>> good afternoon. >> good afternoon, board of directors, my name is benjamin, national veterans cab. i am here to speak against this resolution. i would like to respond to mr. lozar's [kph-efpt/]. he noted his average response time is 11 minutes, 48 seconds. you call for a cab and the cab shows up in 11 minutes and 48 seconds. that is our average response time. that seems reasonable to me. that is a reasonable amount of time to wait for a cab. and that is with this so-called drastic shortage of peak-time cabs which yes, friday and saturday nights we could use some more cabs. monday, tuesday, wednesday, i'm driving those nights and it's not the case. another thing i wanted to talk about, i wanted to frame this

in an ethical term. last meeting, miss brinkman felt the $5-$10 tip out. well, essentially what the mta is doing with this proposal by handing the medallions directly to the cab companies instead of the working drivers you are taking thousands of dollars a month from these drivers into your own pockets, into the mta's pockets. you guys are the bad guys. you guys are the ones taking thousands of dollars for yourself, not $5-10. so i want you to think about that. we have got a for-profit company here is that is making regulations that they can summarily profit from. it reminds me of the downfall of communist russia. it's ludicrous the bureaucracy

here. i would also like to in closing say give these medallions to the guys on the list. c'mon? put them out there. and if they buy them or sell them, that is the right thing to do. >> thank you, sir. >> charlesrathbone. >> why with euberfound their beginnings in san francisco and not boston or new york? part of the reason is the shortage of cabs in our city. we have a large unmet demand for cab service. so we're asking you to address that issue today by issuing more cabs. in the meantime, we have not just been sitting here like deer in the head lavins, lamps.

you have the data, including current data. we do not need to wait for net another study. directors, we earnestly want to service our customers, all of them, and in order to do that, we need the cabs. please give us the cabs that we need to do that. please vote yes on item 11 today. thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> next speaker. >> [ reading speakers' names >> good afternoon, >> good afternoon, ] i have no

idea what i'm going to say here, but this conversation goes through my head week to week for 27 years now. i'm clear there is nothing that i can see here in a manner that will have any effect on your decision here. could i have a time-out? >> please. miss boomer gentlemen, go right ahead, sir. why don't you start again? >> i'm sorry. >> okay. i know that i am not invited to the meetings at which these decisions are made. there are probably several of you on the board, who are in the invited to the meetings in which these decisions are made. i would like to think that you are each human beings, and that

you have some awareness of the absolute pain that your decisions and the people that made those decisions before this came under the purview of the mta. i hope that you take some personal -- you don't leave here and don't think about us people. i have my medallion and i'm very lucky. the pain you have caused, i would like any of you who would care to come ride in my taxi and come sit in the front seat any day and see what it's like out there. i have waybills going back decades, probably, and in 2011 i was empty 66% of the

time i had my taxi. so 34% of time i was occupied. to hear this scheme requiring another 100-200 medallions, it can't be supported by data. it can only be a political decision and i know mr. heinicke has pushed for this direction for a long, long time and i'm sorry that all of you are being pressured into making what is a horrible, horrible choice [ applause ] . >> thank you. next speaker. [ reading speakers' names ]. >> good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon, sir. i'm a cab driver and drive for national veteran cab and this is my first time being here in the meeting. i have been driving since 1985 on and off. and i have been an outstanding driver.

i was once awarded one of the best cab drivers and poster person for the cab industry to the newspaper. i'm on the list and i have been following what is going on with the industry the past five years. i don't like it. the industry needs changes. we need more cabs. that is true. when i studied in 1985, i thought there was going to be a day like this to come. that is why i didn't put my name in the first place. so when i saw some of my co-workers that we started to together and put their names and got their medallions. now it comes to the time that i am on the list and can't get a medallion. i have been working here since 1985 and i was told

i am one of the members. on the website it says you have already been a member already and told me that i can't get the medallion anymore. so i wanted to know, if your 200 medallions that you put up, it's better to give it to the people on the list. the people that are driving and who are going to be driving and making a living. since 1985, i should be collecting my pension by now. i cannot afford at my age to pay $250,000 for a medallion. thank you. >> thank you, sir. [ applause ] >> peter jacobs. >> mr. jacobs. >> hi. good afternoon. i am in support of this proposition. i think we do need more cabs in

the city. it's a well-known fact, i think. however,, i am concerned about how the medallions will be distributed, to which companies and by which processes that it's excited? i know mr. reiskin, you said it's going to be based on the volume of calls and level of responsiveness. however, in my conversation, it was indicated it would be on a variety of other factors, including minimum pick up violations and these types of other things. there has to be a lot of transparency with regard to that, because there is so much influence, that i think it's the germ feeling at least, there is a lot of influence by the larger companies and make sure these are distributed evenly and fairly. so in closing, essentially what i'm trying to say that this should be delayed for the time beijing.

being, first of all to get more information and the terms by which they will be distributed. [ reading speakers' names ]. >> good afternoon, directors, yesterday morning i started my shift and got a call from a house and three minutes i was there and nobody was there. i got a second call in a section that was empty and got there in 2-3 minutes and nobody was there. i shut off my computer. yellow gives me the calls, which i got three calls in thee three hours. these people are lying to you. the city empty.

on union street fare we go seven, eight, ten times in one single day. on america's cup, between 24-26. i took only one fare in six days. i asked and they said no, nobody got it. it's not football, or baseball. america's cup had zero per share people interested. it's all a lie. the recession is already on our heads. the income has gone down from $200 to barely $100.

please do not support this politically-motivated -- please stop it. there is not a zero need for anymore cabs. thank you. [ applause ] >> next speaker, please. [ reading speakers' names ]. >> hi, how are you? excuse me for my language, because my english is second language. i'm a taxi driver in san francisco. and everyday we get something new. one day uber and we lost a lot of business. busy times, friday and saturday nights.

i got at least 10 no-goes. most of people calling for cabs, charged two or three companies. uber charges in advance and guaranteed that the people wait for them. nobody waits for us. i'm on the list for medallions. so if you put extra cabs for the people on the list, make it limited and controlled for the uber. the guy is talking [pwho-elt/]s hotels is saying there is not enough cabs. what about waiting in front of hotels for two hours and get nothing? limousines take the whole fare, so we waste time. it's not about short cabs of it's about the system, the system and how they manage their business. thank you very much.

if you go to a restaurant you wait an hour for a table. so you don't mind waiting 10-15 minutes for a cab friday night. thank you very much. >> thank you, sir. >> david hathaway, brian rosen, last speaker barry corngold. >> good afternoon, mr. hathaway. >> good afternoon. i have been driving a cab for20 years and been on the list for 16 years and currently no. 17 on the medallion waiting list. i kind of look at this along

with the medallion proposal thing, giving the medallions directly to the companies. and i feel like it's a time when we're under tremendous financial pressure from non-san francisco-regular regulated services. that is a huge financial windfall for naught and cab companies. drivers are kind of the life blood of this. we're the ones pumping the money and picking up the people through the cab companies and i feel, i don't know, i feel like i am kind of left in the dark here as to what is going on as far as this. i just asked you to tread

lightly on the drivers. and have consideration for those who have been driving in the city for a long time. i mean, i feel like i have earned a medallion driving a cab here. thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> brian rosen. barry goldgold. >> hi, brian rosen. i have been driving 20 years. i don't know how much more can be said. people have been talking about the list. last meeting you gave us some indication that you were going to let us know, maybe what was happening with the list. you know? i am 34 on the list. i think the frustration here is that people want to know what is going on. so we can either plan our lives accordingly. i think we deserve that. i think we deserve that. you know, to know what is going

on. because it's very frustrating. we have watched our names move up, our numbers move up, but yet, there is no indication that the earned medallions -- i spoke to somebody who got their malion off the list and earned medallion today. they are driving and is lifts that they want. you know? and i just feel that we should give -- you should give us some indication. you guys have great poker faces. [ laughter ] >> it's great. we should -- sorry -- just give us some indication of what i think we deserve that. thank you. >> thank you, sir. [ applause ]

barry corngold. >> good afternoon, mr. corngold. >> hi, i'm barry corngold with the san francisco cab association. i have a lot of problems with this proposal one of which is the statistics it's using is from 2000 when it says customers have a 40% chance of getting a cab in sf. that was 12 years ago. we now have 50% more cabs and the same problem. so just throwing cabs at it obviously doesn't solve the problem. there are a lot of other reasons that people don't get a cab 12 years ago. i think it may be hard for people to get a cab on friday and saturday night, of people that are generally complaining that they can't get a cab. that is when they go out. they are not out there monday evening when it's not that busy. giving the medallions to the company and leasing them, the mta collecting the money isn't going to provide any better

service or more cabs out than giving medal medallions on the list. the average cab driver makes $30,000 a year and they wait years on the list and follow the rules and maybe make less than the median income of san francisco, which is less than the lowest paid mta employee gets. yet, sames director heinicke from looking at the emails, is insisting that the mta take the money from the drivers and use it for themselves to try to fill this huge hole they have dug for themselves. and i think it's pretty heartless and i think you need to consider the cab drivers who are on the list, that you are just ignoring. you are making the rules and just printing money. so you are just putting the cabs out and printing money. how about getting it to drivers

on the list? while they are waiting to get their regular medallion at least they have a medallion and can be out there part of the time, filling the need. >> [ applause ] . >> thank you, [ reading speakers' names ]. >> good afternoon, mr. lee. >> good afternoon, mr. nolan and members of the board. we do have a lot of drivers not qualified to buy their medallions. they can't afford to make a long-term lease. they live on gate and gas. but i do like to pay attention to your policy. when you make a good policy it's good, but your policy bends like a rubberband.

i know you are not a rubber stamp, but your policy is like a rubber bond and you can extend it like this. you can make it square. you can make a triangle. you have to pay attention to this. this medallion is quite good, but adding more and more hours to become full-time. when you originally passed it was a single operator and the driver must provide their own car and own full-time driver. finally it's becoming a pension type of medallion. that is what i worry b. when i look at the news or newspaper, you are spending $6 million in order to install your 357 buses, install your cameras. i don't blame you that you always say you are broke and have a deficit all of the time, because you are paying too much overprice for everything. i worry about your subway, $940

million that will be given to you very soon this. is very good, because it's how we get money. but i worry -- please lower the gate for the driver, because of the extra cost of running the taxi is too much. they have to have $80 a shift. [ applause ] >> thank you. the public hearing part will be closed at this point. members of board, i have a couple of things. if i could begin with someone raised the issue here, i think it was mr. grewberg that the possibilities of getting this many new cabs by all of these october events is unlikely. can you respond to that? >> i think it's correct that these cabs won't be able to hit the streets overnight. there is time in issuing the permit. there is time in qualifying

additional drivers. so there is no question there will be a transition in terms of the moment you act, if you choose to do so, to the time that there are additional taxi cabs on the streets. i think there is a lot of data to support that there is a problem today. so the fact that the sooner this board were to absent, the sooner the cabs will be on the streets. that fact, i think is not refutable, but there is a ramp up, and the big peaks of demand for next summer and next year's america's cup are very real. >> well, it makes it a little -- when we talked about needing them all for this october, for fleet week and all of these things. it's a little more candid, i think to talk about them for next year's events rather than these things to be done very, very quickly. >> i apologize if the staff report promised that they could be done as suggested that they could be out by october.

that oct weekend is a good exemplar where the taxi is shown as extreme inadequate to meet that need. >> the second pint, miss housman made the comment about large vehicles, was it no. a5, the fifth [wra*-rs/]. whereas. >> i believe the technology for larger vehicles is improving everyday. i don't think fact is this is consistent with city and mta

policy and i wouldn't recommend kind of compromising on that at this point. we can look into issues with regard to larger vehicles versus these, but i think that the promise of a greener fleet is, in fact, part of the basis for our environmental clearance for this, and i think helps make a much stronger case that while we're putting more vehicles on the street, we're putting out vehicles that are cleaner than basically the vehicles that they would be replacing, private, limousine or otherwise. >> two other items. are you telling us that there are some vehicles that would meet these criteria, that are now available or would be available shortly? >> that i don't know. >> okay. then another thing, the thing that bothered me, too, and i forget who mentioned it, but the statistics used to justify some of this are from 2000.

that is an awful long time ago for the studies and i know we're doing our study coming up in january, is that right? so that to me was of concern that we're basing this at least on some things that are pretty dated, that part of it. i am convince there had is a need, but basing it on something from 2000, i would be much more comfortable after the study in january. >> as would i. it's been my preference all along to make sure we had good, current data. what we presented to you is what we had. i think it's notable for the first time in my, however long it's been, 13 months in this job. this is the first time that we heard a taxi item that we had comment from other than the taxi industry. so i think just think it's relevant to hear the

empirical data [tpr-eplt/] from those affected. wftv well, i guess the question on that is to get more up-to-date data, that would be sometime in the new year, right? >> yes, probably january. >> so then if we began the whole process of getting the new cabs and following that into the new year, as opposed to months from now, is that right? if we did this today, if we approved this today, then the effort can go out to get the new vehicles, right? >> that is correct. it would be four months ahead, likely when that data is available. >> the biggest issue for me that i have heard here and i'm not sure how we can deal with it, but i think it's a pretty compelling case about the list. and especially the two gentlemen, one 17 and the other is 36 on the list.

i wish we could figure out a way to somehow tie it to this. but something very soon that recognized what the waiting that they have done, the service that they have provided to the city. >> yes. so based on your direction at the last meeting and think what is a very legitimate issue that is sitting out there, unresolved, and has relation to the matters of last time and this time. i was preparing to bring to your recommendation, if it's not going to go through a public process, then it can come on september 18th, possibly. but i was planning to bring a recommendation to make a policy statement from the board. >> about the list? >> about the list? >> okay. >> those are the concerns that i have, directors? director brinkman? >> i would like to talk about

the second resolve, hybrid electric compressed natural gas, et cetera. i understand what we're trying to get to with our fleet is the emissions control. it's not just fuel-efficiency, correct? >> that is correct. >> and i do know that even if it may seem that the technology is not there for the larger vehicles, at this moment, that the auto industry is moving so quickly on technology and on fuel-efficiency and every time that the bar is raised, they meet it and they beat it. so i am confident on that one. i hear miss housman's concern on that, but i'm confident that question address the higher-capacity vehicles with the low emissions that we're striving for to have a truly green fleet. we have to remember unlike a private vehicle, these vehicles are in operation 23 hours a day, so it really adds a huge impact on our city. the big thing that i hear is the h