we have been working very closely with sf travel to approve the information that operators receive on how to operate in san francisco. we have a publication called the "motor coach update." it goes into quite a bit of detail. but streets they're allowed to operate on, which treats that are not allowed to operate on. we gave them the opportunity to contact me if they have suggestions on how that publication could be improved, or how the regulations could be improved. in august 2010, it discusses this permit system that we had envisioned for all tour bus operators in san francisco. every private operator would need to work with our department to obtain a permit if they

wanted to part in any of these specially designated parking zones about the city. we asked for feedback on that idea. we got some resistance from operators and we also thought it was going to be quite a difficult administrative task to outreach to companies across the country, explain this permit system, collect their fees, at issue a permit, updated every year. we are not currently proposing to pursue that at this point. that is a summary of what we have done so far. supervisor mar: when you expect the mta board to finalize this plan? >> i think we have implemented the things that are feasible.

i do not think there is -- most things were approved by the mta board as they were implemented. i do not think there is a need for them to come back and take a look at the entire plan. supervisor mar: you do not think there other things your agency can do to move things forward? >> enforcement is key. supervisor mar: to speak on the topic of enforcement, which is the topic that came up at the last meeting, i would like to invite -- >> i have been transferred over to traffic. i am working at mta. i will be coordinating the plan to enforce any of the violations

as they occur, targeting whatever locations are identified and whatever the plan is. we will be working very closely with them. i will be coordinating the activities from the district stations along with the traffic company enforcement. supervisor mar: no enforcement efforts has wrapped up within your division? >> correct. the boat ramp up as the legislation is rolled out -- we will ramp up as the legislation is rolled out. we understand the problems in the target areas and we will be dedicating our resources. supervisor mar: will you be able to track the number of citations? >> rouble issued the citations and violations -- we will issued the citations and the violations and then we will submit a full report. we have about 23 officers at mta and we have 24 motorcycle

officers that are assigned to mta now. supervisor mar: one thing that would be helpful is to understand month by month what kind of citations have been issued. many of our local tour bus operators will understand what they need to do pretty quickly. i anticipate it will be our out- of-town companies that will have more trouble getting into compliance. >> that is what we intend to do. we want to track it and see where everything is going. supervisor mar: in three months, if we could give a status report. and maybe every quarter for the first year just to understand how implementation is going? thank you. colleagues? the last person i would like to invite up is to talk about -- is tom here? i did not see you.

he is from the department of public health. he is responsible for the enforcement of noise issues. he has been working closely with my office and the operators are around legislative item number three. it gets at this issue of open- air tour bus loudspeakers. it was proposed in all these conversations of the department of public help set up a regulatory structure that his office is responsible for enforcing to ensure that our bosuses are in compliance with noise ordinances. >> good afternoon, supervisors. we have been able to meet with the operators and do some fields evaluations of their equipment and they're in a seat -- annunciation systems. we believe that -- annunciation

systems. we believe they can deliver an adequate message to their patrons and still comply with the standard at 50 feet. it is embodied in the state motor vehicle code. what we would basically do is have a local system, or local regulatory system, that allowed us to more fluidly implement the motor vehicle code compliance and have a direct location for members of the public to launch -- lodge their complaints. we could have a system or we could rapidly communicate those complaints to the operators and develop an effective mechanism for getting compliance. assuming all the parties involved try to comply with the regulation. we are hoping for a cooperative

interaction, one through which the operators recognize that it is in their best interest to try to accommodate the acoustical needs of the communities in which they are operating and report back to you how well that works or does not work. supervisor mar: initially, the legislation had an implementation date of june 1 of 2012. obviously, that will be overly challenging. i would like to propose that we change that date from june 1 to october 1. it is my hope that we will be able to get this program up and running before october 1. i want to give the industry and the department enough time to make it happen. i would have -- i would be happy for it to be shorter.

if that makes sense to folks, that is something i will propose. >> it would be helpful. >> i can tou hearr bhear tour bm inside my home. i know the 50-foot roll is a state code. can you explain why it is 50 feet and not 10 or 20 feet? as residents talked about the multiple buses in their area, there is a cumulative impact of the noise. could you explain a little bit about why it is 50 feet? it seems intuitively that it should be a better protection against noise in the vehicle code or local government been able to protect against that level of noise in a quiet residential neighborhood.

>> the standard is based upon the practicality of being able to house an annunciation system and had it function for the patrons or passengers and at the same time, the technology other than to have a personal fault -- personal amplification system or earphones. >> if the engine of a bus, that is a certain level of noise. p a system should be able to speak above that volume of the engine of the vehicle. that might be one reason why it is 50 feet? >> the reason why it is 50 feet is simply because from a practical standpoint, most stereos in cars and most amplification systems on motor vehicles generate noise -- at 50

feet, it is tough to get its in the lower than that. >> for a convertible car or a car that has a cover on it that is not a convertible, i would understand that you would need your car stereo. but when it is an open air car like -- half of the companies have these on coverage vehicles, it is different than if it is a covered vehicle or a bus. >> they are vehicles like cable cars without sides and they had speaker systems that car formatted in a variety of configurations. what we observed is by turning them down to a level where they were audible for the passengers, they were not audible at 50 feet

primarily because of the noise generated by denise -- diesel engines. when they become very quiet, the announcement -- in other words, we will need amplification system that modulates with the ambient noise level. there is electronic equipment that will do that. >> i essene different examples and i could hear the tour buses go by my house from inside the house. but i was standing outside of city hall and a person who went by and i could not hear anything. it sounds like regulation of the sound is critical. i am not sure why i would hear it inside my house. maybe the ones that go by in the inner richmond need to be looked at as being too loud. >> the directionality of the speaker system is projecting

upwards? those are all modifications. that is why we need the extra time in order to be able to look at each individual bus. >> that was the testimony of people from whether it was north beach or the inner richmond on eighth avenue or 15th avenue, district 5, people can hear very clearly, and it seems like it is exceeding the 50 foot requirement. if i could hear it from inside my house, it is probably way too loud. >> is a matter of whether or not your windows were open. >> my windows were totally closed. they are very secure windows. >> it must have been a very loud. >> i want to thank you and your staff with working -- for working with my office. as we move forward, there will be some additional conversations

that need to be done. i am happy to encourage that. i also have thought the 50 foot distance is a long distance. it is one that is sent out in our state transportation code and i understand that is the model we are using. but i want to save this -- say this, if it turns out after six months that this issue of noise still remains a problem, i am still very interested in the initial idea we had, which was a round wireless headphones. the feedback from the industry was that the costs are around requiring wireless headphones would be significant. i've recently been educated, the wireless headphone technology costs have gone down dramatically. there are some very cost- effective solutions akin to

what folks use in museums in other cities that we could use. if this solution does not work over the next six or 12 months, i might dust that proposal off. supervisor mar: any other questions? public comment? >> free minutes per person. -- three minutes per person. >> i have a couple of cards. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am a member of north beach neighbors and have the honor to work with supervisor chiu, the mta, on the ordinance that went

into effect on north beach. as you can see, in north beach, we were successful in creating a little sun. we're asking operators not to operate. these are residential streets, the border joe dimaggio playground. it is also an area right bite the communities -- a right by a community center. i do not want to demonize the tour bus industry. we all benefit from that. particularly north beach. we also need this enforced. there has been zero enforcement since this went into effect bridges this weekend, 15 -- went into effect. the signs are in a factual. we have seen a reduction in some

operators, many operators ignore it. and their drivers are dismissive or rude, at best. the operation of the -- the operators of the quacking bus actually had his passengers quack at our neighbor. columbus day, a broad way, we need safety. we really need them to honor this system. thank you. supervisor mar: it would be great if your folks could focus on that no tour bus zone. to the operators, i continue to hear that you are working on

making sure your colleagues are not violating the law, but i continue to hear from dozens of residents that what we agreed on still has not been met. i called up a number of other names. if those individuals would like to speak, now is the time. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for the opportunity. i am with classic cable cars. i am sorry to hear of the recent comments and will do my best to bank sure that they are addressed. -- i best to make sure that they are addressed. i think we need to hear about it as well. i will go talk to my driver's immediately to address this. we would also like to thank tom and mta for hearing loss. you've been able to find common

ground for our organization. we are very appreciative. thank you for that. from the neighborhood perspective, i would like to apologize. we want to be good neighbors, too. supervisor mar, we will work to address those. there are a couple of concerns, thank you for the deadline. it helps the operators association to be able to implement this. there are a few concerns we have regarding the fee structure. if we could set up a meeting soon thereafter with the cochairs of tour operators association, that would be appreciated. there are many questions surrounding not. the other mentioned, i would like to talk about that is not just about the sound, but buses

going into the neighborhoods as well. we are working very hard in the calomel square -- alamo square. we think this could decrease the amount of buses going in and out of that neighborhood. the merchants, and we have communicated with many of them, are agreeing with this. we're asking that the supervisors allow us the opportunity to place a loading zone, hot on and pop off only -- hop on and hop off only. there is an opportunity is there that we have that could resolve a few things. you have a lot of buses inside alamo square. you could take them outside of

that. we are looking forward to that. we want to find common ground. we are good community players. thank you for the opportunity to work with you and to get this thing resolved. supervisor mar: if i called your name, if you could line up on the aisle on the left side of the room. >> good afternoon. the alamo square area is one of the most visited places in the city of san francisco. visitors are jury important to the city of san francisco. in 2010 -- a very important to the city of san francisco. they spent $8.3 billion in 2010.

we go to great lengths to be very kind and considerate to the residence. we only have three buses that to go through there. thank you for having me here today. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. we are fully in support of this noise ordinance. we are fully committed to submitting all these regulations. we appreciate the extension to october 1. the 50-foot roll, i am stands at 50 sounds like a long distance. if we could get that to 10 feet and have it still audible, that is what we will do. we're still getting a few complaints.

we are fully committed to living with the citizens of san francisco. if we could eliminate the problems in north beach and alamo square, that is what we will do. we have had a few slip ups, maybe, in north beach. the feedback is extremely useful to us. we have a lot of the vehicles and drivers running around. i want to let you all know that we are here and we are reaching out to the community. if you have any more complaints, come to us with them. we want to work with the city and be good neighbors. thank you. >> supervisors, thank you very

much for working with the organization. the overarching comment about our association, a year ago, we were informed. there has been a tremendous amount of progress. not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the phenomenal progress in the year. we have committed to provide contact names so there is not a mystery about the organization or who to contact. we will certainly distribute that among all the supervisors. we do not want to be invisible, we do not want to be hard to find. we want people to call and voice their concerns. again, we are not anywhere near where we want to be, but we are a long way since a year ago. thank you. a big shot out to the mta. we also want to differentiate --

ask for your support and find out how to not be painted with the same brush as out of town buses. hundreds of buses come from out of town, and we have no authority or no control. we want to figure out the way, as a local association, to work with those people. there needs to be some outreach through national and state bus associations. we do not have control and authority over them. we did demonized with their miscreant behavior. the north beach zone violation is one such situation. it is not very many of the local

companies. any suggestions you have around contacting out of state, out of city companies, would be welcome. we've come a long way. supervisor mar: from the perspective of residence and constituents, they often cannot tell but -- cannot tell the difference between local and out of town bus. i believe there are many operators in town that really want to do the right thing and understand that you are servicing our international tourism business with the neighborhood setting. there are plenty of operators that do not get that. it is very difficult for the police department, mta, or for us at the board of supervisors, to figure that out. we know your industry far better

than we do. >> we will work very diligently on trying to figure that out. as a citizen, i do not care what color the bus is. if they are causing a problem, they are causing the problem. the citizens should not have to work so hard to figure out who's buses they are. education, outreach, enforcement would be a great help. president chiu: i have one more name. >> good afternoon. thank you very much for listening to our problems. i want to bring attention to a street -- it is principally residential. because the bay street parallels towards the reservoir, it is

restricted already. north point street is being hammered from many directions. we have several muni bus routes. we have golden gate transit as a main route. it shakes the buildings, and i have trouble keeping tenants and my three units over a year because they do not know if there is an earthquake, a lightning storm, or what is happening there. something that has not been addressed, i lived at -- i live nine floors up, and the 150 tenants there also experience this nice. i live on the ninth floor, and i hear the noise. i do not understand the 50-fed or 10-foot distance. noise troubles upwards.

i do not know -- travels upwards. we also have these three-wheel scooters, the blast out amplification if you are walking. we're trying to make this a sustainable walking city. there is nothing worse than the smell of diesel and being blasted with the same script over and over. i do not know if you are including this. i very much appreciate the local tour bus are forming the association, but it is such a heavy burden for us to enjoy the quality of life if we have to take the license plates, the numbers, the time and date of the person violating this. how do we find out who is local working with us? who is out of town? it is an important issue because

these buses blocking driveways. this is our home. it becomes a city that is very difficult to live in. we support the sustainability of this area, it is a beautiful area. please look at these issues as well, thank you. >> in the other members of the public? -- any other members of the public? collins, at this time, i would like to ask -- colleagues, at this time, i would like to ask if you could move the amendment i have circulated. there are some strike for is an item number two and item number three. to change the date of implementation from june 1 to october 1, that is on page 6. supervisor mar: