-- inform them on the situation. could you do that? thank you. chair nolan: thank you. next speaker. >> this concerns the expense of putting in these seats. i talked with our head mechanic before the meeting today, and he informed me that for us to make a complete conversion of front and back seats, it would cost one dozen dollars per cabin -- cabot -- $1,000 per cab, and if it was just the back seat, that would be $200, and i hope you all keep that in mind. my next comment i make as a driver, and my concern about the electronic bills is what is done with the information once you have it, and my hope is that

there will be some discussion that includes cabdrivers, because there are a whole lot of subtleties to be considered, and i just want to give you one or two examples. if a cat has to come off of the street for some reason, and the driver is put into another taxi -- if the cab has to come off of the streets, does that mean that the drivers total hours add up to less than the whole shift hours that are required? what happens if there is a breakdown of the electronic equipment, which can happen in a taxicab, so those are just a couple of examples of a couple of things an important items that i think we need to consider, and i hope you will include drivers in that. caf -- director: when you are talking about the seat issue, what are you talking about? >> i am talking about converting from cloth to vinyl. chair nolan: next speaker,

please. secretary boomer: [reading names] and those are our last two speakers. chair nolan: good afternoon. >> most of these things seem fine on these amendments. if you concerns. the top lights. there needs to be a way for drivers to turn them off when you are unavailable, not just when you have a passenger. you may be on your way to recall. you may be broken down. there are lots of reasons where you may not be able to pick people up, but we cannot turn our top light out without turning our meter on, and then we're going to have these electronic bills that look like we have another fare, and there are some other concerns about how much time we put in. does our time star when we get

to the yard and we are getting the cabaret, or does it start when we are on the road -- when we are getting the cabin ready -- cab ready, or does is start when we are on the road? the color schemes can run them and then give the mta the money that would otherwise go to a medallion holder. this money should go to the driver's fund so it does not create conflict of issued -- conflict of interest, whether they do it on purpose for that reason or not. it appears that way. and if it does not go to the driver fund, i am assuming it will be counted about the money in the taxi industry, that it just does not get shoved under the rug. i think that is pretty much it. those are my concerns.

secretary boomer: mark. and, mr. speaker, he is the last person to turn in a speaker card on this item. chair nolan: sir? >> i have a couple of comments to make. on the legal residency requirement, i am wondering if there will be an investigation in questioning into people's residency. there is tremendous concern of their among the drivers about the electronic waybill. believe me, it is out there. i would really like to see some very, very stringent policies in place about access to the information. otherwise, it may well be up for grabs, and i am not confident from what we have here that

there is going to be limited access. vehicles, easing the vehicle age requirements, it is really something that is going to benefit the low and companies and hurt the companies that try to provide better quality vehicles -- it is going to benefit the low-end companies. the two items that need to be manually entered on the electronic waybills are things that are equipment and to electronically in automatically, so i am wondering what it says that you have to enter it manually, when it is not necessary, and i do not even know that we can do it. so there is an issue there. the switch from cloth to level or vinyl seats -- or leather or vinyl seats, i do not know that

this should be mandatory intervention. there are some arguments in favor of leather or vinyl, but i think it will be very burdensome upon countries -- companies and also individual drivers to have their own cabs, so i would suggest to lease the grandfathering of the currency. -- of the current seats. secretary boomer: that is it. chair nolan: director oka? director oka: i take it upon myself as a director to take telephone calls with any concerns from public, and believe it or not, over the last weeks, i have received so many phone calls, and one of the reasons i was late today is that i got a phone call from someone

in the taxi driving industry, saying that they had not had the chance to read this thing all of the way through. i must admit that i have several problems with this the way it is written, and i believe, and i know we need money, ok, but i believe, and i have always believed, that any revenues generated by the industry should go to the industry or to be spent anyway that benefits the industry -- any way that benefits the industry. secondly, i have not had the opportunity to read all of the

documents. i would like to do that before a vote on this, so i would like to put this forward to the next meeting, if i could do that. chair nolan: let's hear from other directors at this point and see where we are on this thing. the two items that struck me was the driver's fund peace, saying explicitly that money should be used for drivers in some way? i understand pretexting advisory council met on this a couple of weeks ago and reviewed all of these things. -- i understand that the tax advisory council met on this. >> i will have deputy director hiashi try to answer this. is there a time to when this me to come before the board?

>> there are some 3003 -- some issues that are at issue. >> is this a two-week issue, or is this a 30-day issue? >> this could go on longer. this also goes to the new role of the board as legislature. unlike an ordinance that goes back to the supervisors for a second review so we can make those adjustments, we only have one. director: i am sorry.

chair nolan: the point is about the driver's fund. can you speak to that one? >> the way that it is worded is a very misleading. the advisory council will be making recommendations. it is true that as the language is currently written, it is vague. chair nolan: the other is the electronic waybills and being required at the end of the month. the technology to make that happen, can you speak to that? >> there is technology out

there. some people love indicated that as we have tried to get these systems in, we have had some delays, so we need to anticipate that there is going to be a equipment and installation issues with respect to this requirement, as well, and in addition, i fully respect that we will have to make some adjustments as the technology meets reality, so this is really a way of forcing it forward so that we can begin that activity, so i would encourage you rather than sort of not adopting this requirement to be willing to extend the deadline for this requirement so we do at least move forward. chair nolan: ok, director heinicke? director heinicke: i think it is important in your proposal that the older vehicles will still be subjected to the mileage requirements, a lowered mileage requirement, but 25,000 miles,

and additional inspection, so it is not a situation where we are simply changing the year that is allowable and doing nothing. we are just giving the cab companies greater flexibility to keep well functioning vehicles out there and having talked with a lot of people, i know that this sort of flexibility with increased inspection is going to be a welcome change to the folks in one cab companies. -- the folks who run cap companies. so if that needs to be done now, i am certainly in favor of that. i come back to your question that there are some people who want to review it more. these are the levels of detail as we do not usually get into as a board, but because as we are now in this legislative function, as you say we are, so the things that caught my attention is if we are requiring formats and certain types of seats to accommodate customers to make it a more pleasurable -- is in for requiring floor mats -- if we

are requiring formats and certain types of seats to accommodate customers to make it more pleasurable -- requiring floor mats. the deadline that you have is not something i can meet as a matter of state regulation and technology, so this sounds like we either legislate for with an extraction -- instruction to you to accommodate those things, or we have this come back in two weeks for what will hopefully be a more streamlined hearing to address those things. i am actually comfortable proceeding either way, because i have no doubt that if we provide deputy director hayashi specific direction, like accommodate the front seat versus back seat thing, or the medallion holders who are represented, if she does not, we will hear about it, but

i am open to either way, so that what kind of be my preference, unless you, as you sit here today, would be open to make an amendment to make it rear seat only and be open to have an incentive to move back the electronic waybills at this time. >> it was discussed before the meeting, and i am completely ok with the rear seat floormat and extending the deadline. on the other hand, it would be fine if you want to table this until the next meeting. we can make some better refinements. the advantage to that approach is we do not send something forward to be codified. director heinicke: you have heard my comments. i am glad you are open to that too. i would hope it would be a

rather expedited hearing next time. i do not want to redo it over again. we have heard it all. >> neither do i. chair nolan: that would be like in two weeks? >> that would depend on being able to resubmit the materials because the deadline for the next meeting is already passed. >> one quick thing. this has gone through the tac? ok, this has gone through the taxi advisory committee. chair nolan: so we think we can do something substantial over the next two its? ok, thank you, director hayashi. secretary boomer: so the motion

is to carry this to the next meeting. chair nolan: with a streamlined meeting. secretary boomer: item 13 has been removed. we have item number 14, a presentation and discussion of the fiscal year 2011 first quarter services standards report. >> will present this item to you. -- we will present this item. chair nolan: i am wondering if you want to have a break or go through to closed session? ok, so we will be backed by about -- backed by about 28 after.

secretary boomer: coming back into open session. if we can come back to the service standards, with consent, we will ask for this. secretary boomer: item 15. >> members of the board, some of this money is federal funds, nearly $1 billion. we are required to demonstrate that all funding sources are identified and committed before we can request and receive an agreement from the federal transit administration.

there also two transportation funding sources. this includes weihl bonds -- high-speed rail bonds, and infrastructure bonds to close the gap. the prop 1b funding includes an allocation. it also includes to wonder $25.50 million from the -- it also includes $225.50 million. it also includes millions for a state transportation improvement program allocated through the san francisco county transportation authority to the project. the state funds will be available to the project when they are included in the state budget and when the state moves forward with issuing debt.

therefore, the actual timing of the receipt of the state funds is uncertain, but we're working very closely with all of our partners, including senator leno, to make sure these funds are available when they are needed. if for some reason they are not available at a certain time, the mta is coming up with a risk mitigation plan. some of these possible strategies include benefiting from the cost savings realized from managing the project's cost, benefiting from savings of contractors, bids consistently coming in lower than we had projected. also, assessing the contingencies of the project when allowed to buy the regent -- when allowed to by the fta. the funding plan you will see to

they may change over time as certain funding sources may be replaced or swapped with the ones based on reliability and the timing of receipt of funds. already, we are in conversations with the san francisco county transportation authority and we note mtc -- and the mtc. we will focus on the project's financial details, it is important to recall that the benefits that this project has -- clearly, we will be extending one line downtown into chinatown, and it will create hundreds of jobs that are sorely needed. it will also direct and improve the direct connection in that corridor. it will relieve service congestion in the corridor, and it will also create improvements to pedestrian in st. safety. mr. chairman, that concludes my remarks by have -- that

concludes my remarks. i have sonali bose, if you would like. secretary boomer: [reading roll] chair nolan: good afternoon. >> i have served for at least the past 10 years, and i have seen too many ins and outs. it is a pleasure to see it -- point where it is that because of becoming a reality. i want to encourage you to look at this to fully fund the project. i have not always gotten everything i wanted, but i got some things, and i have found in

life that if you do not settle for some things, you may not be very happy, so, anyway, it is just a note and encouragement to you, and thinking for your service to the city and our collective welfare. -- i thank you for your service to the city and our collective welfare. chair nolan: thank you. >> i would like to say that san francisco has the hardware to be the most complete transit system in the nation. i work with save muni. we want to encourage you to use

the funding that we are talking about now, the central subway funding. it should be spent on other than the and grants system. muni is crumbling with deferred maintenance and infrastructure. this will take over $1 billion and will have stops, and only one stop in chinatown, and one at the other end. because of that, all of the plans shows -- it will further decrease public transport in the marina, the wharf, north beach, and miles of chinatown.

the elimination of some stops at the embarcadero, montgomery, powell, and other bart metro station will decrease service. this is concerning their money being allotted. plus, i would say that this includes cost overruns during this project, which is an extremely high risk for the san francisco financial future. thank you for your attention. chair nolan: thank you. secretary boomer: and this is mr. kaufman, the last person to turn in a speaker card. chair nolan: good afternoon, mr.

kaufman. >> i am going to throw out a few numbers at you. these are all from the mta records. we did not dream them up. i want to talk about just two of the many reasons that many oppose the central project. in fact, what is opposed is gross, quite significant, day- by-day. ridership. back three years ago, when this product was being sold to some rather gullible elected officials, figures were being tilted of 90,000 people per day. as you know, that is nowhere close to being correct. i might say just in passing, that puts it up in a legitimate field with, let's say, some of the new york subways, which may be 800 riders per day, 900,000 riders per day. someday, maybe this will carry

that many. those are two car trains. by the time the final eir k9 and address 76,000 riders per day, -- by the time the final eir came out and addressed the 76,000 riders per day, that was at the time of the eir. however, that turned out to be wrong, too. now, it is shown as 65,000 riders per day, including date -- including vainest regentthe -- including the t line. it is much less than that. i would love to talk about the operating costs, but i guess we do not have the time. [bell] secretary boomer: wilma,

followed by homer. >> [speaking foreign language]

my name is wilma, and i would like to say something about the central subway. i am a 70-year-old senior. most of my brothers and sisters, already my brother is confined in a hospital where some nursing home. i am fortunate that i can walk, but the chinese community needs to know that the subway runs only to powell and market street. i am sorry. the n line or the l line. i have to get off and walk about 1,000 feet and then take the subway to chinatown, which is another street, and then i have to walk up to go for my shopping, with bags of grocery shopping. then i have to walk to clay

street. [bell] i am bilingual, so i need some time. chair nolan: when it is spoken in one language, as the translation, does that extend the time? we have laws that we have to respect. >> i entitled to extra time. >> director, there is an allocation -- obligation when a subject does not speak english, but you do and have an obligation when english is spoken. chair nolan: so why do you not finished up in about 15 seconds? >> i would rather take the bus and forget about the subway. you're talking