it was causing confusion when we talked about fair increases and things like that. obviously one of the first places that we are talking about fair increases on our express services and people in the valley and throughout the 8 x. we get a little worried that it was going up. this makes it clear that the 8 is not an express service. the 16, i don't know how it became known as the 16 x when it's the express lean -- lean line to the 71 and we are changing it to the x. and one more i want to point out was 33 modifying that to 33 ash bury.

outreach as far as always changes in several ways. we've got voice announcements on the buses saying for example if you are on the 17 it will say, it says, this is just changing to the 77 starting april 25th. we've also got stops throughout the system with the name changes. we also have ads placed inside and outside of the buses. you might see some that will say more service less crowding and 35% of our daily ridership and rapid is the new limited. r is moving to l or rather l is moving to r's. yes, so that's pretty much it in a nut shell. those

are the changes happening april 25th i would love to take some questions. i want to say we are super excited about all of these changes and hopefully you guys will as well. >> thank you for presenting today. we have questions from the council and the first one that had questions was council member roland wong. >> hi. i have two questions. it may not fit in this discussion but i want to maybe make a comment about it. first is the 28 line. currently it kind of runs in a hot limited. sit to run on a hot day. >> roland is referring to the 20

limited really only operates. it's basically a school tripper. it operates in the morning and midday and relieves that stress for the schools getting out. the eventual proposal is that we are going to increase that to an all day service on 10-minute head ways to overlay the 28 local which will be an all day service as is on 10 men head way. there will be a lot more service on 19, not just for schools. >> i wasn't clear. sometimes i see it and sometimes i don't. there was more servicing during school hours. so in the future it will be all day. >> yes, but just to be clear, that's not happening april 25th. >> okay. the second part, i had a chance to visit the portrero

division to see the new trolley coaches. it's very impressive. the thing i kind of glared out at me is not the priority seating. it's the ones that you have to step up to other seats. i think it's, i guess i never noticed it on the current hybrid. i don't go beyond that rear door. so i wasn't even aware of that step up. i'm kind of, i tried it on tuesday, tried to step up, i couldn't do it. it's too high. so i think it's like what i understood it's

the new design of the future buses but i don't think it's that safe. as you go to the rear area, it's kind of high and i'm getting concerned that people may scombrus -- just fall over it. the back passengers would literally tip over. anyway, it's just one of those things i thought i would mention. it's the first time i actually saw it. i saw it on the ac transit. i thought oh my gosh. it doesn't serve the seniors who need the front seats. it's more of an observation. >> thank you, council member wong. cochair supanich has a question? >> just a few. first of all,

i'm so happy to see muni making improvements because i would imagine there is a long exit line of muni users turning to new forms of transportation to get around our streets and it only leads to increase congestion especially when they are allowed to use muni bus stops. so i question the decision making on that from muni but anyway, i'm really happy to see these changes. the first thing i wanted to ask about is the transit signal priority, will that only be on the rapid lines? >> no. we are in the process of creating 600 traffic signals in the city that will allow transit signal priority. we are, i guess you would say focusing on the rapid lines first but we are also focusing downtown

soma area, for the 10, 12, they get stuck in traffic lines. it not just rapid, it's where we are noticing a lot of issues related to heavy traffic and where we can help. >> will it be on market? >> you know what, yeah, portions of market are already done and yeah, the rest is on the way. >> okay. and my other question has to do with the price increases. there will be a slightly higher price for the rapid lines? >> no. >> i thought i heard you say that. >> what i was referring to is our express services have a different fare structure and one of the reasons to change the x and just the 8 because when it comes to express services they

are usually one of the first to be talked about fair increases. it was never included in that. it was just weird, people got worried that we were changing it and we weren't. i just wanted to drop that moniker. >> so the express remain express? >> yes. >> great, thank you. >> any other questions through the staff? >> yeah, i'm confused. what is the difference between the rapid and the express? >> couple things. one, express is typically 4 hours a day. so usually a couple hours in the morning and couple hours in the evening peak. so like 7:00-9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.. express service is like a closed service where we do four our five stops and a few more section and we

don't stop and open the doors and let people off. it's kind of a service pattern. that's why the 8 has an express initially because it travels on the freeway in the middle part of the city when it goes from valley to chinatown. it thavls on the freeway and obviously we don't make stops on the freeway. it's sort of as an express service because it was trying to be a quicker trip from people from the valley to downtown but now it's grown to 20 hours a day and 30,000 people riding it so it no longer functions as an express bus. >> my other question having do with the outreach and marketing and the level of confusion that is going to be out there. i understand that you are doing your best probably in

multi-will languages and voice announcements probably in multiple languages but especially a lot of our folks who have cognitive disabilities, developmental disabilities who have a lot of routine depend on a routine to function on a daily basis. what about people with dementia and seniors who tend to take the bus many times. i bet there will be quite a bit of confusion. how is mta able to, do you anticipate the confusion? >> yes, we post on the stops 2 weeks early. there will be a sign

there. two, we are going to have ambassadors where the numbers are changing and we'll have flyers and say if you have any questions, let me know. and we are also having what is called dash signs. for lack of a better word. we are taking the old number, for example if you used to ride the 71 and now the head sign will say 7 and we'll put the old number on it. now it called the 7. we'll leave that on for a couple weeks until people get used to it. we also have take ones. the little flyers we are putting in front of all the buses that the operator can hand them out or people can grab them as they

are walking out. and also voice announcements. we are having voice announcements 2 weeks before. >> thank you very much for your presentation. i am a muni rider too and i have to admit that i was quite confused when i saw the r 14 signs at my stop. i didn't really understand that it was meant to be a rebranding on that. and i also shared some of joanna's concerns. i'm one of those people that has patterns and habits and i remember the buses that go certain places. i wonder if your outreach also includes going to places like the ark, that teaches their community how to navigate the city independently using public transit. i would definitely reach out to the ark san francisco and janet pom rye center as well. i

would suggest making contact with some of the senior centers because there are a lot of people that get there on their own steam even though they get services that are there. i think the dash communication sounds like a good idea to be displaying kind of the new and the old information simultaneously or on the same bus but i wonder how long that program will last, 2 weeks? >> there is no set time. we are going to let it until operators aren't getting questions anymore and staying there and getting befuddled looks. >> and people not getting on the bus because they think it's not theirs. i want to get to the question about council member wong about the low floor buses, the new fleet and the intention of the low floor buses as i

understand is to reduce the height that you need to step up into the main body of the bus itself and that at the rear of the bus, it still needs to be at a certain height to cover the engine and that's the reason why you have the seats that are at i higher level at the rear, but then intention of the low floor is to make it a more accessible bus because you don't have to go that high to get in at the entry. is that correct? sean? >> yes. >> yes, i did, we did do the deployed the ramp and everything and they did move the bus the lowest. basically for a wheelchair users you can actually board pretty easy and

navigating inside the bus is pretty good. unfortunately i was the only wheelchair user that we couldn't do two simultaneously. but generally, the ramp is very good. you know, and they were able to move it the furthest. i don't know the measurement. the steps i'm referring to is the non-priority seating. and basically, many adults are sitting on the frame that's why it's forced to go up. i tried it and i said, i don't think, if a person was a senior or a person who has arthritis legs, they are going to have a hard time getting up those steps even though you already have it in the current hybrid buses, but i

never noticed it because i don't go beyond that area. so it's just a concern that i noticed just out of lately. >> i think you bring up really good points about that and it probably has a lot to do with how the passengers arrange themselves on the bus because i would hope the people that need the lower level are given the priority to remain on the lower level and the people who don't need the lower level would go ahead and take that extra step and climb to the tire. >> yeah, that is like a learning cultural change for people who are more ambulatory to the people who really need it. but it's that culture change and it's not easy to change.

>> thank you for your comments. we are going to open for public comment. >> nick. >> in a dangerous metro plan, the san francisco metropolitan transit agency is proposing to cut the line to san francisco general hospital on the only bus line from the richmond haight and mission hospital. i encourage the council to oppose this. many

senior and disabled have no other way to get the general. demanding that seniors and disabled get off the 13 to san bruno would expose this population to accidents and this should not happen. this is a gentrification and disability issue. sf mta is favoring a highly and illegal fashion the.com community at mission bay over -- seniors and low income who use the health services and general. to add insult to injury, san francisco health department staff have gone on record that there is a parking crisis at general cutting the 33 lean to general will exacerbate general's parking crisis. all of this at

a time when san francisco general hospital is under going an unprecedented expansion. why not support that expansion by keeping the service lines including for all city san franciscans. thank you. >> thank you, next we have jerry grace. >> good afternoon, everyone. we talk about the buses. there is a question and i really don't understand this. it really surprises me san francisco is changing and i wasn't surprised by this.

i wonder about the 26 bus, he didn't say anything about 26 bus or 18 bus. he never said anything about 74 bus or towards the bart station on 29 bus. he never said none of those bus. he never said nothing about those buses yes, it's more crowded on that buses too, but later the nighttime i don't know what is going on with that nighttime. and if they do have r run. it reminds me the transit what they always

do have from 5:00 a.m. to all day to 7:00 p.m. at night and as the bus is running, two buses back-to-backo you are riding this other bus. that's what i wonder. will you please explain to us about the other buses that i just named and the reason is it changing the bus line, the 18 and 23. would you please explain it. thank you. >> thank you, is there any other public comment on this issue? >> hello. my name is wendy. i

have a comment and a suggestion. as a lot of us who doesn't speak english has -- imprinted the bus number and the limited now changed to rapid. especially on the lines changing numbers, people think the way they have been for years, okay. my suggestion is rather than a few weeks having the sign in the window it should be 6 months because people forget. it needs that time for people to get used to it and things like that. my second comment has to do with the rapid lines as well as the other lines. muni and all other public

transportation has seen an increase in ridership in a lot of ways. and i know this project is to get people to use the larger buses to quickly get people in and out, but i have also seen that when ever a bus is crowded, a driver will not pick up a wheelchair. if the bus is half crowded or maybe even a third of capacity, they might pick it up, okay. that's the concern that i have as we are moving towards higher ridership lines. seniors and

people with disabilities have traditionally rid den the community lines so they can get a seat. and having cutbacks on the community lines is affecting senior and disability population adversely. thank you. >> thank you. any other public comment on this item? anything on the bridge line? no. thank you, we are closing public comment and move to no. 9. information item, report from the director of the mayor's office on disability. >> thank you, cochairs senhaux and cochair supanich. i'm going to keep my report fairly brief today. i

have four items. one is an update on the ada 25 celebration planning. the other is about an announcement about a new employee starting in mod, the third is to talk about a new video remote interpreting rolled out in city departments and the last thing about the 1906 earthquake. first on the ada 25, our planning is coming together for san francisco celebration and on a save the date thought i want to remind everybody it's went july 31st, and we put post cards on the table. we have a pretty exciting event so far, one of our guest speakers is former assemblyman tom and

the kids from the san francisco unified school district and we plan to bring the institute patient no more travel to city hall and this is the kiosk to hear the first person account of the federal occupation from 1977. we've talked about having a theme for the event and one that we are playing with right now is called "it doesn't stop here" that's to send a message that while we have much to celebrate, we still have much to work and the ada is continuing. again these details wednesday july 1st, city hall, light court, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.. i want to remind people to go to our new website. ada 25 bay

area.org. for updates on this event as well as many other events that are happening throughout the bay area all year. mod has a new deputy director who is going to be starting on monday. we are so excited about that. his name is arforas, a specialist in ada compliance for the last 12 years. he has a very robust resume in ada transition plans and other counties and also developing ada training programs for the state of california as well as for cal trans. when he arrives next week, he's going to have to hit the ground running because i have so many assignments for him. he's going to be taking on managing our own transition plan

projects, including the bayview upper house, upgrades to two neighborhood health clinics, improvements to san francisco general hospital and many others. i hope to give you an opportunity to meet him at next tuesday's mdc executive committee meeting. next on offices. you might know that this office work very closely to initiate video interpreting for sign language in our language access contract. this contract allows any city department to set up a computer and a camera and microphone to bring an american sign language interpreter directly to a service counter to facilitate technology that is similar to skype and face time. yesterday when i attended the opening of the

new public safety building, police chief greg suhr what is able to announce that they will be able to provide sign language interpretation to the public using our real remote interpreting, they are rolling out this service and the other office is of course the mayor's office on disability and also the county clerk, department of elections, recreation and parks, mayor's office on housing and community development t human services agency, office of citizens complaints and department of emergency management. in fact the department of emergency management is actually talking with the media and television stations to see if we can patch asl interpretation

into their television feeds as a tool during emergencies to be effective in our communications. there is a lot of really exciting things happening with video remote interpreting. speaking of emergency management team. tomorrow is the 109th anniversary of the san francisco earthquake. i'm going to be at the fountain at 5:00 a.m.. if anyone would like to join me. i want to acknowledge that the city has been doing so much to try and build an earthquake resistance environment here in our infrastructure . we have our own city hall that was severely damaged in the loma prieta earthquake. we have the new san francisco hospital building that will be opening in 2016. the retrofitted fire station and