Washington, d. C. A couple weeks ago to testify before the house highways and transit subcommittee on the topic of pricing strategies. Americas roads. This is the first hearing that the Committee Held to talk about the way to pay for infrastructure. Not only did they discuss the gas tax, the traditional source, which is a declining source, but also explored permile tees, tolling and congestion pricing. So my testimony certainly emphasized the need for more longterm federal funding, in particularly raising the gas tax. But also to be exploring other innovative, diverse sources of revenue as well. On the federal fuel economy standards, as youve seen in the news, the e. P. A. And department of transportation announced new lower standards. Theres a conflict, of course, with our california standards and our stricter requirements. And really pleased that the governor has, along with other 20 other states, filed a lawsuit attorney general has filed a lawsuit to overturn the new rule. Were tracking that work. , not only because of the policy implications and meeting our climate goals, but also the project delivery implications for some of our projects that could be caught up in modifications to analysis and modeling related to the new standard. So in addition, i think we learned just late last night in a new development, the administration threatened the the white house threatened to withhold federal highway funds from california, pending updates of about 100 pollution control plans in california. It continues to be dynamic and well be tracking all of that together with our colleagues in the city and the region. Planned bay area in our region kicked off officially. Weve been doing advanced planning work with m. T. C. , supporting that work through the horizon effort. However, plan barry has officially kicked off, as the portion of the process that will really contemplate the land use distribution, as well as the transportation investments to support future growth. The agencys around the region will be seeking feedback together through a series of popup events, including here in San Francisco, which well be publishing on the web site and getting the word out on social media. Our role is to coordinate San Franciscos input and to plan bay area, building off the local priorities that had been established in prior plans. And continuing through our connect assess effort. So well be probably bringing more updates to you through the winter and, anticipating approval of a fiscally constrained transportation investment package early next year. As chair mentioned, Transit Center in downtown extension work continues. Resumption of the a. C. Transit bus continued in august. And once again being enjoyed by the public. So we are also glad to report our preview final report is coming to you at the october 8th meeting. We look forward to presenting that. We have been working hard to support the peer panel, as well as having thoughtful conversations with stakeholder agencies and their staff. We presented to the tgpa board and the c. A. C. A few times and met with vice chair gee to discuss some of the potential recommendations and findings. And we are also working with partners to discuss ways to potentially implement some of these recommendations in the near term, including through m. L. A. , as well as potentially funding items here at the Transportation Authority, should the recommendations be accepted by the board in october. Turning to some local issues. Our pricing study has kicked off as well. We want to really appreciate the metropolitan transportation commission. Thank you missioner ronen for serving on that, which approved 400,000 in regional funding to support our study. Combined with our local t. A. Funds, thats enabled to kick off with consultants and study partners. Weve been working on Community Engagement plans and equity analyses at directed by the body. We look forward to bringing you updates. Treasure island outreach continues, particularly for the nonprofit and forprofit business communities and their employees will be holding two collaborative workshops in october to talk about different ways to implement the Treasure Island policies, pertaining to service, transit, proposed toll and how we can balance the needs amongst the users of the system and the residents and the merchants. The m. T. A. Board, of course, also recently approved central subways new schedule. And some budgeting increase to settle claims with the contractor, as chair mentioned, the new construction schedule is now slated to end in mid2020. And with revenue testing would then allow for the opening of service to be in mid2021. So just wanted to again share that update. Well be tracking along with them what the different sources of funding are to cover the new 31 million, as well as potentially increased costs as they continue to explore what its going to take to deliver the total project. We have sort of committed all of our Transportation Authority funds here. So we understand that they are looking to their own surplus funds in their budget or financing from Revenue Bonds or reprioritizing Capital Projects on the m. T. A. Capital plan. M. T. A. Has done some great delivery work on the Vehicle Program in the Fourth Quarter of fiscal 19, ending just this past june. He they placed into a Revenue Service the very last motor coaches of the 424 total motor coaches, that theyve procured with our support. All together supported 240 million of vehicle replacements from our prop k program. That includes the motor coaches, as well as new 40foot trolley buses and paratransit vehicles. Congratulations and thank you for getting those vehicles out on the street. M. T. A. Will be providing an update on the replacement of the bright to light vehicles later in todays meeting. Finally, id like to welcome and introduce two new members of we have hugh, our new Deputy Director for planning here today, along with the assistant Deputy Director for Capital Projects. Hugh joins us from planning and design firm alta, where he was principal Vice President overseeing a group of 25 planners, designers and analysts to help deliver sustainable designs to clients across the bay area. And yana, working most recently on project delivery and sustainable and resilience planning and structures for europe. Were very pleased to have both of you on our team. Chair thank you. Any members of the public who want to testify on the executive directors report . Mr. Finebalm, come on up. Just a quick question for tilley. Chair bob, we cant actually do that. But you can make a Public Comment and secretary talk to you offline. Ill take a Public Comment to the effect that i hope that the consultants report, thats going to be presented on the 8th, will be fully available to the public, at least a week in advance. And i also would suggest that if you could have the supporting documents on the website as well, that would be very helpful. Thank you. Chair thank you, mr. Finebalm. Seeing no other members of the public for this item, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] i want to apologize to folks who have been waiting patiently for the c. A. C. Item were going to blast through the consents agenda, which will just take a second and well go to item number 7. Could you please read the consent agenda. Clerk item 5 approved at the september 10th board meeting. Now being served the final approval. Its prepared to if, desired, a member objects and the consent items to be removed and considered separately. Chair any members of the public that want to speak . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Is there a motion to move the consent agenda, made by commissioner ronen, seconded by commissioner safai. A roll call please. Commissioner brown . I. Commissioner fewer . Aye. Commissioner haney . Aye. Commissioner peskin . Aye. Commissioner ronen . Aye. Commissioner safai . Aye. Commissioner stefani. Aye. Commissioner yee. Aye. We have final approval. Clerk next item, please. Item number 7. Appoint one member to the citizens advisory economy. This is an action item. Chair ms. Smith. Again thank you to the members of the prick for of the public for your patience. The Transportation Authority has an 11member citizens advisory committee, with each member serving a twoyear term. The board appoints individuals to fill any open seats nor the staff or the c. A. C. Itself make recommendations on appointments. To qualify for appointment to the c. A. C. , speed limits must be San Francisco residents and must appear before the board at least once to speak to the interests and qualifications. With that i can take any questions. Chair seeing no questions, im just going to make one little suggestion to staff about c. A. C. Appointments. This is one by way of saving paper and time, which is i think when theres a vacancy for a particular seat, it would just be great if you just sent out those applicants who actually are eligible for that particular seat. So rather than having to go through applicants from 11 different districts, we can just read the handful who are eligible for the seat thats hope, for what it is worth to staff. A friendly suggestion. With that are there any individuals who would like to be a c. A. C. Member, who come please come forward. And youll have two minutes to tell us your interests and qualifications. Good morning, everyone. My name is im interested to be part of the Transportation Agency citizens advisory committee. Im a resident of district 1 in the Long Mountain neighborhood. For the last five years. I think i have a unique fit to be part of this community and help enhance the ties between the agency and the public in general. I grew up in louisiana. Ten years ago i moved to San Francisco. The scale of the transportation need and complexity in the city amazed a country boy like me. And also share a confusion from lack of understanding and context of the public works, just like every other transplant to the city. As a firstgeneration immigrant, i know personally too well it takes a lot of energy and learning just to understand how Government Works and how the Public Service work in general. Aside from a unique perspective, i also have a strong ability to help relay and inform the message to the public. I regularly hold local meetup and discussions for immigrants with topics focusing on Public Service. I help them such as adopt we successfully have a couple of people that are part of the drain. I cofounded an online publication that educates and fact checks about politics and political systems in the United States for chinese immigrants. As i regularly have more than 20,000 readers, we have interviewed and reported by the new yorkers, washington post, the New York Times and other national agencies. [bell dings] my wife and i cofounded metoochina. Org, a leading platform for provision education, recovering assistance and other legal help that we help more than 5,000 people so far. I think my background as a transplant and firstgeneration immigrant can help the agency have a better understanding of the needs for the two fastgrowing demographics. [bell dings] and my ability to inform, educate both in online can help relay the message for the agency and reduce confusion and increase transparency and understanding between the two parties. Chair thank you. Thank you. Chair are there any other potential applicants, if you would please come forward and well open it up to members of the public on this item. Good morning. My name is danielle so. Im a district 6 resident. I walked here today and saw an example many of the issues on our streets, that supervisor haney has talked about a lot recently. So im very concerned and passionate and eager to join the c. A. C. A little bit about me professionally. I was trained as an urban planner and currently work as an Affordable Housing developer in alameda. I previously sat on caltrains bicycle advisory committee. So it was great to hear the update today that things are still moving along. I think its really important within our district to call attention to the recent injuries and deaths on the streets and both to get enforcement measures and other, you know, kind of Quick Projects in the ground. As well as the longerterm things that the Transportation Authority undertakes. Vision zero is just a vision unless we put the policy and the procedures and the money where it needs to go to make that happen. So i think to the c. A. C. , i would bring a vision of ensuring that what were funding really walks and talks the same thing that vision zero says and ensures that, you know, ten years from now, a project thats receiving funding today or next month or next year is implementing those goals on the ground. So i appreciate your consideration. Chair thank you so much. Are there any other potential applicants . Seeing none, are there any members of the public who would like to speak on this item number 7 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] commissioner haney. Supervisor haney thank you, chair peskin. Im excited to be able to nominate danielle today for the seat on the c. A. C. , representing district 6. I also want to take a moment to thank our outgoing representative becky hoag, who is a Treasure Island resident. Really a legendary leader in our city, who had to unfortunately step down from seat. I want to really thank becky for her service and her leadership. As you heard today, danielle has expressed to me a very strong desire to not only advocate for traffic calming, t. N. C. Regulation, red light cameras and equity in transportation planning, but very relevant for this body, she brings an eye towards putting our money where our mouth is, regarding transportation planning. She has a background in planning herself. And i think well make sure that were using our money most effectively. I also think its wonderful. Shes also a tenderloin resident and understands firsthand someone who walks and bikes on a regular basis the disproportionate challenges that our neighborhood faces with unsafe streets, speeding and daily collisions. So im excited that shell bring her perspective to the c. A. C. And i want to thank danielle and i want to make a motion to nominate her to the c. A. C. Chair motion made by commissioner haney. Is there a second for that motion . Seconded by commissioner ronen. And on that item, we have the same house, same call. The motion is passed. [gavel] next item, please. Clerk item 8. Update on the San Francisco municipal Transportation Agencys siemens lightrail. You got to hear all about caltrain. Thank you for your patience. Good morning. Im julie kish balm, the director of transit at sfmta. I appreciate the opportunity to brief you. This is part of a monthly briefings that were done to add accountability and transparency to the l. R. V. 4 process. I am pleased to be here with some good news. We have made significant progress over the last month. We have now delivered 67 of our 68 phase 1 vehicles. And the phase 1 vehicles are all expansion vehicles, which it means more training out in the system, less crowding and better connections for our customers. The last train were going to deliver next week, if any Board Members are interested in having an opportunity to come and address the employees that have been building this equipment, we are really proud that these vehicles are being produced as part of our megaregion and creating more jobs and opportunity within San Francisco within california. We also have seen city performance improvements. And ill walk through some of those. We still have some technical issues were working out, primarily being the hydraulic power unit, which currently makes up about a third of our inservice breakdowns. Weve worked through some of the technical issues, but are still having some software challenges. As part of our 90day plan, we did identify a set of what we thought were ambitious but achievable performance targets. Photo most part we did meet all of our goals. The first one was related to availability. We want these vehicles out in the system. We want customers enjoying them and experiencing them. Were at a low point of only 22 vehicles out in the system. Were now averaging over 35. We also have are now able to couple and have twocar trains. Weve had no followup issues with doors or with couplers since those retrofits were put in place. As i said were just about at our 68th vehicle being delivered. That will happen next week. And our breakdowns have reduced significantly. And then the last piece is that we have made some Good Progress on addressing the flat wheels. As we discussed, one of the challenges weve been facing with this vehicle is that it has aspects of it that are different than the brayed. When you hit the emergency mushroom button on the l. R. V. S 4, the wheels flatten. So weve been working with the manufacturer to put on additional track brakes. This will allow the vehicle to stop quickly, but will not put the same pressure on the vehicles. This will significantly improve our vehicle availability. As we typically have three to four vehicles on hold, so that we can round out the wheels and we have about five vehicles right now that we cant even use at all, because their wheels are too narrow. A question that ive gotten is why couldnt we just address this problem with training. So train folks to use the track, the tstick when theyre in the lrv4s and the mushroom when theyre in the braydas. The best way to equate it, the vehicles are different enough in their braking system, its almost like youre drive an american car one day and your Steering Wheel is on the right and your brakes are with your right foot. And then the next day you go to england and were also expecting you to be able to stop on a dime. But now the Steering Wheel is on the left side and your brakes are operated differently. So we believe that this standardization between the two vehicles, while we continue to operate this mixed fleet, is going to have a significant customer benefit and its also something that weve been getting strong requests from our operators. I have invited our union chair from the Green Division to speak on this issue, if you have questions. This does this chart targets our availability. As i said, weve seen a steady climb. And we will continue particularly as we addressed the flat wheels, which is currently having the biggest impact on vehicle availability. And we are back on our reliability targets. We were at a low of almost no more than 3500 miles between breakdown. And this is a vehicle that is intended to break down only about every six months, only 25,000 miles, once we make it through the reliability problem. So im really pleased that we more than doubled and heading closer to 8,000 miles between breakdowns. Just as a point of reference, thats about 20 to 25 better than what were seeing on the breed fleet currently. Were looking to get an order of magnitude different. That being said, i am not bringing any major decisions to this board today, because i would like additional time to be able to show that august isnt an anomaly. And that were going to continue to have steady performance. So ill continue to do these monthly updates. I anticipate coming back in the february, march timeframe, once we continue to see progress along that red line with the vehicles. While doing that, i do plan to bring to the m. T. A. Board two items that i think are important for the overall program. The first is to expand the track brake investment, to retrofit all of the phase 1 vehicles so we can see that nearterm bump in availability. As well as to to get siemens started on the long lead time items that we need for the brayda replacements. I feel its critical to start this work, so we dont lose the ability to compress the schedule. Theyll be focusing on things like redesigning the car shell, in order to support the seat redesign. I believe we have strong support for seats that are lower, that face forward, that have the butt divots that weve heard a lot of strong requests for. But thats a complicated change. And they definitely need time to do that engineering. Also the way that theyre expediting the schedule and compressing the braydas is by building the car shells off site. So this will also allow resources to represent the facility and begin preparing for the car shell construction. So in terms of next steps, solving the technical issues continues to be the highest priority. Were really down to at this point one or two major issues. , getting siemens working on addressing known problems in phase 1, as well as the long lead time in phase 2. Continuing to do monthly reports, but i anticipate coming back for the larger allocation, that will really need for the breda replacements this spring. I think thats all ive got. Please let me know if you have any questions. Chair thank you. I do think we would like to hear from the representative from local 258, from the Green Division. But you anticipated the questions that i was going to ask. But, first, let me call on commissioner mar. Supervisor mar thank you, chair peskin. Thanks so much for the update presentation, ms. Kishbalm. I had a few questions. Actually the first one around the reliability, or the Reliability Program slide. So, yeah, its good to see, you know, the improvement thats happened over, you know, since the serious problem, reliability problem, you know, that cropped up in the spring. But just looking at the sort of target for increasing the reliability. It looks, as you mentioned, thats a significant goal to try to reach by june 2020. And to go from it looks like were about 8,000 miles per failure to 27 or 28,000, looking at the chart. I just wanted to ask if thats realistic. And yeah. Im just asking now for my experience as a regular rider, i know that yeah. Reliability is a problem for many years. And with the new siemens being brought online, you know, it really hasnt been any improvement so far. Thank you for those questions. Were certainly all learning as we go. And we will make adjustments as we need to. The red line was a commitment that siemens made to us, based on what they think that they can deliver. I think its based on the fact that were still not seeing any issues with the core systems. Its primarily subsystems. The hydraulic power unit alone, which were very close to addressing is making up a third of our breakdowns. So as we begin to tick off the sources of breakdowns and delays, i am optimistic. This curve is based on what we see in a lot of new vehicles. The calgary vehicle that siemens prepared followed a similar trajectory. I think its really too soon to say whether or not were going to have to make some kind of adjustments as we go. But i am optimistic and i do plan to hold siemens accountable to this commitment. Supervisor mar thank you. Thats good to hear that youre optimistic about making those aggressive targets. Because that would be such a huge step forward for everyone that relies on the l. R. V. S to get around. Then i just had a question around the project schedule slide. And this sort of the phase 2l. R. V. S and the plan to have an accelerated schedule to bring those online. I think that sounds great to me. I just wanted to know how that aligns with our sort of workforce issues. And is that going to mean the need to expand the workforce of the l. R. V. Operators and whether were you know, we have a good plan for that. Thank you for asking that question. Youll see in my next presentation, that operator staffing in the most acute issue that we face in the system. Weve had with l. R. V. Staffing, because we dont have a pipeline problem. We essentially train Bus Operators to become rail operators. This was an interesting contract. Its very unusual. We had such a pentup demand. Phase 1 was the expansion and required additional operators and additional maintenanceer resources. Phase 2 is replacement. With every new train that comes in, well help a breda train out the door. Its not a net increase in resources. But it will allow some overall enhancements to our system. Supervisor mar got it. Thanks. Thank you again for the update presentation. Its very helpful. Chair all right. Why dont we hear from our representatives from local 258, the transit workers union. Thank you, commissioners, for having us here today. Im the president of the t. W. U. Local 258. As julie stated earlier, that is, indeed, good news when upper management and the union come together on a specific issue in terms of finding feasible solutions. That is indeed, a step forward, a step in the right direction. Its one of the things that were working on is the track brakes. And as soon as i fish, ramona is going to come up here, because shes the expert in that field. Shes the one thats been driving them for quite some time. Another issue that were also trying to address is the mirrors. The lack thereof in terms of having them replaced. The track brakes, in terms of upgrading them and having them installed is not just a shortterm solution, but a longterm solution by saving money in terms of keeping all of these vehicles from breaking down through the flat wheels. Thats, indeed, good news. Id like to break up ramona to give a little more indepth explanation in regards to the track brakes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for having me here today. Yes. The issue with the track brakes is something that we are pretty much concerned in terms of safety basically. The track basically we might defer in how we see through different lenses. We see track brakes like a secondary a secondary brake on the trains. Currently the l. R. V. 2s and 3s had track brakes in each tracking. And what this does basically is the next train is a failsafe, just in case something happens in a dire situation, where we have to stop. We can apply the track brake and that will maximize the stopping distance. Chair thank you. Just hearing from the operators, its very helpful. How did you like ms. Kishbalms analogy about driving a car on the right side and the left side . Did you agree with that . Im going to buy her a european car tomorrow. Chair thank you for that, roger been that why dont we open up may i, please . Chair im sorry. Basically providing a track brake, it will minimize the impact on having to roll the theres certain things taking place right now on the l. R. V. 4. Whenever the brake is applied, that causes us to have an l. L. R. V. 4 flat wheels. It basically removes one train from the riding public for extended periods of time, due to the fact that we dont have its not repaired in 24 hours. So track brake is something thats a must. Its a must. It has to be. As julie stated before, basically theyre really to retrofit the entire. And we are basically commanding that, because they understand the nature of having to operate equipment on a city word. We have this. We must have all of the tools necessary to stop the train in a timely manner. Thank you. Chair thank you, sir. I have a number of speaker cards on this item, starting with mr. Finebalm, edward mason, eileen broken, robin crop, yvette fernandez. If youll line up in that order to your right, my left. First speaker, please. Bob, president of save muni. When julie showed the metric of 35 vehicles per day in service, and then she tells us that they have 67 vehicles of the new l. R. V. 4s, thats a rather pathetic statistic. What that seems to suggest is less than 50 of the vehicles are in service at any one time. Maybe thats a mistake. I suggest she increase the metric to having at least 50 vehicles in service at any one time. The second point that she made is the new l. R. V. S have a 20 to 25 better record on breakdowns than the bredas. Well, the question that immediately occurs is are they starving the bredas of maintenance . If they are, then obviously any comparison will be favorable to the new l. R. V. 4s. Pilled suggest that this board ask julie to present those statistics about maintenance on the breda system versus maintenance on the l. R. V. 4s. And then finally id like to suggest, and we are going to continue to follow this up with julie, the decoupling of the system. Were talking about the inrout coupling of the new l. R. V. 4s. We havent received the satisfactory answer, as to whether that coupling has been tested and is possible. Thank you. Edward mason. Were looking at a 30year time horizon and strongly recommend that we have an informational workshop on the procurement process thats going on. Seating is an important topic. And there has never been a diagram provided, a topdown diagram to show what the seating arrangement is going to be. And now its complicated by the fact that you have before and after with the see thing arrangement based on the production from siemens. We procured a vehicle thats now 5 feet shorter and a standing capacity that is two additional people per square foot. This is the deal. The standing capacity on the bredas was four people per square yard. On the siemens its six people per square meter. The difference between a yard and a meter is a 3inch. Basically in a square yard and o additional people. That was never really discussed or made resident. Transparent. The specific physician makes a comment that i have to research for measures of men and women. I guess that refers to a mill standard. And how in the heck we got these trains to be up so high. Now were going to lower them, but you cant do it on the left side because of the electronics box. [bell dings] so lets have a full disclosure of what the plan is for the seating arrangement for the comfort of people. We have sacrificed six hours of commute and events for peoples comfort during the rest of the time that the trains are in operation for the additional 20 hours a day. Thank you. Chair thank you, mr. Mason. Ms. Boken. Eileen boken, coalition for San Francisco neighborhoods, here on my own behalf. Earlier this month i was in toronto and ottawa specifically to ride their l. R. V. S. In toronto, i rode both generations by bombardier of caltrain and ottawa i rode alstom of france. Both the bombardier and alstom l. R. V. S are significantly better in quality and the siemens l. R. V. Better in the quality of materials and the quality of workmanship. Both the bombardier and alstom l. R. V. S are significantly better in design. Neither have bench seating. Both have individual seating, which is a combination of both transfers and longitudinal seats. Like the bredalifes, most seats are transverse. In terms of materials, i would urge the board to review the specks. San diego has two generations of siemens l. R. V. S in service. Both have better quality materials than the l. R. V. 4. In terms of workmanship, i would urge the board to recommend that siemens form a consortium. Siemens and alstom were proposing to merge, but the European Union denied the merger, due to concerns about anticompetitiveness. Bombardier and alstom have formed a consortium to produce the montreal l. R. V. S. Thank you. Chair thank you, ms. Crop. Thank you, everyone. Robbin crop with save muni. I want to address plans for the seeking the design for the next l. R. V. S, being that were here and you want to speed up the procurement. First thing i want to say is weed like to see a diagram of all seating arrangements for any rail cars. Second thing id like to say is we have a wider spectrum from people who are healthy to not healthy, people who are young and people who are old. And if we only put four to six single seats in the next 50 rail cars, they may probably fill up embarcadero station, comes to montgomery, nobody is able to get a chance for a seat at all, that includes disabled people and it includes the public that would like a more comfortable ride, especially if theyre going to ride for an hour out to where theyre going to go. So we have 24 to 28 transfer cars in the breeds. My car exchange would be the one thats already in breda and muni right now, which is two transfer seats down one side for a total of 12. And four single transfer seats on the other side for a total of 16. And that creates a 4foot aisle and people seem to stand up really well in that. That provides 16 transfer seats. That would be my preferred seat plan. But minimally to wait for the 101 cars, which are said to have eight to 12 transfer seats, i want to vote for the 12. Eight on one side, four on the other. And its a minimal ask, because that means that half the seats will be transferred and half the seats will be longitudinal. [bell dings] i think thats fair in terms of looking at what we need temperature still i would say a lot of regular public that would like a more comfortable seat will not be able to access their seats. And since i have a few more minutes, i want to remind you all that i did a 100person survey last year, and 400rider survey last spring. Both times 50 50 in terms of liking the 68 new cars or not. So i dealt with the side that didnt. And in the fall, it was three groups. [bell dings] okay. I guess thats it then. Thank you. Chair thank you, ms. Crop. Next next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My yvette fernandez. When i saw the new trains, i was horrified. Youre sitting sideways, like sardines, theres not enough room for people to sit, to pull up on the straps are so high for someone like me. If im bringing a lot of stuff, its like where do i put it. I like the way the seating arrangement is now. I suffer from scoliosis and my kidneys. That kind of seating is so comfortable. I feel if its not broke, why are we fixing it. I dont see how youre fitting more people. I thought there would be longer trains. And people like me need to sit forward. And i dont know how many seating arrangements are you going to put there and like the previous speaker, if its only going to be four or eight, those seats will be taken up on the first stop at embarcadero. So i appreciate if you would reconsider designing these trains to have more seating arrangements. Thank you very much. Chair thank you, ms. Fernandez. Next speaker. Supervisors, i often say that your supervisors who represent for orientation. So are we, the people, satisfied with our transportation . You need to ask this question. In fact, i want to know that while you are discussing about i think its a very serious issue, we have to Pay Attention. We really have to Pay Attention to the issue at hand. And its very good and i suggested this some time ago, we get the union people here, so that they can speak truth to follow. Theres a lot of b. S. Happening in the board, because you waste the taxpayers money. Its not your money. In fact, yall get paid by the taxpayer, to represent. But you dont do your job. How can you possibly buy trains that do not satisfile neats of the people, especially satisfy the needs of our people, especially the elders. You have no empathy and compassion. Im not saying all of you yall. I know some of you do. Most of you dont. And how much does it cost yall to consult the union. Guys, what do you feel about this. [bell dings] weve had history in the past, the money is set aside for muni and the Police Department used it to buy brandnew cars. I can go on and on and on. Thats for people who chronologically know the history of this city. Your supervisors have to be orientated to know how to do your work properly. Thank you very much. Chair see nothing other members of the Public Commenting, Public Comment is closed. Ms. Kishbalm, as you heard, let me start with, first of all, he appreciate the progress that you have made in 90 days. And i for one think that we do not want to wake up with all of the breda cars failing and we do need to continue to procure replacement vehicles. We have heard a lot, not open doors, not over couplings, thankfully. Not about flat wheels, but actually about the interior design. Butt divots and numbers of human beings per square yard or square meter. Would you like to expound on that to the board. Because part of what you want to go forward with is really in the area of internal design. So i want to hand it back over to you. Thank you. I think its precisely because of that strong feedback on the seating, that we do want to proceed with the long lead time items, the seating being one of them. We are committed to both retrofitting the current vehicles, as well as the replacement vehicles with enhanced seating. That responds to the customer feedback, including forwardfacing seats. So i i did hear the feedback to maximize the number of forwardfacing seats. We are doing that as much as possible and well keep the board briefed on that progress. Chair and just kind of a highlevel comment, i know that we have more things on the agenda and we need to go to the board of supervisors meeting. But do you do focus groups or outreach prior to the first 68vehicle procurement . Thank you. We did do focus groups, as well as a Large Customer survey. But it was a survey that people opted into. When we did the survey, once the vehicles were here and we had some realworld experience, we did an intercept survey. So it was much more randomized. We got overwhelming support of the vehicles. And we even even on the seats, which is the area thats an opportunity for improvement, we still saw more than half of the folks satisfied with the seats. But we think we can do better. That intercept survey was complemented by two focus groups, one for mono lingual chinese speakers, as well as one in english. And both with heavy representation from people with disabilities. So we do think we have a good path forward on the seats. But it is its not insignificant work, which is why we need to get stated. Chair for what its worth, involve Community Stakeholders as much as possible as you go through that design exercise. With that i want to thank you for your continued briefings. We look forward to our next briefing, hopefully in march. And youre staying on that steep curve. Thank you. Chair with that, mr. Clerk, could you please read item number 9 and ms. Stevenson, thank you for your patience. Clerk muni Transit Performance Working Group update. This is an information item. Chair ms. Stevenson. Who is starting . Julie, did you say peg was going to start. Chair peg, the floor is yours. I do not want to truncate this, but as much as you can compress this item, we would appreciate it. And i will be there on the 27th from 10 00 until noon with you. Good morning, supervisors. Im peg stevenson. Im the director of the performance unit in the city controllers office. Were providing Staff Support to the muni reliability working group, which you might have heard a little bit about convened supervisor peskin, supervisor mandelman and the Mayors Office. There are members from a couple of outside transit agencies, los angeles and a. C. Transit. Two experts in system leadership and people with sort of wide experience and managing systems and other parts of the country. Two reps from t. W. U. And three reps from Public Interest organizations that work on transit. Its being chaired by Gwyneth Borden and ed harrington. Well meet six time five times between july and december. Meetings will be open to the public. Well work very hard at transparency, sharing the information and analyses that are provided by m. T. A. And my staff on a website thats been set up for that purpose. Well have smaller meeting in between where were tapping the expertise of the individuals that are on the working group, to come provide some advice and assistance to people lower down in the m. T. A. Structure. We have Peer Research under way. Weve refreshed our analysis of a benchmarking likeness scoring that was done to compare sfmta to transit agencies around the country, in terms of service design, rode share, density, demographics and some other things. So were reaching out to them and looking at a couple of issues in sort of governance and span of control. And types of authority that they have over Street Management and System Design and performance and other issues that will be of interest to the working group. The charge is on the working group website. Its sort of simple to try and use the opportunity access to these experts and stakeholder organizations. To look at muni reliability, identify areas where the agency needs support and provide document which is working advice and support to stakeholders. Yellow jersey ill stop there. Happy to answer any questions. Or make it short. Chair thank you, ms. Stevenson. I do want to note for the record, that commission safai has expressed to myself and the mayor, his interest in joining the work group. So please come on september 27th from 10 00 until noon. These are also open to the general public. To observe. So thank you for that, ms. Kishbalm, anything you wanted to add. At the first meeting, i had an opportunity to lay out both the challenges that i think the system is facing, as well as some of the investments that were making to address those. Its an incredibly helpful to have this panel as a sounding board. I think were going to have some strong feedback out of that. But rather than taking the boards time to go through that presentation today, i think what we most wanted to do today is to have an opportunity to hear any feedback from the larger board, as well as the public. We did a similar hearing at the m. T. A. Board, where folks had an opportunity to give input. But the the muni system is incredible. And its important. Its what drives our economy and its what kicks communities. But it doesnt happen by accident, it happens through thoughtful investments and thoughtful guidance. So i appreciate the sponsors taking the time at this moment to really reflect on whats working well and what we ought to do differently. And i plan to take that feedback very seriously, as we kind of lay out what our three to fiveyear agenda is for the system. Chair thank you, ms. Occasion kishbalm. Are there members of the public who would like to testify on this information item . Miscellaneous crop, please come forward. Mr. Finebalm, please come forward. If there are other individuals, youll follow these two. Hi, robbin crop again. Im actually not sure if my question is pertinent to the item. But ill ask it anyway. Its regarding the muni buses. I cant access the buses. They dont have any transfer seats in the boarding area. I cant stand, no access for me. And so i would like to ask that all of the buses get a couple transfer seats put in them. The other half have them. Its like two, three, four, five or more. So i think it wouldnt be a bad thing to put in a couple transfer seats in all of the buses, so those of us who need a transfer seat can sit in one. If i need to get my back is already out goinged to chiropractorrer. I out going to the chiropractor. Thats really not a good way to ride oop. I dont have a seat. And i would really like to have a couple transfer seats put in all of the buses, so we can access them. Thank you. Chair thank you, ms. Crop. And i can see sfmta staff listening to your comments and suggestions. Mr. Finebalm. Im bob finebalm, president of save muni. For those who havent heard of us, im president of save muni. We are a transportation advocacy organization. Weve been working for better muni service for the part of a decade. We are a transportation think tank. Weve been working on policy issues for much of that time. Were mystified as to why our organization has been excluded from membership on this task force. Im not clear who exactly has appointed the task force. But we have asked both supervisors peskin and mandelman, as well as the Mayors Office for inclusion on this group. We have members who have decades of experience in working with muni and in working with policy issues. We continue to be mystified as to why we were excluded. This is not a task force, as i understand that has mandateed members. And its not a task force that has a designated number of members. We continue to ask for representation on the task force. So that, unlike the public, who are constrainted from speaking, we will be able to have a voice and offer our valuable suggestions to improving muni service. [bell dings] thank you. Chair thank you. Next speaker. Give you some history about the light rail that serves 3rd street. And you see here that we do have astute constituent from the sunset and other areas who come here and speak. But at one time the light rail, that was suppose to go on gilroy street. And your supervisors, especially the new ones, have no clue as to why why the light rail was put on 3rd street, from 4th and king to the middle of nowhere visitation valley. And if anybody knows anything about transportation systems, this is a mickey mouse way of addressing the situation. Mickey mouse way. We have the stop and i told julie from day one, she was with San Francisco with your organization, maria, you know, the director. I remember that. And then she jumped to muni. And thats fine. But chronologically certain areas are suffering. And we have no representation. We have no representation whatsoever. Its a joke. Try to ride the 3rd street light rail. Its a joke. [bell dings] guns, knives, dirtiness, rowdiness. What about safety. What about quality of life issues. You can talk ad nauseam about this, that and the other, what about quality of life issues. I like to be told the truth. But you have to speak truth to power. Thank you very much. Chair seeing no other members of the public on this item, Public Comment is closed. [gavel] thank you for that brief, compressed update. Is there any introduction of new items . Im sorry, commissioner mandelman. I was going to express appreciation for chilly chang and ben rosenfield, who had done so much work to pull the group together. We have only had one meeting of the full group, but subgroups meeting. I thought the first meeting, it give me a little bit of hope that, you know, if you put smart folks in the room and start getting feedback from people from other systems, that we may figure some things out and get sort of path forward that is helpful. I felt really good about the first meeting. I want to thank everyone in the Mayors Office as well for their help in pulling it all together. Chair thank you for that closing comment on this ongoing item that we will hear more about. Is there any introduction of new items . Seeing none. Any commissioner walton . Supervisor walton thank you, chair peskin. Moving pretty fast today, huh. Well, its been two hours. Supervisor walton just briefly. Weve been hearing a lot from our constituents lately. And ive definitely personally experienced as recently as this past weekend, inadequate and inconsistent transit service, were experiencing on the tthird light rail. The mission bay platform construction, with the bus substitutions and the shuttles, more frequent and reliable, in addition to