MEETING NOTICE. The next meeting of the Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority (RTA) will be:

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1 MEETING NOTICE The next meeting of the Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority (RTA) will be: September 11, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers located in the Crested Butte Town Hall, 507 Maroon Avenue in Crested Butte. For copies of the agenda and minutes of previous meetings, please call Scott Truex at Two or more County Commissioners may be in attendance at this meeting. Also, three or more RTA Board Members may attend the monthly Mayor/Manager meetings which are held at noon on the first Thursday of each month call Scott Truex at for the next meeting location.

2 AGENDA GUNNISON VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY September 11, :00 A.M. CRESTED BUTTE TOWN HALL COUNCIL ROOM 8:00 A. INTRODUCTION CONSENT AGENDA motion & decision B. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA C. APPROVAL OF THE JULY 10, 2015 MINUTES D. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S FINANCIAL REPORT E. CORRESPONDENCE F. OLD BUSINESS 1) Air program update 2) Bus program update REGULAR AGENDA 8:05 F. OLD BUSINESS 3) Airport update Rick Lamport 4) Tourism Association report and update on summer Houston marketing efforts John Norton / Jeff Moffett 5) Section 5311 bus capital grant contract Scott Truex motion & decision 6) 2016 bus purchase Scott Truex possible motion & decision 8:15 G. NEW BUSINESS 1) Section 5304 planning grant contract Scott Truex motion & decision 2) Section 5311 bus operating grant contract Scott Truex motion & decision 3) Winter bus schedule motion & decision 4) Resolution #1, Series 2015 a resolution in support of ballot question 5A motion & decision 9:05 H. COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS & STAFF 9:10 I. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD 9:15 J. ADJOURNMENT Next Meeting October 9, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. in the Gunnison County Commissioners Chambers. All times are approximate the meeting may move more quickly or more slowly than indicated.

3 GUNNISON VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY July 10, 2015 Meeting Minutes Scott Truex, Executive Director Kent Myers, Airplanners LLC Paula Swenson, Gunnison County Jonathan Houck, Gunnison County Leia Morrison, City of Gunnison Richard Hagan, City of Gunnison David Clayton, Town of Mt. Crested Butte Danny D Aquila, Town of Mt. Crested Butte Aaron Huck Huckstep, Town of Crested Butte Roland Mason, Town of Crested Butte Several other community members were present in the audience including representatives from The Town of Mt. Crested Butte, The Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Alpine Express, Gunnison / Crested Butte Tourism Association, Community Flights, and the public. A. INTRODUCTION Paula Swenson called the meeting to order at 8:01 a.m. and introduced Leia Morrison as the new representative from the City of Gunnison. CONSENT AGENDA motion & decision B. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA C. APPROVAL OF THE MAY 1, 2015 MINUTES APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 2, 2015 SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES D. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S FINANCIAL REPORT E. CORRESPONDENCE F. OLD BUSINESS 7) Air program update 8) Bus program update Jonathan Houck moved and David Clayton seconded a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion passed unanimously. REGULAR AGENDA F. OLD BUSINESS 9) Airport update Rick Lamport informed the Board of an open house for the airport master reported that a new fire truck has arrived and is in service. He also noted that repairs to the taxiway may be delayed until a later date and that the runway work is now scheduled for April, 2017 with completion in late June. 10) Tourism Association report Jeff Moffett reported on T.A. activities regarding social media efforts for the summer Houston and Los Angeles programs.

4 11) Winter Air program update Kent Myers and Scott Truex updated the Board on the progress of negotiating a contract with United Airlines for winter service in between Gunnison and Houston. Kent Myers noted that due to decisions by American Airlines to expand their service to Dallas next winter, the Houston service will be reduced to only one trip on Saturdays during the February and March timeframe. Scott Truex reported on the trip to Chicago with Kent Myers, Scott Stewart, and Roland Mason to meet with United Airlines and the fact that the mid-day flight has been scheduled in the fall. Kent Myers reported that summer is booking well and reported on the possibility of losing the Denver spring service in future years. G. NEW BUSINESS 5) Discussion regarding participating with Gunnison County in the November 3, 2015 Coordinated Election Paula Swenson reported on the progress of moving towards a ballot question and the deadlines for doing so. David Flaherty from Magellan Strategies was on the phone and discussed a survey of district voters which had been completed earlier in the week. He noted the survey used the proposed ballot language and that 52% of the voters were in favor of the question. He reported that he thought the results were very favorable and that the number could get higher with a voter education campaign. He then went over the demographics of the voters and of the surveyed respondents. There was discussion regarding other possible ballot questions, the amount of the possible tax, the education campaign, WSCU students, the differentiation in the tax rates, the impact of the airport on the economy, senior transportation, air service issues, senior service the north end of the valley, the effect of increasing property taxes, and affordable housing. 6) Decision regarding participating with Gunnison County in the November 3, 2015 Coordinated Election After further discussion, Richard Hagan moved and Aaron Huckstep seconded a motion to participate in the Coordinated Election. Motion passed unanimously. 7) Approval of Ballot Language for the Coordinated Election Scott Truex and Paula Swenson noted that the proposed ballot language was in the packet, and that the language had been approved by the RTA attorney and that the same language had been used by Magellan Strategies during the survey the previous few days. After further discussion, Aaron Huckstep moved and David Clayton seconded a motion to approve the ballot language as presented. Motion passed unanimously. 8) 2016 bus purchase discussion Scott Truex updated the Board on the progress of obtaining a grant contract with CDOT for up to $536,000 to purchase a commuter coach. He also discussed the progress of the procurement process that he has been participating in with RFTA. He

5 stated that he will make a recommendation to the Board that if both processes proceed as expected, he be authorized to order two buses for delivery in the fall of 2016 with a total cost of about $1,340,000, of which 80% of the cost of one of the buses would be covered by the CDOT grant. The Board agreed to put this item on the next agenda. H. COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS & STAFF Paula Swenson reported that Kent Myers will be inducted into the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame in October and that the RTA was purchasing a table for ten at the event. She asked for interested parties to let Scott Truex know if they would like to attend. Scott Truex noted that Alpine Express had completed the purchase of a bus storage facility in Gunnison and that the RTA was paying $1,500 per month beginning in July to store three buses inside. I. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD The meeting adjourned at 9:20 a.m.

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7 Correspondence: We received the following from Katherine Farkas. I replied to her and talked with her on the phone. Hi Scott, I want to voice my opinion about the bus schedule going from CB South to the town of Crested Butte and the mountain. This bus service provides an amazing service to the community. I moved to CB South this summer from town and the biggest downfall of the move was the traffic into town. The bus provides rides for so many locals, it clears up congestion, and provides a safe haven for those driving on inclement weather days. CB South has become the new town these days with more and more locals living here because the prices in town have gone up. I know people who work in town that now move from CB South to Gunnsion to keep life affordable The number of people in the valley is going up by the day and the one lane highways will soon become like a typical road in a city. That just doesn't seem right for this beautiful community. As a person who depends on public transportation - both because of the impact so many vehicles have on our environment and the peace of mind I have riding with my young children on the bus versus driving - I am very disappointed that the schedule is about to change. With the off season there is no way for me to use public transportation to go from CB South to town and get my child to school and get myself to work on time. Whenever we are on the bus, the bus is full with locals. People depend on the service. Is there any possibility that this bus schedule can continue in the off season offering a 7:50 departure from CB South into town? Even if you charged for this ride, you would be doing the environment and the community a service. The traffic is getting very crazy in town. And it is not just on-season traffic. The energy that is created sitting in a line of traffic waiting for people to get into town in the morning just seems unnecessary. Please consider request. It seems like a solution to the community to keep it running through the off season at the same schedule it provides during the on-season. Thank you so much for your consideration. Please call me with any questions. Best, Kati Farkas

8 Summer Air Program: The flights finished on Sunday, September 6 th. The final load factor will be about 77%. We received the July report and there was a deficit for June and July. I anticipate that the final amount due to United will be between $125k and $135k for the summer of which we will have to pay 50%. The cap for the program is $281k. We will have a recommendation for next summer s schedule at the next meeting and will begin discussions with United after we get the August results. Winter air program: We received a draft of the IAH contract and the cap will be approx. $260k for the 26 round trips. Once our attorney and United approve any changes, we will sign the contract. Bookings are starting to trickle in and we will have reports for you on all of the winter flights starting at the next meeting. Ground Transportation Update: We had a site visit by CDOT staff on Thursday, September 3 rd and we were able to meet with our new grant coordinator. The CASTA conference is next week and I will continue discussions with CDOT about our grants at the conference. July and August ridership has been solid. We carried an average of passengers per bus which is slightly down from last summer. However, since we added the late night trip and expanded the schedule, we carried 55 more people per day. The late night bus averaged 3.2 passengers up-valley and 13.5 down-valley. CB South accounted for about 17% of our ridership in July and August.

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10 We have spent more than originally expected on repairs for the vehicles. As the fleet ages, we can expect to see these numbers continue to rise. Repair and Maintenance cost per mile by bus:

11 Report from the Tourism Association: Houston Summer Marketing Efforts- Flights We partnered with the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority to promote this summer s greatly increased non-stop summer service from Houston (IAH) to Gunnison (GUC) on United Airlines. We did some preliminary early season marketing in March including ads in the CB News, banners for CBMR, and a direct-mail campaign to Houston Second Homeowners. (total budget ~$4k) Efforts: In late April, we were facing dismal load factors and a significant payment on the MRG when we started working closely with the RTA to promote the flights. We took a three-pronged approach to helping market the seats: 1. Targeted E-Marketing: We worked with a media vendor to send a series of two emarketing blasts to targeted audiences in Houston who were likely to travel to Colorado this summer.-- $10, Adwords and Display: We did a combination of traditional adnetwork spending with keyword targeting as well as some remarketing and Ad Taxi display advertising with the Denver Post. -- $7, Social Media and Content Marketing: We worked with Futtermedia to run a campaign with specific articles targeting Houstonians and then running Facebook ads to drive the right folks to the content.-- $7,500 Arrow 1 shows the point at which the TA launched the emarketing campaign. Arrow 2 shows the approximate launch of our Social and Adwords/Display Campaigns. As you can see from the graph, sales started to level off in May of 2014, whereas we maintained a steep slope to the curve up until the beginning of August in 2015.

12 Return on Investment of Different Channels: 1. Emarketing Our two emarketing blasts went out May 14 and June 1 and drove significant traffic to our websites. Each campaign went to 250,000 recipients. Individual stats for the s were as follows: 5/14/15: Open Rate: 21.91% (industry average 10.7%) and Click-Through Rate: 2.38% (industry average 1.5%) 6/1/15: Open Rate: 25.41% (industry average 10.7%) and Click-Through Rate: 2.82% (industry average 1.5%) We had a total of 10,453 sessions on our sites with a source of these campaigns, with the vast majority of those being new sessions. (Additional clicks went to TA social media profiles and united.com.) Overall Cost Per Click: $ Adwords and Display: AdNetwork Buy: Targeted banners delivered to our audience in Houston. Our 300x600 ad did the best (pictured), with a CTR of.55% (5 times the national average). We A/B tested two different creative with different images. Both performed well- only off by a few clicks. Click-Through Rate:.065% Clicks: 920 AdWords: The primary ad group concentrates keywords closely related to flights and the area (Crested Butte, Gunnison, airport, flights, fly). There are only small differences between top keywords, everything that's specific performs very well. E.g. "flights to gunnison co", "crested butte co airport". The primary Flights campaign performed very well, with 3.5% CTR. From the time we had full conversion tracking set up, this campaign brought in 47 people who came to the site, then clicked through to searching for flights. Impressions: 30,120 Clicks: 597 The remarketing campaign has 1.1% CTR and 6% conversion rate to the flights search page. Ad Taxi through Committed Denver Post Buy Click-Through Rate:.18% Clicks: 521 Overall Cost Per Click: $ Social Media and Content Marketing:

13 We contracted with Futtermedia to have them write two articles specifically developed to appeal to our target audience in Houston and then they promoted the articles with paid social advertising on Facebook. They provided the following reporting: Example ad and response: 11 Shares, 9 Comments 997 Clicks Click-Through Rate of 2.6% Overall Cost Per Click: $2.31 Because the GCBTA does not actually sell plane tickets, we cannot directly track a causation from our marketing. However, we can see a strong correlation between our marketing efforts and the success of the Houston flights this summer.

14 Looking at the overall cost per click, the emarketing buy came in at the least expensive per individual session on our website. However, the Adwords and Adnetwork campaigns were more likely to reach someone at a point at which they would be likely to book (as indicated by their search history). As we implement our new CenRez system leading up to the coming winter season, we ll be better able to track actual conversions and refine future marketing efforts. Section 5311 Bus Capital grant contract: Our Federal Section 5311 bus capital grant (through CDOT) has been scoped and is now in the process to be finalized into a contract. I anticipate the contract will be ready by mid to late October. In order to accept the award of 80% of the cost to purchase a new bus (up to $536,000) we need a motion to have the RTA enter into a contract with CDOT to accept the grant. Staff Recommendation Bus Purchases: I have been working with RFTA to complete a procurement process for purchasing new buses. These buses will be 45 commuter coaches and will look similar to the long distance (Greyhound) type buses that you see on the highways. These vehicles will be much more suited to our operating environment and will seat 10 more people than the buses we currently use on the route. Alpine Express s new facility will be able to fit the new buses inside which should help keep our maintenance costs lower. The procurement is currently out to bid, and we should have final award during the last part of October. We are very fortunate to have been able to work with RFTA s procurement department. The procurement documents are over 300 pages long and it would have cost us several thousand dollars to do it ourselves. Also, since we are participating in a procurement of over a hundred vehicles, we will most likely get a better bus for a better price than we would have by going it alone. The Section 5311 capital grant will pay for 80% of the cost of one new bus. Buses typically take a year or more to receive once they are ordered. I am hopeful, that if we order the bus(es) by the end of October, we will receive them in time for the winter season. Since the lead time is so long, and since we need to update our fleet as soon as possible, I recommend that we seriously consider ordering two buses in the first year. One would be funded by the grant and one would be paid for out of fund balance. I anticipate that a CNG bus will end up costing about $670k and a diesel bus will cost about $630k. Since we are on track to have a CNG fueling facility in place next spring, I recommend that we

15 purchase one of each. This will give us a chance to assess the pros and cons of each type of fuel in our operating environment and give us data for which fuel to order in the future. Ultimately, we would like to have seven buses in the fleet and the remaining five would be one fuel type or the other based upon the performance of the first two buses. Our capital fund is currently $550k and will be $750k by the time the buses arrive and need to be paid for. The cost will be approximately $1,300,000 less the grant of $536,000, or $764k. There will also be costs to convert Alpine Express s facility to make it CNG compliant; however, the hope is that the reduced fuel costs will pay for this rather quickly. I project that our year end fund balance this year will be approximately $1.7M. If we have to pay our all of the winter guarantee and $150k in local funds for the 2016 summer guarantee, and if the ballot question fails, (all worst case scenarios). Then I project that we could purchase the two buses, run the same bus schedule as this year and still have a fund balance of $1.15 M and that would leave us with up to $550k to commit to winter guarantees for (We would want a $400k unrestricted and $200k capital reserve going into 2017.) If the Board agrees, I would request a motion authorizing the RTA to enter into a contract to purchase one CNG fueled bus and one diesel fueled bus contingent upon the satisfactory completion of the CDOT grant contract and the RFTA procurement process and with the condition that the combined cost of the two vehicles not exceed $1,350,000. Section 5304 Planning grant update: We were awarded a $24,000 grant from CDOT to update our strategic transit plan. This grant also requires a 20% local match. The anticipated total cost to update the plan is about $30,000 and we will use the grant to hire a transportation consultant to work with us to do the work involved with the plan update. The expected outcome of this project is an updated Strategic Plan that includes an implementation plan detailing how to expand our transit system and senior transportation service to meet ridership demand and capital needs. This Implementation Plan will include a financial plan to address capital and operational expenses including an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of charging fares for passengers. I am looking forward to this process and request a motion to enter into a contract with CDOT to accept this award.

16 Section 5311 operating and administrative grant: We were awarded $187,100 for This is broken down into an award of $161,350 to operate the vehicles and $25,750 to offset administrative costs (the contract with Truex Management Services). This award is the same amount as last year and I consider it a success since the amount of funds that CDOT had available actually was slightly less than this year and there were more applicants than last year. To accept the funds, we need a motion to enter into a contract with CDOT to accept the FY 2016 Section 5311 award. Winter Bus Schedule: Stewart and I recommend running the thirteen trip bus schedule this winter. This is the same schedule that we ran last winter and this schedule resolved most of the overcrowding issues. One question that remains is whether to run the express schedule where we pull into CB South during the non-peak times and don t stop at the subdivision during the peak times or the regular schedule which we ran last year, where we stop at the highway for all trips. Both of these schedules are on the next page. The CB South POA and the Mt. Express have not come to a decision regarding what they will do this winter for service to CB South. They will be meeting in two weeks and plan to make a decision then. Our hope is that Mt. Express will provide trips leaving CB South at 7:20 a.m. 8:10, and 9:00 and the RTA would run the trips to Mt. CB at 9:50, 10:50, 11:50, 2:35 p.m., 4:35, 5:50, 6:35, 8:05 & 10:35 p.m. Down-valley, leaving MT. CB, the RTA would provide trips to the subdivision at 7:00 a.m., 7:45, 8:15, 9:00, 10:30, & 12:30p.m., then Mt Express would leave Mt. CB for CB South at 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., & 5:30 p.m. (using the RTA bus stop at Mountaineer Square), then the RTA would leave at 6:15, 7:15, & 11:15 p.m. This would provide very robust service to CB South and would be a great use of our assets. However, if Mt. Express and the POA don t come to an agreement, it doesn t make sense to run our buses to the subdivision only at non-peak times and provide no service when it is needed most. Therefore, the staff recommendation is to run the 13 Trip Express Schedule if Mt. Express runs their buses at the above times and run the 13 Trip Schedule if they don t. Both schedules are on the next page. If the Board agrees, then I would request a motion to do so.

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18 RESOLUTION #1, SERIES 2015 A RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT WHEREAS, the Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority (GVRTA) is a joint enterprise between the Town of Crested Butte, The Town of Mount Crested Butte, The City of Gunnison, and Gunnison County; and WHEREAS, since its inception in January 2003, the GVRTA has effectively assured air service to the Gunnison Valley; and WHEREAS, the RTA has established free bus service between Gunnison and Mount Crested Butte which alleviates traffic and parking congestion in the valley; and WHEREAS, since November of 2007, the GVRTA busses have carried over 600,000 passengers, thus significantly reducing private vehicle use, impacts to the environment, and impacts to State Highway 135; and WHEREAS, 2015 ballot measure 5A will increase funding to enhance senior transportation, air service to the Gunnison Valley, and bus service between the two ends of the valley; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE GUNNISON VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (GVRTA) THAT We hereby resolve to acknowledge the value and effectiveness of the GVRTA and encourage all registered voters in the Gunnison Valley to support continuing and expanding the services of the GVRTA by voting YES on ballot measure 5A in the November 2015 election. INTRODUCED, READ AND ADOPTED by the Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors at its regular meeting on 11 th day of September, Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority By Paula Swenson, Chair Attest Aaron Huckstep, Secretary