i did not know about that either. i think a lot of these are kind of growing pains of the system, and i just want to chime in and say how great it is to sit on the bus and hear that repeated beeping as they get on the bus, and we could not do that without this, and in the last month, i'd think i have used my clipper card on board, on a munich, on caltrain, when i wrote to 04 on my bicycle and took a public transportation back. i have in-laws in marin. a lot of times, it is a ferry ride over or a bike ride. there is one that does not yet take a clipper, and i am looking at a gentleman whom i know what i am talking about. the key for the report. this is very good. i am a huge fan of clipper, and

i think that this is getting closer to a system that i experienced in hong kong, where there was one card that would take you anywhere. thank you for this report, because it is good to see how is -- has progressed. thank you. chairman nolan: director ramos? director ramos: everyone here thinks this is addressed, then it certainly does not need to come back. if this issue has been resolved, particularly with a fare collection, i am comfortable moving on and not expecting anything at this point. like i said, i thought it was addressed when you showed the chart that shared that debt, and that was my primary concern. i am looking forward to a communications strategy when we go to the boarding, and that might be the best time to bring

this up again. since mtc is here, i do regularly take transit system, and it is a real bomber to get on and then get on board, and then get on another system and have them tell me, "sorry, do not know what you are talking about pure " hopefully we can have this their scent. my last complaint is that that be and so loud sometimes, it really is hard on a person's years. i have heard from a few people that when they are just trying to take a casual, calm ride in, if there is any way we can turn it down area i have heard it turned it down before. it was very nice on the ears, and i thought maybe they were moving toward that, but i think it was a fluke.

chairman nolan: director heinicke? director heinicke: the complaints i get about clipper are none really, as people appreciate it. it took some convincing to get folks to do it, but now they seem pretty good about it. i would imagine also that if we were having root problems with registration on the system that we would see resulting complaints about tickets, and our proof of payment of buzzers would say that people are claiming over and over again, and to my knowledge, we are not seeing that. but the problems that you described are very real as part of the implementations system, so i am glad it is going well, and i do not know that we need to talk about it on that level.

the one issue i have is that we at 330,000 daily-week day clipper boardings. am i remembering right that we have 700,000 boardings total? do we anticipate that 330,000 number going up significantly? and i guess i am a this point a little surprised that your than half of our boardings are clipper boardings, and i am just wondering why is that? >> i believe that generally represents the best passes, so is the adults, the senior, and the young. that is a big chunk that has moved over. the cache bears on the clipper are still quite a bit less, and that is probably the most difficult, the people would pay cash because they are local and choose not to buy or because of the frequency with which -- with which they use munis were people coming from out of town. there are a couple of other categories.

our next biggest category is lifeline passes, which are think is on the order of 20,000 per month. we have been talking about the ability to transition lifeline pass holders over, but the passes are really kind of the low hanging fruit. and we have gotten our big categories already, so the next is really moving to, aside from lifeline, moving to cash bears, which is going to be much slower. >> right, and we have discussed that before, and i know you know my views. my view would be to move to a cashless system or as close to it as we can. i think the efficiency and the safety and the revenue, there are all sorts of reasons to do that, so our would just give you my reaction. i was surprised of the number after all of the average, it was still this low. i guess it is not an indication of the success of clipper. it is an indication the i

misunderstood how many cache bears where having on a daily basis, which is apparently a lot, so i would just reiterate i would as a policy matter favor doing whatever we can to move away from cash there's, and it is interesting to hear that even on a lot of people, you know, you are making more than just one trip or something like that are unwilling to load up a clipper card, and i wonder if one thing to look at there is a differential one-time affair for clipper versus actually throwing coins into the box, to give people incentive to do one-time hits with the clipper card. >> if i could, i think that financial incentives are something that we should look at. the indexing policy that the board put in place a number of years ago for the upcoming fiscal years, because of the weight indexing policy is structured will raise fast pass

theirs but not single-use theirs because of the way the formula works and because of rounding, some of the adult fast pass with bart will go to 72 to 74 to 76, and the adult fare will stay at two dollars, so single use and cash versus clipper, something that the board, that will be happy to bring for the board consideration, all the passes that i mentioned are already clipper, but for single use theirs, many of them are cash. one thing we could do is that if you tap your clipper card, it is $2. if you want to use cash, it is more. director: the reason i favored the indexing program was to avoid arbitrary increases for

pure financial budgeting reasons. i think there is a reasonable and legitimate exception to the indexing program if you are making a fair differential for transit policy reasons, which this would be, so i for one would not oppose looking at that sort of thing as we revisit fares the next time around. director bridges: i think another got to 90%, which is the best in the region. director: i know that director brinkman and i think i to eye on this. there is somebody up there with a quarter, slowing the whole thing down. i appreciate your report, but i'm surprised by the number and want to know what we can do to get that number as close to

700,000 as we possibly can. director oka: it is my hope that paratransit's can be switched over to the clipper card also. i have been pushing with mtc since the beginning of time. we need one mechanism that works on everything, and, you know, i would love to see that before my time on this earth. i am not going to hold my breath, but we should be able to do that. chairman nolan: thank you very much. i thank you for bringing this to our attention, director ramos. secretay boomer: mr. chairman, no one has indicated an interest of addressing you up to this

point. >> good afternoon, director. first, i want to wish you a happy new year and a major happy new year from munich. with all of the stuff i learned from this today, i thought it was just like the old days, so i learned something, and that may improve your numbers. one little complaint that i have heard about, the student clipper cards, it is very difficult for people to add money to the student clipper cards. there should be a place where every mile or so on major routes where you can get off and just recharged on a monthly basis. it is easy in my neighborhood, but i never heard people who cannot do that and have to go downtown, and that is completely out of the way, so we should work on that. and i want to add my voice that we should sometime soon nubbers is still young get people to use clipper card for every ride.

the advantage is that when you have your small increases, they just go right into the clipper card, and of course, you've already started to speak that if you want people to use the clipper card 100%, then you may have to charge a premium for the cash there, and i do not think it is a problem, even for visitors, when they know they are staying at a hotel. you can seldom a clipper card, and they can go to the walgreens or something, and then you get zero cash. that should be the ultimate, so happy new year. banks are not. chairman nolan: -- thank you. chairman nolan: thank you. ms. boomer? secretay boomer:

>> the board voted unanimously to settle the cheah case and moved the murillo case to the next meeting. chairperson nolan: we are finished. >> and i win. >> it is the first time ever. >> that sets a precedent, you know. ok.

>> the next time you take a muni bus or train, there could be new technology that could make it easier to get to your destination. many are taking a position of next bus technology now in use around the city. updated at regular intervals from the comfort of their home or workplace. next bus uses satellite technology and advanced computer modeling to track buses and trains, estimating are bought stocks with a high degree of accuracy. the bus and train our arrival information can be accessed from your computer and even on your cellular phone or personal digital assistant. knowing their arrival time of the bus allows riders the choice of waiting for it or perhaps doing some shopping locally or getting a cup of coffee. it also gives a greater sense that they can count on you to get to their destination on time.

the next bus our arrival information is also transmitted to bus shelters around the city equipped with the next bus sign. riders are updated strictly about arrival times. to make this information available, muni has tested push to talk buttons at trial shelters. rider when pushes the button, the text is displayed -- when a rider pushes the button. >> the success of these tests led to the expansion of the program to all stations on the light rail and is part of the new shelter contract, push to talk will be installed. check out the new technology making your right easier every day

>> sanrio famous for the designs for hello kitty. i thought i would try to make it

as cute as possible. that way people might want to read the stories. then people might be open to learn about the deities and the culture. ♪ they reached out to make about five or six years ago because of the book published. they appreciated that my work was clearly driven from my research and investigation. after i contributed my artwork, the museum was really beside themselves. they really took to it. the museum reached out to me to see if i would be interested in my own space inside the museum. i tell them that would be a dream come true. it is the classical, beautiful indian mythology through the lens of modern design and illustration and storytelling.

they're all of these great sketch as i did for the maharajah exhibition. i get a lot of feedback on my artwork and books. they complement. they say how original the work is. i am the first person to say that this is so derived from all of this great artwork and storytelling of the past. the research i put into all of my books and work is a product of how we do things that a-- at pixar. sometimes you will see him depicted monkey-like or as superman. i wanted to honor his monkey coloring. i decided to paint him white with a darker face. it is nice to breathe new life

into it in a way that is reverent and honors the past but also lets them breathe and have fun. it is almost a european notion to bring these symbols and icons from southeast asia. they decorate their deities. it was a god they interacted with every day in a human way. the most important thing has been to create work that is appealing to me. i want to see vishnu to pick did in a modern way. it dawned on me by reinterpreting the deities in a way that is modern and reverent to the history, i am building a bridge for young and old audiences to make friends with

the culture and these icons to learn their stories. ♪ [music] paratransit is specialized transportation for seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to use the muni system. in san francisco, we're proud that we've had a paratransit program since 1978 long before it was mandated by the americans with disabilities act in 1990. san francisco is a unique city and our paratransit program reflects this. we have a network of services, including sf access van service, paratransit taxi, including wheelchair accessible ramp taxi and group van which serves groups of individuals going to a single location like a senior center.

[music] >> i'm elsa scott and i'm a retired federal employee and i'm a native of san francisco. i use paratransit because, i've been using it for about six years because six years ago i had to start dialysis treatments at cpmc. so i'm very dependent on paratransit three times a week, coming and going.. my current driver is brian berquist.; he's just such a friendly, sort of a teddy bear kind of a guy. i don't know what it is about brian, but all of us old ladies want to feed brian. [music] >> hi, my name is fred lein.

i'm most proud of driving a ramp taxi since the beginning of the program in 1994. [music] >> fred, you are the absolute best! thank you fred for providing transportation for me and opening up my social life, and taking care of medical appointments, taking care of my mother [music] >> hi, my name is ann bailey and i've driven for luxor for almost five years now. i drove for desoto cab for 10 years prior to that. i drove in 1976 for the old, old yellow cab.

this is frances mecchi and i've been driving her for about 11 or 12 years to her alzheimer's day program, which we call the memory club. every day when we drive through the presidio she'll say, "oh goody, you're taking me through the enchanted forest." [music] >> my name amr a.mahmoud. i am like 49 years old. i have been driving cab more than 13 year in general. then i drove a ramp more than 3 years. this is my fourth now. i have been enjoying doing the job. i like every moment of it.

>> thank you amr. [music} >> hi, my name is peter and i'm a paratransit driver for medsam, and this is north and south of market where i pick up my group and drop them off at home. >> thank you , peter! [singing] you are my sunshine. very good driver. she says driver is very good. number 1. [music] larry mingo, mobility plus driver, san francisco paratransit. >> thank you, mingo. >> you're welcome.

>> hi, mingo. >> thank you, mingo. >> thank you, mingo. thank you. [music] >> thank you, larry mingo. >> hey larry mingo, you are awesome. thanks for a great, great job you do for us. appreciate it. >> thank you, mingo. [music] >> hello, my name is james fells i've been working with paratransit for 13 years now. i get a kick out of the job; i like helping people you know when they need help to go shopping or getting picked up at the medical building. i really like helping people and that's why i've been working so long. >> hi, my name is kalani. i'm a driver with mobility plus. i love my job! and i've been working, i've been a driver since may and i'm pretty satisfied with the company.

so, two thumbs up, hope you guys have a nice day. >> sandra johnson and i've been working for mobility plus for about 4 and a half years. i love it. this is my job and i love it. it's very rewarding for me. one of my proudest moments is one of my clients left his cane on the bus and i've been picking him up now for about three years so i know that that cane was important to him. and i had dropped him off and i noticed the cane later on that day so i kept it with me and when i went back down to la play, when i worked my way back down there on a break to give it to him, he kissed my hand, 'cuz he can't talk. so he grabbed my hand and he kissed my hand. it just made me know that that was an important thing for him. so that was my proudest moment. [music]

>> one couple who were riding with us, morning and afternoon, mr. and mrs. lee. mr. lee was the dialysis patient and he's probably in his 80's and every time we would drive up to buchanan street, the hospital, mr. lee would say, "good job, fine driver, number one driver" and he would go like this [thumbs up gesture]. and then as brian would be helping him off the van, mr. lee, i heard him so often say, "brian, if anybody gives you any trouble you send them to me and i'll take care of them." and here great big old brian would say, "henry, you're the first one i would try to get help from." and he says, "the second one is elsa." [laugh] so we knew that we were being relied on by brian. a few weeks back, mrs. lee called brian early in the morning to tell him not to bother picking them up because they were already at the hospital. mr. lee was ill and she had taken him to the er.

the next day or so, brian, on his lunchtime, found out that mr. lee had been admitted to the hospital and he went up to mr. lee's room and just stuck his head in just to say hello. and the minute mr. lee saw him he went [gesture thumb up in the air] like that. and mrs. lee said, "he's telling you again you're number one driver. so brian really appreciated that; he thought that was really sweet. but he could see mr. lee wasn't doing so well so he left really quickly. and unfortunately, mr. lee passed away that evening. that had a great impact on brian and me. it was very sad, but it was so touching that he had seen mr. lee and mr. lee had confirmed that brian was "number one driver." >> this is san francisco paratransit.

it's not perfect; we have our ups and downs: late trips, frustrated customers, stressed out drivers. but at our best, we get our riders where they need to go on time and with a smile. and when we pay attention real carefully and notice what's happening on the van, taxi, or at the senior center, we notice that our drivers make a difference in the rider's lives and the riders make a difference in the drivers lives.

supervisor campos: good morning everyone, welcome to the thursday, january 12, 2012 meeting. i'm the chair of committee. the clerk of the committee today is filling in for her birthday. we want to thank members of the sfgtv staff for covering the committee today. can you make any announcements? >> the