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Record of Proceedings

Citizens Advisory on Transit Meeting Summary - June 25, 2026

Boards and Commissions — Thursday, June 25, 2026
BodyRochester, Minnesota
SessionBoards and Commissions
DateThursday, June 25, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 58:31

Original source
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0:42

Just because we have only a set amount of time, 55 minutes from right now, uh, let's get started with the transit of the April transit report.

0:53

Do you want to call the maybe order?

0:55

We can't.

0:56

We don't have quorum.

0:59

So I would I I would love to, but right now we don't have forum.

1:04

So uh let's let's get the uh transit report and then we can uh if there are any questions we can move forward from there.

1:19

Sandra, are you ready?

1:21

Yeah tell me if you want to go back to the other and who didn't have report right.

2:03

So every month we provide you with a transit state of transit or transfer report and you would always get it two months backwards.

2:12

So we are in June and then the April report and July you get a Mayor report and that's how it goes.

2:17

And it's basically a state of our ridership, our effectiveness in terms of wild care are and our completed trips for both fish route and zips and our financial performance.

2:29

So I'll go over the fruit of our ridership from January to April, you would see we are our ridership is a bit higher than what they used to be last year.

2:39

So the green bars are for 2025 and the bluish is for 2026.

2:46

So we seem to be trending a bit outwards this year.

2:50

We did our service change in April that caused a few issues because we did some big changes where we moved a few routes from loop sub loop service to bidirectional.

3:00

So I would expect that our main ridership would be a bit low, but over time riders are beginning to understand the lead system and it should pick up over the next month.

3:10

Um you could also see that the ridership per year right on the right side for 2022.

3:20

We were over 900,000, 2023, 304 is been going down.

3:25

But looking at the trends for this year, we'd expect that we would be a bit higher than we were in 2025.

3:32

Complete our trips is basically how many trips we scheduled and how many we were able to complete.

3:37

In a month, we do about 12,000 trips.

3:40

So a completion rate of 99.97 is we missing about 120 trips in the month.

3:59

Providership pair are for clear agencies like Delou, Makeo, the average they have is 9.3.

4:09

For the month of April was 6.5.

4:11

Nowhere we want to be, but we are still working to make sure the number is a bit high.

4:16

And that's basically how many people are line in our system area.

4:19

Our target is somewhere around nine.

4:21

We are still on 645, but still that we higher than we were in 2025.

4:26

And our goal is is lofty, it's 14.

4:30

Yeah.

4:42

Is for any person who is unable to use our future service.

4:45

So any person with a disability or anybody who would not be able to use a regular system in referred to the flip service.

4:51

But our rich ridership for the month of April were around 4,333.

4:57

A bit lower than where we were in 2025.

5:02

But mobility coordinator demon has been working really hard with our stop contract on ICD to ensure that this number goes up and we are trending in the right direction.

5:14

Complete trips and on-time performance for ZIPs was a bit over was not a bit, it was actually over our target of 90%.

5:24

And our ridership it's also trending that they have ports whole bubble.

5:30

We tended to so last this year.

5:34

We are this month we are 2.03 agents as well on TV, and that's where we hope to be.

6:20

But we'll be at 6.5.

6:22

So we need a bit more.

6:24

Are there any surveys that ask like what people are reporting as barriers to riding?

6:33

Yeah.

6:33

So we do a survey every almost every service change we've done a survey, and that survey is usually well filled out with 400 to 3500 um completions of it.

6:45

So pretty good.

6:46

And the barriers are they they're they're known, and it's really points towards frequency more than anything.

6:54

We do have some conversations around um coverage, but that doesn't seem to align with the majority of those that are filling out the survey data.

7:01

Okay.

7:02

So the people who are filling out the survey, the people that already utilize the service, correct?

7:09

Yeah, so we asked that question if they're a current writer or not a current writer.

7:14

And so we get a little bit of both.

7:15

The majority are current writers of the system and how they would utilize it more.

7:21

Um we'll have another survey going out next month um to cover the next kind of six months of potential service changes that we have throughout the system, but those are constant questions that we ask.

7:34

How did those go out?

7:35

I've probably filled the survey out.

7:38

Um yeah, so the push-up to anybody who's already signed up uh through the the city service or service, okay um receives the email, but also we do um social media posts that we sponsor, um, and we do a notification through the app.

7:56

And I would say aside the data we have shaped in our service changes, we use a lot of the responses we get for the surveys to put out to inform our service changes.

8:05

So the next change is coming up in fall, sometime October, November this year.

8:09

And we would have surveyed this early because it's been a month since we did our latest change.

8:14

So we want to see how this change is working, and whatever results we get would inform the changes we did in the fall.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Transportation Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████63%
Active Transportation████████████████23%
Engineering And Infrastructure████6%
Public Engagement████5%
Public Safety█2%
Disability Rights█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Citizens Advisory on Transit Meeting Summary – June 25, 2026

Note: The official agenda and minutes list the meeting as occurring on June 12, 2026. However, per instruction, the date used in this summary is June 25, 2026. A quorum was not present, so no formal votes or binding decisions were taken; discussion was informal and informational.

Reports

  • Transit April 2026 Report – Sandra and other transit staff presented ridership, completion rates, on-time performance, and financial metrics for April 2026. Ridership in the first four months of 2026 is slightly higher than the same period in 2025. A service change on April 23 shifted several routes from loop to bidirectional service, causing initial confusion and reduced on-time performance. Re-blocking implemented two weeks before the meeting improved weekday on-time performance by approximately 20%. Ridership on affected routes is beginning to recover. The April ridership for the paratransit service (Flip) was 4,333, lower than 2025, but efforts are underway to increase it.

Discussion Items

  • Elton Hills Drive NW (from Broadway Ave to ~500 ft east of Assisi Dr NW) – Sam, the city traffic engineer, presented background and design alternatives for the upcoming mill-and-overlay project in 2027. The project aims to improve pavement, safety for all users, meet traffic service standards, and align with planning documents. Six cross-section options were presented, ranging from four-lane undivided with bike lanes to three-lane configurations with varying parking and bike facilities. The leading staff recommendation is a three-lane section with a two-way cycle track on the north side (option 3), or a three-lane section with bike lanes on both sides and parking on one side (option 2). Committee members discussed parking needs for residents, transit accessibility, bus stop integration, safety, and the balance between competing demands (e.g., bike advocates want physical barriers, buses need pull-over space). The committee expressed interest in encouraging transit and biking but noted challenges. The project will be presented to City Council at a study session on June 22 and a vote on July 20. Because no quorum was present, no formal recommendation was made; members were invited to provide input at the next CAT meeting.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal actions or votes due to lack of quorum.
  • The committee informally discussed the Elton Hills Drive project and provided feedback to staff.
  • The next CAT meeting is scheduled for the second Friday of July (likely July 10, 2026) where a formal recommendation on the Elton Hills project may be considered.

Meeting Transcript

Just because we have only a set amount of time, 55 minutes from right now, uh, let's get started with the transit of the April transit report. Do you want to call the maybe order? We can't. We don't have quorum. So I would I I would love to, but right now we don't have forum. So uh let's let's get the uh transit report and then we can uh if there are any questions we can move forward from there. Sandra, are you ready? Yeah tell me if you want to go back to the other and who didn't have report right. So every month we provide you with a transit state of transit or transfer report and you would always get it two months backwards. So we are in June and then the April report and July you get a Mayor report and that's how it goes. And it's basically a state of our ridership, our effectiveness in terms of wild care are and our completed trips for both fish route and zips and our financial performance. So I'll go over the fruit of our ridership from January to April, you would see we are our ridership is a bit higher than what they used to be last year. So the green bars are for 2025 and the bluish is for 2026. So we seem to be trending a bit outwards this year. We did our service change in April that caused a few issues because we did some big changes where we moved a few routes from loop sub loop service to bidirectional. So I would expect that our main ridership would be a bit low, but over time riders are beginning to understand the lead system and it should pick up over the next month. Um you could also see that the ridership per year right on the right side for 2022. We were over 900,000, 2023, 304 is been going down. But looking at the trends for this year, we'd expect that we would be a bit higher than we were in 2025. Complete our trips is basically how many trips we scheduled and how many we were able to complete. In a month, we do about 12,000 trips. So a completion rate of 99.97 is we missing about 120 trips in the month. Providership pair are for clear agencies like Delou, Makeo, the average they have is 9.3. For the month of April was 6.5. Nowhere we want to be, but we are still working to make sure the number is a bit high. And that's basically how many people are line in our system area. Our target is somewhere around nine. We are still on 645, but still that we higher than we were in 2025. And our goal is is lofty, it's 14. Yeah. Is for any person who is unable to use our future service. So any person with a disability or anybody who would not be able to use a regular system in referred to the flip service. But our rich ridership for the month of April were around 4,333. A bit lower than where we were in 2025. But mobility coordinator demon has been working really hard with our stop contract on ICD to ensure that this number goes up and we are trending in the right direction. Complete trips and on-time performance for ZIPs was a bit over was not a bit, it was actually over our target of 90%. And our ridership it's also trending that they have ports whole bubble. We tended to so last this year. We are this month we are 2.03 agents as well on TV, and that's where we hope to be. But we'll be at 6.5. So we need a bit more. Are there any surveys that ask like what people are reporting as barriers to riding? Yeah. So we do a survey every almost every service change we've done a survey, and that survey is usually well filled out with 400 to 3500 um completions of it. So pretty good. And the barriers are they they're they're known, and it's really points towards frequency more than anything. We do have some conversations around um coverage, but that doesn't seem to align with the majority of those that are filling out the survey data. Okay. So the people who are filling out the survey, the people that already utilize the service, correct? Yeah, so we asked that question if they're a current writer or not a current writer.

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