that it's open. It's very important that it's open. Unfortunately. And it's cost effective manner. Unfortunately. It continues to be delayed over a decade now. And included in our response. Are links to California coastal. CTC, the transportation commission. Caltrans. That really gives policies on. Funding. And that's what we're looking for. We're looking for the people that will receive investments in the coastal bluff. And from that, you'll see that. There is virtually not any likelihood that Santa Cruz will receive any approval. For building a fixed rail system. That goes right on the coastal bluff. And I think it's important that our community recognize that. now they're spending millions of dollars to relocate existing fixed rail. So, and now we're seeing the example up on the North Coast. I don't know if you've seen it, but the Coastal Commission has not permitted a permanent trail request for the North Coast Trail. They actually are only authorized to do a temporary and actually there's a trigger if they are end any type of rail service there. That's a trigger where they'll have to look at the alternative. So, it's really important that our leaders understand the facts on will it be possible to even have a very expensive train along the coast and we believe it will not. Now, one other thing I wanted to comment on was the Measure D, the Greenway Bridge and the idea that people think that the public voted for a train. Well, that is not true. We don't believe that to be true. We believe people voted against it for very many reasons. As an example, we posted a call that roaring camp is train is closing because the fact is if you have an electric train going across the boardwalk there won't be enough room for a roaring camp train to be there. You'll have pedestrians, you'll have heavy traffic already and roaring camp actually will not have that ability. And so what we found when we did that and see it in the post, the public was outraged and we believe that a lot of the Measure D, no on D was the messaging that roaring camp would be closed and that was a big part of it as well as other factions. So we wanna really encourage Metro to focus on Metro and not to believe that there is the likelihood of a train. We need to continue to invest in Metro. We support Metro. We've always supported Metro myself personally and the big transit advocate. So thanks again for your time and thank you for the work you're doing over. Thank you, Brian. Donna, do you see other hands? I cannot see that at the moment. Oh, okay. Lonnie Faulkner. There you go. Lonnie, please take a moment. Hi, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Wonderful. I would really like to thank Michael Tree, Wandomu and John Ergo, but and bus Metro for supporting our efforts locally, the efforts of youth for climate justice in support of Assembly Bill 1919. AB 1919 has passed out of the California legislature and we'll head to the desk of the governor, I believe today in support of free transit passes for students 18 and under. Similar efforts have been shown to have in improving truancy, decreasing student crime, improving student attendance, supporting economically challenged families and improving long-term economic opportunities. So we just wanna appreciate that support from your organization. Thank you so much. And just to respond to the last caller's comments, I just have to say that in the past, bus Metro has also been incredible in supporting the efforts of both the rail, bringing rail and integrating with the rail in the future. We know how important that is, especially in providing a future of robust public transportation for our community in order to ensure that we get more cars off of the roads, more people into transit to affect both our environment and equity. Again, thank you for that support. Take care, bye-bye. Thank you, Lonnie. Let's see. Tate, Tate Bah. Tate, are you able to hear us? Yes. I'd like to speak. There you are. Hi there. So what I just heard earlier about the guy, Brian, talking about the train for that he's up, that he's here in the public or outright. I've been thinking about it over the past two months and what I'm thinking is there could be a light rail and I know you have nothing to do with it, but that's not really the main point though. My thinking is they should continue with the light rail and make arrangements to prevent the trains from getting shut down like the camp railroad, what do we call it? But that's not the only thing. I noticed that Watsonville Transit Center has a great looking mural painting in the area, which I hope you know what I'm talking about. And my thinking is I've noticed a lot of traffic delays going on the highways, including Highway 17 and the other highways in Santa Cruz County, which I don't remember the name of, but my thinking is I think maybe after the light rail in Santa Cruz kind of gets approved, which I think it should, in my opinion, I think there should be arrangements to prevent any further delays like having not just a highway lane for buses only, but also let one of the bus routes provide passenger service from one of the stations for the light rail in Santa Cruz County, the one from Santa Cruz to Pajaro and let the bus route provide passenger service from whichever station in Watsonville to Watsonville Transit Center every day, including holidays, just like Route 17 of Santa Cruz Metro provides passenger service at every day, including holidays and maybe some other stations to let some bus routes provide passenger service there every day, including holidays, but not every route, which I totally understand by the way, just like the way Monterey Salinas Transit has some routes that operate every day, including holidays, which I'm hoping might be a good idea for Santa Cruz Metro and for everyone who needs access to their jobs, hopefully. So that's all I have to say. So I hope you understand that. Thank you. Thank you, Tate. All right, I'm looking at the public list and not seeing any additional hands. No. Just, okay, very good. Let's come back to the group labor organizations. Do we have anyone from the labor groups here today? Possibly not. I see James as an attendee, but I don't see a hand up. I don't force him to speak. No, I'm just, I always like to hear from James. No, I wasn't suggesting anything. Otherwise, I just, I don't see any hands. Very good. Thank you. Any communications from the Metro Advisory Committee? There are none. All right. And any additional documentation for our existing agenda items? There are none. All right. But with that, that takes us to the consent agenda. It's fairly lengthy this month. Don't know if any of the directors have any items to pull or if we're ready for a motion to approve. Ask the public first. Thank you, Mike. Let me see there. Is there any member of the public who'd like to see an item from the consent agenda pulled and discussed? Looking for hands. Seeing none. I'll move approval of the consent agenda. Mike Rockin. I'll second. That was a motion by Rockin, second by... Dutra. Thank you. All right. Any discussion? Are we ready for a vote? Donna. All right. Director Brown. Aye. Director Downing. Aye. Director Dutra. Aye. Director Cullentary-Johnson. Oh, you're muted, Shebra. Sorry. Aye. Thank you. Director Lin. Aye. Director McPherson. Aye. Director Myers. Aye. Director Pagler. Aye. Director Parker. Aye. Director Rockin. Aye. And the motion passes. Very good. Thank you all. That brings us to the regular agenda and pages of reading on my part, I think. I may call on a couple of directors to help me out here if I lose voice. So stay with me. We're going into employee longevity awards and there's a long list of them this week. It's pretty exciting to see how many people have been here for so long. We're going to start with the 10-year crowd. The very top of the list is Brandon Freeman. Brandon is a local-born Santa Cruz native. He did spend part of his youth in Los Angeles, but ultimately ended up back home Santa Cruz. Prior to joining Metro as a bus operator, he played college football for Fresno State and briefly for the San Jose Sabercat. He recently inherited two Macaws and enjoys pampering them. That's cool. Brandon loves his route to Bonnie Dune and Boulder Creek and is looking forward to 25-plus more years with Metro. Good for you, Brandon. I guess I should just keep reading. Does that seem appropriate for folks? Yep. All right, thank you. Next is Jesus Gonzalez. Jesus is one of those operators that never complains and just enjoys his job. He never seems to have a bad day and will always make you smile when he shows his subtle humor. Although he seems to be shy, he's one of those bus operators who passengers and coworkers enjoy his company once you get to know him. Thank you, Jesus. Alicia Griffin. Alicia takes pride in her job and always has time to assist her passengers. On her off-time, she can be seen in the company of her four-legged baby Skipper when she enjoys pampering and giving him all her attention. Thank you, Alicia. Jesus Haridia. Jesus was born in Santa Cruz at Dominican Hospital. He grew up in Live Oak. Jesus enjoys working at a job where he's able to serve his community and he's happy to be working alongside two of his childhood friends, Noah and Miguel at Paracruz. His hobbies include reading, classic cars, motorcycles, anything that is computer technology related, questioning authority and study of law. Thank you, Jesus. Eric Negretti. Eric is an operator that goes above and beyond in his performance. He volunteers to work extra every day and always has a positive outlook. On his time off, he takes full advantage of time spent with his wife and boys by taking them on great vacations. Thank you, Eric. And the last and I haven't done anything for him is Eric Perez. All of these folks are celebrating their 10-year anniversary. Next, we move into the 15-year group, Ricky Ann Kegley. Ricky Ann started with Metro's legal department as a paralegal in August 2007. She resided there until Metro outsourced their legal department in 2017. And at that time, she became part of the Human Resource Department. Currently, Ricky Ann is primarily responsible for all the various leave of absence requests, public record requests, workers' compensation claims, and all of the COVID-related leaves and payments since the beginning of the pandemic, as well as many other fulfilling tasks that keep her very busy. Ricky Ann has been an integral part of the Human Resource Department. She's been a key member involved in the last several FDA triennial reviews and various audits conducted in the Human Resource Department. She's also helped draft many of Metro's current policies and regulations. Ricky Ann is a California native and grew up in South San Jose with her two sisters. She's close to her family and enjoys spending time with her seven-year-old great-nephew. In her downtime, she enjoys hiking, cycling, and sewing. She loves the outdoors and many of her vacation days are spent exploring state and national parks. Ricky Ann's grandparents lived in Santa Cruz, so she's very familiar with the area, enjoys listening to local bands, and often enjoys overnight stays in her family's home here in Santa Cruz. Thank you, Ricky Ann. Christina Mahalova. She, I haven't done anything to say for her, but thank you. Clint's neighbor. Clint started his career with Metro as a para-cruise operator before promoting to a fixed route. Clint will continue to enjoy his time with Metro for many more years. He enjoys his time with his family on his days off. Thank you, Clint. Mary Sells. Mary started with Metro as a bus operator but had many other talents to offer. Mary takes pride in being one of the few operators that can jump into any situation in a moment's notice when she's on standby. She's familiar with and has driven every single route in our system. Mary's other talents include cooking, baking, party planning, and creating amazing handmade scarves, sweaters, and other crafts. She has won awards for the Santa Cruz County Fair. Thank you, Mary. The last of the 15 years we have Sergio Tabak. Sharky, as everyone knows him by, is a true local. He was only fitting that Sharky become part of an organization that serves the community he was raised in. He's always interesting and pleasant to talk to and is one of those operators that never complains. And if he does, he can always offer solutions. He enjoys spending time with his wife and family on his days off. Okay, let me take a sip of water here. Now we move to Brian Watson who's celebrating 25 years with Metro. Brian's long, Byron's long career with Metro started as a vehicle service worker. He worked hard getting buses ready for the morning pullout and then was promoted to bus operator. Byron is always smiling when he starts his day and has a contagious laugh. He's also a great family man. You can be seen supporting his children at their sporting events. Thank you Byron for 25 years, that's great. And at the top of the list with 35 years, Anna Marie Govia. Anna Marie began her career with Metro in August of 1987 as a bus operator. Her trainer was Judy Sousa and she worked in Watsonville until October of 89 when the yard closed due to an earthquake. In 2006, Anna Marie promoted to transit supervisor and assisted in training more than 50 new operators. In 2014, Anna Marie replaced superintendent, Mary Farak, as the operations manager. During her tenure, Anna Marie has built a reputation of forging great relationships with the managers and directors within Metro. Anna Marie and her staff in the last eight years dealt with multiple crises in Santa Cruz, including fires, floods and major incidents. Anna Marie's staff respects her ability to train and direct them during times of crisis and through the day to day operations. Anna Marie stated, I'm honored and fortunate that have been able to be part of an organization that has always been an innovative leader to our community. Anna Marie is a 35 year employee with Metro. She constantly demonstrates her rich knowledge of the history of Metro. It shows in her dedication and work ethic. She is an asset to the agency and is willing to be a change agent when necessary and maintain the integrity of the agency. It has been a pleasure to work with her during the last three years. She's thoughtful and familiar with all of her employees, including bus operators, support staff and her supervisor staff. Anna Marie has a strong sense of community. This is reflected in her thoughtfulness for operations and maintaining service. Wow, thank you, Anna Marie. That's our crowd, yes, maybe a hand. Everybody, I'm frankly, I'm thrilled to see so many folks who have been here for decades working for Metro. I think it's a wonderful thing. I'd love to see the longevity of our crew. It's really wonderful to me. Okay, I believe. Any comments from anyone? Will I catch my breath for just a second? I'll just add that I'm sure I'm speaking for all of the board that we realize that what makes this agency work are our employees and the work that they provide for us and certainly not least those that are actually out there on the road driving or supervising people driving to deliver the service. It's, we're well-known I think for the courtesy that our drivers provide both impaired crews and a fixed route service. It's very different if you travel in public transportation other communities, you don't necessarily get the kind of really positive community support and customer service that you get from our crew. And we really appreciate the work that they do. It really makes this district the district that it is. Thank you, Mike, I completely agree. It's wonderful. All right, let's go to the next item. The safety certificates of achievement. I think Curtis is here, but I want to acknowledge this. This seems like a relatively new thing to me. Maybe we could have a little bit of background, but we're acknowledging safety award recipients to three of our... Sure, good morning everyone. Curtis Moses, Security Risk Management Director. As you may know, federal transit agency has changed methodologies the way all transit agencies should kind of take a look at safety and they basically rolled out a new public transit agency safety plan for all transit agency. So for the past year, monitoring the requirements of those that are inside the policy, I was able to basically evaluate and take data on three particular departments who are basically have met those criteria for certificates. And those are the ones that are basically mentioned today and was awarded yesterday with a dedication ceremony. Well, manager, the Chief Operator Officer was there to present these three departments of excellence regarding safety and improving the safety culture. Thank you, Curtis. And those three departments were Fleet Maintenance, which is acknowledged with the most improved for safety culture. The Facilities Maintenance Group, Cal OSHA Safe Work Area, and the parts and materials which is being awarded for zero incidents. Good work to all the crew and Curtis, thank you for your guidance in all of this. Much appreciated, happy to see. Thank you. All right, we are on to... Let's have a pause for those three groups as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. All right, we have two retirees to acknowledge this month. The first is Herbert Dean Brown. Dean enjoyed his job and was always willing to work extra to keep service on the road for our customers. Dean was one of those operators that took pride in learning all of the routes and areas in order to be able to assist his passengers. He will be enjoying his retirement in Santa Cruz, even though he will truly miss his time spent as a bus operator for Metro. Thank you, Dean, for your service and I hope to see you at the next picnic. And second, we have John Thomas. John has always taken pride in his performance as a bus operator. He had the answer to any question regarding routes, schedules, or service areas. John comes from a family in public transportation as his father drove a bus in India. John would never hesitate to step up and volunteer for extra work when service needed to be covered. John is very proud of his family, especially his children's successes. He will be enjoying his retirement in the Central Valley with his wife, son, and daughter. Thank you, John. And I believe, do we- I'll move approval- Thank you, Mike. The resolution supporting these retirements. Second. We have a motion and a second. We have a vote, please, Donna. All right. Can you just state for the record that there are no public comments, please? Thank you, Julie. I am not seeing any. And now that you've mentioned that, I'm continuing to see none. No comments from the public. Okay. Director Brown. Aye. Director Downing. Aye. Director Dutra. Aye. Director Cullin-Terry Johnson. Aye. Director Lind. Aye. Director McPherson. Aye. Director Myers. Aye. Director Pagler. Aye. Director Parker. Aye. And Director Rockin. Aye. And the motion passes. Very good. Thank you all. That brings us to our CEO's oral report. Michael, would you like to take the stage? Yeah, sounds great. You hear me okay, Larry? Yes, you sound fine. You too. Well, hey, I certainly wanna congratulate those who were recognized this morning. And there's just no doubt as I go and just have had a great time getting to know the employees. They are your biggest asset by a long shot here at the agency, even though there's a lot going on that's really good with purchase of ZEP buses and other things. It's the employees, the ones who are driving that really are making the difference out there. I do have a couple of items to go over this morning. The ridership, you probably saw the KPIs in the consent calendar. So the ridership continues to go in the right direction. We're right at about 60% of our pre-COVID ridership levels. And of course, we've set a goal as an agency to get that to 75% by the end of the fiscal year. So, you know, we're pretty excited about that. I think more and more in our meetings that we have, management meetings, executive level meetings, we're talking more and more about that ridership and how to get that ridership back. There's a couple of things associated with that ridership and that is obviously Cabrillo College back in session and we're hoping that their enrollment continues to increase. And then UC Santa Cruz, of course, is a big factor in our agency ridership. Pre-COVID, they were 60% of all the ridership alone. So we're hoping that they have good, strong enrollment as they come back into session recently. Couple other things to kind of keep on the radar. The county fair is coming up from September 14th through the 18th and we've extended route 79 to get folks to the fair. We've increased the Paracruz service area. So folks that can access the fixed route system can enjoy the fair and we'll have a booth there where we'll have a lot of fun talking to residents and having some games and talking transit, showing them how to use the system. So we're looking forward to the fair. The Chamber of Commerce has their business expo coming up on September 8th, I believe and we'll also have a presence there. In regard to upcoming service changes, you've probably seen the proposed service changes that'll go into effect on September 15th. And long story short, although we're making strides and I'll talk about that in a second in regard to new operators, we're still short and that's causing a lot of overtime. And you know, a lot of stress with the drivers who are working that over time. I had a driver come in about a week and a half ago and show me that he had worked 79 hours in one week. And that's really tough, right? To do that weekend and week out. And yet there are drivers out there who are willing to help the agency out to keep that service on the road. But that combined with just the occurrence of cancellations due to at times not being able to cover the shifts caused us to do some service reductions that are upcoming, they would start September 15th. And so if you have any questions about those as I kind of conclude my thoughts today, John Ergo, your director of planning is available to talk about those. But to kind of kick off those temporary, I would call them temporary service reductions we're taking the system fair free from September 15th, which is the beginning of those reductions through the 29th of September. So your fixed route system and your para crews will be free during that time period. And we'll also in marketing really market the fact that we want folks to get out and try transit during those two weeks who are not currently using transit to make it an incentive. In regard to operators, new operators, good trends. Since we last met, we've only lost three operators and we have graduated two operators who are now driving and then we have 10 operators currently in class that in the near future will be out and operating. And we have right behind those 10 operators going into class, we've got the marketing kicking back up for the next round of classes for new operators. So more are coming in than are leaving and that's really good news and more are coming in by far, by frankly, than are leaving. We've already got four applicants without even having marketed for the next round of classes that are fully qualified and have applied that are just waiting for that next round of classes to start. So I know Don and Margo and Annamarie and others are really working hard to ensure that those classes keep going and that we have a constant flow of new operators coming in. So that's a huge accomplishment on their end and on the agency's end. In regard to COVID and the outbreaks, we're still in a minor outbreak in our operations department where by far the greatest amount of employees are working your drivers. A minor outbreak entails that three or more people have COVID within the last 10 day rolling period. So that kind of continues when that minor outbreak requires the drivers while they're in the operations building to wear their mask. And we're hoping on the 29th that we can leave that minor outbreak status, but we'll see. I did wanna remind everybody about the October 14th study session. It's a little ways off, but hopeful that you've got that on your calendar. Staff's been spending quite a bit of time and in September, we'll spend a lot of time getting ready for that study session. And as you'll recall, we're gonna take a hard look at battery electric buses and hydrogen buses, the technology, the master plan of the agency and the pros and cons of each of those technologies. So it'll be a great opportunity for the board to kind of get up to speed on the technology, on the funding availability and what that looks like and how aggressive staff will be proposing the purchase of zero-emission buses. And just as a side note, it's really where the emphasis is the state and the fed level is on zero emission buses. They did a recent $1.2 billion round of discretionary funding for buses at the FTA recently. And there were no CNG buses awarded in the state of California through that discretionary funding round. So all the focus was basically on getting your battery electric buses and your hydrogen buses going within your agencies. And there's a couple of other things in that study session and I'll bring them up only because if I leave something off, give me a call and we can talk about it. But certainly we're gonna talk about opportunities to grow the ridership. You'll probably have the best planning expert in the nation, if not the world, come in during that workshop, that study session and talk to you about potential for ridership increases and moving forward in a healthy way with your ridership over the next 10 or 20 years. So that'll be a great piece of the study session is the potential on looking at ridership and growing that ridership. And then a couple of other things we promised would bring to you a good update and a good explanation on your automated passenger counter technology and where we're at with that. We're soon gonna have that on the buses but it is in the procurement stage but won't take long to implement once we've awarded that contract. Your automatic vehicle location system, your contract with clever devices. I mean, you're really getting up to speed with the system in regard to technology which will pay off both at the agency level with staff being able to see what's going on within the system and also at your customer level where they'll be able to get increased information in real time on the bus system. And then finally, we're gonna talk about a new marketing program. Danielle and I have been working on that it just quite frankly, haven't seen it in the nation. I think it's gonna be really noteworthy in the community and it'll be fun to unveil and work to implement. And then finally, the last thing I had kind of on here was there are, you know, we're currently working on housing projects within the transit agency. We've got the Pacific center in downtown Santa Cruz where we're working with the city and other member or partner agencies on 94 units and a new center for the transit district and new customer service area, a new area for loading of passengers. But we've also been working really hard on your SoCal Park and Ride location to implement housing along with your Paracruz facility to have a good mixed use game plan there. Our architects are really close to giving us what that would look like. So we wanna bring that to you in this study session and also just talk to you about a couple of other housing opportunities that are right there for the board's consideration on the transit properties that you have. So if I missed anything, let me know. I think we wrap up that study session with just a quick look at your 10 year strategic plan and how all these topics kind of fit nicely within that. A couple of other items you've heard about SB 457 in regard to legislative items in Sacramento, that's your tax credit. And basically that got amended yesterday. So I'm still trying to get up to speed on it, but the long and short of it is that is a bill that for the taxable years beginning January of 23 to January of 28 would allow a credit against those taxes to qualified taxpayers in the amount equal to $1,000 for each household. So it was $2,500 for each member of the household. Now it is $1,000 for the household if you basically have zero registered vehicles in the household. So we're following that pretty closely and from my office, we've been supportive of that bill. After it completes its journey in the assembly, it'll go back to the Senate for reconciliation. So I think there's an opportunity for the board to weigh in. I'll put that on the next agenda. But in the meantime, I just wanna let the board know that staff is actively engaged in supporting that bill and helping that bill move along. And then of course you've got AB 1919. It's your fair free for students K through 12 and also college aged. It's been amended several times, but it's been approved and has gone to the governor for signature and I believe they have $115 million identified out of the general fund to set up like a discretionary grant program for agencies that wanna participate in that. And I still need to work through some of the details whether that grant actually comes through the educational institution or through the transit agency, but it's gone to the governor, it's discretionary, meaning it's a competitive grant program. And I, staff sees lots of opportunity to bring those funds into the district to help with getting a pass in the hands of students, whether they be junior high or high school or perhaps any gaps that we might have with the colleges and the college and the university. Hey, with that said, I only have two other items, but I think they're really noteworthy to talk about. We received a grant award off a discretionary program at Caltrans for $2.1 million towards three new buses and staff's working really hard to get the gap funding assembled so that those three buses can be zero emission buses. And so just great thanks to WandaMu for working within that discretionary program and bringing home a couple of million dollars for the agency for fleet replacement. And then the other noteworthy thing is staff has been working really closely with RTC and Caltrans in the county, really a nice partnership in assembling a congested corridors grant application for the California Transportation Commission, cycle three of that program. And that grant includes signal priority at intersections within the project area on SoCal Drive and also new bus shelters that would have real-time technology for the passengers, real-time next bus arrival technology and other amenities. And then finally, each of those stops or many of those stops, I should say would have a platform design where the bus wouldn't go into a pullout and get stuck in the pullout by traffic but would basically just dock at a platform in the curb lane for boarding and alighting. So combined with the technology at the intersections to get the buses through the intersections quickly that platform technology will really help preserve the speed of the bus, especially over time so that it doesn't see degradation in the runtimes. So that'll have both the monetary payoff and then obviously the passengers will be much happier with better on-time performance on that route. So that concludes my comments this morning. You probably have a question or two so I'll be happy to answer those. Thank you, Michael. That's a very thorough report, a lot going on. I see a hand up from Rebecca. Questions? Yes. Thank you, Michael. That was a great report, learned a lot. Could you remind me again of the free fair days you mentioned and that's system wide? It is. So that would be- All from H3, one, two, eight, six, one, zero, four. Okay, now you can go. So the changes in the routes are implemented on September 15th. So the fair free is also implemented on September 15th and will go through September 29th. So does that mean free fairs to the fair? Is it system wide? Yeah, from the 15th through the 18th that the fair then will be fair free. Pretty cool. Okay, thanks. Mike Rocket. I just wanted to make sure that we're prepared for the first week of school at UCSC. It's the school starts to the 20th. In that one, there's a couple of things. First, just to be honest and cynical, more students go to class in the first week of school at UCSC than any other week in the year. And in that first week, a lot of them are like new, either junior transfers or a fresh coming to school. And people, if they get passed by two or three times, they might be writing their parents for a car and we'll lose them as a passenger for the remainder of the four, two to four years they're gonna be here. And so it's, I mean, we have a need overall to replace the missing drivers, but that week is particularly important and somehow we need to figure out our scheduling. So we don't have withdraw on service and pass bys during that week because it really makes a big difference in the long run. So I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention. As I tell you as a teacher, it's also really unfortunate when your first day of class and students show up 10 minutes late because they've been passed by twice or something. So that's just my personal, please, personal help. But I think it's just critical in terms of our long-term ridership to make sure that we have as little slippage there. And there'll probably be some, but there'll be as little slippage there as possible. Thank you, Mike. I agree with that. And I would say it actually extends for maybe those first two to three weeks of the quarter. Deborah, can I see your hand? Great, thank you. Thanks for that report, Michael. I wanted to ask about AB 1919. If the governor signs it, when do we anticipate that those discussionary grant program will be launched? And what are we doing or what should we be doing to be competitive for those funds? Those are great questions. I know that they have some timelines, Bill. Wondemou, can you remember what those are in regard to implementing those grants? You're muted, Wondemou. Thank you. Yeah, as soon as the governor signs, so the plan is probably around October once the governor signs, it's gonna be implemented. So it's a pilot study for five years. And yeah, we'll read as soon as the governor signs that and we have to wait until Caltrans develop a guideline to roll out those funds. So we're planning to roll out all those free fair service in our county. Yeah, I would think we'd work really closely with the school district and with the college and the university to form a partnership as we apply for those grants. I mean, I would envision working really closely with them and then with other support groups. Yeah. I see Dan Henderson. I'm sorry. Can I just one more thing? Sure. Back to Mike's comment about making sure that the academic year starts out well and that we are servicing the students the way that they need to be serviced. I imagine things like that will be some of the indicators that grant reviewers will be looking at. So just confirms kind of what Mike was saying earlier that for us to prepare, what are some of the outcomes and indicators they'll be looking at to see that we're ready to receive these kinds of grant fundings. So thank you for being on that. Very good. Thank you, Shepherd. Dan Henderson. Good morning all. First, Mike, thanks for bringing that issue to the surface. I know Metro does everything they possibly can to mitigate the past bias, but it's good just to keep it on everybody's radar. To your point, it's likely to happen. It happens every quarter, it seems normal quarter, I should say, that demand outpaces capacity, but we're gonna do our part in marketing, communicating to folks to try to get to class early. Try to set your schedules so that you can build in that time to find your new classrooms, those types of things. The first day of class usually is a little bit chaotic, but people will settle into a routine and it does balance out over the course of a couple of weeks. But whatever we can do to have additional resources on standby, we're at the ready in case we're receiving reports of multiple standbys in the morning or past bias in the morning. And also for afternoon drive, folks are trying to get off campus at the end of the business day, end of the school day, trying to get off campus. Those are a lot of the things that really are top of mind for our affiliates. Of course, they're gonna want more capacity, more frequency, just in general, but those are kind of the really good times as you say. But thanks for bringing that up. As it relates to AB 1919, I'm taking a look at it now and I heard the mention of it earlier. The age limit is 18. Do I understand that correct? I know this legislation has been taken many forms over the past many years. It's never gotten this far, but it has been, anybody who's in college or high school or 25 and older or younger, that type of thing. But now it seems to be 18 and under. Is that accurate? Everybody's knowledge? Maybe Wanda Mu might be able to respond. Yes, yeah, that barrier has been, that age limitation has been removed. So now it includes K-12, all the college students in the California system. So there's no age limit now because this is to reduce a burden on the universities and the transit agencies on counting those demographies. So it would make it easier for all transit agencies to track those ridership. So there's no age limitation now. Okay, very good. And the one item I would add to what Dan commented on is besides the higher number of ridership that they see at the beginning of fall quarter at UCSC, there are also more than 5,000 new people who are new to the area, possibly new to riding the bus. And so there's a learning curve as they discover how to board a bus, exit a bus, and all the rest. Quite a bit of education needs to occur there as well. Alta, I see your hand. Thank you. Thank you, Dan, for that question because I did have it for community college because as you know, we don't have specific ages that we serve there all over the place. So thank you for the clarity. I also wanted to thank John Ergo for the diligence in getting the 91X back in place for our students and that service area. We do know we had a backup plan with the 69A and the W but I wanted to make sure that we acknowledged that 91X was back in service and we are so grateful to be able to serve our community through the Watsonville to the Aptos area. Thank you. Thank you, Alta. Mike, I see your hand just came up. Right. It would be really helpful if we could get more information. I know it's not all finally decided how it's gonna work but on 1919, the state bill that it's gonna provide free transit service because questions like, how is that gonna affect the fee that students pay at UCSC or Cabrillo? Does it replace that fee? And they don't have to pay it anymore or is it something on top of that in terms of how it operates? And questions of will the schools, whether it's K-12 schools, the public schools or the colleges be responsible for issuing cards that you know, that in other words it shouldn't be up to our drivers to figure out how old somebody is or whether they're going to school or they're gonna have to get some kind of a card is the school's gonna produce those cards or is that up to the transit district? And so there's some pretty basic questions. It would be, I think helpful to us to get information out maybe before if it's possible if we know the answer to those kinds of questions in the bills to us through an email or something about how's this all gonna work because that's pretty revolutionary. UCSC students pay one of the highest transit fees in the country. And that's great that they're so environmentally aware and willing, that's why they voted for this. I believe the major reason that they voted for that program is not all the students take the bus but they all pay the fee one way or the other. And so it's great that they're willing to step up and be so responsible. But on the other hand, if there's free money and they don't have to pay those high fees, I'm sure they'll welcome some reduction and stuff. I have just no idea how the actual funding is supposed to work. And so it's a little research on that would be helpful for the board members to understand where this is going. And I'm sure for the colleges to understand and then the K-12, so they have to set up a whole new ID system for the K-12 students who are gonna be taking these buses. Thank you. Just to say thank you for that question. So that's one of the key question we have been tracking. So the amended bill actually intend to supplement the current service. So it does, it actually explicitly prohibits replacing the current agreement or contract agreement with the university. So it's only supplementing the existing service we provide. So it doesn't change, it actually prohibits changing or amending the current existing contract between transit agencies and higher institutions. So in addition to this, the budget is very small, $115 million per year. So if you look at the demography or the fair revenue of this demography is roughly statewide, it's roughly 3.1 billion. So compared to what is included in the general budget which is 115 minutes too small even to cover up to 10% of the entire service of this demography nationwide coming, yeah statewide. So we are tracking still Caltrans is developing guideline how we can really go after this funding. So once Caltrans gonna manage this grant just like other state funding, the 53 relevant rural operating fund. So they're developing guidelines. So we will know how we can, if it's metro or school districts that's gonna issue, go pass. And but the good thing about the bill is it covers the entire operating costs from marketing to operators wage benefits and everything. So that's the good thing. So we're gonna be closely working with school districts and other agencies receiving this service. So it basically it's funding because if you have free ride service for people who have not been using it before they may add to the demand more people will wanna ride the bus and therefore you have to provide either additional buses on a given route or perhaps some new routes or whatever but that's what the funding is for. That's correct. Yeah, that's correct. The funding is to create or expand service. Yeah, well that's demography. Thank you. Thank you, Wanda, that was helpful. Donna Linde. Yeah, thank you. I had you answered some of the questions because when I went up Sacramento over a hundred mayors throughout the state went to a leader's summit this spring. And one of the things that was dealing with other issues, housing and unfunded mandates. But while there we're meeting with various legislators I asked about 1919 and I was surprised very I pretty much none of the legislators I contacted knew anything about it at that time. And they had, I mean, just they did make notes said they would look into it. Chris said they get back, didn't happen. I'm so shocked. Not really, but anyway, it just, there was a lot of confusion. So it sounds like more of this is, more details are coming together but I tried to raise things such as, because at the time I was asking the same thing. What about UCS air contracts? This is a major part of our budget. And it just seemed like it was one of those bills that there was very little thought, someone had a great idea, well, let's do this without doing the research. So that was my concern that there was little awareness in Sacramento back then. And it sounds like from what Juan and was saying at least the portion of UCS and Cabrillo that I was concerned about has been resolved. But I'm still concerned that it was kind of flying under the radar and I'm glad you're keeping a close eye on it because they didn't have any answers at the time I was there. So it felt, yeah, it just felt like one of those feel good bills with no planning behind it. So I think it's great that you're staying on top of it. We'll need to watch it closely. So thank you. And the good thing about it is unlike last year when there were three bills to provide free service for young people, but have the transit districts pay the cost at least the state was willing to fund their ideas as opposed to one of these unfunded mandates they often bring down the pipe. So that's why I think it got so much support from various cities and transit districts and so forth around the state. Yeah, I as well have been following AB 19th, 19, 19th, 10th of the spring and have seen it evolve quite a lot as the author and others have learned more about the reality of relationships between University of California, CSU, community colleges, each with their own transit district that there are existing arrangements and contract. And so I think the most recent language looks pretty reasonable and beneficial to both the colleges and the transit district. That's my sense, Juan de Món. One quick thing before I, Michael, on the signal how I miss may have missed how that will work as far as the buses. I mean, I'm as police officer and firefighters had the ability to manage the signals if they're rolling on a call and things, but I'm just not really clear on how that's going to be the technical side of that So with the controller at the signal heads, basically there's technology that communicates with the bus. And if the bus is running behind schedule, it'll either borrow a few seconds to keep the green light longer or it will advance a red light a few seconds early into the green to give the bus the priority to go through. So yeah, it's great technology. It's virtually imperceptible, right? To the motorists, it's a couple of seconds of holding that green or a couple of seconds of advancing the red to the green. And it only works when the bus is running behind. Otherwise, all things are normal. Well, Lisa, I know a first responder has that ability to override, but that's very obvious. I mean, that is disruptive, but necessary. So thanks for that explanation. Yeah. Very good. Any other questions from the group? I'm also looking to the public and not seeing any hands there. I believe that may be the end of our time here. Announcement of the next meeting, we're going to meet again on Friday, the 23rd of September. Again, it will be a teleconference call. Any last words from the group before we adjourn? Thanks for sharing. Thank you, Mike. I appreciate it. I always appreciate everyone's help. Sometimes I'm working on a small screen and it's not enough room to see who's asking to speak and such. All right, with that, we'll adjourn the meeting. Take care of yourself. Just take care of yourself and wants to keep you in our thoughts for past healing or continued healing. I'm continuing to heal. I'm doing my exercises multiple times a day and hope to be walking around outside here very soon. Hope to visit the second story of my home soon too. I see a hand up from David. Okay. I'm going there, David? Right now. There, David, are you there? Hello, sorry, that was an accidental hand raise, but I will mention that the bus stops with real-time information is pretty exciting and all the other stuff is great too, so thanks. Great, thank you, David. Well, that's a lovely way to end our meeting for the day and with that, I believe we are adjourned. Thank you all for your time. Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon. Okay. Have a great weekend, everyone. Wait, weekend. Bye. Okay, so for Metro staff still on here, 15 minutes and then we'll jump on the next one. Okay, I'm going to miss that.