San Mateo County agencies recommend removing popular transit coordination - without board approval

Three San Mateo County agencies have recommended eliminating funding for the transit coordination initiatives that are bringing all-agency transit passes, free transfers, schedule coordination, and coordinated paratransit, as part of requested changes for the regional transportation funding measure authorizing legislation.

These recommendations were sent in a letter by SamTrans, SMCTA (the county’s transportation funding agency) and the City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG) to Senate Transportation Committee Chairs Cortese and McNerney last week.

One example of the popular initiatives that the San Mateo County agencies propose to defund is the popular all-agency Bay Pass, currently being used by the City of Menlo Park and affordable housing communities to provide more mobility for residents. This month, students at UC Berkeley voted overwhelmingly - over 90% - to renew and expand participation in the popular program, and college students around the region are organizing to do the same. The first phase of the BayPass pilot showed a 40% increase in transit ridership, and the program is delivering financially positive results.

Shockingly, the topic of killing transit coordination had not been discussed in public by the SamTrans or the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) at any of their recent board meetings. In fact, board members and senior staff at SamTrans and SMCTA had repeatedly praised transit coordination initiatives over the years. These agencies especially praised coordination as the desired approach in contrast to opposition to consolidation provisions that had been included in last year’s transit funding bill.

The legislation will be discussed at these agencies tomorrow, May 1st. Riders and organizations who support a well-coordinated transit system have an opportunity to speak up against this baffling and self-defeating stance.

So if you live, work, or travel in San Mateo County, then we need you to speak up tomorrow, May 1st at the Caltrain and SMCTA board meetings, and at the SamTrans and C/CAG meetings next week.

At the same time, the San Mateo County letter also suggests having the Transportation Authorities of counties participating in the measure be in charge of distributing funds, rather than MTC SB63, the authorizing legislation, calls for funds to be distributed by a body governed “by the same board that governs the commission.” This is the same structure used for the bridge toll authority and the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority which are in charge of regional funds for specific purposes.

It is already nearly impossible for members of the public to stay on top of three separate bodies deliberating about whether and how to participate in regional transit funding, plus MTC which is already the agency overseeing regional transit funding and coordination. It is the opposite of transparency and accountability to add a fifth body to watch.  

An alternative interpretation is that the San Mateo County agencies are recommending that each county Transportation Authority meets separately to decide how to use the funding. But this breaks down when you consider that the regional funding measure will fund regional agencies, such as Caltrain and BART, and regional coordination initiatives such as free transfers. If each county Transportation meets separately and makes unilateral decisions, they can break services and programs that work across counties. One agency could decide to break Caltrain, while another agency could decide unilaterally to break free transfers. That is the opposite of what voters would expect when they vote for a regional measure to maintain service for agencies and to improve coordination across agencies.

Key decisions in June for counties to participate by July deadline

SB63 passed senate committees, as negotiations continue about county participation. The bill includes San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties and allows San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to opt in. The bill sets a deadline of July 31 for these counties to opt in.  

San Mateo County and Santa Clara agencies are saying that they will make board decisions in June about whether to participate. Polling for Santa Clara County will be reported at the VTA board meeting on Thursday May 1, and polling for San Mateo County is expected to be done by June. The polling will help the counties decide whether to participate in a regional funding measure directly, or to do local measures and contribute separately.