Association for Public Transportation, Inc.

Pre-meeting discussion:

Barry Andelman reported on the "Talk Transit" meeting of the Central Artery Environmental Oversight Committee.

Fred Salvucci has said when you build a transit facility, you need the funds up front, but when you buy a house, you do it with a mortgage. Why not do the same with transit? They are already doing this for the highways. If we don’t start building, we are going to lose all the tradesmen who are working on the highway projects.

Another point made by Barry Andelman is if you really want public input in transit topics, you should tell us what projects are in process—We don’t have enough money for all of this, and we need your help. How do we decide what to do? There should be a real meeting, as opposed to going through the motions.

1. Minutes of the previous meeting (10 Sept. 2003) were accepted as corrected.

2. Relations with the MBTA.

Barry Andelman is going to try to re-establish relations with the appropriate people at the T. Perhaps some of the perceived T problems are local as opposed to system-wide.

Ernest Loewenstein disagrees that we should talk with the T about service problems. He feels we should use contacts with the public through the newspapers and political powers to shake up things.

Carol Blair: How does APT ‘add value’ to the transit situation? Or how doe we want to add value? By being advocates for public transit. Barry Andelman: We should set up joint committees with the T people and work with them in advance of developments, providing them user perspective.

3. Reports:

(a) President (Fred Moore). Fred attended the Regional Transportation Advisory Council (RTAC) today, and made the point that meetings should not just be going through the motions. Also he mentioned funding mechanisms. Current topics of discussion are transportation and land use. He also mentioned railroad freight service. As long as a rail line carries freight, it keeps the line an active resource.

(b) Treasurer (John Hostage). We have had considerable sales of Car-Free® in Boston: Over 3000 copies have been sold since publication in May.

Richard Arena introduced himself: A former consultant for the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA). He had recommended to the T not to buy the Boeing streetcars, but the Feds at the time were paying more towards them than Bombardier streetcars. He is a high-tech entrepreneur.

Barry Andelman spoke on official meetings. We must get more people involved who will attend official meetings. Fred likes new faces because they bring new skills and interests. Barry A.: We have to have active (vs. reactive) effects on T operations and planning. I am going to make contacts with several T officials and see what can be done. Fred appointed Barry as APT Special Liaison to the T.

4. New Business: Ernest Loewenstein

Bus maintenance has been the stepchild of management in all transit authorities. The new T buses are going to meet with the same fate as the existing buses. I propose there should be a way of building a bus that is durable, and agreed upon by six or eight major transit systems. A transit vehicle should be operational for 25 years. I want something simple and rugged. Richard Arena: The buses and trains we build today for following ADA rules are so complex in order to comply with the requirements.

E.L.: A goal is not to build a bus that doesn't fail, but rather something that is easily repairable. Take a component out, put in a new one, and the vehicle drives away.

Barry A.: I would like to speak with the capital planning people at the T, and ask these questions. Again, we are doing these things for the riders, and incidentally for the T.

5. The meeting adjourned 7:42 p.m.