Transportation

Town, TMA Seeking Grant to Launch Watertown Shuttle

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For the past few years, Watertown officials have sought to start a shuttle service to serve Pleasant Street, which has no MTBA bus service. The Watertown Transportation Management Association (TMA) has applied for a grant from the State to start a shuttle. The grant would be from the Mass. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Workforce Transportation Program, said Watertown’s Transportation Planner Laura Wiener. The Town Council sent a letter in support of the TMA’s grant application.

Transportation

Shuttle May Be Coming to Watertown; Initially it Would Not Serve Residents

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There is good news, and some not so good news for people waiting for a public shuttle bus in Watertown, the Town Council’s Economic Development and Planning subcommittee learned Tuesday night. The Watertown Transportation Management Association (TMA) is close to creating what will be known as the Watertown Connector, which will serve Arsenal Street and other parts of the Eastside of town. However, at first, the shuttles will only be available for people who work for businesses or live in apartment complexes that are part of the TMA. The TMA is made up mostly of companies and projects required by their building permits to contribute to the TMA (and in most cases the shuttle), some who have joined voluntarily, plus the Town of Watertown. The shuttles would be an expansion of the current Athenahealth shuttle system, said Bridger McGaw of Athenahealth who also serves as president of the Watertown TMA.

Letters

OP-ED: Citizen Group Critical of Slow Roll Out of Watertown Shuttle

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The following piece came from the Watertown Transportation Task Force:

The Watertown Transportation Task Force (WTTF) today released a report on the status of proposed shuttle buses for Pleasant Street and Arsenal Street, titled, “Shuttle Buses for Arsenal and Pleasant Streets: What’s Happened, What Hasn’t, Why?” The report is critical of the lack of progress made to date and recommends changes the Town should make going forward. The Task Force report describes the efforts to get shuttle buses running along Pleasant Street to Watertown Square and along Arsenal Street to a mass transit station. It recommends that the Town should fully enforce special permit conditions which require “proportionate financial participation” by developers to fund effective TMA shuttle operations. The WTTF has strongly advocated for shuttle service, but the report also proposes that Town funds should not go to any shuttle program until (1) a realistic multi-year financial analysis forecasts the budget for shuttle operations on each corridor and estimates any budget shortfall due to inadequate private funding, and (2) strong pre-conditions are set for all Town contributions to a shuttle program. The concept for the shuttles was that a Watertown Transportation Management Association (known as a TMA) would be created to implement transportation demand management programs for large new developments along these corridors which would include shuttle busses.

Government

Town Councilors Disappointed That Starting Date For Watertown Shuttle is Still Uncertain

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Progress on getting shuttle buses on the roads of Watertown appears to have stalled, with no start date in sight. The news disappointed Town Councilors and others at the Economic Development and Planning subcommittee meeting. In August, coordinators of the Watertown TMA (Transportation Management Association) hoped to get a pilot for a shuttle on Pleasant Street started by the spring of 2018. On Tuesday night, Michele Brooks from TransAction Associates, the firm hired by the Watertown TMA to mange the TMA, said the start of the shuttle will have to wait. She has been meeting with the TMA’s Board of Directors, which includes members paying into the TMA.

Government

Watertown Shuttle Could Start Running in Fall, or May Wait Until Spring

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Watertown’s first shuttle will likely run down Pleasant Street to Watertown Square and could start as soon as this fall, but may have to wait until the nice weather arrives in 2018. On Wednesday night, members of the Town Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Transportation were eager to find out when they could see Watertown’s first shuttle. The Watertown Transportation Management Association (TMA) will run the shuttle, and if all goes right the first shuttles could start rolling this fall, said Allison Simmons, a consultant from Ease Consult hired by the Town to form the TMA. However, it may have to wait until spring. To get the shuttle started this fall, Simmons said, the Watertown TMA board would have to approve the shuttle pilot at its August meeting and get members to agree to fund it soon after.

Shuttle

Will Watertown TMA be Managed by Own Director or Consulting Firm?

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As the Watertown TMA moves towards reality, the board of directors must make some key decisions, including whether it will be managed by a devoted executive director of a team from a consulting firm. Consultant Allison Simmons of Ease Connect told the Town Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Transportation that she does not strongly favor either option for management of the Watertown TMA (Transportation Management Association). She hopes that the official launch of the Watertown TMA will be in July. She anticipates that slightly more than half the $158,000 budget will go toward salaries. The pros of a full-time executive director include that the person would be dedicated to the Watertown TMA, however the person would have to do everything.

Ease Connect

Financial Commitments Made to Start Watertown TMA, More Needed for Shuttle

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The cost of getting the Watertown TMA (Transportation Management Association) up and running will be more than $150,000, but the shuttle would be an additional cost. Allison Simmons of Ease Connect, showed the members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Transportation the cost estimates Tuesday night, which include about $26,000 in upfront costs (incorporation, legal fees, creating a website and marketing), $100,000 in salary for the program manager, benefits, and the cost of running the office, and another $5,000 for ongoing marketing – a total of $158,000. All those costs, and the assessments, would go toward the creation and running of a TMA, but not for the cost of setting up and running a shuttle. The developments required to contribute to the TMA will also be required to help support the shuttle, however, Simmons added that the members of the TMA would only have to pay for the shuttle if it serves their development or complex. While it is agreed that Watertown residents will be able to ride the shuttles, what remains up in the air is whether they will have to pay to ride.