spaces and really get it up and running next spring, late spring, early summer. so, those are kind of our next steps primarily on the on-street, expansion of the on-street. we'll continue to look at these newer models and seek ways to get data from them, to get information about them, to talk to the other cities where they started to explore possibilities of pilots -- piloting them here, to see what can work and to see to the extent we have conflicts such as with existing parking policies, how we might resolve those. >> go ahead. >> i was just going to say that's pretty much what i had. as i mentioned before, knowing the director of environment is here and car sharing organizations are here as well, we're happy to answer questions. >> i have a couple questions. going back to that [speaker not understood] that you have up on

the implementation of the timeline -- excuse me -- i was wondering if there are any specifics that you could also queue us on what is exactly legislative changes could possibly be. it might be too early for you to expand on this particular question. my second question is looking at one-way car sharing in implementation. >> yes. so, on the first question, i don't think we know yet if we would need legislative changes. as we finish the evaluation of the on-street, if there are things we need to tweak from the approvals the mta and the board of supervisors already granted in divisions 1 and 2 of the transportation code, we'll bring those forward. those changes authorize not just a pilot, but authorize a change in law for an ongoing program. so, it may be that we don't need anything else legislatively to happen. but if we do, we would bring that early 2013 if we finalize

our revised policies. and then as i mention with regard to the one-way car sharing, i've met with one of the companies. and like i said, we're eager to get data and information to be able to validate the benefits that they accrue the way they do for both transportation and the environment as do traditional car-share model. they've provided some information in the other cities they're operating in, what permit schemes they're using to address the other issue of how to resolve conflict with existing parking management policies. so, we're eager to learn more about how they might complement the existing car sharing and overall transit first policy and explore ways that we may be able to pilot, pilot them here. we already have one of them that's operating in san francisco and we're talking to the other that's interested in

the possible on-street model as well. >> so, now that you've completed the presentation, i wanted to talk a little bit more, less in generalities and more specifics. which cities are you talking to, when you talk about sharing, collecting data from some of the other programs that are happening across the u.s.? can you give me some specifics, ways you're going to be extrapolating the data? >> well, so, the one-way on street model, as i understand, operational in washington, d.c. and san diego, portland, i think vancouver and a couple of other cities. so, we've begun to get some information, want to talk directly to the folks in those cities to understand what their experience is. there is' also a report that was done from a program in hanover, germany that evaluated things such as -- i think, i haven't seen the report, but impact on emissions and where -- whether this was reducing

trips or not. and, so, we're eager to evaluate what the experience in hanover was as well. * >> and in this evaluation process, when did it begin, you said in 2003 -- in 2013? >> no. so, we've already asked the company for the information and they've sent some is and we've begun our outreach to the other cities. for we're not waiting for this on-street next round of the on-street pilot to launch before we start that evaluation. we're doing that now. >> okay. so, can you give me some indication as to how -- is this a dedicated staff person or several staff persons that are going to be -- going to be studying this data or culling through it, developing different model structures? i'm trying to get a sense as to

how deeply committed mta, department of environment is to conducting studying this particular -- >> so, our motivation is finding ways to get people out of their cars. so, we have that motivation. we don't have teams of people ready to drop onto evaluating a new innovation that somebody is pitching to san francisco. we have started reaching out to the other cities. i can't tell you how many fte or how many hours a week we're going to be spending on t but we're very eager to see any model that's going to help get people out of their cars to work on the streets of san francisco. every innovation that walks through the door isn't necessarily going to achieve that and we want to do some due diligence, especially if we're talking about giving people exclusive or proprietary use of the public right-of-way. we want to do our due diligence

to make sure that we can justify doing so. >> one of your other slides, i think it was number 5, sfta car share policy, i also wanted to find out who else you're collaborating with to find spots, again, specifically if you can talk to district 10. >> to find additional on-street? >> to find -- yes. >> spots? >> yes. >> so, maybe i'll let alex speak to the process. so, for the next pilot we're going to go from 12 to maybe 100. >> okay. >> and we'll be working through the community processes laid out in the timeline slide in terms of whom -- we'll see if alex can be more specific, alex from the mta is managing this pilot for us. >> thank you, alex. >> the question is about how -- what the process of identifying spaces? >> yes. >> okay. this is somewhat preliminary as

we're still developing the policy. we'll certainly conduct outreach with you and ultimately present this to the mta board. but the car-sharing operators know their market street best. they're the ones who best can analyze where exactly areas where [speaker not understood] to be the main driving force that we'll need to work with them to ensure, it's a good push and pull of a geographic distribution of the spaces and expansion to new market street. so, we're working with your offices and input groups. certainly we plan to coordinate that with other mta policy initiatives. the director mentioned this is something we can author in combination with other policies. >> so, oftentimes department heads may feel like they're under attack when we call for a hearing. and i just want to put my cards on the table.

i met with each and every one of the department heads that are present today. it is not my intention to penalize. i'm generally interested in this -- in the subject matter representing southeastern part of san francisco that had trouble getting taxis. * genuinely there have been challenges that we are working through with mta and bus lines. so, as you can see, i'm advocating because i need everyone, all of san francisco to be concerned. although car sharing, the businesses may know their particular market, i believe nobody knows san francisco better than you and i [speaker not understood] every single day. [speaker not understood] we have an intimate knowledge of what's happening. i'm really here to publicly affirm my support. i like rifkin and possibly others in this chamber don't have a car and rely on public transportation, rely on car share. just in multiple different ways of trying to get around to serve people. and what the position has allowed me to be in a unique

position is to really be able to experience and be a user of what -- the user of public transportation and the various car sharing models that are out there. one thing i do want to say to you, alex, is you continue to source out other potential sites that we've got a couple of sites that are here in the city and the southeastern part of the city. two city campus sites, the southeast campus and we have the campus [speaker not understood] both dedicated parking spot. i'm sure we can have a discussion around that. also want to bring your attention puc is a $3 billion wastewater project happening in the southeastern part of the city. pu crushtion is going to be moving a considerable part of the staff in the 3rd street evans corridor area. * the housing authority, i've spoken to henry alvarez, he's on board and committed to providing spaces, one of which is up on [speaker not understood] in the process of the rebuild process [speaker not understood].

which also includes all of the public housing sites [speaker not understood] most closest to being complete. so, what ayectionv really here today to talk about car sharing, the to challenge thought leaders in how they're going to be [speaker not understood]. i'm not beating you up. i'm not trying to embarrass anyone, but this is a serious conversation because it's having an impact on everyday people's livelihood. i'm overly concerned about language access. one-third of my district doesn't even speak english. so, making sure we're dedicating the resources and more importantly the time to communicate with people who have traditionally not been discussed and who have not been in the conversation because they're not in transit-rich or focus areas or not necessarily doing their business in the financial district or in some of the more transit-rich parts, parts of the city. director? >> yes.

i appreciate the fact you're having this hearing. i don't feel at all attacked or beat up. i know what that he feels like. this isn't it. [laughter] >> we absolutely see car-sharing and a significant increase in car-sharing as part of the way we're going to really start to move the needle on the city's transit first policy. muni is at the core of that, improved taxi service, better and safer cycling. car sharing has a potential to be a big part of the solution. so, we're fully on board with trying to advance this. what i was endeavoring to show here in the presentation is we see on-street parking as perhaps a big part of the solution to the expansion of car sharing. i think the suggestions you were making in your district were largely off-street spaces. that would be perhaps above and beyond what we would do in this pilot. we're really looking at on-street. we'd be happy to facilitate conversations between city

college and puc and other large housing authority, other large landowners with the car share companies to the extent we could help see more car sharing in those areas. i think putting one on-street space as an island, i think is going to always be a challenge in terms of getting that critical massive usage to get the utilization to where it makes sense to have it there. i think we need to help seed that demand and perhaps using some of these spaces, city college, hunters view, the sewer plant, those could be great ways to do it. so, we're happy to work with the car share companies and those land owners to try to get more car sharing outside of the on-street. in any case, we want to pursue the on-street as well for the reasons that we discussed. they're visible. they're everywhere. they're perhaps more

sustainable because they don't go away the way parking lots do. so, i think parallel strategy of both on-street and off-street legislation supervisor wiener has introduced, all of those are pathways to get more car-sharing in san francisco. >> thank you. director [speaker not understood], would you like to say anything? >> good afternoon, supervisors. [speaker not understood], the director of the san francisco department of the environment. just wanted to thank supervisor cohen also for calling the hearing today on this very important topic. just had a couple of additional items to add to director rifkin's presentation, which really focused on department of the environment's role in supporting transit first policy in particular car sharing. as you may know, about 40% of our greenhouse gas emissions do come from cars and trucks in san francisco. so, in order for us to reach our very ambitious greenhouse emission reduction goals, our next one being 25% below 1990 lettersv at the end of 2017, we

are a partner to the mta and other city agencies and the board of supervisors in trying to find alternative transportation options for our residents. so, a couple of the rules that the department of the environment plays in this particular sphere, we have a transportation demand management team that focuses mostly on outreach and education and implementing our community benefits [speaker not understood]. so, particularly for city and county employees, on the car sharing side there are discounted memberships both with zip car as well as the city car share. and we help to promote these partnerships through brochures that we distribute to city employees on our website as well as the departmental presentation throughout the year. and i do have copies of those brochures if you'd like to see what's contained in them. and then as it relates to other city employees, our outreach is targeted to the private sector, particularly to encourage them to offer smart commute options for their employees and that could include everything from pre-tax commuter benefits, the

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