TDCHR May 28, 2009

On Thursday afternoon the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (TDCHR), the governing body of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), met in HRT's Norfolk office.

The meeting began with a Public Hearing on Routes 960, 963, and the Hampton Community Service. 16 written comments had been submitted prior, while I was the only speaker to address the Commission (on the 960). Planning Staff will review the comments, then bring options to the June meeting of the Operations & Oversight (O & O) Committee. O & O will then choose an option, which will then go to the full TDCHR at their June meeting.

There was a Presentation to the TDCHR on a proposed Fare Policy document. It will now be reviewed, with adoption expected at the June TDCHR meeting. The Fare Policy is simply a set of principles by which HRT will set fares. (No, there is not a fare increase currently on the table.)

The TDCHR approved a $77 million Budget for FY 2010, an 1.08% reduction from the FY 2009 Budget. Speaking of FY 2009, HRT is $1.365 million under Budget even with an additional cut in state operating funds.

The Executive Committee is working on a restructuring of the TDCHR's committee system, which should see a reduction in the number of committees. Their plan will be presented to the June TDCHR meeting.

There was quite a bit on Virginia Beach light rail yesterday:

1. 2 of the 3 main figures involved in the AA/DEIS were present.

2. The project's website is slated to be up in about a week.

3. Tentatively two Scoping public meetings are planned. One would be at Princess Anne High School, the other at the convention center. These meetings will be the public's chance to be heard prior to the study process beginning.

4. The project process from now until the Final Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) is signed is expected to take at least 4 years, maybe slightly longer.