MEMBERS PRESENT: John McLemore, Michael Burns, José Cisneros, Don Gage, Jim Hartnett, Arthur Lloyd, Michael Nevin, Ken Yeager

MEMBERS ABSENT: Sophie Maxwell

MTC LIASON: Sue Lempert

STAFF PRESENT: George Cameron, April Chan, Bob Doty, Rita Haskin, Gigi Harrington, Jennifer Hardie, Martha Martinez, Ian McAvoy, David Miller, Michael Scanlon, Mark Simon

Chair McLemore called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2005

Chair McLemore reported the Nominating Committee met and there was a unanimous decision to nominate Michael Nevin for chair and Ken Yeager for vice chair.

The motion to accept the nominations was unanimously approved.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Jeff Carter, Burlingame, said some customers at the Millbrae station were confused where to board the northbound train. The customers previously boarded at the San Bruno station but due to infrequency of service, now drive to Millbrae.

CONSENT CALENDAR

The Board unanimously approved the following items under the Consent Calendar:

1. Approval of Minutes of December 2, 2004
2. Statement of Revenue & Expenses, November 2004

MTC LIAISON REPORT (SUE LEMPERT)

• The Bay Bridge cost overruns issue is still unresolved. MTC is doing all it can to ensure the costs do not rest solely on the Bay Area taxpayers.
• At the last MTC meeting, appointments were made to the Dumbarton Corridor Committee. Ms. Lempert will represent San Mateo County, Director McLemore will represent Santa Clara County and Scott Haggerty will represent Alameda County.

REPORT OF THE CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (CAC)

Brian Wilfley reported on the December 15 CAC meeting:

• Mr. Wilfley will be serving as CAC chair. Sepi Richardson will serve as vice chair.
• Reports were heard regarding the San Francisco bicycle facility and additional results from the six-month evaluation of Baby Bullet.
• There was a discussion regarding the agenda process and ensuring open discussions at the CAC meetings. Mr. Wilfley said he is confident all members understand they are free to agendize any item. He emphasized that the board is free to express its opinions directly to the CAC on any issue.
• A resolution thanking staff of JPB and of Amtrak for the tremendous success of the Bay Bullet in 2004 was unanimously approved.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Michael J. Scanlon reported:

• Thanked Director McLemore for his service as chair for the past two years.
• Chuck Harvey, Chief Operating Officer, thanked everyone for their support while he has been recovering from heart surgery.
• A Resolution of Appreciation (Resolution 2005-1) was presented to Howard Goode, who is retiring after 15 years of service at SamTrans.
• Trains for Tots collected more than 6,000 toys, double the number of toys collected from last year. There were 255 volunteers, 10 sponsors and three partners. Janet McGovern, Public Information Specialist, was recognized for her leadership with this event.
• Key Caltrain Performance Statistics for November:
1. Average Weekday Ridership was up 14.4 percent, from 25,637 riders to 29,337.
2. Total Ridership was up 23.1 percent from 610,549 riders to 781,806.
3. Total Revenue was up 23.6 percent from $1.45 million to $1.79 million.
4. On-Time Performance (OTP) was at 98.4 percent versus 94.5 percent from last November.
5. Shuttle Ridership was up 8.8 percent from 3,601 riders to 3,918.
• A board workshop will be held in the next few months to discuss the budgetary constraints for the next fiscal year.
• The new discounted Muni sticker, which replaced the Peninsula Pass, was available January 1.
• Special service was operated on New Year's Eve. Free service began at 11:00 p.m.
• Regular weekday service will operate January 17. In addition, the Freedom Train will operate in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• An amendment was executed to the Trackage Agreement with Union Pacific.
• The monthly Safety and Security Report was distributed. There was one fatality on December 12 in the Palo Alto area. It was the ninth fatality of the year, one less than last year. Four other attempted suicides were averted by quick thinking and responsiveness from the operating staff.
• Caltrain/SamTrans hosted the APTA National Safety Committee Mid-year Seminar on December 3 and 4.

APPROVAL OF AN EXTENSION OF THE CURRENT OPERATING CONTRACT WITH AMTRAK

Robert Doty, Director of Rail Transportation, made a presentation that included a background of the contract, the recommended extension of three years and financial and operational impacts of granting the extension and obtaining new bids for a new contract. Mr. Doty said the Centralized Equipment Maintenance and Operations Facility is a complex project that will completed while rail service continues. Mr. Doty said because of the complexity of this project, the continuation of operations with Amtrak is ideal. The recommendation is for an extension of the current agreement for three years (through June 2009) with two one-year options. Mr. Doty said for the first time, Amtrak can earn additional performance incentives for excellent service. There also will be a new gain-sharing clause that will allow JPB and Amtrak staff to define permanent savings and share benefits. Mr. Doty outlined the arguments for and against the extension of the contract. He said the potential budgetary impacts include General & Administrative costs increasing from 4 percent to 5.5 percent (FY 2007-2009), management fees increasing from 4.7 percent to 6.0 percent (FY 2007-2009), attrition-related training in FY 2006, customer satisfaction incentives (FY 2005-2009), on-time performance incentives (FY 2006-2009), restoration of Payment-in-Advance (interest on cashflow FY 2005-2009) and deferred/ avoided one-time costs, which total approximately $5.34 million. Mr. Doty said the JPB Operating Committee unanimously endorsed the recommendation and the Federal Transit Administration has responded favorably. Mr. Doty said those costs and more would likely be incurred if the contract were put out to bid.

Chair Nevin asked when it would be feasible, how long it would take and under what circumstances would it make sense to operate the rail system in-house.

Mr. Doty said it would take at least three years to augment the systems that Amtrak has in place and to create staff and skill methods. A cost-benefit analysis would need to be done to see if it would be beneficial. However, in the future staff may consider bringing the rail operation in-house in a different context where the services may be shared with similar properties.

David Miller, Legal Counsel, said this is an issue that has been looked at for some time. The notion of bringing a workforce in, in the context of the current structure of the JPB, would require an institutional examination for stability.

Director Gage thanked the staff who presented this item to the Operating Committee. He said the positive side of the extension outweighs any negatives.

Director McLemore asked if the standard for on-time performance would tighten over the next five years.

Mr. Doty said there are different measures of on-time performance, actual and contractual. Contractual offers numerous and arguable exceptions, which will not be considered. Only raw numbers will determine on-time performance, and the responsibility rests with Amtrak. Any delay that occurs counts against OTP, even if the delays are not their fault.

Mr. Scanlon said a five-minute window is an industry standard.

Mr. Scanlon said in the future running times on the schedules will tighten and trains will be running faster. By having a no-fault bonus, there is an incentive to perform.

The motion to approve the extension with Amtrak was approved by roll call (Lloyd voluntarily abstained) and Resolution 2005-2 was adopted.

AUTHORIZATION TO AMEND AND INCREASE THE FY 2005 CAPITAL BUDGET FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO DOWNTOWN EXTENSION/TRANSBAY TERMINAL EIR/EIS, HILLSDALE STATION AND CLOSED CIRCUIT CAMERAS & EQUIPMENT

April Chan, Manager of Capital Programming & Grants, said the Staff Coordinating Council (SCC) recommends the Board adopt a resolution authorizing amendment of the Capital Budget to include an additional $792,000 to support supplementary environmental review for the San Francisco Downtown Extension / Transbay Terminal EIS/EIR project; $3,500,000 to provide for additional improvements needed at Hillsdale station; and $720,000 for the Closed Circuit Television Cameras & Equipment project. All three projects will be funded by external grant sources and do not require member contributions.

The motion to approve the amendment to the FY2005 Capital Budget was unanimously approved, by roll call, and Resolution 2005-3 was adopted.

AUTHORIZE FILING OF FY 2005 FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION (FTA) APPLICATIONS

The motion to approve the filing of FTA applications was unanimously approved, by roll call, and Resolution 2005-4 was adopted.

AUTHORIZE AN APPLICATION FOR TRANSPORTATION ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $200,000 TO THE SFCTA FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BICYCLE FACILITY

Mark Simon, Special Assistant to the CEO, said the JPB is seeking an additional $200,000 for the construction of a bicycle storage facility at the San Francisco Caltrain Station as part of an effort to better serve the bicycle-riding rail commuters by providing alternatives to bringing their bicycles on-board the train. The plan calls for a 1,000-square-foot bicycle storage facility that would be secure and staffed during peak commute times and would be accessible by customers during non-peak hours. An additional 500 square feet would be available for a retail operation that would ideally make the bicycle portion of the facility self-sustaining financially. The grant is being sought from the San Francisco Transportation Authority.

Director Burns asked if the money would complete the budget for construction and to start up the operation.

Mr. Simon confirmed that was correct.

Director Burns asked if there are any agreements beyond the initial start-up in terms of who will operate, manage and maintain the facility.

Mr. Simon said agenda item 14, Application for Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Funds and an Allocation Request for Proposition K Sales Tax Funds to the SFCTA, is seeking a grant from the San Francisco Transportation Authority for $300,000 in operating subsidy funds. Ideally, the JPB would find a retailer who could operate both the retail and the bicycle facility. Proceeds from the retail operation would finance the bicycle storage facility. However, this has never been done before and the retailer may not be suitable for operating the bicycle storage facility so there may be a need to bifurcate the operation. Mr. Simon said another hurdle is who will manage this property. The JPB has begun informal discussions with a variety of entities who may be interested. Mr. Simon said if there is no interest in running the facility, the JPB would begin to explore other alternatives to simply improve the existing bicycle storage lockers.

The motion to approve the application for Transportation Enhancement Activity funds was unanimously approved, by roll call, and Resolution 2005-5 was adopted.

AUTHORIZE AN APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL CONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITY FUNDS AND AN ALLOCATION REQUEST FOR PROPOSITION K SALES TAX FUNDS TO THE SFCTA FOR THE START-UP OPERATION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BICYCLE FACILITY

The motion to approve the application and allocation for the start-up operation of the San Francisco bicycle facility was unanimously approved, by roll call, and Resolution 2005-6 was adopted.

REPORT OF LEGAL COUNSEL

None.

CORRESPONDENCE

Previously distributed.

DATE/TIME OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 10 a.m. at the San Mateo County Transit District Administrative Building, 1250 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos, CA 94070.

ADJOURNED

Meeting adjourned at 11:38 a.m.