Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
MAY 18, 2016
Preamble
Motion by:
Directors Garcetti, Bonin, Kuehl, Solis, DuBois and Najarian
May 18, 2016
Item 14, File ID 2016-0108; First-Last Mile
According to MTA data, 76 percent of Metro Rail customers and 88 percent of Metro Bus customers arrive at their station or stop by walking, biking, or rolling. To support these customers, MTA staff prepared an Active Transportation Strategic Plan which contains many First-Last Mile improvements that will connect people to MTA’s transit network and maximize the benefits from transit investments being made across Los Angeles County.
First-Last Mile elements include, but are not limited to, ADA-compliant curb ramps, crosswalk upgrades, traffic signals, bus stops, carshare, bikeshare, bike parking, context-sensitive bike infrastructure, and signage/wayfinding. The Federal Transit Administration considers First-Last Mile infrastructure to be essential to providing safe, convenient, and practical access to public transportation.
So far, MTA has taken important preliminary steps to implement First-Last Mile projects, including the award-winning 2014 Complete Streets Policy, the Wayfinding Signage Grant Pilot Program, providing carshare vehicles at Metro Rail stations, and pilot First-Last Mile infrastructure at Arcadia, Duarte, Expo/Bundy, and 17th Street/SMC stations.
However, more can be done to support First-Last Mile facilities across all of Los Angeles County.
MTA’s award-winning Complete Streets Policy stated that MTA would approach every project as an opportunity to improve the transportation network for all users. However, in practice, there is a needlessly narrow approach to major transit projects that has resulted in many missed opportunities to deliver First-Last Mile elements.
Outside of major transit projects, it will typically not be MTA’s role to deliver First-Last Mile projects that are the purview of local jurisdictions. However, MTA can take steps to meaningfully facilitate and help local jurisdictions deliver First-Last Mile projects through a variety of means.
To support regional and local transit ridership across Los Angeles County, it is time for MTA to reaffirm its dedication to the delivery of First-Last Mile facilities across all of Los Angeles County.
Title
APPROVE Motion by Garcetti, Bonin, Kuehl, Solis, DuBois and Najarian that the Board adopt the Active Transportation Strategic Plan (Item 14); and,
WE FURTHER MOVE that the Board direct the CEO to:
A. Designate streets within the Active Transportation Strategic Plan’s 661 transit station areas as the Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network;
B. To support regional and local transit ridership and facilitate build-out of the Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network, including, but not limited to, ADA-compliant curb ramps, crosswalk upgrades, traffic signals, bus stops, carshare, bikeshare, bike parking, context-sensitive bike infrastructure (including Class IV and access points for Class I bike infrastructure), and signage/wayfinding:
1. Provide technical and grant writing support for local jurisdictions wishing to deliver First-Last Mile projects on the Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network, including providing technical assistance and leadership to jurisdictions to help and encourage the implementation of subregional networks that serve the priority network;
2. Prioritize funding for the Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network in MTA grant programs, including, but not limited to, the creation of a dedicated First-Last Mile category in the Call for Projects;
3. Create, and identify funding for, a Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network Funding Match Program, separate from existing MTA funding and grant programs, for local jurisdictions wishing to deliver First-Last Mile projects on the Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network;
4. To support the Active Transportation Strategic Plan, dedicate funding for the Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network in the ongoing Long-Range Transportation Plan update, including a review of First-Last Mile project eligibility for all Prop A, Prop C, and Measure R capital funding categories;
5. Building on MTA’s underway effort to conduct First-Last Mile studies for Blue Line stations, conduct First-Last Mile studies and preliminary design for First-Last Mile facilities for all MTA Metro Rail stations (existing, under construction, and planned), all busway stations, the top 100 ridership Los Angeles County bus stops, and all regional rail stations;
6. Incorporate Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network project delivery into the planning, design, and construction of all MTA transit projects starting with the Purple Line Extension Section 2 project. These Countywide First-Last Mile Priority Network elements shall not be value engineered out of any project; and staff to report back at the June Planning and Programming Committee on the Purple Line Extension Section 2 Project.
C. Report on all the above during the October 2016 MTA Board cycle.
AMENDMENT by Solis to include Foothill Gold Line Phase 2B Extension to Claremont.