Transportation is all about bringing people together and so for this “Star Wars Day,” the Transbay Coalition was delighted to host our “May the 4th Happy Hour! ‘Episode 1: A Hayward Awakens’” Folks from around the Bay Area came out to the World Famous Turf Club in downtown Hayward to chat all things transit. For many people it was their first-ever Transbay Coalition event! Lots of conversation around running more frequent service on weekends and restoring bus service over the Dumbarton bridge (would have helped more San Mateo County folks get to Hayward!). Attendees also chatted about biking in San Leandro, electrifying the Capitol Corridor, and much more.
We were honored to have several dignitaries at the event too! Our special guest, Senator Aisha Wahab (pictured speaking to the crowd) spoke about her bill, the “Connect Bay Area Act,” (SB 1031) which would put a transit funding measure on the regional ballot and strengthen service coordination among the agencies.
We were also joined by BART Director Liz Ames who shared about BART’s efforts to provide more frequent service to match our region’s changed travel needs.
Madison Watkins of Congressmember Swalwell’s office came and spoke about the Congressmember’s support of the “Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act,” which will provide over $1 billion annually in transit operations funding that will improve the quality of transit in the Bay Area and for communities across the country.
Hayward Councilmember George Syrop shared about his work to make Hayward a more walkable, bikeable and transit-friendly city. Capitol Corridor JPA Boardmember/VTA Boardmember/Santa Clara City Councilmember Suds Jain spoke about the importance of transit as a tool to tackle climate change and the need for transit agencies to better collaborate.
AC Transit Directors Syed and McCalley also joined the fun. It was a big turnout and we look forward to many more events around the Bay Area to connect transportation advocates. Sign up here to get email alerts about upcoming events.
#Hayward #ACTransit #BART #VTA #StrongerCommunitiesThroughBetterTransit #ElectrifyCapitolCorridor #RegionalTransitMeasure
