repeating their offense, but we will have to really vigorously enhance our approach. one way to do that obviously is the collaboration being fostered and demonstrated here today, but it is more than just today. it will have to be every single day, or else california will continue to be building more prisons, and san francisco may not be far behind. thanks. [applause] >> once again, thanks for the flag. [laughter] have a good time. have a good evening. thank you very much. [applause]

>> so thank you. i want to welcome everyone to a

very exciting announcement around a pilot project we are kicking off today. and i also want to welcome everyone to one of the most parking challenged neighborhoods in san francisco, russian hill. i think it is well known that i do not own a car for good reason. but one thing i do want to mention is i used to live on russian hill. i actually did own a car for six months. it was a miserable experience. not just the cost of car ownership and gas and insurance and repairs, but every single night i had to spend half an hour looking for parking and when i didn't do a good job of parking, sfmta provided me with a ticket. so it was a very exciting moment when about two years ago, then city add vater -- administrator ed lee and i had a conversation with the c.e.o. of car share about what we could do to expand car share in the neighborhood that is incredibly defense and that does not have the parking lots and the garages where city car share and zip car often put

their cars. we know we have very challenged streets when it comes to transits. everyone who rides a car, anyone who tries to take a bus, tries to catch a cab knows the challenges we have in these very dense neighborhoods. so the thought of expanding car sharing, which you will hear often takes anywhere from 10 to 15 cars off the streets, was something that we wanted to try here on russian hill. my office worked with several russian hill neighborhood associations to suggest places on our streets for car sharing to become a reality. i want to thank mayor lee for his commitment literally now almost two years ago to work with my office, the sfmta, city administrator's office to really figure out how we can roll out this new and exciting pilot project. and you're going to hear more about these details but the thing i will say in conclusion is with the city family coming together, we're going to provide another transit option for all

of san francisco to hopefully bring us closer to our vision of a transit first city. with that i would like to welcome mayor lee to russian hill and welcome mayor lee has been a champion for car sharing and obviously making sure we have a transit first city. and i would like to invite him to say a few words. >> good morning. thank you, president chiu. yes, it was over two years ago where we began this conversation. but it also began with our own city fleet. and we were talking with city car share and zip car about how we can share vehicles and reduce carbon emissions and all of those great goals that mayor gavin newsome had announced that we wanted to really do enthusiastically. so if you see right in front of city hall the example that we gave everybody, the green car showcase, that began with our effort to signal that we were willing to even give up city parking spaces. you know how valuable city parking spaces are, we have wars

within city government around who's parking spaces those are. but to signal a big culture change, one that we felt was important to our future of the city in reducing cars, we made it our own goal to reduce our own city fleet and begin with that commitment first. so we did it, we did it with everybody's cooperation, m.t.a., city administrator as well as our purchaser to create that green car showcase. but we also realize there are many parts of the city as david mentioned that don't have ready access to public garages. so it was for us a challenge but one that we were very enthusiastic to try to pilot with city car share, and that is to get it into our most congested residential areas, like russian hill and the area. so this is one of at least five spots that are happening and in fact around this area we're

going to begin here first because we have a lot of residential support for this as well. and i look forward to the other six spots that we have already identified, have been under planning discussions with our city administrator, with our m.t.a., bring in a neighborhood where i live in glen park and also bay view, also dog patch, those areas as well as the outer sunset and inner sunset. those areas as well where we can really benefit from car sharing. i got educated really quickly over 2 1/2 years ago about a culture change in sharing cars. and while i know in this city we're trying to retain families and i know david is still single, so he's going tible for while to get without a car. once you get married, david and one there's that first child, then the pressure of having a vehicle becomes a very big reality. and to have alternatives do that, and i think in reality terms, it's not so much just that first vehicle, really it's

to prevent families from having to think about a second vehicle when they live in these residential tight areas. to use muni as much as possible. this is where we want to go. and i think we have a great partner to begin with in city car share because as a nonprofit, they know and they really have been working with us closely, not only with our own fleet but now the exposure to residential areas. i can't wait to get car sharing into even public housing. because you have seen some of the large parking areas near public housing and to be able to use that space to car share for our low-income residents and make sure they don't feel the pressures to have to not only buy a car to get around the city to their jobs but also to repair their cars on those very valuable open spaces that we have. that's going to be i think a big culture change as well. i'm a big fan of this and i have been gratified in working with

david chiu on this incredible experiment that i think is going to prove very successful. and the great thing about it is that the inertia is coming from residents themselves. they're willing to offer up very positive way their own spaces they have been competing for every single night to be able to use car sharing as a philosophy. i think that will come into very good practice, as has been with our own city fleet. i want to congratulate david for working with city government and all of the agencies here and also with city car share to have a great partner in doing this. >> thank you, mayor lee, and thank you for a way in mentioning my marital status in a way that will stress out my mother. i also want to echo one thing mayor lee just said, for folks who have to own cars in san francisco, they may ask what is the benefit of on street car sharing for them.

for every car we put on the street, we are taking every car off the street. we're making it easier for everyone to find parking spaces. i also want to mention in the past couple years there are a number of initiatives in the car-sharing space in san francisco. i required new developments to update the car sharing responses they have in their garages and spaces so again we can expand this throughout the city. one incredible partner in this effort has been our san francisco m.t.a. and i want to invite up ed risken, who has been a champion of many modes of transit but particularly car sharing, to say a few words today. ed? >> thank you, president chew -- chiu, mr. mayor. very glad to be here as the city's transportation director leading the agency that's charged with implementing the transit first policy. we see car sharing as very integral to making transit first work here in san francisco. transit first is about making it

convenient and accessible and attractive for people to live in san francisco without a car. certainly without a second car. and there are times while we want people to be able to ride and want to ride muni or to get around by bike or by foot or grab i cab when they need one, there are times when you need a car. speaking of someone who has no car and is married and has kids, it's doable in san francisco because car sharing fills that gap. car sharing is what makes it possible to live in san francisco without owning your own car. so we see it as very much integral to the transit-first policy and as president chiu mentioned, we see it as part of our parking solution. we're not taking away parking spaces by making them available for car share. we are adding parking capacity to the city by making spaces available to car share, because those 10 or 15 people who are going to be using this one car behind us are not going to be bringing their own cars to the

neighborhood to park, to compete for same spaces and be circling around creating pollution and congestion that fouls our air and slows our transit. so it's really a win-win solution. it's great for parking. it's great for implementing transit first. we're very proud to be working with the mayor, board president, city administrator's office to make this happen. we will be working with all of the partners here, city car share as well as neighborhoods to evaluate this over the next six months and like the mayor, we're very optimistic that it will be successful. thank you all for the leadership and support. it's a great day for transit first. >> so it's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, who after our then city administrator became our interim mayor. it fell upon her shoulders to actually figure out how to implement the details of this pilot program are interim city administrator amy brown. >> thank you, president chiu and mr. mayor.

yes, i inherited a really great idea and had lots of help from our fleet director tom fang and deputy city administrator and working with the staff of the sfmta to implement it. very exciting day to see it come to fruition. one of the things that makes us so great to work for san francisco is we're not afraid to do bold or innovative things. i will share with you we put together a pilot with five spaces city wide that we were going to move forward. when it got to public hearings, when it got to the board, rather than have people react negatively do it, they reacted very positively. they said five spaces actually weren't enough. so we ended up being able to add six more spaces to the pilot program. so people wanted to go more big and more bold. and our leaders wanted to do that. and that makes it exciting every day to come in and to have those new ideas when they're so well received.

so i think this is going to be a great success. i think just the initial response to it with people saying what about my neighborhood, let's try it out in my neighborhood. it's very positive and i really look forward to seeing this rolled out beyond the pilot city wide and for a long time to come. so thank you all very much. >> our time speaker who helps to run the organization that is managing the fleet of city car share is laura haber. i do want to though take a moment to pull out my own city car share key flop with this piece of plastic and two minutes either on a phone or on a computer, you can actually access any of the cars in the entire fleet the city car share has. zip share also has a similar arrangement. with that i would like to invite up laura, who's here on behalf of rick hutchison. rick and c.e.o. of zip car actually met with mayor lee and i two years ago to kick off the discussion around this pilot project and we very much want to thank city car share for being a

great partner with the city. >> thank you, president chiu, mr. mayor. i am laura haber, director of marketing/planning for city car share. as was just alluded to, i'm here on behalf of rick hutchison who sends his regrets. as mentioned, this program is two years in the making. rick is the c.e.o. and now presenting at the international car association in montreal as we speak. car share is being promoted worldwide. just so you know, not just here in san francisco. i want to thank again mr. mayor, president chiu for the early vision and leadership in this program and sfmta and city administrator's office, who's been a pleasure to work with operationally. we're very excited about the launch of this pilot program for a number of reasons, not the recent of which raises profile of car sharing. one of the aspects is making it more visible in the community with the very prime locations and congested neighborhoods and also makes it more accessible for people because many of our

what we call pods, which are where cars are located or private garages or public garages and they're not as visible to the community. in these dense neighborhoods, car sharing does a couple things. number one, it puts people into a shared diesel experience and they rely more on other public forms of transportation, walking, biking, which is all to the good, more liveable and environmentally conscious city. alone last year, our members saved 40 million to 60 million pounds of co 2, which is astonishing given we have about 14,000 members, roughly over 9,000 here in san francisco alone, and we have a fleet of about 350 cars. so if you do the math, you realize that we can serve a lot of people with a lot fewer cars in san francisco and everyone is quite happy to get around. i think the neighbors and neighborhoods will be happy as well because one of the other benefits of car sharing, besides the environmental benefit, is an economic benefit both to the individual because they save about $700 a month on car-related expenses.

most people don't realize that's what you pay if you add up gas maintenance, registration, when you share a car for an hor or half day, you don't pay for gas, you don't pay for maintenance and don't pay for insurance. we have one of the best insurance programs in the country. so with that i would like to say this pilot program is something we're studying that's been mentioned. we want to make sure it's effective for the neighborhood, effective for users and we will look at the user experience and one of the last things again with the vitality of the neighborhoods is all of the extra money not being spent on your car limit can be spent by walking around the local merchant. not to leave that out of the equation. so that in mind, i would like to demonstrate i also have a handy electronic key fob and i can show you how it works. i'm a recent convert. i recently gave up my own car and never been happier. this is practically free compared to what i was paying for my car. and i have a pod and everything else is included. i will get around to the other side and show you how it works. the other thing i will tell you,

it takes as mentioned a few minutes to make a reservation online or on the phone. you get in and return it to the same location. it's that simple. member shd fees are nominal or annual or monthly, depending on your needs. here i go. >> i can drive away but i totally don't need to do that. >> welcome, and regretted. i am the general manager of san

francisco's recreation and park department. i want to thank everybody for joining me today for the official rollout of park wide by crystals. it will be at five sites throughout the city. hopefully this is the launch of what will eventually be a part- by-park and maybe some day a street corner-to-street corner of by sharing. this is a new park amenity that will allow the opportunity to rent a bike at one city park and actually ride to another and drop it off. we're thrilled. imagine somebody renting a bike in union square and taking a ride into a beautiful golden gate park, coming to see the incredible academy of sciences in front of us, and then taking the bus home. it all works perfectly. we're thrilled. this is a partnership. it is really a win-win all the way around. it will be easier for residents

and visitors to get out and to buy it and see the city's incredible park system. but it is an agreement that will activate our public spaces and help keep our parks clean, safe, and fun. we expect bike rentals to bring in more than $1 million of revenue to support the department's operations over the next five years. >> i want to thank all of the folks who supported this effort and worked to make it possible. i want to thank mayor lee, who will say a few words in a moment. i want to think the board of supervisors for their support of this. our district one supervisor in gold and great park, eric mar. i want to dig the recreation and park commissioner. and david lee. i want to thing lia and all its supporters of the san francisco bike coalition for their advocacy and support of biking in parks and healthy

recreational activities. and i really want to thank park wide. jeannie and luisa are here. daryll and jeff, thank you for your vision and doggedness. that is what is needed in san francisco. last but not least, i want to thank my staff, the team which has been doing a tremendous job over the last couple of years, thinking about a creative new strategies as our general fund dollars get tighter and tighter in parks need more investment than ever. our partnership in the research development team has worked creatively, and it has been incredibly effective in adding park amenities that park-users enjoy. it has helped us sustained as a credible park system. i want to take nicole and nick and cassandra, who are all over

there. thank you. and of course, all of this falls in line with the city's goal of making our communities and places like golden gate park and the academy of sciences more bite-friendly and easier to visit for parents, families, and even alligators. i thought they were scared at the rain. but we were supposed to have won today. i will plug something. helen taylor from the academy is here. if you rent a bike and are lost and need to get through golden gate park, all you need to do is take up your iphone and download the academy of sciences golden gate park field guide application, which has all kinds of credible environmental information about this park and about the academy, and it also has two bike routes. thank you to the academy of sciences, and thank you, helen. i now want to bring up our mayor, who in the last year has demonstrated himself to be a champion of our parks and of biking, healthy recreational

options and environmentally- friendly transportation. where are you, mr. mayor? thank you very much. >> thank you. good morning, everyone. i also wanted to express my thanks to the collaboration that has occurred today with the bicycle coalition, with the rec and park bank commission, and with park wide. this is just the beginning. i think today you had the first part of what we have talked about for some time now. that is by sharing in this city. something that is going to be starting early next year, led by the sfmta. when these parks start happening for recreational users, we will also meet with mark tempi -- commuters to make sure they have a chance to q use bikes and the go to work. bicycle growth in the city has been phenomenal over the past few years that we want that much more of a combination. i think it is a neat idea for us

to be able to begin at one park, and today you can go from here to the marina or herman plaza. you can go today and drop off that bike. on your way, you can pass by city hall and vote. do important activities. this is an amazing thing. i really do like the idea that you can just drop it off and not worry about it. you can go by the hour, by the day. everything is taking care of. i think that is just the solid beginning of bike-sharing across the city and the bay area. i think this is another indication that we want to be alternative mode transportation friendly. so we're working with the other cities around the bay area to do the same thing. so for those enthusiasts who want to go from city-to-city, they can do that as well.

i think that is an exciting part of this. i want to thank all the agencies for coming together and promoting this. this is a great kick off. this is just the beginning. i look forward to even more folks using this and getting the exercise and a fresh air, but also being able to get out of their cars with their families are with their friends, and exercise this wonderful option to leave the bikes at various stations in the parks. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. i want to bring up our supervisor who presides over golden gate park to the one thing about eric mar is he is a true user id of this park and its amenities. there's not a weekend the goes by when we do not bob into each other during something in golden gate park. thank you for being such a champion of this system and golden gate park. >> it is let my backyard or

front yard, because the live across the street on seventh avenue and faulted. i brought my bike today so we can all right together. i wanted to thank park wide for their vision, and the mayor and the recreation and parks department. gill, cassander, net, and the cult, and the others in the department for their vision of improving vikings the more families and everyone in this city can take advantage of this. i like the $1 million a year or more that this will bring in for the parks department. the richmond district is just one neighborhood. i know new barker of the question now more bikers will come to richmond, but also the sun set aside another part as well. the lisagor coalition has been tremendous in making a better bike weighs from the embarcadero to charge -- to the ocean beach. this will help us to make sure san francisco's number one as a viking city in the country. thank you for being here with

us. i cannot wait to ride. thank you. >> our next speaker is commissioner david lee. he has been a big champion for our of its decree more family friendly amenities in our parks. >> i just want to say, what a tremendous asset that philbins for has been for this department. he has the best i doubt -- philip ginsburg has for this department. he has the best ideas, and he is always thinking about ways to raise money for this department. and we're really grateful for his leadership in this department and looking forward to new and more ideas from phil in the upcoming years. i chaired the capital committee at the recreation and parks commission. we do a lot of the fix-ups in the city. we fix our playgrounds. we fix our recreation facilities, and we are

administering the 2008 bond that is going into fixing up recreation centers all across town. i had an idea just talking to lia from the san francisco bicycle coalition. as we were out here, thinking it may be one of the things we could be doing is installing more bicycle racks. the reason being is that people are renting bicycles, people from the neighborhood, come to the facilities, and have a place to lock up a bicycle. if you enjoyed the facility and the get a fabulous part in our city and neighborhood, even right here in the concourse, it would be a great advantage for people to be able to lock the bicycle, perhaps at a picnic, and get back on the bike and go on to another location. that is something i hope to explore and to work with the bicycle coalition to see where we can put these in bicycle

racks. with that, thank you all for coming. >> thank you, david. the recreation and park department has a great partnership with the san francisco bicycle coalition, in addition to their support of park wide, we're working together to create a dedicated bike lane in golden gate park. we have worked together on a sunday streets and send a street closures and also healthy saturdays. yes, we want more bike racks. to talk more about our partnership, lia. >> thank you for your leadership. i know staff has been working so hard on this. she was so much to mayor lee and supervisor mar. almost 15 years of working and bicycle advocacy in the city, i have not seen this kind of political commitment and support. it is because san franciscans love bicycling. this is another great sign that our parks want to draw people to the city's. ride bicycles. the california academy of

sciences wanted to visitors to come by bike. restaurants, cafes, and never did see the value in drawing more people, whether it is locals or tourists writing by bike to come out to the neighborhoods. it will be number one in the nation soon on that. we're on our day. the launch of park wide is a sign of that, one more commitment. it is a commitment responding to a demand. we know more and more people want great biking conditions. as the mere mention, it has been nearly as 60% increase the people biking in the last 40 years, and that is growing. i would love to see the day where you see the front of the academy of sciences filled with by cracks in the front and filled with tiny bikes, so that -- filled bike racks in the front. so people are coming to learn about the importance of sustainability and the importance of our future fabric of our planning.