with them on accommodating them to some degree in any alternatives. it will depend a little bit on the option chosen. they are not in a position to acquire a fleet of left-door boarding the rebels. -- boarding vehicles. >> having the support of the golden gate transit riders could help move this forward as a regional idea and get everybody a taste of what brt can do, which i think will be amazing. >> members of the public have indicated an interest in addressing you on the matter. chariman nolan: i understand it is a very quick one, right? >> we can do it quickly, or give you an idea of what we're doing

in the board were shot. -- board workshop. we will continue that until the next meeting. secretary boomer: special order at 4:00. discussion regarding the youth pass. chariman nolan: director reiskin, the one to do a presentation? director reiskin: we do have a presentation for a baseline of understanding. we expect a lively round of public comment. i will say that i gave a brief update on this at the last meeting.

at the board of supervisors committee on neighborhood services, and they held a hearing this last week and i believe they are voting today as a full board on the resolution. i want to give great credit to power in the community, working with supervisor campos for a good grass-roots effort behind this. there is a lot of public discussion to have. there are certainly some challenges to overcome. i think you'll see what some of those are. i think it is a good discussion to have. we are working closely with stakeholders' around the table to advance this discussion and co that today's discussion helps to further advance it. chariman nolan: good afternoon carried we have an excellent written report a. >> good afternoon. i want to give you a presentation on this effort.

you cannot make the decision without looking at the overall landscape situation. just a reminder, in fiscal year of 2012, we are predicting a $22 million shortfall between revenue and expenses. as we are working on the 2013- 2014 budget, our projections again show shortfalls. also, in discussions to have had over past years, we do not budget adequately for issues budget adequately for issues like overtime, special events, budget for reserves. these and the kind of things that if you want to add them to the budget, they will have to be part of your discussion, along with this program if you choose to fund it. in fiscal years 2011-2012, the board approved a two-year

program to provide funds for the san francisco unified school district for distribution of 50% of the face value of the past. it was $10.50 in 2012. if you remember, the implementation of that program was difficult. there were distribution issues. subsequently, an item came before you in the latter part of 2010 asking you to approve passes for the final months because it had a financial impact to us. the program is currently on hold now, pending the conversation around this program. as you know, supervisor campos is leading a coalition of advocacy groups evaluating this program. a budget analysis also

completed a recent analysis with our input. the current program that is being championed is the free fares for all youth, unlimited access to muni at all times, clipper cards. this would be used to evaluate the program as a three-year pilot program. including the continuation of the $1.4 million subsidy moving forward. the budget analysis report including that writer should increase -- ridership increased. they develop more costs from the loss of their revenue. and some additional incremental

costs. the budget analysis, while they did not report the potential service increase, they did not include in that total, because they felt that, in the hiss -- historically, they felt this would continue for this program as well. we also wanted to bring in front of you other models that other cities are doing for your consideration. there are a couple of other things we could do instead of making free fare for all youth. you could reduce the -- you could reduce the youth task to further than it is currently at $21. half the value youth passes as a bout a $1.4 million impact. we could also limit the program like new york does four hours, days, months. for example, their program

allows school kids to ride only during school hours. this is challenging for the clipper. we do not know where in the line that might appear during the project. we could also limit the program by income, just like the lifeline passed for the adults. this, as you know, is very challenging administratively and will also require funding. the program cannot be limited to concerns about the youth, given the limitations of clipper. schloss, we discussed this program with the fta, and they cautioned us from evaluating this program flight title 6 perspective. if we would embark on this program, and we would have to

pass the fta mostar, in terms of the program. if we were to do this, we could not limited to san francisco use only. first of all, clipper could not allow that and a title 6 program would not allow us to do it. additionally, this would have to be a priority for the program regionally. we are only one of the transit offices operating the clipper program. we have to stand in line for our needs along with the other issues in front of clipper. with the budget analysis report, included were some areas that we do not feel we agree with. one of the first ones is they felt we could reduce our number of fares sectors and test savings of $370,000. we do not think this is the case. we are very low on tfi staff and

we believe the staff would have some safety and customer service issues as well. we do not believe that assumption is realistic. we also think we will have to incur some administrative effort in marketing and communication costs. things like, what happened to the clipper card? how will we handle that? we also have to work on marketing this program around schools, in terms of educating the use and how to use the system. we would have to work with the school district. the budget analysis estimate also assumes that $1.4 million in that you provide will continue and that will be allocated for funding for the program. you have not proved that. that should be added to the cost as well. the last item is the big item.

what the budget analysis did mention is that there would be some additional service hours and costs. they did not include that in the total. what we believe is that the assumption for additional costs of service, it is not realistic. in terms of youth writer ship -- youth ridership, they make up about 45% of our ridership from to clot-4:00. all the schools get out at the same time. we believe these services would have to be added. probably about 25,000-75,000 additional service hours. if you remember the free muni

study from a few years ago, assuming the costs from that, we extrapolated that. to come up with the $6 million. in with one caveat. we want to further refine this one to determine at what level we are going. it will be in that range of $6 million or so, depending on the service anchormen. what we have not look that is, if we add the service and have additional vehicles to provide that service, that would be further analysis of refinement that we would do depending on your direction today. the next step, we continue to work with the stakeholders. he would like to have a preferred model discussion. should the program be limited in hours? should it be school hours only? for example, new york is school hours only. three hours per day.

do want to limit access to the system? we would continue to finance financial impact. and we're working with supervisor campos and other individuals to identify sources of funding. having said that, i do not think we have clearly identified revenue sources yet. we need the board to weigh in on any direction you want to give us. any policy framework for the ongoing discussions. chariman nolan: i see we are joined by supervisor campos. i would love to have you come forward. good afternoon. supervisor campos: thank you. good afternoon. good afternoon to the executive director, director reiskin. we are in the middle of our board of supervisors meetings. i know that at least two of my colleagues will try to speak out and speak to you as well.

let me say that the board of supervisors just passed a resolution that i introduced calling up on the various agencies to collaborate to make free muni for u.k. reality in san francisco. [applause] i especially want to thank the young people who are the ones that brought this issue to our attention. quite frankly, they have given all of us a lesson in civic engagement. it is truly something to behold when you see the level of involvement that we have around this issue. for those of us who are looking to the future, it makes you feel very proud and pleased that the city is going to be in very good hands when these young people get older. chariman nolan: i need to ask

you a question so you can continue. you know how things work here. would you like to add anything else? [laughter] supervisor campos: let me make a couple of points here. first of all, we have been working on this for many months. the process of putting this together, it was not that we simply said, we want free muni for youth, make it happen. we have identified sources of funding for this program. we have the budget and legislative analysts here to answer any questions that you have. we believe it is possible to find the sources of money to make this happen in a fiscally responsible way. we also believe that the policy benefits are numerous. not only the environmental benefits to having more people riding public transit, but also

in it says about our investment in public education in general grid -- public education in general. this is also about making said francisco a livable city for families. mayor lee has tried to make san francisco a family friendly city. because of the economy and rising costs of public transportation, because the school district is significantly reducing the amount of transit that they are providing, families are hurting. this is about making a city that makes it possible for families to stay in san francisco. other cities in this country are doing it. we have led the way in many other areas. why not lead the way on this one? i respectfully ask for your support. chariman nolan: thank you. we are honored by your presence in this session. [applause]

members of the board, the you have questions or comments on the presentation? director oka: it is obvious to me, as it is obvious to all of us, that nothing in this economy is free. we can no longer afford to provide anything free. if, in fact, we provide free muni for youth, somebody else is going to have to pay for that. i agree with supervisor campos. we must find the resources to do this. if we do not do this, we are going to pay for it in the long run. when these children become

adults, what is going to happen? right now, we have an opportunity, as supervisor campos said, to lead the way in making free muni for youth possible. if we all work together, with the cooperation of other city departments, we can find whatever money that we need to do this. i encourage every member of this board to use their resources or contacts to contact the state legislators or whatever we have to do to find the money. i am willing to turn over every rock three or four times in

order to find money. please help me do that. i'm going to start doing that right now. chariman nolan: do other members of the board have questions or comments? we will hear from the public now. we are delighted you are all here and want to hear from as many people as possible. we do have to be out of this room by a certain time. we also have several more items for consideration this afternoon. let's move on with that. i have talked to the leadership and appreciate working with them. the leaders have met with a number of us. let's start. secretary boomer: i will read a number of names and people could line up.

let me find the card. what i would like to do is to read a list of names and have people lined up so that we can -- chariman nolan: mr. williams? secretary boomer: i am going to read a list. steve williams, you are first. >> i want to thank the board for scheduling this hearing for 4:00 so that young people are able to attend. later on, you are going to be able to hear some experts about the importance of this issue. i also want to thank the members of the board that we got a chance to meet with to have conversations with, particularly director reiskin, who blocked out 30 minutes to meet with us. but ultimately took about 60 minutes to actually hear from

the concerns that we have. a couple of things that i have concerns about in terms of the report rid in terms of setting the context, an important point is not a reference is the flashing of yellow school bus service that is being done by the school district. clearly, that is not policy being directed by the mta, but it is an important and textual notes that the board should be considering with this particular matter. ultimately, it is going to force more and more young people to rely on muni to get to and from school as well as other places. the mta board has taken action previously, recognizing the immense need. when you created the mx express, because of the overcrowding on that bus. there is one last thing i would like to say. in our conversation with director reiskin, he indicated that the board has not indicated

a broad support for this policy. we think it is important for the mta to say, yes, we want to move forward in this direction and then find the money. ultimately, we think the issue of overcrowding is overstated. we go back to the legislative analyst's report, which essentially indicates that, right now, if we're going to increase service, all of that $6 million cannot be allocated to the young people who are riding the buses. we do not agree with the reports that indicate it will cost $13 million, instead of $6 million. secretary boomer: gloria estevas. >> [speaking spanish]

>> thank you for having me. it is an important point to say that you have spent money harassing used for the police. this program would cost less than what you are currently planning -- currently paying the police department. >> [speaking spanish] >> i think it is more important for you to provide funding so that youth can get to school with freedom and get their education rather than be criminalize or punished by police.

>> [speaking spanish] >> if you think with love and a sense of humanity, then you know that it is important for youth. they are our future. all of the mothers are here organized wanting this to happen. for their youth. chariman nolan: thank you. i see that supervisor avalos has joined us. we will extend the same courtesy to you that we did to supervisor campos and allow you to say word. supervisor avalos: good afternoon. thank you for having me. i want to think the public for

giving me the space to jump the line, so to speak. as you know, the board of supervisors just approved a resolution urging the mta to look into how we can afford to have free fast passes for young people in san francisco. i support that. the actual resolution came out of my committee on the city operations and neighborhood services committee, where the youth commission had to work with groups around the city. some of the best presentations i have seen from anyone is from the young people or adults or seniors that presented. they did a fine job laying out the need and their presentations were stellar. these are difficult times with the budgets. i want you to know that you have the board of supervisors will support in trying to make

this happen. we want to be a partner in help making this happen. you can use us as a resource and help you to figure out where you can find here funding. i do appreciate the difficulty you have in making budgetary decisions for the mta. i want you to know that you have our support to make this come about. chariman nolan: i'm sure i speak or all of us on the board when i say i appreciate the offer for cooperation in. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. i understand you have another meeting to go to. secretary boomer: stella estevas. john brown.

>> good afternoon. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon, i am here because i want you to give fast passes for free to children. >> [speaking spanish] >> i asked her why she wanted this, and she said because my mom does not have enough money to buy fast passes.

chariman nolan: thank you. [applause] good afternoon. >> [speaking spanish] >> my name is estella and i am a single mother and a member of power. i think there is a crisis happening right now, an economic crisis, but we are not fighting for adults, we are fighting for children and youth. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i agree with everything that supervisor campos said and i think this is a very important campaign for single mothers especially, but all income people. a lot of people are on the street without much money, especially for single mothers. i know that we are in crisis, but the desire to win something -- chariman nolan: thank you. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. i am in eighth grade at horace mann middle school.

i am here because i support you making a pass free for all youth. i use the mta to go to school and come home. sometimes i do not have money. with my parents do not always have enough money so we have to share passes. most of our income goes to muni. i want to be able to ride without fear of being harassed. i need your help. i am not the only one. a lot of my friends needed to. -- need it, too. it is important that we make it muni free for all youth, because the paper work is hard to create for immigrants, families like mine. i hope you think about me and all the children and youth when you make your decision. chariman nolan: thank you very much. [applause]