Bullhead Area Transit System Commission Regular Meeting - August 5, 2024
Bullhead Area Transit System Commission Regular Meeting - August 5, 2024
The Bullhead Area Transit System (BATS) Commission held a regular meeting on August 5, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. in the Bullhead City Council Chambers. All three commissioners were present, and the meeting was led by Chairman A. J. Pompos. The primary agenda items included approval of previous minutes, reports from Transit Manager Michael Peluso on financial and performance data, passenger complaints, clarifications of public concerns, and a detailed evaluation of service and stop amenities.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The Commission unanimously approved the minutes from the May 6, 2024, meeting. Motion by Commissioner Frizelle, second by Commissioner Mieding, carried with three votes in favor.
Public Comments & Testimony
- There were no members of the public present to address the Commission during the call to the public.
Discussion Items
- Financial and Performance Reports: Transit Manager Peluso reported that ADOT’s E-Grants system had been backlogged, delaying reimbursement processing. The January 2024 billing data showed total monthly costs of $99,595.88, with cumulative expenditures at 52.23% of the approved budget ($3,528,076). Performance data for January included 11,018 passenger trips, 23,896 revenue miles, and a cost per passenger trip of $9.04. Ridership for the second quarter (April–June 2024) totaled 37,920 trips, with the Red Line most used (16,353 trips) and the Senior Van least (397 trips).
- Passenger Complaint Report: Staff presented the first formal complaint report. Since the start of 2024, only one actionable complaint was received—a May incident where a passenger claimed the Orange Line bus missed a stop. Onboard video review showed the driver stopped at all published locations at the correct times, and no passengers boarded. The operations supervisor attempted to contact the complainant but received no response. No similar issues were found on adjacent days.
- Response to Public Concerns: Staff clarified several misrepresented issues:
- A-1 Fleetsmart has been the contracted vehicle maintenance provider since 2011, with all contracts approved by City Council and ADOT. The city has no in-house mechanics for transit vehicles.
- Vehicle washes at $75 per vehicle (a rate unchanged since the original contract, despite current hourly rates of $85) include exterior power wash and interior detail meeting COVID-era cleaning standards.
- No unsafe vehicles are ever put into service; minor repairs not affecting safety may allow continued service. Claims to the contrary are false.
- Staff agrees with recommendations to move away from airbag suspension systems and has been transitioning to rubber spring suspensions for several years. Two new vehicles with rubber springs were received in May 2024.
- An ADOT site visit in fall 2023 resulted in no findings; BATS continues to be regarded as one of the best-run rural transit systems in Arizona.
- Service and Stop Amenities Evaluation: Staff revisited the 2018 major route reconstruction, which removed underutilized stops (those with fewer than two daily boardings) and added stops based on the 2014 Short Range Transit Plan. Adding new stops involves thorough vetting, including ridership analytics (minimum three daily boardings considered viable), budget constraints, and ADA compliance. A 2022 consultant list of ten recommended bench locations was presented, but none have been implemented due to the transition to direct 5307 grant recipient status (effective October 2024). Only one of those locations (Walmart stop) meets current ridership thresholds. Future route changes linked to the planned facility project may alter stop locations, making it premature to install amenities that could require relocation. Staff emphasized ongoing evaluation and proactive responses to pressing issues.
- Upcoming Holiday Closures: BATS will not operate on Monday, September 2 (Labor Day) and Monday, October 14 (Columbus Day). Notifications will be posted on buses and provided to paratransit passengers.
- Facility Project Update: The planning phase with Selberg Associates, Inc. is not yet finalized. Once completed, staff will seek grant funding for construction. Current grant reimbursement delays are unrelated to the facility project.
Key Outcomes
- The minutes of the May 6, 2024, meeting were approved unanimously.
- No other motions or votes were taken. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn, which carried.
- No future agenda items were identified.
The meeting adjourned at an undisclosed time.
Meeting Transcript
Call to order Bull Hood Area Transit Commission August 5th, 2024. Madam Clerk, roll call. All commission members are present. Okay. Under individual. Right, our call to the public. We have no one here this afternoon. So we'll uh see if we can make a motion to approve the minutes from May 6th, 2024. I make a motion to approve the May 6, 2024 minutes. And I second the motion. Thank you. Any uh requests or postpone the liquidity. We just need to finish Mr. Chair, we just need to finish the vote. Oh in favor, say aye. All in favor say aye. Three in favor of the motion. Motion carries. Sorry. Any requests to postpone or withdrawal of any items. Discussion or hearing any action items. Okay. Reports by commission members. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we do have some transit program updates and reports, and I've got a couple of them here that I'm gonna go through. Hopefully, if you guys have any questions, just stop me, let me know. I'm glad to talk about it. Um so the first thing you're gonna see a couple of things on here that we normally see, and then a couple of new things at the commission's request, and then a couple other things that staff just wanted to make sure that we went over. Um the first thing as always is gonna be our financial and performance reports. Um I've given a couple of reports over the last few commission meetings that were still a little backed up, but that's a thing that's not from us necessarily. ADOT's been very far behind in being able to let us process our reimbursement requests. Um so uh what you guys have in front of you right now is the January report. Um, just after this was sent out for the commission packet, uh, we were able to get February's submitted. Um, and I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks that'll get cleared, and then I'll be able to start with March. Um we are done and ready to process up through May already. So I'm just sitting on them waiting for the approvals. Uh, but either way, everything's looking good where we have for budgeting, both in what we're getting from the reimbursements. Uh we continue to get through what we're anticipating for the expenditure limits and whatnot for what we have in the grant. So um, and then uh pretty much all the performance data is pretty typical. Um, and one of the things that was requested that we add to um my report um is just some of the ridership statistics. Um, and so this is uh like I had mentioned at the last meeting. Uh I was able to pull kind of the last three months that we typically report um uh during the city manager's report. So we were able to pull these numbers from April, May, and June uh for the commissioners for each one of the routes that we provide and the number of trips that we provided on those services. I have a question, Michael. Yes, um, under the performance data, the passenger trips, you have volunteer drivers too. Is that two trips or two drivers? No, that is two drivers. I can only have two volunteer driving staff currently.
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