TDCHR April 22, 2010

The Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (TDCHR), the governing board of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), met this afternoon.

The blockbuster was the rolling out of HRT's new dashboard. HRT President Phillip Shucet had launched a similar measure while VDOT Commissioner. The dashboard offers the public an even more complete set of performance measures than had previously been in the TDCHR meeting packets. The only material cost was $100 in software. The dashboard is on HRT's website at http://www.gohrt.com/

The next reform initiative is eliminating special perks that 22 employees had been receiving. Normally, agency cars can't be taken home. Health insurance is 100% covered for the employee, but additional coverage for family members is charged for. 19 employees were being allowed to take cars home to commute to/from work, 11 were receiving health insurance for family members free or 70% covered, with 8 employees getting both. The car waivers end June 1, with the insurance enhancements chopped 1/1/11 (when the next period begins). Shucet made it clear that they were good employees, but that all employees must be on a level playing field. Most of those employees were given the perks in their offer letter. They were notified last week of the pending changes.

HRT is more than $1.7 million under Budget with just three months left in FY 2010. To point out the obvious, the agency is sitting pretty.

March ridership was up 8.48% over March, 2009.

Finally, the next TDCHR meeting will be May 27, 2010 in Norfolk at 1:30 P.M.