All right.

Since we have a quorum, I call this meaning to order.

Do I have a does anybody want to approve the minutes?

We have to approve the minutes from February.

Correct.

Approve the minutes from February 12th.

To approve the minutes from February 12th.

Second.

There's a motion and a second to approve the minutes from February 12th.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Okay.

We'll move on to the uh appropriate.

We didn't do roll call.

Oh.

We need to do roll call.

Well, I've checked everybody off, but to be formal and official.

Yes.

Fair enough.

I was wondering that, but since you since you've called everybody up.

Oh we will call the rule.

Parker.

Derek.

Kenneth.

Kristen.

Here.

Jennifer.

Jesse.

Myself.

I am here.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do we have an approval of the agenda?

We have a motion.

Motion to approve the order agenda for today.

There's a motion and a second to approve the order of the agenda.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Okay.

We will call the open comment period.

Since there is nobody here.

We will move on to reports.

Great.

So I've gone ahead and uh we have the transit operations report from March.

So generally these take we get these about the end of the month, the following month.

So this is still our most accurate report, but we have noticed a pretty consistent trend in upticks in our fixed route ridership.

I will say this, and I um and I guess it's some additional feedback that we're getting with the spring service changes.

Some of them were, I think, a little bit overwhelming for our rider base.

And so we're looking at ways to actually increase education on how to utilize bi-directional service instead of a loop service.

So we have seen a slight decrease in the in the route specifically that transition from loot service to bidirectional.

So we're working on the education campaign to follow that.

I would anticipate still probably seeing an uptake in ridership, since those decreases aren't greater than what we've been seeing in terms of our monthly increase.

And so I think that's a really good thing to be thoughtful and reflective on.

So that 50% of our ridership is mayo uh mayo staff and mayo employees.

And and for reference, and the reason why we kind of call this out is because we do track those numbers separately.

Our male riders um get to to board a bus and not have to utilize a pass or a ticket for that.

Um and then we invoice uh mail monthly to collect the the fair payments for those riders.

So it allows us to track um to track those numbers.

Um but that also means that 50% of our ridership is just the general population of Rochester.

Um and so that's really important for us to know as we're looking at the system and how it integrates um with the whole community.

And so it's a really good statistic to keep an eye on.

How do those numbers compare to uh previous?

So that's really good.

Yeah, in terms of mail ridership.

Mayor ridership is pretty consistent, it's usually around 50%, sometimes it's 49, sometimes it's 53.

Um, we've had as high as 55, I think this year, um, but it sits in that like 50 to 55% range pretty consistently.

Um, and as you can see, um with this uptake in numbers, we're actually on track to have higher ridership numbers than last year.

Um but again, we're looking to to double our ridership in the next two years.

And so although we'll see an increase of increase, it's not it's not quite the double number that we're looking for.

What about in previous years?

So ridership was much greater in 2022.

Was the percentage that was made of riders still 50% back then?

Yeah, it's pretty consistent um across the board.

I'll um to be transparent, Christianity, especially since you're new.

Um, in 2019, our ridership is over two million.

Sure.

So it's not individual people is the amount of total like rides or um on we called it unlinked passenger trips, um, is the official word that we use.

So it's not somebody that's transferring, so you're not getting people accounted.

Um, so and then obviously, so 2019 it was over two million, and then um a pretty steady decrease, but we have seen an increase, although slow um over the last couple of years, but not where we need it to be.

And so that's why um we're trying to really invigorate the the CAT committee, um, but also try to figure out ways to better serve our population.

That transit is the first choice.

And so our spring service changes are the first step to do that, but change is really scary and can be really overwhelming.

And so even though we've transitioned loop service to bidirectional, which you know on paper would say, oh, this is a great option because what that did was increase our frequency in some situations from 45 minutes to 30 minutes or 30 minutes to 10, um, which means there's a bus going by on that stop every 10 minutes.

So it um demystifies some of the confusion, but what it did do in turn is create confusion because the route is acting differently.

Um, so we are working on some communication strategies for that.

Um, additionally, um we have noticed that um our planning didn't take into account the construction.

Um and so some of our routes are running um pretty starkly behind schedule.

Um they're still running, but we're we're talking like 15 to 20 minutes behind because of the construction.

And so we're actually reblocking.

Um, and in the bus world, blocking is the the routes that a driver is driving for that day.

So we're re-blocking um and reducing deadhead time.

So what was happening a lot is they'd be up on the north and they'd have to travel down Broadway.

And if we travel down Broadway, um sometimes you can get a little delayed and so the next route was starting late, and then as that bus is traveling through construction throughout the day, we're getting more late as the day goes on.

Um, and so we're re-blocking right now, um, and those changes will go into effect in June.

Um, our riders, the timetables and the routes won't change, but our on-time performance will.

Um, so those are some of the strategies that we go with that.

And um, unfortunately, that process isn't as easy as oh no, we can fix it.

We have to reblock in the um the way that our union is set up for our drivers, they have to um have the ability to bid on those blocks, and so we have to go through a formal bidding process.

So that process itself takes three weeks.

Um, so we've noticed the problem, we're rectifying the problem, and now we're just going through the appropriate protocol to do um to make the changes necessary.

Um so I don't want to follow up on that question.

I don't want to focus too much on that 200,000 loss.

But is there anything that we can learn from that?

It's a lot different than having that loss be in 2020, 2021.

So the fact that it's 22 to 23.

Right.

Is there anything that we can learn from that to make sure that we don't replicate that failure?

So we have no ability to really pinpoint specific data, but that is the year that the IBM park and ride level came offline.

So um there, although I can't say that that loss of 200,000 was directly correlated to the IBM park and ride lot, um, we have pretty good uh cause to assume that.

That's a good indication.

So um uh and these are those those um kind of UPT that I just discussed.

Um, and then we have seen a slight decrease in ZIPS ridership.

Um, we've been having some performance issues with our zip system, and so um we are noticing that, but we have set in place uh strategic line of trainings and offerings for our drivers to better provide service um to our um to our riders, but uh we're mainly experiencing issues with dispatch.

Um we have a whole new uh group of individuals that are dispatched um that don't know the software very well.

We've implemented a training um sequence for the dispatch software for our dispatchers, um, and and promoting them to better communicate with their managers.

So what's been happening is like an issue arises and they think they can handle it without bringing it to a higher level.

And so we have um really we've um introduced a staff member on from the transit team to be in their office space every day to just kind of keep an eye on things and hope that can mitigate some of the issues.

So um, but that has shown a slight decrease in ZIPS ridership.

Um, and so yeah, and then just kind of what our operating expenses are looking like on the next council agenda, um, we will have so the June 1st one, not the one this coming Monday, but the June 1st council agenda would be us um accepting the annual operation dollars from MINDOT, um, which is uh combined uh for both fixed route and our paratransit service uh for up to just over 16 million dollars to run both of those.

Our actual budgeted amount for those is 14 million.

So that's really good for us that we're well under that.

Um, just a reminder that we we do have to cover 15% of those those operational costs.

Um so although we have the grand dollars available, we have to match those by 15%.

So we just try to be really thoughtful and cautious um with those.

But it's nice to know that we have those with the introduction of LINK coming up and um uh the uh new operations contract, which will also be on the June 1st agenda, which will inevitably come with a slight price increase as as new contracts do.

So and this outlines the total expense per fixed route ride, which is $9.09.

And as a reminder, we're on the hook for 15% of that.

Um so our fares do cover um most of our fixed route rides right now, but that's just a couple of months of financial data.

And then our fixed um our revenues for ride is at $15.

So we are sitting okay, but not great when it comes to that.

And then um just some bar graphs on our local or local match and our grant revenues.

And so, like if we get min dot dollars, we get FTU dollars, um, and then they kind of have some shared pots, and we have some individual pots on that too, and we'd need a whole evening um for me to discuss how that funding system works.

So um, and this is really what we're looking at like what is our average fair revenue for ride?

And so if you're buying a single pass, it's two dollars, but if you're buying a yearly pass, it's less than a dollar a ride.

Um, and so this is looking pretty okay.

We like to see it, and it usually dips a little bit at the beginning of the year, but um we'll notice it hopefully around a dollar fifty a ride is what we're hoping to generate per uh per revenue.

So, and then all of this is in the packet, so I won't go too deep into it because I don't want us to be here all night.

But um, any additional questions.

Any questions?

All right, that makes sense.

Glad to hear continuing concluding with the It's exciting to see the increase in ridership.

Um we only had a 10,000 or 20,000 increase last year, and so we've actually already basically seen that in the first quarter of this year.

Um, so I heard good feedback to people about the change from the link to bidirectional.

Well, that's and I've noticed um, I think I really appreciate that comment because what we noticed is um our male riders seem to transition to it pretty well, and I attribute that to Mayo helping communicate that information out.

Um, and our our non-mayo riders have been the ones that have struggled with it a little bit more, um, probably because they didn't have that increase in their inbox um notification.

So, and we've noticed that specifically because we we tend to know we know where what routes impact the most amount of mayor riders versus others because we're tracking that data.

Um, and so um it has been interesting, but I appreciate that feedback.

So when we have the I'll call it the BRT, the ZIP uh link.

Link, yeah.

Yes.

Thank you.

Uh when we have the link, do we expect a significant difference in ridership based off that?

There's always a potential, and so one of the implementation strategies for Link is for us to um act.

So Link itself constructed three fixed route stops along the second street corridor.

Um, one is the the one that you see over here on uh code and six that had that full closure last summer.

Um, and so that's a fixed route stop because the link stop is in the parking lot over there.

Um, and so we're hoping that um when we activate those fixed route stops, we can is and we can feed in from our parking ride logs.

And so there's a situation that you could potentially never have to interact with down sound in a vehicle that's not a bus.

Um, so we're we're hopeful that we can get to a place in which like the frequency is high enough that the time is there for that.

Additionally, um we have introduced um uh pilot program with RPS.

Um so we do have around 500 student rides happening every month right now, too.

Um, they targeted um John Marshall for that just because the most amount of routes impact the John Marshall area.

Um but as we move forward, and if those numbers work for both us and RBS, we could introduce uh more education for the other routes, but any student, regardless if they go to Jarring Marshall or not, rides the school uh rides our bus uh fare-free and the school reimburses us monthly, just like Mao does.

Um is that uh to and from school or is that any it's it's weekdays.

So we don't provide weekend service, although it happens.

We had 12 rides happen last month.

And so and we gave them a reduced rate on top of the student rate to help incentivize both parties to participate.

So traditionally the student rate is a dollar, so they're paying 80 cents a lot right now.

But a really great opportunity to kind of introduce public transit to our students so as they become adults, they're exposed and they're familiar.

Any additional questions on the reports?

Okay, so we will move on to old business.

There is no old business to cover.

We'll move on to new business.

Uh item 7A, vote to elect a new chair.

Is there anything we need from that?

Yes.

Other than to elect a new chair.

No, you just need a um you can self-nominate or we you can nominate someone.

Uh that person doesn't have to be here, but that is um maybe a little malicious, but um, so yeah, uh, you guys can um uh open the floor for nominations and then um you can have discussion and close the floor for nominations and have a vote.

We'll open the floor for nominations.

Is there any nomination?

Mike.

Is that means and not I'm here because we can discuss, right?

So okay, I'll throw a nomination out there for like.

We can nominate more later if we want to.

Yeah, okay.

We can nominate more after the uh discussion.

Is there any discussion?

Do you want to be there?

I certainly can be chair.

Okay.

We're playing review.

Does it anyone else want to?

Well, what is the chair do?

So the chair runs and facilitates the meeting.

Okay.

Um we uh meet a week before.

Um the and it's usually a 30 to 45 minute meeting, and we'll just go through the agenda just so uh the chair is prepared um to to kind of run the meeting efficiently and effectively.

And that's about it.

I I do have a question that's separate from that, but it's related to uh this, and so maybe we can we should have it uh later.

But I was curious that there wasn't much detail available.

There wasn't like a packet available for the meeting.

Meeting.

Okay, I can answer that question.

Um we can do we want to do that now, or do you want me to why don't we do it now?

Okay, not gonna be so um the the federal government instituted an accessibility um uh requirement.

Uh that initial deadline for that was April 28th, I believe.

They did vote five days beforehand to extend it for an additional year.

Um, but there is a lot of um effectively a packet isn't accessible.

Yep.

Um and so there has I will say, like there is a perception that the city is now trying to hide more things, but the reality is we're just trying to provide an accessible format.

And although we have a year um to be compliant, we are trying to instill those behaviors and habits with our team now, so then in a year when it hits, it's not overwhelming.

But uh Laura are in her and over here, sorry I didn't introduce her to you two.

But um Laura's one of her responsibilities for the summer is trying to determine how to make things like our report that I just showed you accessible because that report is not.

Yeah.

Um, and so to kind of counteract that, we've had to remove visuals and pay kits.

It's a lot more work than what it sounds like.

I'm excited.

So it just might mean some things aren't as pretty as they used to be, or even easy to access as they used to be.

Um, because yeah, now it's just direct links, and you have to read a reduction of that.

Thank you for sharing that.

That's very helpful because I was and I had looked at some others, and I was like, there's yeah, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't happen.

Feels lighter.

Yeah, and there's um, and I mean, like not us, but most of our other departments deal with entire plan sets, construction plan sets, and how do you make something like that accessible um in a digital format?

And so we're working diligently with our uh our um consultants and our contractors.

Um, and you know, obviously our printed bus schedules are also those have always been an inaccessible format, but we um worked really diligently to make sure they were extra accessible.

Um but there was a four-day period of time we didn't have any bus maps on the website because maps are not accessible.

So currently our bus maps on the website are not accessible.

Thank you.

Uh is there we'll get back to where we were.

Is there any other nominations for chair?

Vote.

The question has been called.

Yeah.

So you can you can move to cast a white ballot because it's just like and then you can vote on that.

So that's all extra cool.

Let's do that.

Yeah, like that.

Okay, the white ballot has been called.

Uh all those in favor signify by saying aye.

All those opposed congratulations.

Thank you.

Congratulations, thank you.

Well, since you're already acting chair, continue running the meeting.

That's why you shouldn't know parliamentary procedure.

Uh so we move on to uh 7B discussion on voting on new meeting dates and times.

Is there any information for new dates and times?

Um, so this was brought on because we have been noticing five o'clock isn't um an accessible time for a lot of our members.

Um or like so the conversation is are we committing to five o'clock and can we be on time at five o'clock?

Does the second Thursday of every month work for the team?

So we're just reopening um the conversation.

I think we briefly we had an informal meeting because we did have quorum last month, but I had a conversation of what like a lunchtime meeting work for the team.

Um, and that way we would also be um beholden to keeping our meetings within an hour if we kept that we did them at at noon time or lunchtime.

Um so just um offering up some options uh to the team, but effectively it's it's your decision as a board.

Most of our other boards and commissions meet during the day.

So if you're looking for a reference point for that, the ones that don't are um PBAC, um the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council, but the other 10 boards do meet during the day.

We don't ever want to be planning and zoning.

Uh so as far as attendance goes, uh the on-time, that sort of thing.

How does how does what's been happening with this board in this year?

How does it compare to what we've seen uh previously?

And I know we moved from 4 30 to 5 earlier this year.

Um so uh, you know, granted I wasn't here yeah last year, but I was aware that we did have difficulty meeting quorum.

So I think you guys only met twice in 2025.

I don't know that there's anybody here that was oh yeah, were you on that board?

Okay, yeah, we had four meetings last year totally switched to monthly and begin remove the time.

I only was at two of those meetings a day.

So just one.

So I'm pretty new to them.

So I believe in December we approved minutes from September.

Yes.

Four meetings total.

I don't know.

I think probably down for one during a lot of those.

Wouldn't if we did choose to do a noon or 11 o'clock to one o'clock time frame meeting, would parking be available?

We can make parking available for the board.

I can provide a code so you could park for free.

I'll try and is it inconvenient for you guys?

Yes, or okay, it's not probably is better.

I would assume for staff.

Okay.

Um I have a meeting every second Tuesday.

That's the only lunchtime meeting I have all month.

This so if you were gonna move to lunchtime, maybe meet you the different days.

Third third Thursday, or is it sorry, say Thursday?

Second Thursday, I have a lunchtime meeting every month.

So starting today.

So if we're gonna change it to lunchtime meetings, that's okay with me, but then yet different day.

Is there uh does Thursday work best for uh for the facility?

And is there any any other groups that meet uh on at noon on Thursdays?

Yeah, um, so we have alternative options if this room is not available.

And there is another benefit to having it during the day, the building's not locked down.

So it does open it up more for you guys to be able to access the spaces um within.

So is there a uh is there any other discussion on changing the meeting date and time?

I would say look just browsing through my schedule.

Mondays and Fridays are the best lunchtime dates or days over the week for me.

So I think Fridays would be a reasonable day out of that.

Fridays work best for me.

I travel on Mondays a lot.

Okay.

I will make Fridays work for the chair and kind of have to.

So Friday at what time?

Friday noon to one.

I move that we adjust our meeting times to the second Friday of each month at 12 o'clock one o'clock.

Is there a second?

Second.

And moved and seconded.

Is there any additional count?

Okay.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Motion passive.

Fridays, second Friday, 12 to 1.

Great.

Two votes, you guys.

We're good.

It's me.

Uh seven.

So we'll move to 7C.

Uh brief overview of Rochester public transit.

Yeah, I thought this would be helpful.

Kristen's good.

So an opportunity to just give a really high-level overview.

And I truthfully we'll probably just roll C and D together if that works for the team.

Because I think that we're naturally fantastic.

And I actually already went over speed.

So the report section.

Um, so I figured we can lump all these together if that's approved by the board.

Is there anybody that has an issue with that?

Okay.

Okay.

Great.

Um, so Rochester Public Transit has been in place for I believe almost 50 years now.

Um, we currently have 21 routes that service um about 90% of our community in terms of coverage.

And um most of those individuals are within half a mile of um, most of the working individuals in Rochester are within half a mile of a bus stop.

Um now, as like previously shown, we have noticed a decline in ridership that has put us in a financial situation, and which if we don't make any changes in the next two years, we will not um have enough money to operate.

Um so we are making uh what I've coined as radical and innovative changes in our transit system and our spray service change is one of the first steps in that.

So what you'll see over the next year and a half um are more frequent service changes.

Some of them will be felt, some of them might not be felt.

Um, and so our most recent one was in just a couple of weeks ago in um May, May, when April.

I was like, we are in May.

We are in May.

It was April 28th as our last um service change.

Our upcoming one will be in October, and that is gonna be a huge benefit to our riders and to our drivers as well, because that is when we're moving back to the transit center on second street.

Um, and so currently we're at Central Park, um, which um unilaterally is not a favorite of our riders or our drivers.

Um the system is really not set up for um I you know blocked off an additional parking space today, so the drivers could more effectively make left-hand turns onto 2nd Street because they have a hard time, especially with center street being closed right now.

There's a lot of detour traffic there.

So um it's just their their ability to make turns is decreased.

We also um the turn raises.

So there's one curve that we've just vaccinated because we we tend to hit it on the on the turns.

So um so October will have a reflection of us moving back to second street, so that hopefully we'll have increase confidence in ridership throughout our system.

Then in December, we'll be adding some um high frequency routes that we can't add in October because facilities aren't built yet.

Um and so um we have a couple of of parking ramps, both private and public that we're hoping to have online in December.

Um and so we'll have a December service change to be able to provide uh park and ride service to those facilities.

We're hopeful that the North Broadway park and ride project, which is in the parking lot of the recreation center in Y25 Live in that shared space, we're building a 200 stall parking ramp that will be a park and ride location.

It likely will be it may be done in December.

And so we're hopeful.

If not, that will be brought online with our next service change, which will be in March of 2027.

And that is to activate those fixed route stops along the Link BRT route.

So then we can start creating familiarity with where those are located.

They have really nice shelters that will be attached to them.

And then the whole reason of activating those fixed route stops is in April and May, is when we anticipate a commissioning and testing for the Link BRT system.

So Link BRT is our bus ride a transit system.

That's a 2.8 mile corridor that starts just here.

It goes all the way down 2nd Street and terminates out at Cascade Lake or at the West Transit Village area.

And that's a future mixed use development.

Right now it's just going to have a really nice area for our buses to come in and out and a private 2500 stall parking structure.

And so that's coming online.

And so we want to make sure that when the buses start running up and down 2nd Street to kind of see how everything's going to work for Link in our commissioning testing phase, that is a true representation of commissioning and testing.

And we know what it looks like with the fixed rail buses running on 2nd Street as well.

So that will be March.

And then this following service change will be August.

And that is to bring Link online.

So which is terrifyingly close.

We are nearing the one year lookout for that.

So August of 2027 is when Link will come online.

We anticipate, and that'll be a fair-free service.

Mayo is covering the local share component of the operational cost of that and providing some additional money for us to be able to hold on to for capital improvements.

So if you're forward thinking on the bus replacements or like even the shelter maintenance of that facility if the glass gets broken or any of those things.

And so that'll be a fair free service for riders.

We're already getting inquiries of local shuttle services wanting to tie into Link.

So that's really exciting.

But we're being really thoughtful on how we do that because obviously the system wasn't designed for more than our fixed route and the BRT buses to integrate on it.

So there are 12 stops for BRT, one on each end and five stations or 10 stops on both sides of the street all along.

The most notable one is the one right here in front of the library, which is why there's the full closure right there on the corner of 2nd Street.

And they'll might find it more accessible to use our fixed route system as well.

So that's one of the strategies that we have in place.

The other one, like I indicated, is providing higher frequency.

But we are limited by our bus capacity.

So we have 55 buses in our fleet, and we need to keep a spare ratio of around 20%.

And that spare ratio is just a fancy word of saying.

So buses can have preventative maintenance and accidents and things break.

And so we need to have a buffer of about 10 to 15 buses to make sure that we can still operate.

And so right now we operate about 42 buses during peak, and that's pretty much our max with the fleet that we have.

So as we introduce more high frequency servers, it just means we might reduce our coverage in some of our lower ridership areas.

But we have hopes and plans to re-u reimplement microtransit in the next two years.

So we're refocusing on Link right now and building up our spare ratio for our paratransit service so that we have the available fleet to re-bring back microtransit, because our microtransit was a pilot program last year, and those vehicles have been absorbed into our paratransit fleet.

So I need to get new pair transit vehicles in, so we have the available fleet to run micro transit.

And if that's the case, then we can reduce our fixed route coverage and then use our microtransit service to pick people up on a scheduled basis and feed them into our fixed route service.

And then if they did that, it would they would be a slightly higher fee than our traditional bus service, but they won't have to pay the fix, so they'd only pay once they'd get to transfer onto fixed route for free or included in their cost of using the microtransit system.

So that's um really our kind of if I'm thinking about that forecast is it's increased frequency, providing um coverage where coverage for people can walk, and people are walking right now, but providing microtransit service to those reduced coverage areas with reduced ridership as well.

Um ultimately we're looking for a ridership per route of 15 rides per hour.

Um none of our routes currently meet that when you average it out over the course of the week.

Um, some of our routes, like the the 410 is really popular, and if you're riding in the morning, you're standing room only, but we run that during off-peak times, and there's nobody on the bus.

And so uh, but we still have to provide access and coverage during those times.

And so we do do um a reduction in um frequency during off-week times.

Um but uh we're working towards a goal of increase in increasing our rides per hour or that UPT number up to 15.

Um, our best performing routes are our um parking rides, and they are set around eight to nine uh APT per hour.

So we are effectively looking to double our ridership per hour.

So um I know that was long-winded, maybe not as inspirational as I don't think it would be.

Um, but and then we also have our periodransit service, like I said, and we run about 4,000 to 4300 rides on that service um every month.

Um and that is an on-demand door-to-door service, and that's one of the things that we're looking to help increase our customer service on.

Um, and uh so it provides that um experience for individuals that have mental or physical disabilities that cannot write our fixed route service or are not within uh a half a mile of fixed route service coverage.

Um so those are the things that we're working on for that as well.

So we're looking to introduce an app for our paratransit writers because right now, if they want to book a ride, they have to call in.

And that can be prohibitive for somebody that has anxiety or somebody that has like other conditions.

Um, and so the app will allow you to schedule, but it will also allow us to not rely solely on humans to do appropriate scheduling.

Although humans are pretty okay.

Um there are algorithms and code built for a reason to help us create a more efficient system.

So we have um four new uh pair transit vehicles coming in.

The first one came in this week, and so we'll look at expanding those, and then we have four replacement buses coming up.

We're also surplusing out um four of our buses right now.

Um so if you are really interested in purchasing a your own bus for 2600, I know where you can get one.

2600.

Yeah, it's not bad, right?

Um, so uh we've we value that uh minimum option price for what we anticipate getting from scrap.

So anything over that vigilant.

Any questions about our bus service or um staffing numbers or with with uh with Mail doing some of their back to the office situation?

Are you expecting a increase in ridership from that?

There's always a potential.

Um I I can't say that I know exactly what Mayo's parking program looks like um and and how they're gonna infiltrate in that or increased amount of workers in the downtown, but they are always advocating um for our for their um employees to utilize um RPT.

We our transit planner generally goes to every new hire orientation and promotes our our transit service.

Um we would love to see an increased participation in our park and ride lots, specifically the 75th park and ride.

It is our lowest performing of our routes and also the furthest one to go to.

Um so it does it would be nice to increase the ridership at that location.

How many what's the ridership number on that?

I mean, if max is seven or eight or whatever, what's the right?

Yeah, so that route is covered by the 550, and so it services both the fairgrounds and the 75th park and ride location.

And so the total I can um I'd have to have like that specific data.

That's true.

Um, but collectively, that one is our better performing one.

I think at eight, yeah, eight rides per hour.

Additional questions.

I don't think we have to vote on that.

We don't.

Yeah.

So we'll move to the uh well, you said we already talked about uh E the spring 2026 service changes, correct?

Yeah, the only thing I didn't cover is if you didn't see it, we did redo the transit schedules.

They used to be in um quadrants and now it's one booklet and everything's represented in there.

We also ensured that the font size was large enough so those with visual impairments could be able to read the schedules.

And one of the things we did notice um recently that's missing from that is how to read a timetable, a time schedule.

And so actually it's one of the projects Laura is working on for the summer, um, is to create the language that we can put in the booklets and post on the website and then create a social media campaign around.

Because that is probably the most confusing thing about writing public transit, in my opinion.

So where do you go to school?

Uh South Dakota State.

Oh, darn.

That's taken nerve.

I'm in NDSU.

Oh, yeah.

So close to I was right.

I'm from working, so oh nice.

Actually, South Lake is pretty awesome.

Yeah, it's great.

It's great school.

Yeah.

I've been drinking that time.

Wait, I have a really stupid question.

There is no such thing.

Okay, so this anyone that's lived here longer than we can probably answer this.

So does IBM just not exist anymore in Rochester?

It does.

It just is significantly smaller than what it was.

Okay, so like other than Mail, like was IBM like the biggest like employer?

So who is the second biggest employer now?

Well, yeah, probably is that where you okay?

Because I was just gonna okay, that makes sense.

No, that that partnership doesn't actually have to do with staffing, it's to help increase like so they have a two-mile wall shed um requirement for their their students.

So if you're within two miles, there's no um bus service available for high school, yeah.

It's it's a mile from a mile, yeah, elementary and middle school.

And so, and that's why we're also primarily targeting high schoolers.

That's that was gonna be interesting.

And there's uh I would say I don't know what the numbers are, but there's a lot of high schoolers that go to high school that are not not in RPS.

That yeah, and not in their designed area.

Sorry, I don't um have children, so I don't know what those types.

But um great.

I think you're on to any other business.

Other business.

Is there is there a call to adjourn?

Second.

It's been uh called and seconded to adjourn.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed same sign.