will not help this industry at this time so i would urge you to go slow and proceed very carefully with this particular issue and that's basically what i have to say i think the suggestions -- you need to get data gathering if you feel this is important to get a volunteer group or a reliable sample would be a really good way to go at this point in time. >> anyone else? i got laid off

from my job 3 times i don't think i can handle another layoff so please think about that. >> anyone else final call okay seeing none the public comment period is over. i began with an, apology we all get the

bulletin that comes out and i saw and read that and i know it was too late to change that we did what we could to get the word out we do want to make sure i think today has been a thoughtful afternoon a lot of excellent suggestions have been made and these points are well taken when we schedule this again we'll make sure it will be available to the industry to all of you before that period of time so some time for thoughtful deliberations in advance. and we'll try to just engage the most thoughtful process we possibly can on this we know it's a very important issue and i believe there's a hearing before the puc a workshop on some of this?

>> so on april tenth and 11th the california public utility commission the cpuc is holding a workshop about the regulations that relate to the services we're talking about new online enabled transportation services. they said it would be a 6 months process these workshops on april 10 and 11th will be 930 a.m. each of those mornings on 505 van ness probably go until 430 p.m. is what we're told there should be an agenda coming out about this workshop in the last week of march is what we're told and also told that the public is welcome and

that people will have an opportunity to speak so i'd encourage anybody in san francisco who has an interest about the new online enabled transportation services to consider participating in this process the main questions of the discussion are these 3 questions that they initial ly put out a large list of 20 something questions but they have said publicly they will be focusing on 3. should these providers be regulated as taxis? and if so why. or should they be regulated as a third category. and to remind

everyone in california taxi service is regulated at the local municipal level and limo is regulated at the state level so what they are doing is they are evaluating these new services and trying to figure out which category they should go into we will attend and we will present sfmta's position we've been submitting through the formal comment process i believe i've shared those with the board and will continue to actively participate in this process and encourage regulation of these services. >> thank you directors? >> can we make sure that the

taxi drivers have all the information and in particular if there's a way for them to submit comments without them having to go to an all day workshop i'm hoping that there's a way that they can submit comments either online or in writing we can figure that out and get that information to them that would be great. >> we're endeavoring to get that information out. >> members of the board? >> thank you all very much and we'll move onto next item on the agenda. >> the next item on the agenda your consent calendar. all items of the consent calendar considered to be routine. unless a member of the public wishes to have an item considered separately. the

board is not being asked to change the strategic plan. we are required to submit strategic plan for the implementation of this particular mtc initiative. we didn't want to create a separate strategic plan so all we're doing is identifying the elements from the strategic plan that you have already approved in saying it is these elements that will constitute the strategic plan for the implementation of the region's

sustainability project basically an effort -- all we did was pull some items out of our existing strategic plan and put those into this report. the one message i saw about this item had to do with residential parking so i believe it was a miss understanding of what this item was. >> mr. chair man, directors, there maybe some confusion because he starts off this letter saying -- the sf park program which is -- >> not related to this item. >> motion to approve the consent calendar. >> all in favor say aye. >> next item. >> moving on item 11 amendmenting the various

transportation code sections to require all motor vehicles or higher permit how hold ers to participant and support the development of smart phone applications for color scheme hold ers the second change is for color scheme permit hold ers to provide financial data and to extend the deadlines for implementation for electronic data and passenger information monitors and lastly the last amendment is to provide that a driver may not smoke inside a taxi cab at any time and mr. chair man i do believe the staff is requesting a change at

this point. >> the two of the main things that we've been working towards in terms of strengthing and improving taxi service in san francisco is ensurg suring we have the right number of taxis on the street and a way to access them we anticipated having the results here today along with this item so i want to just apologize again i know you already have, mr. chair, we have been kind of long waiting the results of this study. it was our best understanding that they would be ready in time for this meeting and it was only last week that we learned that study wouldn't be ready in adequate time for the

public to review it. while we didn't want to inconvenience people we thought it was a big enough issue it deserves public review as soon as it comes out we will put it out to the public so that we can have a thoughtful public discussion including the town hall meeting before the board considers it so i take responsibility for the fact that our gamble that it would be ready did not pay off and i'm sorry that we inconvenienced people but i thought we got a lot of good public comment even absence the report and i don't think the report is going to suggest that we immediately put 500 taxis on the street so that's one piece of it and one piece of a larger body of work that we -- item

11 here trying to make it easier for people who want to access a taxi to be able to do so. the first has to do with electronic taxi access and the second has to do with financial data disclosure with regard to the first what this is mainly doing is establishing the requirements for realtime data transmission from dispatch services basically to a virtual hub that will gather all of this information much of what is in here was already approved by the board we're actually adjusting a date from february 28th to i think april 30th so a number of the changes in here are merely date changes but we are requiring submission of

realtime data from the dispatch services to the central hub and then an app developer can connect into and would be valuable to the riding public have access to all the taxi cabs in san francisco. it wouldn't preclude them from selecting a taxi company of their choice we understand there's brand loyalty and we don't want to stand in the way of people doing that but we want people to have access to all the taxis in san francisco that are available and in service that's the thrust of the electronic taxi access system changes that we're including here and to the extent that there were many public comments about electronic weigh bills that's something the board had previously approved so that was something that had been approved last year. the second piece of this has to do with a

requirement for taxi companies for the color schemes to provide to the mta certain financial information that would enable us to evaluate the financial liability of the taxi companies and to feed into the process for us to review gate fees. we've had a number and that maybe 2 pages of this -- we've had a number of concerns expressed including legal concern and see while we believe that what we proposed is legal ly sound and operation ly necessary, what we propose today is that we sever those specific items from consideration today so that we can make sure through the city attorneys office and our staff that we've addressed all the legal concerns that have been raised so whenever the

appropriate time explain specifically which parts we'd be severing off but the main thing that we were would like to move forward with or have you consider moving forward with today are the requirements for that would enable what we're calling electronic access virtual dispatch something that's been an idea in san francisco for perhaps 20 years now. as one of the speakers said the technology is here it's been here for a while frankly we're behind the game on this so i'm happy to be bringing this forward i wish we had brought this forward 2 years ago this is what will help us strengthen and make more efficient use of the taxis that are already on the street and i realize that the packet for this item is thick but you will note the report is about 4

substantive pages. 33

>> i am somewhat familiar with apps, the ones that i have seen you download that app is a feature that says you want me to locate you? in my vehicle i will activate the dispatch. i've got them on gps, we know where they are if the customer pulls the app,

it should be looking at that app, here are the drivers in that area. >> we have eight dispatch services in san francisco, dispatching taxis from 30+ taxi companies that we have; all the data that could be available from those taxis instead of coming to one point comes to eight different points. we are pulling all that information through this process into one civil point so that we are not developing an app, we are creating a pool of data; someone using that service would've access to all taxicabs in san francisco,

using all dispatch services however they set them up, not pulling any information about the dispatch service or any proprietary thing that they are doing, getting location and other data about the taxicab so if i am at the corner of -- and mcallister the service can identify the taxicabs in the vicinity; we are pulling them into one place. >> let me think about that one. >> i'm sure that we have public comment that should be get a board temperature check on the amendment? you cannot take public action until you take public comment. >> public comment not only on the item?

>> as proposed. >> (calling speakers) >> hello. as a desoto driver of many years in the medallion holder of not quite many years i am leery of anything that would dilute desoto's brand. in the past i have not been in favor of universal taxi access but that decision has made for us with uber; to get on a level playing field we are going to have to go with this sort of universal information for an app, and i urge you to pass it. thank you very much. >> next speaker please. >> catherine dominguez.