In the final round of review for MTC’s Transit 2050+ long range transit network plan, one of the key missing links is proposed to be broken at the last minute.
For the first time in history, the region’s long range plan was developed as a connected network with a focus on improving service frequency, speed and reliability, and filling in missing links, with MTC working in close partnership with agencies. Historically, these plans were put together as a collection of capital projects submitted by agencies and counties.
Good news: with feedback from riders and agencies, the final proposal includes expanded transit priority investments in the East Bay, South Bay,and Marin County, plus an Irvington BART infill station and ACE frequency boosts. .
Bad news: One of the key missing links – adding back a public transit bus on the Highway 92 Bridge between San Mateo and Alameda Counties – was removed at the last minute. The 92 bridge bus route was exchanged with a new ferry service between Redwood City and Oakland. Including the ferry is not unreasonable – the ferry had been awarded federal grant funding that can only be used for ferry service, and that funding would be lost if the ferry was not included in the Transit 2050+ plan. Projects need to be listed to qualify for federal capital funding.
The Highway 92 bridge bus had been run by AC Transit and was cut during Covid. Before the pandemic, ridership had been very low, but the schedule was terrible – the last bus was around 6:30pm, and frequency was 1.5-2 hours in the middle of the day, and the bus was very unreliable. The new proposal to restore the bus called for service every 30 minutes, and for a set of transit priority and queue jump treatments to improve reliability.
Fortunately, the 92 bridge bus is also eligible for local funding, from the San Mateo County Regional Transit Connections funding category from Measure W, which has accumulated over $40 million dollars since that measure passed in 2018. The first “Call for Projects” is being conducted in February and is a possibility to fund this bus.
Also, San Mateo County could take a page from Sonoma County, which added in funding from SMART extensions by removing roadway expansions that communities did not want to build.
The final vote will be made by MTC on Wednesday, January 22 at a meeting starting at 9:30am. The agenda is here, and the zoom link is here.
