forward to his continued leadership. i also want to take a moment to acknowledge two of my predecessors as chairman. mr. flynn, assuredly the gold standard in san francisco. thank you for what you have done, and my immediate predecessor, let us with a great deal of compassion and dignity through some extremely difficult times over the past several years. thank you for being with us. was it over the course of the last hundred years, and unique as a perverse workforce, forged by women and men as innovation and dedication, as reflected the melting pot of cultures that make up our very vibrant city. throughout this centennial year, we're taking moments like this to look back at the first 100 years. our transit system is like none other in the world, to celebrate where we have been and where we plan to go in the future. muni was a contributions to san francisco will continue to do and very challenging times.

tomorrow, and unique, and the entire and she returned to the task of increasing mobility options -- muni and the entire mta return to the task of the increasing mobility options. the intrepid spirit of the people of san francisco epitomizes the city's municipal railroad and its work through all these years. while our challenges are great and daunting, our determination is even greater as we begin our second hundred years. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, tom. who is this a ed -- this ed reiskin everyone is talking about? he has provided a brand of leadership that will take the sfmta well into the coming years. he will be launching the agency's new strategic plan this

july 1. san francisco, a great city, and excellent transportation choices. please welcome ed reiskin. [applause] >> thank you very much. it is such a thrill just to see all of you here, to be here, and it is such a thrill to have this job, to be able to serve as your director of transportation. i think i have the best job in the city, and i really see it as a privilege and an honor, and i in turn want to honor those who came before me. the leadership of the agency, the commissioners, the directors, but even more so, the women and men who for 100 years have been working hard to make muni work -- the operators, mechanics, accountants, analysts, engineers -- [applause]

and our great partners in labor represent them, without whom we would not have the system we have. millions of hours of effort and love and expertise have been poured into the transportation system of san francisco over the last hundred years, and that is something that san francisco should be very current. as we look forward to the next 100 years, we have a lot to be excited about. this is a great time for transportation in san francisco. we have great things on the horizon. we are in the midst of approving a two-year operating and capital budget that represents significant investments into our transit system and into our transportation system. we are improving muni through the trans effectiveness project, making it function better, more effectively, -- through the transit effectiveness project. we are improving taxi service, so we see great things ahead as we move into the next century of

service for muni and the mta and helping to make moving around san francisco better, easier, safer, and more enjoyable for people who need to get around in this great city of ours. it is an honor to serve the people of san francisco and the people of the bay area. i want to thank the great leadership represented by those behind me and the men and women of the mta for making any success we have possible. before i relinquish the microphone, i am going to ask our operations folks to start moving car number 1. they are going to turn it around so we can take a ride on it, and then we are going to put it back in service for the people of san francisco home it was meant to serve --whom it was meant to serve. [applause]

>> thank you. we called tom nolan mr. transit, which means rick will be mr. streetcar. nobody has worked harder to bring historic street cars back to san francisco. from the trolly festival of 1983 that was championed by senator feinstein to the f line of today, rick has been on that mission here today, the f line is america's most popular streetcar line, and it is the only guy in the bay area to actually pay the proper fare when he gets on and off the streetcar. i know you other people have not done it regularly. please welcome rick. [applause] >> thank you. i just wanted you to know there is a future after radio. [laughter] that was a long time ago, i can tell you. senator feinstein, mayor lee,

and they are brown, supervisors, other officials and guests -- mayor brown, supervisors, other officials and guests, muni is today what it is because of people like mr. flynn devoted their lives to it. i am joined by several directors, including our vice president, who leads a lot of our efforts. doug is the man who, when he was deputy mayor and planning commissioner, had a lot to do with the embarcadero uc today. -- you see today. he has given so much of his time to san francisco to make it a better place. we joined today in celebrating america's first big city publicly owned transportation system owned by the people themselves. today, it is a landmark of the progressivism that has marked our city for a century. the historic streetcar we rededicate today, is a city

symbol of the history. it carried generations of san franciscans around the city to shop, to work, to learn, to play. it almost certainly carried my grandparents when they lived on utah st. and is america's first publicly owned big city streetcar, it almost certainly qualifies to be sitting on display at the smithsonian, but we in san francisco had a better place for it than that. because we put our history to work. we embrace our hats, but we give it a job to do to benefit our present and helped enrich our future -- we embrace our past. we invite the world to use our streetcars as part of our regular transit service to get to places they want to go to and to have fun in the process. these museums in motion have proven their value here today,

the f line is america's most popular street car line and attract as many rides every -- riders every day as our other lines combined. senator feinstein gave me too much of a role in this. this would not have happened without the mayors who have been involved in this through the years, starting with been near feinstein -- then mayor finds that appeared when i was in her office, she looked, listen, and said, "alright, i will do it, but i do not want to see any junk out there." we have watched the street cars go by. i think we have done a good job of keeping it classy. after the mayor said the very high standard for this service, muni has constantly delivered on it, starting with me when he ran the public utilities commission.

he has insured that it rose to a level that is worthy of san francisco. his successors both in the governing body and in management. ed today and his predecessors have kept that going. it is their work, not the work of the volunteers like myself, who are responsible for this system being what it is, and it is time to honor them for that. [applause] i want to particularly on our people who we do not see. we all see the operators, and many of them are wonderful with the riders, a model for operators on every line, but i also want to acknowledge the maintenance folks who have not been mentioned today. they do an exceptional job of keeping these cars running well. want to particularly call out a man named carl johnson who has been doing this for 30 years. [applause] he now heads the maintenance

department, and his leader, carol gilbert, who is a true artist on streetcars. they really care. they give their heart to this. i have heard from transit agencies and advocates all over the world asking how we did this and more importantly, how they could do it. there are always people who want to learn from us and emulate it. i start by telling them that you need a city government and transit system like san francisco's where transit is not treated as the ride of last resort, where leaders understand that attractive transit drive incremental sales tax and property tax revenues and adds to rather than detract from the urban fabric and the ability of our city. other cities have followed our lead, and we can be proud of that. the example we follow today's battle the the past and present, but also the future. muni service built this city

over the last century. today, the investment we made in the t line is revitalizing neighborhoods. these historic street cars on the f line which have already helped transform the northern embarcadero, enabling the star attractions, will help mayor lee in his initiative to revitalize mid market. streetcars are a colorful connection between the mid- market neighborhood and vibrant communities elsewhere along the route. with some creative promotions, they can bring more people to bid market, which i call the heart of market, and helped drive the artist and technology communities now getting established there. our nonprofit pledges of our help to you in helping put the existing service to work to help you meet your mid-market goals. we also look forward to the permanent implementation of additional streetcar service

along the whole wing of the embarcadero, the e line that mayor brown foresaw as being a powerful tool to help develop the unmatched waterfronts of the poor. finally, we look forward to expanding on the original vision of senator feinstein from her days as mayor. leveraging this investment, we have already managed to attract maintenance facilities any historic street cars like the one we are going to ride by extending service to reunite the two halves of fisherman's wharf, revitalize up what our, answered the -- revitalize aquatics parke -- aquatic park and serve the marina. bring the historic streetcar service to more of our publicly owned waterfront would be a fitting way to help launch the second century of america's first publicly owned transit system. it would be a capstone to a new

landmark of our city that started 30 years ago with the vision of a mayor. to all the civic leaders here today who have made this historic streetcar service and muni the valuable contributors to our economy that they are, thank you. [applause] >> thank you. now, before we take a ride, i would like to recognize the other centennial committee members and dignitaries. please stand and give us a wave. >> one, two, three -- there you go.

>> 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