3A Public Hearing 2010 0517 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Livermore, Kathleen From: peter guerrero [pacificpeter@mac.com] Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 9:31 PM To: Livermore, Kathleen Subject: Yes! Let's Study BRT! You will soon be voting on a "Locally Preferred Alternative" (LPA) to study Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for our region. Along with TransForm, I am asking you to please vote in favor of studying a robust BRT system that would deliver the most reliability possible (also being called a "build LPA"). I am aware that some merchants have begun to express concerns about impacts to parking and that some residents expressed concerns about stop-spacing being too distant for seniors and people with disabilities. However, I believe that BRT can be studied and implemented in a way that addresses these issues. AC. Transit has expressed a commitment to mitigate .parking impacts caused by BRT to the extent of ensuring a 15% rate of availability of street spaces along the BRT route. I urge you and the other members of the City Council to use this opportunity to work with AC Transit to create a ?performance based parking pricing? strategy that could result in increased parking revenues that could even fund transit passes for local workers (Eco-passes). Additionally, 100q of remaining new revenues generated from performance-based parking pricing that aren?t spent on Eco-Passes for workers could then be re-invested in the district where they were generated, which might also fund more lighting, increased security, or other improvements desired by local merchants. Old Pasadena, and Redwood City offer incredible examples of how to do this, as described in Donald Shoup's book "The High Cost of Free Parking". With respect to seniors and people with disabilities, existing bus stops at popular destinations for seniors and people with limited mobility could and should be improved by locating BRT stations in their place. Shelter, seating, lighting, and other security amenities would be welcomed at these stops as an improvement to existing facilities (or lack thereof), and could attract even more riders. Increased traffic and other issues have all but eliminated transit reliability for the 20,000+ daily riders along the proposed BRT corridor, while simultaneously increasing maintenance and operations costs. BRT offers a tremendous opportunity to address these issues. However, without a study of "how much" BRT could be implemented, we cannot know how to proceed. Again, please vote in favor of studying a "build LPA" for BRT and work closely with AC Transit to explore helping the City implement a ?performance-based-parking strategy", which could then lead to benefits for merchants, residents and transit riders. Thank you for your time and service to the City. peter guerrero 1340 Curtis st Berkeley, CA 94702 i