All right. Good evening, everyone. I want to welcome you to the February 10th, 2025 meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit Board of Directors. Tabitha, would you please do the roll call and read the Metro Cable statement as well.

Time allowed for public comment is at the chair's discretion and the timer will chime when you have 20 seconds and then again when your time is up, there was no written public comment received for today's meeting.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, we will now move to our next agenda item, which is the pledge of allegiance and I've asked director from Rancho Codova Linda Budge to lead us in the pledge.

I'm going to ask director Scott Moog that his job is not in jeopardy.

Okay, with that, I'd like to ask director questions, comments at this time.

Or consent calendar items 2.1 to 2.8. Yes.

I will move approval of the consent calendar. I have a question on 2.4 and I need to recuse myself on 2.7.

Anyone else? Do you want to move the balance of the calendar? Do you want to answer those questions? Let's answer the question on 2.4.

Okay, 2.4 resolution 202502011 authorizing the execution of the amendment for the low carbon transit operations program for the smart ride micro transit project and Laura ham is here to answer any questions.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wondered whether there had been any kind of report done on on the micro transit service.

We did provide a comprehensive report on smart ride to the board when we proposed restructuring the program to the new sac R T flex service. So this, this action is repurposing funds that were originally awarded to smart ride under the LC top program to other services that are already funded under LC talk.

I got that part. If you could provide me a copy of the report, I would appreciate that.

Absolutely.

And then I should say that I'm recreasing myself an item 7 or 2.7.

Thank you.

I did a campaign contribution made from a council 5057 in September of 2024 in an amount exceeding $250.

And I will move approval of the consent calendar with the exception of item 2.7.

And moved in seconded it all in favor say aye.

I pose abstain.

The direct to show we are unanimous with the exception of member Dickinson.

Who has officially abstained. I will say that for the record.

Okay. We will now address any items from the public at this time. Do you have any from public?

I have a lawyer.

And then Jeffrey Tartigia.

I recently had a experience with the little rider train.

I was at the Jensen Dell light rail station when the train pulled in. He opened the doors automatically.

And I was from from here to the end of this table from the door.

By the time I got to the door, he closed the doors and took off.

I had to wait for the next train. When the next train came up, he opened the doors automatically.

I went this time I was closer to the door. I pushed the button under door. The door closed and the ramp came out.

And started to open. I prayed to close the doors and pulled the ramp in and took off.

Left me stranded them waiting for another train.

Open the door automatically and they don't even open very long and they take off again.

They don't wait long enough for the.

I just want to get on board.

Okay, I said my piece to you now.

Thank you. We'll have someone to meet with him so we can discuss this and we'll get into this further.

Okay. So one someone from our staff from RT will be in touch with you sir.

We're sorry for your experience.

I'm sorry for your experience.

And we're sorry for your experience.

An abdicate.

Yes, I brought Ken from the experience that had this last week since we last board meeting.

I think I told him that I was going to have more officers on Saturday and Sunday, monitoring the low floor vehicles.

I would suggest that look at as we ride I took today after three o'clock.

There was a TA there explaining why we were slowed down again.

I was wondering who we're having another seventh street.

Car incident that was preventing a block. I've been in twice now where seven street has been out far enough that it's blocked a couple of trains going through there.

I know I'll talk with Henry further about the other experiences going on with light rail.

I do hope Rick that you do form soon that task force to look at all the problems.

I'm hearing about the problems where the tuning of the horns, you know, going on there creating disturbances that writers and others don't like also having to make the adjustments to get into the vehicle.

And blind person can't see whether it's crowded inside or not to know which door to go through on there.

And the two of us were there and it was very difficult for anybody to get in between us to go in the rest of the train.

There are definite flaws for that less than, I think it's 20s eight people on each side that is allowed to set.

It needs to be examined further and I hope Rick again you get to see what the globe light rail station of how accessible it turns out to be for both SETA and the dog and your other operations through there.

I do want to firmly reiterate that I believe a 3D printer would be very helpful.

So you have physically what's going on there and what's your plans are going on there.

It didn't happen at the 7th street location.

65th was put together and that wasn't what you built and other locations have similar issues through there.

And the 45 inches is a critical issue for dealing with the Zinfin Dale and 65th street.

And I guess I have a phone call so my time is up.

So you called me out specifically and I think that's because what most people may not know is that my office is right in front of a blue light rail station.

So I can assure you that I will find out more about what you're speaking of and I will experience for myself so that I can substantiate the issue that you're speaking to.

So thank you for bringing that to our attention.

Be happy to join forces with you on that one Mr. Chair.

There we go.

The council member from the district.

I love it.

Okay. Any other comments from the public?

That's it.

Okay.

All right. Well, we thank all who came in and spoke on behalf of the public. We thank you for doing so we encourage you to continue.

We want to hear what you're seeing out there in the in the field.

So please feel free to come and let others who may be experiencing the same issues come so that we can hear what they're saying, whether they do it in writing or whether they do it here at the microphone.

We'd like to know what's going on out in our in our communities.

So let's move to item 4.1 information presentation for sacriot street harassment and transit safety survey and I think Lisa Heinz is presenting.

Yes, sir.

There you go.

Chair Ginny's members of the board. I'm Lisa Heinz vice president of security safety customer satisfaction and facilities for sacriot.

I will be providing a summary of the recent street harassment survey conducted by sacriot.

The need for the survey was established by Senate Bill 434, which required the top 10 transit operators in California to conduct surveys identifying and addressing issues related to street harassment on public transit.

Street harassment is described as behavior or comments that can be sexual and may target your sex, gender age, religion, nationality, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Those who harass others in this way often target women, LGBTQ plus and gender nonconforming people persons with disabilities and people of color fear of experiencing street harassment and dramatically impact us some populations use or avoid using public transit.

This survey was required to be completed by the end of 2024.

The outreach process was conducted between October 7 and November 10 of 2024 and we surveyed approximately a thousand and 60 participants.

The writer questionnaire was available online for the duration of the outreach process and we held 25 events to gather feedback.

Participants included transit writers members of the public key stakeholders and sac RT operators.

The questionnaire was translated into Chinese, Russians, Spanish and Vietnamese to capture non-English speaking individuals and ensure equal opportunities for participation.

The questionnaire was also shared via sacrotees website through press release and social media channels and through distribution of flyers to stakeholders, organizations and during outreach activities.

The outreach team administered questionnaires to writers at stations and stops throughout our system as well as operators at drop in stations at sac RT.

So let's move on to key findings.

61% of respondents indicated that they always are almost always felt safe while using sac RT services with 30% of respondents indicating that they sometimes feel safe.

Participants noted that feeling unsafe was associated with the following disruptive behavior from other passenger, which includes students, unhoused individuals and people experiencing a mental health crisis.

Traveling in certain areas, lack of fair enforcement, long wait times and capacity challenges.

Respondents cited the need for more security personnel at stations, buses and on drains.

Also numerous requests for infrastructure investments such as improved lighting, more cameras and emergency call buttons.

Female respondents were more likely to report feeling sometimes are almost never safe compared to male respondents.

Operators reported experiencing harassment when operating light rail and buses.

Individuals who identify as non-binary or transgender reported higher instances of experienced specific behaviors directed at them.

Let's look at peer comparisons. We looked at four peer agencies, VTA, MTS, SFMTA and BART to assess our results against theirs.

VTA is the agency like sac RT most in that we both have open light rail systems.

Our scores were almost identical regarding passengers view of the perception of safety.

BART of course has a closed system which allows them to secure who enters and exits their system and as such their score was slightly higher.

SFMTA interviewed only 600 people and scored much lower.

MTS and San Diego only conducted half the number of surveys at 500 and had a slightly higher score.

In addition to the number of cases of emergency call systems most riders witnessed or experienced incidents of harassment.

Overall we scored similarly to our peer agencies.

The cumulative results indicate that most public transit riders are experiencing and or witnessing street harassment throughout the state.

Participants recommended increasing visible security presence particularly during high traffic and late night hours to enhance safety.

Addressing disruptive passengers behavior through better enforcement of policies and introducing transit ambassadors security guards and additional police officers during peak hours.

Additional outreach to the schools to educate students on writing public transit.

Most respondents indicated that incidents happen on board transit buses nearly 60% of respondents experienced or saw incidents at stops and stations.

However, nearly 63% did not report what they saw.

Operators interviewed recommended improving their support system.

By increasing security presence as well as training.

Additionally operator suggested consistent implementation of policies or fair enforcement.

So the next steps.

We are always striving to update our safety and security at SAC RT.

In forecasting safety and security needs for our employees and riders.

We have already made several safety and security improvements.

We have added SAC PD officers writing the trains in the afternoon afternoons and evenings.

We have one pair on the gold line and one pair on the blue line.

This alone is already been highly effective with officers being able to quickly apprehend suspects.

We are working with the Sacramento Sheriff's Department.

And we're going to be hiring full uniform security guards from the sheriff's department.

They also will be writing trains.

We have formed an operator assaults task force.

We are providing operator de escalation training.

We have selected a bus parity install and we have the funding to start making the purchases.

We continue to support the bipartisan safety committee as well as the recommendations.

And we are also in the process of creating a campaign to add signage and buses and trains.

That crimes will not be tolerated against the public and our operators.

Lastly, assembly woman Lori Wilson just introduced AB 394 to strengthen safety for transit operators and riders.

The AB 394 extends existing legal protections by strengthening penalties for assaults against transit employees.

Broadening enforcement against trespassing on transit systems and empowering ports to issue prohibition orders restricting access to individuals convicted of violent offenses against transit workers.

That concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much.

I just want to take public comment on this first.

There's no public comment.

And let's take director comments and questions.

Thank you.

Thank you for the report.

I think that generally speaking, if we're going to institute new measures that are aimed at reducing harassment.

And certainly giving the traveling public a greater sense of security.

We need to implement that deploy it.

First before any signage goes up.

And the reason I say that is because we're going to put signage up.

That underscores the fact that it won't be tolerated.

And we don't have.

Other measures or enhanced measures.

That is going to I think do nothing but confuse and agitate our ridership.

If they have the experience instances of harassment because now we're actually putting it literally in their face.

And we can expect people to show up here more often.

So that would just be my friendly advice to our staff in terms of how we roll it out is that we do signage very last.

Thank you.

I have.

And I don't know if you can answer it now and you don't have to answer it now.

You talked about hiring more.

Sac sheriff's deputies.

I'd like to know what the rollout is on that.

And if it's going to apply all the way into Folsom.

We get a lot of complaints about people getting on somewhere within Sacramento and then getting off in Folsom.

And then getting off at the last time before because they don't return back to Sacramento.

So it's increasing our pot our homeless unhoused population.

So I would be curious about the rollout of that and and what it entails.

And it does it in tail checking tickets as well.

So I'll start with the sec PD officers.

As you all know last January in 2024 they took back eight officers.

So we have 16 form personnel including our lieutenant.

So what we try the lieutenant came up with an idea that we tried to hire off duty.

Sac PD officers and we.

It's uncanny, but they're signing up like crazy.

And so we've been having them ride the trains and.

It's been fabulous in the evenings.

And like I said, we have a waiting list.

So with the sheriff's department specifically they're not in a position that can give us more deputies.

But they started a program where they have armed security guards and it's kind of like their entry level into become an actual sheriff deputy.

And so we've been having them ride the train.

And so we've been having them ride the train.

The highly trained the folks that you see at the dam.

So we've worked with the captain from that area command.

As well as the lieutenant. And so we're going to get six of them.

They're about ready to enter training.

They're in the selection process right now.

And we think that the wall have them out on the trains and march.

The sheriff himself was involved in making this ultimate decision to let us have these.

And so we're going to have a training program.

And so we're going to have a training program.

Most people are going to have no idea that they're not a full sworn officer.

So with that comes a huge amount of responsibility.

So they have a very extensive.

They have their own security guard training program.

And it's about six weeks.

And then they'll come to us and get our training program to like what we give our transit ambassadors in our security guards that we contract with.

So I really think by the end of March, they'll be out on the trains.

And they will go all the way to Folsom.

And we've always.

Offered for chief Hillman to.

You know, we would help support and work with them.

And I work with them very well.

But that we would be happy to have Folsom officer on our trains to it.

So the more the mayor.

Director Maple.

Each year and appreciate the presentation.

Certainly one of the things that I've heard the most from either, you know, constituent.

I just complaints just comments as well from folks who ride the system is that there are concerns over safety at times and the perception of it.

So glad to see that this survey was done and that and that we got so many respondents to that was really noticeable to me.

Even by some of the bigger systems we definitely it looks like we did a great job at getting the word out.

So wonder and key to your team.

And for you for doing that.

My question is now that we're implementing changes as a part of that survey.

And I think that we're not just figuring out what the problems are about and blending solutions.

Do we have a plan for communicating these out.

Obviously, you know, to people who are currently using the system, but I also think this would be a great way.

To recruit new writers, right?

Like people who might maybe don't use it right now because they are like, I don't know.

Well, you know, you can say, actually we've been put into these new programs.

We think this is going to make you feel safer.

We're already seeing that.

Come on down right.

I've really glad you asked that question.

So Deborah, Deborah helped me with my presentation.

So we absolutely have a plan and she's on the operator assaults task force.

And she's integrated into everything that we do with safety and security because we need to have that plan.

We need to communicate to the writers that we have police officers and sheriff security guards and all the different things that we're doing that we got a million dollars and federal funding to upgrade our lights on the blue line to led at the station platform.

Some of the things they asked for.

So definitely.

Sure.

Hey, director, Bruy.

No, I want to thank you for the report.

I thought it was very helpful.

And I think it's really important that we increase safety on the rails.

For the writers and also as the director, maple mentioned, it's important to attract new writers.

Onto on to onto the lines.

I think it's very important for.

For the success of this program to show both safety and increased ridership together working in tandem works will will be.

Successful.

One, two punch.

My question is.

For.

For those who will be doing the security.

On the lines.

Will there be any approach to help.

In terms of dealing with a de escalation of cases where you're going to have.

People who are mentally ill.

We're going to we're doing the harassing or doing the violent approaches.

And we're going to have a lot of.

We're going to have a lot of.

Definitely.

Obviously the police officers in the security guys will have de escalation training.

And as I mentioned, our operators are going to get de escalation training.

But you can't have enough resources on your trains.

So one of the things I'm working on is we all know we have a social worker, masters and social work rose.

And she just applied and got awarded two sex state interns.

And those those folks will be on board with us.

It comes September.

And we plan to deploy them directly on the trains.

And we're going to have to get them to be on the train.

So they're going to have to be on the train.

So that's a lot of things.

So that's a lot of things that are lead to be on the spot and address those.

Those concerns.

Right now.

Rose.

Is able to work with the folks like we track the people that get the most amount of fair violations.

And Rose takes that list and contacts them.

And tries.

We actually have some people that we provide fair to if they follow the rules.

So we try to balance, you know, safety and security needs as well as compassion.

Thank you very much.

Director St. Allen.

I want to thank director Maple.

I couldn't agree more.

I think it's a tremendous opportunity to increase ridership.

Because one of the things I do here is is it safe.

And then to direct your service point.

And when you go to the office, and you go to the office,

I'm going to ask you a question.

How do you think of making sure our doctor or an arrow first before we put the signage out there.

Because there will be that expectation of increased safety and security.

My question is specific to assembly bill 394 in terms of process.

Will we be engaging in that in terms of advocacy to the representatives and the legislature.

that information about this AB 394 so I definitely think we'll be lobbying to support that.

Okay and I imagine our partners with labor as well. Yes. So just a little bit of information on that.

It is the measure is sponsored by both CTA which is our advocacy group and the ATU.

Yeah. Okay. And partnership. Thank you. Director Hume.

Thank you chair. Thank you Lisa for this report and I agree with the comments and

suggestions by my fellow directors. You know I think the key to robust ridership numbers

oftentimes comes down to safety and s-quenliness and punctuality and if you fail on any of those

metrics you're not going to have people that want to ride the system. So I think it's an important

thing to focus in on and I appreciate in the report that you put up relative to our peer agencies

calling attention to the fact that having open stations is somewhat of a barrier when you're

trying to control behavior and control of folks who are coming on to the system. And you know

it's it's obviously a cumbersome thing to have somebody checking for fares on the system.

Have we ever considered having paid fares zones at the stations themselves so that before somebody

boards the system they've already established that they should be there and or have something

as they board that they can show proof of fare that we can go back and review a video later to see

hey look the light didn't come on you never even showed you had fare. We've actually had paid

fares zones at our light rail stations for years and years and years and that's that's honestly how

we are able to keep our systems safe and clean because you don't get a lot of complaints about

people sleeping there. We use the voice of God if someone's sleeping at the station because of the

fares zones and we we really do a fairly decent job of eradicating people from staying long

long periods of time because of that we have that tool. All right thank you.

So the voice of God that's a tool I might need appeared. Anyway excellent presentation excellent

report I just had a couple of quick questions relative to the languages that we reached out for

did we feel that we got to everyone that wanted to present or could there been an additional

language to use for interpretation for. You know I'm not sure our planning team worked with

our contractor and I really don't have that information if there was a small segment of folks

that we missed. And then the other question in regard to that was the time period of October

the 7th through November the 10th did you feel that was enough time to get the amount of comments

I think you got a thousand sixty comments was that like the expectation that you thought.

You know in reading our peer agencies the ones I mentioned I read their reports and I feel

like we did a very thorough job by going also to our stakeholders there was one agency that went

to every third person and I felt like that was just in reading that my common sense I felt like

that was their desire to get through all 500 people today and I feel like having that window time

was reasonable and all the different ways and all the different languages I do feel satisfied with

the results as well as the the outreach that are our planning team and shout out to them for

really helping and coordinating this. And I would just say that for those who may still want to

fill out a survey that should be available for them even though it's after the 30 day period of time

just so we get we can hear their voice and they feel safe. Definitely and I think the best way

to handle that would be to just go right to our customer service department and share your

experiences with safety and security and the more the more information the barrier we can't fix

what we don't know. Exactly. And then just the last thing I'll say is just from a standpoint of a

report to this board since we are talking about public safety. I think we should have a regular time

to get an update as to the progress that's being made to your action plan that you presented to us

and so I'll let the staff come together and figure out how often that should be but I think we

should have a regular update as to progress in this matter and what steps and support you need

from us to help move you the story. Sounds good and then I want to end on I definitely heard

Director Sierna and Director Sing Allen that I will we haven't put up her signage yet so I will

make sure that the timing is the the appropriate timing. I hear you. Great. Thank you. Thank you.

Any more questions comments? Here in non-CNN we will move to item 4.2,

information on the light rail modernization update.

Okay. Good morning Chair Jennings members of the board and the public. I'm Blanca Dauho B.P.

of Operations. Today I will provide an update on the launch of the S-700 law floor vehicles

and Folsom service. The introduction of the S-700 law floor trains is a major milestone for

SACRT, marking a new era of modern, accessible and efficient transit service. This train

spring significant improvements over our older high floor fleet with required steps or ramps for

boarding. With the S-700s we now have full-level boarding making it easier for all cold

line riders including those with mobility devices parents with strollers and cyclists.

The S-700s provide a smoother and quieter ride with advanced suspension and braking systems

improving both comfort and safety for the passengers.

ahead of the launch we conducted extensive outreach and gather feedback from passengers

the mobility advisory council and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.

While we have been making adjustments based on community feedback it's important to recognize

that these new trains provide vastly improved experience compared to our older fleet.

This evening I will walk through the key areas of public feedback the changes we've

made and how we continue to refine operations to better service our riders.

The S-700 law floor trains begin service at SACRT on September 1, 2024. As of today we have

secure funding for a total of 59 law floor trains. 22 have already been delivered when

20 operating and revenue service on the gold line and two still in various testing faces.

An additional 23 trains are in different stages in the manufacturing process at the SEMON

facility. For perspective to fully transition to an entirely law floor system operating on all

three light rail lines a total of 66 S-700 light rail trains are needed. We will continue to

receive delivery of S-700 trains over the next few years at a rate of up to two per month.

As you know chain-chopting comes with some growing pains and since we introduced the new trains

approximately four months ago we have received some feedback from riders and community members who

live near the gold line. The main comments have that we've heard are related to the new Gong Sound

and public announcements addressing which type of train is entering the station,

rampageability, interior signage and we've also heard observations about standing room only

on the new train studio increased ridership. While this highlights the growing demand of our

service we want to assure you that each S-700 vehicle is designed to accommodate approximately

58 seated passengers, 184 passengers with space for up to four mobility devices. Based on our data

we have seen a maximum of 111 passengers on a single train and we continue to monitor ridership

patterns to assess system needs. We value this input as it helps us refine and improve the customer

experience for all riders. After receiving feedback from riders and the community we took immediate

action to address concerns and improve the S-700 trains. We focus on key areas such as sound

adjustments, accessibility, signage and passenger flow. We've the following slides highlight some

of the major improvements we've made based on public input. We took community feedback seriously

and immediately made key adjustments to the train sound levels. The Gong volume was lower from 85

decibels to 75 decibels making it quieter while still meeting safety standards. According to

CPUC the bell must produce at least 75 decibels at 100 feet to ensure outability for public safety.

We work directly with the community reciting near the 39th and 48th stations recording the legacy

Gong sound and successfully implementing the new sound file on two S-700 trains. To ensure

compliance and rider satisfaction we secure a sound engineer to validate and fine tune the new

sound levels. Exterior announcements were reduced to 80% volume ensuring they remain effective

without being disruptive and we review feedback on station announcements and remove redundant messages

to streamline information. Lastly we're working with Siemens to relocate the ramp deployment speaker

making it easier for passengers outside the train to hear it. To improve comfort and accessibility

we install hand straps for standing passengers based on feedback from the mobility advisory council

and ADA requirements. We also updated decals and signage inside the train to better assist passengers

with boarding, sitting, and bicycle placement. Passengers found the tape switch referred to the

activation strip difficult to use so we tested alternative designs including a larger handrail

but ultimately reverted back to the original design after receiving feedback from the MAC.

The tape switch ramp request was not always holding requests and we're working with Siemens

and this issue would be fully resolved throughout through a software update.

Here signage is essential for accessibility and insurance move passenger movement throughout

our system based on feedback from the mobility advisory council and ADA requirements. We redesigned

several decals and station signage to enhance clarity. New signs help passengers quickly

locate boarding areas, bicycle storage, and priority seating making navigation easier for all writers.

This is an ongoing process and we continue to evaluate and adjust signage as needed to improve

accessibility and ease of use. We received feedback about bicycles occupying ADA spaces so we took

steps to improve accessibility to ensure all passengers can write comfortably. To help manage

bicycle placement we implemented a policy similar to San Diego MTS, restricting bikes in ADA

areas during peak time to prioritize space for those who need it most. Inside the trains we installed

decals marking designated bicycle areas helping clearly understand where bikes should be.

Each low floor train provides a space for up to four bikes to and the front and to and the rear.

Cyclists must secure their bikes and remain in control of them during their trip.

And we're continuously monitoring passenger flow and bicycle usage to ensure a safe and comfortable

boarding experience for all writers. As Henry shared at the last board meeting service to

all Folsom area stations resume on January 5th with a new pass and track that Glenn Robert G Holderness

Station to enable more frequent service. We have been working closely with operators and scheduling

teams testing different ways to move trains sufficiently. A key factor is ensuring that two

trains pass at Glenn station at eight precise times so the next train can come and can enter without

delays. And we're gathering operational data to refine scheduling, looking at potential delays

elsewhere in the system that might impact this timing. During the track construction we identified

that the crossing arm's at Glenn station did not meet CPUC standards and as a result we are

currently operating operating under a slow order in that area. A slow order means trains must

reduce speed and a specific section of the track due to safety regulations which impact travel times.

Our operations team is actively managing this challenges working to fine train movements and

adjusting strategies to optimize service. Although we've done a tremendous amount of outreach to

the community state holders in public as well as to the members of the mobility advisory council

related to the rollout of the new low floor trains and increased service frequency to Folsom stations

we can always do more. And we will continue to provide regular updates and board meetings to keep

everyone informed about our progress. Thank you, Board, for your continuing engagement and guidance

and Secretary of the committee to commit to ensuring the S-700 low floor train succeed our

community's expectations and needs and this concludes my presentations and I'm happy to answer

any questions. Thank you. Director or Sona? Thank you, Chair. Thank you for the presentation and

I think it was thorough and I'm glad to know that we have an expectation that we're going to hear

continued updates. I think we all expected that there might be some growing pains when we

reintroduce low floor and all that comes to that especially as it relates to what we've

heard several times now in the last few months about ramp deployment and the timing of doors

staying open and that kind of thing. But because on one of your introductory slides you

inferred that it's going to continue to be sometime before we have the entire

rolling stock at low floor that means we're going to continue to have mixed pain sets.

So my question is this are we methodically looking at the original rolling stock and the

condition of that rolling stock so that when we get up to let's say 59 cars and we still have

seven cars to go that those last seven cars are going to be the best of the old.

So in other words I mean I think we can all can appreciate that our original rolling stock comes

enough wide variety of wear and tear and I've seen some you know just at a stoplight when a

train's going by or on a radius turn or something where you have a good look at it and some of the

cars are just they look like you know they came through a warren torn territory so

seems to me that we'd want to deliberately keep the kind of the most aesthetically pleasing and

safe and functional parts of our our our older trains so that they can be the last to be mixed with

the new fleet. I want to address that. Then you address. Okay. We were very fortunately and successfully

circaled the funding so far up to 700 million dollars for that live real modernization and for the

real system every 15 years you're supposed to have a middle life overhaul so we should have

done that about like a 20 25 years ago unfortunately we did not have the funding local funding

or local funding is only the fifth of one penny compared to other regions hope penny for the

public transit so we did not have that money 20 years ago again you know thanks to board guidance

and the help and we were able to secure the money to completely modernize our system.

We need 66 new vehicles to replace 27 older vehicles because each new vehicle has capacity up to

185 passengers right now the maximum amount of the passenger right now we experienced

for the new vehicle is 111. We have the funding for 59 vehicles and work we are very confident

we will be able to get the funding for the next seven vehicles however

66 vehicles includes six or seven vehicles for the backup or for the actual you know

capacity so even with 59 vehicles if we don't have any you know mechanical issues it should

you shall be able to handle the entire you know task of the system so we're not going to have

old one the new one continuously for a long time maybe just a couple three years or something

going to have the entire new system. I appreciate the explanation about the funding and

the need for the numbers and the capacity of each train

train car but it's all not going to happen at once is my point so I do think it probably is worth

some minimal amount of time and effort to just take stock of which of the you know the original

train sets are especially the aesthetics of it are going to be most acceptable I guess to the

writing public because the more you have the new train sets deployed and you have a really

terrible looking you know couple of trains in there it becomes that much more

apparent noticeable so yeah. I'm striving to you to finish it out of within two or three years

yeah all right but we are looking as we're looking at which trains are going to you know go away

because due to a ph or their status of how they are we are taking a look at that to make sure that

those trains go away and we keep the most reliable trains in service until to mix in with the new

fleet so we will make sure we take note of that. I think it's directed human and I'll come to you.

Thank you chair thank you for the report with question you know obviously one of the big complaints

that we've heard that I think we're most sensitive to has to do with the ramps and the door

and so I'm glad to hear that we're trying to do what little tweaks we can but when I heard the story

earlier today it struck me that that perhaps I believe your name was Ken wasn't where the door was

when the train pulled in and that caused a delay in him getting to the door so two questions when

you said that we here gonna have signs locating boarding areas is that literally like where the door

will be opening when the train comes to a stop. Yes yes that is and the what I'm thinking and what

usually happens to us we look at each individual incident that comes along and there's usually a

mixture of whoever's inside trying to get in and what they're pressing and who takes priority which

one of the what I mentioned will fix that because if someone's inside if they press the button it's

just gonna take priority over anybody else coming in so the ramp will deploy but then we also have

operators and things that might be pressing that button before or closing it or overwriting the

system and those are special incidents here and there and we look at them right away and I look

at Vince because we then look at and go talk to the operators and make sure that they're receiving the

training to be able to use the door correctly because that's what's taking place to the operator can

override once somebody presses the door they can override it and they close and that's what we get

some complaints like what I had the door open and it close and it left me so we look back if we

get all his information we'll take a look and find out exactly what took place with him and see if

it was it sounds like it's an operator error but the signage does ultimately does help in and out to

know where you're boarding and where you need to be at thank you okay we'll take director shaper and

then director budger thank you chair so I just want to follow up on director service comment

are we is is there a train like we we talked about a pavement condition index we have a train

condition index where even on the new trains if we see that there are certain routes that will be

harder on cars than others will be I would imagine that all things are not created the same so

but moving forward we certainly like to maybe look at rotating the cars out to a certain you know

so that we're not beaten one car to death before it's lifetime is yeah yeah so right. But is there any

it what's what's what's the program right now the problem is that only our gold line tracks are low

floor so we're working on the blue line so because that's not done all the trains are going to be in

the in the in the gold line right now but we are starting the blue line and depending where we get

all that construction done then we can take a look to see where we can place which trains but right

now we're only able to place them at the in the gold line due to the low floor um we're thinking

about when yes later yes we can we can definitely take a look and and and strategize with where we

want to set the trains and then rotate them as you mentioned. Dr. Budge just a compliment though

actually being up in Folsom last week for the SBTC JPA it's so obvious that Folsom and Regional

Transit work together to really improve Folsom Boulevard between you know between like

our point and Old Town Folsom and it's really very nice so thank you thank you.

Director Rubar. Yeah thank you for that comment too Director Budge about Folsom. I'm sure that the

emails I've gotten the last couple weeks and no one told me before I joined this board that I

would be getting a lot more in. No I'm happy to handle it and I appreciate actually all the staff's

time and and they're reply they're quick very informative replies back. I've been very impressed but

I'm sure it's filtered down to you as well. I'm in fact just at 358 I got another email again that

they got had to get off at sunrise and the train had to turn around so and I'm not just getting

this from one person so I don't know if you can address it now or address it where I can address

it at my own city council but the in gold line delays a day is what I've been hearing consistently

for the last two weeks and that appears that 15 minutes is not happening and I think that seems

to be that most everybody understands there's going to be issues but they want to start hearing more

of the solution so and you could equip me or yeah so just briefly we do have we do have a lot more

information to share if you like but basically what we did a lot of testing prior to to a running

in 2015 we focused a lot on the tracks the signals and we stayed on that on that section when we

opened service now it brings the whole entire system in and it brought delays funny somebody

else mentioned seven street we just had a meeting about if someone get blocks the train now it's

causing this delay and it just throws the whole schedule off so there's this all these other things

that we didn't take on consideration when we were testing and we're refining them out right now

and we have teams literally every day trying to minimize what happens is this the system gets delay

and because we only have a passing track we can't let a train enter unless the other ones cleared out

and that's when you usually have those passengers exiting the the train at sunrise because we're

going to basically put that train out of service have the other let the other train come forward

and go but that gives already time for the other two to train to clear that track at from Folsom to

to sunrise or Glenn which is our passing track so we are attempting to figure out and work with

to come up with the schedule right now we're looking at a set schedule hopefully for April but right

now for this current bid which runs from January to April we're just trying to find the best solution

and then give you guys some type give the public some type of schedules that they'll know if we have

to turn the the train around at least you'll know which train it is we're also attempting to protect

each hours to ensure that those wanting to use the service every 15 minutes get the 15 minutes

going to work and come in home so we're taking a look at all of that and working daily but I think maybe

I would say maybe one to two more weeks we'll have a little bit more of a concrete hopeful schedule

that we can share with the public so at least they know what to expect when they're out there and

it's not random trains that are turning around which I know that's what you know and even now we

communicate with our operators and let them know if you know that we're going to turn the train

around start communicating with the passengers on board so they're not surprised because I know

that's what's getting a lot of passengers upset not knowing and then they have to get off and wait

and or they just don't know what's going on so we're trying to work on communication with the

public as best as we can until we resolve the the issue with the with the schedule thank you but

I can't provide more if you like break down if you if you need to okay well it's on the the last

couple emails okay yeah hopefully that kind of explain what we're dealing with the good news I heard

in your presentation was that you are seeing an increase in ridership yes we are yes thank you

okay I think we're going to give you a break and we're going to go to our public comment

okay we have Dan Allison

hi Dan Allison representing Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders

um I have been riding light rail cold line mostly um a lot more than I usually do and so have

some things to report um the turnbacks going to fall some have already been talked about they are

a problem I've been caught by it several times resulting in my not getting where I needed to go on time

um I noticed the low floor trains are being used on the green line and I'm kind of like why it's a

low ridership line those cars should be on the gold line that's a high ridership line and not

on the green line I don't understand why they're being used there um bicycles are definitely an

issue I have been on trains with eleven bicycles on a car and it's a mess um nobody can get around

I realize that solving that problem is difficult um but I have two things to suggest as an

experiment take out the single seats that are adjacent to the doors and see if that helps it may

or may not only do it with one car but as an experiment see what happens secondly is um I think that

the ambassadors should be communicating with the bicyclists about where's the best place for your

bicycle what can you expect here when do you need to give up the um the disabled seats to somebody

how do you know that sort of thing just trying to educate bicyclists so that their behavior

helps things rather than hurts things I'm a bicyclist I often have my bicyclone um

the digital internal digital signage on the new cars is sometimes wrong or blank I've noticed

several stations on the gold line at times the sign doesn't show anything at all for the next stop

and then sometimes it shows the wrong station which is worse um and the ramp deployment has been

talked about have an idea as an experiment again um make the door that's the forward door on the first

car where the um platform is marked with the detectable strips um only for ramp deployment not for

any other use so that a regular rider doesn't try to open that door and delay the ramp deployment

again may not be practical but as an experiment it's worth investigating thank you

sir thank you and Jeffrey Tartiguiah

yes no I'm gonna take a little bit the opposite strand and say the nice thing about the old

fleet is you can put more than four wheelchairs in and they can move around can and I today came with

two and literally somebody trying to get in between us they had to turn sideways to try and squeeze

through and they asked apologizing who trying to get in between that is unfortunately the feature of

the low floor trains they're not wide enough and when you get locked in now for the people that are

blind you have no way of knowing inside the train how to deploy the ramp because there's no

sound inside when you're outside there's a visible and you can hear it going off inside you cannot

also inside when you do it says in their press and pull it should say tap because if you

put at least keep your hand on the button the ramp doesn't deploy it's a software glitch

going through there but it's a nice flowing train but it is very limited and you're going to have

to deal with that now for the next 20 30 years unless you can up with a new design in the future

that will allow you greater accessibility I have had twice now where because of all the cards

around there I couldn't move until I got off at the end of the train sack valley station I've had

trains that have been more five ten minutes whatever late going on through there part of it is

the seventh street where cars do you get out of there and block the light rail but that's another

matter for the city to address and deal with in the future just letting you know is is a I really

think it would be nice to have a time morning you know whether it's at the half hour or the other

hour because there's that like to write the big platforms thank you Jeffrey thank you much

any more public comment that's it okay this is information item any other comments from my

colleagues okay so with that we will move to item 4.3 the chair's appointment to the

sack RT retirement board and my understanding is that Shelley's going to present this item I can

present this item all right so Patrick Kennedy has expressed that he wishes to resign from

their retirement boards and have a replacement appointed at this time sack RT board chair would

need to appoint one management member to serve on each retirement board to assume directors

Kennedy's term which inspires December 31st 2025 and the sack RT board chair may appoint the

same member to each retirement board so the real task is to present one have one person okay

did chair Kennedy give a reason as to why he's retiring coming

not I have no further information just sharing the love chair

so we would be looking for a volunteer first right it's someone who really would like to

getting additional experience and learn how to work in this area and just so you know the meetings

are on Wednesdays from one to three okay and quarterly so right now they're scheduled for

February, March, April they're special meetings so it's a combination of months I can get the

schedule for you so we are part say requires 24 hours training every two years yeah

so it's either someone volunteers or the chair has to appoint

well it is a chair appointment but you would appoint who volunteers right so really what the

chair is looking for a volunteer right yes so I'm looking to my left there's no eye contact I'll

look to my right I got some eye contact at least a little bit is there anyone that would like to

take on this assignment there are Jennings if I could clarify for this appointment it does not have

to be a board member it can also be a staff member if you're so wish so I have to go to my

colleagues first to make sure that nobody here wants to do that before I would then offer it to

staff opportunity right so I'm not seeing any hands go up so would I work with the GM to decide

who from staff would be the best person for the position yes we ask Shetty to be the

you know for you know the actual board member because she is the alternate right now then we we try

to assign our CFO to be the alternate okay yeah so is that our plan going forward yes sir we kind

of have a say I'm sorry they do they do the presentation

Deborah volunteers I'm gonna get you from behind that pole

okay do we need to vote on that yes we should appoint so I will make that appointment

so for Kelly Valentin to become the member and Debra Salinas the alternate yes perfect all right item

4.3 is done there was no public comment on that correct correct and no directors have any comments

on it since nobody made eye contact with me thank you very much to staff who volunteered and

we thank you okay with that we'll move to item 5.1 the general managers report

good evening chair genius members of the board and the public first I would like to thank

our public for the constructive criticism about you know how to improve our service especially

dance suggestion to ask transit ambassadors to tell which train having more bike capacity

great suggestion thank you and certainly thank board members you guidance on how to implement

safety measures such as taking advantage of safety enhancements with a ridership increase

you know the promotion for the ridership as well as the timing of the sandwiches and you know

safety measures because we don't want to put a sign here and the safety measure you know it's not

near so by the way our climate rate actually continues to remain very low compared to our industry

standards or average and our fair evasion rate in the last six months is 0.4% which is extremely

and 10 years ago our fair evasion rate was double digit

so we will continue to update board and the public with our progress you know the trends

the new system and other you know topics this next slide please

so you might have noticed in the written GM report that we started recognizing employee milestones

we used to have that covered you know during the COVID time we stopped that we started this you know

again it's one of the great places to work in the Sacramento region South County has always

praised a high priority in investing and celebrating our workforce and then moving forward into

you know the new year we plan to start recognize milestone adversaries safety awards and other

employee achievements during board meetings and we will bring staff to the board meetings when time

you know is appropriate for staff and I would like to just thank you chair genius and advise

chair shinghannon you know for encouraging us to do this more at the private forums and this

month we recognize active team members reaching major anniversary milestones starting with last

month more to come at the future board meetings and I also you know think this is very important

to recognize our dedicated writers and fans I just want to share this picture of thank you car

we received from ferrets this lovely boy he got a secretary library of sticker from our booth

at a community event last year probably displaying his water bottle unfortunately he recently

misplaced his water bottle and what's very sad over the last sticker and when we found out

we immediately sent him a new stickers and some actual swagen and as you can say he's happy and

brought us a lovely thank you car he brought by himself

and next I want to remind everyone that the secretary will be holding two

in person hiring events this month as we recruit for all open positions there are our first

in person hiring events of 2025 we have found in person hiring events to be tremendously successful

as many applicants lead assistance navigating their application forum the forum because the

government forum lots of requirements very difficult to navigate and takes several hours for some

people just to feel that from in the middle of time they don't want to spend that much of time to

fail in the forum not only is the WTS 2024 employer of the year secretary offers extremely

generous and competitive benefits package for medical dental, head sick leave retirement and tuition

reimbursement we are also re-offering two thousand dollars signing bonuses for bus drivers for public

if you hear this message please apply hopefully we will get a great turnout at two events with the

first one being held tomorrow so this is a some a little bit of information share you know

with from the the new administration the new administration at the end of generate the federal

office of management and the budget issued a memo phrasing or federal programs why they review the

administration's priorities the opposition in DC was the theorist and the OMB was true the

memo before it was said to take effect but why the phrase was lifted the underlying examination

of a program is ongoing why secretary has low negative funding impacts due to these polls staff

continues to monitor the situation and plan for this potential in the future and short term

post on federal funding 30 to 60 days would allow long-term effect

sarcastic ability to operate or fulfill our financial obligations because we do have a strong

fiscal direction provided by our board and we have groomed our operating reserves to over

40 million dollars from zero dollar 10 years ago now we have 40 million dollars and have

now to use our line of credit for in many years we used to have like 15 to 20 million dollars

line for credit where we were using every every your month when a director heum and director

so the chair and in the meantime US DOT issued guidance on funding requirements or how to

apply for the funding in the future for all programs and activities they require rigorous

economic analysis and the positive cost-benefit assessment so in the future if we're going to apply

for funding what the existing funding we already you know get approved in the past they will

very likely ask us to do this type of for you know in-depth cost-benefit analysis and also they

prefer to get more money to the regions with higher baby birth rate so more babies they're going to

give you more money which maybe it's a good idea I think encourage more yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah

talking about that and our lobbyist in the DSA is helping us try to schedule a

cop potential meetings with one with White House Intergovernment you know a

relation office a lot of wine for the FDA and US DOT meeting in the capital cap during the

capital cap once we secure the notes we will be meeting to share with our board members if you

have time to join both or either one we will be meeting to share with you and by the way we'll

have a tradition secretary sponsor the fifth the capital cap and the cup are the major industry

conferences and events we will share those events for this new year to you send that to you

type of that we send that to you or for you you know soon okay uh next one uh okay the education

and uh uh have a good outreach uh so um why we have seen a complete uh reversal in our financial

situation from decades ago and we have been very successfully in securing i'm president federal

and state grant funding we know we need to identify more local funding to support service

and uh our part of the agency STA um uh it's uh exploring the possibility for or 2026

self-tax measure exploring just so try to help them and uh we are also uh try to do our part to do more

you know uh public education and outreach and we hired a public affair form uh

cherry sprinks from uh maraiki public affairs uh she cherished will assist

secretary in this process of community and stakeholder engagement to uh get the feedback

around the transportation priorities and initiatives in the county in the south county and the

cities within circuities service area uh once this you know we get those feedback we will provide

you know uh uh those feedback to the board and also you know this may help STA uh in determining

you know what is the support or tolerance level for future better to measure you know uh

you're led by STA uh uh cherry she recently led facial counties out which and they

self-tax measure measure B a half-sense self-tax the measure received 64% of the vote

which is very good you know uh uh even though 66.7% is a passing you know uh uh

percentage and she will be uh uh contact with uh our board members to talk to you you know get

you feedback and guidance and what do you feel about and the staff will you know work with her to

to meet with you down the road so i just want to make sure you know i want to share this before

you know uh reach out to you uh to conclude my remarks uh last week uh um Tuesday February 4th

Secretary Arnold the legacy of Rosa Parks and transit equity day uh transit equity day is a

holiday in honor of the civil rights need Rosa Parks and is celebrated on her birthday uh we

come commemorate the brief actor for defines not sparked a movement to for civil rights and transit

equity to honor Rosa Parks and her contributions we reserved a seat at the front of every

secretary bus with a special reserved for Rosa Parks sign and uh if we don't have enough seats

and people can sit there in honor her too it's not just emptying their all the time and uh we

provided the free rights uh our fixed rights bus system to celebrate the important moment in a

civil rights movement uh almost entire industry your fitness uh the free right uh several of us

were able to join the event organizers at the capital on the raining day alongside

sarcades 1956 bus old blue there's lots of people uh actually lots of organizations

borrowed our old blue bus for some historical events uh throughout of this region uh let me

say that complete my report uh mr mr chair back to you thank you thank you i give the um public

as well as my director's an opportunity to ask any questions or make comments on your report i'll

go to the directors first okay director who thank you chair uh i just wanted to point out that the

train in ferris is drawing was better looking than some of the cars that director sernah

of reference okay director dickerson those cars have been in service in 1887

and i'm not sure ferris has been around quite that long so um Henry i wanted to just ask uh given your

comments about the uh the pause and then the recision of funding indicated by OMB uh if

what apta is doing with regarding preserving protecting transit funding uh

apta has been very active in terms of promoting and protecting the funding and

they have been talking to the new potential FDA administrator and to you know welcome him and

talk to him already start talking to him and also you'll try to schedule meeting with the

us your DOT new secretary and this is in a very unique time let me just say this yesterday uh you know

mask uh in the ex post samson uh saying the public transit should it be the local deal is a little

federal should not you know well so so uh but we we we remain you know optimistic about the

federal funding for the transit because this affects hundreds of meaning

working class citizens that just estimates that working class you know citizens and so uh so

so it would be very difficult to you know to change this trajectory however some major

uh apta projects may be affected and as you say uh the White House already issued uh

investigation on high speed rail so so so that's just samson uh uh the the temperature right now

uh the directors okay um any public comment on this matter yep we have Jeffrey Tartigia and Helano

Connell Helen you want to go now since you have the mic and yeah okay oh well um yes wanting to work

with Henry uh wanting to try a transit property transit tech for the purpose of dealing with the

factor of we need income that provides for operations um other agencies are on the financial cliff

apparently this is Los Angeles this is the Bay Area through here um we have done well

but we need to do better and we need to come up with the ability of local dollars and since 2016

when the rest of the state had a 74 percent likely with public transportation we still

will only able to get 66 and from 66 to 64 is what a sales tax seems to generate so want to get a

hold of the property owners and explain to them like a library tax there is a primary benefit so

this is why i say to all of you is what we need to get the information out there to make the things work

no tell your property owners that this is a direct benefit to you as we try to work out other things

to make public transportation work for all of us now a few more seconds i will want to say that

appreciate last board meeting where the construction guy let me know that hey dealing with your

four contracts that you guys approved um for dos rios and Henry you haven't mentioned the land

was it groundbreaking i think February 19th or whatever through there um i hope you guys know about

it um please you know it's important to attend that effort to see what is going to happen and go on

also in light of now planning a soccer match and i see my time is about out so thank you very

much people it's important that um try to be helpful to you

sure

hello board i tried to behave myself in that comment on every single thing

i'm grateful that Henry Lee has secured a lot of infrastructure

um financing and um i am glad that we are financially solvent right now i did have a question on

how many months can we sustain our services without all the funds that our president has decided to

freeze that's question number one question number two is if you're capable of getting

so much infrastructure funding and new programs all this other stuff

what is hindering you from getting in the contracts operational funds because if you don't have

any operational funds that is available to pay the people that drive the buses that fix the buses

that um do the um reservations for artigo and all those other things they're just going to sit

in the yard because nobody's getting paid a reasonable

in inclusive pay scale and i don't understand either why there is such a diverse

um lack lack of payment there's such a difference between

um something that provides um services

using the same vehicles and they have such a different a scale thank you

so your comments thank you someone will get back to you and talk to you about that whole funding

system okay no more public comment um i just have one more comment i want to make as it relates to

henry's report um you mentioned two hiring sessions uh pairs one is happening tomorrow

the eleventh of February and then another one is happening on February the 26 but you failed to

mention the one that took place on February the 6th at Jefferson Elementary School where Chris

florist was there to talk to all the kids about a future uh in working at regional transit

and talked to over 200 kids who came and had the opportunity to hear him talk about the great jobs

that take place here and he just did a wonderful job and so i just wanted to give him around

the applause people thank you for you know mention that and also i have a time limited here

so okay we will move to item 6.1 and 6.2 these are reports ideas and questions from directors

and communication uh directly humed you have a report on item 6.1

only to say that after four years of serving in the capacity in the limit of two terms

i am no longer the chair of the jpa i got demoted down to vice chair so that there would still be

continuity of leadership in the Sacramento region okay but no other report i didn't that

oh sir so not really demoted just second enjoy that's right okay good and uh direct the budge

do you have a report on item 6.2 the Sacramento class reveal transportation corridor joint

power is authority

it's not in your staff report any comments on it or anything you want to say no actually the only

uh Patrick was not at pat was not there and um the director from Folsom is not here tonight

okay i'll ask for any public comment on these items there's no public comment i'll ask for

director comment or questions on either one of those two

seeing none hearing none we will move to the last item of the day uh tabla would you read our

closed session item yes closed session item 10.1 conference with legal counsel pursuant to

five four nine five six point nine d anticipated litigation one of more cases

and this closed session item will take place in this room so if we can have everyone not

involved in the closed session item to please exit the room at the end of the meeting

and just in closing uh they will not be a report out

thank you very much for coming tonight meeting is here by adjourn

i know i need to get within a helicopter i'm just uh here some of this stuff is uh just a touch

excuse entirely