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

DRAFT MINUTES
of
Regular Meeting

Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 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 5:39 p.m.

SFMTA CAC members present at Roll Call: Daniel Murphy (Chair), Steve Ferrario (Vice Chair) (departed at 7:05), Mary Burns, Emily Drennen, Bruce Oka, Greg Riessen, Norman Rolfe, Dorris Vincent, Daniel Weaver and Jamison Wieser.

SFMTA CAC members present, but absent at Roll Call: Griffith Humphrey arrived at 5:45 p.m.

SFMTA CAC absent: Art Cimento, Joan Downey and Cesar Perez.

SFMTA staff and other city departments present: Julie Kirschbaum (SFMTA Program Manager – Transit Effectiveness Project), Peter Straus (SFMTA – Service Planning Manager) and Debra Reed (SFMTA CAC Secretary).

2. Adopt minutes of January 14, 2008:

Motion to adopt minutes: unanimously approved. (Ayes - Murphy, Ferrario, Burns, Drennen, Humphrey, Oka, Riessen, Rolfe, Vincent, Weaver and Wieser)

3. Public Comment concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the Council and not noted on the agenda: none

4. Report of the Chairman: Daniel Murphy

Chairman Murphy said that he was planning additional meetings in February and March to cover the TEP, the Taxi merger, Budget, and other topics.

5. Transit Effectiveness Plan (TEP) (Discussion/Action) Julie Kirschbaum and Peter Straus

Ms. Kirschbaum presented the proposed Service Development Framework. She said that both the TEP and SFMTA websites featured data analyses. Public workshops and surveys have revealed that reliability of service is essential to riders followed by trip duration, pass ups, and standing time at bus stops or on crowded vehicles.

Reducing auto trips will improve air quality. The TEP is looking at what works well now, such as having good access to transit and arriving at destinations within a quarter mile via a single transfer. TEP is focusing on where passengers are going and how to attract more customers with reliable, faster, and updated service.

TEP recommendations will be presented to the SFMTA Board in April 2008.

Questions and Comments

Emily Drennen recalled a previous CAC recommendation in support of the Yield-to-Bus law. Ms. Kirschbaum said that the Agency is working with the Mayor’s Office to establish a Yield-to-Bus law in San Francisco.

Bruce Oka said that providing Para transit van service is costly. Users have to call in advance to schedule simple trips. Disabled riders would prefer the impromptu flexibility of Muni services over cumbersome Para transit arrangements if reliability could be improved.

Greg Riessen asked about the 80 breakdowns per day. Ms. Kirschbaum said that light rail is averaging over 5,000 miles before experiencing a breakdown in service. This average exceeds the service standards and is an improvement over the previous year’s average of 3,800 miles. On the other hand, trolley coaches experience unique maintenance challenges because they are specialized vehicles.

Chairman Murphy pointed out that 75% of the corridors in the system are on ten bus lines and six light rail lines. Ms. Kirschbaum added that the Van Ness and Mission corridor carries 80,000 passengers and the Geary corridor carries over 50,000 passengers.

Norman Rolfe expressed concern that stopping community service at 9:00 p.m. may result in losing ridership. People may be forced to drive their cars. Chairman Murphy agreed that extending community service until midnight makes more sense.

Mr. Rolfe suggested that before discontinuing service lines, advertising routes might increase ridership.

Jamison Wieser suggested embedding queuing marks at Metro platforms to indicate train door points in order to speed up passenger loading.

Dan Weaver asked about plans to increase capacity on the K-Ingleside line for the growing communities at S.F. State University and Balboa areas. Ms. Kirschbaum said that there is a discussion to change the terminus for the M-Ocean View and the J-Church trains to turn both around at S.F. State University in order to increase service frequency. Norman Rolfe recalled a previous plan to move the J-Church terminus to Stonestown and move the M-Ocean View terminus to S. F. State University.

Dorris Vincent asked about the accuracy of bus schedules. Ms. Kirschbaum said that some routes do not have enough running time allocated between time points. The TEP is making recommendations for those lines in need of more service time.

Chairman Murphy asked if On-Time performance would improve beyond 70%. Ms. Kirschbaum said that the TEP hoped to realize improvements next year through improved operator availability, reliable vehicles, increased supervision, congestion management and accurate schedules.

6. Committee Reports: None

7. Agenda Planning for the Next Regular Meeting Tentatively Scheduled:

Next regular meeting: February 7, 2008 at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, Conference Room 3074, at 5:30 p.m.

  • TEP

8. Adjournment: 7:37 p.m.

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

Accessible meeting policy – One South Van Ness Avenue

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