Mobility Committee Transcript (MOBC) – 5/12/2022 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 6 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 5/12/2022 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 5/12/2022 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [1:05:06 PM] >> Chair: We are ready. >> Okay. Fantastic. >> Chair: I am the chair of the mobility committee. I'm councilmember Paige Ellis. I will call this meeting to order. It's may 12, 2022 at 1:05 P.M. We are live here in the Austin city hall. I am joined by my colleagues. I have councilmember harper-madison here on the dais with me. Councilmember kitchen and participating remotely, we have mayor pro tem Alison alter and the vice chair of the committee, councilmember Kelly. Today, we're going to celebrate national bike month with an agenda that highlights some of the important work that the city and our partners are doing to make bicycling safer and easier for austinites. Before we get into public comments, we have two speakers today. I wanted to give a high level thank you and congratulations, the director of atd, rob spiller, is moving on from the city shortly. I just wanted to give a brief highlight. He has done immense work with the bicycle program dating back to 2014 creating active [1:06:07 PM] transportation as a subdivision of the department, working extensively on the 2016 mobility bond which gave a lot of voter approved dollars into bicycling, urban trails and on-street connectivity. And all the way into the 2020 active mobility bond, which I know we led on and a number of my colleagues put that to the voters. But it was up to you to plan that out and figure out what those steps are going to be. It happened con jointly with project connect. We know that your tenure with the city has created so much immense change and setting us up to be the bike capital of Texas. We love taking that title for ourselves. I think the mayor pro tem may have had a couple of comments. I'm sure there will be other things we thank you for throughout this whole meeting. Mayor pro tem? >> Kelly: Mr. Spiller, I wanted to first of all, thank you for your service. The chair laid out a number of [1:07:08 PM] the major mobility projects that you have been engaged in during your tenure. So I wanted to just comment on something that I think as a manager is really important to you and something that I've noticed. And that is that you do a really good job hiring. You hire really quality folks who are devoted to improving mobility work in our city. And I know that you'll be leaving us in good hands across the board throughout your department. Thank you. >> Chair: Councilmember kitchen? >> Kitchen: Yes, we need to think of something to embarrass you with. >> Probably not very hard. >> Kitchen: Well, I just wanted to say thank you. I had the opportunity to kick off the 10/1 council, the first mobility committee with you all -- with you. Over the years, that has been just very exciting. [1:08:08 PM] We got to build this program together. The program with the new council. I mean, you certainly were around well before the new council started. So I appreciate that. One of the things that I have always appreciated is that you always ask, how can I do something? Not why can't I do it. That is so important for our city. Because that's how we get new things done. And that's how we address problems. So I have always admired that. And I think that that is what has stood you in good stead. And our transportation and mobility whole program for the city, it's because you always say what can I do and then you deliver. So we're going to sorely miss you. But as others have said, you have built a fabulous team which, you know, my staff and I always have enjoyed working with. And so we know that the city will still be in good hands. [1:09:09 PM] So thank you very much. I'm sure you won't be a stranger. >> Vice chair Kelly? >> Kelly: Thank you for recognizing me, chair. I want to echo the comments of my colleagues here, director spiller. I was deeply saddened when I heard that you were taking the position. I understand it's time to spread our wings and fly out to do more great things. I can tell you that from a new councilmember's perspective, I remember the learning curve that I had when it came to transportation and the ease at which you were able to kindly and patiently explain to me how projects were going in my district and what was going on. So I appreciate all the work that you've done for everyone in the city of Austin and also even your oversight on the projects that occurred in district 6. Congratulations and thank you again for everything that you've done for us. >> Chair: I hope we've sufficiently embarrassed you. >> Well, I was completely [1:10:10 PM] unprepared for this. Thank you very much for this wonderful surprise. It has always been my goal to help Austin become the best city that it could be. Having lived in Austin when the economy was truly awful and I tell people, remembering back when buildings were boarded up with plywood because the jobs were leaving Austin and now we're in the opposite situation and it's a really wonderful problem to have. Growth and success and, you know, as we continue to strive together to figure out how to bring all people along to the same level of success, I just want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and serve the people of Austin. And the visitors to Austin. This has truly been a high point in my career and will continue to be. I hope to take what I've learned here in Austin and spread it to other cities around the country. They may not be quite as [1:11:13 PM] prepared as Austin to go into this brave new economy and brave new mobility world where people have many more options than just the two or three we used to have. You know, just a decade ago, we talked about transit and the automobile and maybe walking. Now we talk about scootering and bicycling and doing all sorts of different mobility ideas. Car share and so forth. You know, it truly is the democratization of mobility and hopefully we can continue to spread those options for Austin so that we're not just the best mobile city in Austin, but the best mobile city in the country. An ode to bikes. When we first got here there was another town in the far northwest, we always strived to out-pass. Now those folks are visiting us. We won't say the name of the city we referred to. That was a rule that the public works director and I passed. We would not mention p-town. In Austin. [1:12:14 PM] So now we hope to really continue to provide leadership for other cities. Thank you and thank you for the amazing work each of you do because -- just the director and we're just the transportation department. We can't do that without your leadership here in the city as well. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yes, I'm sufficiently embarrassed. >> Chair: Good. I'm sure there's more to come before you're gone. >> I'm sure. Thank you. >> Chair: All right. We'll move into public communications. We have two speakers. First up will be Darren urida. >> That's right. Thank you committee for the opportunity to speak. My name is Darrin uri da. I'm surprised you -- >> Chair: I heard your sound check. >> I'm a member of Austin outside and active transportation advocates. I'm here to speak about the opportunities between cedar park [1:13:16 PM] and Austin district 6. We resintly passed our transportation bonds up here. That includes dedicated trail and mixed mobility funding. Specifically trails from the bell district -- which can benefit every ranch resident and can be part of the red line parkway section as well which hopefully all of you know about and also trails connecting the brush creek original trail and then a master mobility plan that is currently underdevelopment, it will fund what's coming out of that master mobility plan as well. In addition, we've kicked off the process of the 183 [indiscernible] With campo. Going all the way down to ranch boulevard. This includes an extension of the shared use pass all the way to Avery ranch. Although it's not extended south into Austin past Avery ranch. Lastly, our parks bond passed as well for our phase 2 of our 200-acre lake line park, which is within two miles of Avery ranch, lake creek and [1:14:16 PM] hendersonville area cans of Austin. Citizens of Austin to come and visit our great park. I just wanted to say over the next five years, we've got some great opportunities to work together to improve the connectivity in this area between cedar park and Austin and my ask is consider ways that both cities can work together for better regional connectivity. That's all. Thank you. >> Chair: Thank you for your comments today. The next speaker is Sebastian Barbosa. >> I don't see anyone coming up. All right. >> We don't have him in-person either. >> Chair: Let's move to item no. 1. Approving the minutes of the mobility committee's April 14th meeting. Do I have a motion to approve. >> Moved. >> Councilmember made by councilmember harper-madison. Seconded by councilmember kitchen. All in favor? [1:15:16 PM] Say aye. Passes unanimously with everyone present. Item no. 2, an update from the chair of the urban transportation commission regarding recent utc actions. I see Mr. Champion is here. Thanks for being here. >> Hi. Thank you for having me. Good afternoon committee members. I'll give you a quick update from the last meeting last Tuesday. Most of the meeting was a budget update from public works and from atd and pretty good detail. Not so much detail as to make it boring. So that was a nice mix. We learned about the pieces that they're doing and how they plan to calculate concerns for the future, which was nice to hear as well. No one has a crystal ball. There are changes coming. Just need to -- for that. Similar report out at some point. The thing that we did that is most worth talking about is we had another presentation on the [1:16:17 PM] blue line bridge and the proposed dedicated busway on it. I want to give a personal thanks to Peter Mullens and his team. This came up in February at utc. There was some eager advocacy on the utc side for why not look at the possibilities of a bus being able to exist on that bridge. At the beginning, there was perhaps the -- not worth it or not. The team went back and presented a couple of options. No decision made yet. But it was clear they took it seriously. There seemed to be some momentum for the possibility of having more modes on that bus. It does open up some opportunities that wouldn't be there otherwise. We did pass a resolution to sort of -- [indiscernible] Utc prefers and supports the dedicated bus line option for the blue line bridge. If it's passed by -- passed by everybody in attendance. [1:17:17 PM] There might have been an abstention. I don't remember. We did pasta resolution. There were excellent discussions. There was definitely a new energy that came about. I think it's worth expressing that it did add to the excitement of the opportunities that could be created. Dedicated bus lane ends up on that bridge. Still not clear if it will, but it seemed like a positive option. I think that's all the things that we did worth discussing. Any questions? >> Chair: Any questions from the dais? I don't see any at this time. Thank you so much for working on that. We appreciate your input. >> All right. Thank you for having me. >> Chair: Thank you. The next item is going to be the update on atx walk bike roll. [1:18:35 PM] >> Great. Good afternoon councilmembers. I'm indicate Katie -- I'm the urban trail program manager. I'm here today with Nathan Wilkes and Lauren deerfield from -- transportation department to talk about atx walk bike roll. Our initiative to update the urban trails, sidewalks and bikeway plans. Next slide, please. So I'm going to give a high-level overview of what we've been working on, spend a little time talking about our equity focus, what we've learned so far and how we're using that to move forward. We're going to be going pretty high level over all of this. All the information is on our website and our goal is to have time at the end for questions and discussion. Next slide. Okay. As I mentioned, we're updating the three modal plans. Coming out of this, we'll have three separate plans, the sidewalk, bikeway and urban trail plans. The goal is first to update them to make sure they're reflective of Austin's current conditions. The urban trail and bike way [1:19:37 PM] plans were last adopted in 2014, sidewalks in 2016. A lot has changed in Austin since then. We're using this as an opportunity to be sure that we're embedding social and regional equity into our plans and programs. As well as looking at -- once we build this infrastructure, do we have the resources we need to maintain it and how can we work together by updating these three plans at once to really be thinking about this as a safer and more connected network with all three plans kind of speaking to each other. Then we're looking at, are there ways to build high quality bicycle and pedestrian walkways in less time. Next slide. So we understand that with these modal plans, whether talking about a bike lane or a sidewalk, it's more than getting from point a to B. It impacts a lot of different pieces of quality of life. So we're taking all of this into account as we go through the planning process. Next slide. Okay. So we begin this process in [1:20:38 PM] winter of 2020, 2021 with the first phase. And during that phase we created an equity framework, which I'll speak about in a moment. And then had the consultants really look at the conditions now and what are the community needs and priorities. We're now in phase 2 where we're looking at everything from the programs and policies and starting to have our buildout plan. What does it look like when we're moving this network towards adoption and implementation. And so with that we'll be going out to the public and back to mobility committee with our scenario evaluation so that we'll have three different scenarios that folks can weigh in on. Then lastly, phase 3 will be putting all of this together and going to the public to say, did we get this right? And we're aiming for adoption in spring, summer of 2023. [1:21:39 PM] Next slide. So our goal of embedding equity into this planning process, we first decide what does equity mean. So we're using the equity office's definition where equity is achieved when race no longer predicts a person's quality of life outcomes in our community. We began this process with the consultant team undertaking an equity scan. They talked to community leaders, looked at past planning efforts to understand how the city has or has not addressed equity in the past. Then they used it to create an equity framework. So this framework, which is posted on our website really talks about how do we center equity at each stage in the decision-making process both through planning and then into implementation. And then also includes touch points with the equity office to make sure we're talking to them and that they know what we're doing. And with all of this, we're also making sure that we're recognizing that past plans and [1:22:39 PM] investments have not met the needs of all austinites or have actively harmed communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color, which is further -- in transportation, health, safety, housing and income. And by really having this equity focus, this is what we're trying to address. Next slide. So some of how we're building equity is through our community outreach. So our goal has really been to engage communities who have been underrepresented in past planning efforts such as communities of color and low-income communities. And to do so in a way that their input meaningfully shapes the project. So coming out of the plan, what we're look for is to have participant demographics exceed the income and and racial -- make upof the city. That's a pretty tough goal to meet but we want to strive for. [1:23:39 PM] What that means is not decreasing the amount of engagement but putting our resources towards reaching those historically underrepresented communities. And one way that we're doing that is through community ambassadors. At the beginning of the first phase of outreach, we hired 12 community ambassadors who already have trusted relationships within their communities who can go and have conversations and engage people who might not typically engage with the city. Next slide. S so during this first phase, we were asking the community what their preferences and perceptions of walking, biking and rolling in Austin are. What kind of trips they're making without a car and why. What factors go into if someone is going to choose to walk or bike somewhere. And then how can we better serve the needs of people who want to walk, bike or roll or need to and where do barriers exist. [1:24:40 PM] Next slide. So our public affairs office has done a great job of kind of compiling all of this, which you'll find on our website. So I just wanted to highlight a few pieces here. One of the questions we asked were if people agreed or disagreed with the statement that, in Austin people of all races share equal access to safe and comfortable places to walk, bike or roll. And you can see the responses on the chart here. We've broken them out between all responses and then our focused population. Our focused population being defined as respondents who reported an annual income below $50,000 or a race or ethnicity other than nonhispanic white. I want to draw your attention to the strongly disagree. You can see that the focus population, 50%, disagreed with this statement. Next slide. [1:25:40 PM] Then another question we asked were why respondents want safe and comfortable places to walk, bike or roll in their community. Again, you can see the broken out responses. The top three were all the same. But if you go down to no. 5, to spend less money, you can see that 58% of the focus population chose this reason compared to only 43% of all responses. Next slide. So while we had our community ambassadors drawing people to our survey, the community ambassador engagement allows for more in-depth conversation and what we kept hearing again and again were concerns around housing. Some of our ambassadors themselves are housing insecure. What we were hearing them talk about either from their perspective or the communities was that it's really hard to engage around sidewalks or bike lanes if they're feeling they're being displaced from their communities. So their sentiment was very [1:26:41 PM] much, you know, if we don't think we can live here next month let alone a few years from now when this infrastructure is built, how can we talk to you about this bike lane or sidewalk or trail, whatever the infrastructure is. Kind of they first need to understand where they're going to be living. This was a theme that kept coming up. Next slide. So then with that, how are we moving forward? Next slide. So in general, especially if the conversations with the ambassadors, really showcased the need for holistic policy support. Looking at policies that haven't been included as part of modal plans because they go beyond active transportation infrastructure. But we find that this policy support is really needed to achieve equitable and sustainable transportation outcomes that are consistent with the city goals and [1:27:41 PM] strategic direction. And a big part of this has to do with anti-displacement and affordability. So with project connect, the city recognized this massive investment in transit infrastructure needed a large investment in anti-displacement work as well. %-Pso we're looking at how can we continue something at a reasonable scale to take into account the impacts that active transportation might have and could we couple that with similar anti-displacement resources to make sure that we're avoiding any unintended consequences of our work. Then we're also looking at how can we better integrate with public transportation. Where do we need to evaluate modal and equity bias in our existing programs and policies. And then once we build this infrafra structure out, how can we make sure the community has what it needs to use it. Making sure they have e-bike access and expansion and places to park their bikes. [1:28:42 PM] Then, of course, with better connectivity and land use policies, we're going to have more reasons to walk, bike, roll because it's easier to get to your destinations. We also heard a lot of need tore tree and native plantings so that you have shade and a pleasant place to be. P next slide. So we looked at -- we're looking at kind of all the holistic policies and then of course for each mode we're also looking at what goes into building an urban trail or bikeway or sidewalk. So I'll walk you through the different modes. So for urban trails, one thing that we're looking at for policy are best practices around shared use corridors. We're looking at what are other cities doing well? Adding trails along rail lines or utility easements, which we're just starting to do in Austin and how can we grow that. Next slide. And then as we have this great [1:29:42 PM] growing urban trail network, we need to make sure we can manage and maintain it. What considerations do we need to make there? How can we expand our partnership with our nonprofits and how can we not only make sure that the trails are maintained, but they're activated, that there's programming or place making to draw more people out to these trails? Next. And then, of course, we're looking at our network development. Here you can see the map from 2014. This is what we're looking to update. So part of this is through the public input map. We asked people where they wanted to see this different infrastructure and so our consultants are now looking at where people want to see trails and which of those we can add to this map. We also went and walked some of these lines. Some were drawn down the center line of a creek. We want to make sure, is that an appropriate place for a trail? Is there room for a trail there, especially right behind single family homes. Some of the lines you might see [1:30:44 PM] kind of shifting or being removed with additional connectivity added elsewhere. Then we're also looking at design standards. So when we're building a trail based on the context the trail is in, how wide does it need to be and when do we need to separate paths so that we have different spaces for people moving slower versus people moving more quickly. Next slide. So our next steps is once we have this buildout map, we're going to be thinking about which projects do we build first. So our prioritization is going to come out of looking at three different scenarios. So prioritizing projects based on connections to nature, based on connections to neighborhood destinations or citywide destinations, more of a regional scale. That's what we're going to the public with this fall. Our big challenge, which I mentioned a little already is how do we prioritize building an historically underserved communities while mitigating for [1:31:44 PM] any potential negative unintended consequences such as displacement. So the need there is really cross- departmental resources in partnership with outside agencies. That's what we'll still be working on. With that, I'll turn it over to Nathan Wilks to talk about bikeways. >> Hi. Thanks for having me. I'll talk about bikeways. So we had a really strong foundation with the 2014 bicycle plan. That is when we shifted from this painted bicycle lane infrastructure as the norm to introducing this at the time protected bicycle lanes and talking about all ages and abilities was a new thing. And I usually talk about painted bicycle lanes like if we called sidewalks, painted lines on the edge of a street. Nobody would walk, we all know that's clearly not safe. Over the last, I guess, six [1:32:44 PM] years, eight years, I'm doing my math right, we've introduced a lot of that protected bicycle lane infrastructure. We've actually hit our policy milestone at 50%. All ages network buildout which has been really exciting. Largely, I think the public is aware of the quality test and having access to all ages and abilities facilities and has been wanting more of it. What we're doing right now is the next iteration on top of what we did in the as and P process. During the strategic mobility plan, we added about 50% to the strike that -- all ages and abilities network, says of all the streets in Austin protected by school infrastructure and all ages and abilities accommodations, what's that subset achievable, strategic and high impact and modest cost. So they added 50% to that network and will probably add another 50% or double it as we're looking deeper around a [1:33:47 PM] lot of new regional assets and citywide and regional. What is project connect doing, how do we get them to the stations, dovetail to school improvements, how -- it's a lot of exciting updates. Even I-35, txdot's work of building shared use paths along major corridors. There's a lot of new work we didn't know about in 2014 or 2019. We've got a lot of really great input that we're working through right now in both the open comments about I need this here. And also the public input map where people mapped out where they'd like new connections, connectivity and had barriers and problems with access. Next slide. So the next piece is in this plan update. We're going to have really great analytics kind of shared across urban trails, sidewalks and bikeway plans. This is going to look at the outcomes of if we build this type of -- this connectivity [1:34:49 PM] here. Who will be affected. Who will benefit. How many people will have access and what are the underlying demographics of the people that would be connected. We're going to use the same scenario can themes as urban trails with bikeways and that's because those two networks are complimentary and relatable. So Katie mentioned it a second ago. The three themes are access to nature, connection to neighborhood destinations and citywide destinations. The 2014 plan was largely focused on this kind of citywide destinations idea. Just because there was -- I have old maps of how fragmented this all aijts and abilities bicycle network was. Now it's coming into being. Now we can contemplate the connections and nature could look like, how do we use streets to connect places where we don't have park land and urban trails. Like the -- project, do we plant like a living barrier, you know, as part of the street to create a trail-like environment. [1:35:49 PM] We can do things like that, that would connect the creek to the butler trail all over the city if we're smart about how we build that infrastructure and dovetail it. Neighborhood destinations. I should say what we're hearing through ambassador channels right now is that kind of our focus groups, our focus population is really liking the idea of the connections to nature and neighborhood destinations more than the citywide network. I don't see the citywide network going away. But I think we're going to be like I said, the 2014 plan focused on citywide destinations, I think, we'll be bending hard into looking beyond safe routes and people getting to the school near them, how do people get to their park or their convenience store or just get out of their house and get some fresh air. So like urban trails, we'll have prioritization factors that kind of help shape kind of objective prioritization for each of these three themes. Next slide, please. [1:36:50 PM] This is kind of how I see the central challenge of this plan update. In the 2014 plan, I think we did a pretty good job of looking at -- we shifted the vision of the plan from what can Austin do for bicycling and people that bicycle to say what can bicycling [indiscernible] Do as a tool to advance the goals of the city. So this in my view is kind of the hardest work to do, this intersectional work where you have to work with partners and across silos and look deeply at what is our impact and agency in these areas to kind of make sure that we're bringing along the whole city with us in the realms of affordability, climate and the environment. The access to nature like we could address parkland deficient areas if we design our streets right. You know, helping -- we've been through a lot of crisis over the last couple of years. Mental health of being able to get outside, being active, [1:37:53 PM] physical health. And then as always, having mobility choices really impacts who we are as a city and us individually in communities. I'll turn it over to Laura to talk about the sidewalk plan and pedestrian. >> Thanks, Nathan. Good afternoon. It's such a pleasure to be here talking about this work, especially during bike month and appreciating how far we've come and how far we have to go. You can go to the next slide. I'm here representing the pedestrian realm of the work we're doing anl and standing in for the highly competent and admired John Eastman who runs our sidewalk and special projects division out of public works. We partner with them a lot from the transportation side to build out a pedestrian network that's usable for everyone. In this update to the sidewalk plan, it really is drawing on that sidewalk plan, the safe routes to school plan, the pedestrian safety action plan [1:38:53 PM] that we did in 2018 for the first time we really looked at soesh yoe demographics and understood the underinvestment in the eastern crescent and what that means from a pedestrian safety perspective, as well as our vision zero plans to build out the comprehensive plan we've had as a city. So we're going to start with combining that sidewalk with the pedestrian crossing. Really setting that vision for a healthy living and green street network. We also are looking to explore alternatives of how to accelerate the work and making sure it's combined with other choices. So you can get to transit and you can get around intermodally. What you see here is a great example of the partnership between transportation and public works really to bring about super comprehensive work. This is at Olin road and -- I just got a note from Linda, one [1:39:53 PM] of our ambassadors about how much she's heard from her community, she's embedded in the Georgian acres area. How much she's heard good things about this. She was driving through the other night and said how visible it is for her and how predictable. That's exactly what we want to achieve with work like you see here. With that we can go to the next slide. So the focus areas within this update to our sidewalk plan and growing into a pedestrian network plan is as I mentioned to accelerate the buildout of the network using other alternatives. The idea of a shared street, a street that really we learned through the healthy streets initiative that people really were drawn to -- the idea of sharing that space, walking together in a comfortable environment. Knowing that there will be someone driving to their house but they're doing so slowly. There's not very many cars to compete with that space. We've been piloting that with [1:40:54 PM] pop-ups throughout the community. It's been a lot of fun getting out on the street with the community to understand where some of the streets concepts can be applied. If you think about it like a math problem, if we have 2500 missing miles of sidewalks, could we make those into shared space. The other pieces to this is certainly getting a pedestrian crossing infrastructure plan together that understands where we have those gaps in crossings and what those treatments need to be and how we prioritize our work to get those crossings built out along with the sidewalk assets. And then understanding that work with respect to coverage and access, intermodally with transit and the like and just to make sure that network is serving the most amount of people we possibly can get. In that pursuit, like with urban trails and bike ways, we're looking at various scenarios. They would look at the balance of shared street and sidewalk infrastructure. Kind of where do we start and where do we emphasize which approach to get the most amount [1:41:55 PM] of coverage. We also want to make sure that those scenarios make sense and can be understood and we can get feedback from the public in this next phase of work as we go forward. And then finally, of course, most importantly, updating this plan as our Ada transition plan. We have probably one of the most productive sidewalk programs I've had the distinct pleasure to work with. They've had 20 crews pouring concrete somewhere in the city every single day. That is still -- to look at the amount of work we have to do to build out this network, it's enormous and we want to make sure that we really leverage any and all strategies to continue to make pace to bring our city up to the accessible standards that all of our people of Austin deserve. With that, we can go to the next slide. We have just a glimpse into the future here. We're well into phase 2 building out some of those programs and policies that Katie and Nathan spoke to. The scenario evaluation, just looking at ways, how do we [1:42:56 PM] tackle this work. We have the privilege of having resources to do it. We'll need more in the future. But with what we have, how do we continue to make sure we're equitably serving the city, that gets into project prioritization and buildout plans. Then we want to make sure, when we go back to the community this fall, where we build, how we prioritizing the projects and how this is -- did did we get that rate and into the fall and spring of phase 3, looking to make sure that we're -- that we're presenting full plans that really speak to all we've talked about today and have heard from the community over the course of the process. With that, I think we can leave you with one more slide of a link to resources. Do want to give a shoutout to the public works, public affairs office for the way that they've been able to present the feedback we've heard and welcome any questions and discussion. >> Chair: Thank you. That presentation was a great update. Do we have any questions from [1:43:57 PM] the committee members? Councilmember harper-madison. >> Harper-madison: Thank you, chair. Appreciate it. Is it Katie who presented first? You said something about considerations around trails. I just wanted you to clarify for me if you could. You said something about taking into consideration proximity to single family homes. Are you talking about them being closer to or further away from? >> So we want to be linking to single family neighborhoods, but then there were some trails that we walked where it was basically like a creek into someone's backyard. That is potentially based on the scenario, not the right place for a trail because there is no land for a trail. >>. >> Harper-madison: Okay. Thank you. >> Chair: Councilmember kitchen? Owe and mayor pro tem after that. >> Kitchen: I was interested in the ambassador program. Could you talk a little bit more about the scope of what they work on? [1:44:58 PM] >> I can speak some to that. Cole kitten isn't here. But he's done a great job leading some of this. But we've had the ambassadors, we started with them initially to do our phase 1 of outreach and try to drop people to the survey. Have a set number of engagements every month and then they provide a report to owe to their paid ambassadors. But then it worked so well that we've kept about six, I think, around there of them on to continue working with us and continuing going out to their community. So for depending on what we're working on, we might give them a different topic to get feedback on kind of outside of these just phase 1, phase 2, phase 3 outreach to make sure we keep the community engaged as we go through this. >> Kitchen: Do they cover geographic areas? Is that how it's set up? >> Yeah, each one -- I can follow-up with more information. Each one was meant to come from [1:45:58 PM] a specific community, whether they lived there or had ties to it. They ended hup pretty geographically dispersed. >> Kitchen: One of the reasons I ask about that is I'm curious whether it's appropriate to ask for their help as we move forward with project connect. We're in a phase right now in partnership between the city and camp metro and atp, Austin transit partnership to be looking at the 30% design and we're working towards -- you probably know all this. We're working towards adopting and submitting the 30% design to the federal government in December. But the engagement process is a huge part of this right now. I know that atp and camp metro are very involved and have set up a whole engagement process. I'm not aware of them actually [1:46:59 PM] having community ambassadors. So to me, that's a very -- has a lot of potential to really talk directly to folks. Just wondered if perhaps y'all had any conversations about whether there's any [indiscernible] There. >> We certainly are borrowing a strategy from the climate plan, actually. We really took a lot of inspiration from. I think in the gesture of sharing that learning and just hearing how much deeper we can understand the community and get to know them as kind of colleagues in a way, it's been just such a joy. Whereas, we don't have any formal discussions right now with project connect, I think -- certainly they are incredible and how the breadth and depth of the work they're doing. We feel like the tiny hat -- [indiscernible] Program next to the big one. I think certainly we'll take that commentary to heart in how we're working with our ambassadors now and how maybe our colleagues might be able to [1:47:59 PM] take inspiration from what we took from the sustainability office. I will say, too, the ambassador program was an embedded action and strategy within the asmp. As we saw the strategy coming into the fold, Cole and I have invested our resources in bringing those ambassadors along much further than they would have normally through the planning process. They would have probably served in a phase 1. But now they're going to serve all through the process. That's a strategy to really embed them with our work going forward, you know, as we continue to build out the works. I think the ambassador link is something we want to continue to foster and develop with the folks and others that may come along. I think it's there for the collaboration. >> Kitchen: Okay. I would just suggest that you might talk to acm -- fiandaca or -- to see if there's synergies. Certainly the work they're doing now with regard to sidewalks and [1:49:01 PM] bikes, et cetera, is a piece of project connect. I imagine they have very -- I'm sure they're hearing things anyway. There might be some synergies there. Thank you. >> Chair: Mayor pro tem, I think you were next. >> Alter: Thank you. I wanted to first follow on councilmember's harper-madison's comment, the single families and the trails. When I lived, they put a trail where there had been a train track. It was right up against the single family homes. Obviously, it's going to depend how much space you have and the particular configuration for that trail. But it was a huge amenit for those homes once it was in and real opportunity for the community. It's different because it's where there was a rail line. But I don't know that we should [1:50:01 PM] assume that you can't do it in that space. I think it will depend on the space and whether you can get the appropriate easements secured. I wanted to -- I found it interesting the comments about sort of focusing on the neighborhood destinations. I wanted to understand a little bit about how discussions from other plans, like the state routes to school process that we've gone through which are sidewalk and bike improvements that have been really thoroughly vetted for each district and prioritized in important ways. I know in my district, that's one of the key priorities for folks. They've already provided feedback through all that and may not be necessarily the ones targeted in some of your outreach. I wanted to make sure that for all of those plans we have developed, I wanted to understand better how they're [1:51:01 PM] being integrated into the walk bike roll process. >> Okay. Thanks for that comment. The safe routes plans, I see as kind of the leading edge of that neighborhood -- at least for the active transportation components for walking and bicycling. They did that kind of hyper local planning first and that's because there's over 100 schools spread throughout Austin and those destinations are largely like very local. We have all that data and one of the beauties of the structure of the bond programs that we have is they're all managed as stand-alone programs that have their own prioritizations. For example, as say the bikeways program elevates the priority of these connections to local destinations, those local destinations could be parks, libraries, civic centers, schools, anything while acknowledging that there's a separate program that's already a resource to focus exclusively [1:52:04 PM] on schools. We have the liberty to partner insofar that our plans connect. We can partner with safe routes to school that's maybe on the margins of their prioritization so we can do more of that type of work. Does that help? >> Alter: That's what I really wanted to make sure that I understood. Because some of the bikeways are much further away from the schools. >> Right. >> Alter: I want to make sure we're not limiting safe routes to school, with the bucket of money. >> For sure. Beyond safe routes, safe routes was not looking how you get to your local park. That's what the urban trail and the bikeway plans and even the pedestrian sidewalk plans can look deeper at is like it's not just schools that people want to get you >> Alter: Thank you. I appreciate the addition of how you get to the local park. I wanted to make sure that you're aware of our efforts to adopt a commercial parkland [1:53:05 PM] dedication ordinance with one of the key elements being connecting our parks via these mobility pieces. We're in the process of getting stakeholder feedback and I just want to make sure that you are connected up with the parks department that's working on that so that we can maximize the mobility opportunities that were allowed under the law to advance. >> Just huge shoutout. Katie and I have been working, I think largely the connection came through the I-35 program and focusing -- trying to work to dissolve the barrier of I-35. We found that the parkland dedication team was looking like very actively at all the -- they were looking at the same thing, how do we get people across I-35. And they, for example, they're acquiring parkland along little walnut creek. So we've enabled like creek crossings and I-35 crossings that we didn't think were possible. We're now very connected and [1:54:06 PM] their work is amazing and certainly I think there's an existing ordinance. If you're saying that there's a new one that maybe would give them even more resources to stitch together parkland, we've started really kind of I think in earnest working together and tentatively the model right now is they get the land and then we work to build the connectivity on top of it. It gets a little more nuanced than that location. >> >> Alter: I would encourage you to make sure that you connect specifically about the development of the commercial parkland dedication ordinance. We currently have residential and hotels where we can require -- donations or easements for the parks with the commercial parkland dedication, all of the details are still to be figured out. But one of the priorities, I believe, is sort of the mobility access points. And so making sure as we construct that ordinance that we're doing it as effectively as [1:55:07 PM] possible to advance our multiple goals. There are limits to what you can do because it is a parkland ordinance. But this would allow some of those warehouses, like we had new warehouses going in. This has been a perennial problem for connections of trails. They would be required through this process to be giving us those easements for the trails, et cetera. So there just may be some particulars, nuances or tweaks that would be beneficial and that your insights from your work might be able to help us construct that most effectively. >> Thanks for the clarification on the difference between those two policies and that's really exciting for me to hear and I should caveat what I said about the strategy about they get the land and we build the infrastructure even with the conversations we're having right now. We're beyond the current bond cycle in terms of like commitments for what we can build with what they're requiring. If that policy could be [1:56:09 PM] inclusive to build the infrastructure as well -- >> Alter: They would have to do fees. So there's a fee part and -- I don't have awful the Dee -- all of the details memorized. There's a portion that's land. It helps on both fronts. It can't be used for maintenance. >> That's really great. This infrastructure is expensive. Anything that can power the ongoing connection can great. Thank you. >> Alter: Thank you. >> Chair: Thank you for those questions. I'm also intrigued about the conversation, are people trying to citywide or are people trying to get neighborhoods. It reminds me of planning principles I've seen in other communities. The highways are designed for going from one big city to another one. You need to be able to connect to neighborhoods. When I think about someone in Austin who might be curious about trying to ride their bike a little bit more, having those connections to the grocery store and daycare, your doctor's office, starting with those, I [1:57:11 PM] think where people are going to try that mode shift a little easier. But it's interesting to me that the same principles that can apply to vehicular traffic still also applies to bikes where once you get to know your neighborhood, then you connect to the next trail. You get to go test out the other neighborhood and figure out what restaurants they have to offer. I think that's a really creative way of getting people to try a mode they might not necessarily be confident on yet. As far as -- I think the word might be micro trails that I'm looking for. A handful of us were out at Georgian acres on Tuesday morning. It was about the parks foundation receiving dollars from -- to invest money back into our parks. I was able to tour a really, really short connection trail that basically connected a neighborhood to a park that, without that connection, they would have had to go all the way around. It was something that didn't seem it was safe for kids. I love that y'all are thinking about that. I don't know if you have more [1:58:11 PM] news to Sharon the tiny connections. Are there any more in the works right now that are helping open up the accessibility where there might be fences currently? >> This is one of the goals. We've kind of been talking about this with urban trails but not adding it into the plan for this update. One example we have under construction now is in partnership with safe routes to school at copperfield elementary school. So there's a broken down culvert. It used to be used as a crossing. Then the culvert collapsed. Now maybe someone still uses it, but it definitely is not safe. So bringing that back up and adding a but we've definitely heard -- I get so many e-mails from people that are like, if only I had this piece of trail I could get to a neighbor's house by connecting to cul-de-sacs or something like that. So something we're looking at and working to add. [1:59:12 PM] >> Ellis: I have -- they teamed up with a neighborhood partner program. Now they have a great pathway to school that is a foot path that bikes can use and it connects an elementary and middle school without people having to get in their car and go around the neighborhood where they want to be, so I'm also a fan of that program. >> Do you mind if I say one more thing? >> Ellis: Yeah. Jump on in here. >> I think what you're saying is a good thing. I think in our plan a lot about incremental strategies and one thing comes to mind -- I guess the premise of what I'm about to say, our urban costs per mile -- maybe it's only a thousand feet -- like, that could be four to five million a [2:00:15 PM] mile. But what's the nature version that legitimizes that connectivity? I remember there was a short connection between two neighborhoods where there was a chain link fence cut and a detention pond with trails and a nature trail but it wasn't something legitimate. The way to get from one neighborhood to another across the barrier was to go across 183 and there was a walking/biking fatality. I can't remember which it was. But the cost to give it connectivity -- see what resources we have in ten years. Maybe we pave it in ten years but I like stitching together our networks to -- like the sidewalk example. Maybe quiet streets help us cover more ground where we don't necessarily need a [2:01:16 PM] sidewalk. >> Ellis: I think people are doing that all over time. Kids are able to get to parks in a way that's much safer. I think it's happening all over the place and I appreciate the effort to formalize those and things that people know if they look on a map they can find it. I saw on the website that some of the locations would be updated as available. Do you know when those might be listed so people can look at it on the website. >> Yes. Thank you for the question. We have two locations that we are close enough to feel ready to share. This has been a very neighborhood kind of based strategy to make sure we're getting the approach right, so with that in mind, yeah, we're looking at avenues G and H. You might recall that was one of our healthy streets that has been very well supported generally speaking. Of course they're all -- all kinds of feedback but the other [2:02:17 PM] one is a series of streets in and around south of kenig -- those are two we have advanced the design for and we have several other neighborhoods throughout the city that we're still thinking about ways to address -- like what does the neighborhood need here? Is it a shared street, sidewalk, something else? So we'll have additional neighborhoods in the fall I think for the pilot, and then I think also we'll find -- or at least what we're hearing from pop-ups that have -- if you can imagine a tent set up in the street where neighbors on a Saturday morning can bring their cup of coffee and toddler over to talk with us. It's been some of the best engagement I've done with the community. We think there's a spectrum of needs that come out of the conversations when you're there with the community out on the street so maybe the approach needs a spectrum of strategies and tools to address what we're [2:03:19 PM] hearing, so I think that's some of -- what we learned so far and where we'll head with the shared-streets pilot. >> Ellis: I think that's great and my last question -- I saw using communications or energy corridors to do that. How are the conversations with utility easements, whether they're public departments or whether they're private, you know, communications. How is that going? I think it's on going as we have more trails and can really look at a trail as a case study. It's easier than talking about it hypothetically. We permitted Austin to manor. Most of that is in the right of way so that's exciting to see that and I think especially once the trail is there and then the green line comes in it's going to be great for the community because, again, these [2:04:20 PM] infrastructure types should go hand in hand. In terms of utility corridors this is something we're currently working on. As you know we have the urban trail stakeholder group. We're in conversations with Austin energy working with their transmission engineers to see how we can do this without compromising safety. >> Ellis: Great. Any last questions for this group? I think we have covered them all. Thank you for the presentations. We look forward to the next steps. >> Thank you so much. >> The next item will be an update on the metro bike program. >> Hi, everyone. Jason John Michaels, assistant director of transportation. I'm join by our colleagues with [2:05:22 PM] cap metro. We're giving you an update. I think you'll be getting a lot of different updates over the years but I think it's time to give a formative update on where we're standing with our departmental partnership and how we're looking to take the me tro program to all kinds of new levels and pathways, to use a term that's been put out today. Next slide, please. I'm going to get started by going over how we got started with metro bike and how it's been going over the last couple of years with the partnership with cap metro and then where we are going from here. I'm sorry. That's probably on the next slide. Thank you. And then we can advance one more time. So first I'd like to recognize [2:06:24 PM] the leaders -- the leadership and the vision that the city had in 2013. In 2013 there were not a lot of city- based bike share programs in the United States, so the city of Austin took on this initiative. Just so happens while rob was still at public works before starting Austin transportation department. And then with his move, the B cycle program as it was originally called moved to the transportation department with the formation of the active transportation group. What's really interesting about that is that you know at that time we created a nonprofit to help operate the bike share program in rebalancing the bikes, if you guys remember that. Over the years, over the five years we continued to slowly, [2:07:24 PM] incrementally expand the fleet every year. We'd add new bikes, new stations, and then ultimately in the summer of 2018 we extended the contract all the way until next year. Around summer of 2020 is when we were successful -- thanks to your help and council's help in moving an interlocal agreement forward with cap metro to start this partnership. In the fall of 2021 we worked with a consultant that cap metro brought on -- again, great partnership together here -- to look at planning and expansion of the metro bike system. That's also when we retooled and rebranded from the old brand of Austin B cycle to this new brand of metro bike. And then really in the summer here what we're looking for -- [2:08:26 PM] and Chad will go over the slides later on -- we're headed towards an update or amendment to the interlocal amendment now that we've worked on the formative planning elements to better understand the needs of the community and how we as partners can help deliver that outcome. Next slide. How's it going? Right now 100 per cent of the operations are done by the nonprofit by Austin. Chad's crew and my crew who were there in person as well, we handle the governance and oversight of the metro bike program as well. You can see how we've increased the stations and the number of bikes in the system. Next slide. Some stats on riders. So remember and recall the [2:09:26 PM] updates that we gave during the last two years related to the pandemic and how we saw an up tick in the use of active transportation as a healthy mode of transportation for people to take. And so we're happy to report that between that and the e-bike usage we mentioned before and how we were seeing that increase, that we're seeing a large expansion in the number of trips and most of that trips being predominantly done through our new electric assist bicycles. Next slide. One of the other items we've mentioned before that now are out and in the community and you should be able to see them -- I think there's some not too far away. We began installing the modular docks where they made sense. These docks, as we've mentioned before, they're easier to install, faster to install and we can flex the size of the [2:10:27 PM] station by changing the amount of docks we're putting in there. This helps us be -- it allows us to place docks in places we wouldn't be able to place in the past because of the long 40-foot minimum requirement of the old docks. Next slide. Really excited about this particular part of the program. This is a new element to the program. It was cocreated with the city of Austin and atd cap metro team. This is a pilot in our initiative that is currently underway to help gain a sense, again, of the pride and ownership of not only utilizing the metro bike system but what it means to individual as cities as well. We're pleased to show case a local artist. His artwork through the mentioned geometric designs [2:11:28 PM] that will be featured on up to 200 metro bikes -- focused on the e-bikes. Two art panel designs that will go into 20 metro bike stations. These will be the old stations with the kiosks in those stations as well. Jesse is a resident of east Austin as well. Next slide. And now I'm going to turn it over to my colleague Chad Valentine with capital metro and go over where we're headed. >> Good afternoon. I'm really excited to be able to talk to you about this today. This is pretty exciting step forward for our partnership with the city of Austin with metro bike. So as Jason talked about, we've come a long way. When we did our agreement it was interesting times. [2:12:28 PM] We had entered the pandemic. We added e-bikes, learned a lot about e-bikes, learned about the smaller docks, the 3.0 docks. Now is coming to the next step where we are looking forward to amend our interlocal agreement with the city of Austin -- capital metro and city of Austin. This partnership is working well and we're really happy to continue to move this forward. So part of this partnership we'll be looking to do will be bringing this partnership interlocal agreement update to the capital metro board of directors in two weeks. This will likely be considered by June or July. So this will be a little further down the road for that. But we wanted to make sure we talked through all this with you and kind of gave you a little bit of an understanding of what we're looking to do. One of the most exciting things is the transition to 100 per [2:13:30 PM] cent e-assist electric fleet. It's been clear that e-assist bikes are what people prefer, what people want. Those are used three to five more often than the manual-powered bikes so we want to transition the entire fleet to an e-assist bike share. E with want to coordinate with transit for first mile, last mile but looking at the mobility picture across the board. At capital metro we've been rolling out the project connect project. We've seen the appetite for transit. Bikes are a huge piece of this and the ground is set really well for moving forward with this, so now we would like to look forwards building bikes and bike share into our project from the get go rather than having it as an afterthought. [2:14:33 PM] We want to continue to promote the metro bike program to existing users. But we want to expand significantly to new users throughout the community. We're looking to install more of those modular docks. That allows us to do smaller implementation. Wrath Eric -- rather than putting in a large kiosk, we can put in smaller docks. They allows scalability and allows us to solve problems we've never had the ability to solve in the past. I think one of the most exciting things as well as integrating with the bike network we've been discussing, the bike network has, you know, come a long way in a short amount of time and I expect that to continue. So we really want to make sure that we are going in lock step with Austin and Austin transportation department. Active mobility team to make sure this is going to be part of the considerations as we do -- as we look towards them [2:15:33 PM] to build the trails and those kinds of things. We want to make sure we're there and offering our support and building the bike-share program along with that so it all makes sense. Then we really are focused on continuous improvement. We have as capital metro, we're good at maintaining assets. We do a lot -- anything that rolls is really what we're good at. All the way down, you know, from trains to bikes. State of good repair, maintenance, 24/7 operations and electrification. So these are all things in our wheel house and complement each other very well. Next slide. So what we're looking to do -- these are some notable changes you'll see with the bike share interlocal agreement. We are looking to incorporate that nonprofit that is [2:16:34 PM] currently operating and maintaining the program into capital metro as are in staff so -- we want to make sure they have high wages, good wages, good benefits and a long-term plan for sustainability of the program. As currently being operated by a nonprofit and I'm amazed that what they can do is so little but I think it's now time that we're a grown-up city and this bike share is growing up, that we formalize. We'll work towards operational stability. Looking at fares, buses. We've seen in other countries where you get off a bus and use one bike. It needs to be seamless, simple and kind of a no-brainer. That's what we're looking to get -- to where we integrate all these things so mobility [2:17:35 PM] isn't something you have to struggle to figure out different modes. It just naturally happens. By bringing them also in house, this allows us to focus in on areas where equity will be an important piece of this, expansion of the bike share program. We are geographically in the downtown area. We want to expand the footprint and move to areas where they might not be as lucrative. That's okay. Equity is a huge piece of what we need to be doing. This allows the flexibility of what our core needs. We're looking for the agreement to be a ten-year agreement and we are going to jointly fund up to $11 million expansion is what the goal is. So this will be a massive expansion of the bike share program. We're excited about it. We know there's an appetite for it. This will convert to e-bikes as well as expansion of the footprint. We want bikes and bike share to [2:18:39 PM] be ubiquitous. It's also going to be a dock system. Theyer -- they're not going to be all over the place but align with transit and urban trails. We're excited about this focus. This is what we'll come back to council for later this summer. And I believe that is -- next slide. There's bike share with a dog on the bike pack because that's a great picture. We're open to questions. I know there's probably a lot of questions and we're -- Jayson, jonmichael and I can tag team your questions. >> Ellis: I have seen people with those dog backpacks around. I love it. Questions? Council member harper-madison. [2:19:39 PM] >> Harper-madison: Thank you, chair. You probably know Preston tieree. They have three-wheelers. I'm taking a look where we go from here and it talks about all ages and blt as. I'm wondering what the fleet looks like. Is there something different than a bike with two wheels. >> That's a great question. Our future plan is to look towards two other sort of directions we would -- once we get this current bike share program underway -- well maintained and, you know, put out there -- we're looking at having a free-range bike program. We're looking at down the road where we have a more like library type of thing where you can check out a bike. Maybe you don't need it for one [2:20:40 PM] or two trips. Maybe you want to try it for a week or a day. We have more flexibility on that, as well as offering adaptive bikes. So there's huge element that we would love to get into accessibility -- is really near and dear to my heart. It's also something we would like to be at the forefront as well. Adaptive bikes can be all kinds of things where it's hand pedals, three wheels. There's a realm developing. I would love Austin to be at the forefront of the adaptive bike model. That's something we have on our future plans. >> Harper-madison: I would like that very much. P. >> [Indiscernible]. >> Harper-madison: Sorry. >> I'm sorry, council member. >> Harper-madison: It's okay. I have a lot of bicycle [2:21:41 PM] conversations, as you can imagine. One of the things I hear most consistently, especially folks who are multifamily, lo of my folks in income restricted housing, there's no place for them to put their bikes. Storage is a major issue. I'm trying to envision what the adaptive bikes look like and if it's difficult to put away the stream-lined bikes I wonder how we're going to accommodate storage for one that's more secure and adaptable type. That's something on my mind and I think that expands that consideration for me. >> Great comment, council member. As you may recall through other updates we're right now researching some other things that we experienced or have pulled from a -- other cities [2:22:42 PM] but mostly the cities are in other countries. It's an interesting challenge to unpack. To your point, you know, storage as well as training and other items like that -- we're looking at the possibility of things like bike valet programs that could be in some of your communities. Those programs may have the opportunity to also provide maintenance on these adaptive cycles. Adaptive cycles take a wholly different look at maintenance and operations just because they're engineered differently. So -- and they're engineered in a way to be adaptable. So one of the things that we are interested in in exploring is this adaptive cycle valet program. >> If I could add one more last thing, one of the interesting things about this partnership is as we have metro bike and it's currently a bike [2:23:43 PM] share program and that's really the constraints of where it is right now, but we are looking at really adapting metro bike as more than bike share but looking at the bigger picture. We have -- as you're aware we have metro bike cages at some of our rail stations. They're being underutilized. We want to look beyond the bike share but what we can do with current assets. That would be a great project -- to reuse that and adjust as we're using that. Bike storage is one F O those things -- we need to look beyond bike storage. So that is a piece of it. We're trying to expand the definition to picture how everyone moves. It's a lot more complex than putting bikes out there when you try to consider how everyone moves around the community. Everyone has different ways. [2:24:43 PM] Trying to wrap our heads around that and get to what the community is needing and what works. I'm excited about that piece because we -- the proof is in the numbers and usage and we want to show that we're listening to the community and reacting quickly. >> Harper-madison: I appreciate that. I have more questions but I'll pause for my colleagues to ask more questions. >> Ellis: Questions from the committee? Council member kitchen? >> Kitchen: Thank you. This is an exciting program. I've seen it grow. I do have a question. We have talked in the past about how the use of this program in areas further out of town -- so I wanted to see what the current out of town -- meaning away from downtown. I want to see what your thinking is about that. I do like the focus on connecting to our transit system and we know that we have some challenges with our [2:25:43 PM] transit system reaching all parts of town at the moment. We have areas further south and north that will be or actually are connected to buses and the brt now. What is y'all's thinking about expanding the network. >> It's a great question. . >> You go ahead. >> Yes. One of the things that's interesting -- it's important for a bike share program to have places to check out and check in bikes. >> Kitchen: You know that's my preference. That's always been my preference. >> It's very helpful. The best approach to expanding traditionally is to expand out and create the larger network. Islands are a potential -- we haven't ruled anything out. Once we move forward we're [2:26:44 PM] going to start doing community engagement where we'll do more community engagement to find out where some of the pockets are. To your point, this is a great -- the transit network is great. It's not everywhere. This is not just to support and follow along but it's a great place to look at holes and pockets where we don't have service. With capital metro we can't run a 35, 40 foot bus. That wouldn't make sense. When we look at our transit options, this is ideal for where we don't have transit. That's one of the huge pieces -- is how we rank sort of the need areas -- areas of need. That is a big piece that we want to use this as a tool to fill in gaps rather than just ccentuate where we have transit. >> Kitchen: Is there still the opportunity -- I know at one [2:27:45 PM] point there was the web page people could go on and indicate where they would like to see B cycle. Is that happening still. >> We take feedback and have that mapped. >> Kitchen: Okay. >> We don't have a really good mechanism for that. That's also what we want to do -- we want to have a more interactive way to have people -- not just web but in person to have people identify what their needs are and identify where they would like stations but also a little deeper as to how often they need. >> Kitchen: Uh-huh. >> That will be a big piece of our community engagement. As we look for this ten-year time line with metro bike, the goal is basically to be doing the outreach and engagement, do expansions, go back to outreach, do expansions, outreach, expansions -- so it's a constant -- >> Kitchen: So it's iterative. [2:28:45 PM] Yeah. >> That is the plan -- is to do the website piece but also see what other ways we can engage with people. >> Kitchen: Okay. Thank you. >> Ellis: I like the question about the expansion outside of the urban core mostly because I know what I see sometimes on my commute home is people have rented some form of transportation and then they just ditched it because they got to a hill and it wouldn't go anymore or they couldn't get it -- they didn't have the energy to get the bike up the hill. Is there any way that these 3.0 docks could be even more flexible? I know the ones in the slide are installed and obviously you can uninstall them and put them somewhere else as you see fit. Is there any consideration for that one-way transportation where they may not ride it in town but may want to ride it back out of town. >> Yes. That's a great case for the single docks because that's all they need. They are battery powered. You don't need to connect them [2:29:47 PM] to electricity and they have cellular connection. A few bolts into the ground and they are incredibly movable. We could use that as an experiment. If we get a bunch of requests from a specific location, a housing complex -- you know, we can try these things out, pull them out. So this allows us a lot of flexibility. I love the 3.0s for that reason -- if you put a dock of 15 docks, you can't do that. With the 3.0 you're able to do it in a matter of a day or two versus a larger planning process. That opens up opportunities. >> Ellis: Maybe you said this earlier but is the financial component of it streamlined between cap metro and cap metro bike where if you utilize a day base you can utilize both forums. I use them on separate apps. Am I doing it wrong. >> You're not doing it wrong. We are moving towards that. [2:30:47 PM] This interlocal agreement helps move us to that goal. Capital metro is proposing an amp card. We're looking at different ways to do that. We'd like to move forward where we incorporate this into that kind of program. Currently you can buy a pass that buys a bus and a bike pass. One purchase on our cap metro app. But when you want to use the bike, it will link you into the metro bike app so it is still two different apps. It's not ideal yet, but we are -- you know, we're really close to being able to integrate that and a lot of the app providers out there are building a lot of this integration because we're not the only city clammering to make this a streamlined process. >> Ellis: I'm glad to see you're still working on it. I might see vice chair Kelly's hand up on the remote. I'm not quite sure if that's what's happening. All right. I'm going to say that wraps up [2:31:49 PM] our questions. If we have one later, then we'll see if we have more questions for you. U but I think we're done. >> I appreciate that. I want to throw this out there -- none of this could be possible without director stiller. The Austin transportation department has been amazing and a great partner throughout the whole thing. >> Ellis: Great. Thank you. The next item is number 5, update on the Austin energy e- bike program. >> Good afternoon. I'm manager of electric vehicles and emerging technologies. I'll be giving the update on the Austin energy e-bike program. To continue the roast and embarrassment of rob spiller, he has been a great partner. I've been in charge of this team for ten years now and rob [2:32:51 PM] and his team have been fantastic as well as cap metro. In regards e-bikes -- I got an e-bike and realized I didn't need a car. I have been carless about two years now. I think these are a great alternative for some folks as a way to get out of their internal combustion engine. Next slide. So although the program -- back one. You skipped one. Although the program has been around for about ten years, the rebate program we have seen acceleration in the pandemic. The rebate program is 300 per [2:33:53 PM] fleets. 400 -- includes Austin transportation department as a department as well as bike Texas and others but the vast -- we support 24 local e-bike and bicycle retailers and stores. That's part of the rebate program is working with a local dealer. All of our information is available at pluginaustin.com. Next slide. A focus with our programs -- all our transportation, electrification programs is equity and inclusion. It's one of the core five-pillar strategies and we have conducted hundreds of e-bike access and safety trainings. They did slow down obviously during the pandemic but we have [2:34:54 PM] started bringing those back on. We have one scheduled at the community connections resource fair may 21st. We'll be back there. Not only is about access. It's also about safety and then for folks who attend this safety and orientation training on e-bikes they get to keep their helmet as well. My team is also today on site talking about all things transportation -- next slide. Outreach is just a core pillar. Even working with our community everything we do, we try to work community first. What we found even well intentioned infrastructure or programs -- if we're not working with the community at [2:35:55 PM] best it's ignored. At worst it feels like a form for gentrification. That's for people moving in here. So we've been delicate and conscientious about that strategy. Regarding outreach, here in Austin held the largest electric vehicle ride and drive event at North America. There were over 13,000 demo rides and 21,000 -- mostly central Texans came out and attended the event. We are working with the producers to go even bigger and bolder next year. So stay tuned for that. We also provided last year and expect to provide again this year is a discount code for city of Austin employees and staff. Next slide. This is just an example. Everything my small team does -- it's small but [2:36:57 PM] mighty -- has a collaboration aspect of it. Here's a great example around e-bikes. So we did produce both general use, safety and specific videos on access of the e-bike -- metro bike programs. Here's one of the managers. They were the stars of the video themselves. When we got asked to do an interview with usa we introduced her to the them. So it just continues to push the momentum and it's about collaboration and outreach is the first, you know, big step, as well as reducing financial [2:37:57 PM] barriers, whether it's rebates or other incentives. Next slide. And this is a pilot that my team produced and we're working with several partners now. You may have gotten more of a deep dive on this earlier. One of the earlier questions was about storage for individual use, not just bike share. So this is a great pilot project. We're in collaboration with chest nut and others. There are electric vehicle share at the property. Since we're talking about e-bikes, it's a way to residents to securely lock and charge their e- bikes. It's a modular design. We worked with a fabricator to design this. [2:38:58 PM] It wasn't on the market and hopefully we're able to approve the concept to make a bigger reach. We're very excited about that aspect of it. This particular pilot working with mod bikes includes an electric bike for the residents in the affordable housing units. It's a safe place to secure. You don't have to lug it up to your unit. It's accessed on the ground floor. It's well lit, it's secure -- as a way to address that issue. What about folks in multifamily who don't have a secure place to put their bike and a continue way for them to be part of this solution as well. As part of the overall pilot we will be doing some pilot and white papers to include resident engagement to see what works and what doesn't as we make this more readily available to Austin and other [2:39:59 PM] cities who are facing these same kind of barriers. Next slide. And I'm just ending on this note. Typically in our company we have internal meetings. We also start with a safety moment and end the meeting with a customer service moment. As someone who has been managing this program ten years we get a positive feedback on the rebate. We do a lot of home-charging rebates as well as other. We get more good will and fun notes -- lot of them are hand-written -- on the E bike program. Here's an example of -- this one was a customer hand-written note, how much they love their e-bikes. How happy they were there was a rebate, how their neighbors are curious and jealous, how they felt bikes were not for them and now they are. It's a feel-good program for [2:41:00 PM] the city and I know there's a lot of appreciation for these programs and we appreciate your support to have these programs in our community. That is it on my formal presentation. >> Ellis: Do we have questions from the committee members? Council member harper-madison. >> Harper-madison: Thank you very much. Thanks for the presentation. This was awesome. I'm curious to know if you're able to disclose what complexes -- like you said a large property but didn't disclose the property. You said chestnut, which is in district one, but didn't name the project. Are you able to share those. >> It's ivory property, is the name of the property. >> Harper-madison: That's not coming online until next summer. I'm curious about what's happening in the interim. >> Yeah. When we designed the pilot we first had a concept. Then to make it real we have to [2:42:01 PM] have a partner. We shopped this around and we also wanted the timing to be a unit under construction as opposed to trying to do some sort of retrofit. With that said we would love to talk with other properties. This is just where we are within the discovery and finding partners to work with on this but we're very open to talk to other property managers and property owners that might be interested in something like this. >> Harper-madison: That's great. I'm excited district one is leading the charge with a property accessing affordability unlocked and is parking free. I'm really excited to see more of those pop up around the city. Thank you. I appreciate your answer. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Ellis: What a cool case study. I know we've talked about this in this committee or housing and planning. I know that conversation was [2:43:04 PM] enlightening when we were able to talk about that previously. Other questions? Mayor pro tem? >> Alter: Thank you. I wasn't sure if you could see me. >> Ellis: It was a little hard but I squinted and saw you. >> Alter: This is really interesting. It's great work. Thank you for all you're doing to advance these opportunities in our community. I wanted to ask first of all if you could send over -- I'm sure my colleagues would want a blurb we could use in our news letter to encourage folks to take advantage of the rebates and how to get them. I have not looked into how much it costs to purchase an electric bike. Can you give a sense of what those costs range. >> Certainly. We see them -- they start at around $900 on up. My personal research when I bought my e-bike it seemed to [2:44:04 PM] get a decent one you start at 14, 1500 dollars. You want hydraulic versus mechanical brakes. You want better braking power. Better energy and the oomph. The average bike is $2,000 and the number one retailer is an outfit called mod bikes here in Austin. I'd say between 1500 and 2,000 but just like regular bikes you can buy a nonelectric -- I mean, you can go -- it's pretty wide. Somewhere between 15 and 200 -- >> Alter: Is it e-assist or electric. >> Typically both. What I typically do if I'm going somewhere -- I do high [2:45:09 PM] pedal assist there. Most of them at that price point have both. The pedal assist -- you can take the hill and feel great. Most of them have a throttle. Typically I use the throttle at a stop and it gets you from the stop sign safely and lurches you forward. I typically remember -- that's where you have both for those type of use cases. >> Alter: I'm sorry if you mentioned this -- that's still a pretty hefty price, even with the rebate for many people. Is there a financing program or something that the sellers offer. >> I know mod bikes has a finance plan. Most of the bikes are online so everything from Amazon and [2:46:13 PM] pay pal -- they have programs where you can pay per month. There's also loans for that type of price point. Same thing with big monitor TVs and credit cards. We've tried to speed up the process and make it easier. We have sleeves with information. So while they get a bike a customer can fill it out on the fly, take a picture and send it in. There's an online portal -- eecp. I don't even know what it stands for. People can track their check and the check is much quicker and the reporting is much better. We have taken a look to speed up the process, make it as easy as possible, and then we are also probably about due to take a look at the different tiers. Now that we have had good data and to see if we're hitting the mark appropriately. >> Alter: I want to say that the pilot sounds amazing. [2:47:13 PM] I was meeting with the apartment association this morning. I think they would be potentially interested, you know, for some of them talking about opportunitys to take advantage and help accelerate adoption in complexes as well. So thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Ellis: Thank you for those questions. I've been working on an ifc to speak more directly on how we can make it easier for people to utilize the rebates or how to right size the electrification rebates being offered. They have been in contact with my office of how that can best be worded. That will be coming shortly. You should look to the message board if there's any additional input my colleagues feel might be helpful to have that conversation in the future. I think it's important to that [2:48:13 PM] we incentivize this. I think a lot of folks are ready to take the next leap and take the next step and I think we have some proactive steps to get people to make that mode swift. I think the storage in apartment complexes and being able to charge the e-bike infrastructure is something important if we want people to get out of their cars and stop sitting in traffic so much. Are there any other questions before we move on to the next item? I don't see any. The next item -- thank you for your presentation. >> Thank you. >> Ellis: The next and almost last is an update from the assistant city manager on the city's strategic mobile outcome. I think she's joining us remotely. >> Thank you, chair Ellis. Are there any questions regarding my report? >> Ellis: I don't think I have any but there are great back-up [2:49:16 PM] memos too about speed limits and one of them is about school zone speed modification. I think those are helpful. They came out this week. I haven't been able to dig into each of them in a lot of detail but I'm glad that information is coming through for us. If there's no -- I see director spiller coming up. If my colleagues have any questions, feel free to raise your hand or speak up if I can't see you. >> I wanted to let you know those are recommendations that we're moving forward to council in a full -- a full memo will come to council, all the council members in up coming June 9th council meeting. We are probably going to add a hand full of additional arterials that we are working for and couldn't get them ready. We wanted to give you a chance to look at them. We talked about changing the [2:50:18 PM] speed limit on arterials. We thought it would be better to send the memos as opposed to trying to do a briefing but we're generally right speeding -- or changing the speeds to make sure the speeds are right for the conditions. >> Ellis: Thank you for the information. There's a lot of information, so I appreciate that -- we may all need to go through our own districts and understand what's happening in relation to our constituencies. It is a lot of information I think most of us are looking forward to. If there are no further questions we can move on to identifying future items. We have a panel that vice chair Kelly has requested about the work happening with innovation that uses our public right of way. I-35 and project connect updates, potentially coming in September. And other ideas about individuals who are having a hard time maintaining the legal [2:51:19 PM] transportation needs, like inspections and registrations -- the great springs project is something I think would be a great topic for us to take up. We have had some discussions about TSA or general mobility situations happening with the airport to make sure all folks have access to the transportation they need. Any other items at this moment that folks wish to highlight? Council member harper-madison? >> Harper-madison: I have two. Actually T three. I posed my question around storage but another question I have is about bike facilities in general and the lack of consistency and wanting to see what our options are for streamlining bike facilities, and then -- >> Ellis: Would that be facilities like parking spots? >> Harper-madison: Correct. And then curb-side management. I'll give a specific example, but I'm certain that the [2:52:20 PM] broader conversation is important. Constituent of mine pointed it out to me. I have four or five income restricted housing developments. I took a look and there were dumpsters on the sidewalk and at the curb on the street side. So trying to think about how we can address this issue. I think that might be a conversation we have in conjunction with the arr folks. And then -- then I wanted to ask -- there's a -- oh, what's -- I had to look up what the acronym means again. It's a national organization that sort of establishes what best practices are, a bike organization. Ta-ta-ta. Give me a second. The national association of city transportation officials. So recognizing that there are [2:53:22 PM] some established -- there are established protocols. I wonder where Austin falls in the line of following that regiment. Do we and how do we get closer to what the national standards are. >> Ellis: I think a number of our transportation officials participate in that conference. I see some heads nodding. Maybe we can get clarification on if that's a program we're following to a tee or if there are suggestions we can take from it. We can look more into that. Council member kitchen? >> Kitchen: This might be relevant to what council member Kelly had asked about and that -- is it smart track? I'm going to blank on the names. We had a presentation at campo about that, but it might be interesting to have conversation about that from the city's perspective. I think it's probably something [2:54:23 PM] that -- I know atd has been involved in the past with -- you know, with our efforts around, you know, all the different technology developments. So I think it might be useful -- if it fits with -- I didn't quite catch everything that council member Kelly was asking about, but -- >> Ellis: Sounds good. We'll take a note on that. I see mayor pro tem has our hand up. >> Alter: Thank you. I wanted to suggest that we might think about wild fire evacuation from the perspective of our mobility departments and their role in it. That might be together with the wild fire division. We've been working as we approach the amendments for the asmp on trying to flesh out strategies that would go under the new amendment related to [2:55:24 PM] transportation being part of the response or preparation for those disasters, and it seems like there's a lot more that could be done and discussed across departments. I think that might be a good opportunity for us to get a little better sense of what's going on there and where we might need to do some additional planning. And then the other thing I'm wondering about is I feel like we were going to take an additional step on the scooter regulation. I'm not sure if we closed the loop on that, if there's an update with respect to how we approach those mechanisms. >> Ellis: Is that a matter of enforcement or a matter of franchise versus operating. >> Alter: I think it has to do with the operating agreement part, if the I'm remembering correctly. It's possible we closed that [2:56:24 PM] loop. But then also just, if we're approaching things in a different way now that we've had a lot more years of experience -- you know, just kind of an update on how we're approaching that. >> Ellis: I agree. I will definite -- >> Alter: Safety issues. There were a bunch of liability and safety issues with respect to being on sidewalks that -- they were just open loopholes that I'm not sure we ever got resolved. >> Ellis: So noted. Any other suggestions? All right. Looks like we're out of suggestions. We're always open to taking more if there's any other ideas that come along in the interim and keep our own internal running list about deadlines for big projects we need to make sure our committee is updated on. On that note, it is 2:57 P.M. I will adjourn without objection the mobility [2:57:24 PM] committee of may 12th, 2022, and I hope everybody gets to ride a bike soon.