the second prong of this approach are parking control officers. those are employees of the sfmta and they give out tickets for parking issues and parking violations and they give out 55,000 or so citations last year the third prong is sfpd who does the moving violations within a transit only lane. there's a couple of different types of transit only lanes. the most prevalent is the bus and taxi only lanes. i will talk more in a minute about what is to find -- what defines bass, with those are the most prevalent. probably 90% or so of the 30 miles as a bus only lane. we do have a few muni only lanes and that precludes taxis, shuttles, all types of buses. to date, those have been legislated where we have safety issues or safety concerns. the picture in the upper right shows eight -- hate to street.

the buses go in the opposite direction of the cars. at the end of that streetwear runs, we have transit signals. we just didn't want other vehicles using that lane and getting stuck at the signal. we created a muni only lane. and van ness bart will be eight muni only facility. so that gets us to permitted users and who is allowed to use these lanes. obviously the lanes go back and predate the sfmta. the board of supervisors used to legislate the lanes and we have maintained that same basic legislation packet. the m.t.a. took over those duties. the cbc, or a california california vehicle code defines it as any vehicle with 15 more seats or a commercial vehicle

with ten or more seats. you can see there is a lot of people where a lot of organizations and businesses that fall under that umbrella and under that category. the m.t.a. does not have the ability or does not have the authority to regulate most of these except if they opt into the program and for the most part, these shuttles are allowed to use arterial streets. they are not allowed unless given specific permission to use muni zones themselves. we have been talking with our operators a lot about where they are seeing problems, where there is issues. we did that a couple of different ways. any time an operator runs into an issue, they contact our central control. we have done reviews of central control logs to see where the sticking points are and see where some of the recurrent issues are. secondly, we meet every month that each of our bus and rail divisions and talk through

operations with the operators about where things can be improved, what kind of steps we can take to make the trip easier for them. not just with commuter shuttles, that is the gamut of things, that they are part of the discussion. we found the biggest problem is at the stops. there's a lot of places to wear a commuter shuttle is stopped illegally or stopped where they are not supposed to. that impacts us a lot. vehicles and shadows driving in the lanes have less of an impact and haven't shown to be a major impediment to our travel time, mostly because we are stopping every two blocks. if a shuttle is not stopping, it is just continuing on down the lane and not getting in our way. but that said, obviously the operating environment is changing daily. as you know, i don't have to tell you guys this, shuttles are

getting bigger and bigger and more far-reaching. obviously, this is a really timely hearing and a discussion that we are looking forward to having. i have a few more technical experts with me. i obviously represent the transit interest but i have a few more staff members with me to talk and answer questions. with that, i'm glad to take questions or however you guys want to do it. >> thank you very much. do you have any questions? i have a couple of them. >> sure. >> thank you very much for your presentation. i want to know, what is the number -- we have this last page where you name the private bus operators. do you know in total how many vehicles are under each category for example, casino buses are seven known operators. how many vehicles? airport shuttles, how many vehicles? chariot, how many vehicles?

and i i'm wondering, how many of these bus operators also, the route of travel actually is within the red carpet lanes? i guess that is two questions. another question is, isn't the state definition of a transit bus, is the bus owned or operated on behalf of a public transit agency, and serving the general public? is that correct? we call these transit lanes, but the state definition of transit is really operating on behalf of public transit agencies. is that correct? >> first question was how many operators, how many buses is the fleet size, is what you're trying to say. how many buses are city buses. >> right. how many shuttles do you have? >> that is a great question. alex, i will call up alex who

works in their sustainable streets division who will have a better answer than i will on that one. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm here with the sustainable streets division. the only categories of buses that we know that our fleet size are those that we regulate directly. so we know that in the commuter shuttle program there are about a thousand vehicles permitted and of those, 350 to 400 are operating on any given day. >> excuse me. i'm sorry. for clarification again, you have about 1,000 vehicles that are through your permits program , and 400 of them on any given day. >> yes. >> do you have a time period in particular when these vehicles operate? >> they are heavily concentrated in peak hours, monday through friday. most of those are heading down to the south bay and make one round-trip per day. there are some that operate in a day -- mid-day as well.

>> would you say that these shuttles also operate during the peak hours of when muni is transporting people to and from work or home? >> generally correct. the evening peak last longer than muni. >> so it is the same peak hours as the public transit system. >> generally. >> thanks. i'm sorry to interrupt you. >> the other category of buses that we know about our private transit vehicles operated by chariot. we have permitted just about 100 vehicles under the private transit vehicle program that chariot can operate each day. that is in addition to chariot vehicles that operate outside of the transit of private transit vehicle program that are operating charter service or employer shuttle service that is not regulated by the sfmta. >> so as this 100 vehicles in addition to the 400? >> that is correct. >> okay. that is about 500 vehicles every day. during the same peak hours as

muni's peak hours. is that correct? >> yes, it is. >> all the rest of them, academy of art, kaiser, s.f. general, you don't have any idea of how many shuttles they have? >> that is correct. they are regulated by the cpuc and we don't have the number of vehicles they operate. >> of this list that you gave us , the privates bus operators, which ones are operated through california p.u.c. and which are operated through your permitting system? the commuter shuttle program is yours? >> that is correct. commuter shuttles are regulated by the cpuc and they opt into the commuter shuttle program which is a voluntary program that gives them access to certain muni zones and surgeon shuttle only zones in exchange for complying with the rules of the program. >> okay. tour buses? >> they are regulated by the cpuc. >> casino buses? >> they are also regulated by the cpuc.

>> airport shuttles and hospital shuttles? >> cpuc. >> paratransit and senior services? >> paratransit are operated generally through contract from public agencies. >> on behalf of a public agency. >> yes. >> and the rest of them? >> the rest of them are almost all cpuc. >> all the educational ones? >> yes. i believe those are all cpuc. >> and the inner-city buses? >> they are also cpuc the neck okay. actually, we have purview over not that many, quite frankly. we don't have the regulation over many of these that you have listed here. is that correct? >> the only type of vehicle we have sole regulatory authority over our private transit vehicles that operate only within the city of san francisco >> okay. currently, are these private bus operators --dash some of them we

have control over and some we don't. do they have access to the red lanes? >> they do. >> all of these? >> yes. all of these types of companies operate vehicles that are over ten passengers. >> have we done any analysis on how this might hinder or enhance transit times and deliverability and reliability? >> yes, ma'am,. we have been working with operators to find that out. unfortunately, for the most part , they are smaller events. it doesn't show up in our data or average monthly data and how long it takes a bus to get from a to b. there are smaller events that happen one or two days and that shuttle doesn't move on because the p.c.o. finds them or tickets them and tells him to move. as far as showing up in the data , we want --dash we went to

the links of going through the control centre logs and finding out where people are having problems and talking to operators at meetings. or on a person by person basis versus the data. like i said, the data is so rich there is so much data and little blips do not show up. >> really? we don't have any data on how all of these passes, which are now hundreds and hundreds of buses, that have access to red carpet lanes. we do not have any data on whether it slows down transit times or it doesn't slow down transit? >> writes. obviously, like i said, there are specific hotspots where it slows stuff down. we address those through having p.c.o. his out there to make sure they move along and do not continue to cause those problems >> yeah. you know, i am a little concerned because in my district

at the gary bart, it is estimated that it will cut down ten minutes of transit time once the bart is in place from the beach to downtown. my concern is, if you have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds -- it is hundreds more than what you gave me. it could be thousands. actually, since we don't know how many, it could be 2,000. and they are all in competition during the peak times that munimobile is operating peak time hours which you just said. how it might hinder that delivery time? when you are talking about minutes, having four tour buses in front of you, on a red carpet lane, would actually hinder the time of public transit. is that correct? >> it could be correct. if they are moving and we are continuing to stop, it is less of an issue. if they are blocking us to get to stops, it is a huge issue.

where you are going and where we are coming from is this is stuff that can be changed. we haven't seen it to date. that is why we haven't been super concerned about it. obviously, as we talked about the environment that is changing every day and there is more and more buses every day. as these become more of an issue , places like 16th street , we legislated elite transit lane on 16th street several years ago. we haven't implemented it yet. it was legislated, there wasn't as many tour buses and shuttles. and now there is. if we were to put that in place, we would need to go back first and legislate a muni only lane because we know that interviewing what is going on on the street, it will be a problem >> got it. so it seems as though because we don't have data on its, we are also not able to say that even if we were to allow a certain

amount of other vehicles besides public vehicles, we really couldn't estimate whether or not it would have an impact or not because we don't have the data. in other words, what i'm trying to say is we could assume that if you have thousands of other buses, in these transit vehicles on the street and they are using the red carpet lanes, and these red carpet lanes are a public infrastructure to get muni faster, that is what it was designed for. to get priority to our republic buses so they can run on a timely basis, and it is reliable than everywhere to say, g., may be we should allow certain other buses, we don't really know whether or not it would have an impact or not. i guess what i am saying is it is almost like you will be allowed any other transit buses besides publicly owned transit

buses or even taxis as we are trying to relieve the traffic and give relief to taxi drivers that have bought a 250,000-dollar medallion and i know that m.t.a. has been working hard to make those medallions more valuable. then it seems as though i mean, if we were to allow other vehicles, we actually don't have any data that shows us what level we could allow in or not allow eating because we don't have the data to show it. i just wanted to make that point mr kennedy, thank you so much. my last question was may be someone else can answer this. is in the definition of a transit lane by the state definition a public bus or entity that is serving the public? is that correct? >> that is correct. we are working with the city attorney. there is a little bit of ambiguity in some of the

legislation from back when the m.t.a. was formed. we work with them to clarify that. it sounds great to me. >> okay. how did we move to allow any vehicle that has passengers over -- what is it to, ten passengers >> yes. that is in the cvc. the california vehicle code. >> when we did that, we also did not do any analysis with data about what the impact might be. >> writes. once again, this dates back to the seventies when the board was legislating the same things. that just wasn't the reach that there is now. exactly. that is why this is a timely hearing. >> okay. it seems as though what i am hearing from you is that there is some flexibility around policy and setting some policy. in light of today and the congestion that we have today, and also in light of the fact

that san francisco's population will be over 1 million people in 2040. and that we are seeing an increase of traffic and congestion in san francisco that is somewhat unprecedented and that you, yourself, said the problems with muni is about reliability and this is what you are hearing from your riders. >> exactly. revival is the number 1 goal. input from you guys will be fantastic. mr kennedy, in your opinion, if we were to streamline these red carpet lanes, i think personally , i feel like red carpet lanes is part of public infrastructure and it should serve the public first and of course, i want to capture as many public transit riders versus private riders that we can because we actually think that this is how we change people's opinion about public transportation, and also it just makes it true that we are a transit first city. in your opinion, if we were to allow public buses to serve a

public entity, that would include entire transit because it is part of public infrastructure, and taxis, do you think that we might see more efficiency and reliability, or do you not have an opinion on that? [laughter] >> let me say this. i definitely think there is an impact if they are stopping at our stops or even one stop on the corridor. if they are using that to travel through, there is less impact. >> his or any regulation prohibiting them from making stops on a red carpet lane? >> yes. they're not allowed -- private shuttles are not allowed to stop at muni stops unless we give them permission to do so. and if you are a converted

jewish commuter shuttle program, we place most of those stops off of major corridors so they are not getting in the way for the most part of muni stops. that said, it all comes down to enforcement. we can say don't do that until we are blue in the face, but we have to enforce it. the piece is really the big tenant piece that is me sick just missing and the peace that needs to be put. >> the first piece is the camera >> cameras and sfpd doing their bit if you are driving through the lane itself and moving violations. but expanding the use of the camera it would also be a huge help. >> okay. so do we have any shuttle stops on red transit lanes? >> alex, do you want to answer that one? >> we do not.

we have one stop on a not to read transit only lane, and all the others are off transit lane corridor is. >> okay. thank you very much. and i held a hearing on the traffic unit with the san francisco unified -- san francisco police departments because my husband was part of the traffic unit for many years. and what we discovered at that time was on any given day in san francisco, there were eight of them. so clearly, not able to enforce. not this type of magnitude. the chief has just put an academy class with 15 more. still, all throughout san francisco, to have on average eight, was actually -- you can see how the enforcement is almost impossible. especially when we really want them along our high injury corridors in particular.

thank you. this opens us up to public comments. any questions? >> thank you for holding this hearing. i know that from working with sfmta on many issues that have to do with casino buses and so forth, our hands are often tied, or yours, really, because many of these companies or entities are regulated by the cpuc. it goes through -- there's a lot of heartache involved when you create these transit only lanes. i know you are creating another one in the sunset district and it is met with quite a bit of resistance. if they are created, we want to make sure they are being well utilized in serving the purpose for why they were created which is to help transit and our public move through traffic more quickly. i would, a supervisor if you are pointed out, josh i don't want to give myself more work, but it would be good for other folks to be able to see the data around

how the other companies or operators are impacting muni buses, for example. i go along the same lines of they should be the public type services that are able to operate fully within these lanes or else i don't know why they are there. you do have data on one of your slides that shows a snapshot of decrease in travel times for some of the muni buses. i guess there is a way you are measuring their effectiveness. in any case, i don't know what the data is behind it and whether you have measured over time the increase in different kinds of transit services that are occupying these lanes. anyway. may be you want to speak to that >> i would just say, those are snapshots of before implementation versus after. that would include if there is any other friction in the lanes and that those improvements are

regardless of the friction. that would include any other shuttles or things like that in the lanes. we are still getting those types of improvements. >> you touched upon the city attorney's office to figure out the legal issues around the cbc requiring the definition of what counts as -- let me flip to that page really quick. what counts as a bus according to the c.v.c. i don't know if you are able to share were able to make any progress on that front. or how you might try to redefine or create permitting programs and structures that really ensure the public services that get to move through more efficiently. >> we are in the process of working with the city attorney right now on changing that language. >> you are just in the process? >> yes. >> thanks.

let's open up to public comments thank you mr kennedy. i have cards. please line up to speak. i have request to allow speakers to speak for one minute. my apologies. there is a 4:00 pm hearing that is happening so we are in a time crunch. my apologies. every speaker, we have one minute. madam clerk, please set the clock. thank you very much. you can start. >> i will be throwing out numbers like a auctioneer here. i live near potrero avenue which

has a red lane in front of the hospital. according to the m.t.a.'s appendix e. from the title vi of the 1964 civil rights act, it gives us some numbers about the percentage of minority riders on the number 9, which is 77% people of color, low income, 75% , and then by contrast, the diversity reported by google, african-americans, two-point 5%, latin e. point 6%. this is apartheid. not to mention most of these writers are young and able-bodied his. unlike writers who are going to san francisco general hospital to the kaiser facility on geary to mission bay on 16th street to see pnc on van ness which will be served by red lanes. we are prioritizing young able-bodied people who are largely white over people who need these services. >> thank you. thank you for sharing that with us.

>> you are being misled by m.t.a. by deft wording and sloppy legislative drafting. seventeen months ago, a senior and disability action, i asked, specifically when we were being interviewed, can the wording be change in current legislation to say public transit and taxis only, rather than bus caught the staffer said we will look into its. we have heard zip since. this is before geary was approved. we asked for it to be perspective. when i say being misled, take a look at the permitted users page it says board of supervisors legislative transits, m.t.a. legislative transit. c.v.c. defines a bus. not all buses are transit. you don't need all these statistics. you could simply wear the legislation to say public transit and make a prospective -- make it prospective for all future red lanes.

i live on the church street at redline. it could be better if there is enforcement. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is joyce. i am in supervisor -- district 11. i am with senior disability action. i am also with the 58% minorities and 50 1% poor. also, i am far more public buses and less privates because i go on the eight best. i go three stops and the poor people like me, i have arthritis they have to stand up. there are more frail people over 80 who have more difficulties sitting. they have to let them sit down. i am 71. on the 38, shoot, there is big bass, there is a cable car rides , they hold up the 38 bus

going to the hospital. i go to kaiser. we need more public buses and less private buses. we want a city for all. i have been here since 1948. i am a san franciscan. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello. i am the community engagement organizer. i work in the soma and take the number 8 bus every day to and from my home into excelsior. i am here about the red lane issue, because private transit companies are taking over our streets while public transport remains underfunded. in the years that i lived in san francisco from 2001-2009 and moved back last year, i was shocked at how buses were overcrowded and it has worsened from seniors writing, to chinatown and north beach, to workers and families riding the 14 and the eight mission

excelsior, portola, and the buses are so overcrowded and the buses are late that people don't want to pay. since the tax break, the number of tech companies in soma has increased -- thank you very much >> next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i work at some can market community action network. the red bus lanes were created for public transportation allowing private corporate transportation in these lanes only benefits the privileged few , while causing everyone else to struggle more. housing justice, economic justice and transit justice are all connected. transit justice means everyone's public transportation needs are being met while staying accountable to our communities.

accountability means effective outreach that results in changes made by and for our communities. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello. good afternoon. my name is winston parsons, speaking on behalf of the richard senior centre. the nonprofit centre between 26 and 27th avenue his. most of our clients rely almost exclusively on muni and paratransit for transportation. after careful discussion, the center is opposed to allowing private transit vehicles in the transit only lanes. given how little some providers are paying for permits or use a muni stops relative to their financial capacity, is unfair they get special treatment and potentially public transit. that said, we feel that paratransit, which is permitted to use the lanes, should be able to continue to use them. the population using paratransit faces countless barriers for mobility, employment and be looked beyond in making our transportation system more

efficient and equitable, let's not make lives harder for those who face the most obstacles. similarly, taxis play a role in supporting those with mobility needs. thank you for your time and consideration. >> thank you. >> hello. thank you so much for having this hearing. allowing private transit vehicles in the red lanes defeats the entire purpose of having red lanes. we have a limited right of way space to board. if you allow shuttles which have a single unloading at the front and only hold a handful of people, they hold up the rest of the many lines which only serve six or so people holding up muni lines. you cannot have competing services within something that is meant for public transportation. muni does a great job serving everyone in the community including people with mobility issues, people in wheelchairs, school children, private issued buses do not do anything like that. they are there to inflate land values which is something they

do very well. transportation they don't do very well. and the chariots which run a segregated jim crow of for-profit service, they have no business on our red lanes and have taken us back on climate goals. the shuttle buses use diesel. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is kat. i am with the san francisco transit riders speaking for effective and reliable transit. the red lanes are showing their effectiveness as we just heard from the presentation. there are fewer accidents. the travel time is going down and delays are going down and ridership is up. buses are faster and more reliable. and i don't have to transfer to get to work in under 30 minutes. i have lived in the mission for over 30 -- 15 years and remember how bad they were before red lanes. my heart goes out to the merchant struggling to make it in san francisco and they are having challenges. there are many things the city could do to make it easier for

them to thrive. however, red lanes can bring more customers to the commercial corridor than cars can. there something like a 10-1 ratio on mission street of transit riders to car drivers. red lanes require a lot of political capital. we have to fight tooth and nail for the red lanes which is a cost-effective improvement for public transit and livability of san francisco for everyone. public transit is on a fixed route. private transit moves point-to-point and can go wherever it needs to. >> thank you very much. i would like to call some other names. did i not call your name, i'm so sorry.

just come up and speak. thanks. >> hello. my name is peter. i'm a different peter. i take the 49, 47, five and 38 regularly. i'm also a former tech worker. i have written on those buses and they should not be on red transit lanes. they should not be on red carpet lanes. there should be for public transit accessible to the entire public. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. okay. my name is sue and thank you for holding this hearing. so the sfmta has led the public to believe that for many years that the creation of transit

only lanes has been just for a muni to make it more desirable to ride. but since march 2008, the seven unelected members of the board of supervisors have been passing transit only legislation creating transit only lanes that permit nontransit buses to operate in transit only lanes. these are sometimes painted red, not always. they don't have the power to do that. this is regulated at the state level. we have a definition of a transit vehicle at the state level and a definition of a bus. they are not the same thing. we have a legislation that has been passed here by the board of supervisors in 2008. section 2.2 in the san francisco transportation code that makes it an infraction to operate a vehicle in a nontransit vehicle and a transit only lane. >> thank you. next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon. my name is mary. i'm the transit justice organizer. we pride ourselves on being a transit first city against associate we see sfmta bending over backwards to use and take up our public lanes. these buses get to coast along the red lane for as little as eight dollars per bus stop. the employees get to ride them for free while we pay the increased fares for the same late and crowded bus service. one hundred dollars a month for a bus pass is on top of the grilling amounts that it cost to live in the city. it is so backwards that the richest people of the city get to take their best for free while we working-class folks have to bear the fare increases. we work really hard and we bear the brunt at gentrification. we need to be reassured and affirmed that the city are committed in investing enough in our communities. you can do that by saying no to public transit. sfmta can do that by regulating. the only thing they just stated that they can regulate and by

building with us rather than on top of communities. >> thank you very much good afternoon. i am a tenant councillor. i utilize the 14 our daily between selma and daly city and allowing private transit entities do you seize red lanes will make it much worse. they have a red lanes but if sfmta improves private transit and taste does transportation they will slow down service and increase the travel times especially during peak hours and weekdays. it would worsen overcrowding not only in buses but on red lanes due to increased traffic. they are not moving forward but backwards. sfmta must prioritize the necessity to make service reliable rather than giving expensive privileges to private transportation entity. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. i am a student at usf as well as

a worker at some can. the red lanes are to be used by public transit and the entire public should be able to benefit from that, not just private does not private transit systems and i don't think they should be able to use those lanes for the low cost while working-class students and other low income families have to pay and to deal with those increasing rates. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. i am the executive director of homey. i want to briefly say that we are completely opposed to having private companies use our lanes. we have many young people who use those buses and we all want quicker travel times. so we want to make sure that those lanes are used for the public. secondly, i want to say that red lanes themselves, they don't operate in a vacuum.

transportation justice is also housing justice and economic and social justice for our communities and 40% -- there was a survey done in our community and 40% of owners -- business owners have reduced because of red lanes. we have to look at the policy in general and see how we can help everyone involved, not just writers but also businesses, not profits that are on those transit corridors. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> hello. i want to say allowing public buses in the red lanes as is a subsidy to those who least need it. not only is it to her huge corporations, these corporations can then avoid their local responsibilities. and stunned organic local growth and -- instead, we should improve local transportation for

all and prioritize the public over a select and privileged few they should benefit commuters within the city and nearby neighborhoods and not corporations. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> giving private corporations accept -- access to transit only lanes as a ratification of privatization, loss of the commons and income inequality. we are seeing massive infrastructure work all over the city for the purpose of speeding up muni services. businesses had been shipped out have been shattered because of this buildout. neighborhoods have been disrupted for months and years to speed this up. allowing use of red lanes by private companies are patronized by people not using public transit is a quintessential bait and switch. san franciscans have supported measures to pay for filling potholes and improving our streets, only to see heavy buses and tour buses wear them down. what the public bills as infrastructure, these corporations see as a resource from which to extract profit.

the community it is already suffering from a deep economic divide and can only suffer more as public resources are given away to profiteering companies. the public sphere needs to be protected and not whittled away. let's improve it. it has been and should be a great equalizer where people of any income levels sit and stand together as part of the essential urban fabric. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hello. my name is dennis. i represent the inner sense at action community. i sent you a letter and it is in your pocket and i wanted to point out something else. essentially what this is as a privatization of public transit lanes and that is usually disguised as a public benefit, but it is common consequences are private investor interest crowd the public realm, official accountability is diminished and public access is restricted and/or reshaped.

privatization is an extraction tantamount to mining the public sector. additionally, it amounts to an outsourcing of public responsibility to the unaccountable private sector, and in this case, it is forward, tech giants, and assembly of companies that were on that document. i would urge you to reconsider this and hold a hearing that protects the public interest in this public process. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. i am a 25 year resident of san francisco. when people complain about public transit and say that the private sector would do better, they say its because public transit is too slow and too unreliable and obviously the transit only lanes would be a resolution to this. to allow private companies to interfere with that is kind of

gaming the system, in my opinion as far as needing more data to show whether hundreds of extra vehicles using those lanes are going to slow down transit is like saying that i need data to show one more -- one more beer will make me a little bit more drunk. [laughter] >> questionable. hello. next speaker. >> i am actually from chariots. popular subjects today. we have been permitted by the sfmta bite since april 2018 and we have been working closely with staff. as part of that program, we have to transit realtime g.p.s. data. we agreed to route criteria that in sheriffs just ensure his service as complementary. we cannot stop at muni stops at all. we also have training for our drivers to include specific training about you you go shielding to muni members as

well. it doesn't appear to be a lot of data in terms of whether or not our usage slows down buses. in case that did come back and it became an issue, i'm sure would be able to work with the agency to address those issues when they do arise. chariot agrees that the red lanes should benefit the public and we do believe that consideration should be given to the entities that participate in and are regulated by the sfmta or the city. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is john. i represent the teamsters 665 members that drive several of the private commuter services including chariots. our drivers are very trained and skilled and safely manipulate these private lanes. we do not interfere with the congestion that has been caused by some of these delays. we feel it is the best interest of our drivers and our passengers that these transit

only lanes can allow for these larger capacity capacity that is regulated by the m.t.a. and the main goal is to keep on reducing the one occupancy vehicles that people will tend to use and reduce the congestion thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is brandon and i am representing the executive board of the richmond district democratic club and we will see how fast i can read. transit is here to serve the most people for the greatest good with equitable access for all who need it. it is for this reason that we oppose the use of transit only lanes for all types of private transportation except for those directly regulated by clear justification that the city and county of san francisco which includes taxis and paratransit vehicles. the accessibility of private sector transit service is in question. does not partaking in certain industries without access to credit cards or the availability

of smart phones are excluded from many of these providers. want to say that just because we oppose this, we don't want to use this as an excuse to oppose the rapid transit. we are strong supporters of the bus rapid transit. want to ensure it remains public transit. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> good afternoon. i am with the san francisco taxi workers alliance figure like to make a distinction between taxis and private buses. they are an integral part of public transit and they have been since i have been driving a cab which started in 1983. we've always had access to the transit lanes. the city issues and unfortunately --dash and unfortunately sells taxi medallions. every aspect of taxi operations are a city regulated. every cab is city inspected. must perform to city requirements. we serve all areas including

people without smart phones and access to e. hailing apps. we provide transportation to the disabled community through the paratransit program. over 90 5% of taxis are hybrid vehicles. they exceeded the city's emission reduction targets for the fleet. they deserve the ability to continue to use to be transit lanes. >> thank you very much. >> hello. i am the board of the san francisco transit riders and we emphatically believe that the red lanes should be essentially muni only. most people in the city do not have access to subways. they their demand --dash depended on the surface bus system. it is dependent on red lanes in order to get around paratransit is a disappointedly i connect the dots operation. those dots are the bus stops in the new the redlines to freely access this bus stops and get between those f-stops. by contrast, private transit vehicles are a point-to-point service for the most part.

they do not need to connect all of those dots. they can use other streets. even muni and operating express lines like the gary express does not use gary street. it uses bush and pine. similarly, most private transit services do not need to operate on transit streets and should be discouraged from those streets and from the red lanes and red lanes should be muni only. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. i am from district age. i oppose the sfmta move to open transit only lanes to any vehicle that transports more than ten people. the plan documents how late red dedicated travel lanes to reduce unpredictable -- predictable delays and they state that the transit only lane as a travel lane dedicated for the exclusive use of transit vehicles and state law defines transit vehicles as those operated by or for public transportation agencies.

the whole purpose of the plan would be defeated due to traffic congestion calculates, pollution that will inevitably result if other buses would all compete with muni for lane space. a federal congestion mitigation and air quality grant a $16.5 million was granted to improve travel time. not for sfmta to open dedicated lanes to all matters of private for-profit vehicles. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is kevin with the san francisco democratic club and i sit on the eastern neighborhood see a.c. what the m.t.a. --dash the m.t.a. stated that 500 vehicles and 400 commuter shuttles equal up to those 500 vehicles per day times 10-50 riders per shuttle. as a lot of people who are not writing transit. leave it to the m.t.a. to classically shift the narrative

about this being that those were at that ride public transit when this is about the privatization of red lanes to commuter shuttles and private shuttles. the red lanes were forced upon us by m.t.a. without proper community engagement. they removed bus stops in the mission for seniors and disabled and took away half of the -- this should be for public vehicles only and not private companies that are only inducing gentrification and adding to the traffic congestion. paratransit vehicles are barred from using transit only lanes as they do not enter the california vehicle code definition of a transit bus. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is carlos and i am a member of united save the mission. a coalition that exists in the mission district. over the past several years, we have grown increasingly concerned of the board of directors transit first priorities have been instrumental to the public space to corporations and private interests. we are also concerned the core of the recent policy decisions are improperly rooted in the

narrow lens of increasing efficiency of transit machinery rather than improving the quality of life for that most vulnerable residents. the citizens who showed where the vast majority of writers on the transit system. we are concerned the porridge's and patients to expedite these services as quickly as possible has motivated them to abdicate the responsibility to private companies and corporations whose interest is profit and not people. and to create a system of community engagement that is disingenuous and something that only harms community residents and not creating a system of accountability that will ensure that they are the ones i received the greatest benefit from public transit. historically -- >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> edward mason. this will impede the travel for the 99%. morning time to purchase an evening times are major operational impacts. lacking a bus limit cap, delays

will increase. shared muni zones have migrated to light stone's very precise morning time point departures result in approaching vehicles which is sometimes just sometimes compounded with stragglers as potential darwin candidates to open the door for delaying departure. evening dwell times are longer than four muni with fewer passengers causing waiting vehicles to dangerously pass around. the commuter bus stop at 24th and church was moved to a curb stop. the reason single door or double door spiral staircases increases exit times. some passengers multitask with handheld devices or bicycles from the luggage department increasing dwell time. sixty commuter buses in our along valencia street create their own congestion. >> thank you, very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. animation resident who risa 1449 of the 12 every day. i would like to see spending

more attention to address issues that folks in the mission have brought up with implementation of this program. a lot of us deeply believe in transit priority lanes, were given the implementation and some of the struggles, i can't think of a worse thing we could do to undermine the confidence of people and the intent of the program and how it is applied than to move away from shifting our priorities to public transit and private transportation services. given the work we need to do to get this program and get these investments in place that will benefit folks, and the feeling of the folks in the community who have a lot of concerns about the way it has been implemented and the planning has been done, again, i would urge the board to send a strong message that the priority should be for public transportation for entering the planning and implementation meets the community needs today and to not prioritize pup public transit. >> afternoon. i am here with the housing

community of san francisco. thank you for calling this hearing. i ride the 44 every day from my home in excelsior to the richmond and in the richmond i am served by the 31, the one as the five. we are familiar with how lanes will be introduced into neighborhoods. in the richmond, we have been working on the ground, especially around thinking gary bart. public resources, public infrastructure should be used for the public good. while we work primarily to act to advocate for housing rights, we know transit justice is deeply connected to housing justice and improvements to the infrastructure should be accessible to all people especially the most marginalized and low income folks who are a majority of the riders. there were 12 affair hikes in 2017. there was one in january and one in july. we believe that riders are paying for these red carpet lanes and it should be used for the public instead of privatized services like that tech shuttle buses and chariots. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon. my name is taylor. i'm a member of the s.f. bike coalition and the latino democrat --dash democratic club. i want to share two stories. i was a soccer coach at marshall elementary school for about 15 fifth and fourth graders. half of those children were moving by munimobile on a daily basis with their parents. these are children who should have plenty of time to study and pursue the things that they love in life and not waiting for the munimobile service. more riders means better service and better lines for our low income communities and my second point is that many of my neighbors have given up on the bus. they have said i can't take the bus because it's not serving me. so instead they have been using bicycles or their own scooters. and often having to deal with

other issues dealing with that. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, everyone. i am with the housing rights committee on the west side. i think that my main statement is regarding how often times the west side is painted a certain picture of single family homes but there are a good amount of renters and low income folks, especially youth and seniors that really do rely upon the public transit infrastructure on the west side. my main question is really regarding how do we prioritize the lives of our families and our seniors and our youth and renters over corporate interest. thank you? -- thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is wenda. i'm here on behalf of chinatown. a volunteer transportation advocacy group. chinatown has a severely low income community with a median household income of $19,000.

80% of residents do not own cars and must rely on walking, and taking transit to get around. it is critical that our transit lanes prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable community members who have no option other than muni. i urge the committee and our city leaders to protect these lanes for public transit modes early -- only. this is critical. thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. >> hello, supervisors. my name is rosa and they work for the chinatown community development -- development centre. i work with a lot of youth. i always hear the youth complain about the public transportation not coming on time, being slow in them having to weighed all the time to get to school. youth attend school during peak hours as well and we want youth to get to school on time and we need to make transit more reliable. muni is our youth school buses and if they have to compete with private buses, transit only

lanes, how are we getting youth to school on time and with enough sleep. our youth rely on public transportation to get to school and that is why these lanes should prioritize one of the most vulnerable population needs and not those who ride privatized buses. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am a community organizer which chinatown c.v.c. and a member of chinatown trip. thank you for addressing the policy in place for red carpet rained justly loose it diffuse this. we hope you can change the policy and restricts these lanes for muni and taxis only. with increasing congestion in road traffic, it is vital that red carpet lanes remain a place for public terms of the public supports red carpet lanes because it is the toll that allows public transit to better serve our community and to the city. of red carpet lanes are shared with private transit and not only defeat the purpose of the red carpet lane, but they sent the wrong message to the

community. we have seen continued abuse of red carpet lanes and the agency itself has acknowledged a citywide problem in enforcement of the lane. in order to ensure that the public transit is prioritized and is seen as such in the eyes of the public, we must change our policies to reflect that. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i am with united to save the mission. there were several of our mission street business owners here today but they had to leave to get back to their businesses. and what they would tell you is that the red lanes were rolled out without a community process and they are suffering. businesses are closing every day , and many of them are merely about to close. and they are tired of being considered collateral damage and being told to suck it up for the better of the rate of transportation and to make the best is faster, and then only to see that our public transit and our red lanes are being sold out

to corporate interest. and we need to make sure that more red lanes are implemented aren't implemented until these changes are made and that these red lanes are only for public transit. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i'm with united to save the mission. research has found that a greater preference for urban amenities, retail, entertainment and service establishments as a main reason for the movement of the young college educated demographic into the central core cities like san francisco. these high income earners are more attracted to the proximity of amenities such as theaters, bars and other less sensitive to changes in housing prices. it only facilitates the travel to the amenities and the travel toward many of whom are not employed in the city. investment and private transportation encourages their proliferation and sensitive neighborhoods like the mission and so macaque it creates increases in housing prices that are small burdens for