MEMBERS PRESENT: John McLemore (Chair), Michael Burns, Jose´ Cisneros, Don Gage, Jim Hartnett, Arthur Lloyd, Michael Nevin, Ken Yeager

MEMBERS ABSENT: Sophie Maxwell

MTC LIASON: Sue Lempert

STAFF PRESENT: Jennifer Buhr, George Cameron, Cheryl Cavitt, April Chan, Roger Contreras, Howard Goode, Chuck Harvey, Rita Haskin, Martha Martinez, Ian McAvoy, David Miller, Michael Scanlon

Vice Chair Nevin called the meeting to order at 10:08 a.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Michael Scanlon, Executive Director, noted that there was a revised agenda, which included the reappointment of San Francisco representative, Michael Kiesling to the JPB Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC). Additionally, the June 3 Minutes were revised to include the attendance of Director Jose´ Cisneros at the meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Ed DeLanoy commented that a few weeks ago, the press announced that Virgin Airlines was to be based operationally at SFO and that its signature color was red. Mr. DeLanoy reflected that a few years ago he suggested to the CAC that the Caltrain logo be printed to show the red in the official logo rather than be printed in black. However, nothing came of it. Mr. DeLanoy noted that the latest Baby Bullet print has a blue background, which caught his attention, yet the Caltrain logo was still printed in black. He questioned whether the Caltrain signature color should be red.

Jeff Carter stated that with the new schedule, he has seen several instances with trains leaving early and the San Francisco gate doors to the tracks were being closed as much as one minute prior to the train departure, which could frustrate people using the system. Mr. Carter stated that he appreciates all the marketing campaigns lately. He believes that it will bring more people to the trains. Mr. Carter further commented that he would like to see a way to accommodate more cars on the weekends because the four-car trains can get crowded. Lastly, Mr. Carter inquired how the ridership is going to be monitored on the trains.

CONSENT CALENDAR

Director Gage requested that item 4(e), "Authorization for Proposed License Agreement for Property Near 17th Avenue in San Mateo", be severed from the Consent Calendar for discussion. The Board unanimously approved the following items under the Consent Calendar:

1. Adoption of Minutes of June 3, 2004
2. Approval of Special Meeting Minutes of April 22, 2004
3. Statement of Revenue & Expenses, May 2004
4. Approval to Cancel August 5 Board Meeting
5. Authorization to File Two Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA) Regional Discretionary Grant Applications in Support of the Caltrain Shuttle Program

Brian Fitzpatrick, Real Estate Manager, responded that it is a 1400 square-foot lease with a nominal fee, which is currently being waived. The License Agreement is terminable upon 30 days notice for transit purposes.

The motion to approve the proposed License Agreement was passed unanimously, by roll call, and Resolution 2004-21 was adopted.

(Chair McLemore arrived at 10:20a.m.)

CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT

Chair McLemore:

• Commended Director Nevin for being the Master of Ceremonies at the Baby Bullet Kick-off Event June 4. The event was extremely successful.
• Reported that two weeks ago, in the County of Santa Clara, the Valley Transportation Agency (VTA) had an opening for the Tasman/East San Jose lightrail line. That line now opens Milpitas and East San Jose with a direct connection to Caltrain in Mountain View.
• The motion to approve the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) reappointment of Michael Blackman (Santa Clara), A. Sepi Richardson (San Mateo) and Michael Kiesling (San Francisco) was made.

Jeff Carter commented that the announcements pertaining to the CAC recruitment are usually posted on the bulletin boards and/or on the trains. However, he did not see a notice posted this time.

Michael Kiesling thanked the board for the opportunity to continue to serve on the CAC. With the leadership of Bob Doty, the meetings have been on-track and very relevant to the issues at hand.

Sepi Richardson also thanked the board for the opportunity to continue to serve and also commended the work of Mr. Doty.

The motion to approve the reappointments to the CAC was passed unanimously.

MTC LIAISON REPORT (SUE LEMPERT)

• July 1 was the first day that the increased bridge toll was in effect.
• At the last MTC meeting, there were discussions regarding the distribution of funds from the increase in tolls. Draft regulations were created.

REPORT OF CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (CAC)

Brian Wilfey reported on the June 16 CAC meeting:

• There were enthusiastic remarks made regarding Baby Bullet.
• There was a presentation given by Dave Triolo regarding security on Caltrain.
• There was a presentation on the issue of bicyclists and the extreme success of Baby Bullet.
• The July meeting has been cancelled. The next meeting will be August 18.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Michael J. Scanlon:

• Reported that Chief Financial Officer, Roger Contreras, is leaving Caltrain and will become the Chief Financial Officer for Valley Transportation Authority.
• Introduced Mark Simon, veteran journalist, who is now working as a Special Assistant.
• Congratulated DBE Officer, Raymond Lee, who is the Interim Chair of the United Certification Process for DBE in the State of California.
• Key Caltrain Performance Statistics:
1. May total ridership went from 699,484 to 681,731 riders, a 3 percent decrease.
2. May average weekday ridership was down 1 percent, from 28,378 weekday riders to 28,112.
3. May total revenue was off 6 percent from $1.68 million to $1.58 million.
4. On-time Performance decreased 2 percent with 89.6 percent for May.
5. May shuttle ridership had a decrease of 7 percent with 3,954 riders, down from 4,249.
• Chuck Harvey made a presentation regarding the resumption of weekend service and the Baby Bullet.

Director Nevin reaffirmed his gratitude to all staff working on this project.

Director Burns commended all staff for their efforts and working together. Additionally, he acknowledged the advocates who kept pushing for the improvements in the system.

Director Cisneros also congratulated everybody and noted how powerful the good outreach has been.

Director Gage stated that he appreciates the fact that staff is trying to improve the system all the time, especially by planning for the future because by 2040 the population is expected to double in California.

Mr. Harvey noted that the Tamien shuttle is working very well. Riders can park at Tamien and use the shuttle to catch the connection to the Baby Bullet train at Diridon.

Director Lloyd commented that since he has been riding the train, this is the best service yet and congratulated all that were involved.

Director Yeager thanked Mr. Harvey for the information pertaining to the Tamien shuttle and questioned the parking capacity at Diridon station.

Mr. Harvey responded that Diridon station is at about 75 percent full. However, approximately 50-60 spots are not currently available due to construction materials occupying them. The spots should become available again prior to Labor Day. Mr. Harvey projected that the parking capacity at Diridon should suffice for the time being.

Director Yeager noted that there has been incredible press coverage of the new services. Staff worked very hard and have set an example that other transit agencies can use as an example to emulate. Director Yeager also commended staff for their efforts in responding to the numerous emails that were submitted.

Mr. Harvey recognized Rita Haskin, Chief Communications Officer, and her staff for all the marketing outreach done.

Ms. Lempert added that there aren't too many success stories in transportation today. However, Baby Bullet is the exception. She commended staff for its diligence in working with the public and keeping all informed of construction. Further, she suggested working with county bicycle committees to get information and feedback from them for success on Baby Bullet.

Mr. Harvey agreed with Ms. Lempert and stated that staff is working with the bicycle groups to develop more leadership.

Chair McLemore commented that he has never seen a higher level of excitement and all those involved came together and worked better than ever for the new service.

Director Gage questioned whether there were any devices to keep bicycles on either the front or back of the trains.

Mr. Harvey responded that that is not an option. All bicycles need to go inside the train cars.

Mr. Harvey stated that the success of Baby Bullet can be attributed to the operating team at Amtrak with their quality work and can-do attitude.

Mr. Scanlon continued to report:

• On June 23, there was a physical fight on-board the second baseball express train. However, Caltrain Chief of Protective Services, Bill Pedrini and his staff, Amtrak Police and South San Francisco police responded quickly and efficiently.
• On June 26 there was a major injury when two young adults grabbed onto the outside of the southbound train. Both individuals let go of the handrails as the train was coming into the Mountain View station.
• There was a fatality on June 12 in the vicinity of Redwood City. At this time, it is thought to have been a suicide.
• The ribbon cutting ceremony for Baby Bullet was on June 4. Michael Nevin was the Master of Ceremonies with John McLemore, Steve Hemminger and Senator Jackie Speier as key speakers. Many board members were present. It was a great ceremony.
• Monday, June 7 was the first day of Baby Bullet service. There was a grand send-off in San Jose. The media coverage for Baby Bullet has been outstanding.
• Commended the staff and member agencies for their hard work in putting together the Strategic Plan and FY05 Capital Budget.
• Noted that the Governor signed SB1169, which is going to delay the High Speed Rail vote until 2006. Bonds may not be able to be issued until 2008.
• The Monthly Safety and Security Report was distributed.

ADOPTION OF FY2005 CAPITAL BUDGET

April Chan, Manager of Capital Programming & Grants, reported that this item requests the adoption of the FY2005 Capital budget. The budget was presented last month for information only. The only change to the budget this month includes the addition of $855,000 for the San Francisco Downtown Extension/Transbay Terminal EIS/EIR project. With that project included, the budget stands at $73,652,835 and includes Federal and State funding of $59,551,243 and local match requirement of $10,277,623. Per-Member local match requirement is $3,425,874.

Director Gage commented that staff did a good job with the budget and there is a need to continue to be diligent and watch the numbers.

Francis Wong urged the approval of the proposed capital budget. He asked for more specificity pertaining to the capability of installation of crossovers.

Ian McAvoy, Chief Development Officer, responded that the more flexibility that there is in the system, the more success that we will have. The specificity of where the control points are going to be are still being developed.

Chair McLemore questioned how many control points are expected.

Mr. McAvoy responded that there would be approximately six to ten, depending on the availability of funds.

The motion to approve the adoption of the FY2005 Capital Budget was unanimously approved, by roll call, and Resolution 2004-23 was adopted.

ADOPTION OF THE FINAL DRAFT CALTRAIN 20-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN

Ian McAvoy, Chief Development Officer, reported that the 2004 Caltrain Strategic Plan will provide policy guidance for planning the future of Caltrain, especially with the recent success of the Baby Bullet. The policies of the 2004 Caltrain Strategic Plan will guide the development and priorities of Service, Capital and Finance Plans. Mr. McAvoy gave a PowerPoint Presentation, which highlighted the Vision & Guiding Principles, the Service Plan, the Capital Improvement Plan, and the Financial Plan and also outlined the strategic policies.

Jeff Carter commented that staff has put a lot of good effort into the Plan and he hopes that there will be periodic opportunities to make updates to the Plan to accommodate changes. Mr. Carter feels the financial stability, dedicated funding sources and system flexibility are very important and he is glad to see them in the Plan. Mr. Carter stated that together speed and frequency are important factors and noted that many riders feel that BART is faster because it is more frequent, specifically when going to SBC Park.

Doug DeLong supported adoption of the Plan and commented that the Baby Bullet embodies a simple concept of adding express service to local service. When looking at the existing Caltrain schedule, he feels that only three trains per day, for the weekdays, would need to be added for 24-hour service. Further, six trains would need to be added to the weekends for 24-hour service. He feels the existing schedule works well for a day-shift worker and even can support a grave shift worker. However, a swing-shift worker has no way of getting home currently. Mr. DeLong stated that although he realizes work needs to be done on the railroad, with the crossovers and reverse signaling, he suggested that work could be done while there is hot rail on the other track. Mr. DeLong also suggested having express trains every hour all day and having local trains intermixed to help shift some of the load on the Baby Bullet trains.

Chair McLemore commented that while looking at the mass transit that exists in other areas, he feels that the Bay Area can do better, which is being built upon, especially with the assistance of the Strategic Plan, and is a team effort with other counties.

Chair McLemore also stated that in the five-year scenario, he feels that there is a high reliance on high-speed rail for success, which he doesn't feel comfortable with. Additionally, he did not see enough discussion of bringing in electrification, Dumbarton or the downtown extension into later part of the five years.

Mr. McAvoy responded that with Dumbarton Rail, the plan is to move as expeditiously as possible and to have a system in revenue service by the end of the decade. The reason why there is no financial increment in the programs is because all the money for the Dumbarton Rail service is being secured through alternative sources so there is no real impact on Caltrain per se for the actual physical work for Dumbarton Rail.

The motion to approve the adoption of the Final Draft 20-Year Strategic Plan was unanimously passed, by roll call, and Resolution 2004-24 was adopted.

AWARD OF CONTRACT TO DOUGLAS PARKING, LLC. FOR PARKING REVENUE COLLECTION AND RELATED SERVICES

Cheryl Cavitt, Director of Contracts and Procurement, reported that the Staff Coordinating Council (SCC) recommends that the Board approve award of contract to Douglas Parking, LLC. at a total estimated cost of $482,040 for a three-year term, to authorize the Executive Director to execute the contract in full conformity with the terms and conditions of the specification documents and also the authorization for the Executive Director to exercise up to two, successive one-year option terms, if deemed in the best interest of the JPB.

The motion to approve the award of contract to Douglas was unanimously passed, by roll call, and Resolution 2004-25 was adopted.

AUTHORIZATION OF RECORD DESTRUCTION

Cheryl Cavitt, Director of Contracts and Procurement, reported that the Staff Coordinating Council (SCC) proposes that the Board authorize the Executive Director and Legal Counsel to jointly approve destruction of JPB records in accordance with applicable law.

The motion to approve the authorization of record destruction was unanimously passed, by roll call, and Resolution 2004-26 was adopted.

REPORT OF LEGAL COUNSEL

David Miller also commended and congratulated staff for the success of the Baby Bullet. Mr. Miller stated that from the standpoint of CEQA compliance, environmental reporting, relationships with Union Pacific Railroad, etc., all were managed in a way that can be attributed to the management team and with staff being sensitive to the fact that there are legal issues to deal with. He commented that one of the elements of success of this system is the absence of litigation and he applauded staff for their diligent work.

CORRESPONDENCE

Previously distributed.

DATE/TIME OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday, September 2, 2004, 10 a.m. at the City of Santa Clara Council Chambers, 1500 Warburton Avenue, Santa Clara, California 95050.

ADJOURNED

Meeting adjourned at 11:21 a.m.