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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-04-30 Special MinutesTUKWILA CITY COUNCIL April 30, 1975 SPECIAL MEETING Tukwila City Hall 7 :30 P.M. Council Chambers CALL TO ORDER M I N U T E S MOVED BY DAVIS, SECONDED BY SAUL, THAT COUNCILMAN STERLING ACT AS CHAIRMAN OF THE MEETING. CARRIED. Chairman Sterling called the meeting to order at 7:40 P.M. and announced the purpose of the Special Meeting as an open hearing regarding the Tukwila Free Shuttle Bus. ROLL CALL OF STERLING, DAVIS, HARRIS, SAUL. COUNCIL MEMBERS DISCUSSION TUKWILA FREE SHUTTLE BUS 1/93 An open discussion period of all attending the meeting took place with the following general opinions and comments reflected. Mr. Al Pieper stated he had reviewed the data on file in the City Clerk's office regarding the bus statis- tics and he felt the cost per ride each month was exceptionally high, running about $5 to $10 per rider. He stated he was neither for nor against the bus, but he felt the amount of money spent to provide the ser- vice was too much. He supported the idea of providing taxi service to residents who needed transportation. He did not support the idea of young people riding the bus for unnecessary trips. As long as the City pays for this service with its Revenue Sharing, there would never be an incentive for Metro to step in and provide it for us. The system as it now exists is lousy with the present routes and scheduling. Perhaps the City Could discontinue its agreement with Metro and provide its own service, such as the Grey Line Tours does. There seems to be a question of going into competition with Metro which is not allowed, but a recreational type of bus providing service may be legal. City Clerk Shirlee Kinney presented the cost figures for the months of November 1974 through February 1975. Metro is currently behind in their billing and the March statement has not yet arrived for payment. The City was billed $18,242.46 during those four months. During February 1,732 passengers rode the bus as a cost of $4,438.00. Mrs. Eleanor McLester stated at that rate, the cost per ride exceeds $2.50 and her fare to work from McMicken Heights to Seattle is only 50 (t. She stated she would hate to see the service discontinued because there are so many citizens in Tukwila that really need it, but she felt there must be some other alternative to the present system. She is still very much inter- ested in the proposed questionnaire as was discussed at the previous Council meeting. The present schedule is totally useless and the bus does not run at all on Saturdays and Sundays when people who work would most likely want to use it. There are some people in town who are not aware of the service at all. She felt a questionnaire should go to everyone in the City and that the questionnaire should include a self addressed envelope so that replies would be sure to return to the City Hall. She would like to see a committee get this together as soon as possible. The following questions were suggested to be included on the ques- tionnaire by Mrs. McLester: (1) How many members in your family? (2) How many members of your family ride the bus? (3) Are you aware of the cost of the bus and the cost of each ride? (4) Would you like to see a change in the schedule? (5) Would you favor a bus reduced in size and expense? (6) Do you favor a taxi type service for the needy, elderly, handicapped and/ or the general public? A space should be provided for TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING April 30, 1975 Page 2 1/9/ comments and suggestions. Mrs. McLester stated she was in support of the recreational /tour bus idea for the City and felt we could not be in competition with Metro if we did not charge a fare and if we did not run the bus on their established routes. She asked if the contract with Metro could be continued on a month to month basis after May 31 to enable the City to consider any alternatives and to study the results of the questionnaires. After these results are tabulated, we should hold another public meeting with Metro officials to put some pressure on them as to the desires of our citizens. Councilwoman Davis stated she contacted Mr. Robert Gilmore at Northwest Certified Surveys. He recommended that we conduct a telephone survey for our purpose and that a 10o sampling would be sufficient to get a balanced survey. He suggested a cost of about $5,000 for the survey. She quoted to him the costs as out- lined in the State Legislative District Poll and he then came down to a figure of $2.00 per head, which would then be approximately $1,000 to $1,500 depending on how large the questionnaire is and the number of people contacted. His firm would also provide the analysis of the results. Councilwoman Davis supported the idea of a private firm handling the poll rather than a citizen's committee conducting a mail -out. Mr. Burton Lutes stated he felt Metro should be con- tacted and made ware of the fact that we are not satis- fied with the present system. He suggested the City charge a small fare on the bus in order to discourage the unnecessary trips and out of town riders. This service is intended for our own citizens. Mr. Lutes strongly felt that if the City is paying its .3¢ sales tax for transit service, the City should not have to provide its own service. The City contributed over $500,000 annually in taxes for transit, as Mr. Bauch pointed out, and we have a need here for the service which should be provided by Metro at no cost. He felt the Council should initiate some legislation to put the pressure on Metro to produce. Councilman Sterling agreed. Mr. Ed Bauch stated he fully endorsed a transporation system within the City of Tukwila, but he felt we were not putting enough pressure on Metro to drive a hard enough bargain to get transportation. There is no reason why the bus that comes down Interurban Avenue cannot swing up over the hill on its way to Southcente] and the bus from Highway 99 from the Airport cannot swing into McMicken Heights on its way to Southcenter. He stated he supported the idea of the tour /recreation bus. There should be some sort of loophole in the agreement with Metro and its franchise that would allow us to operate our own transportation service. We should at least try it and let them take us to court if they want to. Councilwoman Harris referred to a letter from Metro to Mayor Todd dated in 1974 which states an hourly cost of $13.25 which was then raised to $13.67 some time later. According to the February, 1975 billing, the hourly costs compute to $19.99. The agreement with Metro specifically states the City will be notified of any increased costs and the Council will have to agree to them, neither of which has occured. She then re- viewed briefly the financial history of Revenue Sharing funding of the bus and the Council's action in a reso- lution agreeing to an annual expenditure of $36,000; this annual cost will be exceeded this year at the TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING April 30, 1975 Page 3 ADJOURNMENT 9:05 P.M. present hourly rate. Metro is required by law to provide us with transportation and we were supposed to have had a bus in Tukwila by now according to Metro's 1980 Plan. It will take the combined pressure of Administration, the Council and the citizens that is how Renton got their increased bus service. She stated she was surprised to hear the comments from both sides of the aisle tonight which reflected the same comments she had made about the bus two years ago. Councilwoman Harris then read portions of the agreement between the City and Metro Transit, stating in several areas Metro has violated its own agreement with the City. She stated she supported the mail -out question- naire and felt all registered voters should be con- tacted. Recent State legislation regarding transpor- tation was discussed. It would be a possibility for the City perhaps to lease school busses from South Central School District at times when the busses are not in use for transportation of groups to special events, etc. Councilwoman Harris asked the audience if the Council could find legal and satisfactory alt- ernatives of service for the citizens in the community, would they be favorable to not renewing the contract with Metro this year. Mr. Bauch replied he did not see that there was any rush to this since the contract if renewed this year can be cancelled within 10 days at the desire of the Council. Councilwoman Harris stated there is no reason, no matter what alternative is found, to let up on the pressure to Metro to provide this service. Councilman Sterling felt we should try to get the Metro service first and then if that does not work out, we should get an alternate service for ourselves. He stated he would like to get an ad hoc committee going on the questionnaire right away. Jon Sterling, Marilyn Patton, Viola Lutes, Ed Bauch and Doris Phelps volunteered to work on the committee. Mayor Todd will be requested to appoint the committee members at the next regular meeting. The committee intends to meet at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, May 10, at City Hall to work on the questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire will be reviewed with a represen- tative from Metro at a special meeting tentatively scheduled for May 28 at the Tukwila Elementary School. MOVED BY SAUL, SECONDED BY HARRIS, THAT THE MEETING ADJOURN. CARRIED. Shi 4 ee A. Kinney, Cit, Cler