Transformation Action Plan Two Year Update - Progress and Next Steps
On December 8, the MTC’s Regional Network Management Committee reviewed a two year status update for the Transformation Action Plan. The update covers welcome results for riders, as well as behind the scenes progress being made.
The update summarizes progress on fare integration, mapping and wayfinding pilots, connected network planning, the groundwork for a regional funding measure and more.
The Transformation Action Plan (TAP) is a set of twenty-seven near-term actions to make public transit more rider-focused, affordable, and accessible that was approved in September 2021 by the region’s Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force. The Task Force was convened by MTC at the beginning of the pandemic with the goal of developing a plan for the rebuilding of Bay Area transit to be more connected, convenient, and resilient.
In September 2022, Seamless Bay Area and seven other advocacy groups published a Transit Transformation 1-Year Anniversary Report Card, tracking the progress toward implementation of the TAP based on the original timelines adopted. The Report Card found both encouraging progress on several initiatives - especially fare integration - but also a number of areas where progress was lagging or at risk. It is welcome to see that as the region’s Network Management advances, the organization is taking stock and publishing its own progress report.
Next steps - updating the TAP and strengthening network management
Recognizing that the region is now over two years into a three year plan, the MTC and agencies have indicated plans to update the Transformation Action Plan in the coming months. The MTC’s staff report about the Regional Transportation Revenue Measure presented at the December Legislation Committee points to additional important focus areas for the update - strengthening network management.
“Given the seriousness of the financial challenges facing public transit (with structural annual deficits in the $600-$750 million range) and the urgent need to deliver noticeable, customer-facing improvements to attract more riders and build public support toward a regional measure, we need a decision-making structure for key customer-facing elements that delivers what is in the best interest of the Bay Area public as opposed to serving the financial needs of each individual transit agency.”
To achieve faster and more decisive action, the staff report calls for “an empowered network manager responsible for advancing policy to create a seamless Bay Area transit system”...that… “will help deliver the measure's outcomes by expediting customer-facing initiatives.”
At the meetings of the Network Management Council (composed of transit general managers) and the Network Management Committee (composed of MTC Commissioners, transit board members, and a state administration representatives), there was strong support for more progress, and clear goals metrics showing specific, measurable, timely customer-facing outcomes that improve lives for transit riders, and with communication that tells the story to the public.
Essential for voter confidence
These steps are critically important for public confidence, as shown in poll results presented to MTC in early December.
When asked about the types of items that might be included in a regional measure, Bay Area voters continue to strongly support "creating a seamless Bay Area transit network with coordinated fares, routes, schedules and signage" with 73 percent of all voters finding this important, including 83 percent of weekly transit riders. A substantial majority also favor establishing "one regional agency for the Bay Area responsible for setting transit fares, coordinating different service schedules and creating consistent transit maps and signage" at 61 percent of all voters and 71 percent of weekly transit riders.
In order to gain voter confidence to secure funding, it is essential to make clear and prompt progress on providing a well-coordinated system for riders that includes accountability to deliver these outcomes.