here in san francisco and very pleased to welcome you all here this morning for what we expect will be a very lively and productive couple of days here in san francisco. the san francisco m.t.a. is the agency that's charged with implementing the city's transit first policy, which is about getting people out of their cars and into more sustainable modes of transportation, such as bikes, such as walking and transit in our great muni system. as someone who myself gets around the city often by bike, and i do that by choice, but more importantly, i'm given the charge of our agency to get folks out oaf their cars. i can't tell you how exciting it is for me to think all of the brain power and enthusiasm for cycling that's in this room are going to spend the next two days working with us to help us figure out how we can do every -- even better. although we've done a lot in terms of bicycling and increasing the mode of bicycling as a transportation of choice and we're very proud of what we've accomplished, there's a lot more that we can do and a lot more that we need to do. it's not just because riding around on a bicycle is for fun, which i think it is, or at least it is for some pe

one incredible partner in this effort has been our san francisco m.t.a. and i want to invite up ed risken, who has been a champion of many modes of transit but particularly car sharing, to say a few words today. ed? >> thank you, president chew -- chiu, mr. mayor. very glad to be here as the city's transportation director leading the agency that's charged with implementing the transit first policy. we see car sharing as very integral to making transit first work here in san francisco. transit first is about making it convenient and accessible and attractive for people to live in san francisco without a car. certainly without a second car. and there are times while we want people to be able to ride and want to ride muni or to get around by bike or by foot or grab i cab when they need one, there are times when you need a car. speaking of someone who has no car and is married and has kids, it's doable in san francisco because car sharing fills that gap. car sharing is what makes it possible to live in san francisco without owning your own car. so we see it a

m.t.a. since we're the transportation agency for the city and it's our job to make sure that everybody can get around san francisco and do so safely. whether you're riding muni, whether you're in a car, whether you're in a cab, whether you're on your bike or whether you're walking, we want you to be able to be safe. particularly we want you to be safe to get to school. the last thing we want parents and teachers having to worry about is getting you to school. we want you to be focused on learning and on developing your skills and on being safe and healthy. as mayor and supervisor kim mentioned, we're doing things such as lowering speed limit, calming the streets, doing everything we can do working with our partners and the police department, pauble health department, rec and park and school district to make it so you can all get to school safely. when i saw all of those hands still up, when you were asked how many of you walk to school, it warmed my heart. this is a model of a neighborhood school in san francisco. we want more schools like marshall where people, where parents and students feel safe to walk to scho