kristen: hi there. you are watching getting answers, live on abc seven. we ask e-sports your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers in real-time. today, a local community college district on the verge of maybe scrapping student fees, potentially saving students $1000 a semester. we talk with a trustee to see what it would take to get that done and how education access can be improved. uber started in san francisco, is headquartered here, but is it starting to fail here? our media partner takes a close look at uber's new partnership with taxis and the irony of the

deal. work continues to attach a steel suicide net underneath the golden gate bridge. a new effort is underway to train first responders in rescuing people who jump onto the none -- onto the net. joining us live is captain travis fox with the southern marin fire district. thanks for being on the show. >> thanks for having us. kristen: the golden gate district just allocated money to build a rescue net at your facility. give us the details. >> our training partnership with the golden gate bridge as well as san francisco fire department and local law enforcement has allowed us to have a training prop built at our existing training tower. kristen: how much will this cost? >> i am not sure. i know the golden gate bridge district has approved the funds to build the tower at our facility. kristen: i think they allocated

$800,000. tell us what it is going to look like. is it a miniature version of the real net? is it made of a certain material? walk us through. >> it is going to be a portion of the actual net itself hanging off our tower. it will be 20 to 30 feet off the ground as opposed to 250. it will be easier to manage safety considerations. it will hold up and out of the way so we can continue to use our tower for other activities. it will be pretty much an exact replica. kristen: this is that your miller valley facility? >> yes in -- yes. in the strawberry neighborhood. station number nine. kristen: explained to the layman why you would need a training net that is similar to that? a lot of people might think a net is just a net.

>> our agency is well-versed in technical, high angle rope rescues. we covered -- san francisco fire department and other law enforcement agencies. this is just another scenario that we have not been trained on exclusively with people being stuck on the net. it will add realism to our training to respond to these incidents. kristen: i want to talk about the suicide net on the golden gate bridge. it has been approved in 2014 and there have been delays and the cost has been tripled to $215 million. do you know what some of the problems and delays have been about? >> i am not privy to that information. my fire district and other departments respond to the emergencies, that said. kristen: we will have to get the folks from the bridge district.

i think that one is opening now or is slated to open in 2023. when will your training net allow you to start getting experience? >> the big process just opened. contractors are able to bid on the net itself. i am not sure the exact timeline, but hopefully the sooner the better. kristen: what are other things you will be training on to perform these rescues? >> we will be training on our interoperability with local law enforcement, the bridge district unites its coast guard and san francisco fire department and police. this is just another piece of rescue we already performed. we performed it quite well. our service area have been -- this will be a different piece of technical rope rescue we are already responding to. kristen: can you talk about some

of the other rescues you do? we are accustomed to seeing you do rescues off the cliff. what are some particulars in that situation? >> it will just require some different training on how to anchor our rope systems on the bridge. usually we are anchoring to known anchor points we have been trained on. this will allow us to train more on the golden gate bridge itself. we have done walk-throughs already, but when the net is complete on the bridge, we will be going up there and preplanning where we are going to anchor our rope systems to. kristen: can rescuers get hurt in the process? >> we pride ourselves in being a all risk fire service. there is always the chance of us getting hurt. the training we will be undertaking with the new net in place will help us mitigate some

risk to responders. kristen: have you ever taken part in a bridge jumper call? >> yes. many. kristen: i know that when you go out there, your hope is to be able to save that life. can you give us an example or some situation you faced in which you felt this is why you are out there? >> i have been fortunate enough to respond to a handful of survivor cases. out on the water. we respond to wall of the bridge jumpers. it has been pretty touching to be a part of those cases where there are survivors and to be able to talk to them after. we have had a couple come by the fire station and we are grateful they were able to make it. we are hoping this net going up

will prevent future jumpers. or, at least slow the numbers down. kristen: with the net in place, 100% of the jumpers should be safe, right? >> that is the whole point. ithaca, new york put up some nets and it had a dramatic impact with a decrease in jumpers. from the bridges there. we are hoping this net will have the same effect. we are predicting injuries from falling 20 feet onto a steel net, but we will be able to pick them up. kristen: the types of injuries you are talking about, broken bones, concussions? >> yep. exactly. those are the calls we will be preparing for. kristen: i was doing a little research and it seems like we have been averaging about 200 jump attempts from the bridge each year.

about 90% of those folks are saved, maybe 85%. if this net can take care of the other 15%, it is money well spent. the last question, how long are we going to keep this? are you going to keep that there is a matter of practice? >> it will be a permanent part of our training tower. at our facility. in hopes that local fire agencies will come trained with us and we will be keeping it for the near future. kristen: so not just for golden gate bridge use? other departments? >> yes. we will be hosting training with the san francisco fire department and other agencies. everyone who has the ability to respond to the bridge. we will be able to utilize it for high angle. kristen: captain fox, thank you for joining us. >> thank you.

kristen: thousands of students in the bay area are soon going to get a college education for free, possibly. we talk to the vice chancellor of the s

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kristen: a lot has people are under the impression that going to community college in california, unlike uc or cal state is free. it is not. semester fees could add up to $1000. not exactly a low barrier. there is an effort to change that at san mateo county's three community colleges. talking to us now is -- vice chancellor of planning for the san mateo community college district. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me.

kristen: your district covers which schools? >> we are a three college district. we've got skyline college in the north county, the college of san mateo, then kenyatta college to the south. kristen: before we dive in, how are students charged? >> when a student enrolls, they pay an enrollment fee set by the state. $46 a unit. there's other fees they pay my health p -- student fees, support services. they also are a potential barrier to students enrolling because it adds additional cost. kristen: let's say you try to sign-up for 16 units, that could be $800. there are students even now that could have fees waived? >> absolutely. the community college promise grant waves that enrollment fee

for students. but it does not waive other fees. one of the most expensive parts of going to any college or university our textbooks and other fees. with this new legislation, we would be able to take care of all of those costs for students, essentially making community college free for students in san mateo county. kristen: senate bill 893? >> that's the one. kristen: sponsored by -- and assemblyman mark berman. you said something really big. essentially making community college free for everyone. you are talking about every student no matter how many units , free? >> that is our ultimate interest. of course, depending on resources available and actions at the board, but our intent is to return community colleges to the original model of free higher education for students in

the county. enrollment fees, definitely. other fees we can take care of. from there, this will potentially allow us to take care of the student's total cost. anything from textbooks, technology, even childcare can be options we can pay for. kristen: this is on top of things i think you have already done in the past to alleviate the financial burden and broaden access. i think you reduced, or have taken away parking fees. are there other things? >> we have eliminated parking fees. we are not charging for parking. we are not charging health fees right now. we have health centers providing essential support, but we are not charging health fees for students to access that. we have had a promised scholars program that has been this model just for full-time students. we are looking to expand that

beyond first time full-time students, no matter how many units students are taking, they also have financial needs. this will help us waive fees. kristen: where will the money come from? >> these would all be local funds. what we call our general fund. san mateo county community college district is locally supported. a community supported district. it comes from local property tax. we want to be able to now use those funds to provide these services and waive fees for students to make community college free. kristen: is this partly a realization of this being a barrier, the cost. during the pandemic, was this something you noticed? >> the pandemic highlighted the challenges students were facing. it is something we have known has been a barrier for a long time. our board has always had a mission of social justice and equity and we have been looking

for ways to remove financial barriers. it has been the hard work and support from senator becker's office to get this legislation so we can use local resources to support students in san mateo. kristen: i think it has passed, it is just waiting for governor newsom's signature. this would be come in your mind, it would work, it would -- there would not be any financial income requirements to get in, just free-for-all? >> in an ideal world. we did make sure that we are going to consider financial need as one aspect. in san mateo county, what 5 -- compared to other parts of the state. our cost-of-living just like san francisco, one of the highest in the state and the nation. our housing prices are. there will need to be some consideration of financial need

but we get to make that consideration as a district through board policy what the financial need is. the bar is much higher here in san mateo county than other parts of the state. the best part of this effort is to make sure we recognize where we live and the needs our community has, then use the resources they give us to support them through higher education. kristen: would you also not charge a fee for non-san mateo county residents who come? >> the legislation is specific that the benefits have to be for students who reside in san mateo county. kristen: got it. when do you see this being implemented? >> we are implementing free community college in our spring semester, assuming the bill is signed by the governor. we will be taking care of all enrollment fees for students and starting waiving fees for other students. essentially, spring, 2023, san

mateo county has free community college. kristen: there happen classes i have been waiting to take. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. kristen: is at the end of uber? we will hear from kevin truong about a new strategy the i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, ayou can get coverage tfor $9.95 a ntbudget.

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with your final wishes. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. kristen: we have witnessed the rise of uber, but we are now witnessing its fall? we take a look at why uber is launching a partnership with taxi companies. joining us live is sf standard reporter kevin truong. >> thank you for having me. kristen: interesting article. isn't the taxi industry the victim of uber? the very industry uber wanted to disrupt, now they are

partnering? >> that central irony is what got us to write the article in the first place. uber was formed with the express mission of overtaking and eliminating the taxi industry. we found it interesting a decade after it said -- they wanted to incorporate what was left of the tacky -- kristen: quickly, what does the deal entail? >> basically this is a pilot program that has been administered by sf mta to allow uber users took all caps or flywheel, some local taxi companies, through their uber app. you could be calling an uber, but have a yellow cap show up. kristen: how many caps are out there that will be part of this? their numbers have been declining, right? >> there's only a couple

thousand taxicabs and only 200 on flywheel, the initial partner for the program. the interesting thing is if you talk to a lot of cabdrivers, they are quite baser about uber. obviously it is a voluntary program, so some folks who may be eligible may not actually want to be part of it. kristen: for people who are new to san francisco, they may not remember there was a time in san francisco when taxis were painting -- paying a quarter million dollars for a medallion. and then uber started, essentially making their investment worthless. that is why that struggle has always been there between the two. why is uber doing this now? are they struggling? >> if you look at it from the consumer perspective, prices have gone up from pre-pandemic levels 40%. the amount of rides taken in san

francisco have gone down 50%. there's a host of reasons why this is. but it is in part because the pandemic, but a lot of uber's early rise was fueled by venture capital money. basically taking main street losses in the pursuit of fast growth and expansion. taking over the world. those chickens are coming home to roost as companies come on the public markets. investors are asking questions like, how are you making money? are you making money? that has led uber to get new drivers on the platform and that is where the taxi partnership comes from. kristen: uber has not ever made money, hasn't it? >> uber, it is interesting. over the first half of this year, they lost $1.1 million.

over the course of its history, it has been $30 million plus. some critics of the company i have spoken to say uber is playing some sort of accounting game. they have this financial metric they call adjusted profitability. that adjustment is removing a lot of costs and expenses. you get those up and it has the tendency to make your numbers look better. kristen: anytime you see the word "adjusted," you need to take out your magnifying glass. what does this say about the future of uber? where does it see its profitability? it can't just be aced on taxis because that's not even a big chunk of the market anymore. >> uber's strategy right now is trying to bring in people through their rideshare platform , through their food delivery services like uber eats and get them to sign a membership.

basically create some type of brand loyalty. they started this uber one membership that allows perks and discounts. the central irony about that is the difficulty in building brand loyalty when the last decade has been a lot of bad news about the company including a recent show on tv. that is the current hurdle they are trying to overcome. kristen: there's also a lawsuit by shareholders, right? >> there's a lot of lawsuits. some are around driver safety, some are around rider safety. in this case, there are shareholders who are basically challenging the company, saying they were misled about their financial performance or their business model. and they have lost a lot of money in that respect. uber, their share price since there ipo is down 30%. if you compare that to the

nasdaq, that is up 50% during that time. kristen: yes. ok. you also examine rideshare going in the direction of self-driving vehicles. is that something that is going to be commonplace? >> that was part of uber's overall long-term vision. they said they are going to take over the market, the transportation market and a lot of these best in a lot of the cities, then eventually cut costs by replacing drivers with self-driving car's. the interesting thing is they have sort of given up a little bit on that they sold off their stake -- they sold off their self-driving development arm to a company in colorado and now you have general motors and google basically leapfrogging them. you can see the results on the streets of san francisco everyday. kristen: don't go away, i would

like to chat with you more on facebook live after we go to a break. i want to hear what taxi drivers are saying. you can check out more of the san francisco standard's original reporting on their website. we will continue to bring you more segments on the cities journalism. you can get our live newscasts, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 tv app. download it wherever you stream.

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kristen: thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show. we will be here every weekday at 3:00 on air and on live stream

to answer your questions. world news tonight is next. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. severe storms hitting the northeast. also tonight, iran trying to steal a u.s. drone. the u.s. navy responding. and you'll see the images tonight. and the u.s. army now grounding its chinook helicopters. first tonight, millions on alert from virginia, washington, d.c., up through pennsylvania, new york to maine. the potential at this hour for damaging winds after a young girl is electrocuted and a woman is killed by a tree all by the same system. senior meteorologist rob marciano standing by. also, the state of emergency. the water emergency in jackson, mississippi. 160,000 people without any water at all. trevor ault in jackson. also, the news coming in now, the u.s. army grounding the entire fleet