San Francisco County Transportation Authority - Regular Meeting

Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the March 24th, 2026 regular meeting of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board. I'm Commissioner Myrna Melgar, chair of this board. Our vice chair is Danny Sautter. The clerk today is Amy Sayang. I would also like to acknowledge Jaime Echeverry from SFGov TV for staffing us during this meeting. Madam Clerk, please call the roll and then make your announcements.

Commissioner Chan. Chan absent. Commissioner Chin. Chin present. Commissioner Dorsey. Dorsey present. Commissioner Fielder. Fielder absent. Commissioner Mahmood. Mahmood present. Commissioner Mandelman. Mandelman present. Chair Melgar.

Present.

Melgar present. Vice Chair Sauter. Sauter present. Commissioner Sherrill. Sherrill absent. Commissioner Walton. Walton present. Commissioner Wong. Wong present. Chair, we have quorum. Also, the Transportation Authority welcomes your attendance here in person at the Legislative Chamber Room 250, second floor of City Hall. When you can't be here, the proceedings are streaming live at sfgovtv.org or airing on SF Cable Channel 26 or 78. Written public comment may be submitted by sending an email to clerk at sfcta.org or by mailing comments via U.S. Postal Service to SFCTA 1455 Market Street, 22nd Floor, San Francisco, California 94103. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, I'd like to excuse Commissioner Fielder from this meeting. Before calling the next item, as Chair, I'd like to invoke Rule 3.26 from the Rules of Order to limit total public comment per item to 30 minutes for today's meeting. Each speaker will have two minutes to speak on any given item. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Item 2, Chair's Report. This is an information item.

OK, colleagues, this past month has been really busy with a federal transportation advocacy in Washington, DC by Vice Chair Sautter and I. We joined the trip. Also, we had a wonderful celebration and train dedication to honor our speaker, Emerita, this past weekend. Commissioner Walton was there in his role as Commissioner for Caltrain and also President Mandelman and Supervisors Mahmoud, Chen, and Chen, plus elected officials, business and community leaders. We helped honor... Our speaker, Emerita Nancy Pelosi, we dedicated one of the nice new, shiny, clean electric trains with her name. The speaker, Emerita, has been, as you all know, a transit visionary and champion for Decades, we have greatly benefited from her role. The entire region and the nation has benefited in terms of transit and transportation policy and investment. It has a day-to-day direct impact on all our communities. Her leadership and tireless advocacy on these projects has secured more than $1 billion in federal funding. to electrify Caltrain and several more billions to advance other projects like Muni, BART, and the portal, and to improve connectivity, environmental quality, and job creation as well. So as I stated, Commissioner, Vice Chair Sautter and I joined Eileen Mariano, who is the federal policy lead for Mayor Lurie and also Director Chang. And we went to DC, met with Speaker Merida and members of our federal delegation. And we talked about the need for federal investment in transit, infrastructure, housing, including our seawall and the portal. as well as all the critical needs that we have around the country for all these things. We discussed AV resilience and safety, our data reporting needs, such as those that came up at our hearing, sponsored by Supervisors Bilal and Wong on Waymo. earlier this month, and we, including Rodney Fung from the chamber, met with Speaker Merida, Senators Padilla and Schiff, as well as Representative Mullen and Zoe Lofgren. We had a really productive time in D.C. Finally, I would like to thank Mayor Lurie and all of the city and county departments for the street safety initiative working group kickoff that we had this past month. The working group will implement the Street Safety Act that we all passed last year and Mayor Lurie's executive directive calling for interagency collaboration and specific actions for each agency to focus on a multitude of strategies to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities on our street. This year has seen way too many heartbreaking crashes and losses. I know city teams are working to understand each of these events and I appreciate all the departments working together as I know that we're all committed to reversing these upsetting trends as soon as we can. We will hold a hearing on the Street Safety Initiative Working Group at the Transportation Authority this fall. to hear about the progress that each department is making towards the pieces of this work in the action plan. So with that, I conclude my remarks. Thank you. And I don't see anyone on the roster with questions or comments. So with that, let's go to public comment on this item, Madam Clerk.

Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on item two, the chair's report? There is not.

Okay, public comment on this item is now closed. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Item 3, Executive Director's Report. This is an information item.

Good morning, Chair and Commissioners. It was such a pleasure to not just have one but two opportunities to meet with Speaker Emerita Pelosi and offer her our sincere and deep gratitude for her leadership over the years. Another update from the federal transportation funding side, I'm pleased to report that the appropriations bill that was passed by Congress earlier this year included $4 million for transportation projects in San Francisco, including $250,000 for BART station lighting, $1.2 million for SFMTA transit stop lighting, and $1.5 million for the Tenderloin Neighborhood Pedestrian Safety Signal Upgrade Project. Finally, $1 million for San Francisco City College to support student access to regional transit. We're very thankful to our federal delegation for their work in securing these funds, and we have been recently, along with other agencies, submitting new requests for the coming fiscal year to the legislators for the community-directed investments for next year. Another update is that on the autonomous vehicle side, Amber Crabb, our senior public policy manager, attended the NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's workshop, full-day workshop, and provided input. along with other industry stakeholders into the regulatory process. Rulemakings are being opened for remote assistance, remote driving, as well as resilience planning. I think in large part informed by the events and the hearings that were held here in San Francisco. but also of interest nationally. So over the past month, we've been providing updates as well to our federal delegation, including the staff of Speaker Emerita Pelosi, California Senators Padilla and Schiff, as well as others across the country on the Self-Drive Act, as well as Representative Kevin Mullen's AV Safety Data Act. He will also, we believe, be introducing another bill on AVEV interactions, autonomous vehicle emergency vehicle interactions as well. So we'll continue to keep you posted. Turning to an update from New York, New York City's congestion pricing program was upheld in court. In March, a federal judge ruled that the federal government's attempt to end the program, the congestion relief zone program in New York was illegal. This program has reduced traffic significantly, as well as raised over $560 million for New York City's subway maintenance program, exceeding their first year expectations. In addition, transit ridership increased over 7.5% over the past year, and so we can continue to track that work, and again, appreciate the opportunity to have visited the program last year. Turning to Assembly Bill 1837, which was on your agenda this morning for second approval. Just wanted to provide an update that since your last action to approve it earlier this month, the bill has been amended to remove language expanding the authority for transit agencies to use cameras on transit-only lanes to enforce bicycle and other lanes, not just the transit lanes themselves. Parking violations and bicycle lanes was part of the original bill but has been removed. However, it does have value in providing all operators the ability to take advantage of this, not just our SFMTA, which already has this authority, as well as removing the sunset provision. on that for all of the operators. So that's just for your information on item six on today's agenda that reflects these latest amendments. At the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, I wish to thank Chair Melgar and our other representatives on that body for advocating for the transit-oriented Communities policy which was adopted by the Commission. This will be a 45 million dollar grant program as part of one Bay Area grant funding to incentivize and reward local jurisdictions that adopt policies to focus growth near transit stations. So to be eligible for funding, jurisdictions will have to demonstrate at least 85% compliance with the policy by July 27. And San Francisco looks to be well positioned for that. San Francisco would then be eligible for an award of between $6 and $8 million under that program. So thank you again to the full commission and to Chair Malgar and Alicia John-Baptiste, as well as Eddie on that body. Locally, of course, we did have the Waymo hearing that was co-sponsored by commissioners or supervisors Mahmoud and Wong and held at the Land Use Transportation Committee earlier this month. Folks who are interested can take a look at that video as well as a transcript of the hearing on our website at sfcta.org. It was attended by Waymo representatives as well as city officials who were documenting the events of that day as well as the takeaways included the Waymo acknowledgement of some failures operationally including fleet immobilizations resulting in a surge, resulting, excuse me, from a surge in remote assistance requests that overwhelmed their system, their delayed 311 response times as well as inadequate support for our first responders. Supervisors called for greater transparency, more timely communication and decision-making on the part of Waymo, and stronger coordination overall with city agencies to develop communication protocols and resilience plans. So we're grateful also to our partners at Contra Costa TA, Transportation Authority, who received a federal grant to help develop such communication protocols and resilience plans and will be partnering we hope with city agencies and Waymo as well as other AV providers over the coming months to develop those types of much needed documents. And of course we'll keep the board posted on that over the summer and fall. Turning to some District 3 updates. We celebrated, it was a pleasure to celebrate Arbor Day with Vice Chair Sautter and the community in District 3. Mayor Lurie was there, our First Lady was there, and the San Francisco Public Works, which led the program. Thank you to Carla Short, Director Short and her team. 250 volunteers, largely youth at Francisco Middle School, showed up to plant 100 trees throughout District 3. It was inspiring to see so many members of the community and the youth greening our city and making our streets safer and more livable through traffic calming benefits and of course all the environmental and other benefits of trees. The TA is proud to have provided over $3 million in Prop L half-cent sales tax funds for these trees throughout the city. And this has been since October 23 alone, but $25 million since the inception of the sales tax program in 2003 when we included this category in Prop K. Also in District 3, I'm happy to report that the Clay and Grant and Stockton and Sutter conduits and signal modifications are open for use. This is SFMT's traffic signal upgrade project funded by $660,000 of Prop K sales tax funds to install new subsurface electrical conduits, poles, and foundations. upgrade the signal heads and pedestrian countdown signals. This project was coordinated with Public Works to install curb ramps located over sub-sidewalk basements. So it's very complicated infrastructure, oftentimes with these subsurface basements. I really appreciate SFMTA and SF Public Works working together to deliver these projects that have tremendous pedestrian safety and circulation benefits for the community. Turning to Fulton Streets, the Fulton Street Safety and Transit Project was celebrated recently with Commissioner Chan and Assemblymember Phil Ting, and this was major traffic calming and street safety improvements for the Muni 5 Fulton and 5R lines. In addition to state funds secured by Assemblymember Ting, the transportation was proud to provide $318,000 in neighborhood program funds to Daylight 34 intersections. and implement signal timing changes to Fulton Street, which is, of course, on the high injury network. So congratulations to the agencies and community there for those. One last, a couple of final updates. We just want to thank you so much, Chair Malgar, you for attending the Compto and Women's Transportation Seminar Women's History Month Celebration Panel. featured on a panel of women shaping sustainable mobility in our region. It was co-led again on the conference on minority transportation officials, COMTO, as well as WTS at the Valley Transportation, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency. We enjoyed very lively conversations discussions and networking and mentorship among that community and I really appreciate BTA again for hosting this special gathering. Finally, happy to congratulate BART. BART has received the American Public Works Association national recognition for their Next Generation Farragate project. named the 2026 Project of the Year Award winner. And also the International Partnering Institute honored the project as its 2026 Collaborative Project of the Year. So this was a project completed in August of last year, four months ahead of schedule, to replace 715 gates, fare gates, across all 50 stations in five counties. The early results show more than a 50% drop in fare evasion, 41% reduction in overall crime, and nearly 1,000 fewer maintenance hours for vandalism and repairs. The gates are projected to increase annual fare revenue as well by $10 million. So again, we congratulate BART. We're very proud to contribute $12.5 million in sales tax funds for these San Francisco stations, enhancing safety, accessibility, and the overall rider experience. Once again, congratulations to BART.

Thank you. Thank you, Director. I don't see anyone on the roster with questions or comments. Thank you for all you do. It's been a very busy month. So let's go to public comment on this item, please, Madam Clerk.

Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on item three, the Executive Director's report? There is not.

Okay. Public comment is now closed. Let's go to the next item, please, Madam Clerk.

Item four, approve the minutes of the March 10th, 2026 meeting. This is an action item.

Okay. I don't see any questions or comments from my colleagues on the minutes. So let's go to public comment on this item, please.

Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on item four, the minutes? There's not.

Okay. Seeing that, colleagues, may I have a motion and a second? Moved by Mahmoud, seconded by Sauter. Let's take the roll on this item, please.

On the motion to approve item four, Commissioner Chan. Chan, absent. Commissioner Chin. Aye. Chin, aye. Commissioner Dorsey. Aye. Dorsey, aye. Commissioner Mahmood. Aye. Mahmood, aye. Commissioner Mandelman. Aye. Mandelman, aye. Chair Malgar. Aye. Aye. Melgar, aye. Vice Chair Sautter? Aye. Sautter, aye. Commissioner Sherrill? Aye. Sherrill, aye. Commissioner Walton? Aye. Walton, aye. Commissioner Wong? Aye. Wong, aye. There are nine ayes. The minutes are approved.

Thank you. And Madam Clerk, I'm going to call item nine out of order because we have our nominee here. So, colleagues, you may remember that... Come on up, Ms. Wally. You may remember that we heard this at our last meeting, and unfortunately, Ms. Margarita was detained because of her work, but she is here with us today. Unfortunately, Commissioner Fielder is not here today, but she spoke very eloquently about Ms. Margarita's contributions and qualifications. So we will get this out of the way and let folks get back to work. So I don't know if you had a couple words that you wanted to say, Ms. Wally, again, because you presented on this last time already.

Sure. Good morning, everyone. Chair Mulgar, I think you pretty much covered it. Per the administrative code, applicants must appear before the board to speak to their interests and qualifications. at least once. And so Ms. Margarita is here today to do so before the board considers this item for final approval.

Thank you, Ms. Margarita, for your time, energy, and spend on the CAC. We really appreciate your contributions and perspective.

Thank you so much, Chair Melgar, Vice Chair, and thank you all commissioners. Hi, Shimon Walton, or Supervisors Walton and Wong. So my name is Vanessa Margarita, and it's a humble honor to serve on the advisory committee meeting. I mean, committee advisory committee meeting. Sorry, I'm super nervous.

Community Advisory Committee.

Community Advisory Committee. Thank you, Chair Melgar. And I just want to be on there to ensure that all of the different communities that are not able to be present and speak up for themselves due to work, due to parenting, due to their busy lives, et cetera, we all have different experiences and lenses. And I feel that growing up in San Francisco, riding the 91 Owl at night when I was working two to three jobs, being single parent status, or going to school on the 26 Valencia all the way to San Francisco State, which we don't have anymore, or taking the 15 third bus to the Sunnydale Boys and Girls Club, where I was Sunnydale Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year, woot woot, or the 14 Mission or the 49 Venice. I have a lot of really good memories. with my younger sisters and also with my daughter. And I always call it the BMW, Bart Muni walking. That was my BMW. But I have really good memories with it. And to keep me humble, I always carry the different, I don't know if you guys remember this, but these were the transfers from back in the day. and also El Muni. So it just, I have really good memories with it and I also want to just make sure that all the voices of the people who aren't able to speak up and be present are heard. So thank you. BMW, I love that.

Thank you so much, Ms. Margarita, for your service and for wanting to continue to do that as well. Thank you. If there's no other questions or comments from my colleagues, we do not need public comment on this item since it was taken on March 10th. Do we need a motion, though? Yes, we need a motion and a second, please, to move her nomination forward by Sauter, seconded by Chen. Please call the roll since we have been joined by Commissioner Connie Chan from District 1. Thank you.

On the motion to approve, Item 9, final approval, appoint Cat Siegel and Venicia Margarita as the District 5 and District 9 representatives, respectively, to the Community Advisory Committee. Commissioner Chan? Aye. Chan, aye. Commissioner Chin? Aye. Chin, aye. Commissioner Dorsey? Aye. Dorsey, aye. Commissioner Mahmood? Aye. Mahmood, aye. Commissioner Randleman? Aye. Mandelman, aye. Chair Melgar? Aye. Melgar, aye. Vice Chair Sautter? Aye. Sautter, aye. Commissioner Sherrill? Aye. Sherrill, aye. Commissioner Walton? Aye. Walton, aye. Commissioner Wong? Aye. Wong, aye. There are 10 ayes. The motion is approved. Thank you. And thank you, Ms. Margarita. Congratulations.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. And thank you, everyone.

Have a great day. And thank you for your service.

Madam Clerk, let's go back to the Consent Agenda Items 5 through 8, please.

Items 5 through 8 comprise the Consent Agenda. Staff is not planning to present on these items, but are available for questions. Also, we have received public comment on Items 5 and 6, and it has been posted to our website.

Okay, thank you. I don't see anyone on the roster wanting to pull out any items from the consent agenda or having questions or comments. Colleagues, may I have a motion and a second? We do not need to take public comment on this, okay? Moved by Cheryl and seconded by Walton.

on the motion to approve consent agenda.

I think we can do the same house, same call, because we just voted. Okay, let's do the same house, same call. That motion, those items pass.

Let's go to item 10, please. Introduction. Item 10, introduction of new items. This is an information item.

OK, I don't see anyone on the roster with new items to introduce. Let's go to item number 11, please.

Item 11, public comment. Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on item 11? There is not. OK, thank you.

Please call the next item. Item 12, adjournment. We're adjourned. Thank you.