Continue to take a look at. But we dont have a viable model yet that we can necessarily replicate. And thats why its not yet in the program. Commissioner fewer okay. Because i just want to also emphasize that some of these communities for a long time have not had equitable Transportation Services to begin with. When you eliminate these there are other viable means of transportation like many of these people, who are low income, have not had the same opportunities as other communities have. If we had millions of dollars to give this to everyone, i would just say theres no cause for it. When youre telling me its 70 to 100 people a week, i just think that sometimes we have to prioritize those who are the most in need, meaning that if they were to seek the Transportation Options themself, they would not be able to put their food on their table or feed their children or pay their rent. Some of us are in different positions than others. And i just wanted to make sure that these funds and everything that were looking at during this crisis, is through an equity lens. And also lets not forget a Racial Equity lens, too, as we see the greatest economic gaps between people of color and people who are not of color. So thank you very much. Thank you. Commissioner peskin thank you, commissioner fewer. And then madam executive director, do you want to speak to the amount of potential funding that we have, if this is a success . Sure. Yes. Yes, thank you, chair. As anna laforte mentioned earlier, i believe we do have another clean taxi purchase planned, that is potentially available, up to 250,000 of tfca funds that have been programmed, just like the first grant that we could the board to elect to reprioritize to expand this emergency essential worker ridehome program. In addition, the Transportation Authority we do receive annually about 750 to prioritize the program annually. And we already have a call for projects under way. And we can certainly consider adding funds from that annual pot for 2021 as well. Commissioner peskin thank you, director chang. Are there any members of the public who would like to comment on this item number 9 . Clerk yes, chair, there is Public Comment. Commissioner peskin okay. First speaker, please. Announcer you have one question remaining. Clerk welcome, caller, your two minutes begins now. Caller yes. Good morning. And thank you for the supervisors. I actually called in for something thats going to be placed on the agenda for thursday. But ive been listening to this. And my concerns are with the 197,500 transportation funds for clean air, is that going to also impact some of the homeless encampments over on jones and taylor or cleaning up and refreshing that air and remove ing some of the public waste, that now we realize that covid has now found in feces . So how is that going to impact some of the funds for homeless sanitation . Thank you. Commissioner peskin does that conclude your comment . Yes, sir. Thank you, supervisor, peskin. So Public Comment on this item is now closed. And with regard to the issue raised by the member of the public, this is the Transportation Authority commission, not the board of supervisors. And we allocate im sorry. Commissioner peskin transportation. Yes. Im looking at the prompter. I meant transportation. Commissioner peskin right. But im answering the question that you posed, as to other issues like homelessness, that are within the jurisdiction of the board of supervisors. This is a transportation funding agency. And were discussing Transportation Options during covid19 period for individuals that need to be taken from work. As commissioner yee raised to work. With that, a motion to move item number 9 . So moved. Commissioner preston. Commissioner peskin all right. Is there a second . Second by mandelman. Clerk on item number 9, seeking final approval on its first appearance. Commissioner. Commissioner aye. Clerk commissioner haney . Commissioner mar . Commissioner mar aye. Clerk commissioner peskin . Commissioner peskin aye. Clerk commissioner preston . Commissioner preston aye. E. P. A. Commissioner ronen . Commissioner ronen aye. Clerk commissioner safai . Commissioner safai aye. Clerk commissioner stefani . Commissioner stefani aye. Clerk ye,. Commissioner yee aye. Commissioner peskin next item, please. Item number 10. Update on the Municipal Transportation Agencys transportation programs to assist seniors and people with disabilities. This is an information item. Commissioner peskin ms. La porte. Anna la la la porte, deputy director. The previous item was providing taxi rides for essential workers. And im pleased that were also able to shed light on the suite of programs that are offered to san franciscans and. And the next presentation is what is offered as far as assistance for seniors and people with disabilities. Several commissioners have asked about this, what Transportation Services the San FranciscoMunicipal Transportation Agency is offering to support the mobility of people with disabilities and older adults, due to the Transit Service reductions during the covid19 pandemic. In response, staff from the sfmta, ill provide an update to the board, including on how the current Transit Program is operating and also on the new essential trip card, which is helping seniors and people with disabilities take and pay for essential trips in taxis during this crisis. And with that, i would like to invite annette williams, director of Accessible Services at the sfmta, to give her presentation. Commissioner peskin good morning, aannette. Good morning, commissioners. Can you see me . Hi. [laughter] im just going to pull up my slides. So nice to be here. My name is annette williams. Im the manager of Accessible Services. Let me just get to the main slide here. I really appreciate you having me. And i wanted to give you an update on the services that we provide, both now during covid and in terms of our whole suite of services. As you know, at this point muni is only really for essential trips. And for those who dont have other Transportation Options. Were very concerned about the safety of muni customers and operators. And that were retaining social distance on the system. So that has also resulted in some reductions to service, which ill talk about in just a minute. As youre probably aware, most people are now boarding at the rear door. But its very important for seniors and people with disabilities, who need the lift or the kneeler, to be welcomed and innovated in the front door. And so thats very important to us and thats a big part of making sure that access is continuing at the front door of the system. Were also making sure that on the vehicle, as i mentioned, that theres physical distance. And that both the operators are wearing p. P. E. And that any of the customers are using face coverings or masks. And they can ask verbally for a stop instead of needing to pull the stop request or pushing the stop request button. As youre aware, were now running as of last week, we were running 17 of the 79 lines. And thats 80 of the service pre this reduction was on those lines. So they were the most important lines, in terms of service. But it does mean a great reduction in the amount of coverage in San Francisco. Fortunately last friday we were able to add back some services on the five fulton, 12 f. Lsom. To add frequency on the l, the n and 39 r. As youre aware, the owl service is starting earlier at 10 00 p. M. Appear and 30minute headlines on the lines and listed there on your screen. You can see the map of the services that were currently providing. One of the mings that muni is very proud of is that were within a few blocks of every household. But in this covid period, were not able to be in that kind of distance. And, of course, many of you, as commissioners and those of us who work at m. T. A. , were very concerned about what does this mean for people with mobility impairments, for those whom getting to the further distance to the bus is very difficult. We developed a new program called the essential trip card program. And this is to make sure that people, though all of us are staying home, right, and were only going out for essential trips, but there are still trips that people must may need to take, because they dont have someone else to do Grocery Shopping for them or may need to go to a medical appointment. We started the program and it subsidizes those few rides. In order to qualify for the program, a person just needs to be 65 or older or have a disability. And how it works is for each 6 that they load on their card, they receive 30 in taxi value. Up to a maximum of 60 per month, which is about three to four roundtrips. And we also wanted to make sure it was easy, that we had good outreach, that everybody was aware of this program. And so we used 311 as our conduit to get into the program, because its an easy thing to remember. And we have people there at 311 at all hours. So if they call 311, then theyre transferred to the paratransit office, who then takes the registrations. And theyre open monday through friday from 9 00 until 4 45. Im really happy to say that we already have 600 people who have signed up for the program. We started it on april 16th. Another thing thats very encouraging is the i believe 587 of those people were eligible for free muni. So were getting to people who really dont have the income levels that may allow them to take taxis themselves. You know, on their own, paying the full fare. We also more than half of those people are people of color. So the next slide is for those of you at home, or later, please do check out this video about the program. It explains it. Its just two minutes long. It will give you a good overview of the essential trip card. So then i wanted to go into also explaining all of the programs that we have for paratransit. And paratransit is doortodoor services for people who are unable to use muni. Most people with disabilities, most seniors are able to use muni. But there are people, for whom its difficult to get to the bus stop. Theyre not able because of their bus stop to get to independently ride the bus. They may have alzheimers, they may be going to dialysis, where they dont have the strength to take the bus home. So the three main modes of service are s. F. Access, group van and taxi ramp taxi. The way that people become eligible for paratransit like i just said its a functional eligibility. Its based on the fact that theyre not able to use muni. Theres an application they fill out and usually an interview or sometimes professional verification from a medical professional. Currently under covid, were submitting the were really encouraging everyone to submit the applications by email or fax. So that it can be done quickly. And that they dont need to visit the office or leave their home. We have certification analysts that are performing the interviews and theyre doing all of the interviews by phone during this period. And if when they get their i. D. , it wont have a photo on it now, because we dont want people to come in for a photo. So in terms of s. F. Access in covid19, were still providing doortodoor service, prescheduled one to seven days in advance. Many people are going to dialysis and have a standing ride. It covers the entire city, including daly city, three quarters of a mile around the bart station. And were encouraging people to only take essential trips, just like all of us. We minimized the van capacity to make sure that theres social distancing and were not taking more than two riders per van. And were providing masks to all of the drivers and p. P. E. And the vehicles are cleaned significantly with significant cleaning every night. Group van where groups of people are going to one location, like an Adult Day Health care center or a seniors center, those services were operating for the first few weeks for some agencies. But all of the agencies now have closed their doors. And so during shelterinplace, the group van services are not happening any longer. In terms of tax service, were providing sameday ondemand services. All taxes are are required to participate. Were encouraging customers to take essential trips also on taxis. And as director tern mentioned earlier, weve done a lot in terms of making sure that the taxi drivers have p. P. E. Kits. And that its clear that theyre required to clean the vehicle between trips and theyve been trained. Both we have a video and the companies have been given the p. P. E. And the cleaning supplies for the drivers, so that they have that available to them. And dont need to get it themselves. Theyre required to wear face recoverings as well. One of the other one operating is the shoparound program, which is a van that takes people to shopping centers. Usually we have five to seven people that may sign up. Now were only doing two per vehicle and providing more vehicles, if theres more demand. Theres also a shoparound taxi drive. And this is for people who arent a. D. A. Eligible and paratransiteligible, for whom taking muni would be difficult to do shopping. Taking your groceries back may be difficult. So theyre able to use the Shopping Service instead. We also have the van van go shu. And any agency or group in the city that has seniors and people with disabilities, that would like to use the van go program, it is available to them. Unfortunately now with shelterinplace, its temporarily suspended. But we look forward to that ramping up again when were all back. Paratransit bus is a taxi program that we have for those who are not a. D. A. Eligible, but may have great difficulty or had difficulty in using muni. They theyre able to get paratransit plus. It just provides a benefit for taxi for some occasional trips. Another program that im sure youre probably aware of is a Grant Program that we have done with the Department Department c health. Were calling the Choice Transportation program. And this is to address the Transportation Needs of people going to Public Health clinics. And we have transportation navigators who meet with the individuals, to make sure they that they know about all of their Transportation Options, like free muni, discounted clipper, travel training, paratransit, shoparound. If those services dont immediate their meet their needs. One last thing i wanted to mention is that the sfmta has a mobility management center, which is run out of our paratransit office. And this provides a way for people to get nell information they might need for caregivers or others who want to understand what are the things that are available to me. How do i get from point a to point b. I have a new disability, im not sure how its going to affect my travel. And so we have personalized transportation information thats available there. And weve also done a lot with our website to make sure that its easier for people tomorrow navigate. If theyre a caregiver, how do i get through to see what other services are available for the person i work with or a child looking for their parent or the person themselves who just wants to understand what services are available. And we have a lot of personal relationships with the communitybased organizations. We believe its really important to work with them. And thats part of why i think so many signups for the trip card, weve done a lot of outreach through community organizations. So heres a list of quick ways to get into the website for particular programs. All of the information on covid. Information on the e. T. C. Program, paratransit, paratransit taxi, shoparound. And then i wanted to just show you a quick little video. One of the things during this kind of time is, you know, there are a lot of people who are working excuse me. Working very hard. And some of those are our paratransit employees. They are making the difference in terms of peoples lives. And what they can do. So were just going to quickly show you this oneminute video that says thank you to those people. Commissioner peskin thank you, annette. [music playing] i know that paratransit serves some of the most Vulnerable People in the city of San Francisco. Paratransit needs to be there for them to just allow them to even go to the grocery store. And its one of the things that people are struggling with as we go through this Health Crisis right now. Really appreciate having a job. I guess directly help people. A lot of them that have jobs, i felt like i didnt really see the results of my work. I appreciate everything that we do. So i try to be as loving and caring as possible, because thats how you feel, you know, when you help. I feel like im giving back. That makes me feel good and proud of myself. Commissioner peskin thank you, ms. Williams p thank you to all of the people working so hard out there. And im available to answer any questions you might have. Commissioner peskin thank you so much. Commissioner safai. Commissioner safai thank you, chair. Just wanted to say that this essential trip card program is so important for us. Theres a number of pockets in our community that have been completely isolated, as the m. T. A. Service has the muni service has been reduced. We were very happy to work with the Transit Workers Union and roger, local 250a and jeff and his team and julie. We just god word that were going to be restoring the mline in a variation of that, starting monday, may 4th, 6 00 until 9 0. 6 00 a. M. To 9 00 p. M. In 20minute intervals. Were really excited about that. I want to thank sfmta and for everyone working with us on that. Theres still pockets of my community that really, really will rely on this essential card program, because seniors dont feel comfortable going out, even on buses or even in large setting. Theyd rather be in an environment that they know is safe and they are by themselves. I just want to thank annette and her team and others and the t. A. For really prioritizing this. Because its an essential piece of getting seniors, who are socially isolated, geographically isolated, lac