Regional Measure Funding for Rider Experience Improvements
An important goal for the regional funding measure is to pay for better agency coordination that leads to rider experience improvements, branded as “transit transformation” in the Bay Area. Riders and voters want new transit funding to prevent cuts and to make service more convenient and coordinated, according to polling. Having a clear spending plan for transit transformation investments is important to make sure that the measure delivers promised transit transformation improvements, and to give confidence to leaders in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, who are still making decisions about whether to join the measure..
The authorizing legislation, SB63, calls for up to 10% to be spent on transit transformation. At the May meeting of the Bay Area Partnership Board, composed of senior executives of transit agencies and county transportation authorities, MTC proposed a set of expenditures including:
$25M for fare integration, which could fully cover the cost of free and reduced price transfers, and expanding Clipper START, the standard low-income discount program, to 100,000 more participants
$10M for phased rollout of new coordinated maps and signs at rail stations, transit hubs, ferry terminals and bus stops
$15M for transit priority projects ranging from signal priorities to bus lanes
$5M for coordinated accessible transportation, including one seat paratransit riders, and county mobility management programs that help people connect with accessible transportation services
The initiatives for fare integration, wayfinding signs, transit priority and accessibility will increase ridership by making transit easier to use, more affordable, faster and more reliable.
Leaders are demanding clarity and accountability, which are good goals if not taken too far. Clarity in the spending plan must not sacrifice flexibility: transit transformation programs may need to evolve over time to continue delivering benefits to the rider experience. For example, the next step in the region’s Fare Policy Vision is a multi-agency pass or cap. There needs to be a way for the “fare integration” to cover new programs, rather than to lock the region in for a decade to programs that were designed in 2025.
Counties making decisions about opting in to the regional funding measure also want to make sure that investments will serve their counties. The plan needs the right balance between local benefit and reasonable management of multi-agency projects or risk making programs overly complicated.
For example, imagine a scenario where new signs are being installed at Millbrae Station, which is served by BART, Caltrain, and SamTrans. Distributing funds separately to each agency and then re-collecting funds would add additional time, cost, and administrative burden. Or imagine trying to fund cross-agency free transfers by distributing funding up front to each county and agency, and then reconciling free transfers on a monthly basis. This would be excessively complicated and wasteful. Collecting funding centrally and netting out payments makes much more sense.
We will keep you posted on opportunities to speak up to ensure that “transit transformation” is well funded in the regional measure, over the next few months as the expenditure plan is refined.