i'm with the sfmta. today i'm here to present an item to seek your approval to purchase the 32-foot motor coach replacement. okay. next slide. sfmta operates one of the cleanest fleets in the country. over half of our fleet are zero emission vehicles, and these are the trolleys, historic street cars, and, of course, our iconic cable cars as well. they are operating with the latest hybrid technologies and using renewal diesel. in this pie chart i'm showing, this is the emission gas for the greenhouse gas in 2018. transportation is 45% contributing to the greenhouse, and for sfmta, for our vehicle, we only contribute less than 1%. and the majority of the emissions are coming from the cars and trucks operating in the city. in 20 -- actually in the year 2000, this is the year i joined muni, and then i recall back then we purchased 330 neoplan coaches, and everyone was really excited, including myself, because all of the new vehicles arrived. shortly after that, they all aged and then it becomes a concern abo

i know sfmta also has a presentation. so i'm sure if you want us to field questions now, we are available to answer any of your questions. >> chairman: unless my colleagues have questions now i think it probably makes sense to let the m.t.a. explain what they're doing to address the issues that you've identified. so let's hear from the m.t.a. >> good morning chair vice chair jonathan brewers. >> chairman: hold up, i believe commissioner chan may have a question or comment. >> commissioner: yeah. i think it's both question and comment. you know it's interesting and about the effectiveness of the communications. i think i would like to understand it's a little bit more about the organization chart of sfmta and because you kind of mentioned like absenteeism, you know amount like the team and so they are not really essentially i think in a late person perspective. like what you're trying to tell us seems like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and not communicating well. for me, i would like to understand

i'm with the sfmta. today i'm here to present an item to seek your approval to purchase the 32-foot motor coach replacement. okay. next slide. sfmta operates one of the cleanest fleets in the country. over half of our fleet are zero emission vehicles, and these are the trolleys, historic street cars, and, of course, our iconic cable cars as well. they are operating with the latest hybrid technologies and using renewal diesel. in this pie chart i'm showing, this is the emission gas for the greenhouse gas in 2018. transportation is 45% contributing to the greenhouse, and for sfmta, for our vehicle, we only contribute less than 1%. and the majority of the emissions are coming from the cars and trucks operating in the city. in 20 -- actually in the year 2000, this is the year i joined muni, and then i recall back then we purchased 330 neoplan coaches, and everyone was really excited, including myself, because all of the new vehicles arrived. shortly after that, they all aged and then it becomes a concern abo

thank you to the transportation authority, sfmta, the bike coalition and public works, and all of the workers who were a part of getting this done. as mayor breed said, this has come at a really good time for our city. second street is such a critical thoroughfare for the economic life blood of our city. if you look around here, you see tremendous contributions to jobs, to growth, to prosperity here in san francisco. and one other thing that i also want to add, this is the street that many of us take to the giants games, and in just a couple weeks, we are going to be able to walk on the giants bats for opening day. we are going to have safe ways for people to be able to get to the game, to be able to walk safer, to be able to bike safer, to be able to experience a street that really accesses the potential of what our neighborhoods and our streets should look like. one thing that is true about this area is not only is it an economic engine, it's also a place where a lot of people live, and one of the things that i heard time and time again from people from soma who live in this neighbo

thank you to the transportation authority, sfmta, the bike coalition and public works, and all of the workers who were a part of getting this done. as mayor breed said, this has come at a really good time for our city. second street is such a critical thoroughfare for the economic life blood of our city. if you look around here, you see tremendous contributions to jobs, to growth, to prosperity here in san francisco. and one other thing that i also want to add, this is the street that many of us take to the giants games, and in just a couple weeks, we are going to be able to walk on the giants bats for opening day. we are going to have safe ways for people to be able to get to the game, to be able to walk safer, to be able to bike safer, to be able to experience a street that really accesses the potential of what our neighborhoods and our streets should look like. one thing that is true about this area is not only is it an economic engine, it's also a place where a lot of people live, and one of the things that i heard time and time again from people from soma who live in this neighbo

sfmta is not equipped to solve these programs. their focus is on traffic issues, and they tell us it's not within their just diction to solve the problem that their slow streets have created. thank you. >> thank you so much. next speaker, please. >> operator: you have seven questions remaining. >> next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is [inaudible] maldonado, and i live in district 7? just wanted to call to thank the sfmta for leadership and opportunities of expanding, like, closed street, the accommodation for pedestrian or bicyclist initiative to help within the existing short-term [inaudible] and ultimately, like, long-term as well and how we can shape a closer san francisco to walking or cycling, as well. and to that, i really like the opportunity to create a supply of avenues [inaudible] s.f. citizen just go about and traverse within san francisco, and i think that long-term, this will result in a demand in, like, ridership, net positive, things like that? so i just wanted to say thank you in regards to that, and hopefully

let's hear from the sfmta. sfmta. >> jess, did you want to make any remarks before tom and i start? >> you are our subject matter experts. i'm jeff tomlin. and here this afternoon or this morning we have tom mcguire, who is the director of streets, and julie kerfong, who is the director of transit. they're here to lay out the framework of strategy that i hope will address commissioner chan's meetings, as well as speak to all of you. we certainly understand the necessity of coming together at this time to hold on to the best of the experiments we have created during the covid period, but also recognize that the city has changed, travel demand patterns have changed, and many of the temporary measures that we did during covid -- all of them are pretty good. some of them, i think, warrant sticking around. others, it may be time to let go of. in any case, we need to understand the unintended consequences of the experiments that we put forward and make adjustments, recognizing that we are still a long ways from full recovery at the sfmta. with that, let me turn it over to jill. >> good mo

let's hear from the sfmta. sfmta. >> jess, did you want to make any remarks before tom and i start? >> you are our subject matter experts. i'm jeff tomlin. and here this afternoon or this morning we have tom mcguire, who is the director of streets, and julie kerfong, who is the director of transit. they're here to lay out the framework of strategy that i hope will address commissioner chan's meetings, as well as speak to all of you. we certainly understand the necessity of coming together at this time to hold on to the best of the experiments we have created during the covid period, but also recognize that the city has changed, travel demand patterns have changed, and many of the temporary measures that we did during covid -- all of them are pretty good. some of them, i think, warrant sticking around. others, it may be time to let go of. in any case, we need to understand the unintended consequences of the experiments that we put forward and make adjustments, recognizing that we are still a long ways from full recovery at the sfmta. with that, let me turn it over to jill. >> good mo

obviously, there are, you know, reasons that don't have to do with sfmta, but sfmta please stop making it so hard for families here. i use golden gate park every day. i run in the park every day. during the week -- i have pictures. i can send them to you. i'd be happy to. golden gate park is barely used during the week. it is used a little bit. i'll give you that, but it's not so overwhelming even now with the pandemic sort of still in play. it is not overwhelming that people could not use the sidewalk. so i urge that if you want to keep golden gate park free on the weekends. i'm a consumer of the park on foot, i'm not speaking as a driver. but seeing the congestion on the rest of the streets in my neighborhood, it's frustrating you're taking away one of the main courses of traffic and moving traffic from east to west in the city. the great highway, same thing. keep it closed on the weekend, but keep it open during the week. it's 100% just more cost and more control. very easily now you could say, we're going to leave it closed on the weekends and open during the week. this does not re

i am steve bowen from the transit planning group at the sfmta.and i am here today to talk about a proposal to install temporary emergency high-occupancy vehicle lanes on park prsidio and the park presidio, between there and lombard and richardson between presidio and franklin and goss streets. this is part of the program that you approved last june, and i won't dwell on it. like liz did i emphasize that it's temporary for the duration of the covid-19 emergency order and can only be made permanent with an additional public process and sfmta board hearing so here's a map of the proposed project. these are major transit corridors that happen to also be state highways which require us to partner with caltran. and together we have come up with what we think as an innovative solution. these would be h.o.v. lanes and not just regular transit lanes. >> steve, i'm sorry to interrupt you, i don't see anything pulled up presentation-wise. >> okay. >> chair borden: we see your initials that shows that you are talking but we can't see your screen. >> chair bo

we really appreciate the quick work by sfmta there. turning to some administrative updates, the transportation fund for clean air audit was released. we really appreciate our staff for this hard work. the transportation, of course, we do administer the county program that is funded by $4 per vehicle annual registration fees, and it goes with clean air projects. the audit was conducted by simpson and simpson, and it was, again, clean. thank you so much for our policy and programming division, run by anna laforte, as well as cynthia fong. and i want to thank all of those for the hard work on this audit. last, i would like to mention, unfortunately, we did lose a dear friend and colleague marty wax from ucla. he was a preeminent figure in transportation, with a career spanning seven decades. he advanced equitable access in the field, and i was honored to serve on a peer review panel he chaired a few years ago. professor wax was always so generous, a consummate professional, and he will perhaps be best remembered as a caring mentor to many

let's hear from the sfmta. sfmta. >> jess, did you want to make any remarks before tom and i start? >> you are our subject matter experts. i'm jeff tomlin. and here this afternoon or this morning we have tom mcguire, who is the director of streets, and julie kerfong, who is the director of transit. they're here to lay out the framework of strategy that i hope will address commissioner chan's meetings, as well as speak to all of you. we certainly understand the necessity of coming together at this time to hold on to the best of the experiments we have created during the covid period, but also recognize that the city has changed, travel demand patterns have changed, and many of the temporary measures that we did during covid -- all of them are pretty good. some of them, i think, warrant sticking around. others, it may be time to let go of. in any case, we need to understand the unintended consequences of the experiments that we put forward and make adjustments, recognizing that we are still a long ways from full recovery at the sfmta. with that, let me turn it over to jill. >> good mo

sfmta -- at the s.f. c.t.a. board in the month of january, and then in the month of march. so there was a question that was a very logical and reasonable question: why not buy battery/electric vehicles for these 30 buses? currently sfmta have a pilot with three bus manufacturers, and we're going to be buying a total of nine vehicles. and through them we can learn a lot about the maintenance changes, operation changes, charging infrastuctures, and the service dispatching challenges as well. through the initial experiences, we have learned the pga coordination in terms of the response time has not been very fast. as of now, the first facility will be ready to support the battery/electric bus compensation will be (indiscernable). you can see the buses that are actually currently in production. those -- these two are the byd and the potrerro. they have an emissions policy, and our commitment is to purchase the battery/electric vehicle in 2025. however, as outlined early, our first facility actually will be ready for supporting the ebus charging for potrero will be in 2025. we h

it would need to be reconciled with sfmta. there are substantial services that come out of this contract with the cleaning, and repair and maintenance provisions in the contract. clear channel could default requiring leaving this responsibility with our own agencies which would have an impact on our budget as far as being able to maintain it. or sfmta could rebid to secure another transit shelter contractor. sfmta estimates a nine to twelve month process to do a rebid on this. and there's a substantial risk that the new agreement would not be as favorable as the one we enjoy today. that is the essence of the proposed amendment. next slide, please. and i and gail stein of sfmta are both here should you have questions about this. thank you very much. >> president brandon: thank you, dan. now, let's open it up for public comment. we will open the phone lines to take public comment on item 13b. for members of the public joining us on the phone, jennifer will be our operator and will provide instructions now for anyone on the phone

board of directors and sfmta staff. thank you for the extremely comprehensive and engaging presentation. my name is laura schaefer. on behalf of our organization, our board of directors and constituents who like to take this opportunity to thank bear breed, the sfmta board of directors and staff for returning the f line to service in may. it will have a positive impact on businesses along the northern waterfront and visitors enjoy the scenic ride from around the world. we understand the limitations of f line service at this time due to covid-19 safety protocols. we will continue to collaborate and promote alternative transit route to the wharf. thank you to the f line streetcar drivers for acting as city ambassadors and experience. the fishermen wharf and the sfmta commitment to returning all cable car lines to service as soon as possible. following the last february 6th board of directors meeting we have a more understanding of the timing of the rollout before the holidays. now that we have been battling covid-19 for a

our partners at sfmta have accepted our recommendations to -- and have pushed for the recommendation to accelerate the work program and to start the f.t.a. new starts program sooner. they've also advanced funds that were previously allocated to us in a different fiscal year. they're advancing it to the current fiscal year. fiscal year 2021. this additional funds allows us to support the work plan, move it forward, accelerate it and achieve the new start for august 2023. the sfmta board approved the advanced allocation at their board meetings march 9 and then again march 23rd. so we bring this request to you to advance the funding to provide in the budget so we can move the project forward. i'll take any questions if you have them. >> chair gee: thank you. looks like director shaw? >> d. shaw: thank you. i may have missed this -- thank you. i may have missed this. my only question is, i know this is speed up because we changed the schedule. just my general question is, does the overall funding stay the same and the budget stay the same, so it's just a matter of moving money from one p

lee from sfmta. >> good afternoon, supervisors. steve lee with sfmta streets division. thank you for hearing our item today. chair haney, before we begin, i'd like to request an amendment to the resolution, there are two. the first is to strike the land whereas clause as it relates to the ceqa findings. we've been vised by the city attorney that that particular whereas clause that that's not required within this resolution. and then, the second amendment to the resolution is in the resolved clause where the sfmta would like to change our request from a two-year funding request to one-year funding request where the first year would be 11.2 million. in the second year, would be 11.6, but would require the approval of the director of transportation, and these are amounts recommended by the budget analyst. i think in the interest of time, we can go to the budget analyst's report, and i'm happy to answer any questions after that. >> chair haney: sure. miss campbell? >> yes, chair haney, members of the committee. as mr. lee noted, this is a -- legislation approval an existing

our partners at sfmta have accepted our recommendations to -- and have pushed for the recommendation to accelerate the work program and to start the f.t.a. new starts program sooner. they've also advanced funds that were previously allocated to us in a different fiscal year. they're advancing it to the current fiscal year. fiscal year 2021. this additional funds allows us to support the work plan, move it forward, accelerate it and achieve the new start for august 2023. the sfmta board approved the advanced allocation at their board meetings march 9 and then again march 23rd. so we bring this request to you to advance the funding to provide in the budget so we can move the project forward. i'll take any questions if you have them. >> chair gee: thank you. looks like director shaw? >> d. shaw: thank you. i may have missed this -- thank you. i may have missed this. my only question is, i know this is speed up because we changed the schedule. just my general question is, does the overall funding stay the same and the budget stay the same, so it's just a matter of moving money from one p

thank you to the transportation authority, sfmta, the bike coalition and public works, and all of the workers who were a part of getting this done. as mayor breed said, this has come at a really good time for our city. second street is such a critical thoroughfare for the economic life blood of our city. if you look around here, you see tremendous contributions to jobs, to growth, to prosperity here in san francisco. and one other thing that i also want to add, this is the street that many of us take to the giants games, and in just a couple weeks, we are going to be able to walk on the giants bats for opening day. we are going to have safe ways for people to be able to get to the game, to be able to walk safer, to be able to bike safer, to be able to experience a street that really accesses the potential of what our neighborhoods and our streets should look like. one thing that is true about this area is not only is it an economic engine, it's also a place where a lot of people live, and one of the things that i heard time and time again from people from soma who live in this neighbo

again, big congratulations and we're so glad you are on the sfmta board. much needed. >> all right. >> we look forward to working with you. >> all right. >> are there any comments or questions from staff? >> i will note that this is debbie kaplan. i will note that nicole had to leave for a 4:00 meeting with public-health. and i think on behalf of all of the m.o.d. staff, you know, we're just really thrilled that fiona is on the m.t.a. board and is going to compliment the good work. mta accessible group is already a really start partner with m.o.d. on a lot of different issues, some of which you heard today. and we also know there's a lot that remains to be done and we are continuously working not just for accessibility but for helping all the different offices in the city understand the impact of all of the different initiatives that they have potential leon people withh disabilities. because we usually are effected in ways that are not necessarily anticipated. so, as someone who has lots of direct experience, fiona, this really goes a long way as well as

gale stein of sfmta is here to assist if there are questions.our attention. >> president brandon: thank you very much for your presentation. commissionerrings, -- commissioners may i have a motion? >> so moved. >> second. >> i have a question. >> president brandon: let's open up to public comment. we'll open the fine lines to take public comment on item 9a for members of the public to join in on the phone. >> clerk: at this time, we will open the queue for anyone on the phone who would like to make public comment on item 9a. please dial star 3 if you wish to make public comment. the system will let you know when your line is open. others will wait on mute until their line is open. comments will be limited to three minutes per person. the queue is now open. please dial star 3 if you wish to make public comment. >> president brandon: do we have anyone on the phone? >> clerk: at this time, there are no callers on the phone wishing to make public comment. >> president brandon: seeing no callers on the phone. public comment is closed. commissioner bu

i would love to hear from sfmta about that. >> yes. i do know that. we have a meeting later this week. we want to make sure that we are not inundating principles with additional surveys. we are going to talk about -- that is one strategy that they wanted to use together additional information and as i mentioned earlier in the conversation, we have maintained routes since august. >> thank you. the question is, two, families are worried about it. maybe they shouldn't be if you are doing planning. or maybe they should. one question is, how did they know what will or won't -- how are we communicating this to families? >> we are not communicating anything about munimobile. this week we will be sending out letters to families that we are providing door-to-door transportation to so they will get that. and for children on the general education, in the letter packet we are sending out this friday to all student -- all students, we are directing them to the webpage that has an opportunity for them to sign up if they are interested in general information transpo

i am extremely proud of the sfmta's clean suite of buses and trains.we, as you know, we have a strong agency value to have a positive impact on climate change, and our vehicle program is completely fossil fuel free. our trains, both cable car, our historics and our l.r.v., as well as our trolley fleet, are all zero-emissions. and they draw clean energy from the hetch hetchy dam. our hybrid buses are all -- well, they're all hybrid diesel and they run on renewable diesel. so overall our vehicle footprint is very small. transportation is the largest contributor to san francisco greenhouse gas emissions with making up about 45%. and within the transportation sector, muni is less than 1% of city-wide emissions. we are -- i think that is particularly significant because we carry between 25% and 30% of trips. the kind of bigger challenge i think we face is that cars and trucks make up about -- over 70% of that transportation sector footprint. so as we talk about how we make the muni fleet continue to make a very clean fleet cleaner, we also need it talk abou

we've already got a color scheme at the sfmta. we've got greenfor the bikes, why not yellow for the slow streets ? we could have little yellow brick roads all across the our city. a lot of people think of us as cause anyway. i think someonethat makes a bigger impression . they are pretty slender and we aren't prohibiting vehicles from entering those spaces so maybe drivers need more visual cues about the fact that they areentering a different kind of street . >> i want to acknowledge that and we are continuing toiterate , shannon showed designs that are sort of make it 4.0 here but we're looking to other cities around the country. we will eventually at some point come to a good standard and approve what is a slow street design that is both properly branded and also visible to drivers but we want to learn from pastpractices acrossthe country . >> steve heminger: thank you . >> chair borden: thank you. director eakin. >> out just add to director heminger's comments and we heard from the public about more substantial signage so i sup

my colleague monica had to leave of the sfmta.there is anything we can't answer, we can bring it back to the sfmta and get that back to you. >> president laguana: wonderful. james, do we have public commenters on the line? >> yes, we have two people in queue and four people listening. i'll unmute the first one. >> president laguana: commissioner dickerson, did you want to post your slide on directions on how to call in? okay. and, james, if you could please allow the commenters to start commenting, that would be great. >> good afternoon, commissioners, and thank you for allowing me to speak. i'm terry and one of the owners of cliff's variety store on castro street. in considering legislation for shared spaces i think it's important that the legislation take a balanced look at a commercial corridor. there must be loading zones available for safety of employees and in order to receive the goods. there must be enough parking to make an area sustainable for all the businesses in an area. although we'd like to be a transit-first city,

my colleague monica had to leave of the sfmta. if there is anything we can't answer, we can bring it back to the sfmta and get that back to you. >> president laguana: wonderful. james, do we have public commenters on the line? >> yes, we have two people in queue and four people listening. i'll unmute the first one. >> president laguana: commissioner dickerson, did you want to post your slide on directions on how to call in? okay. and, james, if you could please allow the commenters to start commenting, that would be great. >> good afternoon, commissioners, and thank you for allowing me to speak. i'm terry and one of the owners of cliff's variety store on castro street. in considering legislation for shared spaces i think it's important that the legislation take a balanced look at a commercial corridor. there must be loading zones available for safety of employees and in order to receive the goods. there must be enough parking to make an area sustainable for all the businesses in an area. although we'd like to be a transit-first ci

our construction mitigation program is a really close partnership with sfmta where there are major projects that will be impacting our commercial corridors. we have a staff assigned who help oversee the connection to our small businesses and helps them really coordinate and bring investment at that time. we also in general where there is funding, depending on every budget year and it fluctuates also put out grants for many different programs around the city to support economic development and marketing, sometimes even activate events. that's another big part of our portfolio is management of those funds to our community partners. the national commercial corridor strategies, again, really focus on be neighborhoods that have been historically deinvested it and so this is our work. and so this is some of the corridors we have high touch in. general central market tenderloin, chinatown and fillmore. so this is just an example of some. it's not all-inclusive, but these are just some of the partners on point in time ground. i emphasize the word "partners" because we work hand-in-hand. they are ou

. >> reporter: jeffrey is the director of transportation at sfmta. he's grappling with how to convince commuters to come back. >> from a health science perspective that it's safe. but people don't make their decisions based upon the science, they make decisions based of upon emotions. >> reporter: as you might imagine, ridership fell off a cliff this past year. most transit agencies lost 95% of passengers at the peak of the pandemic. now riders are coming back, but it's slow. b.a.r.t. ridership is at 14% of pre-pandemic levels. muny around 27% and caltrain 7%. when ridership dropped, revenue followed. losses were in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and caltran and b.a.r.t. in particular rely on fares for 70% of their operating budgets, so this cares act funding saved these agencies from financial ruin, providing $705 million in relief across the region. >> there's no question that the pandemic exposed some of the financial weaknesses. >> reporter: michelle is the coo of caltran. she says covid widened existing cracks, but it also exposed other in

earlier today we were talking about the challenges in hiring and training for sfmta. if we go through all the things that need to be done in the city, it feels like one of the greatest obstacles to get the right people in positions quickly. i would love to hear about some of your thoughts about how you might approach that problem over your time in the job. >> thank you, supervisor for the question. i think this might be the subject at longer hearing. i appreciate having a little time to spend with it. i would say this is a general observation. i'm looking forward to working with every one of you and preview roan -- supervisor ronen. d.h.r. is underinvested organization. its systems are old. we cannot count very well even what we have, what our work is. the nearest thing to investment at this point in terms of hiring is our applicant tracking system. as a modern employer, that can hire quickly, aside from being home, bound by our own rules. the human resources director oversight of the human resources systems in the city. i want to make sure everybody on the board is a

the sfmta. 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. so that's for this april.he sfmta is expecting they'll return to full capacity by the start of this year. that depends on the pandemic and general health public guidelines. and that requires several months preparation. and they are planning to have a reserve of buses that can be used as school trippers and so that's during the hours of schools are letting out that they've put extra buses online and they're also working on a walking school bus protocol. and that concludes school transportation. >> thank you. i just want to give a brief overview of the brief partnership we have had with our libraries. we continue to work with the public library to foster access to literacy as well as create agents before our students. summer strive is one of the signature programs that has a traditional standing in our community. and, this is a program where sfusd works in collaboration with the library to produce a summer reading list which is available online and in person. so how will students be able to access those books? w

thank you to the transportation authority, sfmta, the bike coalition and public works, and all of theho were a part of getting this done. as mayor breed said, this has come at a really good time for our city. second street is such a critical thoroughfare for the economic life blood of our city. if you look around here, you see tremendous contributions to jobs, to growth, to prosperity here in san francisco. and one other thing that i also want to add, this is the street that many of us take to the giants games, and in just a couple weeks, we are going to be able to walk on the giants bats for opening day. we are going to have safe ways for people to be able to get to the game, to be able to walk safer, to be able to bike safer, to be able to experience a street that really accesses the potential of what our neighborhoods and our streets should look like. one thing that is true about this area is not only is it an economic engine, it's also a place where a lot of people live, and one of the things that i heard time and time again from people from soma who live in this neighborhood, wha

today, i'm speaking with the executive director of the sfmta. thank you and welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> can we begin by talking about the services that have been suspended and there have been changes to the services that are still running? >> absolutely. we've had to make really significant changes to our services in response to covid-19. initially going down to as few as 17 routes. these are routes that people use to get to work or the hospital, grocery stores, really to make the most essential trips that are needed throughout this process. we've been fortunate over the last, say, five or six weeks, that our staffing levels have gotten better, and as we've increased our cleaning capacity, that we've been able to add some community services back. we've added a shuttle on pacific avenue, which is helping seniors get to grocery stores in chinatown. we've added a community inline bus in ingleside, and we've been adding more service to our core network. our corridors like mission street, potrero near s.f. general, and really

today, i'm speaking with the executive director of the sfmta. thank you and welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> can we begin by talking about the services that have been suspended and there have been changes to the services that are still running? >> absolutely. we've had to make really significant changes to our services in response to covid-19. initially going down to as few as 17 routes. these are routes that people use to get to work or the hospital, grocery stores, really to make the most essential trips that are needed throughout this process. we've been fortunate over the last, say, five or six weeks, that our staffing levels have gotten better, and as we've increased our cleaning capacity, that we've been able to add some community services back. we've added a shuttle on pacific avenue, which is helping seniors get to grocery stores in chinatown. we've added a community inline bus in ingleside, and we've been adding more service to our core network. our corridors like mission street, potrero near s.f. general, and really

. >> the director of transportation at sfmta.is he working with how to convince people to come back. >> from the health science perspective it's safe. people don't make their decisions based on the science. they make decisions based on emotion. >> as you may imagine, rider ship fell off a cliffa past year. most agencies including bart, muni and caltrains lost 95% of passengers at the peak of the pandemic. now riders coming back but it's slow. bart rider ship is at 14% of prepandemic levels. muni around 27% and caltrains, 7%. when rider ship dropped, revenue followed. losses were in the hundreds of millions of dollars. caltrain and bart in particular rely on fares for 70% of their operating budget. this cares act funding saved these agencies from financial ruin providing $705 million in relief across the region. >> there's no question that the pandemic exposed some of the financial weaknesses. >> michelle is the coo of caltrains. she said coronavirus widened existing cracks in the financial system. it also exposed other inequaliti

mayor's office, the office of economic workforce development, the san francisco department of health, sfmta, and many others who really helped us get the tools we need to keep our small businesses alive and thriving. so with that, thank you very much, and thank you, mayor. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you so much, grace. and you know, sometimes i get a little comfortable when i come back to japantown because it's like home. i was a supervisor, as well, in this district, and so, so many great people, so many familiar faces, and so i'm so glad to be here. i was just at kasura two weeks ago because from covid, i went from having zero plants to 31. it's a better habit to have than most, and they have some great stuff in there, and so the owner's here with us today, so a business like hers will also have benefit from legislation like this. sandy mori, steve nakajo, who's also on the fire commission, they work so hard so we can be here today, so with that, let's sign this legislation. [applause] >> i'll take my check now. [laughter] [cheers and applause] . >> president yee: of the 2

. >>> sfmta will be debuting street traffic safety improvements in the tender loins starting with the first 20-mile per hour speed limit sign on eddie street. there will be new no turn on red signs. >>let's go to gianna at 5:16 with a check of traffic on this thursday morning. good morning. >>> good morning. let's start with the east shore freeway. there are quite a few brake lights. not far from central there is construction blocking lanes. they're alternating lane closures on the west side. that's causing all this back up, speeds dipping down to 10 miles per hour in some spots. you can use surface streets. hopefully they'll have things wrapped up in the next 30 to 45 minutes. if you are getting ready to head out and using the east shore freeway commute, it is a little bit slow through there. slow through the altamont pass but this is pretty typical. it pretty much stays this way as you work onto 580 at least to around north flynn. past that, things look better towards dublin interchange. as we look at traffic elsewhere, one more look at the delays on the freeway, still very slow. yo