By Noor Rizvi — A group of transit advocates organized by Transbay Coalition were thrilled to have State Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan join us for a bus ride-along last week! In a time when politicians and decision-makers seem disconnected from the public, one of the best ways to help elected officials truly understand the transit rider […]
At a VTA board workshop on Friday, the board reviewed the agency’s emerging strategy on transit and transportation funding. Similarly, San Mateo County’s agencies discussed transit and transportation funding earlier in the week. During the MTC discussion about transit funding options in 2024, Santa Clara County leaders had sent a forceful message that the county
Written by: InfrastructureWeak Despite operating reduced service since 2020, like many Bay Area transit operators, AC Transit has been projecting a ~$35 million annual budget deficit beginning next year, as revenue growth falls behind expenses and pandemic financial support expires. The AC Transit Board will hear at its Wednesday meeting this week, with updated revenue
Last night was the turning of a page at the AC Transit Board. AC Transit has a new board President, Diane Shaw, and a new Vice President, Murphy McCalley and we hope that under this new leadership the board takes this opportunity to focus on improving service, increasing ridership, and improving working conditions at AC
This past year was the most successful year yet for Transbay Coalition’s work to improve transit, biking, and street safety throughout the Bay Area. Thank YOU for helping make that happen. Whether you donated, volunteered, came to an event, or spoke out for a better transportation system in the region, you made our region a
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
In the Capital Improvement Plan approved by the board in November, Caltrain listed a 10+ year, $600 million program to upgrade its platforms to provide level boarding. Now that Caltrain is running all-electric trains between San Francisco and San Jose Tamien, it is possible to get started on this valuable program that will cut dwell
Increased ridership on electric trains, lower costs for electricity than forecast, and financial discipline have improved Caltrain’s financial outlook, but not nearly enough to prevent the need for new funding. Caltrain’s finance committee got a first look at a draft operating budget for FY2025 and a draft 10-Year Strategic Financial Plan on December 16. Electric
At 9am on 12/4 we got word that the City of Oakland was planning on removing 100 bus shelters without any plan to replace them and that city staff would be presenting this decision to the Oakland/AC Transit coordination committee meeting at 10am that same day. Bus shelters are key for making transit more comfortable,
In the first full month of electric Caltrain service, overall ridership jumped by 17%, and weekend ridership jumped by 38%. Weekend ridership has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with electric service that is faster and twice as frequent. With service every 30 minutes, up from hourly, Caltrain is now more convenient for fun and errands. Caltrain’s
Especially now that there is more frequent electric service, residents in several cities are pursuing initiatives to reduce Caltrain horn noise. Residents in San Mateo have been pursuing a quiet zone project to restrict the routine use of train horns at Villa Terrace and East Bellevue Avenue near downtown. The city is considering closing the
At Caltrain’s board meeting on Thursday September 5 (and meetings at SamTrans and VTA last week), board members grappled with the issues around regional transit funding and solutions being proposed in a regional process with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, legislators, and other stakeholders. At the Caltrain board meeting, about two dozen riders from all three
Caltrain, BART and other Bay Area transit agencies making progress at coordinating schedules more systematically, and the results are starting to show, with improvements at the Millbrae BART/Caltrain transfer, along the Peninsula corridor, and many other places around the region. Both BART and Caltrain will make changes to improve some of the rail transfers at
On Monday, August 26, the Transportation Revenue Measure Select Committee will start to discuss options for legislation in 2025 to authorize regional transportation funding measure in 2026. The options present stark contrasts – an option to set transit on a path toward thriving, a “less worse” option to slow the decline of public transportation in
Two major projects completing the ring of rail around San Francisco Bay advanced in recent weeks. The $12.75B project to bring BART from Berryessa to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara broke ground. The project is now estimated to start rail service in 2036. The groundbreaking took place before VTA received a commitment from the
Discussion about a regional transportation funding measure has resumed with a “Select Committee” created by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with the goal of developing options and agreement for 2025 legislation to authorize a regional transportation funding measure. The 2024 effort toward authorizing legislation with SB1031 was halted by Senator Wiener at the end of May,
On Friday, VTA announced that the federal government would fund $5.1Billion toward the BART Silicon Valley project, about 41% of the cost of the project, currently estimated at $12.7 billion. This leaves a gap of $1.2Billion from the amount that VTA had been requesting, and a gap of $700million to complete the project, following the
Last Friday May 24, SB1031, the Connect Bay Area Act, passed the Senate Floor and heads to the Assembly with more work to do and South Bay opposition. The next step will be Assembly policy committee hearings later in June. In order to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 16, amendments were added to
In board meetings on Wednesday and Thursday this past week, the SamTrans and Caltrain boards acknowledged progress in amendments and negotiations on SB1031, the authorizing legislation for a regional transportation funding measure. The boards retained their positions to oppose the legislation unless amended, with the rationale that this would provide the greatest amount of negotiating
On Wednesday May 1 and Thursday, May 2, the SamTrans, Caltrain, and VTA boards will review their positions on AB1831, the Connect Bay Area Act. This important bill would authorize a regional transportation funding measure that would keep transit running at Caltrain, BART, and other agencies facing post-pandemic budget challenges, and would support more frequent
