Transit Advisory Committee
Transit Advisory Committee
Thu, September 14, 2023
Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
Meeting summaryAI-generated
Transit Advisory Committee — September 14, 2023
This was a regular meeting of the Petaluma Transit Advisory Committee, featuring a detailed presentation from SMART rail on the upcoming Petaluma North station and a substantive business item related to fleet electrification infrastructure.
General Public Comment
Dan Likeped, representing Petaluma Urban Chat, invited committee members and the public to the Better Cities Film Festival, screening September 20th at the Boulevard Cinemas and September 28th at Santa Rosa Junior College's Carol Ellis Auditorium. He noted that a short film on Zurich's transportation system would be of particular interest to this body, and that free tickets had been sent to committee members. Maria Arrey of Petaluma Transit staff was announced as an official welcomer at each screening.
SMART Presentation: Petaluma North Train Station
Emily Betts, Planning Manager for SMART, and Michael Wiltermood, Senior Engineer and project lead, presented an update on the Petaluma North Station and related infrastructure work.
Betts opened with a SMART system overview, noting that August 2023 ridership hit 72,000 — exceeding pre-pandemic levels — making SMART the top rail agency in California for ridership recovery. Recent initiatives under new General Manager Eddie Cummins include restored and expanded service, reduced fares, suspended parking fees, overnight parking at stations, free K–12 field trips, a Friday/Saturday late-night "Starlighter" service, and a summer free-youth-fare program in partnership with Petaluma Transit and other North Bay agencies. SMART also launched a microtransit shuttle at the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport station that coordinates on-demand rides with train arrivals and departures.
Wiltermood then described the Petaluma North Station project. The station will be located at Corona Road near McDowell Boulevard on a former industrial site. Key details:
Construction timeline: Bids open in late September 2023, award anticipated in November, construction complete by late 2024, with passenger rail service expected by Spring 2025.
Funding: TRCP grant funds, $2 million from the City of Petaluma, and Measure M county funds. Additional funding for project additions is still pending.
Station amenities: Over 100 parking spaces, 12 bicycle lockers, 12 bicycle racks, 6 EV chargers at opening (infrastructure ready for 24), and solar infrastructure.
Transit connectivity: A bus stop will be constructed on McDowell Boulevard with pedestrian pathways connecting directly to the station plaza. The design accommodates bus circulation through the parking lot for potential future routes. Routes 2 and 48 currently serve the area; stops may be consolidated.
Pathway work: The project includes a multi-use bicycle/pedestrian path from South Point Boulevard in Petaluma to Main Street in Penngrove, plus a segment through Lucchesi Park from Golf Course Drive to Belleview Avenue, bringing the total Class 1 bikeway in the corridor to 4.3 miles.
McDowell Boulevard grade crossing: Being rebuilt simultaneously, including a signalized pedestrian crossing, pedestrian gates, road widening to accommodate bike lanes in each direction alongside vehicle traffic in both directions, and perpendicular bike crossing geometry to eliminate the hazardous skewed track crossing.
Public comment on the SMART presentation (belatedly opened after the committee chair realized the step had been skipped): One community member who identified herself as a regular user of the SMART path expressed strong enthusiasm for the project, noting connectivity improvements for seniors and cyclists at the McDowell crossing. She mentioned organizing a transit group at a local senior apartment complex and praised the bus-train-bike connectivity the station will provide. Vice Mayor Healy (sitting as a committee member) raised the potential for coordination with SRJC, Petaluma Health Center, and local microbreweries. Wiltermood confirmed that SMART plans to begin working with partner destinations about six months before the station opens. Committee member Fry, who lives in the Petaluma Estates neighborhood adjacent to the crossing, thanked SMART for improving safety and accessibility at the grade crossing, citing a recent bicycle fall caused by the skewed rail angle and noting the crossing is currently difficult for seniors using wheelchairs, walkers, or canes.
Committee Chair raised a pointed concern that calling the station "Petaluma North" does not reflect how locals orient themselves (east/west is more typical), and separately noted that the retail parcel appears to be a leftover, inconveniently located space rather than a well-integrated amenity — though he acknowledged it was too late in the process to change.
No formal vote was taken; this was an informational presentation.
Approval of Minutes — July 13, 2023
Minutes were approved without correction or discussion.
Vote: Approved by motion (mover not clearly identified in transcript), no dissent.
Resolution Authorizing Purchase of Electric Switchgear from Wesco Distribution
Transit Manager Jared Hall presented this item as a critical step in the electrification of the Petaluma Transit facility. The core issue: before the agency can receive and operate electric buses, it must upgrade the transit yard's electrical infrastructure. One key component — an electric switchgear unit (3,200-amp, 480-volt, three-phase) — has a current build/lead time of 60 to 70 weeks due to supply chain constraints. Other agencies have received electric buses they cannot use because this piece of hardware wasn't ordered in time.
Hall explained that the city is working with consultant NV5 on facility electrical design (currently at ~50% design) and that the switchgear is being purchased through a Sourcewell joint purchasing agreement. The estimated cost is approximately $140,000 plus a 10% contingency, for a total just under $155,000. Funding comes primarily from a $180,000 PG&E EV Fleet Program grant awarded to the city for electric infrastructure upgrades.
The switchgear will eventually support 10 chargers with two plugs each, capable of serving up to 20 vehicles simultaneously — covering 80–90% of the current fleet of approximately 25 vehicles (fixed route, paratransit, and support). Charging time is estimated at 6–8 hours overnight, which aligns with Petaluma Transit's existing downtime window (roughly 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.).
Committee members raised several questions: whether the equipment would be sufficient for full fleet electrification (answer: yes, for at least 80–90% of the fleet); whether buses might arrive before the switchgear (Hall said timelines are aligned but acknowledged risk of delays, noting that an expedited build would have cost ~50% more); and whether noise impacts on nearby housing had been studied (Hall said no formal study was required under CEQA exemption but flagged it for monitoring during design). Committee member Cinq also asked about backup charging options in case of grid disruption — Hall noted this is an ongoing discussion, with options including coordination with Sonoma County Transit, Santa Rosa CityBus, and Petaluma City Schools' electric school bus yard, though the scale of battery backup needed for a full EV fleet is significant.
The committee voted to recommend that the City Council adopt the resolution authorizing the purchase.
Vote: Moved by Aldén, seconded by Cinq. Approved unanimously (Abrams – yes, Aldén – yes, Kol-Ross – yes, Healy – yes, Cinq – yes, Post – yes).
Transit Manager Report
Manager Hall highlighted several items:
The five-agency free youth summer transit program (Petaluma Transit, SMART, Santa Rosa CityBus, Sonoma County Transit, and Marin Transit) has concluded, but Petaluma Transit, Santa Rosa CityBus, and Sonoma County Transit are continuing free youth fares through June 2025. A detailed ridership impact report will be presented next month.
Petaluma Transit met with Amtrak to discuss better promotion of the Amtrak Thruway bus (Route 7), which connects Petaluma at the Copeland Transit Mall northward to near Arcata and south to Martinez. Importantly, riders no longer need an Amtrak rail ticket to purchase a seat — state legislation now allows standalone bus-only tickets.
The Microtransit Ad Hoc Committee meets September 21st to continue refining the pilot program's goals and structure.
MV Transit (the bus contractor) is now fully staffed — drivers, mechanics, and supervisors — after being short more than 10 drivers at one point. A wage increase negotiated during last year's contract renewal brought starting wages up to market level and is credited with resolving the staffing shortage.
Key Takeaways
Petaluma North SMART Station breaks ground in late 2023 and is expected to open for passenger service by Spring 2025, bringing a new transit hub with bus connectivity, extensive bike infrastructure, and a multi-mile Class 1 pathway to Penngrove — a major regional transit milestone.
The McDowell Boulevard grade crossing will be rebuilt with perpendicular bike lanes, pedestrian gates, and a signalized crossing, directly addressing a documented safety hazard for cyclists and pedestrians.
Petaluma Transit voted unanimously to recommend City Council approve a ~$155,000 purchase of electric switchgear — a long-lead-time critical component needed before electric buses can be charged and operated, advancing the agency's fleet electrification timeline.
Petaluma Transit is now fully staffed for the first time in years, following a negotiated wage increase, enabling expanded service and future initiatives like microtransit.
The Amtrak Thruway bus serving Petaluma no longer requires a connecting rail ticket, opening the service to any rider — a quiet but meaningful expansion of regional transit access.
AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.
What happened at this meeting
SMART – Presentation on Petaluma North SMART Train Station
SMART Planning Manager Emily Betts and SMART Senior Engineer Michael Wiltermood presented information on recent SMART initiatives and an update on the Petaluma North SMART Station. Public comment included Sheila Baker expressing support for the station and future electric transit, and Vice Mayor Janice Cader Thompson inquiring about Corona Rail Crossing safety and pedestrian/bike access improvements. Vice Chair Kaljian and Committee Member Abrams asked follow-up questions, with SMART Senior Engineer Wiltermood responding with details on planned updates.
Approval of Minutes for the July 13, 2023 Meeting
Minutes from the July 13, 2023 meeting were deemed approved.
Discussion and Recommendation of a Resolution Authorizing the Purchase of Electric Switchgear from Wesco Distribution and Approving Staff to Execute All Related
Staff Liaison Hall provided an overview of the proposed purchase of electric switchgear from Wesco Distribution. A motion to recommend the resolution was made by Council Member Pocekay and seconded by Vice Chair Kaljian, passing 6-0 with no opposition.
Transit Manager Report
Staff Liaison Hall provided updates on the Fare-Free Youth Program, discussed a Petaluma Transit meeting with Amtrak staff regarding a potential thruway bus addition to Petaluma Transit, announced upcoming Microtransit ad-hoc subcommittee discussion topics for the September 21, 2023 meeting, and mentioned planned film festival attendance.
Agenda items (4)
General Business
1General BusinessSMART – Presentation on Petaluma North SMART Train Station
What happened
SMART Planning Manager Emily Betts and SMART Senior Engineer Michael Wiltermood presented information on recent SMART initiatives and an update on the Petaluma North SMART Station. Public comment included Sheila Baker expressing support for the station and future electric transit, and Vice Mayor Janice Cader Thompson inquiring about Corona Rail Crossing safety and pedestrian/bike access improvements. Vice Chair Kaljian and Committee Member Abrams asked follow-up questions, with SMART Senior Engineer Wiltermood responding with details on planned updates.Procedural (1)
2ProceduralApproval of Minutes for the July 13, 2023 Meeting
What happened
Minutes from the July 13, 2023 meeting were deemed approved.Public Hearing
3Public HearingDiscussion and Recommendation of a Resolution Authorizing the Purchase of Electric Switchgear from Wesco Distribution and Approving Staff to Execute All Related
What happened
Staff Liaison Hall provided an overview of the proposed purchase of electric switchgear from Wesco Distribution. A motion to recommend the resolution was made by Council Member Pocekay and seconded by Vice Chair Kaljian, passing 6-0 with no opposition.4Public HearingTransit Manager Report
What happened
Staff Liaison Hall provided updates on the Fare-Free Youth Program, discussed a Petaluma Transit meeting with Amtrak staff regarding a potential thruway bus addition to Petaluma Transit, announced upcoming Microtransit ad-hoc subcommittee discussion topics for the September 21, 2023 meeting, and mentioned planned film festival attendance.Additional votes recorded in minutes
Approve minutes for the July 13th meeting
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve resolution authorizing purchase of electric switch gear
aye 6
Abramsaye
Aldenaye
Cinaye
Heelaye
Kos Rossaye
Posaye
Verbatim transcript available
45 transcript segments indexed
recording in progress I will call to order the September 14th 2023 meeting of the Petaluma Transit advisory committee it is I believe we begin with roll call is that correct yes it [Music] is yes Mr chair yep Ready for roll call Gail Abrams here da here Patty K Ross here here Peter cin here Franklin Quint Dennis po here in case Mr Quint did not reach out to staff he did advise me Monday evening he was out of town today so okay not unexpected it appears we have a quorum Mr chair ah thank you our next agenda item is general public comment I have one card today uh Dan like ped Urban Chat good afternoon I'm here on behalf of P Urban Chat to what is that turned on uh I think so I'm just not standing close to it uh I'm here on behalf of pimmer Urban Chat to invite the committee members and everybody else to the better cities film festival September 20th at the boulevard cinema and September 28th at the junior colleges Carol Elis Auditorium the second screening is free for students the you have all already received email that it is free for you and if anybody can't make it for economic reasons we will make accommodations um doors open at 5: for pre-show discussion the screening is from 6: to 8: the downtown showing will have a venue for conversation afterwards which we hope to foster a lot of um the of specific interest to this body there is a uh short film on the Zurich transportation system and there are various other films on making cities better uh among our sponsors are the
CITY OF PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA REGULAR MEETING OF THE TRANSIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE City Hall Council Chamber 11 English Street Petaluma, CA 94952 MINUTES Thursday, September 14, 2023 CALL TO ORDER Chair Alden called the meeting to order at 4:01PM ROLL CALL PRESENT: Gail Abrams, Dave Alden, Patti Culross, Helen Heal, Peter Kaljian, Dennis Pocekay ABSENT: Franklin Quint GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT During General Public Comment, the public is invited to make comments on items of public interest that are within the City Council’s subject matter jurisdiction and that are not listed on the current agenda.
city of Petaluma various organizations which wor work with Petaluma generation housing uh all sorts of great folks and Maria aray of the transit staff will be one of the two official welcomers at every showing and I'm told you have a good opinion of her so uh come support us please thanks thank you Miss Baker are you here for public comment no okay that's fine you want to make make sure then we're on to presentation I understand we have presentation from Smart regarding the layout for the north SMART Train Station Miss bet good to see you here yeah thank you Mr chair we have uh Michael wiltermood and longtime friend of the trans advisory committee Emily bets friend thank you ni for joining us to give us an update on the pedum nor Smart Station uh good afternoon I'm Emily Betts I'm the planning manager for smart um and I did work for pedala transit for many years so it's nice to be back here um and I'm going to be giving the presentation jointly with Michael wiltermood who's our sen senior engineer and he's the lead on the project so we'll kind of tag team this a little bit um okay yes I need something to start the slides thank you okay okay I thought I would start with just a general introduction to what smart has been up to um this is a picture of our ridership since the beginning of time we call it you know Smart's only been in service for six years and half of that time has been during the pandemic so it's been an interesting time to be a Transit operator that 72,000 was
Public comments are limited up to three minutes per person. Depending on the number of persons wishing to address the Council, time will be allocated in equal shares totaling no more than twenty minutes, subject to the Council’s discretion (Cal.
our August ridership so as you can see we have exceeded uh preco writers ship I think we're the we're the top in the state I mean in the uh bay area for ridership recovery and we're the top rail agency in the state for ship recovery so it's been a really interesting phenomenon to witness that um happening in the North Bay of course that has to happen during my presentation sorry well it give you time to read this really long slide of all these recent initiatives so I'm not going to read all of these um but Smart's been really busy for the past few years years we have a new general manager Eddie cumins and he brought in a lot of energy and really um real positive sea change in Direction trying to focus on planning focus on building the pathway focus on building Community relationships and obviously recovering from the pandemic so we have fully restored weekday Service uh we have expanded weekend service more than we offered pre-co and actually next week we're taking an additional two weekend trips to our board to increase weekend service we reduced fairs we reduced the monthly pass we suspended parking fees we've added overnight parking at our stations so that you can park at the station take the train go to the city for the night things like that um and we're just working with our partners we better coordinated the larksburg ferry connection the mirwood shuttle the giant service we're offering free field trips uh for any K through 12 students so please tell anyone you know
Gov’t. Code §54954.3(a), Petaluma City Council Rules, Policies and Procedures, III). Public Comment from Dan Lyke: Here on behalf of Petaluma Urban Chat with an invitation to and information about the Better Cities Film Festival.
that has a student in school we've been offering a service uh ever since I think it was May called the starlighter which is a late evening service on Fridays and Saturdays that's been really fun um over the summer we partnered with all the transit agencies in the North Bay including pedala Transit as you know to do free youth um free youth for the summer we're not continuing that into the fall um so we don't have the the funding like Petaluma Transit does but it was a really positive um really positive boost on youth ridership on the train it was great to see that um the other thing that we have done is launched our first microtransit shuttle and I included this because I know this group is going to be considering the possibility of microtransit in Petaluma so we've started this microtransit service up at the airport station its primary job is to take people back and forth between the Smart Station and the airport itself but it also serves many other destinations on demand in the area um it meets every sing single Northbound train so when you get off the train it's sitting there waiting for you it takes Walk-Ons or you can book ahead or you can book on the app and uh for southbound trains the software is set up such that you put in the train time as your destination and then it makes sure that you make your connection with the train and that was the Charles schulzer board right that's right is that not clear sorry the cinema County Airport the Charles shorts airport yeah and
PRESENTATIONS 1. SMART – Presentation on Petaluma North SMART Train Station SMART Planning Manager Emily Betts and SMART Senior Engineer Michael Wiltermood provided information on recent SMART initiatives and an update on the Petaluma North SMART Station.
There was general committee discussion and comment regarding the presentation. Public Comment from Sheila Baker expressing support for the Petaluma North Station as well as the future electric transit station.
yeah if you look really hard you can see the little Snoopy icon on the side of the van and actually pretty soon we are going to get real Snoopy on the train and the van so watch the press for that okay I'll pass it over to Michael now hii folks as Emily mentioned I'm the project manager for this I'm really excited to bring this project up to you guys um so the petalum North Station is at Corona Road just next to mcdal Boulevard um we planning to begin constructing this station in late 2023 so we are in the bidding phase right now we will be opening bids not this next Wednesday but the Wednesday following and we plan to award in November from there we expect to complete by late 2024 and have rail passenger service by Spring of 25 the funding for this station was by trcp Petaluma contributed 2 million as well as the county with measure M money and we are still waiting to hear on um additional funds for project additions um this is the general layout of the parcel we were just looking at um I hope I can go back just to give you a good idea so keep in mind this triangle here that is the same as the triangle that you're seeing there Brown and gray uh it used to be an industrial site so what we're planning on putting in here is our new pedal lior station a plaza area and Station Park parking lot as far as Transit amenities go you see down on McDow Boulevard there is going to be a bus stop that'll be constructed there in highlighted yellow and now let's get a little bit more into
the details of the station here's a layout of the station it is has over a 100 parking spots we have 12 bicycle lockers 12 bicycle racks um at opening we plan on having six EV Chargers available uh the infrastructure for the site is prepared for up to 24 EV Chargers and also we are constructing the infrastructure for solar at this site and up on that top end you see the highlighted area is a bus drop off so we've designed this with the idea of allowing for bus circulation through this parking lot in the event that a bus route goes through there so you're you are the transit experts here but I wanted to just lay out some of the current conditions for Transit so you can see right there um is highlighted the yellow triangle showing where the station is so the Route 2 currently comes up there and then the route 48 as well there are a couple stops along there but I presume they'd be Consolidated through this development um if you're thinking about what destinations people may be traveling to where they might um Al light at the pedal and North Station you know there's the Santa Rosa Rosa junor college is pretty big destination uh Petaluma Health Center Petaluma Valley Hospital so those are both on the route to um you know I think this is going to be a big origin station for East Side commuters who you know may want to take the train but maybe don't want to deal with the hassle of driving to Midtown at this point so I think you know in terms of Transit service that'll be a
Public Comment from Vice Mayor Janice Cader Thompson representing the City of Petaluma inquiring whether Corona Rail Crossing will be updated to make it safer and wider for pedestrians, bikers, and cars.
Vice Chair Kaljian and Committee Member Abrams asked follow-up questions to Vice Mayor Cader Thompson’s inquiry. SMART Senior Engineer Michael Wiltermood responded to questions with details on SMART’s planned updates.
consideration is how to circulate or you know cover the neighborhoods enough to feed the station um and so you know for this type thing you could do a circulator route it could Loop up to srjc uh which is pictured on the top right there or you could offer something like a microtransit model which offers a combination of fixed time points and On Demand Time points in the area oh you're back on so there is another part of this project that is going to be happening at the same time uh we have the Petaluma North project is really a joint project encompassing not only the station but also a pathway from South Point Boulevard in paluma up to Main Street in pengrove as well as constructing a pathway in Runner Park at golf course drive up to Belleview Avenue and we are also rebuilding the McDow Boulevard grade crossing at the same time and we'll be finishing up the paving in that area um if you've been over there you've noticed maybe that the Paving didn't go all the way to the tracks we coordinated with your Department of Public Works um to ensure that we weren't stepping on each other's Toes or redoing work that had already been done so when we come through and rebuild mcdal Boulevard also the paving will be completed over there um upon completion of this section of pathway in paluma we will now have a total of 4.3 miles from downtown paluma all the way to pengrove for class one bikeways so some of our upcoming work we have is the Windsor extension so this project is fully funded
now we will be getting back into construction starting late this year the Hillsburg extension is partially funded our first order of work will be to um attack that bridge replace the old bridge as well as construct a pathway from beles to I believe it's Front Street in Hillsburg and also in the next coming years we have 15 miles of additional pathway through Marin and Soma that are funded and ready for construction that's our presentation any questions of course are the pathways bicycle and pedestrian yes yes bicycle and pedestrian we've we've called them lots of different things multi-use Pathways um but yes they are bicycle and pedestrian thank you any other questions I've got two then I have an acquaintance who I'm surprised is not here today to raise this point so I'll raise it in his behalf nobody in pedala ever talks about something being North pedala it's east and west or Corona and I this individual would argue that you're costing yourself support when you continue to call it the North pedala Station because it just doesn't really fit with what our how we view our world so I'm just making the point in his behalf no question there just getting it out there yeah that's fair okay and then also when I look at the location of the retail it strikes me that was sort of like it was the leftover parel so let's call it something it's not convenient somebody who's parked it's out of direction for them to go get a cup of coffee before heading back to the Smart Train it's separate
Public Comment from Nikola Frye representing the Senior Advisory Committee expressing thanks for the planned updates. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 2. Approval of Minutes for the July 13, 2023 Meeting Minutes were deemed approved.
somewhat from the housing it's you know in a world where we want to make things as convenient as possible we seem to be using once again using leftover land for retail rather than putting it in a place where it's truly easily accessible conveniently accessible on foot so again I think this is way too far down the road to make a change when I just want to look at it I just want to do the the the Palm to forehead thing going we just can't seem to get these things right so that's just me being kudin I apologize for that but what I do sometimes everybody gets their opinion of course okay good anything else okay I had one quick thought Mr chair I just want to represent I've heard a few people ask this question so may be helpful to throw it out there could you talk a little more about connectivity through throughout the station like if you're going from the bus stop on McDow what The Pedestrian pass would be like reaching the station and walking throughout absolutely um so we'll take a look at the proposed um other site here so the bus route is on the bottom of the page the walking path would be down McDow Boulevard up the sidewalks I wish I could point to you for this a little oh there we go so there are sidewalks on both sides of this roadway which bring you up to a pass through right here and that is directly connected to our paved out or concrete section of sidewalk so yeah there there is a direct route from the bus stop down there on mcdal to our Plaza area and platform good
PUBLIC HEARINGS AND MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION 3. Discussion and Recommendation of a Resolution Authorizing the Purchase of Electric Switchgear from Wesco Distribution and Approving Staff to Execute All Related Documentation Staff Liaison Hall provided an overview of the proposed purchase of electric switchgear from Wesco Distribution.
There was general discussion and comment regarding this purchase. Motion to recommend a resolution authorizing the purchase of electric switchgear from Wesco Distribution and approving staff to execute all related documentation made by Council Member Pocekay, seconded by Vice Chair Kaljian.
question glad you asked that thank you okay thank you for your time thank you thank you next up is approval of minutes for the July 13th meeting did anyone have any corrections to propose to those minutes not hearing any comments I think the minutes are deemed approved a motion to approve Mr Hall we are now down to agenda item three discussion of the on the of the resolution authorizing purchase of electric switch gear Mr CH for electrification CH your Mr chair if you could just give me one moment just to pull this up of course all right thank you very much um good afternoon Jared Hall Transit manager great to see everyone so this item we have a relatively light agenda today this is one item of business that we have and it's a technical item at that but it's related to the electrification of the transit facility as we know we have um several capital projects that are planned for FY 24 one of the most notable ones is electrification of the transit facility and that's something that we know based on prior studies we've done dating back to 2019 is necessary for us to be able to receive and charge electric buses um in order to do so we have to install several pieces of infrastructure to improve the transit yard otherwise if we received the electric buses we wouldn't be able to operate them because we can't charge them and so that can be a fairly long process to do so with a lot of concurrent pieces of which we'll be talking about more going in the future like bus procurements I'm
hoping to have an item in the next month or two to talk about that but this item relates to the infrastructure itself and a piece of electric Hardware known as electric switch gear and without getting into all the um technical diagrams of how it works for the pg& connections into the yard basically between the pg& Transformer and then the yard where we would have our chargers which we'll be purchasing relatively soon as well and installing there's an important piece of Hardware known as an electric switch gear box um part of the reason why we wanted to advance this part of the process with purchasing switch gear is that we had been warned by other agencies how long the build time is given current curent Supply chains several Transit agencies that we know have actually received electric buses but they haven't had the infrastructure to use them mostly because this one particular piece of Hardware so of course the last thing we want to do is get to a point where we have these awesome new electric buses sitting there that we can't do anything with because we can't literally charge them and they're unpowered and so this item is to purchase a piece of electric switch gear through a joint purchasing agreement through sourcewell um overall it would be a 3200 amp 480 volt three-phase electric switch gear units and we created the um technical component which you can see in the packet working with nv5 nv5 being the consultant that the city of Petaluma is working with for its facility
Vote: 6-0 Yes: Abrams, Alden, Culross, Heal. Kaljian, Pocekay No: None Absent: Quint COMMITTEE COMMENT There was general committee discussion and comment. STAFF COMMENT 4 Transit Manager Report Staff Liaison Hall provided updates on the Fare-Free Youth Program; discussed the Petaluma Transit meeting with Amtrak staff to discuss the addition of a thruway bus to Petaluma Transit; announced the next Microtransit ad-hoc subcommittee discussion topics and that the next meeting will be on September 21, 2023; and his planned film festival attendance.
electrical design not just with Transit but for all other sites so right now the city is working with them on a dozen other sites to figure out what improvements are needed the design in the case of Transit we're at approximately 50% design level for the improvements that we need so again probably the first quarter or so of next year you'll see an item to where we want to start bidding out the electric switch gear improvements um installing these components but that'll be a future phase of it and so this item is for purchasing a piece of switch gear which the current lead time that we were warned about is estimated to be 60 to 70 weeks so even if this item were get approved that's kind of the timeline we're looking at to take delivery plus receed of it installation so that's really the soonest that we would be able to take and charge electric buses um on the bus side we're generally hearing it's about a year so 52 weeks or so for build delivery time once we do that so overall the timelines align pretty well with ordering receiving buses receiving and installing the switch gear it's several threads that ideally you want to reach the end point the Finish Line at the same time is kind of the rope we're trying to thread with the project and so basically this item before you is requesting permission to um present an item a resolution to city council that would let us purchase this piece of switch gear from Westco distribution the estimated cost is 140,000 um and change and we
anticipated a 10% contingency expense in there so total cost a little under 155,000 it'll just be the element of buying the switch gear and then once we receive the switch gear we'll have to install it later on as part of what's known as the construction phase for the project so once we reach design and then we bid it out and then we do construction they'll be installing several pieces of equipment like Chargers duct work and most notably this piece of switch gear but what we want to do is really get ahead of those other timelines again so this piece with the longest component isn't delaying the other pieces and delaying the electrification effort overall uh so with that I'm happy to take any questions Mr chair actually before we do that I in looking at my agenda I realized I'm not used to having people in the audience I really should have asked for public comment regarding the smart presentation so if with your approval can I open that door back to that yes of course does anyone in the audience wish to come on the smart thank you Miss Baker I'm I'm glad I thought of it I apologize for missing it earlier and Mr like if you could perhaps could the the smart engineer still in the LA in the lobby perhaps ask if he could listen in thank you okay first of all forgive me I've got teeth work doe so I'm my mouth looks a little strange um I just wanted to say that I I've been using the smart path and I it's really a blessing it's you got to get used to the little 90 degre years that
you know to the turns and um I was going to complain about one and I thought n you just have to just do it um certainly not here but maybe in the future with this this project um wherever there signalization wherever you can can work to make it the best please do because because um roner Park this not affecting this one and katat are just awful just wait and wait and wait and nothing so I'm not sure if there will be and I'm so looking forward to that uh work on the on the rail and I'm really really excited about this I could just jump up and down and do car wheeels and so um I just wanted to say that and uh it's it's going to be exciting to have that connectivity and yes I think it a lot of people will be interested in for instance now that McDow is just a honey to to bike on it's just so nice it's I mean that the fact that you can will'll have that choice on that your station and finally um the bus connection that's oh my gosh that's going to be so awesome it's just giving us more you know to think about a more opportunities to get on the bus and I'm um really really excited about that we're forming at Le senior apartments we're forming a little group a little Transit group and we're going to work with Maria and it's going to be exciting but for this um project I just want to say I really really am excited this is going to be a nice nice little um Transit um bus um train and and bike and all kinds of wonderful things so thank you so much thanks thank you and and if you could
fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk it would be appreciated it's at the back of the room the the yellow paper I see see VI vice mayor also wants to speak and to the gentlemen from smart I apologize for having missed this step earlier thanks for coming back again I love being on this side um so I was just at the srjc and we were just happen to be talking about Transit micromobility and so I've already talked with Emily um and apparently 6 months before the station is completed they'll really start working with um the srjc the health center and it would be great if the micr breweries are included in this if this is the direction we're going to be going um but my question is um for Michael the corona rail Crossing is that going to be updated to make it safer and wider for bikes pedestrians and cars at the same time I think he's prepared to respond I think I got this one um yeah we coordinated with city of Petaluma Department of Public Works at that grade crossing um we are adding a signalized pedestrian Crossing there for safety we're going to have ped Gates on the South Side pedestrian gates sorry um and then we're also widening that a little bit so we're taking the the gate arm and pushing it back to accommodate more width of Road there so what this is going to allow us to do is to have a bike Lan in each directions as well as vehicle traffic in both directions so yes there are absolutely improvements happening at Corona Road as well that's great news thank you
for bringing that up Miss Miss ker Thompson thanks for asking the question you're welcome thank you can I ask some follow-ups about that oh can I ask some follow-ups about the I guess yeah I guess so please about the uh uh bike infrastructure improvements I know that the crossings aren't all at 90 degrees is there any um thought to uh I know the inter interface between uh rails and uh bikes can sometimes be hazardous um has there been any thought given to how we can sort of improve safety there yeah again we worked with Department of Public Works and the designer for the McDow Boulevard Paving project they gave us a design to improve the bicycle path of travel across the track at McDow Boulevard so yes that is being handled here as well we get it's it's a very widespread project dealing with a lot of issues and trying to wrap them all up into one one solution okay I think I see M Adams also has a question just curious you turned it off if you could be more specific about what's the Improvement on the rails for cross so we are rebuilding The Crossing for rail itself and for um bicycle traffic we are rerouting them to get perpendicular Crossings there in both directions so that they are no longer taking that skewed ride over the track um very dangerous as we all know um so we are working to improve that anything else Miss Miss fry well once I open the door back up all things all sorts of things happen well I didn't know I was going to talk today um I'd like to thank the what
they're doing at that cross I live in the pelma states which is right at that Crossing uh we had two kids on a bicycle the other day do a header because they didn't know to cross at a right angle of the track and also the other thing I'd like to thank them for is that we have a lot of seniors who would like to be able to use the path and right now it's inconvenient and unsafe for us to get to the path across McDow so this whole rebuilding of that area um for easability of crossing right there especially in a wheelchair with a Walker or for my case with my Kaine um it is much EAS it will be much easier once it's all completed so thank them for that thank you and does that conclude public comment on the presentation okay thank again I apologize for my om Mission I'm glad we got back to it uh we are now ready to take questions regarding the um Wesco acquisition are there any questions from the committee have oh miss Kos Sorry Miss You So in essence we're purchasing a part that won't be available for five years sorry uh 60 weeks I hope I didn't say months 60 to 70 weeks weeks okay yeah oh weeks okay still a long time but not quite that long fortunately all right but we're we're basically purchasing it long before it'll be available yeah I mean usually this type of equipment when things were more normal was maybe a 3 to four month build because it's a fairly custom design custom built thing it's not like an off the-shelf part but given delays that's kind of the standard weit time
these days for the switch gear is about 60 to 70 weeks but yes that is correct okay Council M post okay just to piggy back onto that it's uh as I was reading it um and I don't have the numbers in front of me and I wasn't certain about them but it looked like it was kind of tight anyway even if it went to past 70 weeks like uh we might have buses waiting you know most of the stuff I I order that's on order it always comes even later than than I was said it would come and I just wonder if if there's is there still an issue maybe with it showing up in time or or you're very you're confident it's okay well I mean we think the timing works out well with all the items of course there's always a chance for delay the sooner we get it in the queue and have it being built the less likely that is but there's a few elements in the project that could have delays depending on the build time the Chargers for example have one of the shorter components we're told that's about four months build time so less concerned there the buses have about uh 52 weeks or so build time but also potential for delay there's a lot of things industry-wise related that may tie in for example I don't know people know but proa bus manufacturers going through the process of chapter 11 right now that may have industrywide implications with build times delays as of now I would say the timing pretty well coincides between the switch gear arriving and the bus is arriving we did look at the option of an expedited build
um to get it about two to three months earlier but the cost was about 50% higher so we felt that given the tradeoff of that time it wasn't worth the uh differential and the cost to try to expedite it or that 10% or so I think we would probably recommend it but we didn't think it was worthwhile yeah well and just to give maybe more backup to what Mr Hall is saying or Transit manager Hall those of you who've driven up North Boulevard may have noted that the um midband project across from laa there at the corner of Oak sat there with a foundation only for 6 or eight months that was a matter of they couldn't get switch gear the entire project was stopped because of this particular critical path so and then credit goes to transit for getting in front of this one did better than b pended congratulations well thank you Mr chair I'm just glad we had known through conversations with other agencies I think a lot of people they aren't doing work or talking they often are surprised because something again that's four months takes over a year and then you're potentially hitting the breaks on the project for an extended amount of time I I do have one question and it's not related to this particular acquis position but uh Mr Peters in our last meeting meeting before last I guess counting Counting the bus trip in between I had some really interesting comments about providing offsite capacity if there were disruptions in the electrical um circuits in town have is that something we're going to
consider it is something we have considered will continue to consider as of right now I would say there's not an exact alternative for what that would look like there's been a few options floated like I forget the name of the potential um energy expansion happening near the golf course within Petaluma that's been discussed as an option um something we'll look into further working with other Transit agencies of course would be a good one like Sona County Transit Santa Rosa city bus is the closest ones nearby but both of them are in Santa Rosa working with Petaluma City Schools um they have their schoolyard of course over on Kenn Drive near targets they have about a half dozen or so electric school buses now so I think it's a matter of continuing to look into those alternative sites creating agreement in advance where needed so you have several backup options like we do now with fueling you want to have the equivalent with charging not knowing what could come hoping that any power outage wouldn't be extended wouldn't be Citywide countywide Etc but trying to build in as many options as possible even things within the like battery backup systems and things like that the only piece with that I would say is the batteries on these buses the battery packs are so huge that a lot of those systems are really enough to charge one maybe two buses so the orders of magnitude we're talking about does become quite striking with how many batteries you would need to have full resiliency for
electric bus fleet for example I'm glad you're following up on different options and if you could keep us updated as that developed that'd be appreciated absolutely any other questions yeah quick question Oh Mr cin I'm sorry so just to make sure the equipment that we be ordering now would be enough to to satisfy us at full uh once we've gone completely electric correct I'm sorry I couldn't quite catch that last part once we've gone complet once the fleet is completely uh changed over it this equipment we won't have to order anymore right this is the this is the one and done correct so it's kind of trying to thread a needle again with pg& e they have EV Fleet program and so that's one of the things that's referenced in here briefly is that we um city of pedala trans in this case applied was accepted they gave us 180,000 to do electric infrastructure upgrades that's the main funding source for this um sorry I lost my train of thought on that trying to remember the question that's great but that so that'll be um it's not like we're going to have to open this up because we did talk about this briefly in a August and so I just want to make sure that this is once this piece is done that like okay that's that's it oh yes so they want you to thread the needle IDE to where you have a 5 to 10 year window of what electric vehicles you're going to improve they don't want you to go beyond that and do what they call Future proofing of doing enough infrastructure Upfront for 20 years
because they're potentially covering some of the bill through these incentive programs and so they only allow you to look out in that window of 5 to 10 maximum we're looking at kind of the most aggressive potential scenario within that so the infrastructure that we do now will cover as many buses as we think will within reason be electric by that time and in our case we anticipate it covers over 80% of The Fleets um and this piece of switch gear we think will be enough to cover the entire fleet overall generally um Beyond but it's not uncommon for Transit agencies to have to do multiple phases of electrification over time for example um San Rosa city bus they've done one first phase for four buses but they share their facility with other City functions that may have over 100 Vehicles they're already talking about phase two of their project there is a chance that there would be a phase two for us as well but that would be over five years down the road and a smaller project overall this covers the preponderance and we feel that all the equipment would still be useful it wouldn't be outdated by that point under size need to be replaced okay well that's great news cot oh I'm sorry Mr G were you not through no if you wanted to follow up on that that's fine my next question is completely oh okay yeah I just uh how long will it take you know with this system with these buses how long will it take to charge one all night or you know it depends on the Chargers and the buses but
generally we're anticipating anywhere from 6 to 8 hours based on 150 to 180 kilowatt charger and the buses we're looking at that are 550 to 650 Kow or so approximately that's kind of the estimate fortunately it works well for Petaluma Transit because we currently have downtime generally from 900 p.m.
so in all the scenarios that we look at everything would be fully charged by the morning without need for a lot of mid- Route charging that a lot of agencies have to do you know a lot of agencies that are running longer distance 24 hours a day they need mid route charging charging at Transit malls we're fortunate that we anticipate the charging at the Depot the transit yard 555 North McDow would be enough to cover the full electric needs for the fleet overall okay then Mr cin I think you had more questions yeah um and I'm not an electrician at all so perhaps this is a ridiculous question um but I know there's a lot of uh new housing going in uh near B and I just wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be any noise pollution falling over to those homes has any sort of um noise study been done or any analysis on that I know it's seq exempt so it's not so doesn't need to be but have you considered it I'm sorry I didn't quite catch on the last part was it asking about squa impacts of well so it would normally be caught under squa but this is of course categorically exempt because of the nature of the project so I was just wondering if that's it's not required for the contractor to do that but if it's something that you've considered before it's something we'll take a look at I mean this project is SQL exempt given the fact that it's you know within the footprint of the project overall you know it's viewed as being a environmental improvements given the current state of all the
diesel buses gas vehicles that we have doing that as well it's something that we've looked at and hasn't been a flag thus far but as we continue the work uh with nb5 the design work that we'll keep an eye out for and if any Flags come up of course something that would be addressed at that point and I would say this is kind kind of the first item to come before this body is kind of a business item discussion there will be several more everything from bus purchases to the design work finalizing that to awarding the bid of a contractor so there will be several more steps along the way that will continue to provide that info of anything else is discovered at that point okay great thank you okay Having learned myON I have a question oh I'm sorry yeah it's okay um I just would like to clarify um if this so this is a six charging station for six with this I don't know there's a finite number of chargers we could attach but what we're planning for with this first phase is 10 Chargers okay and each charger has two plugs so enough to accommodate 20 Vehicles okay of which our entire fleet is about 25 between fix route and Paratransit with about four to five support Vehicles So eventually this would be enough to El sustain electrifying the whole Fleet or at least 80 plus% 80 to 90% there's a chance that we don't need to do any more spaces not every space necessarily has to have the ability to pull a vehicle in in charge so there is a chance this covers all the need but I would say at a
minimum this covers at least 80% of the anticipated need any other questions okay I should open this up for public comment on a more timely basis this time I have no cards but is there anyone in the uh chamber who would like to speak seeing none I'll close public comment uh I will either hear final comments or I'll entertain a motion the motion to approve the uh director's uh uh suggestion okay and I'll a second without a second from Mr cin thank you um roll call vote please Abrams approve Alden yes col Ross Yes heel yes cin yes POS yes motion passes unanimously Mr chair thank you we are down to committee comment uh for those who might be new to the format this is just an open form for anybody on the committee to offer things that are pertinent to the world of Transit I will start on my far right uh council member po um I was just hoping we'd get when I saw the list of future topics uh U yeah I'd really like to get back to the 2024 uh um um what's the word I want goal goal Workshop okay good point Thank you Mr Calin I think this is is going to be covered um in Jared's report after this but um a little bit about the uh microtransit there was a the smart made a presentation and they had theirs and I was wondering if we could perhaps get them to give us a presentation on their uh microtransit program to the ad hoc committee is that something that we can get going or is this not the right time to bring that up I think so we're happy to reach out if uh Miss bets as well to do
double duty we'll invite her back she's a project manager for that to ask smart to provide an update on the uh connect microtransit projects yeah it could be super helpful awesome thank you problem good Miss K Ross Miss heel um I just want to express my appreciation for the meeting last time uh riding the buses was a wonderful introduction to the systems and um uh I've been on the buses several times since because it was a nice introduction um I I had a curiosity uh about something that the the um manager for MV is that the contractor yeah Bill mton the general manager he just mentioned that um um and um I think um you know it's it's wonderful that he had increased the Staffing significantly over a short period of time and I I wondered uh when something like that happens where does the funding come from to do a a really fast increase like that I mean are there just budget lines that aren't allocated and you can use them or how did that happen thank you it's a great question so um people may recall a little over a year ago we actually brought an item before this body the trans advisory committee that was recommended and ultimately brought before Council and in that case there was an increase in the contracts with the MV contract we have four base years and then three one option years uh that was item we talked about I think a month or two ago and so we're currently entering now for FY 24 the second option year of that gets approved but what we did when we went from the base
four year to the first option year is we realized that a combination of kind of the labor market and then wages under that contract were just kind of below the market below competitors and so we the city worked with MV and had some negotiations back and forth on adjusting the cont contract and most notably the wages within it so that we could bring the wages up to scale with nearby agencies based on kind of the study that we did and so we did that through that renewal it was a combination of the renewal for another year plus an amendment that bumped up the wages I believe the starting wages at the time were $19.50 or somewhere in that area and then they went up to about 20 um $525 or something along those lines L and then there's another 5% increase that's included in the proposed renewal that we just discussed um a couple weeks ago that's going before Council on Monday and so when we did that renewal we increased it then for FY 23 and then there was increases to the wages built in for the two remaining option years but that's how that played out is it was a negotiated extension Amendment to the agreement brought before council with a request for additional funding through the project mostly coming out of TDA Transportation development act funding to cover the increase yeah thank you it's interesting to know that process absolutely and I would say that um increase that's one of the pieces that bill touched on during the mobile Workshop is that's one of several that was really
helpful to address the um work shortage that we had we were short over 10 drivers at one point and now we have a full slates as of about two weeks ago we're full completely on the MV side we have a full contingent of drivers mechanics supervisors and it's really at a big impact on the service you know we see it from the customers the feedback that we hear the quality of it's really increased and of course it allows us to expand and do a lot more improvements adding more service considering doing things like microtransit whereas before the labor side alone was such a barrier to doing those items now that's not a major concern anymore great that's great thank you so much and miss Abrams no okay uh for my comment I will just second what Mr L said earlier uh the better cities Film Festival first show will be a week from yesterday the 20th at the Boulevard Cinemas uh 5:00 arrival you can purchase tickets online or free tickets are available based on the email you got from the committee chair uh the Zurich film is very much about Transit but anytime you start talking urban planning you're going to see buses in probably over half of the film so I hope a lot of you can can join us there that evening with that we are on to staff comment Mr Hall thank you very much um so we won't run through everything that's in the manager report but just to hit some of the highlights that we have of course we are doing the fairf free youth summer program that is now concluded for the five agency
program of which we were Partners along with Santa Rosa city bus Sonoma County Transit smarts and then um why am I forgetting the fifth agency Marin Transit so that program has ended but it still continues for ourselves Santa Rosa city bus and somoma County Transit through the end of June 2025 and so we still continue to promote that program what we're going to do is a more detailed write up on the ridership impacts that we saw and present that at the next meeting next month month so something to look forward to we met with Amtrak staff to talk about the throughway bus which is a great addition uh to Petaluma Transit that really expands the area and geography you can go to riding Transit from Petaluma on the North End that goes to cowply Holtz a little north of Arcada and of course it runs through Santa Rosa through Petaluma and it ends up on the southern end in Martinez so you have a pretty big geography you can get to on that route and we were talking with them about promoting the service more and you can see in the packet here um the latest schedule and map for Route 7 the one that serves Petaluma it's great um there was a recent development that previously to ride an amtr throughway bus you had to have an Amtrak rail ticket first to buy it but through State um legislature that was passed over the past couple years that's no longer the case so now anyone can buy a bus on that service unrelated to the rail service and ride at any time and so we're really excited about that
and that of course serves Petaluma at the copelen transit mall at the Golden Gate Transit gate if people want to ride that service which we encourage um otherwise I think a lot of the items were already um touched on such as the microtransit ad hoc the next meeting will be on Thursday September 21st we're really looking forward to that continue talking about the overall approach to the uh microtransit pilot and what issue it's trying to solve talking a bit more about goals and then starting to talk more about the structure what that program is going to look like so we're looking forward to that and then also the uh Film Festival of which Maria as was mentioned will be in attendance and I'm hoping to make the second date of that so very much looking forward to that as well and that is it Mr chair thank you and unless I'm missing something that does conclude our business for the day so the meeting is adjourned at 4:51 p.m.