emergency ride home program, van pool and car pooling options to and from work. and just recently we will be including car sharing. that hasn't been something we've promoted to private companies as an option to promote to their employees. but that's something that we'll be adding to our outreach materials in the future. that is really our focus, is -- director rifkin mentioned the demand in helping to feed that demand and really the role the department of environment has played and will continue to play is to raise awareness about all of the alternative transit options to help people get out of their fossil fuel [speaker not understood] cars. specifically i want to mention we're agnostic as it comes to the type of model, the particular company. we really want to support options that work to, again, help us promote car sharing in general and ultimate transportation options to meet our [speaker not understood] reduction emission goals.

i have materials we passed out to city employees and business and happy to answer any questions that you have. >> may i ask a question? thank you. i actually just have one question. since the launch of bmw's recent one way car sharing program, could you talk to us a little about the benefits we're getting out of the program where they're working the downtown area? >> so, the bmw car sharing program, the reason that we got behind raising awareness about the launch of that program in san francisco is it's unique in that it added 50 plug-in electric vehicles to the suite. so, that was an unusual development for a car sharing company. because they're a private company, we aren't tracking the success and don't actually have any control over that program. really from our perspective the compelling component was those 50 electric vehicle plug-ins are added to our space and are

available to you. >> in terms of value, the the city gets urban bragging rights, we have the electric car? >> the intrinsic value, additional options for peep to access the vehicle if they don't want to buy one themselves. it's the addition of adding to the fleet and the options. >> can you talk to me about the geographic location and where this is happening? [speaker not understood]. >> [speaker not understood] our transportation program manager has any information on the locations of those. >> bob hayden with the department of the environment. i do not know personally individually the locations of their garages. i understand that they have made arrangements with a number of commercial garages around the city. i may actually have some mta staff may know the locations of those garages. i don't know the actual

location, so, i can't -- we could provide that. >> thank you. so, i'm a little uncomfortable, i think, you talk about in terms of the intrinsic value san francisco is getting is 50 electric vehicles that are in a condensed part of san francisco. i'm told they're in the financial district, which by many studies is already very resource rich in terms of other actionses to pull people out of their cars [speaker not understood]. there are other car sharing opportunities from companies that are also -- pods that are in the local area. so, we've attached our name to this, to a private company and i just don't see the real benefit that we're getting. the reason why our program likes to go down to the financial market is because it

will be high utilization. correct me if i'm wrong. but if you're already in the financial district and you're already talking to a group of users that are educated as well as have the resource to participate in this, it's almost a recipe for success. if we really want to challenge ourselves, we should do something a little outside of the box and begin to look at models that have not been explored, like outlying neighborhoods such as visitacion valley where there are currently no pods. so, i just wanted to put that on your mind. and also give voice to that. i don't know if you have representative from bmw here today, but i would also hope they would be encouraging and able to share their data so we can continue to [speaker not understood] cull thoughtful data as well as create policies that will be most beneficial for all of san francisco, not

just a tiny segment that can afford it. >> may i just comment on that? so, as i'm sure you know, this is a new innovative field. so, there are companies, many different companies that have quite a few different models that you heard from, director [speaker not understood] today. one company we recently helped to announce was coming to san francisco is a company called scoot, where they have plug-in electric skooters that people are able to rent. and, again, there's going to be many more of these companies that are coming to san francisco that want to provide transit options. i think in the future we're going to have to figure out how to, as you suggest, incentivize ensuring that these companies are encouraged to get to all neighborhoods and ensure that they're serving all residents of san francisco because they are private entities. they are going i think where they can succeed most, which from a financial perspective makes sense. what i'm here to comment on as environment department head. we need to find a way of

incentivize companies to participate in car sharing throughout the city. >> i also need to say before we as a city jump on and sign onto their bandwagon, make sure we're getting something out of it. so, you know, john what scoots' model s. i haven't talked to them about their outreach plan or anything like that and encourage them to come and speak to me about what they're thinking so that we can begin to develop a relationship there. but just not to pick on scoots, but you universally, the city, you guys are making these alliances with these companies and i'm not -- i'm uncomfortable with them. i don't think that they're entirely, again, like i said, serving the entire san francisco. as department head, it is our responsibility as city employees, not just department heads, to make sure we're providing something that is going to be good for all of san francisco, not again, a certain segment. thank you. >> yeah, i just wanted to thank

mr. rifkin and ms. nuter officially for sharing the important environmental and city goals that car-sharing meets. i did want to ask a question, and maybe some of the people that come to testify in public comment might answer these questions. but i know in the richmond district there is a critical mass of seniors that don't have their own cars and i'm wondering, are there specific populations that you're targeting in addition to the non-english speaking or the immigrant community populations that supervisor cohen has raised. do we have mechanismses to raise awareness about the economic or environmental benefits and why the city is encouraging this, but also reaching out to seniors, immigrant, and then also usf in my district, i noaa round many of the colleges and city college that it makes sense to have it around the key spots where younger people who might not have cars might have that need. >> so, the outreach funding that we have for supporting the

commuter benefits program particularly for employers and city employees is limited. so, i would say we have not expanded to other target audiences like seniors who are in categories we have funding to support, but certainly we would be open to expanding that with additional resources. >> thank you. and i'm noticing i think it's a new york times article from 2010 stating that there are a limited number of car-share vehicles at that time. i'm guessing it is this matter exploded into areas like san francisco. but i'd just like to know at some later time what numbers we think -- how many people are actually using it. and as we expand to clement, for example, or spots in supervisor cohen's district, is it really meeting a demand that's there or are we kind of making sure that we're going to strongly be promoting this not just in the city center, but also the outer lying areas as well. so, just knowing the numbers of

use and if we're being successful in it would be helpful for me as well. thank you. supervisor cohen, i know we have a number of speaker cards. >> there are other speakers besides me? no way. okay. do we have anyone here that would like to contribute to public comment? hold on. i think i had a card for dan steyn. [speaker not understood], excuse me, come on up. and then we can invite walter rosencrans. okay. great. hello, my name is david steyn or dan steyn, whatever. i live at 19th and dolores and i'm thrilled for the first time to address my honorable board of sups. it's something i care about, smog free, one way transportation. my family has been utilizing

san francisco's public and private transportation options here continually since the 1880s, which was before the ferry building was even in operation. so, when i retired in 2009 i purchased a little beach pad down in san diego and i expected san diego to be a little behind us. but i admit i was shocked when it turned out i would be the guy who introduced recycling to my building. but last year i decided to up my green game here and i gave away my hybrid. here in san francisco we have lots of zero emission transportation options. muni, bart, and when i need a car i ask to borrow a friend's. down in san diego i assumed i'd have to rent a smoggy car when i visit there. imagine my happy day when this white smart cart went by with a label on it. so, i signed up immediately.

and these guys and girls have made the smartcar smart, and i'm not just talking about their all-electric fleet with solar charging on the roofs. i think that's brilliant. they have about 300 of those cuties parked around the area. and in the cars they have guest cards for the charging station. if you park at a charging station you can charge it. when you're done, this is really important, you just park in any legal parking spot and you leave the car for the next person. you don't have to feed the meter or anything. car to go, of course, has a website and app to help you find and reserve a nearby car and i just love t. of course they can describe the service better than i can. so, i just want to leave you with two important things. one, i don't use services where you have to rent a smog machine and return it to the same place you started from. in san francisco we thrive on one-way, zero emission transportation options, at least i think we do. >> thank you. and secondly, my last

sentence, a viable one-way transportation option needs to offer reliability, accountability, and availability. and in san diego car to go does just that. thank you. >> thank you very much. keep in mind, people that in public comment you have two minutes and [speaker not understood] you have 30 seconds remaining and a louder chime when your chime is up. [speaker not understood] walter. yes, thank you, supervisor cohen. if possible, can i bring [speaker not understood] now as well and we'll kind of use both of our times? >> you're not able to split your time. if you make your two minutes, i can ask you follow-up questions to allow you a few more moments to finish your thoughts. okay.

how long is this going to take? slightly over two. car share say car sharing organization very similar to what you've seen in other organizations. [speaker not understood] joined the service, they pay for the time that they use the car. they don't pay for fuel, insurance, parking or maintenance. you can drive any of our cars at any time that they're available. like other car sharing services, availability of our cars reduces the expenses of private vehicle ownership ask reduces traffic congestion in cities where we're deployed and save users money. the big difference with our program and other programs is the ability to do a one-way trip as was previously mentioned and it doesn't require an advance reservation and you have the vehicle for as long as you need it. and you can park the vehicle in any legal on-street parking place.

doesn't have to be assigned. currently we object rate in san diego, washington, d.c., portland, austin, miami, and all of our users have the same experience. they find the cars on their app generally and they get the car for as long as they need it. in the cities that we operate, we define a home area as how the system works. this is just a picture of the d.c. home area on the left and a distribution of cars on the right. so, as you can see the cars are evenly distributed throughout the area and it's not because we put the cars there. it's because the members put them there. for san francisco, we envision a program where we would deploy up to 450 cars at least throughout the city and in the month before launch, we would provide extensive outreach to those communities that currently are not under served

to educate them on the program and teach them about how to use the service and we would pay for the metered parking. and all we need is permission from san francisco to implement this program. >> okay, i'm going to ask you a couple questions. these are specific questions i have of how you work with the neighbors and community groups to address some of the complaints that may have arisen about your cars. we have a local team in market that maintains the fleet, does the marketing outreach and manageses the customer service. and so we've been very responsive. that local team will relocate cars as needed and address any concerns of the community. >> okay. i know you sat through the hearing [speaker not understood], so, i want to know how does your model address

some of the geographic equity challenges i spoke of earlier in the hearing? and the second part of my question is have you ever placed cars in public housing? so answer the first question, really our model is ideal. as you can see, for example, in the d.c. district, we cover the entire district. so, there is no placement of vehicles. the cars will go where the members use them. so, members have access to the system throughout the whole district. >> so, if we took southeast d.c., for example, have you replaced a car in public housing? again, the way our model works, we don't place vehicles. the vehicles will end up where the members use them. so, for those communities or those types of communities, if

there's members in those communities that are using the vehicles the vehicles will naturally gravitate to the areas. one of the things we have done in d.c. we have an agreement with the city we will keep a minimum number of vehicles -- >> i'm sorry, for the record state your name. william [speaker not understood], chief operating officer. sorry for stepping in. but i am a little more familiar with how it works in d.c.. so, you mentioned 7 and 8, southeast d.c. we do have in the agreement that we would monitor and make sure that there are vehicles available there. and what we've found is that it's not something where we're having to force vehicles into the neighborhood. there are members that are using the service there. in fact, we've seen on twitter and facebook some comments from the public that it's so great to see car to go doing car sharing where others said it isn't maybe possible. for us it's a low invest cost. we're not having to designate a spot. we're not having to put a vehicle there, which i think is

one of the challenges for traditional car sharing is they're really taking a lot of steps to do this. and for us it's really the members that are driving that utilization. >> okay. so, i have some questions [speaker not understood] in washington, d.c. how would you combat some of the questions like, you know, hey, we're in southwest d.c., what if your car gets broken into, what if it gets stolen? some of the questions may be from the more narrow-minded folks who are thinking but may be too afraid to ask, but i'm going to ask it. sure. obviously there are concerns about safety, safety of the vehicle. there are a lot of things we do in technology to ensure the vehicles can't be stolen if they are broken into. but i really do see that members of these communities also see some of the benefits that these cars bring to them.

they kind of watch out. it's almost like the neighborhood watch thing. this car is here, it's serving a purpose. i'm a member, i use it day to day. the car has really become part of the neighborhood. >> um-hm, okay. thank you very much. sure. i did want to say i'm looking at the material. thank you for putting this together. it looks like there are five u.s. cities, three canadian cities, and i think it's brilliant, this model of one-way vehicle * . i was going to ask about your vehicle fleet. it looks like you have globally 5,000 vehicles, 625 are electric. i'm just wondering do you use the smart cars or what kind of vehicles do you use? and i also see that san francisco, based on your market research, is almost like a perfect city to operate in given the density and many, many people that don't have cars. but i'm just wondering if you could respond to some of those. absolutely. i'll use my two minutes i guess

for this portion. you're correct. 5,000 vehicles worldwide, 625 are fully electric vehicles. they are all the smart [speaker not understood]. i think the pressure, combustion engine state and electric engine state are the same vehicle. just a different power train. we have two of those cities, amsterdam and san diego which are the all electric, and they naturally bring about some challenges with electric vehicle structure. what woe do in other market street, hybrid approach, we have st. austin, texas, [speaker not understood]. in portland we have 30 electric vehicles and we have 2 80 combustion engines. so, you have a typical fleet size that fleet between, say, on the low side 250 and on the maybe higher side around 500 vehicles. what that does is a city of san francisco size, 40 square miles gives us an adequate density of

vehicles to cover that area because what we really need is the members to have the sense that they are going to find the vehicles. so, it's not the situation where i'm in the southeast and i'm not going to get a taxicab. they know they're not going to have to walk more than two or three blocks to get to a vehicle. >> thank you. >> are there any other additional comments you'd like to leave with us? i'd say the fact we are in eight cities in north america and we're in another seven cities in europe and our growth plan continues. and i think we'll see another two to three cities worldwide this year that will show that this is a system that is working and it is something that we get great reception from the public. i mean, we have 150,000 members worldwide. we just launched in calgary, now about 75 days ago. and in the first 60 days we had 15,000 members signed up for the service. so, it's something that there's a lot of interest and hopefully

we'll hear from other members of the public about their enjoyment of the car service. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> okay, next speaker, thomas weber and anyone else who would like to speak, come on up. use the one in the center aisle, that's fine. the next person come up. my name is thomas weber and i have experienced using car to go in san diego. initially i was going to come to talk about how car share programs in general are needed in the city as i am a biker and i need cars. not very often, but every now and then i do need them and i do need them very spontaneously. so, car to go is very useful for that. i find a car, i get in, i use it wherever i need it, i get out, and i pay for exactly only the minutes that i use it for. san diego is an all-electric station so i guess that would

be really useful up here. everyone likes the idea of being green up here. i feel that the city would benefit from a hybrid type situation. and a couple things to address that i wanted -- i listened today what people were saying. so, first of all, i think outreach from students for cars to go because they could be the political support we need for on-site or on-street parking because in my opinion that is the best way to go because car to go is useful for me because i could find one essentially down the road from my house instead of finding it in a parking spot or in a parking garage. the other thing is that car to go uses smartcar, very small in san francisco. most cars could could not fit into. cars could fit into all those spots. * so i don't think we have as many issues to worry about here as, say, bigger cars because there's tons and tons of parking in the city that most

cars can't fit into. car to go would be a very good option for that because of how small the vehicles are. >> thank you. next speaker. hello, supervisors, pleasure to be here. my name is rick hutchinson. i'm the ceo at city car share. i want to thank you, by the way, supervisor cohen, for pulling together this hearing today. i think it's been very enlightening. i did want to make a couple comments about car sharing and about some of what i would call misnomers out there. first of all, model does matter, it really does. there's multiple models out there. they meet different needs and they do different things. it doesn't mean that they are competing against each other necessarily. so, in order to meet the needs of our citizens, of visitors to the city, there is a place for a lot of different options out there. one of the things that a city needs to decide -- and this is

based on a philosophy of what car sharing is meant to do -- the city needs to decide what its goals are, what its objectives are. environmental goals, congestion goals, land use goals, equity goals are all important. and, therefore, before the city make policy, before it determines whether to give away the public right-of-way to any of us, it needs to understand whether the services are helping meet those goals. if they're not, did youant mean the services aren't good. they may meet some needs out there, but they may be consistent with all the policies that exist in the city. i did want to make a couple other comments just real briefly about what common goals are for car sharing. and i mentioned some of them before. you've heard about three models here today that i think are very important. the car to go and the one-way model. but based on the little bit of information we have, it's really meeting the needs of people who are going on short distance trips. i believe, and they can speak

better than i can. but based on some information they reported in toronto, car to go is seeing trips of 15 to 30 minutes and a few miles. p to p folks are seeing -- most of them meet a key exchange. they're seeing longer trips. people are taking them for days at a time. >> okay, i need you to finish your idea, your thought. and then there's other car sharing options that, like city car shares, are basically meeting sort of the interim trips, the ones that sometimes are short distance, but generally in a 3 to 5 hour range and for shorter distances. >> could i ask you to elaborate on the benefits of your model, the city car share model? well, city car share believes car share is an extension thev transit. the beliefs of integration, technology is important as well. so that car sharing will reduce various models of car sharing,

particularly our transit oriented model will reduce car ownership. and we have enough studies done to show our impact on the environment. i can share some of those with you if you'd like. but also our reduction of congestion, reduction of need for parking. supervisor wiener has some excellent legislation that is going to come up once it's done that will help expand access to parking, which is very, very much needed that will also help, quite frankly, build less parking and reduce congestion in the city. >> thank you. >> next speaker. good afternoon, eduardo [speaker not understood]. i own a smartcar that i use to get around in eureka valley. it is a good service that enables individual car owners to share the car when they're not using it, making money in

the process, about $200 last month renting my car to a neighbor's friend, people living in the same block. get around provides the insurance and technology to make it very easy to share. and no ownership fees and cars that rent for as low as $3 an hour, 15 a day. the peer-to-peer model can operate in a variety of locations unlike fleet, traditional fleet-based model that are limited to the dense urban areas. so, you can find peer-to-peer cars, get around and operators. in the sunset, potrero hill, bayview and really all over the city. parking is a serious main point for peer-to-peer car sharing and get around in particular. both for owners and renters, providing owners with access to car share parking.

on street and off-street is an opportunity to incentivize more car sharing. eich wise for renters, the ability to access floating parking will incentivize car sharing over owning a car. * likewise so, again, last point, because peer-to-peer car sharing can easily expand beyond traditional car sharing areas, it is very important to support peer-to-peer car sharing to solve several of the city's mobility issues. >> thank you. thank you very much. next speaker. hi, my name is andrew goldman and i have a masters from mit in city planning and 13 years experience in shared vehicle space. so, there's 15 years of research showing that every car share vehicle and traditional service takes between 9 to 13 cars off the street.