Board of Directors Meeting

1. Call to order at approximately 6:10 p.m.

2. Minutes of the previous meeting (13 Oct. 2004) were approved as written.

3. Officers’ Reports:

A. Fred R. Moore, President.

The ‘TRANSVIZ’ Workshop, sponsored by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), was held during today’s Regional Transportation Advisory Council (RTAC) meeting today. This involves transportation visioning. The next concentric ring of urbanization is in trouble unless there is going to be transit access as well as highways.

Rick Arena: Yes, we are in favor of highways, but there must be a transit component, without which the highway will not be built.

Fred: We are undergoing ‘LosAngelization’.

Land use linkages. We need more transit-oriented land use. We got positive votes at RTAC agreeing with this standpoint.

B. Barry D. Andelman, APT Liaison to the MBTA.

(1) On 16 November, there is going to be a meeting of the Central Artery Environmental Oversight Committee.

According to the previous EOC report, 70% of mitigations have been done. If all had been done per plan, people would have gotten more used to using public transportation.

(2) Car-Free® in Boston: It is unfortunate that Andy Rubel lost an employee; our sales are off. He had planned to do a major effort on Car-Free for this summer/fall transition, but was unable to do so. He and Barry A. put fliers out in various college areas.

(3) There is a T prediction that within two years, Park Street Station (Green Line) will be saturated. This is the rationale for pushing the Silver Line Phase III. Seven years ago, Steve Kaiser had submitted to us information that during World War II, there was greater throughput of cars at Park Street than is predicted for two years hence. Barry A. will contact Bob Terrell of the Washington Street Corridor Coalition to see how the report he was preparing for Gov. Dukakis is coming along.

C. Romin Koebel, Vice President.

I just returned from Europe. There have been lots of suicides happening on train systems, delaying operations. Some people have parked cars between the crossing gates in suicide attempts.

A question to be raised is what visions do we have for 25 years down the line. If we want to lure people out of their cars, we have to make the transit experience attractive. For example, rear windows on buses in Europe. All of them have it, as opposed to here.

The Karlsruhe, Germany experience: Accessibility is a big issue. People can’t get to work. They worked out a way where light rail vehicles run on heavy rail systems. Three- or four-car trains, running on the regional rail system going to the next city. They converge on the downtown.

Fred: We should look at this here.

4. Old Business

A. Framework for Advocacy:

(1) John Hostage proposed the following statement about the proposed Green Line extension northwestward, as requested at last month's meeting:

APT supports the extension of Green Line service from Lechmere through Somerville to Medford and beyond to Route 128. This is one of the mitigation projects agreed to by the Commonwealth as part of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (The "Big Dig"). Somerville has long been underserved by rapid transit, despite its dense population and proximity to the urban centers of Boston and Cambridge. The people of Somerville deserve a one-seat ride into downtown without being caught in traffic jams. The extension of the Green Line would also allow a better operational balance of the light rail lines as they are extended to two or more branches on the north side and will allow improved service between Government Center and Lechmere. If most cars ran through rather than being turned around downtown, fewer passengers coming from the west would have to transfer to reach stations beyond Government Center.

The statement was approved by a consensus of those present.

(2) Rick Arena’s project : The North-South Rail Link should be done. The people in New Hampshire are in favor of this.

B. The Annual Meeting:

There was a discussion of possible speakers and proposed subjects of discussion, rather than just inviting a speaker to discuss anything he wants to talk about.

Barry Andelman: The Annual Meeting should not be ‘feeding the public’, rather it is to ‘beat the bushes’ to get more activity on the part of current members and attract new members.

Rick Arena: We need a ‘name speaker’, perhaps charging admission.

5. New Business:

A. Barry Andelman: A look at Karlsruhe, with regard to twenty-five years in advance. It is a fantastically successful operation. Tokyo has a ring rail line and subway lines in a radial pattern beneath the ring. The radial lines come from the suburbs and go under the ring, use the subway tracks and end at the other end of the ring. Meanwhile, another radial runs from the other side of the ring and goes under the ring. Thus there are three rail companies running on the same tracks within the ring, minimizing transfers. This is repeated for a number of radials. If they can have various companies share the same tracks in Tokyo, why not here? You can make transit do this. It is a matter of deciding it can be done.

B. Fred: We have to get our ducks in a row about the Central Artery Oversight Committee meeting coming up. Questions are important—items to which they have to react—not to be confrontational, but yet to give a favorable impression that we are knowledgeable about the subject at hand.

Barry Andelman:

1. We want everyone to know APT exists and we are not just one person.
2. We are advocates for the rider. We must be a positive force.

6. The meeting adjourned 8:09 p.m.