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34 35 5. Metro Transit Update 36 Public Works Director Jesse Freihammer introduced Cindy Harper, Ben Bakon, 37 and Berett Clausen from Metro Transit, who presented the Metro Transit update. 38 39 Member Mueller indicated that the presentation touched upon the routes that are 40 being discontinued, and she wondered what Metro Transit was doing with park- 41 and -ride sites like Route 272 from Rice Street. 42 43 Ms. Harper stated the park -and -ride will stay open. The G line will serve it, as will 44 Route 270, which is the express service from Maplewood Mall to Hwy 36 into 45 downtown Minneapolis. 46 47 Member Rudolf explained that her job encompasses transit and land use and 48 encounters people across the country who make decisions about those matters. She 49 found that people who ride transit speak about it differently than people who do 50 not. She wondered if Metro Transit has ways to distinguish riders from non -riders 51 regarding the feedback offered as it solicits feedback on its plan. 52 53 Ms. Harper explained that their survey comment form asks some demographic 54 questions and asks how often the person rides transit. They are interested in all 55 feedback, particularly on the local routes. Those riders tend to come from 56 underrepresented communities that will not attend a public meeting or have 57 conversations about this. Metro Transit is also working with a consulting firm to 58 help target those underrepresented groups with specific events and working within 59 the communities to get the word out about what Metro Transit plans on doing. 60 61 Member Fergus thought it was interesting that Ms. Harper noted the change in 62 ridership during morning and evening rush hours. These were both at the same 63 level, and he wondered who was riding in the evening. 64 65 Ms. Harper reviewed the current ridership with the Commission. 66 67 Member Luongo indicated that Route 62 has been fare -free for a 68 while and wondered if that impacted ridership. 69 70 Ms. Harper explained that two routes, Route 32 and Route 62, both of which serve 71 Roseville, are currently fare -free on the pilot program. She indicated they 72 were unsure if they would return to charging fares or what would happen once the 73 program expires. She explained that ridership has increased on both routes, which 74 is higher than the percentage seen across other routes. One exciting thing is it is 75 free to board either of those two routes, but if a transfer is needed, there is still afee 76 for that, and the only customers who are getting an utterly fare -free ride are those 77 who do not have to transfer. 78 79 Chair Ficek asked how long the pilot program will run. Page 2 of 5 Page 4 of 78