Asm. David Chiu announces new bill to advance seamless transit, AB 629

Today Assemblymember David Chiu announced AB 629, the Seamless and Resilient Bay Area Transit Act, a new bill to advance integration of the region’s 27 transit systems that builds off the work of the region’s Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force.  

The new bill includes deadlines for progress on the coordination of transit fares, signage and wayfinding, and real time arrival information among the region’s transit agencies within three years of the bill going into effect. 

Asm. Chiu’s AB 629  instructs Bay Area transit agencies to take a number of short-term, immediate steps towards coordination and integration.

Asm. Chiu’s AB 629 instructs Bay Area transit agencies to take a number of short-term, immediate steps towards coordination and integration.

“Navigating our disjointed transit system can be an intimidating and frustrating experience for riders, which leads to less transit ridership overall,” said Assemblymember Chiu in a press release sent this morning. “As we navigate our way out of the pandemic and look to increase ridership, we must put the rider experience first and create a more seamless, reliable transportation system.”

AB 629 would also provide immediate benefits for regular transit riders who don’t have access to high-volume discounted fares. Referencing the region’s ongoing Fare Coordination and Integration Study and Business Case, the bill calls for MTC to pilot an “accumulator pass” among multiple transit agencies that provide service in at least three adjacent counties by July 1, 2023. 

Accumulator passes allow transit riders to pay for transit on a per-trip basis, but with maximum daily, weekly, or monthly caps that give riders free trips after the cap is reached. Accumulator passes have been found in other regions to provide significant benefits to low-income riders who often don’t have enough money up-front at the beginning of a week or month to pay for a loyalty pass.

Responding to calls from transit agencies participating in the Blue Ribbon Task Force for legislation that can help get buses out of traffic to make transit speedier, AB 269 also requires that MTC work with transit agencies to identify and maintain a coordinated “transit priority network” for the region. Identification of the region’s priority transit corridors would provide a more regional and coordinated approach for implementation of transit priority measures to keep transit riders moving quickly across jurisdictional and transit agency boundaries - including bus lanes and transit signal priority measures.

Last year, Chiu introduced a similar bill, AB 2057, sponsored by Seamless Bay Area and supported by more than 20 community groups. While the bill was ultimately shelved due to the legislature’s prioritization of bills directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it helped lead to the establishment of the Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force in May 2020 and its focus on identifying long-term network management reforms.

AB 2057 would have set up a 20-month “Seamless Transit Task Force” of elected officials, transit agency leaders, and community groups to identify structural and governance reforms required to establish an effective lead “network manager” entity to oversee the integration of the region’s transit system over the long term.

The Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force is now examining many of these issues in detail. Both Asm. Chiu and Seamless Bay Area are members of the task force and have been actively engaged with its work, including shaping a Transformation Action Plan that the group has been tasked to complete before it dissolves in July 2021. The Task Force is recommending that a “business case” be developed for network management reforms that begin by May 2021 and likely last until early 2022, studying the full costs and benefits of a range of structural governance changes that could lead to seamless integration of bay area transit.

Here are the most important ways you can take action right now to show your support for AB 629 and seamless transit in the Bay Area:

  1. Sign up to make public comment in support of AB 629 at upcoming public hearings and meetings. Fill out this form to indicate your interest in making public comment at upcoming public hearings and transit agency board meetings focused on AB 629. As hearings and meetings are scheduled, we will reach out with more information on how you can make your voice heard.

  2. Spread the word about AB 629. Forward our email to friends, family, and co-workers. Post on social media about AB 629 and how more coordinated transit fares, wayfinding, and service would make your life better. Here are a few tweets to share.

  3. Get organizations you belong to to support AB 629. Demonstrating that there’s a broad coalition of groups that support AB 629 will be essential to passing it. If a group you belong to supports the bill or wants more information about it, please email Seamless Policy Director Ian Griffiths at ian@seamlessbayarea.org.

  4. Donate to Seamless Bay Area. Your contributions are what makes our advocacy to advance a seamless transit system possible. Please donate if you are in the position to do so to keep up this momentum and continue to grow our coalition of support for seamless transit reforms.

While AB 629 identifies the intent to enact future legislation to set up a network management entity for the nine-county Bay Area, the bill does not currently designate any specific network management structure or entity. Asm. Chiu has expressed his hope that the Task Force will identify additional provisions that advance seamless integration that can be folded into the bill. 

“Bay Area transit riders desperately want to see real progress toward a more seamless and easy-to-use transit system. AB 629 takes important first steps on fares, wayfinding, and a network of transit priority routes,” said Seamless Bay Area Policy Director Ian Griffiths. “Ultimately, we need to build upon these first steps and designate an accountable network manager authority for Bay Area transit to bring together our fragmented network. We look forward to working with MTC, transit agencies, and our state legislators through the business case process to identify the full set of reforms that can transform Bay Area transit into a rider-first system that will recover from COVID stronger and more connected than before the pandemic.”

Stephanie Beechem