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<br />M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />Work Session <br />McNutt Room – City Hall <br />777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon <br /> <br /> May 13, 2009 <br /> 12:00 p.m. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Mike Clark, George Poling, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer <br />Solomon, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz. <br /> <br />Ms. Piercy called the work session meeting of the Eugene City Council to order at 12:00 p.m. <br /> <br />A. WORK SESSION – West Eugene EmX Extension Update <br />LTD Board President Mike Eyster presented an update on LTD’s West Eugene EmX Extension Project and noted <br />that LTD’s primary objective for the briefing before the Eugene City Council was to learn how they might want to <br />process decisions regarding any locally preferred alternative (LPA). <br />Mr. Eyster proceeded to demonstrate LTD’s 61- mile bus rapid transit (BRT) system and related infrastructure that <br />had been incorporated as part of the TransPlan approved in 2001 <br />Mr. Schwetz commented that the approval of the TransPlan in 2001 had been the impetus for the eventual <br />implementation of BRT systems by LTD. <br />Mr. Eyster demonstrated figures that reflected the number of community residents who used LTD transit services and <br />noted as proof of the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the LTD systems that the number of LTD service hours had <br />decreased while the number of overall boardings across the LTD system had increased dramatically. <br />Mr. Eyster noted that an increase in LTD ridership around 2006 was attributable to the implementation of the student <br />group pass program. He noted that the student group pass program had been very successful in reducing the number <br />of vehicles on the road while at the same time introducing students to the benefits of public transportation. <br />Mr. Schwetz noted that student group pass users accounted for approximately 7,000 out of the 44,000 LTD <br />boardings per day. He further noted that the increase in the number of boardings across LTD reflected the success of <br />LTD’s efforts to expand the traditional role of public transportation systems to include “choice riders” in addition to <br />riders that were historically considered to be “transit dependent. <br />Mr. Schwetz, responding to a question from Mr. Zelenka, noted that recent economic conditions and fluctuations in <br />fuel prices had contributed significantly to recent rises in LTD ridership but were not completely responsible for <br />them. <br />Mr. Eyster presented figures regarding the average weekday boardings for LTD’s EmX service which demonstrated <br />the effectiveness of the system. Mr. Eyster further noted that, taken in comparison to the boarding statistics for LTD <br />Route No. 11, the ridership figures for EmX had already surpassed the 20- year projections for the service. <br />Mr. Eyster and Mr. Schwetz briefly discussed the main characteristics of BRT systems and described how those <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 13, 2009 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />