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

Transcription

1 MEETING NOTICE The next meeting of the Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority (RTA) will be: April 11, 2014 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 April 11, :00 A.M. CRESTED BUTTE COUNCIL CHAMBERS 8:00 A. INTRODUCTION CONSENT AGENDA motion & decision B. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA C. APPROVAL OF THE MARCH 14, 2014 MINUTES D. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S FINANCIAL REPORT E. CORRESPONDENCE F. OLD BUSINESS 1) Winter Air Program report 2) 2014 Summer IAH-GUC Air Program report 3) Friends of Flight update 4) Gunnison Mt. CB bus service update REGULAR AGENDA 8:10 F. OLD BUSINESS 5) Airport Update Rick Lamport 6) Winter Bus Schedule motion & decision. 7) Winter Air Program discussion Scott Truex & Kent Myers 8:45 G. NEW BUSINESS 1) Summer Airport Survey proposal from RRC motion & decision. 9:00 H. COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS & STAFF 9:05 I. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD 9:10 J. ADJOURNMENT Next Meeting May 9 th at 8:00 a.m. in the Gunnison City Council Chambers All times are approximate the meeting may move more quickly or more slowly than indicated.

3 GUNNISON VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY March 14, 2014 Meeting Minutes Scott Truex, Executive Director Kent Myers, Airplanners LLC (via phone) Paula Swenson, Gunnison County Jonathan Houck, Gunnison County Carolyn Riggs, City of Gunnison (arrived during G(3)) Richard Hagan, City of Gunnison Chris Morgan, Town of Mt. Crested Butte Danny D Aquila, Town of Mt. Crested Butte (arrived during F(5)) 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, the public, and the RTA Citizens Advisory Committee. 8:00 A. INTRODUCTION Paula Swenson called the meeting to order at 8:01 a.m. CONSENT AGENDA motion & decision B. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA C. APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY 10, 2014 MINUTES D. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S FINANCIAL REPORT E. CORRESPONDENCE F. OLD BUSINESS 1) Tourism Association report 2) Winter IAH-GUC Air Program report 3) 2014 Summer IAH-GUC Air Program report 4) Gunnison Mt. CB bus service update Chris Morgan moved and Roland Mason seconded a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion passed unanimously. REGULAR AGENDA F. OLD BUSINESS 5) Airport Update Rick Lamport gave the Board a presentation on small community airport development and the NPIAS. G. NEW BUSINESS 6) Friends of Flight update Paula Swenson and Scott Truex updated the Board on the membership and activities of the program. Kent reported that he would like to have a follow up meeting at the end of the summer.

4 1) Winter Air Program Kent Myers updated the Board on the process and plan for making decisions for next year. He reported that the plan includes growing the program by about 5-7% and is to serve the same markets as this winter, grow the existing programs, and target specific dates for increased service. He discussed the impact of the new airline regulation which will increase the operating costs of United Airlines. He then discussed the possibility of doing some research by surveying passengers this summer. 2) Citizen Advisory Committee membership Scott Truex reported that he had attended the Tourism Association meeting and asked the Board to become the RTA Citizen Advisory Committee. After further discussion, Danny D Aqauila moved and Roland Mason seconded a motion to appoint the members of the Tourism Association Board of Directors to serve on the Citizen Advisory Committee. Motion passed unanimously. 3) Winter Bus service Scott Truex reported on the overcrowding issue on the buses and his proposed solution for next winter of providing an 11 trip schedule. He then discussed the possibility of a 12 trip schedule which would include an early morning down-valley trip. After discussion, it was decided to try and make the 12 trip schedule work and Truex was directed to see if Alpine Express could provide that schedule. There was discussion regarding a possible bus stop at the airport. H. COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS None. I. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD None. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 a.m.

5 Correspondence: None to report. Financial Report:

6 Cash Flow Report:

7 Winter Air Program report For the winter, inbound load factors reached 72%. This is the best load factor since the formation of the RTA. Capacity was down about 19% and we will end up selling about 1,290 fewer seats than last year from December to March (down about 6.2%). On the Houston flights, we sold 68.7% of the available seats. We anticipate that the yields in March will be such that we could actually reduce the amount we will have to pay. I am forecasting that the program will cost about $135,000 for the winter. We should have the final March numbers in early May. If this forecast is accurate, the RTA will receive a refund of approximately $400,000 from United early this summer. We will update you next month on the actual results. 76% of the inbound seats were sold from Dallas. Chicago did very well and over 78% of the seats (non-directional) were sold. The Denver program improved significantly and increased from a 62% inbound load factor to 69% this year. Overall, the airlines should be satisfied with the results this year and these numbers should help us moving into next year.

8 2014 Summer IAH-GUC Air Program report: With eleven weeks until the first flight, bookings remain solid with 30% of the seats sold so far. We need to keep up this pace in future weeks to meet the goal of 70%. As expected, the June flights are doing best at this time. We sold 48 inbound seats and 39 outbound seats during the past week.

9 Friends of Flight Update: The following businesses and non-profits have agreed to join the Gunnison Valley RTA - Friends of Flight program. Mario's Pizza and Pasta Garlic Mikes Italian Cuisine Gunnison Valley Television / GunniGuide.tv Yoga for the Peaceful Donita's Cantina Gunnison Country Chamber of Commerce Premier Mountain Properties Team Prep USA Scenic River Tours, Inc. Three Rivers Resort & Outfitting Center for the Arts Crested Butte Crested Butte Property Management Watchdog Property Management and Real Estate Crested Butte Lodging & Property Management Office of Resource Efficiency Purple Mountain Bed and Breakfast Brick Cellar Bar & Bistro Mt. Crested Butte Performing Arts Center Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum Gunnison Bank & Trust CB Wildflower Festival The Adaptive Sports Center Gunnison Sanctuary Studio Crested Butte Music Festival So far, almost all of the members have turned in their signed MOUs and 13 have completed their tasks and been given their vouchers. Nobody has redeemed a voucher yet.

10 Gunnison Valley RTA Ridership Reports March, 2014

11 12 Trip Schedule Proposed for Winter, Bus 1 5 Round Trips Bus 2 3 ½ Round Trips Breaks for service in CB from 11:30 4:30 Bus 3 3 ½ Round Trips Break for service in CB from 10:15 3:45 Cost per day (Assumes 3% CPI from ): Proposed schedule Contract with Alpine Express: $1, Fuel (@ $3.65 per gallon) $ Maintenance (@ $0.52 per mile) $ Total Cost per day: $2, Additional Indoor Storage Costs: $ 3,900 Total Cost per season: (131 days) $349,170 With same schedule as Contract with Alpine Express: $1, Fuel (@ $3.65 per gallon) $ Maintenance (@ $0.52 per mile) $ Total Cost per day: $1, Total Cost per season: (131 days) $244,275 Additional Cost: $104,895

12 4940 Pearl East Circle, Suite 103 Boulder, CO / / FAX March 31, 2014 Kent Myers, Airplanners LLC Scott Truex, Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority P.O. Box 39 Crested Butte, CO Via and Dear Kent and Scott: Thank you for contacting RRC Associates to assist Gunnison Valley RTA by conducting survey research to better understand Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC) air passengers in summer This document constitutes a scope of work and agreement for RRC Associates to conduct this research. About RRC Associates RRC Associates is a 16-person market research and consumer intelligence firm founded in 1983 and based in Boulder, Colorado. We specialize in providing research services to the tourism and recreation industries, particularly in mountain resort settings. We have conducted visitor research in the Crested Butte/Gunnison area for many years, including research for CBMR and at GUC, as well as visitor research for a wide range of ski resorts and mountain communities throughout the U.S. and Canada. We also have conducted airport passenger research at a variety of resort airports, including GUC, Montrose, Telluride, Hayden, Jackson Hole, and Sun Valley, among others. Additional background about RRC Associates is available on our website at Scope of Work and Budget The primary objective of the GUC research is to better understand the characteristics, motivations and opinions of GUC air travelers in summer 2014, in order to inform and further the success of the RTA s air service development efforts. The research will involve surveys of departing GUC passengers in summer 2014, with surveys anticipated to be fielded from approximately June 15 to August 15. RRC will take the lead in designing the survey questionnaire, and will work with Gunnison Valley RTA and Airplanners to refine and finalize it. It is anticipated that the survey will cover topics such as demographics, trip characteristics, trip motivations, methods of searching/booking flight, transportation choice considerations, and satisfaction with flight service.

13 The surveys will be distributed to passengers in or near the passenger waiting area as they are waiting for their departing flight, and likely collected upon completion via an anonymous dropbox. The survey sampling schedule will be developed by RRC. Airport and/or RTA staff will be responsible for distributing and collecting the surveys and shipping them to RRC Associates. An incentive could be considered as a thank-you and inducement to encourage response (e.g. a small token provided to all respondents such as a pin, coupon, etc.; or a random drawing for a more substantial prize, like a future hotel stay or airline voucher). Gunnison Valley RTA and/or GUC Airport would be responsible for bearing the cost of any incentive, along with interviewing costs. Upon survey completion, RRC Associates will be responsible for data entry, analysis, and reporting of the results. The final deliverable will consist of an electronic copy of a written report summarizing the key findings, along with supporting crosstabulations and verbatim listings of the open-ended comments. Assuming timely completion of survey interviewing by mid-august, reporting would be completed by mid to late September. RRC would bill for the project on a time and materials basis, against a not-to-exceed cap of $5,000, excluding interviewing and incentive costs noted previously. The budget assumes a maximum of 500 survey completions. Authorization of Work If the terms herein are acceptable, please sign below to authorize RRC Associates to proceed with the project. Please return one copy to RRC Associates for our records. We look forward to working with you on this project. GUNNISON VALLEY RTA RRC ASSOCIATES, LLC Authorized Representative David Becher, Director of Research March 31, 2014 DATE DATE