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City and County of San Francisco
Municipal Transportation Agency
Citizens’ Advisory Council

Operations & Customer Service Committee (OCSC)

Regular Meeting Minutes

Monday, November 19, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.
1 South Van Ness Avenue, Conference Room 3075
San Francisco, California

1. Call to Order / Roll Call
Chairman Joan Downey called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m.

OCSC Members present at Roll Call: Joan Downey (Chairman) and Mary Burns.

OCSC Members present, but absent at Roll Call: Norman Rolfe (arrived at 3:07 pm)

OCSC Members absent: Daniel Murphy

SFMTA CAC Members, not on this committee, but also present: Steve Ferrario (pro temp for Daniel Murphy)

SFMTA staff and other city departments present: John Byrd (SFMTA Deputy Director for Rail Operations), Travis Fox (SFMTA Principal Administrative Analyst), Britt Thesen Tanner (SFMTA Associated Engineer), Ted Unaegbu (SFMTA Acting Director of Security) and Debra Reed (SFMTA CAC Secretary).

Other guest speakers: Bonnie Nelson (Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates) and Steve Boland (Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates)

2. Adopt Minutes of October 15, 2007:

Motion to adopt minutes: unanimously approved.

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

4. Report of the Chairman: Joan Downey

311 operators are still requiring unnecessary information from callers wanting to submit complaints.

5. Operations Update (Discussion/Action) John Byrd

Mr. Byrd is the new Deputy Director for Rail Operations. Mr. Byrd reviewed Operations updates.

Mr. Byrd said that the budget will include opening the new Metro Maintenance East facility. He will be using funds as a result of Proposition A to focus on infra-structure maintenance in the tunnels. Track and overhead wire replacement is in progress.

The local SFMTA Rodeo is scheduled for May 2008. The AFTA Conference is scheduled for the same week that the SFMTA will be hosting international rodeo in June 2008.

Mr. Byrd is looking into establishing regular training programs.

Mr. Byrd said that line management, NextBus and cameras were effective tools to improve on-time performance.

Questions and Comments

Steve Ferrario asked about dirty subway cars. Mr. Byrd said that he has reassigned vehicle appearance to the rail mechanics officer.

Mr. Ferrario said that there is still a problem with too many cable cars in layover. Mr. Byrd said that he would like to establish a fall-back crew to keep the cars moving. Mr. Ferrario suggested a ten-year trial leasing the operations of cable cars to a private company.

Norman Rolfe commented that cable cars need more inspectors.

Mr. Rolfe said that the S. F. Police and parking control officers should work together to enforce transit laws. Mr. Byrd said that the Transit Effectiveness Program will address these issues.

Chairman Downey asked for Mr. Byrd’s help to have the daily operations report posted on the SFMTA’s website and the website for Rescue Muni. She added that she wanted to see data for daily headways restored to the report.

Mary Burns said that operators should be using a daily check lists before starting service. Mr. Byrd said that operators are trained to use a pre-operation check list.

6. Transportation Quality Review - Audit findings (Discussion/Action) Travis Fox, Bonnie Nelson and Steve Bolland

Ms. Nelson reviewed Proposition E – Municipal Transportation Agency Quality Review Summary, dated Nov 19, 2007.

Chairman Downey proposed the following motion:

Motion: The SFMTA CAC recommends that the SFMTA adopt all the Nelson/Nygaard recommendations.

The motion passed unanimously.

7. All-Door Boarding Pilot (Discussion/Action) Britt Tanner and Ted Unaegbu

Ms. Tanner reviewed the All-Door Boarding (AD) pilot that will begin January 2008. Ms. Tanner said that the AD pilot will help the SFMTA to understand the impact that fare evasion has on the budget and the amount of staff needed for an effective proof of payment (POP) system. She added that the AD pilot will decrease bus dwell time, distribute passengers evenly throughout buses, reduce operator stress, and increase revenue.

Questions and Comments

Chairman Downey suggested that only a system-wide pilot can be successful. Mr. Uneagbu said that the budget will not cover a system-wide POP staff.

Chairman Downey said that more POP cops on buses will increase safety and reduce crime.

Chairman Downey said that passengers will be confused by the variety of conflicting backdoor procedures. Ms. Tanner said that the SFMTA will do an extensive outreach with flyers and media services to identify affected lines for transit users.

Chairman Downey proposed the following motion:

Motion: The SFMTA CAC recommends that before an all-door pilot program begins that the SFMTA look at past studies, and other transit systems that used a Proof of Payment system.

The motion passed unanimously.

8. Committee Members’ Questions/Information Requests: (Discussion)

None

9. Schedule Upcoming Meeting and Agenda Items

Next regular meeting: January 21, 2008, at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, Conference Room 3075, at 3:00 p.m.

• Customer service oriented training (Mary Burns)

• SFMTA fare evasion process (Joan Downey)

• POP Cops duties increased to include monitoring passenger behavior such as graffiti abatement, food restrictions and feet removed from seats (Joan Downey)

10. Adjournment: 5:13 p.m.

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

Accessible meeting policy – One South Van Ness Avenue

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