reporting. in every case, it was statistical information being reported to the regulatory body and not personal income. our recommendations. the first, i have to preface this by saying that one of the things that the taxi services and staff said, require credit card usage, we need to make sure that the costs associated with that are minimized to the greatest extent possible. the way to do that, you can pick a fee, a 3% fee and see who wants to play. i think there is a better approach. there process, take your pick and see what kind of response you get. the beauty of this is that it is

transparent, the current credit card processing companies can participate, the national credit card companies can participate, he and you will see, through a competitive process, what the fee can be minimized to and what the conditions are. suddenly, everything will be out in the open. it is as important as anything else. all these recommendations are for your consideration. drivers should be a loud to designate a credit card and come with some companies calling through certain accounts with extraordinarily high fees. they should be able to designate their own accounts. he won company already does this. the third recommendation talks about establishing a credit card a minimum with a goal of reducing costs to the drivers.

the reason is that it might backfire on the drivers. more analysis is necessary to see how many customers are currently using credit cards for short trips. if they are, those short trips tend to generate higher tips. by forcing cash fees, you might be negatively affecting the drivers. and do the analysis, go ahead and do a minimum policy allowed.

it is more secure, it enhances the customer experience, it is easier for companies to address questions and complaints. it centralizes the data. it increases fraud control, it lowers the a ministry of labor necessary to combat fraud. you notice i didn't recommend a banning of alternative devices because they may still have their role in case the system goes down, but i think it is important that this be exercised. for the back seat monitors, volume seems to be the no. 1 below. it requires some sort of a

technological fix either disabling the audio which is very easy or the driver of being able to control the audio when a passenger isn't in the back seat. relatively easy fix. they should also remove the back seat monitors as a waiver program condition. the back seat to monitor should be done because it makes business sense to do so. as i mentioned before, and more comprehensive before and after analysis and of the key staff is

putting together a list of what they believe to be necessary for proper planning purposes. and in the follow-up study, they will be developing new methodologies. they will require certain data and will include that in the reporting period have to retain specific data for specific oversight needs, but not to report. this is the compromise approach for the town hall meetings. there were some points that driver managers made in terms of

improving the accuracy of the electronic data capture. they have to invoke the meter to tell people that they are busy, there is a very easy technological solution. i know chris is working on that right now. these are all recommendations, and these are my take on them. they are based on a lot of the information that i heard from the drivers, the taxi managers, and from my research in the industry. >> thank you for your comprehensive study.

it helps me to frame my evaluation and helps me understand important issues but i don't understand today. when you talk to other cities about the processing of credit cards, and you find more drivers -- >> in the square system is very new. this is based on information from their web site because they did not return my call.

their claim is that the device itself is secure, and the whole solution its goals of pretty much everything a customer needs to know. the receipt that comes electronically, there are a few issues that i am a little concerned about -- they provide

an immediate -- >> drivers continue to use it because of the fee imposed? hong >> i believe so. the first recommendation, if you follow a and it happens that you are able to decrease the credit card processing fee because of that, suddenly the processing fee will be right in there. >> another question is on the l.a. peace. he noted there was a $7 minimum. how does that impact service? >> i don't know. >> thank you very much. do we have speakers? >> a few, yes.

mr. chairman, although we have an overflow room, we have asked everyone there to come here, so anyone listening in that room is more than welcome to come here at this point. we will start with of the first three. gosh i am a senior member of the legal and policy team at square. square grew out of a simple idea that anyone should be able to accept credit cards anywhere at any time. and from that idea, a ground- breaking project has emerged to empower small businesses and entrepreneurs in san francisco. it was difficult to accept

payments through credit card. the rates were higher than they should be for small business owners around the country including thousands of taxi drivers trying to make a living. we decided there had to be a better way. we built a reader that plugs into a smart fund and allows safe and secure credit-card payments. there is a payment rate of 2.5%. square is a member of the pci security standards council mobile task force that is working to define industry standards for mobile payments. that number is growing quickly. forcing san francisco taxi drivers to pay the 5% fee would take thousands of dollars out of drivers pockets for no reason and deprive them of the choice of a simpler and better option of getting paid for their work.

the study contains multiple inaccuracies in its conclusions are misleading. we refute its findings in the materials we submitted earlier today. we believe in the very immediate future, it will be premature, hurting the economy and unfairly eliminate competition for both writers and drivers. the leader of technological innovation in the country, it would be especially shortsighted. we ask that you carefully consider these materials and provide us with the opportunity to address any you may have some you can make an informed decision in the best interests of the city. >> thank you. your time is up. >> thank you. there will be no vote today on any of these matters.

>> of the afternoon again, directors. i wanted to give you an example of how customers use the rear devices. this weekend, an older woman got into my catalog with a young child. the lady promptly reached over and turned off the sound and turned off the tv altogether. it was fascinating to listen to the lady instruct the young girl on how to use the map. this is the taxi. these little dots show where it has bed and the route that we are following. the child got it right away and in the process, became a better and more informed consumer. this is a good example of the

extra value that consumers get from the rear seat passenger terminals that we have and 180 of the calves. i urge you to stay the course of progress have required the beneficial technology in all taxicabs. i did want to comment briefly on the report, the discussion of chips. they talk about them going up. that is 2% or 3% higher on the base of 15%, that is about a 20% increase. it is not simply to% of 3%. -- 2% to 3%. >> sorry, i'm ruining his last name. if roman is not here, [reading

names] >> overall, the report makes a lot of good points and there are some concerns i have, but overall, the report looks pretty good. i would remind the board the a couple years ago, we were approached by the mta taxi division to get involved in this program and were given options on what to do. we have invested a lot of time and money in perpetuating this program that seems to be supported by this report. probably the one item mentioned

by the previous speaker, i think there are places for everything. there are great product out there that worked in situations. i can tell you that the recommendation of using the equipment is paramount and has to do more with calls of a daily basis about people and it could be for a fare that was incorrectly put in the computer, a double charge, we need to follow up. people sometimes also have a lost and found item at a don't remember the cabin. we can research the trip to help them with a lost person or wallet. i think there is a lot of great technology out there and it will be great for a lot of facets of the public.

i think it is paramount for proper customer service. >> [reading names] >> i am in favor of the credit cards, and in favor of electronic waybills, and i am in favor of the sea terminals. i have seen an increase in tips. i don't have to touch their credit card. i haven't seen it negative things. they get a little upset about the brightness, but the effect that on there and on.

a lot of things are brought up with a driver concerns have to do with not paying taxes and fraud, which i don't think is something that you want to help them with. public assistance is the help of those that don't have in come, and not to help those that have been, isaac. we're in the twenty first century. people have expense accounts, people don't carry cash with them, and i don't have any negative comments from anyone in my taxi about credit cards. if you are on business, you're using this something your company gives you, not your money. if it is on the credit card, the company pays if they move on. when they have the option of doing 15% to 20%, 20% jets hit a

lot more than 15%. >> here are about 12 verso surveys in the last 10 years are so, and it is totally independent, but everyone came to the conclusion exactly what the contractor wanted, but this time we are paying for it. i don't know how much of the study cost, but it says to give us more money for another study. i came here because i am a big of square. those guys talk to me, they want to talk to him, apparently. maybe they can't because there will be asking questions about financial people.

the big pink umbrella in the room is the advertising. it is not about 5% and it is all about banks. you can turn it off and it is still going to advertise. there is a lot of money in them and there is no talk about what that money is. the report says they didn't get around to that. i think it is time to end these reports and quit monkeying around with the cab business. where have so much stuff in that car. we have a computer, an antenna, a computend we're crowding passengers. >> [reading names]

>> i think i am going against the tide, but i will speak like peace. i have a crown victoria that will be replaced pretty soon, i hope. and then i will be stuck with a back seat terminal. i have only used them at a couple of the replacement cabs. i find them intrusive. my passengers are not interested. ammonite driver, i don't like the player behind me. i wonder why the study didn't pass passengers. most completely ignore this. i leave is advertising,

passengers don't seem to care about that. i want to support the advertisers or am i going to support people reluctant to carry cash. it is easy to just charge. why not carry cash? it makes you feel good and you go home when you run out. i might be going against the tide, but i am against them for these reasons. and has anyone asked passengers? and if we must have these, can't we have a choice? i can adapt to that. only boston and new york require these machines. is there reason why they are optional in the others?

>> the afternoon, directors. 36 hours, we were in the town hall meetings. what we mentioned, who they are gone. it is that democracy? that they brought an outsider, and this person was stacked up for 15 people. out of that, me and one other person who don't want to be, but they put us -- and some of them were some people don't have a second person. this report came out and do to that. his this is all a front to cover up -- they are your friends, not enemies. you want to live with them, they want to live with you.

the question is simple. i objected when she went to canada. she came back and put 5%. the back seat terminals and benefited one of her friends. looking at boston, san jose, sacramento, $50 drivers pay for the shift. your reply $104. -- here, we pay $104. someone from the third world and even to this point. these people are stacking about because the companies are going to make about $3 million from advertising with the company's offering them and $7 million from the 5 per cent credit card fees. they are lying, the medallion

holder from $1,500 has gone up to $3,000. dr. in the afternoon, chairman nolan. i want to say that high enough and of nelson. they take the work seriously, and i am not joking. they have done work for the transportation majority in they have done some great studies. they take their presentations seriously. the outcome is that we got our money's worth. my only concern is that i don't think they included enough feedback because they invited a select group of people.

the outcome is still the point to make. let's minimize the cost of the drivers. why? and then make more money and they provide better customer service to the passengers. it is hard drive in san francisco. backseat monitors can be destructive to someone trying to listen to a passenger, try to pay attention to the traffic, trying to listen to the radio sometimes. there is a lot to pay attention to in the vehicle at the driver still has to drive safely and look at the car in front of them. that translates in the driver hitting safely from one destination to another. that is the point of this guy was trying to make here. what do we do to make it less intrusive for the driver, his job and her job to get the

passengers safely end for the low-cost as possible? it is important to do a combination of some things. the law says we can do a $10 minimum, and maybe we can lead some of the discounts for cash. i think we need to look at -- [chime] thank you. >> [reading names] >> i want to say thank you for the meter increase in the black lamb memo, i wanted to say that for the general public comment. with respect to the report, i want to read a piece from page 7 of that, it says on first point they contend that the credit card charges are not audible by the company and there is no way to check the charge as the meter is not connected to the device.

if a customer questions the company about a charge, it is a challenge because there is no record of the charge. i want to say that the city and county holds the position that i am a self-employed business owner, so the simple question is, who with the customer call? why wouldn't they call me? it seems like the obvious answer, but this industry is filled with new ones. the regulating agency, whether it is this agency or previous ones have that kind of control over to the color schemes. despite my status as an independent business owner, i am very compromised and i have to make serious concessions over the kinds of control i have over my business. it should be my decision as a

business owner about whether not i have a back seat 1. it should not be decided by the cab company. drivers should have the option to use a square other than the requirement for using credit card processing, i hoped that you approve, overall, these recommendations. >> a un i have known each other for a while and you know i respect you very much, i just want to have one question because you are out there and you know how to customers johann. and get into your cat, i have paid attention to what color scheme it is because that is something we remember. i run my credit card and a later have a problem with that, you're suggesting that i call you. how would i do that? >> despite that i am supposed to be a busi