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Meeting Minutes – February 13, 2020

The Smart Cities and Innovations Committee (SCIC) convened at 12:04 pm on Thursday, February 13, 2020.

Commissioners in attendance

Chairperson, Commissioner Andria McClellan (Norfolk)
Alt. Commissioner Carl Jackson (Portsmouth)

Hampton Roads Transit Staff in attendance

William Harrell, President & Chief Executive Officer
Ray Amoruso, Chief Planning & Development Officer
Erin Glenn, Interim Chief Information Officer & Chief Technology Officer
Kamlesh Chowdhary, Director of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
Sheri Dixon, Directory of Treasury
Amy Braziel, Manager of Operations Administration
Danielle Burton, Operations Support Technician

Additional Attendees

Janice Taylor, PAC
Paul Atkinson, Eggleston/PAC
Denise Johnson, TRAC

The SCIC meeting package contained the Agenda and January 2020 Meeting Minutes. It was distributed electronically to all Commissioners in advance of the meeting and posted to Hampton Roads Transit’s SCIC website. The Action Items were distributed at the meeting.

Agenda – February 13, 2020

1. Review and Approval of Smart Cities & Innovation Committee Minutes
2. Old Business
   1. Action Item Review
   2. Updates on Local Smart Cities Initiatives
   3. Updates from Working Groups
3. New Business
   1. SCIC Initiatives and Opportunities
4. Adjournment

Opening Remarks

Commissioner McClellan tabled the review and approval of the SCIC Meeting Minutes until such time as a quorum is present at an upcoming meeting.

1. Old Business

1. Updates on Local Smart Cities Initiatives

   Microtransit

   • Commissioner McClellan solicited input and questions from committee members to present to Microtransit providers that will present to this committee in the March and April meetings. Suggested questions ranged from expected call waiting times to handling persistent flooding in the Hampton Roads region.
   • Discussion ensued on challenges encountered with the new paratransit microtransit services and the need to address/correct problems before microtransit is considered in earnest.
     • HRT will work to have the VIA CEO attend upcoming SCIC meeting

   GTFS/Real-Time Transit

   • Ms. Erin Glenn provided an update on TransitMaster and estimated a June timeframe for Google to approve the Trapeze data.
   • Ms. Glenn met with John Stevenson (Norfolk) regarding a grant that could be of use to the Agency for hardware on the buses (4-5 years down the road). This technology and hardware would look at signalization but being so far down the road for possible grant availability also introduces the risk that by then, the new CAD/AVL system being instituted may be outdated and need replacement.
   • Commissioner McClellan added that some of the challenges is that the hardware on the buses could not prioritize transit if a bus is further behind in the traffic queue. She stressed the importance of reaching out to the cities to perform system-wide updates on their signalization. Mr. Ray Amoruso noted that we do not currently have that information for the cities.

   Mobile First / Mobile Payments

   • There was discussion regarding mobile ticketing. Staff is currently reviewing the RFP which was originally made for a trial. Looking for HRTs requirements to create a new RFP.
   • HRT is finishing the mobile ticketing pilot this year and is moving towards a system wide program in the near future.
   • Phase 1 information of the autonomous bus is available. Phase 2 may be an extension of Phase 1, but Technology requires additional equipment to achieve the necessary 45 miles an hour.

2. New Business

1. Dedicated Funding
   Mr. William Harrell discussed dedicated funding for the Agency possibly available in 2024. There will be efforts made to work with TPO to find additional sources of funding.
   • Request to HRT to launch outreach efforts to Northern Virginia and legislators to garner support for funding in HRT’s region. Mr. Brian Smith will draft for Commissioner McClellan.
   • It was stated that HRT needs to utilize the various networks such as the League of Women Voters.
   • Commissioner McClellan stated that there will be a ban on gray machines which are casino like slot machines in various locations. Not sure how the ban will impact transportation but wanted to make sure the information was shared.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1:09 p.m.

The next SCIC meeting will be on March 12, 2020 at HRT’s Hampton Office, 3400 Victoria Boulevard, Board Room.

Meeting Date

February 13, 2020 12:00pm

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