a little bit about the process is the preferred alternative is to advance to the next stage of engineering design. at this point we have for a number of years planning design, analysis and community input. we have done several rounds of community input. we think think this is the culmination of the planning and the preferred alternative as we go forward. the project team has been coordinating with a number of agencies about this what could become the local alternative. we feel it's a pretty good alignment among the agency for the design. at this point we would like to share this with the community for feedback and the project team

has been hosting community meetings along the corridor. two meetings were held in december. another meeting is being held at the end of this month january 30th in the japan town area. in addition, we are meeting with stakeholder groups individually and we've had a meeting with the house for the blind and we plan to create a focus group to look at the projects specifically and we had a presentation that i gave yesterday to the sf mta mobile advisory committee and the club next month in february. we are planning to share our design with the community to get feedback and then we are planning to release a draft environmental document that contains an identified staff

recommended alternative. that's where we are headed. i want to talk a little bit about the recommended alternative itself. the corridor is quite long and there are different conditions for different segments of the corridor. it looks different and operates differently in different segments. so when we go to create a recommended alternative we are looking in segments and identifying an optimal configuration for bus laying in each segment to string together to create that staff recommended alternative. the four segments is the inner geary on the east side of the corridor and the fillmore area where geary crosses fillmore streets and the masonic avenue where geary crosses masonic and the richmond neighborhood. beginning with the inner geary on the east side. our recommendation here is to

enhance the existing lanes. there are existing bus lanes where the corridor runs on the one way streets of geary and o'farrell streets and our intent is to color i was these areas for bus lanes and the short stretch between powell and market. the recommendation also includes putting in bus bulbs at high rise locations and corner bulbs trying to address some of the pedestrian issues that we heard about in those previous agenda items. in this area, the curb side loading access that is important to some of the land use on the streets is retained. so moving to the west to the fillmore area, our recommendation there is for side bus lanes as well. this

allows us to provide a surface station with new amenities and we think a strong connection to the 22 fillmore which is a high transfer activity area. we are working within the existing under pass. so we are not looking to making any engineer changes to the path but we are looking to increase lanes and that will allow us the opportunity to improve the pedestrian crossings in the area and people will have fewer lanes to have to cross to get across geary. our improvements include a new pedestrian crossing of the geary blvd at by -- buchanan to facilitate a bus stop that we are planning at buchannon. moving to the

masonic area where the geary street encountered the great separated intersection where geary goes in an under pass underneath masonic avenue, there too we are recommended side bus lanes at this point. we think having the bus lanes at the side on those service roads allow us to provide a surface stop which provides a very strong access and for safety and security and as well as a smooth transfer to the 43 masonic which crosses geary at that location. we had an additional alternative that would have operated the bus in the under pass which would have -- necessity taetd a stop and while waiting for the bus as a personal security issue. we are

responding to that feedback and we are choosing a side bus lane in that area so we can have a surface stop with the better pedestrian security and safety issues. just looking at the stretch between fillmore and masonic for a little bit, as we look at that stretch, we notice there is not much distance between fillmore and masonic especially if you consider how the buses might transition between the center and the side of the street if we choose to put the buses in the center of the streets in between the two great separated intersections. what we are recommending because we are going to be on the side at fillmore and at the side on masonic that short stretch in between, we keep the buses on the side rather than

try to bring this em to the middle of the street and back outside again. the recommendation is for side operation all the way through the masonic area. that leaves me to the rich manned -- richmond area. this area of the corridor the recommendation is for the brt and the local stop and every stop to become a brt and local stop and every bus make a stop. that means the bus stops do get further apart in this area for the local service. but we think this is a really good compromised and a good bus design that we can go forward with and respond to a lot of the community feedback that we've heard. i will get into that in an a little bit

but expanding on this recommendation. the recommendation is for these new bus lines to be in the center of the street with new medians one on either side of the bus lanes. at the bus stop, the bus stations those medians become the loading platforms and they become the higher level sidewalk platforms and the people will have less to step up and get into the bus and make it for a smoother operation. the platforms are currently longer. we notice sometimes they don't get to actually pull all the way up to the sidewalk and people have to step down to the street in order to get on the bus. this will fix that. this will be an operation where they will be able to pull up towards the

platform. >> other pedestrian safety improvements that we see with this alternative include reducing conflicts with left turning vehicles. we heard with that previous presentation about left turning issues being prevalent on geary. we are looking to reduce the number of intersection where vehicles can turn left. and for the ones that are remaining, we are looking to put in those left turn arrows to separate the phases. excuse me, i need to get some water. >> other pedestrian improvements that we are looking to put in this portion of the corridor include

pedestrian bulb outs at strategic locations. you can see the image here which features improved crossing includes high visibility striping. we are looking to put in new lighting as well and bulb outs where we can and another improvement that we are looking to put in here gets to again one of the things that we talked about at the previous presentation about longer crossing triumph. -- time. we are looking to increase the length when we operate the signals for the geary project. so benefits that we are seeing from this staff recommended alternative in this area for center bus lines and

consolidated stops include some very strong bus travel savings. we are seeing 30 percent reduction in travel time as compared to a no project situation with the current bus operation. we are seeing higher reliability because we are pulling the buss out of the right hand lane and we think this alternative provides transit ride benefits to the most transit riders including the local riders and the brt riders. finally this preserves parking. on street parking is one of the concerns we heard from the community. this alternative preserves most of that parking because we don't need to provide a bus passing lane that would have been needed otherwise to allow for the brt buses to pass the local buses because they are all

stopping at every stop in the richmond area. so that's one of the things that we think responds to the community input that we have heard in this ace. so looking at the corridor as a whole that's what the recommendation is for side lanes from the downtown area from the east through fillmore and masonic sections and coming into center for the richmond area before going back out to the side an then as we get passed 33rd avenue we don't see the need for bus lanes even though the buses will continue to go all the way to 48th avenue. taking a look at the cost and funding. our cost estimate for the projects are between $225 million and $260 million. $240 million is the mid-point. that is the estimated project cost

at this point. we have some funds identified. the prop k includes $38 million for the geary project and we also intend to compete for federal fundings and discretionary programs and because it's a high rider ship line it's going to compete very well even across the country it's one of the highest rider ship bus lines in the country. we think we'll get federal funding here and that leaves us with some additional money to identify. previously during the meeting there was a reference with the mayor's transportation task force which has identified geary as a project. we are grateful to get on that list and we think that we are going to get additional funding. there would still be a gap after that, but we are looking

for continually looking for opportunities to fill that gap as well. as we've been going through this community process we have recognized a number of themes of community input and we continue to respond to those issues and today is part of that process. some of the themes we've heard include issues about on street parking and issues about trees and landscape and transit access. we recognize there will be an increase in walking distance. that is an exchange for a faster trip. we do recognize there is an increase in the walking distance there and we know it affects some transit riders on the corridors and reaching out to some of the populations along the corridor and we are mapping senior centers and the corridors and we are targeting them for outreach in this current round.

in terms of schedule, we are doing outreach in this month and as a continuation from the outreach that we've been doing at the very end of 2013 and while we do this outreach we are continuing to work on the environmental document which we plan to release in the summer of 2014. that document we expect to have a recommendation for an alternative to move forward and there will be a public comment period -- accompanying that document. in the fall we are to seek action from the transportation authority board, that's my board and the sf mta board to endorse an alternative. between now and then there is an opportunity for public comment and continue all dialogue. we intend to finish the process

winter of 2014. that wraps up my presentation at this point. i'm happy to take questions. >> thank you very much. well have questions from the council. derek? >> first i just wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that website that they can go to. >> it's www.geary.org. >> if people don't have a computer and they want to get this information, where can they get it from? >> we have a fact sheet that we printed and i have brought some copies today. we have them at our offices at 1455 market street 22nd floor. people are free to come up and get some copies of the fact sheet. if

they would like a presentation for their community group. we are happy to give a presentation. i will give my phone number. 415-522-4804. my e-mail at chester er dot fung. 415-522-4804. my e-mail address: chester.fung at sf.org.

>> thank you. i have no questions at this time. i'm going turn it over to derek. >> i too will yield to get to public comments. we'll go to john lions from the fdr club. >> i want to say this you to the council for having this meeting. my name is jonathan lions from the -- department for san francisco with persons with disabilities. i want to say thank you to mr. fung. i don't know a lot of public employees that are willing to come to a public meeting about

controversial issues such as brt and provide their contact information and direct phone number. i just want to say this you to that and also want to say this you to the ta for taking the time to seek public feedback on this project prior to finalizing their recommends. so i just want to say this you to him for that. as he mentioned our organization will be having a presentation on geary brt at our february 5th meeting, wednesday at 630 p.m. at northern police station. all interested are welcome to attend. our organization does not have an official position on this but speaking personally as a resident i have some concerns and excited about efficiency of brt, but as a blind pedestrian i'm concerned about traveling to the middle

of geary hoping that i might be able to find the platform in order to get on the bus since there will now be two platforms to find. that is a big issue for me personally and also as mr. fung mentioned the issue of separate of stops is a big deal for people with disabilities as well. my personal advocacy would be to help mitigate the separation of stops. it would be to extend the two out to 33rd avenue. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next we'll hear from thomasa. >> again, good afternoon. i'm thomasa. the 244 000-0000 which of the proponents of the

project which they foresee, there is a shortfall of $125 million for now. it says here in this conflict that the benefit is 20 percent faster transit travel time. so we just heard there is an express bus that already exist on geary boulevard. what i have been hearing about this over the past few years is the purpose of this is to make it easier for people to get downtown to their jobs faster. to me, $240 million shows some people in richmond to get to their jobs faster is a very poor use of taxpayer money especially because of all the tremendous hardship and risk it will cause for those who are elders, those

who have mobility issues, those who have vision and hearing problems or issues and those of us who can not walk more than half a block. i happen to be lucky enough to have a car and i'm able to drive. there is no way that i can take munis if i had to walk. let's say a person lives a block or two off of geary boulevard. imagine having to walk 4 blocks between bus stops. this is an incredible hardship for elders and for people that have children with them. this is as far as i'm concerned an insane proposal. who knows what the back room dealings were to come up with this what i would say is an insane proposal. so putting these buses in the middle of

geary blvd. some people have heard me say this, this is why i'm motivated to say this. i have seen people fall out and into a gutter. i have stopped my vehicle and assisted the person that have fallen into the gutter. then i will have people honking their horn as i help the people out of the gutter. as i have literally picked someone up from the gutter, this is why i'm opposed to this project. unless you see that, you don't think of it. >> we have other people. >> this is really important.

please respect that. there is not a lot of people who would be affected by this who are not able to be here today. two or three lanes of traffic in each direction that people with disabilities or elders or people that be blind would have to cross is putting people at severe risk. furthermore if a person gets off a munis vehicle and falls out of their wheelchair you know you are going to have these three lanes of traffic coming at them and the person is extremely vulnerable at these intersections. for these reasons i urge you to oppose this proposal. anything that has the munis vehicles in the middle of the roads where it would be better to have them at the express routes.

>> next we have susan pfeifer. >> we only ask that you honor this time and then you can come back at around we'll give everyone a chance to talk. you can come back and voice the important things. we just want everyone to get an opportunity to speak. thank you. >> thank you. hopefully i will be brief. i want to reiterate some of the comments that have been made. the secretary of the fbr club and senior with disabilities. i agree with jonathan's comments. rarely do i applaud public agencies but it sounds like the outreach intake of public comment has been done better than most. so that is appreciated. my first concern was when he talked about going out to inform the

community if there would be input and if it's too late for instance some of the comments made today is it too late for any changes to be made. you are never going to please everyone. but i am concerned about the longer distance that people will have to walk. the baby boomers are aging and remember we were the largest single population ever born at one time back in the 50s. as we are hitting our 65 and above you are going to have more seniors out there. that is the hardship that i'm concerned about. if the people have to walk to the middle of the street to board, if there are pot holes in the streets that they can tip over. people can fall or trip and that can be an issue. you are already saving time with being able to adjust the lights so the buses can travel through intersection more smoothly. so

reducing the number of stops seems to be maybe not the best idea when you want to make it easier to get to the buses particularly the people who work. seniors and disabled rely more on public transportation than many other people. thank you. >> next we have richard. >> yes. my name is richard rothman. there seems to be inconsistency. you have mta wants to put in this disability policy of making it harder for people with disabilities who work downtown. they want to put in a plan where you can only park four 44 hours and you have to pay for meters and another city agency wants to put in a bus system where people with

disabilities are going to have to walk longer to the bus stop. so how can the city, does the city know what they are doing? there seems to be some inconsistency in that. i ride to 38 all the time and it's great. i don't understand why one mta wants to encourage people with a disability to take public transit downtown and the brt wants to make it harder for people to get to the bus stops. i wish the city would come up with one policy so the the people in the disability community would know what the city's policy is about people who have disabilities and who work downtown and how are they supposed to get downtown. thank you. >> thank you. next we have

charles minister. >> thank you. charles minister, a member of the senior and disability action. i would like to second what the sister said earlier about the obvious cost and the necessity of this. i don't hear a dime being spent for new transit vehicles. i use the 38 and my wife uses the 38 everyday. the biggest problem i find on the line is that in rush hours there are not enough seats in the front to take care of the disabled people. as a senior i have to vacate the seat to move to the rear of the bus. this is for the downtown interest where they are the retail giants to get the workers downtown quicker pure and simple and get those

shoppers downtown pure and simple. this is unconscionable to spend so much on this project. you have people as we've heard earlier here disabled people living on the streets. we are going to spend $240 million to make the buses go downtown faster. we need more buses on that line so people can have a seat especially the disabled people. sometimes you get two wheelchairs on a bus and a third wheelchair can't get on the bus and they eliminate a lot of seating. this is the only thing that we need to do is put more buses on the line. i want to thank, salute the drivers and the maintenance men who keep these buses running. they are the ones that keep the job going, they are the ones that we have to thank. not these people, again, the downtown business interest. if they want these buses to run downtown faster, let them spend the money. that's where you get it at. they have