State Sen. Josh Becker introduced a bill Thursday that would require Bay Area transit agencies to coordinate their fare structures and schedules in an effort to entice riders back to public transit.
Seamless Bay Area Explains Why MTC Doesn’t Work
This piece first appeared in SF Streetsblog
When it comes to creating a rational fare structure and a more usable transportation system for the Bay Area, MTC an abject failure. Here’s why.
The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission was created in 1970 to build a coordinated transit system for the Bay Area.
As anyone who’s tried to use transit in the Bay Area knows well, it has failed completely. In a recently released paper, Seamless Bay Area’s Ian Griffiths explains the three main reasons why, and what can be about it:
The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission was created in 1970 to build a coordinated transit system for the Bay Area.
As anyone who’s tried to use transit in the Bay Area knows well, it has failed completely. In a recently released paper, Seamless Bay Area’s Ian Griffiths explains the three main reasons why, and what can be about it:
When it was created by an act of the California State Legislature in 1970, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission was intended by many to be a network manager – specifically to “integrate feeder bus and rail systems with the fledgling BART system,” according to MTC’s website. However, MTC is neither a state agency (such as the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, BCDC) nor a local jurisdiction (such as a county) so its legitimacy to carry out its mandate is largely dependent on the constituent nine counties that make up its governing structure.
As we prepare to bid goodbye to 2020, Streetsblog SF continues its interview series with local and national experts to lay the groundwork for the best possible transit mega-measure for the 2022 (or 2024?) November election. Last month Streetsblog spoke with Adina Levin, with Friends of Caltrain, about lessons learned from recent ballot measures, including RR, which passed in November 2020 to support the expansion of Caltrain.
This month, Streetsblog spoke with Ian Griffiths of Seamless Bay Area. Griffiths echoes Levin’s call for a transit agency, most likely MTC, to step forward and lead a public process to craft a new measure that brings all stakeholders to the table. Griffiths, like many in the Bay Area, believes that a firm plan on how to integrate all transit agencies’ fare structures is necessary for a mega-measure to pass.