PCC December 12, 2007, minutes

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Minutes
PCC Executive Committee Meeting
December 12, 2007
711 Eddy Street, San Francisco

PCC Executive Committee Members Present: Stu Smith, PCC Chair; Jeanne Lynch, PCC Vice Chair; Laurie Graham, PCC Secretary; John Lazar; Genya Ehrlich; Mauro Saldanha; Melecio Torres; Olivia Santiago; Claudia Grubler; Abby Lamb; Erica Hamilton; Lisa Rosene; Betsy Eddy; Matthew Yamashita; Kaye Griffin; Pam Martinez; Byron Yan; Erma Brim; Iona Lawhorn; Ruth Lawner

PCC Executive Committee Members Excused: Yetta Miller; Griff Humphrey; Jacy Cohen; Cheryl Damico; Dee Ann Hendrix; Pat Lovelock

Guests: Troy Barnes, MPT; Wannee Ratanasanguan

Paratransit Broker: Marc Soto; Kevin McNay

Muni: Annette Williams; Kate Toran

Read and Approve Agenda

Stu Smith, PCC Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:45 am. The agenda was motioned/seconded and passed (M/S/P) as presented.

Approve minutes of September 19, 2007 meeting

The minutes were M/S/P with one correction – Griff Humphrey was added as present.

Comments from the Chair:

Stu stated that the PCC Annual Meeting was a great time and he thanked Kate and Annette for their hard work. Stu then welcomed new and returning members. New members include: Abby Lamb from Institute on Aging in the Affiliated Elderly caucus, Yetta Miller in the Unaffiliated Elderly caucus, Mauro Saldanha from United Taxicab Workers in the Non Profit Provider caucus, and Pam Martinez with Yellow Cab Cooperative in the For Profit Provider caucus.

John Lazar handed out some information about Luxor Cab Company and requested support for an increase in the gate fees taxi companies are allowed to charge drivers. John stated that if the gates are not increased, Luxor may have to reduce the service they provide. Marc stated that it would be helpful to get more information about all the impacts of a potential gate increase. Lisa Rosene suggested that John put together a fact sheet.

Report from the PCC Annual Meeting

Kate Toran reported that the PCC Annual meeting was well attended and that she is already starting to think about the big party that will take place next year to honor the PCC’s 30th anniversary.

Kate welcomed the new and returning PCC members who were voted in at the Annual meeting, and she also handed out the draft PCC roster and meeting schedule. Kate asked that members provide her with any updates/corrections to the roster. The draft meeting schedule was discussed and approved.

Kate also stated that there are currently three vacancies on the PCC Executive Committee – one in the Affiliated Disabled caucus, one in the Unaffiliated Disabled caucus and one in the Non Profit Provider caucus. Elections were listed on the PCC agenda, but since nobody was there to run in any of the caucuses, the elections were continued until the next meeting.

Paratransit Broker’s Report:

Marc Soto stated that he is working with the software company Trapeze to upgrade the Broker’s software (Mobility Master). The goal is to finalize the agreement in early January 2008. The new software system, Trapeze Novus, will provide more robust routing and scheduling tools for van providers and is the first step in the debit card implementation process.

The Broker is working with the SFMTA on the next vehicle procurement, which will include 40 accessible vehicles. It is anticipated that the vehicles will be added to the fleet by the end of the fiscal year.

The Broker continues to meet weekly with Mobility Plus Transportation (MPT) to discuss operational issues. The MPT complaints have decreased significantly, although they still have problems with their phones. Matthew Yamashita stated that the phone problems may be an indication of a staffing problem and he is planning on hiring a call center supervisor. Matthew then introduced Troy Barnes who is assistant operations manager.

Report from the October 3, 2007 PC&O Group Van meeting

Since PC&O Group Van Vice Chair Jacy Cohen was not able to attend the PCC meeting, Kate Toran read the following report:

• The PC&O Group Van committee met on October 3, 2007.

• Ricky Ng from Laguna Honda Adult Day Health Center reported that there are still outstanding communication problems with MPT. Ricky finds it more effective to communicate directly with drivers rather than MPT management staff.

• Mattew Yamashita introduced Karen Guittierez, MPT’s new group van coordinator. Karen knows the schedules and she knows the City and she will be an asset to the program. She will focus only on Group Van services. Matthew added that he is review MPT’s standard operating procedures (SOP’s) and revising as necessary. Karen is currently calling each group van agency every morning to confirm the schedule. Matt added that he will set up a dedicated fax line for Karen to receive any schedule changes from the agencies.

• Gracia Wiardia reported that Self Help for the Elderly has seen some improvements in service but there are still some administrative glitches.

• Tracy McCloud from the Institute on Aging reported that Medsam is doing a great job.

• Jacy stated that overall service is going well, but there were some problems with late vans last week. Jacy stated that they really need realistic ETA’s. The communication could be better.

• Sam Portnoy reported that Medsam service is going fine. They had some meetings with Kevin regarding Mission Creek, and they added another van to the service.

• Matthew Yamashita reported that MPT will be working on improving communication and using a better spare ratio for drivers and vehicles. MPT is still dealing with maintenance issues, as well as driver recruitment and retention. He added that all drivers coming out of MPT’s training will have a class B license, and that MPT has hired a new Human Resources manager to work on hiring issues.

• The group then discussed implementing a driver of the quarter in the group van service. Jacy suggested the following four criteria:

outstanding ambassador
keeps cool under stress
reflects the provider’s mission and vision
good attendance

The group suggested that the provider should offer the driver of the quarter a parking space, or an MTA debit card or fast pass.

• Erica Hamilton stated that she met with Marc and Lisa Rosene to discuss Quality Assurance issues, and they discussed making customer service cards available at group van agencies. They also talked about having a focus group.

• The group then discussed the draft MoU, which is included in today’s agenda packet for approval.

After Kate gave the report, the report, including the draft MoU was M/S/P.

Report from the November 7, PC&O Taxi/Ramp Taxi meeting

Since PC&O Taxi/Ramp Taxi Vice Chair Bruce Oka was not able to attend the PCC meeting, Kevin McNay read the following report:

Report from October 2nd Working Group Meeting: Bruce, Griff and Kate met concerning an incentive plan, and moving it forward.
Kate introduced the ramp taxi survey that would extract information regarding the cost of providing ramp taxi service from the drivers and taxi companies.
Kate gave an update on the Debit Card project. Under the new configuration, the broker will be transitioning from Mobility Master to Trapeze Novus for the software to interface with the debit card software.
Ralph Machkovsky stated that Town Taxi now has one ramp taxi and he is hoping to increase that number in the near future. He will use a gas and gate system to have more control over his ramp taxi operations. He will also be installing GPS in all of his taxis.
The next meeting will be on February 6, 2008

After the report was read, Kate Toran stated that there is a new federal grant program to provide funding for transportation services that exceed the ADA requirements. Kate is preparing a proposal to request funding for the ramp taxi driver incentive program. Kate read a draft support letter from the PCC, which was M/S/P as presented.

Report from the November 28, 2007 Taxi Advisory Committee meeting

Since Taxi Advisory Committee Chair Pat Lovelock was not able to attend the PCC meeting, Kate read the following report:

To date, the PCC has interviewed 13 applicants for new ramp taxi medallions.
After a thoughtful review and discussion of the interview process, and the group would like to make the following recommendations to the PCC:
Since the meetings require a certain expertise and level of commitment, the group would like to suggest that the members be a core group that will conduct the interviews and three alternates, who can attend but will only participate if a core member is absent. Other PCC members are welcome to attend the interviews, but will not be called on to ask questions during the interview process.

A core group has developed over the past few months, including:

Pat Lovelock, Chair
Dee Ann Hendrix – Vice Chair
Cheryl Damico
Bruce Oka
Ruth Lawner
Sam Alicia Duke
Griff Humphrey
Melecio Torres
Michael Kwok
Jeanne Lynch
Laurie Graham

The group suggests that the three alternatives be chosen at today’s PCC meeting, and if more than three people volunteer, then the names should be pulled from a hat.

If a core group member misses more than three meetings without an excused absence, the group suggests that they be asked to step down and an alternate can then become part of the core group.

The group would also like to request that they receive a stipend for their work, since it is a professional and time-demanding subcommittee.

After Kate read the report, Stu Smith, Genya Ehrlich and John Lazar volunteered to act as the alternates. Kate added that the stipend topic had been briefly discussed with SFMTA management and it seemed unlikely to be implemented. Providing a stipend for one committee would set up an inequitable system because there are many subcommittees.

The report was M/S/P as presented.

Debit Card Update

Kate reported that the debit card project has been segmented into three distinct components:

Paratransit Broker customer management software (Trapeze Novus)
Debit card software
Debit card hardware (In Taxi Equipment)

The first step of the project is to procure the Paratransit Broker customer management software which will interface with the debit card software. The debit card software will provide the link between the debit card hardware (In Taxi Equipment) and the Paratransit Broker customer management software system.

The Paratransit Broker will be managing the procurement and implementation of the debit card project components and therefore SFMTA staff has proposed that the Broker contract be extended for two years. The current contract expires on March 31, 2008. Under the two year extension, the contract will expire on March 31, 2010.

Announcements:

Jeanne Lynch announced that she has been asked to be on the home nursing board, which is an organization that deals with seniors and persons with disabilities.

The next PCC meeting will be held on
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
10:30 am – 12:30 pm at 711 Eddy Street.

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