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City and County of San Francisco
Municipal Transportation Agency
Citizens’ Advisory Council
Finance & Administration Committee (FAC)
FINAL MINUTES
of
Regular Meeting
Monday, February 7, 2005 at 3:00 p.m.
401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 308 (Main Conference Room 312)
San Francisco, California
1. Call to Order / Roll Call (Agenda Item 1). The regular meeting of the Finance & Administration Committee (FAC) was called to order at 3:08 p.m., Tuesday, February 7, 2005. Daniel Murphy (chair) presided. A quorum was present including the following:
FAC Members present at roll call: Daniel Murphy (Chair), Emily Drennen, Griffith Humphrey, and Bruce Oka.
MTA CAC Members not on this committee present: Joan Downey, Steve Ferrario (CAC Vice Chair), Norman Rolfe, and Dan Weaver
MTA Staff (San Francisco Municipal Railway [MUNI] and Department of Parking and Traffic [DPT]) Present: Deborah W. Denison (MUNI IT Project Manager), Debra Reed (CAC Secretary), and Shannon Gaffney (Acting Budget Manager MUNI).
Community representatives present: Bob Planthold (Senior Action Network), Jennifer Olsen (Transportation for a Livable City), Jeremy Nelson (Transportation for a Livable City), and David Pilpel.
2. Adopt Minutes of January 25, 2005:
Motion: Bruce Oka motioned to adopt the January 25, 2005 minutes
2nd by Emily Drennen
FAC Committee unanimously agreed to adopt the January 25th minutes with none opposed
3. Public Comment – Concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the Council and not noted on the agenda
No comments from the public.
4. Report of the Chair: (Discussion/Action) Daniel Murphy (Chair)
Mr. Murphy attended the MTA Board February 1, 2005 meeting. Of the Budget options:
Both Mayor Newsom and the MTA Board are not in favor of raising the discount fare, and
The MTA Board wants to keep transfer arrangements.
Due to the presence of 8 MTA CAC Council members, Mr. Murphy declares that the committee of 8 fits the legal requirement to convene as or act as whole i.e., MTA CAC.
5. FY 2005 Department of Parking & Traffic and FY 2005 Municipal Railway Budget Updates: (Discussion/Action)
(See item #6 as both items were combined)
6. FY 2006 Department of Parking & Traffic and FY 2006 Municipal Railway Budget Updates: (Discussion/Action) Shannon Gaffney, Acting Budget Manager for MUNI
Ms. Gaffney explained that the Deficit numbers were corrected to add in salary increases and now stands at $57.3 million. MTA is looking at 3 solutions:
a) Fare increases: Fares, charge or eliminate transfers, surcharge for Express and Limited lines, eliminate token discount, and eliminate free BART access within the S.F. with Fast Pass
b) DPT fines, fees, and rate increases: Parking fines, parking meter rates, City-owned parking garages, and Residential and contractor parking permits
c) Service reductions: Schedule adjustments, route restructure, change type of vehicles on lines to increase capacity while reducing frequency, increase part-time operators and reduced scheduled overtime
Long-term solutions would only apply to future budget not our current 06 budget
a) Impose parcel tax
b) Impose new local gas tax
c) Increase Parking Tax
d) Impose vehicle environmental impact fee
Questions and Comments from the CAC
a) Daniel Murphy suggests $.0025 sales tax would raise $35 million per year.
b) Joan Downey suggests collecting parking tax on company and hotel parking.
c) Emily Drennen expresses concerns on the impact of higher parking fines on individuals of low income or perhaps the option to work off tickets.
d) Griffith Humphrey asked would fines be increased for Blue zones. Mr. Murphy responds that Blue zones are set by the State.
e) Dan Weaver questions why service reductions were never implemented. Daniel Murphy responds that: The MTA Board did not approve the SEQUA findings for emergencies. Also, the Labor Unions refused to undergo a signup, because of overtime issues, and have been reluctant to go into arbitration.
“Public Comments”
a) Bob Planthold (Senior Action Network) listed:
Regarding $5.00 parking fine increases, why $5.00, was it unique?
Mr. Planthold would prefer the data/ analysis behind the 25% reduction, not a wild guess;
MUNI literature says that you can get anywhere in the city with 2 buses, eliminating transfers would seem to be a de facto fare increase;
Would increases only be for MUNI and none for allocation to senior services?
Mr. Planthold further recalled Mayor Newsom’s comment, no fare increases for seniors, which contradicts MUNI’s consideration to raise senior fares.
b) David Pilpel passed out handouts of his study proposing line reconfigurations. Mr. Pilpel expressed that he would like the MTA to exhaust all other solutions before increasing fares.
Recommendations from the MTA CAC that the MTA Board not adopt the following revenue options:
i. Charging for transfers;
ii. Charging a surcharge for express buses;
iii. Eliminating the token discount;
iv. Eliminating Fast Pass use on BART.
Recommendations from the MTA CAC, compared to the staff proposal, the MTA Board:
Proposed by Norman Rolfe
2nd by Emily Drennen
i. Raise garage rates more aggressively, using private garage rates as a benchmark;
CAC passed unanimously
ii. Raise parking meter rates to $2/hour in neighborhoods and $4/hour in the downtown core;
CAC passed with one opposed Dan Weaver – Mr. Weaver feels that meter increases should be deferred until after meters are upgraded from coin-fed only to systems that would also accommodate pay-cards, such as Translink, debit-cards, etc.
i. Raise Residential Parking Permit rates higher;
CAC passed unanimously
ii. Increase parking meter hours.
CAC passed unanimously
Recommendations:
i. If there is a cash fare increase, raise senior cash fare to $0.50, but let the disabled and youth cash fare remain at $0.35.
Proposed by Joan Downey
Raise discount cash fare was defeated by 6 votes against / 2 votes in favor
ii. Senior, disabled, and youth Fast Pass be raised to $12 while their cash fare remain at $0.35
Proposed by Steve Ferrario
2nd by Bruce Oka
CAC passed unanimously
Recommendation from the MTA CAC:
Proposed by Emily Drennen
2nd by Bruce Oka
Dan Weaver request Daniel Murphy to separate out the following items for vote.
i. Whereas Parking fines and fees constitute the largest percentage of the MTA’s revenue, the MTA CAC urges the MTA Board to raise parking fines beyond the proposed penalty amounts, including raising the street cleaning, meter, and residential parking permit fine.
Motion was 2nd by Joan Downey
CAC voted as follows:
· Raise street cleaning fines - CAC passed with one opposed Dan Weaver
· Raise meter fines - CAC passed unanimously
· Raise residential parking permit fines - CAC passed unanimously
ii. Whereas The “Proposed Fare Alternative 1” is expected to generate approximately $13 million, the MTA CAC urges to MTA Board to adopt fare increases as a last resort.
Motion was 2nd by Norman Rolfe
CAC passed unanimously
Comments from the CAC
a) Dan Weaver felt that street cleaning violations are not the result of arrogance but rather the result of mistakes.
b) Joan Downey pointed to the sharp decrease in bus stop violations as a result of a $250.00 fine increase from the previous $25.00 fine.
c) Anonymous speaker asked, what does street cleaning have to do with “Transit First?” Joan Downey responds that it helps the environment and we get cleaner streets.
d) Joan Downey, Steve Ferrario and Bruce Oka asked about MUNI’s expenditure plans. Daniel Murphy responded that Shannon Gaffney could best answer that question (she had left after her presentation).
“Public comment”
Jeremy Nelson would prefer to fines on violations that degrade system performance, be it, transit, and pedestrian network, such as sidewalk parking, or double-parking in bike lanes.
Daniel Murphy announced that Joan Downey and Griffith Humphrey have departed for the evening, thus changing the status from a MTA CAC meeting back to the FAC meeting.
Recommendations from the FAC:
Proposed by Daniel Weaver
2nd by Bruce Oka
i. Parking meter rates not be raised until deployment of systems allowing fees to be paid by card.
ii. Not enough members of the committee to vote, but will be discussed again at the MTA CAC meeting
7. Class Pass Program: (Discussion/Action)
Jennifer Olsen with Transportation for Livable City proposes a citywide bulk purchase program of passes for each of the city’s colleges and universities. This program would provide a constant source of income to MUNI and a discount for the college and university population. UC Berkeley, San Jose State, Stanford and University of San Francisco have been very successful with such programs funded entirely by student fees. The revenue would be built into student fees using the student ID as a MUNI pass instrument. He or she could choose to use it or not, but it would already be a purchased item. This would encourage students to choose transit over cars, thus greatly reducing campus and surrounding neighborhood-parking demand, reducing rampant RPP abuse, and further reducing traffic congestion problems. This would also greatly benefit students financially since many are on a very limited income. Many students cannot afford a car and are over the age limit to purchase discounted MUNI student passes. Rather than paying full adult price for MUNI fast passes, through the Class Pass program, they can benefit from the discount associated with their college or university status.
Recommendation from the MTA CAC that Muni work actively to expand the Class Pass program to all San Francisco college campuses, including City College of San Francisco; San Francisco State University; the University of California, San Francisco; the University of California, Hastings College of the Law; and Golden Gate University, and that Muni pursue other Transportation Demand Management programs in the future. The MTA CAC further requests that Muni report on the progress of Class Pass expansion efforts by August 2005.
2nd by Bruce Oka
CAC passed unanimously
8. Adjournment: 6:10 p.m.
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