that drives us crazy. . this is hugely important. we make so many of these ad hoc changes, some of which are good. for example, we had a meeting about the subway platform signs. and we really think there needs to be a comprehensive plan for san francisco, one that gives people at every point of entry into the system enough information to ride the system. we too often create tools that are designed for people already

know the system. they are designed for us, and san francisco is a tourist destination. we want the system to be very friendly to people and have not been to san francisco before, for people who have never written transit before or four people you have never ridden -- people who have never ridden transit before or for people who have never ridden muni before. we think that needs to be a priority for the agency going forward. we have also made a similar recommendation with regard to tep. we think that is an important part of the process. we believe they should improve

the existing u.d. map. -- existing muni9 -- muni mpa -- map. we want to see this continued and built upon. it is a really good piece of information design, and we're anxious to see that remain in service. it is very, very useful. with regard to the station agent bullets, -- booths, we would like to have a uniform situation with them. it was here for many years when i was at the agency, and i see the director is smiling because he knows exactly what i am going to say. there is a sign at one st. that said in the station booth "this

is not bart." it is not helpful to tell people what this is not. that is certain like the ultimate failure. we think they too often have been neglected as an important point of information distribution for the trans riders. -- for the transit riders. they should go with the communication the public has. with regard to public announcement systems, we recommend that the public address systems be improved and a lot of places. even when the system is working, which is not always, it is not really audible. sometimes the announcements that come from central control are very hard to year even under the

best of circumstances. there is a lot of eco. and we think that operators and others and should receive more training on verbal communication skills -- excuse me. allergies are killing me today, and that they be made or more robust and pre-recorded impossible. the stock announcements on some of the buses have been, i think, very helpful, as a been the announcements there, which have the advantage of being trilingual in a way that is recorded by people of each of the languages represented, so that is a nice benefit to doing it that way as well. we recommend that the electronic signage inside stations be upgraded as well. that includes the platform level, which we know the agency is working on, and also the

signage at the mezzanine level. there was some discussion that we do not do any signage at street level. we understand there are maintenance issues around that and challenges around that. we understand there are some agencies and the world that do that, and we will take a look at those in the future to see if there is something there that can guide us. we also have a recommendation that the police department or fire department get additional information about not blocking transit and other modes of transportation and removing obstructions to the traffic. we also recommend they get additional transportation education pertaining to san francisco. there are police and fire activities because of the emergency action that must block muni, and we totally accept that. there are times when they do not have to, and we think that is something they should give some

consideration to, and also, they need to prioritize removing obstructions to the flow of transit and other non automobile traffic. we think there is a lot of room for improvement there. we reckon the track lessons learned -- i think that is kind of self-explanatory. every year, we are faced with a good number of special events. there is another one coming up with the america's cup. but there is oracle world to sporting events, you know, all of these things, and we think there needs to be some effort to have a focused process of continual improvement based on what we learn about what works and what does not with regard to those. we also recommend that psr's

reflect not just on officers. st. supervisors have the responsibility for service delivery and not just operators, and we want to make sure they get incorporated into the process of figuring out what went wrong when it is something that falls within their bailiwick. at we want to call this out as something that should be a high priority for the agency. there is also in their an objective to improve the service management, including a fleet manageable online operations center. that is certainly something we agree with.

we recommend this also includes the designation of the vehicles at the embarcadero center. it is very important i think to the functioning of the system that we do that. every time we send out three of the same vehicle in a row, we are wasting resources, because one is loaded, one is average loaded, and the third one is empty, and it is awful to be rolling around some very expensive equipment at a very high cost when it is not carrying passengers. we think there needs to be a more even flow of winds coming out of the embarcadero and that his designation is something that should be part of the strategy. they also recommend a process for vehicles towing vehicles be streamlined. muni officers should be able to call, and they should be

prioritized. when we look at the process for how vehicles blocking muni are removed, and towed away, there are a lot of steps to that process, and we think you can eliminate at least one of those steps and thus get traffic flowing soon. it is very important that we be able to respond rapidly to new vehicles that are blocking the flow of muni. we also recommend that mta, bart, and cal train work on the bike plant, that that be a joint effort. we think that is self- explanatory, and we also recommend a plan. this is a concern that started similar to the stroller issue. space is a very sensitive subject, but we think we should least put a toe in the water.

some have had some success with this, and we think looking at the best examples could be instructive. getting away from the strategic plan for the last two recommendations, we want to recognize the changes to the parking system. we know this had to go into effect on june 1. we recommend a proposal for a more fair and equitable system be drafted no later than september, allowing contractors to park at metered spaces but without a metered limit on time. we think a permit should allow them to park in the area similar to the proposed prepaid daily rpp's, that i believe the staff are recommending. we also recommend that as we do the new electronic signs, that

there is that after you are new designations.-- signs per direction for two reasons. one is that we have talked about the possibility of doing double berthing, and that leaves the possibility of doing it 3-car trains, which is something that has also been talk about in context with the t.e.p. those are the recommendations we have for you. that was quite a lot because our last meeting was cancelled due to or initiatives. i want to say just a couple things about recommendations we have made in the past. first, we are very happy to see that all door boarding have happened. this is something that we recommended i believe the very first year we existed, which was 2000, so it is something we are very happy to see come to fruition, and in fact, there is

a proposal that was made back in 1998, said this has been brewing for quite awhile. it is very gratifying to see this finally happen, and we look forward to reports on how it is going. this is a very important program to speed up transit. and finally, it is getting done. we are pleased about that. and last and certainly the least, i just wanted to advise the board that i have been elected chair for an 11th term, which is usually the sign of some kind of dictatorship of some kind, but i swear there was no coercion involved, and i note that and better for me than it did for gaddafi.

also, my vice-chairman has been on this from pretty much the beginning. he has been reelected as vice chairman, and he also continues not only to do that but also to serve as the chair of the engineering maintenance and safety committee, for which we are grateful, and so with that, that is all i have. if you have any questions, i would be happy to answer that. chair nolan: i have been here six years, and i have been congratulating you each year, so congratulations. comments? director: it would be good to

get something to strive for. i want to thank q4 bringing up the live announcements, which i think are critical, but whenever i hear them, and look around, and everybody is, what did that person said? even being able to speak english, because they are never translated, so when i was in new york, i did hear these pre- recorded emergency announcement that i think are brilliant. they are not the regular announcements that we hear all of the time. it is like an announcement when there is a delay that is expected to be relieved in a matter of minutes. i really appreciate that suggestion. i am wondering about -- i also appreciate the idea of police and fire getting better training, because the number of times, i had been traveling

along, and this is very frustrating, it is very frustrating to be riding in a bike lane, for example, and see a police of a certain for no apparent reason decided to blow over right there and bloggable lane, and it is even worse for transit, obviously. finally, i think it will be interesting to have a dialogue and may be some discussion, just the idea that the committee is called the citizens advisory committee. my father is not a citizen although he served in vietnam, so i would be interested to hear about calling it a community advisory committee. >> first, on the issue of the way finding, there are a lot of

good examples. we think a final product will look something like the transport for london style guide, which is not completely appropriate in san francisco. there is a total comprehensive way fighting plan that we think san francisco should develop. there are firms out there that specialize in best practices of way fighting. they are used by transportation agencies, particularly outside of the united states. they are often used by airports. very easy to move through, very easy to find your gate, and other airports, i will not mention any by name, but their initial of may be lax -- there initials' may be lax. you just have to ask people. so we think this is something where the agency could really benefit from outside help.

this is not something we recommend a lot, but this is an area where there are people who really, really know this well, and know what the best practices are better than we would. director: i agree that there is a need, and if we can just get some examples, that would be fantastic. >> yes. i believe we can make that happen. on the last issue about the name, it is in the charter. changing the name of it would be a charter issue, which would be a fairly heavy lift. thank you very much, mr. chairman. secretary boomer: 11 member of the public who wishes to address here. >> good afternoon, mr. chairman.

this report is very good, but they forgot to mention that you are drawing too many bicycle lanes. i cannot. it is about 7000 bicycle people using in this town. even 40 something bicycle. i have not seen the director. maybe i miss him. 7000 people. we are the majority of the people living in this town with a kid and a family you can afford to sit in the cab. they have to drive a car. i always get a ticket. hiding in a small alley. they are holding up the whole block for the bicycle lane, and there is not very much distance

to make a turn on howard street. only one car in position. if you want to make a right turn on harrison or howard st., you have to be very careful. you cannot pull over. this is a main major street. they are making money. not only you. they are making the citation for you. i just try to make a right turn, and they try to chase me. something is wrong. very aggressive. the bicycle lane. they are trying to make money on the citizenship. this country, what kind of direction are we headed to?

secretary boomer: items mentioned by the citizens advisory council only. that would be appropriate under general public comment. >> this is on your agenda. hair n -- chair nolan: this is only on the citizens' advisory committee. next item. secretary boomer: public comment, where members of the public may address the board on matters that are within the jurisdiction. members have two minutes. >> i have come here today to talk to you about a serious

urgency in the taxi industry. you have heard me speak before. in a very unusual circumstance, yellow cab and others got together this past week, and we discussed some of the serious challenges that are facing us as companies to continue to be in business. the bottom line is right now as we speak, companies that do dispatch services, have real properties, that are providing gas and eight operations, where we by the vehicle and put the driver is at work are in a non competitive situation against other companies that do not have these costs. since our gate are set, we cannot get more revenue. the only way we can get more revenues is to attract medallions to our companies. we are losing medallions because other companies that do not have these costs and services can offer more money to medallion holders, so we are in an unusual

circumstance where every dollar is making us less competitive being in business in this environment. that is a fact. we have come to a decision despite, and if he knew the three of us, jim, john, and myself, you know it is very difficult for us to get together and try to agree on anything, but this is what we have agreed to do. if we do not get the support from this industry, where going to have to change and modify our businesses and moved into the sedan services. the demand for services is so great for companies like ours, they are taking over the industry. to compete, we will either have to move into that area of business, and we do not want to do that, we want to have a strong taxicab industry and focus on the taxi business, but we have agreed to move into that direction.

chair nolan: thank you. next. secretary boomer: [reading name] >> first, i want to welcome chris to the board. did any of you get my statement? i have hard copies to hand out, which can be distributed. first of all, my concern is why the information panels have not been installed at every bus stop. i mentioned this to the board every time for the last month or so at least, and i still do not know what the arrival time is going to be. secondly, i would like to know if the department of parking and

traffic can evaluate density of traffic. the drivers have stated that the traffic has precluded them from showing up on time, and frankly i do not see any changes. 3, i would like to know if the buses do not arrive, and the buzz is missing, does the money go back to the general fund? and fourthly, there was an article in "the chronicle" about cooking the books as far as the arrival time of the buses are concerned, and this is a very serious matter. i have noticed buses missing for a very, very long time, and i want to know what you are doing about this, and fit the, i would like to read the restoration of the closed captions on the screen, because there are no closed captions. there is no transcription. i have the hearing problem, though i would like to keep up.

i have not received any responses from email, but i would like to have answers from the board. chair nolan: ok, we will look into this, but checkered await the closed captions. secretary boomer: i will put a call into sfgtv. >> last year, they were giving very clear guidelines for this single operator permit. it is a full-time operator and limited hours, but now, this is not by your guidelines at all. there are more and more hourly on this new fleet 50 medallions becoming a penchant type of

medallion already. last night, we had a lot of drivers tried to get into the taxi lot at the airport. they have to turn around five, six, seven, eight times. it is not fully on the street yet, because a lot of nights, they are very slow. we still have a lot of drivers, even with very low income, but this medallion coming out with the low-cost, they want more cowardly to operate, and then all the drivers have to pay for this price. looking at what was videotaped in the meeting. this will also improve the citizens service. that is why i came here. i support you. improve the service, more taxi. but they should limit the time. now, it looks like it is out of

line already. the cabdrivers, the taxis on the street, and the best time to operate this is 6 days per week, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.. we would like to take the 60 hours per week to run the medallion also. chair nolan: ok. thank you. secretary boomer: [reading names] chair nolan: good afternoon, sir. >> i am a cab driver. i bought the medallion a couple of years ago. the city put the price at $250,000.

we can get any airport from the hotel. i want to request the city to pay attention. driving in the middle of the road. if the light turns -- please pay attention. and these go to the companies. 60 hours and 90 hours. 450. but they got a free medallion.

every month, every meeting, i listened for it this, and there are new laws. make one. thank you. chair nolan: thank you. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> good afternoon, chairman norman -- nolan and other commissioners. with the taxi industry, i hope that sonali bose's blood pressure goes down. it needs a more direct overview by your office. thank you. the next is that now that you have taken it over, we have to make sure that the department is fully staffed to do investigations and to make sure companies are meeting the standards that other companies are already doing, and it is a