through the 29. the project manager is with us today and he will give you a brief presentation and overview of this project, focusing on the state of the repair. as you are aware, the california line has been shut down for a few weeks. the plan was for that to resume and this is part of that work. in addition to the shutdown and repairs that we're doing there. this is going on on the ancillary lines and in support of the cable car system. >> welcome. >> good afternoon, chairman, directors. is that better? try that one?

my name is ken, i am here to you to present the status and shutdown schedule of the project. first, let me describe the system. what is it? it regulates cable car speeds and information from this view. it is also responsible for reporting the information to the human machine interface. there are two key alarms. the actual cable itself is made up of steel threads. if one of them breaks or becomes loose, the device will trigger the alarm. the alarm location is sent to the control location. the second key alarm automatically disengage is the

grip from the table. 60% of the time, it is driven by the cable or gravity. since the cable car is going from powell to mason, the conductor has to release the cable from the power line that grabs onto the mason line. they are all separate cables. so, in the event that it is not released, this mechanism will automatically block the cable from the grip. if this mechanism is triggered, the cable will stop and the alarm is sent to the control council. the next question is -- why is this project important? as mentioned earlier, this system is 27 years old. analog technology. very difficult to secure parts.

also, the transition of this alarm is unreliable. because of this old technology. but technology has evolved significantly over the past 30 years. in the digital age the requirement for millions of bits of data is critical and crucial to having clean, noise-free transmission lines. but transmission may be a medium, but the cable itself carries the data where presides. any connection to transmit the data is very critical. imagine the amount of data you would have to crunched in one second to make sure the data gets transmitted properly. designs today have a good shielding and separation between the voice and data.

it is impossible to remove all of these components, but the technology does exist significantly. the data transmitted will not be presented on the receiving end. if a loose strand was detected, it would get transmitted. because of old technology, the noise or other unwanted frequency could cause the run pitt to reset. it goes to zero or sometimes from zero to one. this is causing a false negative

situation. this type of scenario contributes 25 to 50% of false positive, false negative cable car alarms, causing unscheduled shutdowns in service reductions. because of the old technology and transmission that is not reliable, but intended for repair, of the strength can be compromised. by upgrading the system to digital technology with infrastructure improvement currently being done and california streets, data transmission will be more reliable. we will hope to reduce false positive or false negative alarms. yielding higher service

performance, easy to maintain and troubleshoot. 20% funded from, forwarded the adopted resolution. january 29, 2010, mta be adopted the resolution as the approval of contract. so, the scope of this project is to replace three major hardware component systems. the third is the data system that manages the transmission of the alarm signals. there are seven in the field.

the second is the motor drive controller that regulates the speed of the motor. the third is what i call the human machine interface control consoles, monitoring the cable speed. it can also start and stop the cable. scheduled to replace these components, the shutdown will be five days in duration. for outreach we have communicated the shutdown schedule of the community. presented at the association, working with sf travel, frequently known as the business bureau, to coordinate the shutdown. because of the power out, we shifted the third shutdown

through the fifth. here is the map -- started this is out of five shot, but the cable infrastructure for cable cars, as you know it reside on mason around washington. this is the powell street cable. this is the nascent cable. this is the high street. so, the first shutdown is scheduled for march 28, april 1.

we also installed a motor controller into the cars. so, the next shut down, scheduled for next week, will involve four data systems. we are also going to install three motor drive controllers. for the less shut down, all cable cars will be down. the control consol will be installed and we will do a full system integration.

including a stress test. all right, this is the schedule. the shutdown for next week, there will still be service for power. shuttle bus service will be provided. with normal cable car service in the business ward. shut down three will affect all shutdowns. if there is a substitution for the three shutdowns, about 60% of revenue lost protected.

here is the project budget schedule. dvina -- the total project is about $12 million. the actual spending is about 93%. as of february for construction we spent about 21%. the plan for a substantial completion is november the 18th. >> thank you. questions or comments? thank you very much. very comprehensive report. >> you have a clearer understanding of what these are part of. the next item on my report

involves the parks. a quick reminder to the board, we are watching these dynamic pilots be start -- this thursday beginning at 11:00 a.m.. we will be joined by the deputy administrator and the renowned professor donald shoot, the parking expert from the university of california, los angeles. chairman nolan, you will be attending to make some remarks. i hope that each of you can join us for this one. this relates to san francisco and parking on a worldwide stage. the next item on the report is the smart jobs workshop.

co-sponsoring a workshop to insured community engagement and partnering with specific focus on work force requirements, scheduled for april 27 it will open with the u.s. department of transportation secretary, participating through a video conference. the event is expected to attract elected officials and over 150 small businesses and individuals, as well as that that represent local and regional agencies. we know the chairman nolan is also attending that meeting and we hope that the fed chief also attend. the next item to bring to your attention is the announcement of the implementation of an exciting initiative to further enhance accessibility in san francisco, related to our taxi driver ramp accessibility program.

-- incentive program. our tactic program, providing a full-service access in 1994, that was a pilot program. now there are over 104 medallions representing 7% of the fleet. with implementation of the system in place we are able to collect data, as well as other information that will allow us to move forward with this program. the key goals are to improve the quality of rant taxi service and encourage the time they pick up a wheelchair, and -- customers. we would like to experience a long-term commitment from taxi drivers and provide cost savings to overall paratransit programs by shifting the demand from the more expensive service to a more cost-effective ramp- taxi service.

we would like to compensate drivers for the extra cost and time to transport. $75, $150, awarded on a monthly basis to those drivers to exceed the monthly average by different amounts. a $500 bonus to the company that has provided the highest number of monthly wheelchair pickups. it will be distributed to the employees with the highest number pickups, not exceeding $110,000. we feel that this incentive program will extremely improve our already successful program. making sure that patrons have access.

the next item i would like to bring to your attention, at the last board meeting there was a great deal of public comment regarding taxicabs and their oversight. as a step we are preparing a memorandum to deal with those issues. the first is related to credit -- credit card transaction fees. the second is related to the wave bills. the third is related to major increases. i have a quick summary to tell you what staff is trying to do regarding those issues. the first item raised, taxicab drivers in san francisco are required to accept credit cards as payment under the transportation code. currently these companies are responsible for all costs associated with excepting these cards.

the cost for the company is an on-reimbursed overhead expense. credit card use becoming more prevalent, the cost associated with accepting these cards has increased exponentially. in order to alleviate the interchange or merchant account fees charged by the companies, a program was developed that would allow these companies to pass these fees that a rate of no more than 5% to the driver through a third-party vendor. the cap was based on several components. these components included a survey of several other major cities where taxicab drivers except credit cards and pay the fees, as well as the actual credit card interchange or merchant account fees currently paid by taxicab companies. currently the lowest rate paid by drivers in most major cities this 5%. we plan to return to the board

with a proposed improvement plan for both the industry and the drivers based on the best practice research of drivers, companies, and passengers. additionally, an all-day meeting is being scheduled to discuss this issue with the drivers. are there any questions there? the second item was related to electronic bills that the board approved for mandatory implementation by july 2011. prior to implementation, the board will be informed of the security standards in place for electronic data like those found in new york city. the third item is related to meager increases. we are preparing a calendar item for this board to approve a public hearing for may 17. we are recommending an meter increased the given in that the

meter increase -- meter rates have not been increased since 2003 except for fees authorized in 2006. on those three items in terms of the outreach plan promise received from the taxi industry, staff is hard at work to resolve these issues and we will bring it back to the board as soon as possible so that you can feel comfortable in terms of the direction that the mta is going as it relates to credit card fees and meter increases. >> the 17th? >> we will attempt to have all of that available by the 17th to resolve these issues. >> members, any questions or comments? >> that includes my report. >> do members of the public of comments on the report? >> there is one approaching. >> looked like two are

approaching their egos. >> good afternoon? members -- looks like two are approaching. >> good afternoon. these credit charges are far in excess of what a cab company would pay for the same services. i think that it is because each driver needs a personal credit account. so, instead of having 30 some other accounts for each company, we have 7000 credit accounts. out of that 5% that the drivers pay to the credit companies, a piece of that, as i understand it companies have been responsible for these charges for many years.

i believe that they should continue to be responsible for them. i believe that this can be handled through the meager increase process, which went forward on may 17. i should say that the company in associated with, green cabbage, could be the only one in the city not charging but strivers credit card fees. it would be hard to foes that had charged and we have no intention of doing so. as long as companies are allowed to pass on their charges to drivers, green tab is going to be at a competitive disadvantage. where if companies simply with credit charges made them part of their regular costs and those costs are reimbursed through the

driver fee that they pay the company, it would be a level playing field. i should also said that i've heard that many companies, i know that many companies are in violation of even the standards that this agency has set. i have heard of drivers furnishing the social security coverage -- corporate [tone] >> thank you. >> . toronto. i wanted to address a couple of these issues. i am hoping that you will also examine this on the 17th. i will not complain about the fact that the meeting will love be held until the 17th of may.

i am having compassion and i will let yell and scream about this being delayed another few weeks. i think that she has worked for you know what off. she has worked very hard on our projects. she deserved the vacation planned in advance. the thing is, i am asking for your compassion as well, i in your realizing of that this -- in your realizing that this must be put off for her rejuvenation, it is important that you also have compassion. regarding the fees, supervisors said that it was not fair to charge the drivers for this and that if you do not want to deal with that, again, i am using the word hypocrisy, it could be involved here.

staff wants to lower the income of drivers when you know that outside of saturday night's, they're having a hard time. >> anyone else like to comment on the executive director's report? >> hello, i am a cab driver for green tab. the idea of setting this up was a win-win situation by the deputy director where the company was supposed to be free to the charges, putting in terminals that would cover the amount of income that the drivers had. however, merchant accounts are supposed to be no charges, they are supposed to be above a set of these accounts anywhere.

the two companies are already cheating on this in a big way. luxor is already charging 5%. the dispatchers are not supposed to touch the money, taking 5% off. he has repeatedly threatened to fire anyone that does not deal with his merchant account or use another service. a yellow cab the account is set up in the name of george henderson. it is supposed to have no relation to the company whatsoever. overseeing the dispatching services. once again, both of these companies, drivers have been told they have to use and are not given a choice.

there are all sorts of ridiculous charges on this but are designed to be funneled back to yellow cab, near as i can tell. i would suggest that these companies are not allowed to pass on their charges to the driver is as long as they are behaving like this. thank you are in much. >> good afternoon. my name is jamie whitaker, the san francisco-based company called square makes android phones and i've had cards that can be swiped and their fee is 3%. there is a san francisco company that might have a good solution for everyone.

>> we will mark this under the executive director's report. >> just for clarification, just in the last few days with the credit card charges -- one, we are not charging the drivers ourselves or getting kickbacks. there is a lot of misinformation floating around. we have had a democrat situation for two years. not being charged for fees, it has worked very smoothly. they want to be their own merchant, they are free to do so, those that want to use the third party process that was set up a yellow cab to process our credit cards, it has nothing to do with yellow cab.

but they want to be their own merchant, they can. i want to clarify that information that seems to get out there. feel free to call me at any time. >> next item? >> the citizens advisory council report. >> good afternoon, chairman murphy. what's good afternoon, mr. chairman. directors. i am the chairman of the citizens advisory council. before i get to the recommendations for you today, i want to just mention the upcoming sf park launch. an issue that has been closed or hard for a long time. project goods in early stages of

development, something we are very enthusiastic about seeing in the first rollout of the program this week. i just wanted to say that it is going to be important to communicate to the public what this is. i think there is a misunderstanding in the public about how this works and why this is a win-win program for people. i think that that is a real challenge that the agency is going to have to confront. this is a very good development for the mta and transportation in san francisco. something we have been a longtime supporter of. i have three recommendations for you and then i want to