FAIRFAX COUNTY TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMISSION
MEETING SUMMARY
Regular Meeting - June 6, 2005
7:15 PM - Room 1004, 10th Floor, Herrity Building
TAC Members in attendance: George Barker (Chair), Earl Flanagan, Janyce Hedetniemi, Roger Hoskin, Camille Klein, Brian Deery.
Others in Attendance: Jay Guy, Michael Lake, Denis Paddeu all of Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT).
The meeting was called to order at 7:25pm
Main Topics Discussed
Board Referrals:
There were no new referrals from the Board of Supervisors.
Presentation on Fairfax County Department of Transportation Mobile Accessible Travel Training (MATT) Bus
Denis Paddeu gave a PowerPoint presentation on the MATT bus. The MATT bus provides travel training in a real-world environment. The bus is equipped with state-of-the-art audio and video equipment for on-board information sharing and travel training. Denis recently took the bus to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) annual conference where it received much attention and praise. The Las Vegas public transit providers will be coming to Fairfax County to tour the MATT bus and get ideas for their own.
The central idea behind the MATT bus is that the County’s population is aging and transportation providers have to be ready to meet increasing demand for accessible and easy to use public transportation facilities. As an example, currently 3,100 County residents use Seniors-on-the-Go. There are also multiple other organizations and services for the aging including Senior Express, where drivers assist with social service transportation; FASTRAN, the County’s social service paratransit operation; and MetroAccess, WMATA’s Paratransit service that provides the majority of paratransit trips for the County.
The next step for the MATT bus is to better utilize the bus as a mobile transit passenger training center. Currently the bus is being used mainly for seniors, but the idea is to expand the training offered to the disabled and special needs communities to demonstrate that public transportation can be accessible and easy. The main obstacles facing the targeted community in their transportation usage are fear, ignorance, personal safety and personal health concerns and conditions.
Denis is using the needs and desires of the seniors to get them onto the MATT bus and show them that they can get to where they want to go via public transportation. He has been taking senior groups on tours of Union Station so that the seniors are getting to travel to places they desire to travel to, and doing so by bus and rail. This allows them to make a trip with a group where they feel comfortable and will encourage them to continue to use transit in the future.
Denis hopes to continue to train seniors and the disabled community with the MATT bus. He also hopes to reach out to the school systems and English as a second language centers to demonstrate that everyone can use transit to get where they need to go.
The MATT bus regularly schedules visits to senior centers and is also available for groups upon request.
Meeting minutes of 05/03/05 were approvedHeading
Earl Flanagan asked if the drivers were trained in CPR or if there were defibrillators on board the MATT bus. Denis indicated that the drivers were trained in administering basic first aid and that there were first aid kits on board.
TAC Website
Jay Guy presented the TAC website as updated.
Transportation Summit Follow-up
Jay Guy discussed the internal review that staff conducted on the summit. Young Ho Chang has asked staff to pick up on things the County can do in the future. Other jurisdictions, including Loudoun and Prince William, have also expressed following the County’s lead and holding a summit of their own.
Legislative liaisons from area jurisdictions are also discussing holding a summit for state legislators, and general assembly subcommittees to demonstrate the need for transportation improvements.
Things that went well at the Fairfax County Transportation Summit included: good attendance; speakers; well thought out presentation and topics; solid information; and good press coverage.
Things that did not go well included: closing session took too long to set up; may have tried to cover too many topics and need to clearly define an objective for the summit up front; disappointment that more legislators did not attend; and the TAC commented that the scheduling should be adhered to more closely.
Suggestions for next time include: moving sessions along as scheduled; get public affairs involved earlier in the planning process; clearly define roles for speakers, staff and TAC members; follow through with a Q&A session; have a logistics committee and a steering committee, but have one lead person to coordinate between the two; and consider fewer topics and having a half-day event.
Opportunities for additional summits include: a regional summit to discuss coordination of efforts and strategies for improving transportation; and a funding summit next time a bond or tax referendum in proposed to encourage support.
TAC Officers Nominating Committee
The nominating committee recommended the current officers maintain their positions; George Barker – Chairman; Janyce Hedetniemi – Vice Chairman; Roger Hoskin – Secretary. The nominations were accepted and officers elected unanimously.
Other Business
Upcoming meeting between the Non-Motorized Trails Committee, the transportation subcommittee of the Planning Commission and the TAC to discuss the transportation section of the County Comprehensive Plan will be held on June 28, 2005.
The regular TAC meeting for July will be held on July 19, 2005. Due to the proximity of the July meeting to the August meeting date, the August meeting has been cancelled. The next regular TAC meeting after July 19, 2005 will be September 6, 2005.
The TAC will discuss the TAC Spot List at the July meeting, Jay will distribute a list of potential projects for each district to the TAC prior to the July meeting.
Upcoming Agendas
- Transportation Plan Update
- Transportation Summit Follow-up
- Dulles Rail Update by Rick Stevens
- TAC Spot List for FY 2006
Announcements:
Earl Flanagan announced that land Use nominations will start in the south County area this fall. The South County Federation has half a dozen nominations and the Mount Vernon Council Transportation Committee has another half a dozen.
Woodlawn road is back on the fast track because Senator Warner has put money into the defense budget to pay for improvements. Earl thinks there ware some real hurdles to this project including historic preservation, environmental issues and the BRAC relocation.
Janyce Hedetniemi reported on the Braddock District Transportation Plan review work.
George Barker noted that the presentation of the TAC achievement award to Ellen Posner was well received.
George also reported on the Tysons Area Plan study. The group asked the Board of Supervisors to enlarge the group up to 20 members from 13 originally because the group needed business leaders, minorities and better representation from Tysons Corner residents. The Board increased the group to 30 members and the mission has been expanded. The group now has County-wide representation, more business leaders, minorities and residents. Former Fairfax County Board Chairman Kate Hanley will chair the committee.
Meeting Adjourned
The meeting was adjourned at 9:50pm
