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2025-03-05 TC DRAFT MinutesMINUTES RICHFIELD TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MEETING BARTHOLOMEW ROOM, CITY HALL Wednesday, March 5th, 2025, 7:00 PM Commissioners in attendance: Eli Straub, Adam Knosalla, Stella Yang, Louis Dzierzak, Brinnon Kubista, David Gepner, Jaz Warren Commissioners absent: Stacey Fuentes, McKenzie Burke City Staff: Joe Powers, Olivia Wycklendt Liaisons: Tim Brackett (Richfield Public Schools), Jan Matheus (Bike/Walk Richfield) Others in attendance: Sunita Kasichwa (SouthWest Transit) Attachment 1. Call meeting to order Chair Dzierzak called meeting to order at 7:01 PM. 2. Review & approve agenda Chair Dzierzak moved to approve the agenda. Second by Commissioner Knosalla. Motion Carried. 3. Review & approve minutes for February 5th meeting Commissioner Knosalla moved to approve minutes from last meeting. Second by Chair Dzierzak. Motion Carried. 4. SW Transit Route 686 Informational Presentation Presenter: SW Transit Sunita Kasichhwa from Southwest (SW) Transit presented to the transportation commission. She highlighted that SW Transit serves the SW Metro region including but not limited to Minneapolis, Shakopee, Waconia, and Eden Prairie. She highlighted route 686 for their line, which runs along the 494 corridor. This route runs from the Southwest Station in Eden Prairie all the way to Mall of America and MSP Airport. There is also an express service (686X) which offers a faster and more direct route between Southwest Station, Mall of America, and Terminal 1 and 2 at MSP. She added that the benefits to Richfield are that this route improves connections between Eden Prairie, Richfield, Bloomington, and MSP airport. There are four stops, at Knox Ave at 76th St and 77th St, as well as at the Best Buy Headquarters. Commissioner Gepner inquired how SouthWest Transit came to be an independent bus service. d Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, and Chaska decided in the 1980’s to develop their own service rather than relying on Metro Transit to provide service. Sunita stated that SW Transit helped to fill this gap in service for these cities, and to increase connectivity within other metro cities. Commissioner Gepner inquired what mechanism allows for Richfield to theoretically follow suite. Kasichhwa stated it involves a Minnesota state statute but could not recall the specifics. SouthWest Transit to follow-up on the exact legislature. MINUTES Commissioner Gepner asked if in the Metro Transit route planner, SW Transit routes were integrated in that planner. Kasichhwa replied that SW Transit works with Metro Transit and MET Council to help integrate their service with other services. For example, the Metro Transit route planner includes SW Transit routes. Commissioner Gepner inquired how SW Transit receives their funds. Kasichhwa stated that per Met Council’s policy, a rider would pay the fare for the first leg of the route for SW Transit and get one transfer for free. Chair Dzierzak asked for additional clarification on the capabilities of the SW Transit’s fleet. Sunita replied that the buses are ADA accessible, however they don’t have bike racks on the buses right now. Each bus can hold 12 passengers at a given time. She added that should demand grow, they intend on using larger coach buses in the future. Commissioner Kubista inquired that with the local stations in Richfield, are the routes with SW Transit being appropriately interfaced and what SW Transit is doing to reach out to the community. Kasichhwa responded that SW Transit are coordinating with Metro Transit and their stops, which includes signage that shows if there is a SW Transit route that stops there, and which route it is. For Commissioner Kubista’s second question, she emphasized that SW Transit prioritizes serving the community and is collecting additional feedback from customers to determine what improvements they can make for their service. Commissioner Warren asked what the frequency of the Local and Express Service. Sunita said the frequency is 30 minutes with the express and local services alternating with each other. The loop of one route is one hour. Commissioner Gepner asked how the bus routes within the metro are generally funded. Powers responded that it’s a mix of income from the fares and other sources and deferred to Sunita. Sunita supplemented the response stating the motor vehicle sales tax, and state designated funding based on the ridership of each agency. She mentioned she is unsure if property taxes are a part of that funding. Commission requested additional information. Kasichhwa added that she would provide additional information to the staff regarding how the route is funded at a later date after the commission meeting. Commissioner Kubista asked when the start service date was for the 686 route. Kasichhwa stated the service is supposed to start March 31st. Yang asked if the on-demand service applies to the Richfield area. Kasichhwa answered that are 5 primary cities that currently use the on-demand service, none of which are Richfield. Their on-demand service can tie into the local and express route in Richfield. Kubista inquired if SW Transit would participate in community events to help engage Richfield residents on their service. Kasichhwa responded they have a community engagement coordinator who assists with notifying the public of their service. She added that their outreach staff are on board and very interested in MINUTES participating in community outreach events. Commissioner Warren asked if the prime (on-demand) service would be added later as a service to Richfield. Powers provided clarification to Commissioner Warren stating that along the 494 corridor SW Transit does currently have prime service, however it is being replaced with the 686 Route later this spring which provides more reliable and frequent service. 5. Metro Transit Network Now Follow Up Powers presented on the Metro Transit Network Now Study and results of that study. Some highlights he had were that the first draft in November that studied local routes in Richfield indicated that there would be no decreases in service, but there would likely be an increase in frequency. Routes 515 would increase in frequency on Weekday and Weekends and return to the High Frequency Network. The 540 route was re-routed through Underpass. For BRT Routes, Metro Transit is proposing an increase in service on the orange line and D line during the weekdays, while only the orange line would see an increase in service on the weekend. Powers elaborated that there would be a reduction in service for Express routes as their ridership study findings did not indicate a demand for it. In February, Powers mentioned that Staff received additional updates from Metro Transit on the study’s findings. Route 4 would go to a 20 minute frequency from 11 am – 6 pm. Non-peak Lyndale Ave trips and All Penn Ave trips will end at Lake village, which allows a one-seat-trip through to downtown Minneapolis. Originally City Staff provided a letter to Metro Transit with comments following the update on the study. Those responses were provided to the City and shared with the Commission for discussion. Powers emphasized that staff are currently asking Metro Transit to identify who their riders are and who is using their service, largely because there is a school which serves students who are neurodivergent and who may be relying on that transportation for school. Staff would like to push to keep that service in place if that vulnerable population are relying on that service. Powers highlighted that the City requested that Metro Transit explore restoration of the discontinued commuter express routes that previously served the City, especially those along Nicollet Ave, Penn Ave, and Bloomington Ave. The response received from Metro Transit indicated they are not recommending restoring these express options and did not clarify an effort to explore the restoration of these routes. Powers requested any comments from the Commission any communities or areas that would benefit or need these commuter routes. Commissioner Kubista noted that there could be a potential bias with the 1,600 comments received, with only 6 mentioning local routes 552, 553, and 554 as not all of the 1,600 comments responded to the survey as riders who are served in Richfield, MINUTES which could indicate that Richfield riders opinions are greatly outweighed by other metro residents. The City stated to Metro Transit that the closure of the park and ride facility at the Knox Ave/76TH St Station has resulted in decreased access to the orange line for riders in both Richfield and Bloomington, and that the City requests Metro Transit to explore leasing nearby retail parking lot space to restore this park and ride facility. Metro Transit acknowledged that they had received several requests for a park and ride facility but had not been successful with reaching out to nearby property owners for lease opportunities. They are looking to discuss additional outreach opportunities with their internal Engineering and Facilities staff. Commissioner Kubista added that having a facility even in Bloomington would be beneficial as it could only be one stop over and still provide a benefit to Richfield residents. Commissioner Gepner asked if Metro Transit was paying anyone to use that area for the park and ride facility. Powers answered that the ownership of the property where the Park and Ride was located was previously owned by MnDOT and leased by Metro Transit, and that the land was originally meant to go back to MnDOT fully for the 494 project. The Commission discussed Metro Transits response. The Commission requests that a memo to City Council be drafted that includes the following: A request to Metro Transit to do additional outreach to the Minnesota Independence College and Community Campus (MICC) to determine the impact of the route 538 spur removal, and if it has a negative impact on its student population. A request to Metro Transit to elaborate on their plan to further investigate the reinstatement of the park and ride facility, or a similar facility, that was originally located at 76th St and Knox Ave. 6. Project Updates a) City Staff o Project Engineer Olivia Wycklendt updated the Commission on the Nicollet Avenue project, stating that City staff are close to reaching a 60% design, with the plan to be at 90% design by August. b) Liaisons o City Council i. Wycklendt provided an update from Councilmember Hayford O’Leary in his absence, which is that Richfield was in the running for “Strongest Town”. In other news, there was an open house for the development of the empty lot north of Lakewinds, which is currently being proposed to be used to build a food hall. o Richfield Public Schools i. Tim Brackett provided an update that they won two grants. They also received additional funding for walking buses to MINUTES school. More to come on infrastructure grant. o Bike/Walk Richfield i. Liaison Matheus announced next month is “30 days of biking” and encourages commissioners to participate. She added the League of American Bicyclists is hosting an instructor seminar and smart cycling classes and invites anyone who is interested in learning more about safely cycling to join. 7. Other Business No other business. 8. Upcoming events/meeting(s) a) Wed, March 19th, 5:30-6:30pm: Commissioner Orientation b) Wed, March 26th, 5:30-6:30pm: Commission Chair/Vice Chair Orientation c) Wed, April 2nd, 7:00pm: Transportation Commission Meeting 9. Adjournment Commissioner Kubista moved to adjourn. Commissioner Warren seconded. Meeting adjourned 8:22 AM.