Good morning.

This is a meeting of the El Paso Mass Transit Department Board for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025.

It is 1130 AM.

Present and presiding is Board Chair Johnson, also present in chambers are board members Chavez Acevedo, Maldonado Rocha, Boyart Trejo, Fierro, Limon, and Canales.

We do not have any public comment.

Okay.

So all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by Mass Transit Department Board to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by members of the public by mem board members.

Prior to the vote, members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda.

When the vote has been taken, if an item has not been called out for separate discussion, the item has been approved.

The Mass Transit Department Board may however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting.

Okay, is there a motion to approve the consent?

Second.

Call for the vote.

And we do have a motion made by board member Limon, seconded by board member Fierro.

And this is to approve the consent agenda.

Okay.

Is that number two?

Item number two is item number number three, sorry.

Number three, okay.

It's the presentation and discussion of Sun Metro.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

Director for public transportation.

Uh for the city of El Paso.

Can we pull up the IT?

So today I'm here with Ulysses Hernandez from Nelson Igar.

They are the ones that did help us get put this all together and and do a lot of the um analysis and come up with the pan plan based upon the the direction and guidance that that we gave them to make sure that we're moving forward for the to do better in transit for um for the city of Opaso.

So this this is from Nelson Icar.

Okay.

So today I would like to update you on the fixed route um optim optimization endeavor, sunmeturizing.

A year and a month ago from today, the Mass Transit Board approved Sunmetro Rising.

The first ever complete redesign of the network.

So today what I want to talk about is projected goals, timelines next and our next steps, recommendations, and the way ahead.

And then finally cover the benefits and impacts that it has.

This is what we call optimization in transit.

And here's the key.

This plan had to be done without increasing any financial responsibilities or any other resources.

So everything we got now holds for this.

That that is the key for this optimization.

And in four in order for this optimation to come to fruition, four project goals had to be met.

Analyze, engage, redesign, and develop.

So we analyze evolving ridership to understand ridership and how we're gonna adjust that in the future.

We engaged with riders, stakeholders, and the Sun Metro staff in person to ensure that that information can be incorporated, which I think was key.

And after those two things were done, we had to do the actual redesign.

Thank you, Nelson Igar, and the development framework.

So that's what how we we moved ahead.

As you can see in this timeline, it's lengthy process that involves analyzing and identifying strengths and requirements, coupled with the best practices and community outreach to get this initial state of the system report, which was briefed to the Mass Transit Board on 2 August of 2022.

This was the finishing of the initial analysis process.

Sorry.

This was the finishing of the initial analysis process to get us moving into the next phase.

That is the state of the system report.

It was on 7 November 2023 that the Mass Transit Board approved Sunmetro Rising Plan.

This was a major hurdle, a major milestone that we had to get through to keep moving forward.

And the next thing we had to do was look at Title VI.

And Title VI is an FTA requirement that ensures that everything we're doing is fair.

And so you say, hey, what's fair?

Um it's so it does not disproportionately affect members of a group.

The group that we're talking about here is race, color, national origin, or minorities.

That's what we're covering.

So when we did this plan, we had to make sure we took in consideration everybody, their geographical location, and who they are as a whole, and make it fair so it's not disproportionate.

So we are required to do a major service change analysis.

That is, if you change more than 30% of the overall system or 30% of an individual route, right?

So that's what we have to do, and we have to submit that that to FTA.

But we didn't just do that, we went beyond that just to make sure that we are taking in consideration all of the citizens in El Paso and all of the riders.

So we went further and did a disproportionality analysis, which goes from a quarter of a mile from any route, um, and there can't be more than 25% of uh disadvantage increase.

So we also did that one.

And so we submit that to FTA.

FTA doesn't take that and start looking over it right away.

The way that FTA works is they don't necessarily tell us what to do, they more tell us what we can't do and give us guidelines of where we're going.

So when we get our next audit, probably in 2026, um they'll start to look at that and see make sure that we followed follow the process.

It's key because if we didn't follow the process, we're gonna we'd have to go back and do a restart to make sure that those things happen.

So we did that and submitted.

So our key strengths or the backbone of the network is the Brio system.

You know, the Briel system is already streamlined going down the major corridors.

About 50% of our riders use the Brios, right?

And so that's about 3.5 million a year.

But now what we have to do with this optimization, we have to look at the other 50% of the riders and the routes that they take and make sure those routes are streamlined and and what we call optimize, right?

And and so that's that's the focus of what we're what we're doing here.

So you can see the chart on the right, and that ridership is increased since um COVID.

In fact, before COVID, we're about 9 million a year, and now we're at 6.9 million a year.

The transit industry is recovering at 50 percent, at 50 percent.

So all the stuff we're doing now helps us increase, and we're actually increasing faster.

Our ridership is outpacing the industry by 26 percent.

So our ridership is coming back 26% faster than the industry, and that's why it's so important we get this done and set a baseline so we have the the proper foundation to move move forward to to the future.

Some of our key challenges was reducing frequency, removing indirect and inefficient routes.

We also looked at timelines for when the routes ended, so we can extend service later into the evening, and we looked at adding some service to Sunday.

This is the feedback that we receive from the community, which is a key part of what we're doing because we want to make sure that we are supporting our constituents as needed.

We received positive feedback about the proposed route changes because people want to get to where they're going quicker, faster.

And that that is what we're trying to do with this Sun Metro Rising.

So they also said keep the brillios, because they're already working, they're going up and down the corridors getting us to where we we need to go.

And improve bus stops and Sunday service, which all of this is in the plan.

Like the community said this is what we need, that's what we incorporated.

As you can see, the recommendations from Nelson Igar align with the community as the design and the input that was put in from Sun Metro giving them guidance to make sure that all this was put in into the plan.

We're going to work on all of them, but we're going to start with the ones that we could make a direct impact on, right?

To lay the found to lay the foundation.

So we're initially looking at um route networks simply simplifying route networks, more frequency, bus stop improvements, and the microtransit pilot program that we're we're going to be implementing with this.

And this is the first microtransit program that we know of that takes over what where routes used to be, making it more efficient and financially responsible by adding the microtransit in.

So the proposed network design simplifies service, gives us straighter, more direct routes.

Let me give you an example of that.

During the the weekdays, what a long route is 45 minutes.

That's what we consider a long route.

During the weekdays before, we had 34 routes that were 72 minutes.

Under this plan, we'll only have 13 routes that are 58 minutes in that long category.

So we're breaking it, squeezing it down so we can get people to where they need to get to be faster.

On the weekends, we had 40 routes that were 73 minutes, and then the new one we'll have 14 that are 57.

So again, we're we're definitely reducing that that time.

But we also want the buses to come more often, and we want less terminal time waiting for connections at the terminal.

And and we want to reduce end-to-end travel times, which we're going from 58 minutes to 42 minutes.

So we're also decreasing that.

Currently, we have 52 routes.

At peak time, there's a hundred buses on the on the streets of El Paso at any given time.

And again, the frequency is 58 minutes.

But this is the problem set that the network design has to improve.

This is what we we hired Nelson Igarta to help us look at this holistically to figure this all out.

So the new network reduces routes by 13.

It requires two less buses, and it reduces the frequency by 16 minutes.

That's the overall picture of it.

So when we go to this this next page right here, we have to ask ourselves what is the real question.

How does the proposed network affect the people?

We're talking about frequency stops, terminals and connections.

So you can see there on the chart on the right that the frequency improves for 95.3% of our riders.

And there's no change for 3.9.

So that's 99.2%, good or no change, good or no change.

But there are going to be some people who don't reap the full benefits.

So if you look at the 0.8% have to walk five to 15 minutes to get to a bus stop longer than they would have in the in the originally.

And we're also ensuring that new and existing stops are close and accessible, meaning not more than five to 15 minutes away to support the bus frequency.

If you have more stops, the bus stops more, it takes longer to get where you're going.

So there has to be a balance of where the stops are at, how many there are, and how far it takes to get people to get there and impact the lowest amount of people that it possibly can to optimize.

This does it.

So the bus stop analysis that we we looked at focused a lot on its concerns on access, right?

To include individuals with mobility device.

That means if you use the mobility device and you need to curb cut, or the curb wasn't even, as you can see in the picture here, um we fixed those.

So you can go from the old point A to the new point A bus stop, and no matter what your condition is, you you'll be able to get there and all the infrastructure will be be in place.

There were originally 27, and today there's only six remaining, so we're on track to get this done by the end of December.

And so when we when we plan to launch this is June.

So all these curb cuts and stuff will be done by then.

The last in-person public outreach of four was recently completed.

And what we did is we went and we we set up poster boards so you could see the changes in the route.

We engaged all the riders when they're coming off the bus and and getting on the bus or at the terminal to get their feedback on what they thought about the route.

So we're talking to the actual people who go on the routes.

That that's what we did.

In the future, um, we're also gonna have people on the buses and at terminals from 26 September to June 26.

And so the purpose of that is to take bus drivers, outreach, different different um divisions of Sun Metro and flood the transportation system, be at all the terminals, be on all the buses, beyond every single route.

The ideal is to catch every rider between now and then.

So if there's a terminal, we're gonna get it.

If there's a route, we're gonna get it.

We're not gonna do it one time, we're gonna do it multiple, multiple times until we get it.

We're gonna have like 30 people work working on this over the months to make sure we catch all the riders by individual before the time of of execution.

So the Sun Metro riders feedback now, mere the the feedback that we got at the beginning.

Like, what do you want?

At the beginning, we asked them what do you want?

And they said, Hey, here's what we want.

And so we we started this this project and went through it and we went back and talked to them again, and they said, Hey, we we still want the same thing.

We want in increased frequency, want the buses to come quicker.

We want improved connections and less time at the transfer.

We want um longer hours of service.

And in this Sun Metro Rising program, 20 of the 39 routes will have extended hours by approximately uh two hours, and then there'll be six routes running um until about 10:30 eleven uh o'clock on top of that.

So we're making the changes that that the constituents want.

The other concerns were the reassessment.

So when we put this plan in place, which we always do, we'll continue to reassess, but we're gonna do a big reassessment in about six months and make sure all the stops are in the right place, make sure the connections are all right, make sure all the timing is right, and we'll adjust because this isn't set in stone forever.

Like we'll adjust as the conditions continue to change, but we're gonna be doing a big one about six months after um implementation.

So the other platforms that we used um were digital and physical.

You know, we use the Sun Metro website, we use the the Sun Metro Ride app and digital monitors at terminals.

We also use social platforms uh like um Facebook and X.

We also use newspapers and flyers and frame frame uh A-frames and posters on the buses and and at shelters.

So we try to make the net as wide as we could to catch everybody that we could.

And again, we're gonna catch the goal is to catch every individual from here until to imp implementation in person, above and beyond the the other forms of communication.

Um so we have the the way ahead.

And the way ahead, we know we're gonna continue to prove bus stops and enhance shelters, and so we have 500,000 dollars every year annually set to do that.

We just have to make sure that we get with the the contractors and the capacity that they have can meet the dollars that we have to can continue uh uh on that.

Um and then um the midterm, we're gonna we have to keep looking at extending routes and and and potentially go later at night and and look at at Sunday um routes.

And then in the end, we have to look at the population, the growth of the city and be prepared to move from a baseline, to move from a baseline to continue to optimize what what we have.

can meet the dollars that we have to can continue on uh uh on that um and then um the midterm we're gonna we have to keep looking at extending routes and and and potentially go later at night and and look at uh at sunday um routes and then in the end we have to look at the population the growth of the city and be prepared to move from a baseline to move from a baseline to to continue to um optimize what what we have and so this is the first time this is the first time that this has been done um in the city of of El Paso so we put it put a lot of work into this and we we cross T's and and dotted I's and and we're ready to go and this right here will get people to where they want to go faster which was their main concern and we'll do it being financially and operationally responsible making sure that we're taking care of the the the funding and being good good stewards of the this the taxpayers dollars and so that that's what I have for you today uh on this subject um subject to your questions.

Uh representative um Vierral Thank you mayor Colonel congratulations I mean this is amazing that the your team has re-established ridership so rapidly and even above the national average you know we keep hearing that people in El Paso don't like to travel on the our public transit for whatever reason this shows that there's a ridership this shows when when you when you're attentive to the needs that that people will use the public transportation.

So thank you to you and your team I I think it's the objectives about uh ear uh early being earlier later more available on Sundays and um getting to where you want to go quicker i it means a lot and but remind me again how you said you you surveyed the riders so actually I I will let Nelson Nygar come up I don't want to hear it yelling here.

No not really Nelson too please no no please so so we we surveyed the riders by actually going out and and talking to the riders so we set up at the at the terminals so these are physical these are physical face um uh assessments that we're that we're getting to make sure that that we know exactly what it is and it was nothing online it wasn't the a survey as people walking that because I think that's important that's really important and you know I saw Ms.

Mac's eyes light up when you said we're talking about being physically conservative and meeting those goals but I did see her frown a little bit when you said um 99.2 percent so I'm sure she'll she'll follow up with you on that that that was 99.2 percent of the riders either have good or better or same service.

You know Ms.

Mac it's only a hundred percent we're gonna get there we're gonna we're gonna keep turning so much as we can thank you mayor representative thank you mayor thank you Anthony for the presentation I know that we've gone through it in my office in the past I was at the transit center on Osborne when you were presenting it to the community as well and I know that we need to talk a little bit more about this I am a little bit concerned only because district one is the most effective out of the eight districts and I know that you've done a great job in terms of outreach like we've uh just discussed yet I can't help but drive past those bus stops that are going to be discontinued you know in the coming months and I see people there all the time and I know that your team has done a great job but I constantly stop myself from getting out myself and saying hey did you know this isn't gonna be a stop anymore because I just want to make sure that people are going to be taken care of because of the the distance between that bus stop and the one that's gonna be the next one that they're gonna have to use now hypothetically let's just say that um in this specific area that I'm thinking about there's a high school and and people that I frequently see there.

What would be the the the chances that we deactivate a bus stop anywhere in the city that possibly needs to be activated again would that be even an option or or not at all?

So for sure it's an option.

So when we put this in place we're gonna do in six months we're gonna do a overall comprehensive assessment on what we need to to adjust but we have the ability to adjust along the way so if we put this in the into place and all of a sudden there's a there's a uh increase in concerns in in one area we'll send the the the planning team out to go and look at that and figure out what we can do about that.

And so I would I would just say the answer is yes the answer is yes but everything cost so every move we make cost and then you have to have the connections all go.

So it's not like a one simple decision changes has a chain reaction in the the whole plan.

Not the whole plan but the the ridership and the the connections so we will always look at that we always look at how we can continue to improve yes we will look at look at this under the the the glass eye of what I just explained.

But I I appreciate you even considering the fact that maybe there's a possibility of maybe something back in.

We we will look at it for sure.

The the maybe part comes in of which ones we we we can change.

Okay, I appreciate that.

What can we do in the meantime?

Because um I know that in my conversations with you, you talked about uh deploying this new plan when is it going to take.

So we originally plan on deploying it like in February, but then we went back and looked because we continually adjust the plan and we said we probably shouldn't do that in the middle of school year.

And so we pushed it back to June to for execution to make sure that we're taking in consideration everything that's happened in the community and and a big part of our ridership.

I think that's a great idea.

In the meantime, um would it be possible for you to visit our district uh meetings maybe and and talk about the plan directly to constituents?

When if if you guys ever want me or or one of my team members to come and talk, like we've been to some on uh some of your meetings for different occasions, but we'll always come.

Like I'll I'm more than glad to come and spread the word to make sure everybody's on the same sheet of music.

Okay.

Have you done any outreach to high schools in like you know, maybe sending them this information or or going to their schools specifically to talk about the new changes in the routes around those?

So we have not done that, but that is an excellent idea, and we can incorporate that into the to the outreach.

Um I think that's a good idea.

I see a lot of uh high schoolers, you know, accessing buses um to and from schools, so that might be uh a good idea.

Thank you, Anthony.

I um I will I will s we'll set up a schedule and then we'll get back to you and let you and inform you of the schedule, not just you but but everybody of when we're gonna get to the high schools.

Okay.

Um I appreciate it and I appreciate all the outreach that you're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Colonel DeKaiser as well.

I know that I was briefed and I had a lot of different questions and we went over and all of those concerns were also addressed.

Um and I know that you know we're talking about the uh uh there's been conversation about the housing plan and the low income housing tax credits, and I know that transportation has been a part of that conversation as well.

And um I'm looking forward to even the further conversations of the microtransit being piloted in district five.

Can you kind of touch base of how that would be structured and how that would work?

So how micro transit works is you'll be able to to call in or use uh our app or or log in on the computer and book a ride, and that ride will come to the what we call a super stop.

So it'll be a stop near your location, near your house, and then the microtransit vehicle will take you if it's within that area to that to that destination.

If it's outside of that area, it'll take you to the transit terminal, and there you would transfer to a bus to go go to where you need.

And so that's a brief overview of how that works.

Did that yeah, no, that's great.

And and the reason why I covered this is because I know when I look at the map in District 5, there's a lot of the actual boundary that will be disactivated, but it gets reactivated through this microtransit.

So people are still going to be connected even further, and overall the city is going to be able to have faster response time.

So I'm grateful for you and the team and also our consultant for working on this and looking forward to supporting you all even further and connecting us even further.

Thank you so much.

Represent Canalis.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, first of all, thank you to Claudia and the team who came out to uh community group who had requested some more information uh at Ciudad Nueva.

They they really really appreciated the presentation um and gave your team some Thanksgiving lunch, so that was nice.

Yeah.

We're always available.

If anybody needs us, we're we're we're we'll be there.

But yeah, um, you know, we we hear all the time from constituents that they want us to be critically evaluating all of our programs, looking for efficiencies.

That's exactly what this analysis is.

Um, and I think uh, you know, we'll of course have to see how implementation plays out, but I I don't foresee any situation where this will lead to uh worse travel times for people.

Uh I think uh overall this is gonna be a great help to the to the system and make sure that the routes are running quickly and uh reliably so people know when their bus is coming and they can predict those headways really really closely.

Um so thank you all for the work and you know I wanted to specifically say thank you to the Nelson Nigar team who has been working with us on this for a long time and you know we've we've seen them here uh for the last couple of years now, and I think they put together an excellent plan to implement.

Um you have said in the past that uh in the meanwhile, a good option for people is to look at the interactive map that's online.

Can you share a little bit more information again about that interactive map and tell people where they can go?

This time I'm gonna let Claudia come up and talk about the interactive map.

Okay, Ulysses will do that.

Yeah, I saw um I saw this material uh it's online in the City Portal, uh in the appendix.

There is uh a map for each of the districts, and there is a link there um where every every people, everybody from from El Paso can go there.

We also have um as part of this project, we implemented a website.

So in this website, the it will still be activate for the next foreseeable future.

And I guess once we transfer that to Solmetro, uh Claudia will implement it with the team also in the in the portal, so it will be available.

And again, that's so that any member of the public can look at their bus stops that they use and see if they will be affected by this.

Uh if, for example, one of those bus stops is being uh removed, they'll be able to see the walking time to the nearest bus stop and and the information related to the change in their routes.

Is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct, and they can even see uh what's the boardings that that stop used to have so that they understand what's the reason behind um the selection uh as being a stop deactivated, and then the rest of the stops they will see which one is the closer to them.

So they can even get the data like if if they want to do analysis on their own, right?

Okay, yeah.

So I guess any constituent who uh happens to tune in to the mass transit board meetings, uh feel free to reach out uh to my office.

I'm sure the rest of the council feels the same.

And we're happy to direct people or to Sun Metro.

Yes.

Uh and we're happy to direct people to those resources so that they're able to see how this will into the future impact uh their their travel on Sunmetro.

And I was just told it's already on our website, so people can already start to look at that in in advance.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor.

I really appreciate when we are looking at efficiencies and seeing how we could improve.

And you know, we really went in depth when I had this briefing and I've been thinking about this a lot, where there's a lot of very intentional things that you're doing.

This presentation is very well developed and very um impressed with it, and I I really appreciate it.

But I I kind of want to talk about unintended consequences on making these changes, and and I think you have answers to pretty much everything, because everything that I've thrown at you, you always kind of say, Okay, well, we could do this or we could move in in this direction.

So I'm gonna ask in in those um in that same vein of of of questioning.

So on the hundred and ninety-eight that will have longer wait times in terms of walking, having to do a five to fifteen minute drive.

Do we have an idea of how many of those people might have mobility issues or if they're elderly?

Um so we do have the I don't have that that information with me.

Um, but we know how many people use mobility devices because when you nail the bus or if you you you lower the ramp or or whatnot, then it the bus counts that.

So at each stop, we know like who's getting on the bus, where they have a mobility device or not.

And so all that was taken in into consideration.

I I don't know their names or anything like that, right?

But that um so I guess can you say with certainty that the 198 that will have to travel longer to a bus stop do not have any mobility issues based on the data that you have from your buses?

No, no, no.

Some some of them will have mobility devices, but it the way that I look at it is whether they have mobility devices or not, the pathway from the old stop to the new stop should be taken care of because somebody might have a disability and might have a mobility device to use.

That's why for the last year, year and a half, we've been working with CID and the contractors to make sure that we're doing curb cuts for everyone along the way.

We think we did a thorough analysis to find that and and address that.

But again, after we get started, if someone says, I do not have a pathway from here to there, I have $500,000 a year to keep working on this and keep improving it.

So just because we start this, it doesn't mean it's over.

This is a continual process that needs updated and looked at all the time.

I I I got Claudia and her whole planning team continuing to look at this as we as we go through.

Okay.

Hopefully that answered your question.

It does, and I guess um one thing is doing the curb cuts, but then the other part is the maintenance, right?

Because there could be rocks in the pathway or anything like that.

So what is the plan for maintenance on these paths to a 15-minute stop?

So we do the the maintenance at the bus stops, but obviously we can't like run down the street and do maintenance on all of them.

That's not really how it works.

Um but we do do the maintenance at around the bus stops and all the curb cuts.

So the accessibility right there will be taken care of.

But then if they can get there, it kind of it's kind of a moot point, right?

Just because I'm thinking a lot about what is happening on Dyer and Pershing, and I brought this up with you where under the train trail is there's the new brio station that's being built there, but all over Dyer on the sidewalk, there is trash all the time.

There are broken bottles, there are rocks, there are just different things that I have found, and my constituents have been asking for the cleanup.

We've been pointing fingers at Union Pacific, and then it's the city, and then it's water or it's textile, you know, and and we still don't have that path.

So if somebody is using a wheelchair and they're coming down dire to go to the reel, they're not gonna be able to make it, or they're gonna have to get on the street.

And and so that's where I'm kind of wondering where it's great to put this infrastructure in in terms of better sidewalks, curb cuts and all that.

But if there are gonna be objects in the way and they can't make it, well, then how are they gonna get there?

Yeah.

So I would just say that the pathways to and and from the bus stops, like we checked those and made sure if the curbs are like this, that they're fixed and they were like this.

On a daily basis, though, if someone throws a bottle out the window and it lands on the sidewalk, like in that pathway, like there are other mechanisms in the city for cleaning the streets and all that.

That's not my department, so I don't really want to speak on that, but um you're more than welcome to talk to who it's a Nick.

We have both you know our median crew who are responsible for some of those areas as well as the street sweepers and others, and so I've just asked the team to send someone out, and we'll get some sense of what our strategy might be.

I think we talked about that last week regarding some wheat and some other things as well.

So we'll coordinate to make sure we have an overall plan to make sure we're paying attention to it.

If there's some opportunity for reporting to make sure that um there is no issue for people trying to assess that, we can make sure that that happens as well.

Yeah, I'd appreciate that.

And I I would say that this would probably be given more priority almost, and let's say in a on a Monday.com request, is this something that blocks the path toward a bus stop and it might be ADA, it might cause ADA issues.

I feel like we could solve that within a day if we're able to put those requests in rather than just um take it as another request to make sure that the infrastructure that it Sun Metro is installing all over the city for this will be taken into account on the maintenance site as well.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, and then um I guess the the digital divide is is a worry of mine, and it seems like you have that covered in terms of we're gonna pass out flyers on buses just for the general public.

You know, I it's great that you have the website, you have the app, you have all those things.

Those are things that I would personally like to use, but my grandma would not know how to even use that, right?

So if you could explain on how you're gonna have posters and just more of those flyers, how often are you gonna be doing the flyers?

Is it gonna be for just a period of months, or can you can you tell me a little bit more about that?

Yeah.

So the get to this page.

I just want to get the dates right, so I want to find it in this.

Uh it's from it's from the the flyers and put people out into the buses in the terminals starting September.

So we already kind of started, it's gonna go all the way to June.

Right.

And so they'll be on the screens in the in the bus stops that there'll be information going up on there.

There'll be people in the terminals that know, and there'll be people riding the bus.

So it's gonna be for that entire period of time.

Like we have this plan to to blanket everybody, and again, the goal, right?

Like she said, everybody's not gonna use the website or did it right right.

But we used all that social media to blanket as much as we could to get the information out as much as we could, right?

And then the individual contact, the goal is individual with every single rider, right?

That happens over the the next six months, informs anybody who's gonna get on the bus and rides regularly.

I've I believe I use all the the different platforms that were were available to me, and then I kind of put the icing on the cake by making sure everybody got a face-to-face and a conversation about their route, and we spanned it over six months.

And then I kind of put the icing on the cake by making sure everybody got a face-to-face and a conversation about their route.

And we spanned over six months.

So we're gonna catch most of our riders.

I believe we're gonna catch a good 90 high 90 percentile of the riders on a face-to-face and the community through the rest of the social media.

And so that was the plan, that was the goal.

And you plan on bringing us updates as it's going.

Yeah, I can bring anytime you want to update, you know, I'll bring it bringing an update.

In fact, yes, anytime you want to update, we'll bring that.

Okay.

That works.

And then the one thing that I'm wondering, and um I know you don't have this answer with you.

How many bus stops have we taken out already?

Because I know that's been happening over the the course of the last few years, and that's been disruptive to constituents that miss their bus stop, and they're outside of this plan and the future bus stops that you're gonna take out.

But as we're looking at this in the next year and taking into account how we can adjust and and move back on on certain things if they're not working.

I I really worry about the geography being taken into account on this because I think one thing is being efficient, but the other part is where are you taking this bus stop?

So I'll give you an example.

In front of um the bridge of the Americas, there was a bus stop on that side of the highway that was taken out a while ago, and now the closest bus stop is across the freeway by the zoo, and my constituents are scared of crossing that highway to get there.

And so I don't want to have those situations just for efficiency, because then I think that causes a safety issue, and then a lot of these constituents that live specifically in that area are elderly.

So crossing across a whole highway makes it really complicated.

So if we could take that into account and make sure that it's really just on on this one street and there's not a highway here, or it's gonna be complicated to get there.

So I I totally agree agree with you, and I'm gonna let Claudia address some of what you said in in a second.

But I want to tell you that the industry shelter standard, which is part of what you're talking about, is 10%.

Right now we're at 26 when we move to the Sun Metro-7%.

And we have $500,000 a year to address the issues that you that you're talking about.

Um we laid a plan taking in consideration all those things, um, to include efficiency but also safety and all that.

But the the beauty of this plan, and I'll say it again is we can reassess, we can adjust.

We have to put it in place first and see what's working and see what's right not.

But if there's anything that you or or any constituents think is a grave safety situation right now, if you call me, I will go address it.

Like we'll send the team out and adjust it.

We do that on a regular basis.

But I I'll let Claudia speak for a second.

Hi, good afternoon, Claudia Garcia Director for Planning and Development.

And just to give you a little bit of history on that one, those bus stops were um deactivated during the realignment of the entire area, and just on the past uh City Council Mass Transit Board, we approve you guys approved the uh take set M MOU, and that those two stops, there's gonna be one going east and one going west, are part of the stops that are gonna be implemented as soon as takes that that a package was already submitted to text that with the approval of the uh agreement, and once they give us the okay, uh we're gonna reinstall those.

They don't they're not gonna wait for the San Metro Rising, those are stops that have been on the queue for reinstallation, but we just needed to get it takes that agreement back in place because now it's a new requirement for them.

So that's what we need to do the agreement again, and those two stops are gonna be done in there.

Okay, those will be done as soon as they get us the the green light.

Okay, I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thanks.

And I just wanted to add one more thing on the outreach uh it first that we're gonna be doing one of the things that we're gonna start in this in January.

We wanted to wait until the the holidays.

We're gonna be installing the signage at all those stops that are gonna be deactivated uh due to the submetro racing, and they're gonna have the QR code with the ability to go into the interactive uh map so people will see where will be the closest bus stop.

It will be a gener the general map, and they're gonna the people are gonna be able to see where this stop is and whether what's gonna be the next one.

So those are gonna be starting uh in January.

Representative Rocha.

Thank you, Mayor.

Claudia, real quick, uh you can answer it, Colonel.

Uh are they going to be those signs gonna be bilingual?

They will.

Thank you.

Yes, we do everything English and Spanish.

Just wanted to.

And then I just have one question.

Out of the surveys and the stops that you all did from uh doing all the writers at at all the the transit stops and other stops.

How many total surveys would you say you completed?

Do you have that by chance?

Yeah, we did uh an online survey that was about 350 uh at the beginning of the project.

And then when we were first here, we collected about 240 more, like in paper, because we we handed those for people that were not uh comfortable online.

So great.

So you had paper options as well for those that weren't on the app or couldn't do it on a QR code.

Okay, thank you very much.

That's all I have here.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have one super quick question.

What happens with the infrastructure that is currently in place for the bus stops that are gonna be deactivated?

So we're gonna deactivate 610 bus stops.

And so I don't know if you drive around the city, you see a lot of bus stops, but there's a lot, some of them are not being used.

So we put together a plan already to remove the those bus stops.

We actually are gonna take them out.

So if there's a poll, eventually it's gonna be gone.

If there's a bench there, eventually it's gonna be gone.

Um so we have a whole project in place, a subproject of this to take care of that.

And stops and remove all the other ones so then that we don't just have stops across the city that that are not being utilized.

And so, like I said, there's 610, and and it's gonna it's gonna be a process, you know, because we gotta get a contract, get the contractor, scope of work, we have to do all that and get it in place before we start collapsing all these.

But but the other thing I I don't want to collapse them all right away.

We want to go through that process.

So we deliberately put this in our timeline so that we can assess what's going on so we're not taking out stops we might need later.

So I'm gonna leave them up for a little bit while I go through the process of getting getting whatever contract I need in place to start taking all those down or in cruise contract, whatever I have to do, and then when we know we're not gonna utilize those stops, then take them down.

And in regards to the actual like benches, what happened?

I don't know if that's a question you could answer, or Ms.

Mack.

What happens with those benches that get taken off?

Say it again.

I think we turn them into property control and make sure then property control disposes of them.

Okay.

The reason I'm asking is I think it would be great if we could somehow maybe salvage some that might be in great condition and possibly look at putting them in different parks that might need a bench or two.

I don't know if that's something that we could look into.

But I'm just thinking of the infrastructure of what could possibly happen with some of those.

I I just want to make sure are you you're not talking about Sun Metro benches.

You know, there's a contract in place with different franchises to advertise and those benches are you talking about those benches or no?

I'm talking about our bus stops.

Yeah, do we have our business?

Yes, stops with yeah.

So those can be repurposed.

Okay.

Um I think they've been repurposed a couple times in in the past for for different um departments, but it there is a step in the process with with property control where you can get it before it's disposed of one way or other.

So there is a system in place through property control that helps us take care of that and allows other departments to go and get get that, whether it be a desk, a bench stop, or whatever it is.

So there's already a process in place.

Okay.

All right, no further questions.

Any further questions for Mr.

Anthony?

Okay, great presentation, and we're gonna be watching you along the timeline and the next steps.

Very good.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

All right, Miss Nevada's number item number four.

Item number four is discussion and action to issue a purchase order for solicitation 2025-0133 TVMs and validators to Flowbird America Incorporated, the sole authorized distributor and provider for Flowbird Axial Validators, Strata Ticket Vending Machines and Flowbird software support and maintenance for a term of three years for an estimated amount of 2 million 219,995.49.

Mayor, make a motion to approve this item.

This is a sole source.

Um authorized distributor.

Okay.

All right.

There's a motion and a second.

Is there further discussion on this item?

All right, hearing none seeing then, Ms.

Navaris, please call for the vote.

I have a motion made by board member Limon, seconded by board member Niño.

a term of three years for an estimated amount of two million two hundred and nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-five point forty nine mayor make a motion to approve this item this is a sole source um authorized distributor okay all right there's a motion and a second is there further discussion on this item all right hearing none see then miss nevadas please call for the vote i have a motion made by board member limon seconded by board member niño fiero there you go by board member fiero and this is to approve item number four voting session is open oh my god thank you ma'am the voting session is closed and the item has been approved unanimously that's the last item sir is there a motion to adjourn second the mass transit department board meeting for december the second has is is adjourned at 1219 p.m.

thank you thank you miss nun yes we are done we're done yes 10 minutes or mayor