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City and County of San Francisco

Municipal Transportation Agency

Citizens’ Advisory Council

Operations & Customer Service Committee (OCSC)

FINAL MINUTES
of
Regular Meeting

Monday, April 18, 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 Operations & Customer Service Committee (OCSC) was called to order at 3:05 p.m., Monday, April 18, 2005. Joan Downey (Chair) presided. A quorum was present including the following:

OCSC Members Present at Roll Call: Joan Downey (Chair), Sue Cauthen, Daniel Murphy, and Norman Rolfe.

OCSC Members absent at Roll Call: Mary Burns.

OCSC Members absent: Mary Burns.

MTA CAC Members, not on this committee, but also present: None.

MTA Staff (San Francisco Municipal Railway [Muni] and Department of Parking and Traffic [DPT] Present: Debra Reed (MTA CAC Secretary), Marc Caposino (MUNI Marketing Director, Capital Planning & External Affairs), and Brendan Scanlon (MUNI Superintendent, Cable Car Operations).

Community Representatives Present: Rosie West

2. Adopt Minutes of March 21, 2005:

Motion to adopt the March minutes by Daniel Murphy, with spelling corrections.

2nd by Norman Rolfe

CAC passed unanimously

3. Public Comment – Concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the Committee and not noted on the agenda:

Rosie West and other riders have observed that on the port side of rail cars, the hand rolled signs have sporadically indicated the destination of the car, but failed to show the letter/name, thus confusing patrons into boarding wrong cars. Example: “Balboa Park” instead of L Taravel or K Ingleside. Answer: Mark Caposino responded that incorrect information displayed on hand-rolled signs could possibly indicate an operator error. He also suggested reporting the car number so that the vehicle’s equipment can be checked and corrected.

4. Report of the Chair: Joan Downey (OCSC Chair)

a) Cole Valley Improvement Association (CVIA) wrote a letter to DPT regarding transit being hindered by double parked cars on the commercial area of Cole Street. Jerry Robbins (DPT) attended a meeting with CVIA and neighborhood merchants. Community requests were made for increase enforcement on double parking, meter feeding, 30-minute yellow zones, and trucks parked in bus zones, also to change 4 of the 1-hour meters into 15 or 30-minute meters for more customer turnover.

b) N Judah cars have been delayed for up to 30 minutes because of waiting for cars illegally parked in red zones to move resulting in blocking transit vehicles from entering the Carl Street tunnel. At the CVIA meeting, Jerry Robbins (DPT) said he would focus on the problem.

c) Ms. West’s previous question from the March 17, 2005, OCSC regarding long waits for railcars followed by 2 or 3 railcars grouped together. Mr. Jim Kelly sent a report by E-mail that also confirmed the same problem of irregular headways, and offered his explanation of missing runs due to absent employees. Joan Downey and Daniel Murphy will schedule an agenda item addressing the irregular headway problem as a topic for a future meeting to discuss “real time” NextBus information with possibly Jim Kelly, John Fungi and street inspectors.

5. Cable Car Update: (Discussion/Action) Brendan Scanlon (Superintendent, Cable Car Operations).

a) The City Attorney will be bringing a suit against Local 258 for the illegal cable car strike in March ‘05. Mr. Scanlon discussed the base of the suit.

b) Cable car driver staff is severely dwindling due to attrition, as several of the drivers are high seniority employees. Due to possible layoffs, the “3 plus 3” retirement package would overwhelmingly target the Cable car drivers. The next expected signup is scheduled for June 27, 2005, which would go into effect August ‘2005. Training is a 4-month course.

c) There is a need to improve the efficiency of fare collection. The department is looking at alternative solutions.

Motion: The MTA CAC recommends that the Cable Car division seek to end the process of commingling of cable car operator’s personal funds with cash fare revenues.

The MTA CAC recommends that the Cable Car division accounting process track average hourly collection by operator.

2nd by Norman Rolfe

CAC passed unanimously

6. Communication Issues: (Discussion/Action) Marc Caposino (Marketing Director, Capital Planning & External Affairs).

Mr. Caposino distributed and reviewed copies of the passenger instructional 5-foot long placards posted in buses, of which Workers Comp instigated much of the placard’s informational content. Station booths will be equipped with a bright red and silver decal that will fit over the entire front of the booth designed with displays of rider information and temporary signboards with slide in/out cards for information, such as, elevator temporarily out of order, attendant will be back in 5 minutes, etc. Decals can be exchanged out for new decals. Also through an add/swap program, Mr. Caposino has been working with SFO and David Duggan (Railway), on advertising a Cable Car tourist campaign throughout international and domestic terminals starting June 2005.

Questions and Comments from the OCSC members:

a) Daniel Murphy:

i. Commented that vehicles seem to be overdone with interior decals. Answer: Mr. Caposino responded that decals were in responses to complaints resulting in more signs.

ii. Are there Websites under his management? Answer: Yes. Mr. Caposino mentioned future projects working on websites for MUNI, MTA, and DPT. Currently DTIS is managing web information for DPT, but transition to his group is expected in the near future.

b) Joan Downey:

i. Commented that the “Stop Assault” signs were disturbing. Answer: Mr. Caposino responded that employees wanted those signs, along with requests from TWU. He welcomes suggestions for improvement to the message.

ii. Will NextBus display information be included as part of station agent booth project? Answer: Mr. Caposino responded that NextBus is not part of his project, however he would consider leaving a space were NextBus informational equipment can be displayed.

iii. Ms. Downey suggested for the passenger instructional 5-foot card in the animal section to add a statement that animals should not be allowed to sit on seats.

iv. Ms. Downey commented that the CAC would like to encourage cultural events to advertise and emphasis MUNI access over parking alternatives. Perhaps including MUNI access information on event tickets. Mr. Murphy will be authoring a letter to go out to various cultural institutions, symphonies and operas. Answer: Mr. Caposino responded that MUNI information is carried on some entertainment media, but he will consider other opportunities to promote MUNI ridership alternatives over car accommodations.

c) Norman Rolfe suggested using overhead announcements to include information, such as, please exit the rear door, keep feet off seats, etc. Joan Downey added that New York cabs use celebrity voices for announcements.

d) Sue Cauthen asked about:

i. Reproducing or replacing a 39 Coit sign from 1984 detailed with out dated MUNI colors.

ii. There is a 39 Coit project in progress that will soon need informational signs for conducting test runs. Answer: Mr. Caposino suggested consulting with DPT using their sign shop.

7. 39 Coit Update: (Discussion/Action) Sue Cauthen

Ms. Cauthen presents an update report.

a) Signs will be needed to inform the public along with DPT enforcement to monitor parking during the test period.

b) Michael T. Burns told Daniel Murphy that Paul Czechowicz would get the City Attorney’s opinion from John Kennedy or Julia Friedlander.

c) Still looking for more endorsements to add to the list, which includes, North Beach Neighbors, San Francisco Tomorrow and Jeremy Nelson at Transportation for a Livable City.

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

Joan Downey will be on vacation, but she will return in time for the next OCSC meeting for May 16, 2005

9. Schedule Upcoming Meetings and Agenda Items: [Attachments] (Discussion/Action) Next regular meeting: May 16, 2005, at 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 308 (Conference Room 312), at 3:00 p.m.

a) WAFER – Ann Carey

b) PSR

c) Real Time Next Bus information

d) DPT transportation master plan – Jerry Robbins

10. Adjournment: 5:14 p.m.

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