>> welcome to the march 1, 2011

meeting of the board of directors of the san francisco municipal transportation agency. please call the roll. >> [roll call] director lee will be absent today, with you in spirit. mr. chairman, you have a quorum. item three, announcement of prohibition of some producing devices during the meeting. the advice that the ringing of or use of pagers or similar sound-producing devices is provided at the meeting. any person responsible for one going off in the room may be removed from the meeting. the advised that cell phone set on the buy rate position to cause microphone interference, so the board respectfully requests they be placed in the off position -- be advised that cell phones said on the vibrate position do cause microphone interference.

before you did that, it does not appear that anyone in their wishes to address you on the matter. director nolan: all in favor? thank you. >> item 5, communications. mr. chairman. director nolan: ok. i guess i'm not quite ready yet. this afternoon, we have an item on the agenda. supervisor campos ask that we hold this one to about 4:00 if we can, so we will honor that request. if we should need closed session, we'll do that immediately following the closed session. >> directors, please be advised and members of the public be advised that item 10.3 regarding making hayes street into a two- way street has been removed at the request of staff. i do not have any speaker cards to address you on that matter. director nolan: do we have a date?

>> we do not, as yet. >> item 6, introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. >> actually, i have two items i wanted to bring up. the first is, as i'm sure the deputy director and executive director know, there's been a lot of talk going on about fixing the bicycle-that connects the fully separated panhandle path to the widow, which is a very nice bike route. we have now had two mayors in a row expressed their approval of this. they have said that they really want to see this happen and they want to see it fast track, so i wanted to get member consent. this is something we really consider to be important. in the time of rising gas prices, i know we have more people look to bicycles. this could help with rush hour because every person we can remove from trends and not put in a private automobile would be fantastic.

-- every person we can remove from transit and not put in a private automobile. one thing i wanted to bring up that was brought to my attention, and is you about the nanny permits. when we were discussing that -- an issue about the nanny permits. i really dispute the idea of fraud be involved in people getting permits for their nannies. it was brought to my attention that the golden gate mothers association website already had instructions about how to get around the rftp, and i felt bad because i was dismissed of the fraud could be involved in this and that would be any reason. i just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention and said that i guess we really did have to consider fraud as an issue. director nolan: thank you. that was very disturbing information have. thank you. >> moving on, items 7, executive directors report. >> good afternoon.

being the first meeting of this month, it is my privilege to open with a special recognition, was for a group of impressive sfmta employees. our first award will go to revert to bluesman -- to roberto guzman. as he is making his way up, let me tell you a little bit about him. he is a transit supervisor at our line management center and has been with the agency for over 29 years. he is quick to suggest solutions, as he did when he led the line management center in establishing a reroute plan during a major delay in the subway in january. his performance has also contributed to improve on-time performance on our light rail lines. he is a true team player and always willing to assist others and demonstrate this on any given task. to present the awar is our

director of transit services. john. >> thank you, mr. ford, mr. chairman, and members of the board. i will say briefly, i will let you all in on a little secret, which is roberto's nickname, how we refer to him, and he is the man that makes the trains run on time. with that, congratulations. >> congratulations on behalf of the board and the entire sfmta and people of san francisco. >> thanks a lot. i appreciate this award. i always believe in working hard and being proud of your job, so i did -- i would like to do a good job all the time. thank you. director nolan: thank you. [applause] >> the next award goes to emanuel enriquez. he is an electrical system transit mechanic at the metro

east facility in our rail training unit and has been with the agency for four years. is responsible for developing an excellent training program, and that training has been vital in developing our muni mechanics. he is also recognized for his willingness to help others. he volunteers to instruct on all three shifts at various locations, insuring that all personnel are properly trained in a timely manner. john haley will also present this award. >> thank you, mr. ford, mr. chairman, members of the board. he is a very familiar face around any of our facilities and around many of our terminals and operating facilities. think about what he does in terms of his area of expertise. he trains every type of rail vehicle, whether it be new or old, as well as every one of our trackless, and has introduced successfully a number of new made it -- a major

training programs, including recently a blue light/blue flag training procedure. with that, he does a fine job in all of his endeavors. >> thank you. on behalf of the board and the entire sfmta, thank you for your outstanding work. >> thank you very much for this award. [applause] >> our next award is a group of war going to the mta taxi services team. will the following employees step up to the podium and bear with me as i tried to work through these pronunciations. we have some creative names here. [reading names] has you are well aware, in march

2009, the end he assumed a response ability for the regulation of the taxi industry. today, the mta taxes services that worked daily with an industry that includes 5000 vehicles, 7000 drivers, and nearly 40 private businesses. in that short time frame, this team has achieved many significant accomplishments that include acquiring 50 all electric batteries, switch, and plug-in taxes by leveraging federal grant funds that will be on the san francisco streets by 2014, launching a pilot program of transferable medallions that has netted the mta nearly $6 million to date, including $1 million for a dedicated driver fund. implementing electronic waybill requirements so that by july 1, the mta will for the first time have industrywide electronic taxi trip data. inaugurating a hybrid vehicle incentive program that resulted

in san francisco surpassing every major jurisdiction in the nation in the use of green vehicles with a fleet that is currently approaching 75% hybrid. maintaining extensive outreach to the industry through town hall meetings and the creation of the taxi advisory council, creating a color scheme audit system to raise san francisco -- rate san francisco taxi companies based on service and regulatory compliance, and putting in a comprehensive administrative enforcement system while developing a new driver data base. here to present to this group is our director of finance and information technology. sonali. >> thank you, mr. ford. when i was asked to nominate somebody for this award, i really could not think of a better grip to do it. i recently inherited the tax a group as an interim measure from ms. johnson, and i have just been absolutely amazed by the complicated industry it is, and the fact that these individuals together have been handing --

handling so much of the effort that mr. ford mentioned. unfortunately, ms. hiyashi could not be here today, but i want to turn it over to jarvis murray who will talk about the group and individual members. but they are an excellent growth. >> good afternoon, directors. we would like to thank you very much for this award, and we would like to say that we, frankly, could not have done this without the integration within the mta. many members have gone out of their way to help us become a better part of the mta, and that has been fabulous for us. what also could not have done this without the help of our boss, who, unfortunately, is not here today. as well as ms. sonai bose --

sonali bose and ms. deborah johnson who also have overseen us. i would like to introduce our members individually and give you a little bit of information about them. not too much. i will make it quick. to my left is michael harris. he can out here from philadelphia. he is one of our investigators. he came a long way and has been a really helpful person for us. he has been a godsend in terms of his counsel and his intelligence and what he brings to the table with us. next to him as ms. woo, who came to us as a clerk and later was hired on as an investigator as well. curiosity and intelligence is what really separates her. she is in charge of handling a lot of our weightless. we currently have 3002 bunch of people on the list, and she is the one who sent it down for us to make a difference for those people. scott leon behind me.

while being the best dressed member of our group at all times, is also our senior member who has been with us the longest. he is the guy who is basically the face of our enforcement. he is out there on the streets, in front of the companies, talking to them. my name goes out on the citations, but he is the one hand it to you. he is also the guy who does a lot of our audits, and everyone knows how difficult it is to sit would be comfortable putting him on the stand as an expert because, just by looking in the field, he can tell you what is going on with these bills. lori chang is our new waitperson in terms of how she is going to change the world. she is one of the people who brought this program to our attention. in terms of the grant. she did the research, found that grant, and we went after that grant and got it, and a lot of that is thanks to her hard work.

she loves everything about trying to make the world a greener, a better place, so hopefully, we can keep her involved in that. chadwick is our temporary clerk, and despite the fact that he is temporary, he has mastered every aspect of what it is to run that office in there. he previously volunteered with us for about six months before taking the bar on his own, paying his own money because he wanted to be part of something new, something different, and wanted to make a change. we're glad to have him and hope he stays alive longer. jane is fairly new, but we get numerous complaints, and do not let the sweet demeanor fool you. when we had our renewal over 6000 people, she was the one who got down there, got them in line, and we got a lot of push back, but we were able to get the process down, and we could not have done it without her. last but not least, jocelyn is one of the newest members of our group, and she is handling a lot

of the tax presentations as well as doing complaints along with jane. when she came along, one of the first things we did was have her go out and collect a lot of our lost and found, which had been sitting for a long time. it stung, and she picked it up with a smile on her face, and we said, by the way, help us renew these 6000 people, and she is still here. so we are very happy about that. unfortunately, greg could not be with us. he is under the weather, but he thank you as well. again, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. it was a great honor. >> let me thank you all on behalf of the board of directors entire agency and the people on the board of san francisco. thank you very much. glad you are here. [applause] >> ok, we are going to make sure that everyone gets their certificate of appreciation.

now, moving on in my report, that concludes our recognition of employees. i want to now turn to the events of last week relative to concerns that were expressed by the cpuc. as you are aware and we have stated this publicly, we were surprised to hear the puc statements as it relates to safety and the mta, particularly the statement related to and responsiveness by the agency. for your information, we have been meeting with them on a biweekly basis for months now, and have kept them fully apprised of all of the corrective actions that were taken, not only in response to findings that they found, but also in response to our own internal inspection of the system, and we reported those out to the cpuc. our approach with them has always been very open and

candid. with that in mind, i believe we will be able to correct whatever safety situations that they feel are not being addressed, and we will work diligently with them to address their concerns. i want to state unequivocally that our system is a safe system, one of the safest systems in the nation. it is an older system, though. from time to time, we do have challenges because of the actual age of our infrastructure, our rail system being nearly 100 years old. to that end, we will welcome the cpuc's expertise and take their comments seriously. our staff will be meeting with them this week to share what we have done to address their recommendations and concerns. at this point, i understand you would like to make a statement. >> thank you. these are in fact very serious concerns that have been raised. we were very surprised to get

these. we have enjoyed a good working relationship with them. we see them as a partner, and they have an important role to play, as we do. to that end, i have asked them to contact members of the board, and to call a special meeting on the subject this friday morning at 9:00 in room 408. i would hope that you -- on behalf of the board, that you would invite members of memberscpu staff and -- members of the cpu staff to talk about the conditions they have raised. so member support, we will do that, 9:00, this coming friday morning. >> we will be prepared to brief you on all of their concerns. m aware that the commissioners or staff you would invite. >> i believe we would invite management staff for their particular area responsible for rail safety oversight. >> one of the surprising things to me is normally, when an audit is done, they contact directly the agency to have some kind of response.

>> we will walk you through what has been our history with the cpuc, and more specifically, these particular allegations. the next item on my report is related to the clipper card program. i need to give you a reminder that on april 1, that will be our deadline for transferring 65,000 of our customers to the clipper card. fortunately, we have nearly 60% of all current mpass customers using the clipper card, and a trilingual time to switch marketing campaign was launched to inform the remaining customers of this deadline. our youth and senior gestation past deadline was recently extended to june, which will give us time to partner with community groups as well as companies and schools. each month, our ambassador teams have been assisting with signups, as well as conducting

events on how to use the card. more recently, we have one of those at the powell street station. april 1 as the deadline for the convergence, but we feel optimistic because more than half of our users are already making the switch. i'm pleased to advise the board that sf park pilot program will launch in the next few weeks and we will be before the board's policy and governance committee, but i want to give you a quick update for the board so you can know the status. we have completed installation of parking meters and sensors in december and wrapped up installation of the roadway centers in january. we finished work regarding the real-time data from parking garages as well as making the upgrades. we are nearing the end of the testing of the real-time data feed from the warehouse, and we are gearing up for the official launch of the pilot project with a comprehensive customer outreach campaign, which will be launched in the either late

march or april, and we will be briefing the mayor's office on the details of our project plan and roll out, so sfpark is moving very smartly and in the right direction. finally, two more items in terms of my report. i wanted to give you a quick update in terms of caltrain funding. there have been numerous community meetings and town hall meetings up and down the peninsula to discuss the proposed service reductions as well as stop elimination's. the mayor's office has convened a working group. we have had a meeting already to evaluate the options and possible impact of service reductions. the joint powers board will meet this thursday to consider a resolution of fiscal emergency, and i will keep you apprised as these discussions move forward and how solutions are starting to develop amongst the partner

organizations. finally, as it relates to credit card use on taxis, this is a response to a director oka's concern about the processing of credit cards. our staff has met with the director, and they continue their discussions to be held at a town hall meeting in the near future. we agreed to further explore the option of allowing companies to be merchant account holders, so the issue has not been resolved, but it is being worked by the staff with the taxi industry to try to lessen the impact of our credit card usage on taxis. that concludes my report. i'm available to you or the board for any questions. director nolan: questions or comments? do members of the public have comments? >> yes, you have one person who wishes to address you on the executive director's report. >> i'm bob planthold.

the primary reason i comment is regarding clipper card. i bring to your attention again that there has been no response from the metropolitan transportation commission, nor from you, nor from management to rich and e-mails i sent months ago talking about the problems with the reliability of the clipper card readers on the front door entrance of muni vehicles. when initially i complain in writing and in person to mtc, there executive director blow it off and said that it was a passenger problem. the issue is too often the cards do not get scant and read quickly, properly, in a timely way. what that means is if you are trying to get your cards again, others coming in up-front cluster are around you. what that does is it means the seniors and disabled who sit up front -- we get our feet stepped

on. we get bumped into. we get stuff's build on us because these are not acting and working reliably. mtc said it is muni's responsibility to fix them. i did not know if that is the case, but they have consistently been silent on this issue. i forwarded that e-mail to you folks and got no answer. again, i'm saying it is a potential injury litigation liability issue. i also want to ask, we were told just now of a special meeting at 9:00. is that going to be a public meeting? director nolan: yes, it will. >> i just want to be sure we can all come. director nolan: it has been noticed. >> yes, it was posted outside of the 72 hours as is legally required, and people who have requested notice by e-mail and

u.s. postal service were sent notice of that. barry toronto. he is the last person who has turned in a speaker card. at this point. >> good afternoon. i would like to -- first, i want to say that the real person that should be honored today is jarvis murray. he has done a wonderful job of handling the task that allow ms. hiyashi to handle the policy issues and reports that that needs to take care of in order to deal with what you want. so i want to say that he should be honored, particularly for his sensitivity and his caring for the issues that have to do with the industry, the cab drivers, and the passengers, so you

should definitely applaud him for that. the other issue is he brought up the credit card use and taxis, and i think this is a very big concern because a lot of drivers are hesitant to want to use them for a lot of the short trips because they are being charged fees, and a lot of them do not want to reported to you. it is not just some taxis. national have apparently has an arrangement that allows them to charge 5% on the credit card charges. this is a little bit of a problem because the banks only charge something like -- what? 3%? drivers are reporting subversively because they could lose their jobs. they are paying between 5% or 10% normally for credit card charges. you know how much that adds up to -- a lot. a lot of these people are using credit cards to take care of

their rights, and i will address some of the other issues about that later in public comment, but i wanted to let you know that previously, thanks to one of the things that mayor newsom, when he was a supervisor, did said that companies should not charge drivers for credit card fees. >> good afternoon, mr. snyder. >> good afternoon. i actually rise for a question of proper procedure to appear for specific items, and i'm not sure if i should be appearing here now under the executive director's report. i do want to respond to items two of the on cabdriver security. where would that be appropriate? >> under public comment. >> you want that one remove the? >> that one was removed from the

agenda at the request of staff. if there are people who wish to address the board on that item, public comment would be the time. director nolan: thank you. anyone else wish to address the board on public comment? ok. >> moving on in your agenda. item eight, a citizens advisory. the chairman did contact me and say he had no report today. item nine, public comment. this is an opportunity for members of the public to address the board items within the jurisdiction of the board of directors and not on today's agenda. we will start -- we have several. [reading names] good afternoon. >> good morning, everyone. i'm executive director for the