MTA CAC PMC Minuts May 19, 2005

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

Planning, Marketing Committee (PMC)

FINAL MINUTES
of
Regular Meeting

Monday, May 16, 2005 at 5:30 p.m.
401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 334 (Conference Room 335)
San Francisco, California

1. Call to Order / Roll Call (Agenda Item 1). The regular meeting of the Planning and Marketing Committee (PMC) was called to order at 5:45 p.m., Monday, May 16, 2005. Bruce Oka (Chair) presided. A quorum was present including the following:

PMC Members Present at Roll Call: Bruce Oka (Chair), Emily Drennen, and Norman Rolfe.

PMC Members Present, but absent at Roll Call: Dorris Vincent (arrived at 6:00 p.m.)

PMC Absent: none

MTA CAC Members, not on this committee, but also present: Daniel Murphy

MTA Staff (San Francisco Municipal Railway [Muni] and Department of Parking and Traffic [DPT]) Present: Peter Straus (MUNI Manager, Service Planning), and Debra Reed (MTA CAC Secretary)

Community Representatives Present: None

2. Adopt Minutes of April 18, 2005:

Motion to adopt the April minutes by Emily Drennen, with word/spell change.

2nd by Norman Rolfe

CAC passed unanimously (see Roll for the 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: Bruce Oka (PMC Chair)

Para Transit Debit Card procurement process. Global Systems failed to get bonded. Therefore the bidding process may need to start over for a contract, resulting in another year delay in addition to the already 5 years of waiting. Mr. Oka would prefer that MUNI proceed to work with the number 2 bidder for a contract rather than starting over.

MAAC was meeting Thursday, May 19, 2005, at 2640 Geary for a tour of the 3rd Street Light Rail.

Questions and Comments from PMC

a) Emily Drennen asked about using Translink. Mr. Oka responded that MUNI was of the opinion that Translink will not work in the Para Transit System.

b) BART is considering drastically cutting back on discount fares for Disabled and Senior patrons. Norman Rolfe responded that BART previously offered 70%. The Federal law minimum requirement is a 50% discount. Daniel Murphy added that with Proposition P, FDA requires a 50% discount minimum in order to get FDA monies. ADA does not apply. The MTA CAC has no jurisdiction over BART to take action regarding BART discounts.

5. Service Planning-Effects of Budget-Related Service Adjustments: (Discussion/Action) Peter Straus, MUNI Manager, Service Planning

Additional funding has become available to the MTA for next year as a result of the Controller’s completion of assessment of the 3rd Quarter fiscal assessment of the City’s revenue stream. A little better than $9 million total, of which $2.6 million of the fund is being directed to the current FY05 and the remaining $6.6 million towards the coming FY06. 1) Contractors rate increase and 2) Residential Parking Permits increased from $27 to $70. 3) Meters would be increased from $.50 to $1.00 per hour. 4) Fines for meters would be increased by $5 instead of the proposed $15. 5) MUNI discount passes increased from $10 to $12. 6) Schedule of services for the L Taraval would remain the same, no reduction in frequency.

Daniel Murphy commented that already the $4.5 million was spent by the BOS on reducing the increases for parking fines and fees. $900,000 spent to maintain Owl services. $1.1 million spent to save the cash fare increases for Senior, Disabled and Youth fares. Other service cuts are still on the table. The remaining $2.7 million is still to be decided for allocation, perhaps a portion used to backfill current fiscal service.

Questions and Comments from the PMC and CAC members

a) Dorris Vincent asked if any savings has been realized since MUNI service has been terrible. Answer: Yes. MUNI has not hired any new operators. Without the full complement of extra board of operators, there is no full replacement service, and no overtime to fill runs to cover openings due to retirement, sick time, vacation, etc.

The FY05 Budget could not support all of the services that MUNI offered, due to the shortage of operators, supervisors, street inspectors, etc., all throughout the railway there are shortages in many of the functions. Daniel Murphy pointed out that MUNI could not do a signup along with the unexpected surge of increase in fuel prices. The service has been ragged due to minimal resources for the current schedule of services, but in the August 27, 2005 signup, MUNI will roll out new service schedules based on the resources on hand to adequately provide those services.

b) Emily Drennen asked, politically, is there any chance of not increasing fares? Answer: Daniel Murphy responded that with the fare increase MUNI would yield $13.2 million. On the other hand, if MUNI avoided fare increases there would be the Controller founded $9.2 million, and MUNI would need to find $4 million elsewhere, such as, executing all the service cuts, L Taraval service cuts, and reintroduce neighborhood increases in meter fees and parking fines. However, Mr. Straus pointed out that without the revenue from fare increase, MUNI would still face a financial hole for next year.

c) Bruce Oka recalled that Mayor Gavin Newsom said that he would not be happy with increasing fares for Seniors, Disabled and Youth. Daniel Murphy commented that to avoid raising discount fast passes would take up approximately $1 million of the $2.7 million remaining of the lump sum from the Controller.

d) Daniel Murphy asked about the feedback as to whether to run the 54 Felton to the Daly City BART or to run to State College. Answer: Mr. Straus responded that strong comments from a City College meeting indicated that it was important for the 54 Felton to continue to operate to the Daly City BART.

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

Emily Drennen asked what technology are some of the other transit agencies using for transit scheduling and incident management, etc., and how does MUNI’s technology compare. Daniel Murphy responded that Trapeze implementation might prove interesting. NextBus, paired along with Trapeze promises substantial improvements.

7. Schedule Upcoming Meetings and Agenda Items:

Next regular meeting: June 20, 2005, at 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 334 (Conference Room 335), at 5:30 p.m.

a) Jerry Robbins’ Golden Gate Concourse should be scheduled for the next PMC meeting before it is brought to the full CAC

b) Peter Straus with Budget related Service Adjustments updates

c) Dorris Vincent would like a guest speaker to address the subject of art of young persons being featured at platforms of the 3rd Street Light Rail. Daniel Murphy responded that problems with the 4th Street Bridge took up much of the 3rd LRV project’s funding. Due to complications with the Bridge portion of the project, the opening date has been pushed back from 2005 to July 2006. There is, however, a legal requirement for a certain amount (2%) set aside for public art in any capital work project.

d) Para transit debit card.

8. Adjournment: 6:48 p.m.

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