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City and County of San Francisco
Municipal Transportation Agency
Citizens’ Advisory Council (MTA CAC)
FINAL MINUTES
of
Regular Meeting
Thursday, May 5, 2005 at 5:30 p.m.
1145 Market Street, 5th Floor (Main Conference Room)
San Francisco, California
1. Call to Order / Roll Call (Agenda Item 1). The regular meeting of the Municipal Transportation Agency citizens’ Advisory Council (MTA CAC) was called to order at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 5, 2005. Daniel Murphy (Chair) presided. A quorum was present including the following:
MTA CAC Members Present at Roll Call: Daniel Murphy (Chair), Steve Ferrario (Vice Chair), Mary Burns, Sue Cauthen, Art Cimento, Joan Downey, Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, Bruce Oka, Cesar Perez, Norman Rolfe, Dorris Vincent, and Dan Weaver.
MTA CAC Members absent at Roll Call: Art Cimento (arrived 5:35 p.m.)
MTA CAC Absent: Sue Cauthen, Joan Downey, and Emily Drennen
MTA Staff Present:
MUNI – San Francisco Municipal Railway: Fred Stephens (General Manager of Transportation), Wilson Johnson (Deputy General Manager of Transportation), Jim Kelly (Senior Operations Manager, Central Control), Michael Hursh (Deputy General Manager Maintenance), Matthew Lee (Service Planning), Paul Czechowicz (MTA CAC Liaison), and Debra Reed (MTA CAC Secretary).
DPT – Department of Parking and Traffic: Lorraine Fuqua (Contract Analyst), and Steve Bell (Contracts Administrator), and guests from “Auto Return,” the contracted towing service, John Wicker (President CEO), John Penalton (Vice President), Donavan Fullard (Operations Manager Pier 70), and Dan Scanlon (Towing Manager).
Community Representatives Present: None.
2. Adopt the MTA CAC Minutes of April 7, 2005, also adopt CAC minutes of July, September, October, November and December of 2004:
Motion to adopt the MTA CAC minutes for April 2005, also July, September, October, November, and December of 2004 by Steve Ferrario.
2nd by Cesar Perez
CAC passed unanimously (see the roll call for ayes)
3. Public Comment – Concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the Council and not noted on the agenda:
None.
4. Report of the Chair: Daniel Murphy (MTA CAC Chair)
a) Mr. Murphy would need to leave the meeting at 7:00 p.m. Steve Ferrario, Vice Chair, will assume the gavel at that time.
b) Jose Luis Moscovich, Executive Director with S.F. Transportation Authority (TA), sent a letter requesting that the MTA CAC designate a council representative to participate in meetings of TA’s recently developed Para transit working group. Griffith Humphrey accepted the invitation. Mr. Murphy will forward a letter of support for Mr. Humphrey’s candidacy to the TA. Letter in file.
5. Staff Report: Paul Czechowicz
Staff report was distributed for counsel’s perusal.
Staff-Initiated Items
6. Service Adjustments: Matthew Lee (Service Planning), and Fred Stephens (General Manager of Transportation)
Daniel Murphy distributed several Service Adjustments related handouts.
Matthew Lee discussed the some of the lines that would be affected.
Questions and Comments from the CAC:
a) Dorris Vincent: The South East community would like a presentation highlighting the changes affecting the Bayview Hunters Point area. Ms. Vincent pointed out that there were no meetings posted for the South West area, which will be impacted by changes on the 24, 23, and 15 lines.
b) Dan Weaver: The Alemany community in District 7 would also like to know about the upcoming changes. How are the meetings on Service Adjustments meetings promoted, because he has not heard of any of the meetings and doubts if anyone in his community is aware of any community meetings on Service Adjustments? Public service announcements would draw plenty of public input. Answer: Placards are visibly posted on the back of the driver’s panels and on the back of LRVs.
c) Bruce Oka expressed concerns for Senior and disability riders.
d) Mary Burns: How will service be affected on light rail especially the K, L, and M for the 4:00 a.m. commuters, and colleges? Answer: Reduced service hours may start as early as 4:00 a.m. Empty vehicles have been observed to be the norm during the early hours. While some of the lines may run every 8 minutes rather than every 5 minutes, on the other hand, those runs will be moved in to operate at a later period during peak commute time.
e) Art Cimento asked why couldn’t MUNI merely just redistribute the drivers as needed and thus avoid layoffs? Answer: Such changes must only be guided through contracted negotiations between the Unions and MUNI.
f) Steve Ferrario asked, if passed, how soon would changes be implemented? Answer: The implementation process would begin August 27, 2005 with signup.
Daniel Murphy commented that many of the BOS are in favor of deeper service cuts and fewer parking increases. In closing comments from Fred Stephens, he pointed to page 8 of the handout entitled “MTA Proposed Service Changes for FY2006” on parking fine increases. Mr. Stephens said that the MTA would need much support on those items listed. Dorris Vincent suggested that each of the council members should secure clear dialog with their appointing City supervisor as to the needs and meanings of BOS support of the Budget and the consequences without.
7. Tow Contracts DPT: Steve Bell (DPT Contracts Administrator), and guests from “Auto Return,” John Wicker (President CEO) and executive members
Mr. Bell reviewed recent developments in San Francisco’s towing services and the transition to the new towing company, “Auto Return.”
Mr. Wicker followed with a slide presentation highlighting services provided by “Auto Return.”
Questions and Comments from the CAC:
a) Dorris Vincent:
What is the average turn around time a customer can expect to wait at the place of business “Auto Tow?” Answer: Due to new technology, the average transaction time is 6 minutes at the window counter.
Fees? Answer: The first 4 hours would be free. $181.75 for 1 day per passenger vehicle plus $28.50, and then $35.00 each additional day, previously set in the RFP.
Youths have been successful in purchasing auctioned vehicles even without a driver’s license, afterwards leaving the autos abandoned with the plates removed. Dan Weaver added that abandoned vehicles have sat as long as a year in some neighborhoods. Answer: “Auto Return” requires driver’s licenses for car purchases. The SFPD and DPT departments also retain sweeps in various communities to clear abandoned vehicles.
b) Dan Weaver commented that there should be follow-up processes for auction purchased cars that have not been registered within 20 days. Answer: It is law that buyers have 20 days to register vehicles purchased from open auctions. Due to limited staffing in California’s DMV, follow-ups for registration is in need of improvement. SFPD asked “Car Return” to track vehicle purchases in order to implement programs that the Police can use to pursue violators. The company will be tracking buyers on a weekly base for connections with abandoned vehicles. Offenders can be banned from auctions.
c) Cesar Perez asked how many days would a car be kept in storage before it becomes actionable? Answer: 30 days for a cars biding below $4,000, otherwise 45 or longer days for higher value vehicles cars biding over $4,000 due to DMV’s search to locate original owners.
Public Comment:
None.
Motion: Daniel Weaver recommended that the MTA approve the contract and follow up on the progress of car auctions in 6 months.
2nd By Dorris Vincent
CAC passed unanimously (see the roll call for ayes)
Council-Initiated Items
8. MUNI Service Deterioration Issues and Metro LRV Service Lack of Dependable Predictable Reliable Service and Service Standards: (Discussion/Action) Fred Stephens (General Manager of Transportation)
Daniel Murphy explained that the CAC is concerned about problems in the Metro System. Dan Weaver noted that significantly more situations have occurred during March and April of which service was not provided, according to schedule. On one evening Mr. Weaver observed no K cars for 45 minutes, but on another occasion there were no M cars. It would seem that those assigned to watch would make sure that these types of situations would not happen.
Mr. Stephens spoke that MUNI subway is experiencing an increasing number of open runs and some coupler problems. MUNI schedules have more service than MUNI has resources to accommodate and requires more money (overtime) to cover with operators that MUNI does not have. For the last couple of years MUNI has tried to severely cut back use of overtime for back filling purposes with the exceptions of filling all first and last runs, fill all owl runs, not allowing double and triple headways, and not allowing consecutive opened runs.
He distributed and reviewed handouts to address open runs, vacant shifts, and vehicle availability (specifically LRVs and subways).
Daniel Murphy Chair and Bruce Oka had to depart at 7:00 p.m. No Pro Temp for the Chair was required as Steve Ferrario the Vice Chair, continued chairing meeting. Quorum was still maintained.
Questions and Comments from CAC
a) Norman Rolfe asked about operators signed up for specific runs, how does MUNI work out essentially changing the runs that they have signed up for, example changing their L line to and M line. Answer: Operators have been positively flexible on the needs to change their lines as rail car situations arise across the lines, of course unless the operator was not familiar with the route.
b) Mary Burns asked why don’t inspectors do more to reduce long gaps resulting in bunching, especially in a.m. and p.m. commute times. Answer: On rails, one car on the tracks that delays 15 minutes for whatever reason, passing up a late car for the trailing cars, is not an option.
c) Art Cimento asked that since there are more runs than operators, why wait untill August 27, 2005 for signup to reduce the number of runs when we can save money by reducing the number runs now with the current inventory of operators, thus increasing the reliability of the runs? Level out the holes and overfills for reliability. Answer: Bureaucracy. Layoffs are given 90-day notices. In the meantime the City offers retirement insensitive to senior employees to save junior employees jobs. Paul Czechowicz also added that he would provide the contract covering assignment of work and changes in schedules. Only due to Metro emergencies, could drivers be switched due to emergencies only.
d) Dorris Vincent reported that the call-in report number for complaints does not work. Tuesday 5/3/05, she waited for almost an hour for the 44 O’Shaughnessy and was later told that 3 drivers had been pulled from their 44 assignment to drive the 71 Haight-Noriega lines. She recalled several similar experiences of long waits for the 44 lines.
Mr. Ferrario invited Michael Hursh (MUNI Deputy General Manager Maintenance) and engineers to the EMSC meeting on May 19, 2005, to address concerns regarding Breda.
9. Resolution No. 4-18-05 from the PMC: (Discussion/Action)
Steve Ferrario felt that since Bruce Oka PMC Chair was no longer present for the evening, discussion and action on the resolution should be rescheduled.
10. Committee Reports:
None.
11. Council Members’ questions and Comments:
Steve Ferrario received a request asking to charter a historic streetcar for a film festival. Michael Hursh was recommended by Fred Stephens to be the person for contact.
Norman Rolfe commented that drivers are still being written up for arriving early, and Mr. Rolfe felt that write ups should be for leaving early. Passengers detained on busses waiting for time are delayed for their transfer points resulting in passengers missing buses. Paul Czechowicz responded that several bulletins have been issued pointing out that it is the leaving time from the time point that should be used for On-Time performance.
Dorris Vincent acknowledged receiving a call from Dennis Tsai, (MUNI Senior Project Manager Engineering & Construction Division) regarding the broken tree guards of the 3rd Street Light Rail project.
12. Agenda Planning for June Meeting:
Not covered due to the lateness of time.
13. Adjournment 7:38 p.m.
Attachments and handouts:
Agenda Item 2 –
April 7, 2005 MTA CAC minutes
Agenda Item 4 –
Letter from Jose Luis Moscovich (Executive Director, S. F. Transportation Agency)
Agenda Item 6 –
Summary of 2005 Proposed Service Adjustments
MTA Proposed Service Changes for FY 2006
(4) Maps of routes for service adjustments
Agenda Item 8 –
Open runs comparison
LR vehicles average a.m./ p.m. availability
Vacant Shifts – Embarcadero Tower
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