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City and County of San Francisco
Municipal Transportation Agency
Citizens’ Advisory Council (MTA CAC)

FINAL MINUTES
of
Regular Meeting

Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 5:30 p.m.
1 South Van Ness Avenue, Conference Room 3074
San Francisco, California

1. Call to Order / Roll Call
Chairman Murphy called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m.
A quorum was present including the following:

MTA CAC Members Present at Roll Call: Daniel Murphy (Chair), Mary Burns, Joan Downey, Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, Bruce Oka, Norman Rolfe, Daniel Weaver, and Jamison Wieser.

MTA CAC Members Present, but absent at Roll Call: Dorris Vincent arrived at 5:36 p.m.

MTA CAC Absent: Sue Cauthen, Art Cimento, Steve Ferrario (Vice Chair), and Cesar Perez.

MTA Staff (San Francisco Municipal Railway [MUNI] and Department of Parking and Traffic [DPT]) Present: Janet Martinsen (MTA CAC Liaison), Debra Reed (MTA CAC Secretary), Hammons, Diana (MTA - Finance & Administration Division), Tina Olson (Port of San Francisco – Deputy Director Finance & Administration), Todd Dykstra (CEO – Streetline Networks), Brenda Walker (MTA – Finance), Greg Wilcox (MTA – Deputy Dir Transportation Development), Sonali Bose (MTA – CFO), Judson True (Manager, Local Government Relations).

Community Representatives Present: Edward Mason

2. Adopt the MTA CAC Minutes of February 15, 2007:

Motion to adopt the MTA CAC minutes with corrections for February 15, 2007 by Emily Drennen.

2nd by Joan Downey

CAC passed unanimously (Ayes - Daniel Murphy (Chair), Mary Burns, Joan Downey, Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, Bruce Oka, Norman Rolfe, Dorris Vincent, Daniel Weaver, and Jamison Wieser)

3. Public Comment – Concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the Council and not noted on the agenda:

Public comments made by Edward Mason regarding professional reading. He urged the CAC to read the 38-page VTA report and apply many of its points to the MTA, website vta.org on the left side and click on “Directors,” click on Friday, March 23rd special meeting, then go to the link on item #4.

4. Report of the Chair: Daniel Murphy (MTA CAC Chair)

Mr. Murphy reported about 511 – Feedback to MTC, that the disabled community was unhappy about loosing arrival-times feature, because all the audio features benefited visually impaired users.

3rd Street LRV opening celebration was scheduled for April 14th.

Mr. Murphy reported highlights from the CAC’s 3rd Street LRV tour during the month of March.

Ms. Martinsen will be away for a few months. Her replacement as the MTA CAC Liaison was yet to be announced.

5. Staff Report: Janet Martinsen

Ms. Martinsen distributed and reviewed April’s staff report along with the MTA staff responses to CAC recommendations. Debra Reed distributed responses to informational requests from CAC members.

Staff-Initiated Items

6. Parking policies and a proposed pricing pilot program with the Port of San Francisco (Discussion/Action) Diane Hammons, Tina Olson, and Todd Dykstra

The Port of San Francisco partnered with the MTA on a project to test parking meter behavior. Ms. Hammans introduced Tina Olson from the Port of San Francisco and Todd Dykstra from Streetline Networks who took on a project to look at “real” parking behavior as it relates to pricing, alternative meter technologies, and to bring creative strategies for testing. Todd Dykstra conducted the presentation study which covered 187 metered parking spaces, including paid use, payment type, unpaid use (disability parking), unpaid use (non-compliance), turn-over, and average duration. Tina Olson announced other parking meter behavior studies to be conducted around San Francisco. The Parking Policies presentation would also be presented to Transportation Authority and Parking Authority on May 1, 2007.

Motion: The MTA CAC recommends that the Two-Year Pricing Pilot program in conjunction with the Port of San Francisco be adopted.

Moved by Dan Weaver

2nd by Jamison Wieser

CAC passed unanimously (Ayes - Daniel Murphy (Chair), Joan Downey, Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, Bruce Oka, Norman Rolfe, Dorris Vincent, Daniel Weaver, and Jamison Wieser.

The vote included Dorris Vincent who arrived after roll call, however Mary Burns had departed before the vote, but a quorum was still present.

7. CIP/CIB (Discussion/Action) Greg Wilcox, and Brenda Walker

Mr. Wilcox with the assistance of the CFO Sonali Bose and Brenda Walker, highlighted the new approach to the Capital program. Handouts that were used for discussion were the FY 2008-2012 Proposed Capital Investment Plan (April 3, 2007) and the booklet FY 2008-2012 Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) FY 2008-2012 Proposed Capital Investment Plan (CIP) (April 3, 2007).

Questions and Comments from the CAC:

Dan Weaver: The LRV overhaul program had fallen far short of the estimated need of $20 million per year. Mr. Wilcox responded that there was no funding for LRV overhaul, but CFO Sonali Bose was still seeking funding.

Mr. Weaver heard on a television news report that Muni said they could run on time with another $150 million. Does that include overhaul and maintenance?

2 years ago the CAC recommended a planning study be done regarding the portals, however currently there was neither project manager assigned nor engineering assessment started. Mr. Wilcox responded that the project was in the 5-year capital plan.

Norman Rolfe felt that Hotel Vitale was costing Muni. Ms. Bose responded that an audit regarding the hotel had begun as a result of Mr. Rolfe’s inquiries.

Dorris Vincent asked about Islais Creek. Mr. Wilcox responded that the design was being finalized.

Emily Drennen: asked about DPT and Pedestrian signals, etc. Ms. Bose pointed out that it was a Pedestrian line item.

There is a need for working elevators and escalators.

Joan Downey asked about Carl Street and the Rail Replacement project.

Public Comment:

Edward Mason asked if there would be a negative impact on delivery of service caused by the shortfall on overhaul, etc? Mr. Wilcox responded that providing service was the highest priority.

8. New Revenue Generation Options (Discussion/Action) Sonali Bose

Ms. Bose distributed two exhibits for revenue generating ideas, which had been shared with the Board of Directors at the last MTA Board meeting. Exhibit I included previously surfaced revenue ideas from SPUR and Exhibit II included SFMTA staff ideas. Also shared was the PowerPoint presentation provided to the MTA Board of Directors (dated April 3, 2007). Ms. Bose indicated that the major impediment to MUNI’s inability to reach on-time performance standards was the lack of resources and the structural deficit, which is estimated in the range of $150 million. The CAC Council was asked to prioritize the revenue ideas and provide their recommendation to the MTA Board of Directors.

Questions and Comments from the CAC:

Emily Drennen: asked about parking tax. Ms. Bose responded that several other departments and City services were also competing for the voters’ ballot. Ms. Bose was also hoping to resolve many things by working with both the MTA Board and the S.F. Board of Supervisors.

Ms. Drennen expressed that Labor should be represented during the Mayor’s blue team assistants.

Dan Weaver: Developing goals to achieve certain levels of service could bring in revenue, such as increasing standards of enforcement, and sidewalk enforcement.

9. Discounted Fast Passes for 18 to 21 Year Olds – originator Supervisor McGoldrick (Discussion/Action) Judson True

As a result of a proposal from the Youth Commission and other commissions to Supervisor McGoldrick last fall, that looked at discounted fares for young adults from the 18 to 24 year age at different transit agencies around the country and pushed along by a report by the Office of Legislative Analysts, Supervisor McGoldrick drafted a resolution urging the MTA Board of Directors to pursue discounted fast passes for 18 to 21 year olds. As a marketing idea, more than discounts for students the purpose of the youth pass would be to attract young riders in general to become lifelong transit passengers.

Public Comment

Edward Mason commented that in view offering reduced youth fares, he felt that there should be pressure on youth to stop vandalism and offer discounted fares as a reward. He questioned what problem would be solved by offering discounted youth fares. He recommended that the Mayor should establish a Blue Ribbon Panel amongst the Youth Commission.

Council-Initiated Items

10. Committee Reports:

See agenda items 11 and 12

11. Recommendation from a CAC Committee (Discussion/Action)
Engineering, Maintenance and Safety Committee (EMSC)

Background from Dan Weaver that at the February EMSC meeting it was revealed that there was no project manager, no engineering assessment, nor anything being done. These external portals continue to serve as a useful option for Muni, during flooding conditions and streetcar derailments. Studies should be done, repairs should be made, and the project should move forward.

Motion 070228.13: WHEREAS the Eureka portals have been useful to maintaining operations for the Metro system in the past few years during emergency conditions including flooding and streetcar derailments.

Therefore, the MTA CAC recommends that the Eureka portals be structurally repaired, restored and beautified at the surface entrances/exits so that they can continue to provide needed operational flexibility for the Metro system in emergencies and/or any other future uses.

The MTA CAC further recommends that the MTA develop an action plan for the Eureka portals rehabilitation as part of the multi-year capitol budget process.

Moved by Dorris Vincent

2nd by Norman Rolfe

CAC passed unanimously (Ayes - Daniel Murphy (Chair), Joan Downey, Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, Bruce Oka, Norman Rolfe, Dorris Vincent, Daniel Weaver, and Jamison Wieser.

The vote included Dorris Vincent who arrived after roll call, however Mary Burns had departed before the vote, but a quorum was still present.

12. Recommendation from a CAC Committee (Discussion/Action)
Operations and Customer Service Committee (OCSC)

Motion 070312.01: The MTA CAC recommends that the MTA adopt recommendations made by Nelson Nygaard in the Transportation Quality Review recommendation summary figure 7 and Proposition E Municipal Transportation Quality review with the following exceptions:

5A The MTA CAC recommends that the automatic passenger counters be used to track crowding on vehicles.

3B The MTA CAC recommends that the speed goals for Muni vehicles be set by the MTA rather than Muni.

2C The MTA CAC recommends that the employee attrition rate be retained and the measure be changed to less than 1 year rather than 6 months to 1 year.

The MTA CAC recommends that a measurement of the length of time it takes to fill a position be added.

1F The MTA CAC recommends that the measure of phone requests for parking enforcement be changed to the percent of requests responded to within 20 minutes.

The MTA CAC recommends that instead of having 2 reports that the details of management reports be included in the stakeholder report as an appendix.

The MTA CAC recommends that the management summary only include schedule adherence for lines with scheduled headways that are greater than 10 minutes and headway adherence for lines with scheduled headways equal to or under 10 minutes.

The MTA CAC recommends that the annual report include the number of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists killed or injured.

CAC passed unanimously (Ayes - Daniel Murphy (Chair), Joan Downey, Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, Bruce Oka, Norman Rolfe, Dorris Vincent, Daniel Weaver, and Jamison Wieser.

The vote included Dorris Vincent who arrived after roll call, however Mary Burns had departed before the vote, but a quorum was still present.

13. Council Members’ Questions and Comments:

14. Agenda Planning for the Next CAC Meeting:

May 3, 2007, 5:30 p.m., at 1 South Van Ness Av., Conference Room 3074

15. Adjournment: 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by:
Debra J. Reed
MTA CAC - Secretary

Accessible meeting policy – One South Van Ness Avenue

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