call it. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm a san francisco native and i'm part of the chinatown transit research improvement project. i'm here to support the ordinance because as supervisor peskin said, there's a lot -- chinatown is really crowded already. so, if you guys have been on stockton street, you will know it is kind of like a football field. imagine your grandparents trying to go buy groceries for dinner and not being able to get back home because there's a scooter in the way. [bell]. >> i think the moped company is a really great company for the power scooters to look at. their model is one of the best models they have in the city. they restrict where you can park certain mopeds and they also require members to take training

classes, in person training classes for etiquette. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you very much. >> moses. i'm a martial arts instructor in visitacion valley. this company has helped me supplement my income in san francisco to allow me to continue being a positive influence in the community. i just ask i'm all for regulations but the company has treated me and my friends very well and has paid us excellent for the work we do. and we work hard and we make sure everything is safe. i do. and i know a lot of my friends we make sure things are safe. that's all. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. i had a number of speaker cards here but i think everyone is out of order. so, just come on up. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is joe. i have been a charger for birds since march 25th. this extra income really helps

feed my family with the expensive cost of living in san francisco, every penny counts. as a native of san francisco, i see the need for the bird scooters for commuting in this congested city. also want to apologize for any difficulties our birds present to the public and we will do whatever we can to make things better. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good evening. my name is david nunez and i'm a charger for bird. birds has also helped me supplement my income. i hear a lot of things people are saying about negative aspects of how people are treating the scooters. but yet that can be done with any vehicle or any scooter, bike. it is about the person who is in charge of it to put it away, put it in the correct place. to leave it away from people that are handicapped. i feel of course regulations are needed. everybody is needed for the community to be in a safe space. this is creating jobs and

people's transportation easement to work and home. it is also getting people out and about and not sitting at home. [bell]. >> these too many positives and very little cons. let's regulate it and create more jobs. get rid of vehicles that are killing people. i have never seen a scooter on scooter accident kill somebody. [bell]. [mic turned off] >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm a resident here in the city. san francisco is a city of innovation and is a leader of not only california, but of the world. back in the 1800s before the invention of cars, pedestrians were the main users of roads and we know that is not the case presently. what a lot of people don't know is that the public had to be educated not to walk on roads and to stay on the sidewalks. this is a public education problem and the users of scooters need to be educated

where to park and ride the scooters. if they don't follow the laws, they should be given citations. [bell]. >> we need to balance the new with the old and move forward as a community. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> supervisors, my name is alex. i'm a native born and raised in san francisco. i have started using these scooters pretty much since they first came out. i use them every day. i just think that it's great that you're making a permitting process for these companies. but i hope you don't ban or in any way charge them any kind of money for the process from now until may 1st because they are just operating a business. thanks. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, supervisors. my name is zachary smith. i have been a resident of north beach since 1983. and for the last five years i

have basically not had to drive a car anymore in san francisco because of electric scooters. for the last five days, i have been using bird scooters and i have become a charger. it has supplemented my income and it has made me able to stay in san francisco. so, it is not just a transportation issue. [bell]. >> it's also an affordability issue. and i would hope the city would take that into account as well. of course i'm for the safe use of any type of transportation. if it is banned from the sidewalk, then people shouldn't use the sidewalk. i do wear a helmet and i do use birds where i'm supposed to. and i like it. it's really a good solution. helping san francisco and they don't pollute. [bell]. >> thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> my name is brian and i'm with spin. just want to introduce ourselves

and express our commitment to being good partners. we started a few weeks ago but we are trying to be as transparent as possible since early february where we reached out to the m.t.a. and we provided our plans to make sure nothing in our plans would conflict with any existing, local and state laws. since then, we have been just as responsible and transparent with our partners in the city to make sure they get regular updates and we continue to work collaboratively with m.t.a. and with the board. we would love to be a resource. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> hello. i'm katie and a resident of district two and i represent the residents who are just trying to find an efficient way to get around the city. i love living in san francisco but transportation is the most frustrating element. i work just over a mile and yet it consistently takes me over 30

minutes to get to work from home. and i have experimented with many modes of transportation. i have been using bird and it has cut my commute in half, saving significant time. the effect of scooters the city will cut don on traffic congestion and emissions in our city. [bell]. >> i'm a civil environmental engineer and i care deeply about the sustainability of our city. i understand the proper regulations, but this proposal goes too farment most riders, including myself take great effort to ride in the bike lane and follow all traffic laws. we should be allowed to continue to utilize this urban transportation. thank you. >> hi there. i'm a resident of the marina. i think it is important for everyone to realize what technology cal trends -- technological trends are enables

us to do. it is important to understand how battery costs are trending. the rise of personal mobility vehicles is something we are only at the early stages of. there's a tremendous amount of benefit to having a shared transportation service around e-bikes and e-scooters and i urge you to consider working collaboratively with these companies. the consequence i feel is that consumers will start to purchase these vehicles themselves and we will see streets more littered than ever with personal devices. we won't have the parking infrastructure and bike lanes to deal with it. thanks. >> good afternoon, supervisors. john decastro. a couple of things. first of all, my wife was riding

on her stair lift down our front stairs on sunday as four bird scooters came up in tandem you have the sidewalk and almost hit her as she got off her stair lift. there are problems with people using these things on the sidewalks. the devices should be available and also by the way, lime is not a very good neighbor. we have asked them a number of times to remove scooters and they haven't removed them for days. [bell]. >> i think dpw finally got them. bike racks are similar devices and there should be places to park these things that are designated. for example i had two jump bikes my driveway attached to a parking pole that took me four hours to get rid of. that was at least a good response by jump bike. there needs to be more regulations around what is going on here. >> supervisor tang: thank you. if any other members of the public wanted to speak, just

please feel free to line up by the far wall. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is jeremy lin lynch. for me, my small business thrives on me figures out ways to make sure i can get money and so i can invest and continue to grow my dream. san francisco is a city i moved to because it is a city of dreams and inspiration. it is a city that collaborates with its community, its government, business and people. and i'm here to encourage you today to simply say that as a citizen who has used bird, someone who has seen my costs in travelling to different locations the efficiencies of these scooters within the city has really allowed me to drive in a matter of three weeks and decrease my cost. which is significant not only to my being here but to the future

of what we are as a city and how we work together to accomplish something great. [bell]. >> thank you so much for your time. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker please. >> my name is lewis and i'm new to the city. i'm a new resident to san francisco and to california. one of the great things i love about san francisco was the fact you adapt to the new technology that comes out. this is a great technology that saves me money. i have to deal with the fact i parked mega -- my car in for 350. it is the best to be able to take scooters instead of driving my car or worry about my bicycles being stolen as some individuals who live in the same apartment have lost both their bikes. this is great to be able to move around the city. it is the way you adapt to

technology. adapt to this one. i think it is useful. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i want to say san francisco is a very progressive city and one of the most in the world. this technology with the scooters, it's very new. i understand that with each new technology that we have to figure out a way to find common ground. and i believe that if we find common ground in regulations, this will be very good for the city as far as improving and moving forward the way that we're going. as far as the economy and the people. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors. i'm a resident of district five. i do want to say that my bike has been very proactive to the residents of our community. especially in low income areas and overlooked areas. i'm interested if seeing how

this entry evolves and i think regulation is logical but the regulation has to be as well. i think there has to be a discussion around street infrastructure as well because some of the streets it is hard to ride scooters on. [bell]. >> i can see the temperaturation to ride on sidewalks. i feel like we need more protected bike lanes as well. also just to -- as an aside, economic opportunities have grown because of lime bike especially. for low income residents to pick up some scooters and charge. i think there is a future of this industry. but we have to be smart with it. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker please. >> hello. my name is brandon brown. bayview resident and business owner in san francisco. also former gm of bike -- i

remember when these ride share contracts came out. i think the real issue is the docking stations and picking up of the bikes like gentleman just said earlier. and the real issue is cars, not scooters and bikes. the city from what i have seen so far over the past seven years revolves around a cycling culture. when we are thinking about bringing these companies in, we could think about the actual culture and what we want to portray. that we are progressive and trying to cut carbon emissions down. we should open up multiple contracts for docking which i would think solve a lot of problems that we have. [bell]. >> supervisor tang: thank you. again, if anyone else wants to speak, please come and line up

by the drapes. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm carl hanson with bird. first i want to say i think we share a lot of the same goals. san francisco has the laudable target of getting to 80% of trips being non-automotive by 2030. rides have to shift so some new technologies for that to happen. we think we found something that can really help with that goal. that said, we do absolutely empathize with the concerns of the community. we do not want to see riders riding dangerously on sidewalks or riding on sidewalks at all, parking on sidewalks no ways that present a hazard. we had good conversations with supervisor kim's office, with walk san francisco and have set up some new ways of addressing this, including taking a photo, requiring riders to take a photo at the end of each ride,

demonstrating they have parked safely. we are adding a no riding on sidewalks rule to each bird and we also want to ensure that is a robust conversation. and would love to meet in anyone in your districts. finally, our only concern here is we support regulations. we need to have the permits available and have the opportunity to apply for those permits. just a matter of timing for us. [bell]. >> if you can allow a window for us to continue to operate, that is all that we need. in that time, we want to share data with you and meet with neighborhood groups and have a robust discussion so that san francisco can have the best regulations in the country on dockless scooters. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peskin: what day did you first start to deploy these mechanisms on the streets of san francisco? >> it was just after st.

patrick's day. it was after that weekend. lime launched first and then spin. i don't know if any of the reps are here. and then we launched shortly thereafter. >> supervisor peskin: and were you aware that the legislation that's being considered by this committee was pending at that time? >> correct. we had actually been in conversations with multiple parties in the city of san francisco, waiting for the permit process to come forward. we saw some of our competitors launch and then we decided to introduce a pilot. we received a letter from the m.t.a. at that point asking some questions about our operations, which we replied to. given the current rules we're operating within the law and we're excited to work on that permit process with the city and put in regulations that address the safety concerns of the community. >> supervisor peskin: and mr., hanson, are you aware that the

legislation that we are considering today is not being considered pursuant to any emergency provisions of the charter or city law? >> i'm aware. >> supervisor peskin: and are you aware that your company released a press release saying the opposite? >> if we had bad intel on that, i apologize for that. i think the situation is an emergency for us if we're required to have a permit that does not yet exist. that's why we have -- >> supervisor peskin: an emergency for you is not an emergency. if your press release you equated our promulgating this law to give the transportation authority the ability to set forth permitting scheme with reasonable regulations akin to the steps we would take after a major earthquake. does that not seem hyperbolic to you. >> if that was --

>> supervisor peskin: what do you mean if? >> as proposed it is not an emergency ordinance. >> supervisor tang: thank you. i will ask mr. hanson if you could stay we have a lot of questions. i want to get through public comment. >> supervisor peskin: one last question. are you aware that during the course of this hearing we have received and you have received a cease and desist order from the city attorney for violations? >> i read it. the attachment we received didn't have page 2. i have not read the whole thing but i would love to see the full letter. >> supervisor peskin: it was resent to you with the missing page. >> supervisor tang: thank you. please stay. we have more questions for you after public comment. >> i will be here. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker, please. if anyone else is here, please come up. >> i'm tim. i grew up in san francisco. i'm a skateboarder and i ride mopeds all around the city.

i also wear a prosthetic leg. i had cancer when i was a kid. lost my leg. bird, i support it. i think it's awesome. being a san francisco resident i just think that we need to have better regulations on it and not leave the bikes on the sidewalks and ride on the sidewalk, which i actually made a point of riding on the sidewalk. [bell]. >> now that i know that might be illegal, we should just be more informative of that. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> hello. i'm bay area native but i have come into the city since i was young and played chess on market street. the first time i rode bird on the embark dare ro -- embarcadero, i didn't think bird. i thanked san francisco.

>> supervisor tang: thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm an independent operations and technology consultant. i have ridden the bike more than 200 times. jump more than 20 times and have done a handful of e-scooter ride. i support progressive flexible legislation for e-scooter in san francisco. a couple of points that i think are really important are around access. [bell]. >> number one. i think access to all scooters in san francisco so that people can access the scooters without a credit card is extremely important. i also think the legislation should encompass the operations, principles in order to ensure that scooter share can survive

and thrive. particularly reporting metrics around the accessibility of the scooters. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker. >> hi. my name is joseph. i'm from san francisco. i'm for bird and lime. one thing i want to point out. sounds like the regulations everyone is discussing is possibly riding people to ride in bike lanes. a lot of roads in san francisco is some of the worst roads in america. i'm not sure riding in these lanes are possible. you have to go around -- it is very easy for cars and bikes to go over the dependents. [bell]. >> there's a lot of states that don't require people on motorcycles to ride helmets. i'm not sure why we would going 15 miles per hour. we are talking about pedestrians

and accidents and traffic in san francisco, pedestrians traffic issues have been the lowest in the last seven years and actually historically has been the most in san francisco history until 2017. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. jessica layman with senior and disability action. our members, seniors and people with disabilities have talked for decades about being nervous about bikes on sidewalks. and scooters are so much more dangerous. our seniors and disabled folks know if somebody gets hit or trips over a scooter left on a sidewalk, they are going to end up in the hospital. there may be complications. people may or may not go home. also, when scooters are parked on the edge of the sidewalk, that blocks parking access for someone trying to get out of an accessible van or a para transit

van. [bell]. >> the results we know is people don't go out and they isolate themselves. this is a serious as it sounds. we need to regulate scooters and make sure companies are following state laws and we have a plan to keep people safe. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is jeremy frish. i'm a resident of the mission. i want to second what matt said earlier. let's focus regulations on building the protected bike lane and scooter parking infrastructure needed to encourage zero emission modes of transportation like dockless bike share and scooters to be able to ride safely on the road. studies show the more bikes and scooters on the road lead to more safer rides. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is every lynn and i'm

-- evelyn and i'm speaking on behalf of seniors. and i find the tenor of this conversation a bit scary because we are just a few speakers i have heard speak up. the rest are another generation are go, go, go and that's fine, fine. and with to go, go, there are more things to fall over. and it is frightening. beware the unforseen outcomes and consequences of rushing into things. thank you so much for giving this a out of sensitive thought. -- a lot of sensitive thought. >> good afternoon. i'm here on behalf of bird. march 25th was the day i was trying to move out of san francisco because the living cost was pretty high.

since i got a chance to work with bird, it changed my mind and i was making like good money. so, i'm no longer moving from san francisco. as a rider, it's helping me to save my time and it's really convenient. [bell]. >> it is useful. only the issue we are having about the sidewalks. if we follow the rules and maintain laws, i think it is a really good idea. many of the tourists i have seen on the street they are able to go around in the city in a short time. i think it is a good idea. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker please. last call for public comment. >> my name is jack strong. i'm speaking on behalf of the bird organization. as a rider and not the young go, go generation. and a general contractor. sometimes i need to get from place to place downtown five,

six blocks at a time. and the convenience of the birds since they have come up has just been very helpful for me. i could get on it and go to another meeting back and forth. no having to call an uber, cab or anything else. [bell]. >> it is very convenient for me and i have seen how the city has adopted these scooters. and i think it is a very good opportunity for san francisco and for the general community. thanks. >> supervisor tang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is darren. i'm the general counsel of a company you have probably not heard of. i just want to highlight our company is one that did not launch first and comply later. i want to get that on the record. we are willing to work with policy makers, business leaders, community leaders, everybody under the sun to make sensible regulation a reality.

i would like to also underscore that bird, lime bikes don't speak for the entire industry. i'm urging you to permit vigorous competition to allow the cream to rise to the top. >> supervisor tang: thank you. >> i have a gift for the investor who put 300 million into this and let it be rolled out the way it is. clearly they have a bump on the head. there's no place on the sidewalk for any of these vehicles. in my neighborhood, they are taking up all the bike parking, so post mates, delivery and friends have nowhere to park. people will demand it get better. thank you. >> supervisor tang: again, if any other members of the public wish to speak, please come up. >> hello. my name is calvin quick. i'm a resident of san francisco.

i was not going speak at this hearing. when i saw this item on the agenda, i didn't think it was going to be a particularly consequencial aye -- consequential item. but it seems to be what seems to be evasive scare tactics used by these companies who belie their professed interest in pursuing a productive discussion. [bell]. >> so, i just like to make that clear as what i perceive the situation to be. thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. thank you very much for being here, mr. quick. all right. any other members of the public wish to comment on this hearing? i don't know if we have an overflow room. we don't. okay. then i'm going to close public comment. i know we have many more questions and comments to make. i will start with supervisor kim.

>> supervisor kim: so, i walked in midway through the -- >> supervisor tang: mr. hanson? >> i picked the farthest seat back. apologies. >> supervisor tang: i'm try to pull up the paper work. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peskin: i did appreciate mr. hanson's mention that they -- bird is now requiring individuals to send a photograph at the end of a ride showing that the scooter was properly parked pursuant to existing law. i wanted to offer a suggestion and this is really outside of the scope of this legislation because this legislation is

really a high level permitting authority to the agency that governs the use of our street. but the notion that you receive a photograph prior to the ride showing that the individual has a helmet. i know that my experience is not unique, which is that -- and i'm hazarding a guess. upwards of 90% of the individuals i see are not only on the sidewalks, they are without a helmet. i was very pleased this morning to see on columbus avenue two individuals riding in the street. both of them without a helmet. and me and my colleagues are responsible for two hospitals in san francisco. san francisco general and laguna honda. and when you have a closed head injury you end up in one of our hospitals. if you don't have good insurance, the tax payers end up paying for it.

not to mention the tragedy to the individuals and their families. i was taken aback there were members of the public who spoke against common sense safety regulations like the use of helmets. and by the way, that's not our law. that is state law. albeit i know that these companies or some of these companies have been behind the assembly bill to actually remove the helmet requirement, which seems to be pretty reckless. but i would suggest that you consider and the m.t.a. consider requiring as a permit condition a photograph of the individual with a helmet prior to their ability to unlock the device. what says mr. hanson? >> i will say we do take wearing helmets and safety very seriously. i think we were the first company that offers a free helmet directly through the app. we have messaging both on the

scooters and the app stating wear a helmet. it's the law. regarding the state legislation, that's intended to match the riding rules and regulations of these scooters with class two electric bicycles. similar helmet requirements speed and wattage. the purpose behind that is to create clarity for users, cities, for everybody to understand these are vehicles that behavior in a similar fashion and they should have the same regulations. >> supervisor peskin: and then relative -- and i say this -- and i appreciate mr. parks from the m.t.a. addressing consumer data privacy. which in the age of cambridge and mr. zuckerberg receiving for two days in front of the united states congress the other day are paramount on everybody's minds. i was wondering, mr. hanson, if

you could regale us with bird's privacy policies. >> we take privacy and data very seriously. that said, i think we're interested in entering into the stay with a data sharing procedure analogous to what is currently required under the dock share bikes permit. ensuring that data is allowing the city and m.t.a. to understand how these scooters are being used. and how we can best fit into the existing transportation network here in san francisco. >> supervisor peskin: so, reading through bird's privacy policy, it indicates that the app collects personal and nonpersonal information. but what qualifies as nonpersonal -- holds on a second. this is one that actually got me was bird may partner with third

party advertising companies which may use cookies along or in conjunction with other tracking technologies to collect information about you. what do you think about that? >> we have no existing partnerships or plans to partner with advertisers. >> supervisor peskin: but yet any time anybody unlocks one of those things through your app, they have given you that permission? >> like again, there's no existing partnership or planned partnerships with any advertising companies and we have stated on the record, our ceo has said it. that's not in the future for this company. >> supervisor peskin: your company said this was an emergency hearing, and it is not. but as a condition of getting a permit, would you reverse that policy? >> i would be happy to speak with our team about that and we will get back to all the supervisors on that. >> supervisor peskin: let me ask

you this, do you know if you or anybody on your behalf reached out to any policy maker on this board, supervisor and if so, when? >> yes. i know we reached out to all the supervisors, let them know background on the company. i think everybody has my contact details. >> supervisor peskin: are you talking about the letter you sent at 7:46 last night? >> no, the letter we sent when we introduced the pilots in late march. >> supervisor peskin: that one must have alluded me. >> supervisor tang: okay. thank you. i know supervisor kim has a question for spin. i think we had a representative. >> supervisor peskin: i have just one other question. i apologize for mr. hanson before he goes away. which is can you tell us what the criminal charges were against bird in santa monica? >> there was a misunderstanding over the type of business that bird was in santa monica when we applied for the business license permit there.

that's all been resolved. we are in a very good relationship with the city of santa monica. >> supervisor peskin: and you settled in what dollar amount? >> $300,000. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. >> supervisor tang: thank you. supervisor kim and we would like to call up the spin representative. >> supervisor kim: before you go, mr. hanson. >> supervisor tang: sorry. >> supervisor kim: i would like to talk to both bird and spin. this question i will ask of spin as well, although i have this specific question for spin and my apologies for confusing the two initially. this question is actually really limited. i have seen a number of your mot mot motorized boards and i have seen a number tipped over. i'm concerned about having them parked anywhere. but i'm very concerned when

they're tipped over because they're easy to miss and they are long on two ends and very easy to trip over. what whether you do to ensure that that no longer happens? this is for both of you. >> so, we have a phone number on every bird and email address. you can reach out. we generally can get someone out there within two hours to correct any situation. we want our riders to -- when they see something like that, be part of a culture you see a bird that has fallen over, you pick it up. we have seen people doing that. and i mean we understand that concern. we want to make sure it's safe. we have the access number there so you can get a rep out to move it quick. they are very easy to move, if anyone sees it. so, i think -- >> supervisor kim: i guess my question is what can you do to prevent that from happening in

the first place, because two hours is a very long time and there's a lot of people to trip over your vehicles. and it is not just you. it is for all the companies. at some point if this continues to occur, you are going to get sued because someone is going to fall over. so, i assume it is in your company's personal and financial interest to make sure that they don't get pushed over. is there anything you can do with the weight of the scooters? i think this is a really big issue and the fact that within the first week i had seen several that had been pushed over. i'm just very concerned about the long term viability. i can't seen a single one of the jump bikes pushed over yet. and not to say that it hasn't happened. but they are a bit heavier. they are attached the a bike lock or a bike storage. so, what can we do about this to even prevent it from happening so we don't have to call you and wait two hours. >> i'm certainly happy to talk

with our team if there are any design features that we could include that could address that issue. we are happy to look into that. at the same time, bikes fall over. and any kind of transportation technology is going to have its issues. i guess the piece that we want to stress is don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here. the city of san francisco gives out over a million vehicle citations for car parking every year, a bulk of those i think over 20,000 are in the blocking drivewares and crosswalks. and if we're going to allow alterative transit to compete with the car that has had ubiquitous access to the city for over 100 years -- >> supervisor kim: are you just saying -- you brought up the example that we cite when people are breaking the law. are you suggesting we cite and ticket you every time we see a scooter that has fallen over?

as part of our regulatory framework? >> i absolutely support you in having regulations that address the safety issues. >> supervisor kim: why don't you require users to push them up against a building or wall? >> we require now that our users take a photo at the end of every ride. and if in your regulations you want to set specific standards about where it is parked, that's something we could use that photo verify. >> supervisor kim: great. several members of the public talked about local hire and how they are getting hired. could you talk a little more about that and numbers. >> i can address your question about bikes falling over. in terms of the scooters being tipped over or falling over, bird mentioned that they require a photograph at the end of every ride. this was a big learning from

operating more than 50 dockless bike share markets across the country. we have a user rating feature where users rate thumbs up or thumbs down on whether a scooter was properly parked. we encourage the public to reach out via our public health lines and we will pick them up quickly. we look forward to working with m.t.a. on the numerous potential hardware and software approaches to solving this problem. and we expect it to be an it rative process -- iterative process. >> supervisor kim: i know the staff talked with you about this. it is really troubling that your company sent emails to my colleagues saying that you only put out the scooters in the south of market after you asked san francisco m.t.a. and

supervisor kim for permission. that implies that we gave you permission to do so and that was not the case. >> and my colleague, brian, i think has -- we met with noel last week or earlier this week. we used the wrong word there. we did reach out and i think noel would acknowledge -- >> supervisor kim: you definitely reached out. >> to the relevant supervisors, to your office and we had several meetings with m.t.a. we also acknowledged the political climate has changed and is a fast moving thing and we apologized for using the wrong word in that email and want to continue to share data and figure out how to make this safe and capture the transportation benefit which i think will prove to be profound over time. >> supervisor kim: i don't think it was as simple as using the wrong word. you actually said, and we only did so after we asked san francisco m.t.a. and supervisor

kim's office for permission. i don't think what wrong words you used. that entire sentence was completely inaccurate. it is true you met with us. bird met with our office. i want to acknowledge, supervisor peskin, the companies outreached to us and that was the right thing to do. but to say that you asked us for permission and imply that we gave that permission before you deployed the small fleet of scooters isn't the best way to build trust. >> yep. and i acknowledge that. i would ask noel and her experience in the meeting yesterday. we intend to move forward and correct that mistake. >> supervisor kim: i did talk with noel. she works for me. >> in terms of what we did, i think what we learned in our initial outreach in the meetings was as supervisor peskin acknowledged when the bike share ordinance was introduced last year, that there was no specific

law regular lating or -- regulating or preventing us from operating. that is a big difference from permission and we apologize on the record for misspeaking in that case. >> supervisor kim: so, my next question was on the local hire piece which several members of the public alluded to. i would like to understand how that works in more detail. >> so, spin is a san francisco based company and the way that it works it varies across all the companies. but generally similar to how an uber driver would get a job where they go and can pick up a rider. a charger and the different companies use different words can receive a bounty of anywhere between five and 15 or even $20 in some cases to go and pick up a scooter and charge it overnight. a lot of folks who are in the so called gig economy find it

appealing because it can fit in around their other work. also folks with full-time jobs can supplement their income. our company strategy has been to partner with fleet operators who have folks who have vehicles and can do this charging work. >> supervisor kim: that don't sound like a targeted program. it sounds like by chance people that live in san francisco are doing this as a side gig. some members alluded to the fact there were some type of targeted program. that you were going out of your way to hire people locally here in san francisco. honestly working a couple of hours a week that is not a real employment program. i would like to understand what the local hire program that you are conceiving of would look like. >> we are still doing outreach to the community on that front and we don't have a specific program to announce like lime bike may have. but we have hired exclusively local folks so far.

>> supervisor kim: thank you very much. >> supervisor tang: thank you supervisor kim. if i could -- >> supervisor kim: mr. hanson didn't respond to the local hiring. >> supervisor tang: supervisor peskin, can you hold on. >> supervisor peskin: absolutely. >> supervisor kim: this is my last question. i don't want to just hear that people are signing up locally to work for you. i want to understand what the targeted program is. >> i think one of the things we're looking into is working with social service agencies to do job training for the local work we have. that would include getting people in ready and tools in hand so they can do light maintenance in the field and we would love to talk with you and any organizations. that would be a big value to us and something we want to be part of. >> supervisor kim: okay. maybe i just was blending the

public comment together. so it is specifically lime bike that has a program with local organizations. is that correct? is there anyone from lime bike here? okay. >> i think all of us are interested -- >> supervisor kim: i'm glad there's interest. but i wanted to hear about specifics if there was an existing program. i understand now they were speaking in regards to lime bike. so, if anyone from lime bike is here, it would be great to hear from you after supervisor peskin asks his questions. >> supervisor peskin: actually, my question was for lime bike. i was just going to note that at least bird puts on the floor of the scooter the fact that you need to have a helmet and that two riders should not be on it. i noticed that lime bikes do not have even that basic piece of information. but they can watch that on the rerun. >> supervisor tang: thank you, supervisor peskin. and i actually wanted to see if i could bring up san francisco m.t.a. mr. parks.

i just had a few questions for the department. i'm wondering when m.t.a. first heard from these companies whether it was the three we heard from today or others about them wanting to come to san francisco and launch their companies? >> i'm not going to have exact dpats -- dates but i can get that. i think the first we heard from any company was probably spin. and it was mid-february. and talked about interest in launching a pilot program. and the legislation to create a permit program and we also heard representatives from lime in early march and told them we were creating a permit program

and they expressed interest in operating in san francisco. we have talked to respectives from way bot and maybe a couple companies that i can't remember that are also potentially interested. >> supervisor tang: and when did bird approach m.t.a.? >> i don't believe that we were -- at least that i recall, i don't believe we were approached by bird until after they launched their pilot. >> supervisor tang: okay. >> we sent a letter to them asking for more information on what they were doing. >> supervisor tang: okay. thank you. and as you mentioned, m.t.a. started working on the legislation in february or march? >> we began initial conversation in february, but we really didn't start working with the city until march. >> supervisor tang: and then supervisor peskin, you introduced i think it was early -- sorry. end of february, early march? >> supervisor peskin: i thought it was march 7th, but i'm

looking at the newspaper and it is march 6th. >> supervisor tang: okay. and the reason why -- thank you, mr. parks. the reason i ask these questions is because in light of the discussion here -- you may sit down. thank you. i think all these new innovations and helping people get around in different modes is a wonderful thing. i myself road a vespa before scoop came along. i think these other powered scooters are great in terms of you can get around very quickly and easily. especially if you are wearing a skirt or dress. it is quite easy. so, i'm not against these companies innovating and kraitding -- waiting ways to ease our transportation methods. but i believe in making sure our sidewalks are safe for people and again, the reason why i ask san francisco m.t.a. when they heard about this and when they got to work on the legislation i think is really important.

right after they heard from these companies that they were wanting to launch in san francisco, they got to work pretty quickly on working on legislation. and it's probably the quickest i have seen. sometimes working with s.f. m.t.a. can take long, but this was quick. i think that if m.t.a. had said, well, they waited six months or a year to even start working on this, then i would have an issue with the department. but they didn't. they actually responded pretty quickly. in san francisco we regular late our sidewalks in -- regulate our sidewalks in terms of table and chairs, dining for restaurants, they have to apply for permits from public works to make sure there's clearance for wheel chairs, strollers, et cetera, for pedestrian access. grocery stores are not supposed to have shelves of groceries taking up more than six feet of our sidewalks. again for accessibility issues. so, all these are just regulations we have in place to make sure that people have a path of travel, it's safe.

especially people who are visually impaired or need a wheelchair or so forth. those are all important aspects we cannot just sort of write off and say we're actually against progressive new modes of transportation. that is not the case. we are very supportive i would say collectively of different modes of transportation. but it cannot impede on pedestrian safety. so, that is why i do support supervisor peskin's legislation today. i think we are not trying to ban any of these companies or these moesds -- modes of transportation. we are simply saying until the regulatory framework is in work. until s.f. m.t.a. issues permits you cannot leave these items unattended on the sidewalks. i don't think that's asking for too much. i think in the spirit of competition between these companies -- one company launched on st. patrick's day. everyone else felt like they had to launch immediately right after. i think that you're all liter

literally knocks yourself over to be here in san francisco. we would like you to be here but bewould like you to follow our -- but we would like you to follow our rules is my point. i will turn it over to supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: thank you, chair. can jamie from m.t.a. come back up, please. thank you. my question is, do you have to wait for the legislation to be enacted to start drafting up the permit itself and what the permit process would be or have you begun that process? >> we don't have to wait. right now if things go as planned, i think this division i legislation would get a second reading somewhere around april 24th and there's a 30-day waiting period before it is in effect. our hope is we would have the materials ready in advance of that date so as soon as the legislation exists to create a violation without a permit that

there's a permit you would be able to apply for. >> supervisor safai: so, after the 24th, your plan is to have something up online to people can begin the application process? >> yeah. we don't have an exact date, but we hope in mid-may to have it -- >> supervisor safai: so about a month from now you will probably have the application process. i think we all unanimously agree that we have to have a permitting process. i don't know what world any business lives in that believes they can just come into a city and operate without rules. and i understand that there was pressure on some of the businesses to move quickly because one other business did it. but then you stated there's other people in this industry that have decided to wait. and the example that i like to use is chariot. i know chariot worked really long and hard on the permitting process with your agency and they now this past week were able to finalize a process.

i think the best -- one of the things to take out of here today for some of the businesses that when you work in collaboration with the city, you have a much better result. and we collectively have received hundreds and hundreds of complaints about these being strewn all over the city. from all different types of advocacy groups whether it is seniors, whether it is people with disabilities, children advocates. whoever it is. but the public domain is the public domain and it is in our interest to protect that. i really urge these businesses that have come here today to work aggressively with the city and follow the rules, follow the process, put in the applications and within a month's time, you will be able to -- at least there will be rules of the game that will be laid out. not guaranteed you will be able to operate in san francisco, but at least there will be rules of the game. i appreciate the m.t.a.'s work on moving quickly on this. [captioner switch]

>> and make sure that they're done safely, and that they're docked safely. but i do also feel the frustration of companies that feel like we're not moving fast enough, and i'm actually -- i'm very annoyed at how these companies moved forward over the last couple of weeks. there are companies like scoot -- supervisor safai brought up chariot, but scoot did work with you on the rollout of their products, and are patiently working with you to roll out their electric bikes. and so i know we have permitted jump, which is great, but i think it's also a frustrating process as we figure out how to get people peopout of their ci cars as this grows, but in a same fashion. i know you're saying that you'll be ready in a month, but i'm just curious as to what will go into that process. >> sure. and just want to 'em ifemphasit

our goal is to create a program by which they're regulated in a way which serves the public interest, so we have a way that can serve as an ability option, as well. i'd also say that one of the reasons that we're very interested in the data sharing is to understand exactly how these scooters do play a role in expanding mobility options to the extent that they're substituting for uber and lyft trips. if they're only substituting for people that would have been working otherwise, that's less. the data sharing isn't something that we're putting out there, it's something that we're very interested in understanding. in emergency room its of our work to get this ready, our goal is absolutely to have this -- in terms of our work to get this ready, our goal is to have this ready by may. the public will be made aware of in advance of the may 1st

board meeting. i would say all the numbers are being worked out, but probably more than one permit that would be issued, but some sort of cap on the number of permits. >> i think it's important to cap the number that are on the road so that we can see how it works out before we expand the program. have you thought about -- may 1st is very soon, so i think you would have thought about speed and where to allow the motorized scooters and how to dock them. could you share some of the mta thoughts about that. >> sure. in terms of where they're allowed on the road, we have more limited authority, because that's generally covered under the california vehicle code, either under current law or pending election lation. they're not allowed on sidewalks, they are allowed in bike lanes, they aren't allowed on roads greater than 25 miles an hour, but that's not really subject to