san francisco municipal transportation authority board of directors. roll call, please. >> director heinicke will be here today, shortly. [roll call] you have a quorum. please be advised that the ringing of venice and telephone or any sound producing devices prohibited. any person responsible for one going off might be asked to leave the meeting.

it does cause microphone interference, so the board respect fully asks that they -- respectfully ask that they be put in the off position. chairman nolan: all in favor? so moved. >> communications. chairman nolan: to dave's meeting will be adjourned and the memory of the 19-year veteran of the sf mta that serve in the information technology division for a number of years. we have half of that board members adjourned in this memory this afternoon. >> contribution -- introduction of new or unfinished business. chairman nolan: as we get to the

agenda, items 11 and 12 are dealing with the same general things. next item. >> the executive director's reports. chairman nolan: did director ramos have something? director ramos: later. >> we began today with special recognition awards. the first award will go to an employee of the safety and security enforcement division. they were originally hired in

2003 as a temporary officer for the boulevard project. he rejoined the agency in 2007 when he began as a parking control officer. they always maintain a professional attitude. his excellent work has made him a standout. they can count on lawrence to rise to the challenge of a duty presented to him. it is this reason they were recognized as a parking control officer of the month in 2010. lawrence volunteered, he noticed a white smoke coming out of the building. he started to honk his horn and blow his whistle to try to awaken the tenants of the building. in due to a quick thinking and heroic actions, numerous people

and pets were able to escape the building safely. we proudly acknowledged him for his professionalism. i would like to present the award to lawrence. >> good afternoon, chairman, directors, mr. johnson. we want to congratulate you on the special award. your heroic actions took a lot of courage to go into a burning building in be saved many lives. i want to commend you for your work. >> on behalf of the board of directors, thank you for the outstanding work that you have had for many years in the

agency. >> i want to thank god for giving me this courage -- the strength and the courage to do it. i have to recognize the citizens. when i know that a fire is out of control, they are waiting for the bus, they came down and assisted me. thank you for this, have a nice day. [applause] >> in the next award goes to maggie. please step to the podium. she has been a hearing officer

for 11 years. she conducts a hearing for protests, parking citations, and burglar alarm penalties. she is in charge of administering and conducting coordination with federal and city agencies. penalties, she was instrumental in facilitating that. she is a diligent individual. for example, in 2009, she worked with the information technology subdivision to streamline the scheduling process and leaving countless hours of human labor. the acting director is here to present the award.

>> i have asked her to come up and speak a few words. >> i want to thank her for her hard work and dedication. she really is a work force. she does what ever i s curve. she compiles all types of statistical reports. she has run the program very well and i am lucky to have an employee like her. >> i want to say thank you to everyone and i appreciated very much. >> thank you for the very difficult job that you do. [applause] >> the next award is being bestowed upon walter.

leaves that to them by -- will you step to the mic? walter is a transit car cleaner. his effortws working alongside workers and cleaning graffiti have produced half of the improvements in the appearance of articulated buses. they have instilled in them a strong work eckhardt -- ethic. the director of transit will present the award to walter. >> i would point out that walter is surely the frontline in the

ongoing battle. some of our facilities are as clean as they are because someone let them do a remarkable job. they provide a great value to the agency and also help with our image. >> i would like to thank everybody. i of the the car cleaners don't have the most favorable reputation, but i am representing those guys. chairman nolan: on behalf of the board, congratulations and thank you for your hard work. [applause]

>> i would like, to step up to the podium. carlton is a transit operator at a 29-year veteran of the agency. this is accomplished through his professional demeanor and the disposition. he has become a go to operator as well as operators transferring to the division. the reason he is known as the operator is drawing on his vast experience in san francisco. they often comment -- in the

hope that one day they will achieve the same standard of success. again, how they will present the award. >> i should point out that he is the root 23 operator. they surround him with a lot of people standing close to him. and they run the a bus operating facility. with that, congratulations. >> by award is waking up every day at coming to work. i am not one to get up and say, i have to go there?

once again, thank you. i love cherishes. chairman nolan: on behalf of the board, thank you. [applause] >> i am pleased to report that the capital investment program continues to advance. i want to provide updates in a state of good repair for decades to come. a major undertaking has been the rehabilitation in various areas of the city. rehabilitation of the overhead contact system improves reliability.

the replacement project began last summer. it will provide a direct pathway to market streets. and contributing to service reliability. providing motorists two-way travel. this stage of construction is now complete. transit and commercial vehicles are east of-st. commercial vehicles must turn right onto charles brett and placed in turn right onto market street. the staff has been working with the board and a direct mailer has been posted.

the next project of like to report on is the tracking and street improvements. as i give this report, operations into finalizing for the shutdown which is scheduled for friday, september 23. the work will include an installation between market and fifteenth street. the water main replacement which is being conducted by the water department. this work is expected to be completed later this week. it was started in mid july and will continue through august. the department of public works is expected to start and will take two-three weeks to finish.

and yet another part of the public utilities commission. it is scheduled for october 21 to accomplish work at the intersection of market and church. we anticipate that the third shutdown will occur in early 2012. moving on to some other news, now that the nfl owners and players have agreed on a 10- year settlement, we can afford to a new season of football beginning next month. special express buses will transport vans directly to candlestick from balboa park to the nineteenth avenue corridor. route 86, nonstop to the park and the light rail station. regular muni fares are accepted.

special express bus fares are $12 for adults at $10 for seniors, youth, and disabled customers. i particularly want to draw your attention to sunday, september 11. they will play host to several games and the ceremonies. at this juncture, it is a pleasure to report that the pilot program to relieve overcrowding has exceeded expectations. i would ask john to step up to

inform you about this program. >> i want to briefly walk through the first 6 1/7 weeks of the service. i have had the upper to the key to be involved with a lot of startup services. this is the first one that has had no learning curve. this is something that has worked very well in the first six weeks from day one. you may remember back when we talked about doing this, the principal reason we wanted to do a was to provide a predictable and alternative routes to the

subway line. we have gotten one of the things that we want to do, which was a plan to the service. we have marked the buses distinctively and identified them. the reliability so far has been outstanding. the initial launch, we reached out to 32 trips a day in the first month of service, we ran all 600 unscheduled trips. in terms of the reliability of the service, we have a challenge that we set the bar pretty high. yesterday, on august 1, the letter ship was at 1400