Illinois may be leapfrogging ahead of California with a bill to reform governance, funding and transit project delivery for Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace. SB 3438 would replace the existing Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), the MPO for the Chicago region, with the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) to coordinate schedules and fares for these services.  NITA’s full set of responsibilities and authorities would make arguably the first true ‘network manager’ in the US - and could thus be transformative in leading toward a seamlessly integrated network in the greater Chicago region.

Unfortunately, riders who qualify for discounts - senior, low income, youth and disability - cannot yet get access to their discounts if they pay with a credit, debit, or prepaid card. BART’s data shows that 15.6% of riders use one of these discounts. MTC says that the capability for people to get access to their discounts when paying with a credit or debit card is planned for the future, but no schedule details are available yet.

On September 30, California’s State Transit Transformation Task Force has opportunities to advance policies for more coordinated transit and more timely and cost-effective capital projects. However, the draft recommendation has a catastrophic gap in operating funding, as well as big gaps in the potential to advance timely and cost-effective capital projects, and room for improvement in coordination. In order to fill in the gaps, please send a letter and/or make public comment on these points.

On Monday morning, over 200 advocates rallied and marched in San Francisco and helped revive negotiations in Sacramento about a $750M loan to keep transit running in the Bay Area. That afternoon in Sacramento, the Assembly Transportation Committee passed Senate Bill 63, the bill authorizing a regional transit funding measure for the Bay Area.

The August meeting of California's Transit Transformation Task Force (TTTF) made progress on important statewide recommendations for transit coordination and capital project reform. These topics had been discussed at earlier meetings but faced pushback from agencies. In August, supported by comments from transit riders and supporters around the state, there was overall support for recommendations, with some questions and debate. There is only one more meeting scheduled for the Task Force to make its final recommendations.

In the first week of August, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties voted to participate in the regional transit funding measure, joining San Francisco and the East Bay. If the bill is finalized in the legislature and the ballot measure passed in November 2026, the regional transit funding measure would prevent deep service cuts to major transit services at BART, Caltrain, Muni and AC Transit, and would provide funding for coordinated, affordable service, including free transfers, standard low-income discounts, unified navigation, and faster, more reliable bus service.

As the VTA board considers joining the regional transit funding measure, board members want to understand the spending programs, including the relatively small but powerful “transit transformation” investments intended to increase ridership by making transit more convenient and affordable, and the large $264 million pot of “return to source” funding, over and above what Santa Clara County will need to prevent Caltrain and BART service cuts and implement regional network coordination. This blog post provides data showing the value of the fare integration programs to Santa Clara County.

The first features of the Clipper 2 upgrade will be publicly available on August 28, with the release of open payment – the ability to pay with credit cards, debit cards, and Apple/Google wallets – on BART.

The State Assembly Transportation Committee voted to approve SB 63, the authorizing legislation for a regional transit funding measure, with Bay Area members speaking up about the importance of funding transit. But the Committee approved an amendment reducing funds for Seamless transit, following a recommendation made by MTC in late June. The Assembly Transportation Committee wants a final review when the number of counties participating has been decided and an expenditure plan is available.

In August, transit agencies will take the next step to improve transfers for riders, adding four more transit hubs to the “big sync” initiative. Transfers will be improved at Daly City BART, Palo Alto Caltrain, Dublin/Pleasanton BART, and Concord BART, adding to the transfer improvements in January at El Cerrito del Norte and San Rafael Transit Center.

Today, Governor Newsom and the state legislature announced a budget agreement to save public transit – at least in the short-term. Public pressure from you, tens of thousands of Californians, and the Move California coalition with 120+ partner organizations, helped motivate the state legislature to reject Governor Newsom's initial budget proposal and then to get the Governor to sign the deal. This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the work you and everyone else put in.