Transit Advisory Committee

Meeting #:

Date:

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Time:

6:00 P.m. - 8:00 P.m.

Location:

Council Chambers, Civic Centre, 2nd Floor

300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario, L5B 3C1

and Online Video Conference

Members Present

• Councillor Joe Horneck, Ward 6, Chair
• Councillor Alvin Tedjo, Ward 2, Vice-Chair
• Councillor John Kovac, Ward 4
• Moaz Ahmad, Citizen Member
• Shauna Brail, Citizen Member
• Doris Cooper, Citizen Member
• David Fisher, Citizen Member
• Jonathan Giggs, Citizen Member
• Abbas Khambati, Citizen Member
• Julia Le, Citizen Member
• Paul Meo, Citizen Member
• Louroz Mercader, Citizen Member
• Mark Song, Citizen Member
• Steven Viera, Citizen Member

Staff Present

• Angie Melo

Staff Present

Geoff Wright, Commissioner, Transportation and Works
Mary-Lou Johnston, Manager, Business Development
Ryan Cureatz, Manager, Marketing
Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator

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1.

CALL TO ORDER

Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator called the meeting to order at 6:03 PM

1.1

Introduction of Committee Members and Staff

Members of the Committee and staff briefly introduced themselves. 

1.2

Appointment of Chair

Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator, called for nominations for appointment of the Chair for the Transit Advisory Committee for the term ending November 2026.

Councillor Tedjo nominated Councillor Horneck and Councillor Horneck accepted the nomination.

No further nominations were received.

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0001-2023
  Moved By Councillor A. Tedjo

  That Councillor Joe Horneck be appointed Chair of the Transit Advisory Committee for the term ending November 14, 2026 or until a successor is appointed.

  Approved

1.3

Appointment of Vice-Chair

Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator, called for nominations for appointment of the Vice-Chair for the Transit Advisory Committee for the term ending November 2026.

Councillor Kovac nominated Councillor Tedjo and Councillor Tedjo accepted the nomination.

No further nominations were received.

Councillor Horneck took over as Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0002-2023
  Moved By Councillor J. Kovac

  That Councillor Alvin Tedjo be appointed Vice-Chair of the Transit Advisory Committee for the term ending November 14, 2026 or until a successor is appointed.

  Approved

2.

INDIGENOUS LAND STATEMENT

Councillor Horneck, Chair recited the Indigenous Land Statement.

3.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

That the June 20, 2023 Transit Advisory Committee Agenda be approved.

Approved (J. Giggs)

4.

DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Nil

5.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING - Nil

6.

DEPUTATIONS - Nil

7.

PUBLIC QUESTION PERIOD - 15 Minute Limit 

There were no questions registered by the public.

8.

CONSENT AGENDA

No items were approved on consent.

9.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED

9.1

2023 Transit Advisory Committee Orientation 

Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator presented an overview of  Committee Procedures.

 

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0003-2026
  Moved By D. Fisher

  That the 2023 Transit Advisory Committee Orientation on Polices and Procedures presented by Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator on June 20, 2023 to the Committee Members, be received.

  Received

9.2

Transit Advisory Committee Meeting Format Discussion

Members of Committee recognized that the Council Chambers has the technical resources to support meetings in a hybrid and online format, and it also provides more opportunity for the public to engage with the Committee.

Councillor Tedjo, Vice-Chair, noted that in person meetings are most favourable and that the hybrid format does provide opportunities and that the online option ought to be reserved for extenuating circumstances.

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0004-2023
  Moved By Councillor A. Tedjo

  That the Transit Advisory Committee meetings take place in a hybrid format.

  Approved

9.3

Draft Transit Advisory Committee Terms of Reference  

Members of Committee engaged in discussion and commented as follows: 

• engaging other transit agencies in other municipalities to discuss service and connections 
• discussing all aspects of services whether praise or deficiencies 
• adding issues with other connecting transit services to Work Plan
• MiWay staff providing an orientation to Committee Members with respect to MiWay services
• resources of current issues and structure of MiWay
• Advisory Committee Recommendations not supported by Council
• reference land use planning to the list of things that affect transit delivery; 

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0005-2023
  Moved By M. Ahmad

  That the Transit Advisory Committee Terms of Reference be received as presented at the June 20, 2023 Transit Advisory Committee meeting.

  Received

9.4

Transit Advisory Committee Work Plan Discussion

Councillor Horneck, Chair, enquired whether staff would provide resource documents on customer service, City's major projects and priorities to Committee Members to assist with developing the Committee's Work Plan.

Geoff Wright, Commissioner, Transportation and Works, advised that staff would assemble education documents to provide to Committee Members and work on arranging a tour of MiWay facilities.

Councillor Horneck, Chair, provided an overview of the type of topics that would be included in a Work Plan and suggested that over the summer, Members consider topics to present at the next Committee meeting.

Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator, advised that items added to the Committee's Work Plan will have to include budget amounts, if required, and further advised that  the progress and accomplishments of  items listed on the Work Plan are reported to Council annually.

Members of Committee engaged in discussion and commented as follows: 

• when is the next phase MiWay Five Plan public consultation
• update on Customer Service Charter
• streamline customer communication
• affordable transit for vulnerable persons, especially those who currently receive who receive supplemented transit from the Region
• Work Plan should include the LRT Service, MiWay Customer Service Charter; lobbying the Provincial Government for weekend service on the Milton GO route 
• Transit safety and security
• how has MiWay adjusted and  faced the challenges during COVID and what resources are required to be prepared should we be faced with another crisis; what have we learned from this experience.

Mary-Lou Johnston, Manager, Business Development, responded to enquiries raised by Committee Members as follows:

• MiWay Five Plan was put on hold due to COVID; and that they have started the circulation of the Plan to Members of Council and the Leadership Team, and will bring it back to the public for consultation.
• the customer satisfactory survey is now complete and results and recommendations will be circulated to the public in the fall

9.5

Memorandum dated June 12, 2023 from Geoff Marinoff, Director, Transit with respect to Messages on MiWay Bus Destination Signs

Geoff Wright, Commissioner, Transportation and Works provided an overview of previous Reports and discussions at General Committee on the subject matter and noted that staff are seeking feedback from the Transit Advisory Committee on the appropriateness of utilizing the bus destination sign to display alternate messages, for a future report to General Committee.

Members of Committee engaged is discussion and commented as follows: 

• buses should only include service routes
• lack of display space to contain celebratory message and service route
• benchmarking of what other transit vehicles in other jurisdictions are displaying
• does the front bus sign have to be the same as the side of the bus
• in favour of destination only messaging; the City is working on enhancing to expand communications portfolio and that these would be opportunities to display celebratory messages.
• important for MiWay riders to see detailed route destination on the message board before boarding the appropriate bus.
• explore other options to display celebration messages on the bus rather than destination display.

Ryan Cureatz, Manager Marketing, responded to enquires from Committee Members as follows:

• staff conducted a benchmarking exercise across transit systems Canada wide and found that there are no consistencies.
• bus destination signs can only display two messages, and that displaying route/service related messages are mandatory.

Geoff Wright, Commissioner, Transportation and Works, responded to Jonathan Giggs'. Citizen Member, enquiry with respect to removing messaging that requires riders to wear a mask on the bus.

Mary-Lou Johnston, Manager, Business Development responded to Councillor Kovac's enquiry regarding whether Mi-Way bus drivers are permitted to decorate their driving area.

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0006-2023
  Moved By L. Mercader
  1. That the feedback provided by the Transit Advisory Committee with respect to messages on MiWay Bus Destination Signs as outlined in the Memorandum dated June 12, 2023 from Geoff Marinoff, Transit Director be included in a future report to General Committee;
  2. That the Transit Advisory Committee is in support of Mi-Way bus messaging displaying only route/service messaging and that staff explore other means of displaying holidays/celebrations.

   

  Approved

9.6

Memorandum dated June 12, 2023 from Geoff Marinoff, Director, Transit with respect to Streamlining MiWay’s Bus Fleet Identity

Members of Committee engaged is discussion and commented as follows:

• orange coloured buses most favourable
• consider keeping blue buses only on the Transitway
• define route destination by different display colours and consider persons with vision conditions when selected colours/combinations.
• consider changing the white and orange buses to orange and white especially on the routes that border the City of Toronto, as their TTC buses are same colour scheme and it becomes confusing when trying to flag the bus
• replace display sign letter colour from orange to white
• communicating colour change to the public
• blue buses provided a clear distinction of an express network
• providing infrastructure at bus terminal and bus stops to inform riders of bus arrival, destination route, capacity and other information that is important to transit users.

Mary-Lou Johnston, Manager, Business Development responded to enquiries from Committee Members as follows:

• if orange is selected as the preferred colour for buses; the blue buses that are due to retire will be removed, order new fleet in orange and paint the remaining buses, which the cost is already included in the maintenance contract.
• challenges with considering only blue buses only on Transitway
• adding different display colours is already being considered and have been ordered 
• enhanced communication plan 

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0007-2023
  Moved By D. Fisher
  1. That the feedback provided from the Transit Advisory Committee with respect to Streamlining MiWay's Bus Fleet Identity as outlined in the Memorandum dated June 12, 2023 from Geoff Marinoff, Transit Director be included in a future report to General Committee;
  2. That the Transit Advisory Committee is in support of streamlining the bus fleet with only orange buses.
  Approved

10.

INFORMATION ITEMS

10.1

Transit Advisory Committee 2023 Meeting Dates Memorandum

No discussion took place regarding this matter.

• RECOMMENDATION TAC-0008-2023
  Moved By J. Giggs

  That the Memorandum dated May 19, 2023 from Angie Melo, Legislative Coordinator, entitled Transit Advisory Committee 2023 Meeting dates be received for information.

  Received

11.

OTHER BUSINESS

12.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 6:00 PM in Council Chambers

13.

ADJOURNMENT

7:54 PM (S. Viera)