CC Minutes - 03/08/00 Work Session

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Ms. Taylor agreed that the schools were a good place to focus. She said that students should be educated about the effects of driving. She said that the City should work with the schools to alert them that some school practices and programs created additional miles traveled. Ms. Nathanson had recently read a brochure prepared for 4J school students about the true costs of driving. She asked what the response to the brochure was; was it distributed to every child, discussed in classes, incorporated into leadership training? Ms. Nathanson said that cars cost a lot of money, and she was sympathetic to those parents whose children wanted a car to drive to school because of peer pressure to drive. Regarding incentives, Ms. Nathanson liked many of the incentives related to transit. She suggested that employers in a shared location such as Valley River Center could participate in a joint bus pass program. She asked where the community got the most bang for the buck: through increased bus head ways or by ride sharing programs. She wanted to know the comparative benefits. Ms. Nathanson said it was hard for people to do something they had never done before, such as ride a bus. She suggested that Lane Transit District (LTD) allow a designated parent to ride the bus during commuting hours to act as a chaperone and lend to the feeling of safety. Mr. Rayor did not feel that the original TransPlan draft contained adequate TDM, and was disappointed that the staff recommended no changes for the four strategies. Mayor Torrey wanted LTD to give youth free use of transit all the time, to find ways to have parents pick children up from activities at no charge if with a child. He asked LTD staff for information on the costs. He said that if the City wanted to make a difference, it should make buses accessible to children and to parents accompanying those children. Mayor Torrey urged staff to delete Valley River Bridge from the plan. Mr. Kelly endorsed the mayor's remarks. He said that getting children used to using transit was vital to relieving congestion and making youth transit riders for life. He wanted a policy-level statement that identified a role for the school districts in implementing the plan, making the districts a formal partner in the plan in managing school-related trips. Mr. Fart said that LTD had been very responsive to the City's requests in the past, and continued to improve the system. He applauded that effort. Mr. Fart said that there were employers outside the metropolitan area that required LTD services, such as Country Coach in Junction City. He said that the number of single- occupancy vehicles traveling to such destinations created additional vehicle miles traveled and caused congestion in Junction City and Highway 99. He suggested a single shuttle bus could relieve much of that congestion. Ms. Taylor pointed to the use of shuttle buses to the Country Fair as an example of the successful use of such transit. She agreed with free bus service for children and said that free bus service for everyone would be well worth the cost. If bus service was free, people might try it and continue its use. Mr. Pap~ said that the University of Oregon had attempted various forms of TDM in the past, such as shuttle buses to football games, and suggested that the University might have some benchmarks for staff to take MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 8, 2000 Page 5 Work Session