that might appear during the project. we could also limit the program by income, just like the lifeline passed for the adults. this, as you know, is very challenging administratively and will also require funding. the program cannot be limited to concerns about the youth, given the limitations of clipper. schloss, we discussed this program with the fta, and they cautioned us from evaluating this program flight title 6 perspective. if we would embark on this program, and we would have to pass the fta mostar, in terms of the program. if we were to do this, we could not limited to san francisco use only. first of all, clipper could not allow that and a title 6 program would not allow us to do it. additionally, this would have to be a priority for the program regionally. we are only one of the transit offices operating the clipper program. we have to stand in line for our needs along with the other issues in front of clipper. with the budget analysis report, included were some areas that we do not feel we agree with. one of the first ones is they felt we could reduce our number of fares sectors and test savings of $370,000. we do not think this is the case. we are very low on tfi staff and we believe the staff would have some safety and customer service issues as well. we do not believe that assumption is realistic. we also think we will have to incur some administrative effort in marketing and communication costs. things like, what happened to the clipper card? how will we handle that? we also have to work on marketing this program around schools, in terms of educating the use and how to use the system. we would have to work with the school district. the budget analysis estimate also assumes that $1.4 million in that you provide will continue and that will be allocated for funding for the program. you have not proved that. that should be added to the cost as well. the last item is the big item. what the budget analysis did mention is that there would be some additional service hours and costs. they did not include that in the total. what we believe is that the assumption for additional costs of service, it is not realistic. in terms of youth writer ship -- youth ridership, they make up about 45% of our ridership from to clot-4:00. all the schools get out at the same time. we believe these services would have to be added. probably about 25,000-75,000 additional service hours. if you remember the free muni study from a few years ago, assuming the costs from that, we extrapolated that. to come up with the $6 million. in with one caveat. we want to further refine this one to determine at what level we are going. it will be in that range of $6 million or so, depending on the service anchormen. what we have not look that is, if we add the service and have additional vehicles to provide that service, that would be further analysis of refinement that we would do depending on your direction today. the next step, we continue to work with the stakeholders. he would like to have a preferred model discussion. should the program be limited in hours? should it be school hours only? for example, new york is school hours only. three hours per day. do want to limit access to the system? we would continue to finance financial impact. and we're working with supervisor campos and other individuals to identify sources of funding. having said that, i do not think we have clearly identified revenue sources yet. we need the board to weigh in on any direction you want to give us. any policy framework for the ongoing discussions. chariman nolan: i see we are joined by supervisor campos. i would love to have you come forward. good afternoon. supervisor campos: thank you. good afternoon. good afternoon to the executive director, director reiskin. we are in the middle of our board of supervisors meetings. i know that at least two of my colleagues will try to speak out and speak to you as well. let me say that the board of supervisors just passed a resolution that i introduced calling up on the various agencies to collaborate to make free muni for u.k. reality in san francisco. [applause] i especially want to thank the young people who are the ones that brought this issue to our attention. quite frankly, they have given all of us a lesson in civic engagement. it is truly something to behold when you see the level of involvement that we have around this issue. for those of us who are looking to the future, it makes you feel very proud and pleased that the city is going to be in very good hands when these young people get older. chariman nolan: i need to ask you a question so you can continue. you know how things work here. would you like to add anything else? [laughter] supervisor campos: let me make a couple of points here. first of all, we have been working on this for many months. the process of putting this together, it was not that we simply said, we want free muni for youth, make it happen. we have identified sources of funding for this program. we have the budget and legislative analysts here to answer any questions that you have. we believe it is possible to find the sources of money to make this happen in a fiscally responsible way. we also believe that the policy benefits are numerous. not only the environmental benefits to having more people riding public transit, but also in it says about our investment in public education in general grid -- public education in general. this is also about making said francisco a livable city for families. mayor lee has tried to make san francisco a family friendly city. because of the economy and rising costs of public transportation, because the school district is significantly reducing the amount of transit that they are providing, families are hurting. this is about making a city that makes it possible for families to stay in san francisco. other cities in this country are doing it. we have led the way in many other areas. why not lead the way on this one? i respectfully ask for your support. chariman nolan: thank you. we are honored by your presence in this session. [applause] members of the board, the you have questions or comments on the presentation? director oka: it is obvious to me, as it is obvious to all of us, that nothing in this economy is free. we can no longer afford to provide anything free. if, in fact, we provide free muni for youth, somebody else is going to have to pay for that. i agree with supervisor campos. we must find the resources to do this. if we do not do this, we are going to pay for it in the long run. when these children become adults, what is going to happen? right now, we have an opportunity, as supervisor campos said, to lead the way in making free muni for youth possible. if we all work together, with the cooperation of other city departments, we can find whatever money that we need to do this. i encourage every member of this board to use their resources or contacts to contact the state legislators or whatever we have to do to find the money. i am willing to turn over every rock three or four times in order to find money. please help me do that. i'm going to start doing that right now. chariman nolan: do other members of the board have questions or comments? we will hear from the public now. we are delighted you are all here and want to hear from as many people as possible. we do have to be out of this room by a certain time. we also have several more items for consideration this afternoon. let's move on with that. i have talked to the leadership and appreciate working with them. the leaders have met with a number of us. let's start. secretary boomer: i will read a number of names and people could line up. let me find the card. what i would like to do is to read a list of names and have people lined up so that we can -- chariman nolan: mr. williams? secretary boomer: i am going to read a list. steve williams, you are first. >> i want to thank the board for scheduling this hearing for 4:00 so that young people are able to attend. later on, you are going to be able to hear some experts about the importance of this issue. i also want to thank the members of the board that we got a chance to meet with to have conversations with, particularly director reiskin, who blocked out 30 minutes to meet with us. but ultimately took about 60 minutes to actually hear from the concerns that we have. a couple of things that i have concerns about in terms of the report rid in terms of setting the context, an important point is not a reference is the flashing of yellow school bus service that is being done by the school district. clearly, that is not policy being directed by the mta, but it is an important and textual notes that the board should be considering with this particular matter. ultimately, it is going to force more and more young people to rely on muni to get to and from school as well as other places. the mta board has taken action previously, recognizing the immense need. when you created the mx express, because of the overcrowding on that bus. there is one last thing i would like to say. in our conversation with director reiskin, he indicated that the board has not indicated a broad support for this policy. we think it is important for the mta to say, yes, we want to move forward in this direction and then find the money. ultimately, we think the issue of overcrowding is overstated. we go back to the legislative analyst's report, which essentially indicates that, right now, if we're going to increase service, all of that $6 million cannot be allocated to the young people who are riding the buses. we do not agree with the reports that indicate it will cost $13 million, instead of $6 million. secretary boomer: gloria estevas. >> [speaking spanish] >> thank you for having me. it is an important point to say that you have spent money harassing used for the police. this program would cost less than what you are currently planning -- currently paying the police department. >> [speaking spanish] >> i think it is more important for you to provide funding so that youth can get to school with freedom and get their education rather than be criminalize or punished by police. >> [speaking spanish] >> if you think with love and a sense of humanity, then you know that it is important for youth. they are our future. all of the mothers are here organized wanting this to happen. for their youth. chariman nolan: thank you. i see that supervisor avalos has joined us. we will extend the same courtesy to you that we did to supervisor campos and allow you to say word. supervisor avalos: good afternoon. thank you for having me. i want to think the public for giving me the space to jump the line, so to speak. as you know, the board of supervisors just approved a resolution urging the mta to look into how we can afford to have free fast passes for young people in san francisco. i support that. the actual resolution came out of my committee on the city operations and neighborhood services committee, where the youth commission had to work with groups around the city. some of the best presentations i have seen from anyone is from the young people or adults or seniors that presented. they did a fine job laying out the need and their presentations were stellar. these are difficult times with the budgets. i want you to know that you have the board of supervisors will support in trying to make this happen. we want to be a partner in help making this happen. you can use us as a resource and help you to figure out where you can find here funding. i do appreciate the difficulty you have in making budgetary decisions for the mta. i want you to know that you have our support to make this come about. chariman nolan: i'm sure i speak or all of us on the board when i say i appreciate the offer for cooperation in. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. i understand you have another meeting to go to. secretary boomer: stella estevas. john brown. >> good afternoon. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon, i am here because i want you to give fast passes for free to children. >> [speaking spanish] >> i asked her why she wanted this, and she said because my mom does not have enough money to buy fast passes. chariman nolan: thank you. [applause] good afternoon. >> [speaking spanish] >> my name is estella and i am a single mother and a member of power. i think there is a crisis happening right now, an economic crisis, but we are not fighting for adults, we are fighting for children and youth. >> [speaking spanish] >> i agree with everything that supervisor campos said and i think this is a very important campaign for single mothers especially, but all income people. a lot of people are on the street without much money, especially for single mothers. i know that we are in crisis, but the desire to win something -- chariman nolan: thank you. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. i am in eighth grade at horace mann middle school. i am here because i support you making a pass free for all youth. i use the mta to go to school and come home. sometimes i do not have money. with my parents do not always have enough money so we have to share passes. most of our income goes to muni. i want to be able to ride without fear of being harassed. i need your help. i am not the only one. a lot of my friends needed to. -- need it, too. it is important that we make it muni free for all youth, because the paper work is hard to create for immigrants, families like mine. i hope you think about me and all the children and youth when you make your decision. chariman nolan: thank you very much. [applause] good afternoon. >> i am here with power. we are part of the coalition. we are excited this we are excited that this was brought forward. we ain't it is important that we not curtailed this. 61% of our students get free lunch. we know the majority already qualified. -- we think it is important not to curtail this. you all can take action today. we know that this is a discussion item. >> the supervisor has joined us. >> thank you for allowing me to speak. i appreciate you hearing me out of turn. we're having our supervisor meeting. i am here and support of the free muni past. i speak as a supervisor and as a former organizer. i am sure you have heard this several times already but use are facing a difficult time in our city. this is not often reflected in our city. the number of children enrolled has increased from 2008 at 54% to 54% in 2010. this is not include people who are underemployed and and documented. decisions. we're trying to face funding. i'm going from a fleet of 44 buses to 25. it is important that the city worse together to find a solution to address that. i think that this is an important project for the city. we have to put our money where our mouth is. we can encourage young people to write for free. i know students who wait for sudden bus drivers to come to their corner because they will allow them and their siblings on for free because they cannot afford passes. i know that they get on the buses weekly and make it cited an that is just the reality we are facing here today. i know that we are selling half of the passes that we did several years ago. we used to to sell 20,000 and just last month was sold 10,000. and make that all right. that can change the culture for young people on our buses. and you so much for considering. we know this is very tough. i am committed and dedicated to working with you on this. the advocates are working tremendous them bring in this issue to us. thank-you. >> i have been informed that we have an overflow room. we cannot anyone to be standing or sit on the floor. the people who are sitting or standing on the side to please move. >> ok. for speakers. >> this is a pro muni campaign. we want to encourage young people to be the next group of drivers. -- of riders. this is important to have people not be burdened to parents.