BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1287|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1287
Author: Chiu (D)
Amended: 6/18/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 10-0, 6/30/15
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire,
Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/14/15
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 29-36, 6/2/15 (FAIL) - See last page for vote
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 49-29, 6/4/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Vehicles: parking violations
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill removes the sunset on San Francisco's
Transit-Only Lane Enforcement (TOLE) program.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Authorizes the City and County of San Francisco to install
automated forward-facing parking control devices on city-owned
public transit vehicles for the purpose of video imaging
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violations occurring in transit-only traffic lanes. Citations
can only be issued for violations captured during the posted
hours of operation for a transit-only traffic lane.
2)Requires a qualified, designated employee of the City and
County of San Francisco to review video images or recordings
and determine whether a parking violation occurred in a
transit-only lane. If a violation of statute, regulation, or
ordinance is observed in the recordings by the designated
employee, the violation is subject to a civil penalty.
3)Places regulations on the retention time of video data
depending on whether or not the video contains evidence of a
violation.
This bill removes the sunset date of January 1, 2016, and
effectively extends the San Francisco Municipal Transportation
Agency (SFMTA) TOLE program indefinitely. This bill also
repeals obsolete provisions relating to the lapsed reporting
requirement.
Comments
1)Purpose. The author states that TOLE-equipped vehicles help
improve transit service and safety by discouraging illegal
parking along San Francisco's 26 miles of transit-only lanes.
According to SFMTA, transit vehicles on these routes carry
more than 160,000 passengers per day.
2)Establishment of the TOLE program. In 2007, the Legislature
approved and the Governor signed AB 101 (Ma, Chapter 377)
establishing the initial TOLE pilot through 2011. In this
program, the SFMTA uses cameras on board buses to enforce
transit-only lane parking violations. The program's goal is
to improve transit service by discouraging vehicles from
parking or stopping and therefore obstructing transit-only
lanes. With this program, vehicles illegally parked or
stopped within a dedicated transit lane have their license
plates captured by a video camera on a passing bus and the
registered owners receive a citation in the mail. AB 1041
(Ma, Chapter 325, Statutes of 2011) reauthorized the pilot
program through 2015.
San Francisco has 26 miles of transit-only lanes and another
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22 miles planned over the next decade. The TOLE program is
part of a multi-tiered approach to keep these lanes moving for
buses. In addition, SFMTA is painting the lanes red to
provide a strong visual reminder to road users to avoid using
the transit-only lanes and has invested in transit signal
priority technology to reduce the amount of time buses spend
waiting at traffic lights.
3)Evaluation of the TOLE program. AB 1041 instructed SFMTA to
submit to the Legislature an evaluation of the pilot program's
effectiveness and impact on privacy. The findings in the
report can help to address the fundamental question: At what
point is this pilot program allowed to end and become a fully
authorized program?
In evaluating the TOLE program, SFMTA reviewed the following
key metrics (discussed in more detail below):
a) Bus running times and running time variability on
transit-only lanes
b) Citations issued to repeat offenders
c) Program costs and revenues
d) Privacy complaints
4)Impact of TOLE on bus reliability. A review of travel-time
information indicates that the TOLE program can help reduce
the instances of major SFMTA delays and improve running times.
According to the report, two routes show running time
improvements while two other routes show no improvement in
travel time. However, the report argues these latter routes
did not degrade as much as they may have without the TOLE
program in light of increased construction activity, traffic
delays, and increasing ridership.
5)Changing motorist behavior? Over the life of the program, the
proportion of tickets issued to high-frequency offenders
(motorists who already received at least three citations for
parking illegally in a transit-only lane) has declined from
17% of all citations in 2011 to 1% of all citations in 2014.
According to the report, this reduction shows that the program
can alter the behavior of the most frequent violators.
6)Is this just a revenue generator? Between 2010 and 2014, the
combined cost of the enforcement and video maintenance
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averaged approximately $334,000 per year. This number
represents the ongoing annual operating cost and does not
include initial capital investments which totaled $6.3
million. During the same time period, the TOLE program fines
generated on average $256,000 per year in paid fine revenue.
These numbers support the program's stated intent to reduce
transit delays and improve transit service, not generate
revenue, as the operation of the program actually costs more
than the revenue it raises.
7)Privacy concerns. The TOLE images and recordings are
dedicated to the TOLE program and can only be used for the
TOLE program. SFMTA maintains that the images and footage are
not used for general surveillance. Video for the TOLE program
is recorded onto a special, dedicated hard drive for
professional parking control officers to review for
violations. After reviewing footage, hard drives are
installed back onto the buses where they are overwritten with
new data. Importantly, according to SFMTA there have been no
recorded privacy complaints related to the TOLE program since
the program began.
8)Supporters. Supporters believe that the existing TOLE program
has successfully enhanced driver compliance in dedicated
transit rights-of-way without resulting in points on the
drivers' licenses. They state that the program enhances
safety by reducing the number of instances that bus operators
have to stop or maneuver into the auto lane to get around
parked cars. SFMTA argues that it has made significant
investments in this program, and it would like to ensure the
program's continuation to improve the safety and reliability
of the transportation system.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/6/15)
Mayor of San Francisco
San Francisco County Transportation Authority
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
San Francisco Transit Riders
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Walk San Francisco
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/6/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 29-36, 6/2/15
AYES: Bloom, Bonta, Burke, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Dodd, Eggman, Eduardo Garcia, Gomez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer,
Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Ridley-Thomas,
Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood,
Atkins
NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bonilla, Brough, Chang,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gatto,
Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez,
Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Salas, Steinorth, Wagner,
Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Achadjian, Alejo, Brown, Calderon, Chávez,
Cooper, Cristina Garcia, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Roger
Hernández, O'Donnell, Perea, Rendon, Rodriguez
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 49-29, 6/4/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Mullin,
Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber,
Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Chávez,
Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gatto, Gray, Grove, Hadley,
Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Salas, Steinorth,
Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gordon, Medina
Prepared by:Christine Hochmuth / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/13/15 13:13:42
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