[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] We are live. Good afternoon and welcome to September 23, 2026. The top's known as technology operations planning and safety meeting calling the meeting to order roll call, please. Director Walton. Here. Vice Chair Burt. Here. Chair Medina. Here. Thank you. We have a quorum. Thank you. If you would join Director's Walton and Burt with me if you're able and in the pledge.
[0:35] And
[0:38] then if we could have the safety briefing, please.
[0:43] And always as CalTrain's core value, therefore, each meeting begins with the safety briefing.
[0:49] We are located at 166 North Rollins Road, Milbray, in the 5th floor public hearing room.
[0:54] In the event of an emergency requiring us to shelter in place, we will remain in this room.
[1:00] If an evacuation is necessary, please exit through the doors you entered, proceed through the exit door across from the elevators, and use the stairs to reach the ground floor.
[1:09] Once outside the building, head east across North Rollins Road to the designated meeting point in front of the Rollins Gateway at Milbury Station Building, located at 181, North Rollins Road.
[1:20] Please do not use the elevators.
[1:22] individuals who require assistance may wait inside the stairwell until help
[1:26] arrives. An AED is located next to this room and a fire extinguisher is available
[1:32] in the hallway. If needed, the General Counsel will call 9-1-1. The JPB Secretary will
[1:38] count everyone present so that all attendees can be accounted for in the event of
[1:42] an evacuation. Thank you.
[1:47] No, thank you. Let's move on to item 4.
[1:53] Public
[1:53] go ahead and get a call upon our speakers.
[1:57] We have two speakers.
[1:58] We'll start with Adrian Brant, followed by Rowling.
[2:00] Adrian?
[2:03] Thank you.
[2:03] Good afternoon, Chair Medina and members.
[2:06] Because this is a safety committee, I wanted to compliment staff and Burling Game Police
[2:11] Department for the recent enforcement action at the Broadway Crossing, where they actually
[2:16] were citing people for a very routine and dangerous vehicle code violation.
[2:21] I want to, again, suggest that since we have money for rail
[2:25] century and we cite people for merely not having a fair on the
[2:31] train that we pursue a demonstration project using turnkey
[2:36] camera system that will more effectively enforce grade crossing
[2:41] violations 24 or 7. There's turnkey camera systems that do
[2:45] this. One is called railroad safe and this is not like the
[2:50] controversial flock cameras. It's just like the speed cameras up in San Francisco
[2:55] or red light cameras. It only catches and sights violators. Remember that
[3:01] rail century is not preventative. It's fairly reactive. Thank you.
[3:07] Our last
[3:08] speaker is Rowland.
[3:12] Thank you and a good afternoon. I would like to take this
[3:15] opportunity to give you an update on the latest B-MU developments, specifically
[3:20] clearly that the project needs to pivot to a different battery technology and which may
[3:26] result in a two-year delay in require supplementing the existing $80 million budget by a smurch
[3:32] of $20 million.
[3:34] This is a carbon copy of what happened to the Seaboss project 10 years ago and the time has
[3:41] come to pivot to battery-electric locomotives capable of storing EMUs back and forth between
[3:48] in Tamion and Salinas without recharging.
[3:51] This change requires a simple change
[3:53] in order to standard contract,
[3:55] or a new RFI if we would like to keep both options open.
[3:58] Now, with regard to the last speaker's comment,
[4:01] before you start enforcing cameras at railroad crossings,
[4:07] a good start would be to start by putting stripes
[4:10] on the stripes so that people know
[4:12] where they're not supposed to be.
[4:13] Thank you.
[4:16] All right, that the end of public comment
[4:19] and thank you to both speakers for their comments.
[4:22] Item five, approval of meeting minutes for August 26th, 2026.
[4:27] There being no public comments, bring it to the Board for action.
[4:32] Move approval.
[4:34] There's motion and second to approve the minutes of August 26th.
[4:37] All those in favor say aye.
[4:39] Aye.
[4:39] Any opposed?
[4:41] The ayes have it.
[4:42] Passes 3-0.
[4:43] Item six, authorize executive director to execute amendment number two
[4:47] to the service agreement with the City of Sunnyvale for the completion design for the
[4:53] the
[4:56] are to have a new under crossing project
[5:05] Good afternoon. Okay. Good afternoon. I'm willing to go on with the Director of Infrastructure
[5:13] Delivery with ECM. So just on the item for authorizing the Executive Director to execute
[5:20] amendment 2 to the service agreement with city Sunnyvale for completion design up or not
[5:24] of avenue unaccrocing.
[5:27] And what the staff is recommending is to authorize the Executive Director
[5:31] to execute an amendment and to advance the project to 100% design and increase the capital
[5:36] budget by $7.6 million. So we'll go through a very quick project overview, a project background,
[5:44] review the project schedule, and talk about the next steps on this project.
[5:48] So the project overview, the city Sunnyvale and city mountain view are both the co-sponsors of
[5:54] the project, the proposed installation of bi-compared under-crossing app remodel avenue,
[5:57] and West Evelyn Avenue to connect the two cities.
[6:00] It will also be connected to the Evalomotai Use Cho project
[6:03] that the city of Sunnyvale is leading.
[6:06] The undercrossing is intended to facilitate access
[6:09] between the northern and southern side of the culture
[6:10] and right away as well as central expressway.
[6:13] The stakeholders are capturing the city of Sunnyvale,
[6:15] city of Mountain View, VTA, and also Santa Clara County.
[6:20] So here just I think it's a kind of an image
[6:22] of what the proposed and acrossing would look like,
[6:25] where across is the culture and right away,
[6:27] You will see that it's going to cross the culture in right away as well as central expressway
[6:31] Ultimately connecting the two sides
[6:35] So for project background on this project was initiated back in 2017 by the city of Sunnyvale and the city of Mountain View
[6:40] Which at the time city of Sunnyvale had taken the lead on the project?
[6:44] In 2021
[6:44] Keltchrin had approved a quarter a rail quarter use policy our covariance
[6:50] For the under crossing in 2023 in an alternative was selected for environmental clearance and the city subsequently completed a
[6:58] 35% design and environmental clearance for the project.
[7:02] So based on a current schedule, what we're intending to do is in this month, in October,
[7:07] to get both City Council and JPP's approval for the approval for the amendment to the
[7:11] service agreement, we will then begin in November with an enhanced 35% design intending
[7:17] then to complete the 60% design by March of 2027 as well as doing an update of the cost estimate
[7:23] at the 65% level.
[7:25] The final design will be completed in December 2028, along with an updated estimate, and right now the construction will be to be determined that we'll have to look for funding for the construction of the project.
[7:38] So for the next steps, we're intended to work with the city to finalize the amendment to the service agreement.
[7:42] Actually, the draft language agreement has been agreed to.
[7:46] We'll work to select a designer record to proceed forward with the design, and then to begin the design with after the selection of the designer.
[7:55] So just to summarize the recommended action is to authorize the Executive Director to execute the amendment for the service agreement with the City of Sonnyville to announce the project's 100% design and increase the budget by 7.6 million.
[8:08] Happy to take any questions.
[8:10] Thank you very much.
[8:12] We have no public speakers on this topic.
[8:15] Are there any questions or comments, Vice Chair Burke?
[8:17] Yes, so I'm familiar with this project really from some VTA meetings on it. It's an unusually long
[8:29] bike and ped under crossing because it has to go not only under cow train, but under Central Expressway
[8:36] and an island in Central Expressway. So a couple of questions. One, this additional amount
[8:45] is being funded by what source?
[8:49] I believe it's a mixture of funds, there are measure B funds,
[8:52] and then there are also some local funds from both the cities,
[8:55] as well as I think they have all-bad money involved in that as well.
[8:59] So it's a mixture.
[9:01] Yeah, even though it's a bike and pet under crossing,
[9:05] it qualifies for VTA measure B grade separation funding.
[9:09] And so I think you said that in November, we will have not only a, do we complete the 35% design or initiate it?
[9:20] No, it will be to initiate a basically 35% refresh.
[9:26] Or refresh. So they already had a 35 and this a refresh.
[9:30] That is correct. The city had produced a 35% previously, but that was led, that effort was led by the city.
[9:35] and it has been two years now since that 35% has been looked at so our intention to start with
[9:41] is to go through a refresh of the 35% to make sure that we are incorporating the updated standards
[9:46] before taking it forward to the 65% and at that time we will get an update on the cost estimate based
[9:54] on a 35% reforture, one at 35% as well.
[9:57] So that the cost estimate.
[10:00] We'll be win. You know, I don't have the off the top of my head. I don't have the completion date of the 35%. I think I want to say it's an early part of 2027, but that's something I can double check on. Thank you. There be no other questions or comments. Bring it back to the board for any action. Please move to second. There's a motion in a second to prove staff's recommendation. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
[10:28] three O passes, and now item seven, if you could read that.
[10:34] Item seven, authorize execution of amendment number six to contract number 23-J-C-040
[10:40] with flat iron hers of joint venture for construction manager slash general contractor
[10:45] CMCG, support services, and amendment number seven to contract number 23-J-P-041 with
[10:52] Mark Thomas for designer services for Broadway Berlin game. Great separation project, 100% design.
[11:00] Welcome back.
[11:01] Good to be back.
[11:04] Okay, so for this item, what a staff recommendation is for the BBGS project to authorize a
[11:11] amendment number six to the CMGC contractor for the flat area, Herzog joint venture,
[11:15] to increase the contract budget by a Nazi seed amount of $3.86 million to a total of $9.67.
[11:21] And also authorize the amendment to number seven to the design service contract for Mark Thomas to increase their contract budget by not by not exceed amount of $9.4 million to a total of 33.3.
[11:35] It is to bring both contracts to the 100% design.
[11:40] So some project updates, I think some of this which we have heard previously, so we have executed the amendment of the MOU to take the project to 100% completion.
[11:49] The project has submitted the FRA RCE grant for the construction dollars.
[11:55] We've received and already completed a review of the 65% redesign in July and also updated
[12:01] a total project cost estimate based on the 65% and the project team has already kicked
[12:05] off the 100% design efforts.
[12:09] Just to contract summary, so these two contracts, the Mark Thomas contract was originally awarded
[12:15] in November of 2020, we spend a total of $21.3 million to date, and the estimated total cost
[12:22] of getting a 200% design would be $14.4 million. And for the CMGC, that contract was awarded
[12:29] in April of 2024. We've spent about $5.7 million to date, and similarly, their remaining
[12:34] school would be to support the 100% design and pre-construction phase, and that's estimated
[12:40] to be 3.9 million to the completion of that scope.
[12:44] So this is just a recap, kind of a rehash of the 65% project cost estimate.
[12:50] Just want to highlight that the designers contract the amendment of $9.4 million as well
[12:55] as the CMGC contract amendment of $3.9 million are included in the 65% project cost estimate
[13:02] update.
[13:06] So the current project schedule, I think this is something you have seen previously.
[13:09] So we're intended to complete the final design in 2027 as well continue to move forward with
[13:15] property acquisition and potentially starting pre the early work activities in 2027 as well
[13:20] with a goal of starting construction for the main construction fact in late 28 depending on
[13:26] availability of funding.
[13:31] So just in conclusion the staff recommendation is to authorize a amendment
[13:41] and number seven to design services contract with Mark Thomas for $9.4 million.
[13:48] Any questions?
[13:50] Thank you very much for the presentation and the report. We
[13:56] have one public comment if we may hear that person now.
[14:02] Our one speaker is rolling.
[14:06] Thank you. So first of all, no problem with staff recommendation. But the reason why I'm addressing you is that this business of spending half a billion dollar
[14:15] up a great separation. This is not sustainable. This is the exact reason why I made a proposal
[14:21] to have a concessionary taking over the entire alignment between a Giro enemy wheel and
[14:29] deliver all these capital projects. And the reason why I did that is that the concessionary
[14:35] has got all the in-house expertise not only to design and vimity clear, but also actually
[14:41] construct all these projects without having to go to this massive consultants as a result of which
[14:47] they can deliver all these projects much faster for a fraction of all the costs that we've been
[14:53] has to pay right now. Thank you.
[14:55] There are no further public commenters.
[14:57] Thank you very much. Bring it back to the committee.
[15:00] Any comments or questions on this topic? Seeing, hearing none, any action? By the board.
[15:07] I will move the staff recommendation.
[15:12] There's motion in the second to approve staff recommendation. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? It passes 3-0. Thank you again very much. Item 8, receive annual ridership report.
[15:36] Good afternoon, Chair Medina. Members of the tops committee. Nick Atchison, senior planner with rail operations planning.
[15:43] and I'm here to give you a quick presentation on the findings from our fiscal year 2026 annual
[15:48] ridership report. So here's the agenda for today's presentation. We'll start with a bit of
[15:55] background and then we can dig into the key findings from the report and wrap up with a few next
[15:59] steps. So starting with some background, because CalTrain operates without fair gates and we don't
[16:06] currently have system-wide automatic passenger counters or APCs, we don't have comprehensive data
[16:12] on each of the individual trips taken within our system.
[16:16] We'll quickly note that the electric fleet came equipped with APCs,
[16:19] but that system is still being set up and configured.
[16:23] Historically, calculating the annual ridership reports came from the annual pasture account,
[16:28] but that program was discontinued in 2020 due to cost and shifting travel patterns due to the pandemic.
[16:36] In FY24, we started developing annual ridership reports from the monthly ridership estimates
[16:41] that we report to the board, and those estimates are generated from our fair media ridership model,
[16:46] which uses ticket sales data to estimate daily ridership by origin station.
[16:52] So moving on to the key findings, we'll start with a few of the big headline numbers.
[16:57] Total annual ridership was 12.6 million, a 38% increase from last year.
[17:04] Average weekday ridership for the whole of the fiscal year was almost 41,000,
[17:08] and average weekend ridership was over 21,000.
[17:12] So while the weekday ridership is still a bit below where we were pre-pandemic,
[17:17] the weekend ridership is actually 50% higher than 2019 levels. A big part of that is the fact
[17:23] that we doubled the amount of weekend trains when we electrified in September of 2024.
[17:29] So most of the weekend growth actually happened in FY25, but in FY26 the weekend ridership did grow
[17:36] significantly about 40% year over year.
[17:42] So one of the biggest factors contributing
[17:44] to our ridership growth this fiscal year was the continued momentum from electrification.
[17:49] But we did also have a lot of major special events along the corridor,
[17:54] like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup, and some big concert series like the BTS shows
[18:00] at the Stanford Stadium.
[18:02] We also saw gas prices spike in the spring, which made us even more competitive to driving
[18:08] from a cost perspective.
[18:11] So I have a few charts and tables to share, and there's a lot of information in these slides,
[18:16] so I'll run through them quickly, but I'll be happy to come back to any of them.
[18:19] So on this chart, the blue bars represent our total monthly ridership, and then the gray
[18:24] line in the middle is our average weekday ridership.
[18:26] You can see that both of those really started to pick up in the last quarter of the fiscal
[18:30] year when the high gas prices hit in March, and they remained high through the end of
[18:36] the fiscal year.
[18:36] This chart shows, again, the total monthly ridership in blue, but now that gray line is our pandemic recovery rate.
[18:47] So the monthly ridership relative to the same month pre-pandemic.
[18:53] Again, you see that our pandemic recovery spikes in March when those high gas prices hit and the special events start.
[19:01] And then it remained high through the end of the fiscal year by June.
[19:04] We were over 80% pandemic recovery.
[19:09] This chart just gives you another look at our pandemic recovery.
[19:13] The two lines at the top are FY19 and FY20.
[19:16] You can see that an FY20 ridership fell off a cliff when the pandemic hit in March.
[19:22] And then we built our ridership back slowly in the following years.
[19:25] And then that pink line in the middle is FY25 growth really started to accelerate
[19:30] with electrification in September of that year.
[19:33] And then the bold brown line in the middle is FY26.
[19:36] And you can see that we've continued that momentum, and we're creeping closer and closer to our pre-pandemic levels.
[19:44] This slide breaks down average ridership by specific day of the week.
[19:49] So prior to the pandemic, our ridership was relatively consistent on weekdays.
[19:53] Mondays and Fridays were only about one to nine percent lower than Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
[19:58] but now
[20:00] So in our post-pandemic hybrid work environment, the midweek ridership is about 20% higher than
[20:06] Mondays and Fridays. So while our overall pandemic recovery for weekdays as a whole is 65%,
[20:13] the midweek is significantly higher at 70% recovery.
[20:20] Moving on to ridership for our top 10
[20:22] stations for FY25. There's a lot of information on this table, so I'm just going to call out some
[20:28] of the key points. First, the stations in our top 10 are consistent in FY 25 to FY 26.
[20:37] The biggest year-to-year growth in our top 10 was in San Francisco, specifically 22nd Street
[20:42] Station. Midweek ridership at 22nd Street grew 43% year-over-year. If you look at the column on
[20:50] the far right, you can see that midweek ridership at 22nd Street is almost at the levels that we had
[20:56] in the 2019 count.
[21:00] So in fact, we had five stations, South City, Hayward Park, Belmont, Lawrence,
[21:06] and Santa Clara that had higher midweek ridership in FY26 than in the 2019 count. Those five
[21:14] stations weren't in the top 10, but they were among the stations that received the highest
[21:20] increases in service with electrification. So similar to our weekend system wide ridership,
[21:27] We're seeing a strong link between the weekday service levels and the ridership recovery.
[21:34] So I mentioned that special events were a big driver of ridership this fiscal year.
[21:39] The most significant special event is our is giant schemes in terms of significance to
[21:45] our ridership.
[21:46] So you can see that in the column to the right of this table, we get a 10 to 15% bump in overall
[21:53] system-wide ridership when the giants play at home.
[21:57] And of course, we have tons of other special events that contribute to our ridership.
[22:01] Just wanted to show that table with the Giants because it's the biggest ridership bump.
[22:06] But our corridor is home to more major sports teams than any other single rail line in the
[22:11] country.
[22:12] And we're getting another team and a professional women's hockey team in San Jose this
[22:17] year.
[22:18] So in fact, a recent customer satisfaction survey found that for 20% of our riders, their
[22:24] first trip on CalTray and was for a special event.
[22:30] Then we can just wrap up with a couple
[22:31] next steps. We'll be posting the annual ridership report on the CalTray and ridership web page
[22:36] in the next few days. But beyond this annual report, we are still working on getting those
[22:42] EMU-based APCs configured and validated, so we can use that data for future annual reports.
[22:49] A pad I can answer questions. Thank you very much for the data, the information, the presentation.
[22:55] We have two members of the public.
[22:56] Why don't we hear from them now, please?
[22:59] Our first speaker is Roland, followed by Adrian Brant.
[23:01] Roland?
[23:04] So thank you for the presentation.
[23:07] And as you correctly pointed out,
[23:09] I'm doing this without APCs.
[23:11] It's pretty close to impossible.
[23:14] If you asked Gemini when I personally started advocating for APCs,
[23:20] it was back in 2016 when I returned back from Berlin.
[23:24] and I didn't see just APCs. I actually saw ABCs, automated bicycle counters, and I tested
[23:32] them. I had a bike, and I pushed it back and forth, used to make sure it was working
[23:35] and yes it was. And I came back and I reported, I gave CalTrain the name of the supplier,
[23:41] and here we are ten years later, it still doesn't work.
[23:45] One thing I really liked is that you say that increasing the number of trains on weekends
[23:50] increase the ridership. Fantastic. When are you going to start increasing trades going to
[23:55] gear oil? We got the 160,000 cows going to to a Morgan Hill every day, even though we've got 12
[24:01] lanes of traffic. And that's it for now. Thank you. Our next speaker is Adrian Brandt.
[24:11] Yes, thank you. I wanted to sort of tag on to what Roland just said. I think it was two years or
[24:18] more ago that we at the CEC were being informed happily that the APCs were very close to being
[25:00] I'm going to say that I was in the service because they're just very important and valuable data that we paid for the equipment. And it's just a real shame. We can't get it going. I know the software vendor went out of business and we have a new one now, but that needs to speed up. And then on the point of ridership. I want to thank me. You did a great presentation for us at the CAC. But I wanted to also remind you and suggest that we go to distance-based fares. We'll get a big ridership jump.
[25:26] as I'm sure Chair Medina knows if you go from San Bruno to Milbray, you have to pay for two
[25:32] entire fair zones, and the same person going from Milbray to Sunnyvale pays that same price.
[25:37] So we need to fix that. Bump our ridership, thank you. There are no further public commenters.
[25:44] Thank you very much to both the speakers. Bring it back to the committee for any comments
[25:48] by Sherbert. Thank you. So can we get a deeper update on what is holding back the APCs?
[25:58] We just heard that I'm not sure if I knew this before that the software vendor had gone out of business
[26:05] and presumably that was a major factor but can you give us a greater understanding on what's been holding it up
[26:13] and do we have an anticipated go-live date?
[26:17] Yeah, we'll be happy to talk about this and I think Sherry's up here just an anticipation
[26:21] of this.
[26:22] You know, this is something that we have been keeping an eye on for our fleet.
[26:27] There are lots of different things we need to focus on, but this is one that we do want
[26:31] to make sure that's in place because we think it'll just be a big added value to us to understand
[26:36] at a more granular level our ridership.
[26:39] And so we have not lost track of it, but there has been some challenges along the way, but
[26:43] But I think we're in a pretty good place today and Jerry can give an update on it.
[26:49] Happy to do that.
[26:51] Thanks for bringing this up.
[26:53] This is the subject that we go through every single week for the last 11 months.
[27:00] The story behind ABC that is, I want to make sure people get the story correct.
[27:06] The vendor, San Term, provides the APC, CCTV, NPS, software and firmware for the EMU.
[27:16] The company is operating from France and India.
[27:20] They have an office in Montreal.
[27:23] Starler has very difficult time to get that attention, fix the software problem over quite
[27:29] a long period of time.
[27:31] In cloud chain, we have to think about the long-term solution in the product because after
[27:37] warranty period, we will end up with the systems, be able to work with some vendor that
[27:43] is accessible and also the product is reliable as the key.
[27:48] So after management decision, we force hand to try to look into a different permanent solution
[27:54] for the software that is the change of the product vendor.
[27:58] Now, Syntai is part of the acquired, is the style of right now, it's a German engineer
[28:06] coming from the software who's reliable, and also it's not coming from the other, the
[28:12] someone built.
[28:13] It's really already proven that product is working with the other entities.
[28:19] So we just tested the software of APC and CCTV on train number seven, a couple of days ago.
[28:27] The test of software is successful.
[28:30] We are working on the data to push it toward the wayside for the report out.
[28:35] So Nick eventually is being able to use it.
[28:38] We are actually doing the next week on troubleshooting.
[28:41] The plan to roll out APC and CCTV is through the entire fleet in October.
[28:47] Now, PIS is a little bit different story because we need to access the software
[28:52] from the vendor of Santa. So Starlet through the legal route just recently received the software before we can modify. So that is the solution we've done.
[29:01] Permanent will are the March of 2020 seven.
[29:06] Here is the full story and live data of the project team.
[29:13] As we all know, when we were going through the electrification program, it really took elevating.
[29:21] The concerns not only through full court press from our staff, but engaging the board for
[29:30] political pressure on the vendors.
[29:33] This is a smaller issue, but if we can't get the attention of the vendor, I think it would
[29:42] like to understand this better because we really, I haven't understood what the problems
[29:48] were and whether there is any way that we can assist in getting the attention that we
[29:54] to serve.
[29:57] You know, if I could add one thing to that and it's fair and we'll make sure-
[30:07] Okay.
[30:12] And then my other question, as we're looking at at the ridership growth, we really keep looking at at our weekday ridership, our weekend ridership, but we've radically changed our schedule.
[30:29] And one of the things that I keep asking for and haven't been seeing is the comparison
[30:35] of peak hour ridership.
[30:37] Now, I saw that it was AM, is that, did I understand that acronym correctly?
[30:42] It was AM weekday was one of the key metrics.
[30:48] Yes.
[30:48] So, AM in this context is average midweek ridership, so AM-
[30:53] Average midweek.
[30:54] Okay.
[30:55] Yeah, so we don't have time of day information from the fair media sales model, which this report gets all of its data from so without
[31:06] segmenting the peak our ridership difference of now versus pre-COVID. We really are misunderstanding how much of the ridership growth is related to
[31:17] to our change in schedules and our expanded off-hour schedules versus what's actually recovering
[31:25] organically in the system by our commuters, our historic primary ridership.
[31:32] And I really want to emphasize that that is important for us to analyze in part because
[31:40] it gives us indications of what we're hearing anecdotally, which is express trains at peak
[31:45] hours are getting full again. So what point in time is it going to trigger the need for
[31:51] that fifth train or even a sixth train. But really even independent from that, understanding
[31:58] what's happening in our, who are our customers and how are they using our system. And if we
[32:03] aren't comparing that peak hour to peak hour versus the overall ridership gains, we're
[32:11] not understanding the data well. So I really want to emphasize that. I've been asking for it
[32:17] for a while and I'm going to pound on that and ask again because I think it's very important.
[32:27] Lastly, do you have any, I appreciate the report is FY26, but I'm just curious how the
[32:34] train continued in July and August.
[32:39] Yeah, it continued. It was almost like a
[32:43] near-image in July and August 1.3 million total monthly rides for those two
[32:49] months. I think June of FY 26 was just under 1.3 million. And I had seen
[32:55] maybe a slide that was that the slide that you had the line graph on a slide eight
[33:01] or what. I was looking at pre-COVID that actually there was a decline, let's see. So we only have,
[33:15] we only have, oh yeah, so 2019, we see that June went down from May and July and August were
[33:30] down a little bit. So when I'm just trying to compare month to month and where we are,
[33:35] it looks promising that not only by being flat in July and August, that may represent
[33:41] actually an underlying growth, and we'll see as we continue through the year, but thanks
[33:49] for that update.
[33:53] I think Dr. Berk had Kate on sharing as far as us being kept abreast of what is happening
[34:03] So that if we can assist in any way as I think I'll say we did in the other example you gave and I think that's important and so I would appreciate that as well.
[34:16] Thanks.
[34:17] Thank you.
[34:17] This was an informational item that will move us on to item number nine, receive update on past forward program, please.
[34:41] Good afternoon Chair Medina and members of the top committee. My name is Bella Conferty,
[34:45] government and community affairs specialist and today I am here to present an update on
[34:49] the past forward program. So beginning with a quick program refresher, through past forward
[34:55] we distribute unused go passes to nonprofit organizations serving
[35:12] We also rely heavily on our nonprofit partners to serve as conduits to the community, allowing them to identify eligible individuals and conduct direct outreach to the people that they serve.
[35:22] So,
[35:26] over the last year we've made a number of improvements to the program.
[35:29] Most of these improvements have focused on helping organizations identify people who
[35:34] are most likely to actively use the past, as well as giving riders tools and resources
[35:39] they need to help navigate the CalTrain system.
[35:41] We also established a usage goal for organizations of at least eight rides per month per copast
[35:47] use, which is roughly equivalent to one round trip per week.
[35:51] We saw an average of nearly 18 rides per past per month, which was well above our goal,
[35:57] and suggested that the improvements that we made are really helping us connect passes
[36:01] with riders who are actively using the system.
[36:05] So here's just a quick overview of some of our key programs statistics.
[36:10] At the top, you'll see Palo Alto TMA and Commute.org.
[36:14] Those are currently our organizations with the largest number of passes.
[36:17] I also want to highlight full picture justice and life moves which are two newest organizations.
[36:25] So going into program demographics, as I mentioned earlier, we use the California Department of Housing and Community Development State Income Limits as our guideline for determining eligibility.
[36:36] However, the majority of our participants fall well below that threshold.
[36:40] The average household income among our participants is approximately 44,000 per year.
[36:45] really highlighting the need or the level of need among the communities that we're serving.
[36:52] So looking at this data, you'll see that participants are well distributed across the three counties.
[36:58] And we're really reaching communities throughout the Caltrain corridor, rather than just being concentrated in one particular area.
[37:06] And so for our final demographic slide here is a breakdown of ethnicities of those who participate in the program.
[37:13] And finally just want to say we've received a lot of positive feedback on the program, both from users as well as our organizational partners.
[37:23] And we're looking forward to continuing to expand access to the CalTrain system.
[37:33] Thank you very much for the report and the information.
[37:35] We have one speaker and we can hear that person now please.
[37:39] Adrian Brandt.
[37:42] Yes, I want to compliment staff on improving the past utilization rate.
[37:48] I recall, again, this is probably about two years ago, I can't remember.
[37:52] I think it was Melissa Jones presented this program to the CAC and at that time there
[37:58] were meteor statistics in the slide deck that revealed that a great number of the passes
[38:04] were barely being used at all and I know I commented on that at that time and it sounds
[38:11] like from the verbal presentation that staff has made great strides in improving the cost
[38:19] effectiveness or the value of redistributing these passes because it obviously does no good
[38:25] if people just accept them because they're free and then leave them on the bureau or whatever
[38:31] and don't use them. So I just would encourage also to continue keeping those type of statistics in
[38:38] your slide deck instead of just only verbally so that everyone can see and track that and
[38:43] you can show off your progress. Thank you. There are no further public commenters. Thank you.
[38:48] Any questions or comments? Director Walton. Thank you Chairman. Just a quick question. How are
[38:53] we advertising the program and letting people know it exists? Yeah, so from a CalTrain perspective,
[38:58] we do a lot of direct outreach and advocacy to organizations. So a lot of potential partner
[39:04] organizations as well as the organizations that we are already partnered with, and one of our
[39:09] initiatives over the past year has been really to provide those organizations with the tools and
[39:14] resources to outreach to people in their communities that they think will reach them best. So we provided
[39:20] videos, how to ride guides, social media information, CalTrain, branding information, and we've had a
[39:28] lot of kind of one-on-one meetings with our partner organizations to help brainstorm with them,
[39:32] and how can you best reach your communities.
[39:35] And I think that's one benefit to us having
[39:37] this network of partner organizations
[39:38] is they do have the resources to really be boots
[40:04] Thank you. Well, first, it's a great program. So I have just a few questions. What portion of the available passes are being distributed? Yeah, so let me see if I can pull up the exact numbers. So we currently have 33,000 available passes and 17,000 passes that are allocated to our current order.
[40:31] organizations and that is one thing that we've been really focusing on as well is what some of our organizations we lower their past allocation to make sure that they were able to distribute all of the passes that we're giving them.
[40:44] So 33,000 available and 17,000 have been distributed so we have to understand that right.
[40:51] Yes, we currently have the 13 or 33,000 that we could distribute in the future and 17,000
[40:57] that are currently out.
[40:58] Okay.
[40:59] Well, that's really interesting.
[41:01] As you mentioned, our Palo Alto Transportation Management Association is one of the key
[41:09] distributors.
[41:10] But this goes into our city partnership program and I don't think we mention this in our
[41:16] city partnership program that here we have these passes that can go to different organizations
[41:22] whether it's a local TMA or otherwise. In Palo Alto, our TMA provides VTA smart passes or
[41:32] CalTrain, GO passes or bicycles, whatever we meet the needs of the lower income service
[41:41] workers in our community. And so, whereas the percentage of residents from Palo Alto is not so high,
[41:51] it would be very interesting to see what percentage of workers are there. Do you know what portion
[41:56] of the passes are being distributed by PAPMA? So they currently have 400 allocated passes.
[42:03] Okay. So cities up and down the corridor might have different
[42:09] sponsors and you have a bunch of them that you're already working with. I just
[42:14] think that we want to make sure that it's known by all the cities that these
[42:23] are available and it's a great program for low-income workers. We heard from
[42:28] are when we were looking at curtailing funding for our pat mud during COVID years, really
[42:38] because we no longer had a parking problem downtown.
[42:41] We heard from retailers and they said, no, before this program, we had such a high turnover
[42:48] in service workers.
[42:49] And once they have a pass, our employee retention went way up.
[42:53] And that is so valuable for all of our downtowns and economic development and so valuable for the workers.
[43:01] So I think that we should include that in our city partnership program.
[43:10] And then the other thing is we're receiving these passes from donor companies and entities.
[43:17] days. Do we give accolades to them in a public way? I mean, they're supporting, basically
[43:26] they're supporting low-income workers and writers. And they deserve credit for that.
[43:33] And we don't need more donations, but either way, I think it's a good thing that they would
[43:39] could take pride in,
[43:43] and I'd encourage us to do that.
[43:50] And then I think that,
[43:57] yeah, oh, just that utilization rate that Adrian Brant brought
[44:03] up.
[44:04] Do we have current data on the utilization rate?
[44:08] Yes, I don't have it in front of me at the moment, but I am happy to send it over, but
[44:13] it has significantly increased over the past two years.
[44:15] Oh, good.
[44:16] Good.
[44:17] Great.
[44:18] Well, that's all very encouraging.
[44:20] I just kind of trying to think through how we can
[44:23] make this even more successful, because it's a great program.
[44:26] Thanks.
[44:28] Thank you, again, for all the information
[44:30] and having all that data before you
[44:32] and answering our questions.
[44:34] This was an informational item, so we will move on to item 10,
[44:38] the last item, receive update on Guadalupe River Bridge
[44:42] project August 2026.
[44:47] Good afternoon. It's me again. This is our regular update for the
[44:52] the quadrupe and weather bridge budget.
[44:57] Here we go.
[45:01] So this is a typical slide. You have seen many times about the project scope. Since last time we met, we all know we started the second dry season at the June 15th. We are three weeks away, finished the construction in October was the deadline for the second dry season. So far, we finished the empty one, all the bridge erection work.
[45:30] It is actually ready for UP, UP installation that track, as we speak.
[45:37] We've pulled the last concrete foundation for the MT2 Retrofit in August, right now wrapping
[45:43] up MT2 Retrofit work, as we speak.
[45:46] River channel expansion was also a major item for the season 2 work.
[45:52] With such a congested job site, we're very proud of the great safety record, almost 88,000
[46:02] construction job hours through August, starting the reconstruction in 2025, known OSHA
[46:09] report of incidents.
[46:11] So we hope we have those great records keep through the end of the project.
[46:16] We hosted FTA and the Resource Agency site tour a few weeks ago.
[46:20] It was a very successful event.
[46:24] On-site HMP work has been started.
[46:28] And the off-site HIPS Creek restoration work,
[46:32] we have finished the final design.
[46:34] We're applying the permit right now.
[46:37] And after that, we are going for a bit.
[46:40] The work will be happening in the dry season of 2027.
[46:44] We continue hold monthly and quarterly status before with the permit agency, including FTA.
[46:49] later on slides, I will describe the detail on the commercial side of this project.
[46:55] Here is a picture that we had cycled with FTA and the Water Board and the CDF and the
[47:02] Lally Water. This is a really fun event for everyone.
[47:07] Not only people remember what happened two years ago, but most important is really
[47:12] demonstrate the great result of this project so far through the collaboration
[47:17] with all the resource agency and the FDA.
[47:21] Here's a picture of summer of 2026.
[47:24] Here is the MT1 bridge structure with the deck.
[47:28] As you can tell, it's a completely different look of the bead bridge of MT1.
[47:33] Here is the stream restoration and the etchantment rework installation is going on right now.
[47:41] Here's the project schedule.
[47:43] I believe we're confident.
[47:44] The October of 15, they will be met and the wet season planting for HMP work also will
[47:52] be on schedule of February 9th and substantial completion is still intact.
[47:59] The total project cost is still with the same amount of $171 million.
[48:05] Right now, we are doing the staffing update to ensure the project closeout phase with the
[48:13] right resource supported, as well as other HMP work.
[48:16] So in next month, during the top committee meeting,
[48:20] we will give you the latest updated total project cost.
[48:24] I believe the target within the budget
[48:27] will are very confident that we're gonna achieve that.
[48:30] In channel work incentive will be pretty much earned
[48:35] by Wash the Builder, which will be the $540,000.
[48:40] dollars if they finish everything in China work by mid-October.
[48:47] Here is the contingency draw.
[48:49] So far we still have $8.8 million within the project contingency as part of the $171 million
[48:56] total project cost.
[48:57] It is important to note it within the $8.8 million half of them is allocated to a washes contract.
[49:05] to anticipate the potential changes and all the risk that we've been through,
[49:10] not only the first dry season, the second dry season, as well as all the work associated with H&T outside work.
[49:18] As of August, $3.8 million has been drawn from the $4 million total wage style vision or regional contract value.
[49:28] We are working with WASH right now and try to get a commitment not only what is the potential allowance draw for the entire second dry season as well as looking forward to make sure all the trend of cost that needs to be commonly the change in terms of the HMPP work as well as all the other area like I'm going to go through some of the risk item that why the cost of the risk of the risk.
[49:57] allowance required to be increased.
[50:00] Increase on the fuel cost. Other stuff like hazardous waste volume of the soil contamination work going on at the job site right now. So next month, we're going to provide a full extent of the total risk pool allowance item. The washes change order will be executed with approval from the ED to increase the contract value to cover all the potential changes for the entire work. The reason for doing that.
[50:29] is really trying to proactively control the changes within the contract and without having
[50:37] especially most larger experience that when the project is getting close, especially the end
[50:45] of the construction, you're going to hit a lot of change orders and now we end up with reactive
[50:51] to deal with and also potential claims. In order to not do that is really proactively
[50:58] put everything on the table and negotiate and seal the deal ahead of time.
[51:04] Here at the risk, you are very familiar with where continue the lessons learned.
[51:09] The fight tough for our management is the requirement for the entire project until we finish
[51:15] every work outside.
[51:18] In the second dry season, we still encounter the bird nesting.
[51:21] The fuel cost increase is new item for this second dry season is because of the current
[51:29] condition right now where we are facing with the war and everything else.
[51:34] The cost of the fuel is just significant.
[51:39] The hazardous waste volume, as I mentioned before, we are constantly working with the construction
[51:44] productivity with the permit condition.
[51:47] The last item is really about HMP credit.
[51:51] We are waiting for our water boards.
[51:54] We pre-packed our water at the Higgs Creek side of restoration
[51:58] will be adequate for the entire mitigation effort.
[52:02] Here's the upcoming activity.
[52:04] We're going to finish the dry season strong
[52:06] and finish the river channel whitening effort
[52:10] and we were moving continues on HMP onsite work.
[52:15] At UP's work on the track installation is projected,
[52:19] will be complete by October 15th,
[52:22] as we committed to all the resource agency,
[52:26] and we are focusing on to implementing
[52:28] the off-site mitigation effort through permitting
[52:30] and bidding and ultimately installation
[52:33] in dry season of 2027.
[52:37] Here's the end of the presentation.
[52:39] Happy to answer any questions you may have.
[52:42] Thank you very much.
[52:43] We have one public speaker.
[52:44] We'll listen to them now and bring it next to Director Walton.
[52:48] Rowling?
[52:51] Thank you.
[52:52] And as you know, I live down there, so I'm going to basically speak from my own perspective.
[52:59] I can no longer take Highway 87 to go to City Hall because they keep on freezing a lane on Northbound Highway 87.
[53:07] I've got to take 101, believe it or not to go to City Hall.
[53:10] I mean, how much fun can that be?
[53:12] Now, you saw this beautiful bridge one on empty one, right?
[53:18] Mr. Chair, please pay attention, that bridge is not a culture in bridge.
[53:24] You know what?
[53:24] Either we'll never be electrified.
[53:26] What a beautiful bridge for union Pacific.
[53:29] Now, we're down to one track down there.
[53:33] When are we going to restore our dual tracking after electrification?
[53:36] We lost the track.
[53:37] where it's breached free day, the way we need to wait for a concession day.
[53:42] Last but not least, I had a really unpleasant experience recently.
[53:47] The train had to stop because they were debris on the track.
[53:50] I know that the contractor did this.
[53:53] I had to breathe cement or concrete dust for at least 10 minutes sitting on that train.
[53:58] Thank you.
[54:02] Thank you, Chairman Dina.
[54:03] Just one question.
[54:04] What are some examples of our fuel costs for the project?
[54:07] The
[54:11] actual costs that coming from what are we paying for for the project because when
[54:19] the risk is the increase in fuel costs which we understand but what are we paying for?
[54:26] I can find that I don't have an exactly dollar from the contractors in my head but the increases
[54:32] is comparison with the bit by stay at that time back in 2025 versus what they're paying now.
[54:40] No, understand that quite I understand. What are we using fuel for that we have to pay?
[54:46] Of the delivery, yeah.
[54:50] I mean, you want to, I don't understand the question, I'm sorry.
[54:53] So it shows up actually in like anything's like delivery material as an example, right? So anytime
[54:58] that contractors are bringing maturity.
[55:07] Thank you.
[55:14] All right. This was an informational item. So thank you very much. That will bring us to item 11. Committee member requests. Seeing none at this time. The next top committee meeting will be Wednesday, October 28th at 2026, 130 PM right here. Therefore, this meeting is adjourned.