A tour of Kiku Crossing, an affordable housing community near downtown San Mateo, showed transportation demand management strategies including Clipper BayPass, shared parking, and secure, plentiful bike storage help residents living in the community; help the city bring affordable using a downtown parking lot; and help the developer complete the project with less costly car parking.

The learnings have value for transit agencies and stakeholders deciding whether San Mateo County (and Santa Clara County) should participate in a regional funding measure and how to fund “transit transformation” investments including fare integration.

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An important goal for the regional funding measure is to pay for the better agency coordination that leads to rider experience improvements, commonly known as “transit transformation” in the Bay Area Riders want transit funding to prevent cuts and to make service more convenient and coordinated. 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.. 

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Disappointing budget news for transit riders came on Wednesday, May 14 when Governor Newsom proposed slashing funds for transportation service and infrastructure in his updated "May Revise” state budget. The state budget must be negotiated between the governor and the legislature, and it is now in the legislature’s hands to defend and improve support for public transit and active transportation. Read on - and sign up for a webinar to learn more about what’s going on and how you can take action to save transit in the state budget.

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Last week, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties inched closer toward participating in a regional transportation funding measure. San Mateo County softened its shocking position against funding seamless transit, and both counties are negotiating on governance options for the funds. The VTA board reviewed polling data which showed voters were equally supportive of a regional and local 0.5% sales tax. In its discussion, the board leaned toward participating in the regional tax at a 0.5% level, while maintaining a backup of a new 0.5% county-specific tax in 2028 that would renew and increase the local tax. 

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Three San Mateo County agencies have recommended eliminating funding for transit coordination initiatives from the upcoming regional transportation funding measure authorizing legislation. This includes cutting funds for wildly popular initiatives like all-agency transit passes, free transfers, schedule coordination, and coordinated paratransit. 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. 

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The Palo Alto City Council approved an agreement to join the all-agency BayPass pilot, with $94,640 purchase of all agency transit passes.  The City had previously participated in the single-agency Caltrain GoPass to support sustainable commuting, but found that many employees work in city locations further from the Caltrain station and/or live in places that aren’t on the Caltrain corridor.

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This year, the California legislature is considering two bills to streamline building public transportation. SB 71 will permanently exempt sidewalk, bike lane, and bus lane projects from CEQA. SB445 sets timelines for utilities and local governments to approve permits for sustainable transportation projects, and empowers agencies to advance work should the timelines not be met. These bills will help reduce two causes that frequently delay rail and transit projects. Seamless Bay Area supports these bills.

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Last week, Senators Wiener and Arreguín announced a new bill that would authorize a regional public transportation funding measure. The first draft of the bill calls for a half-percent sales tax that would fund the regional transit agencies that face likely cuts, including Caltrain, BART, Muni and AC Transit.  The proposed measure includes San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, and allows San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to opt in by July 31. 

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Participation in the Clipper START low-income discount program has increased by 77% since the program was standardized with 50% discounts among all transit agencies in January 2024. Now, there are plans to make the Clipper START pilot program permanent and to make it easier to join.

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California's Cap-and-Trade program provides billions in funding for public transportation in the Bay Area and statewide. In the Bay Area, funds have supported a range of needs including major rail and bus projects, bus electrification, and student transit discount programs. Reauthorizing the Cap-and-Trade program before its 2030 expiration date is a key piece of the puzzle with statewide, regional, and local funding and reforms needed to save and improve transit.

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MTC and transit agencies have opportunities to increase transit ridership by promoting the upcoming capability to pay by credit/debit cards and Apple/Google wallets for tourists and for people taking trips to sports and entertainment who aren’t frequent transit users.

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