Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:

Date:

Monday, April 24, 2023

Time:

7:00 P.m. - 9:00 P.m.

Location:

Hybrid meeting- Virtual and Room 247 City Hall

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1.

Land Acknowledgement

2.

Members Present:

Patricia Debly, Chair (BAAC), Nick Morrison, Thomas Hayes, Ian Catton, Andrea Grebenc, Irene MacDonald, Jon Millman (BCC), Tim Park (SDC), Peter Buckley (BSAC)

3.

Member Regrets:

 Alex Andrenkov, Councillor Shawna Stolte

4.

Others Present:

Stephanie Fountain, Tony Zhuang, Lisa Palermo (Clerk)

5.

Declarations of Interest:

None

6.

Approval of Minutes:

6.1

Minutes from the meeting held March 27, 2023, were approved, as amended.

7.

Delegation(s):

8.

Regular Items:

8.1

Election of Chair and Vice Chair

On motion, Patricia Debly and Tim Park were elected as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively of the Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee for the period ending December 31, 2023.

8.2

Transportation planning update

Stephanie provided an update:

• Staff have been reviewing and providing comments on the reconstruction and resurfacing projects within the city’s 10-year capital budget and forecasts. The Integrated Mobility Plan, Cycling Plan and Rural Active Transportation Strategy are considered when providing feedback.
• Bateman School: Council has directed staff to examine alternatives to reduce the parking demand at the new Bateman facility. Some options include examining potential land agreements with neighbouring plazas and churches, constructing a lay-by along new street to accommodate a bay of parking, and also permitting on-street parking throughout the neighborhood. Staff also investigating opportunities for alternate modes of transportation. More information will be shared as it becomes available. 
• Major Transit Station Areas (MTSA): Transportation staff are working with planning staff to advise on the transportation needs for the 3 MTSA's at Burlington GO, Appleby GO and Aldershot GO.
• Downtown Parking Demand Analysis Study: Staff are working on pulling together a study for tender to analyze existing and future parking demands in the downtown.
• Staff continue to spend a significant amount of time processing development applications and the many development appeals.

• It was suggested that staff be invited to attend a future meeting to provide information on the MTSA transportation needs. (Major Transit Station Areas)

8.3

Traffic operations and signals

Staff was not available to provide an update.  Members will bring forward their questions at the next meeting.  There was interest in learning more about:

• Opportunity for signals on Dundas outside the Go Bus area
• Audio at crosswalks downtown.

8.4

Active transportation

Stephanie provided an update:

• City staff continue to work on Plains Road and Prospect Street projects. Both of these streets will have protected cycling facilities and protected intersections.
• City staff met with the Region of Halton staff to provide input into the Dundas Street widening (4 vehicle lanes to 6 vehicle lanes) project. City staff recommend cycling facilities on Dundas Street.
• June is Bike Month. More information will be provided once it is received from CycleTO (organization that runs the event). Staff partnering with Burlington Green to organize a cycling event in June down at the beach. 
• Members enquired whether there were plans to improve pedestrian crossing on Dundas Street at the Go Bus park and ride?  A link was provided to information posted on the Halton Region website.

8.5

Transit

Tony provided an update:

• Staff are working on transit service changes for September – ramping up service to meet pre pandemic levels.  Some frequency has increased. Transit staff are hiring bus drivers to increase service hours.  Impacted routes will be identified in the next few months.  Changes will come in September.
• Free transit for students promotion coming this summer and free transit for students (evening and weekends) starting in September – more details to come. 

• Ian and Andrea gathered information about public transit schedules to compare with school bell times.  The information revealed there is not always alignment between the two. The information was shared with Transit staff for their information. Tony relayed that there are many factors considered when planning bus routes.  For example, a major factor considered is alignment with Go Bus and Go Train schedules. Sometimes alignment is not ideal.  Increasing frequency will assist to allow for some more flexibility and options to better serve different kinds of trips. The goal is 15 minute intervals on all major routes.

• Members again relayed concerns regarding speeding transit buses.  It was suggested that the reason may be due to drivers trying to make up time if they fall behind schedule.  Staff relayed that drivers have a schedule to meet and safety standards to follow. When drivers are late, it may impact their break time at the end of the day.  It is important that the public report speeding buses and provide details on location and time.  Transit has software that allows staff to run reports on driver speeds. Reports are run based on complaints. Members suggested that speeding records be considered during annual performance reviews. Others suggested imposing incentives to reduce speeding, and to make public safety a high priority when creating bus schedules.

9.

Other Business:

9.1

Updates from Committee Liaisons

• Cycling Committee (Jon) - there was no update to provide as there was no quorum at the last meeting.
• Seniors' Advisory Committee (Peter) - the committee is planning for some community outreach. BSAC members will volunteer at the Breakfast at the Bistro event at the Seniors' Centre and partner with the Accessibility Committee at the Farmers Market on June 3.
• Sustainable Development Committee (Tim) - the committee attended an informative session on managing rain where it falls.  Information can be found on the city's Get Involved page. Members continue to discuss how to navigate the numerous development applications being submitted.
• Accessibility Advisory Committee (Pat) - the committee is partnering with the Seniors' Committee at the June 3 Farmer's Market.  The committee will continue to spread the word about " respect the space", to encourage the public to only use accessible spaces when they have an accessible pass.

In future, the Committee liaison update will be added as an item on the published meeting agenda.

9.2

Tom provided an overview of a webinar by the Globe and Mail he attended regarding the Future of Transportation in Canada, March 28, 2023.

10.

Adjournment:

Chair adjourned the meeting at 8:18 p.m.