The Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition is comprised of over 30 member organizations. Together, we encourage public agencies, private developers, and groups of concerned citizens to promote policies and take actions leading to a Bay Area with intelligent, sustainable land use patterns and an efficient and equitable transportation system.
Over 150 community groups and citizens attended recent workshops on the proposed Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The RTP, prepared by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, will guide the expenditure of $88 billion over twenty years in the Bay Area. By a wide margin, most attendees supported increased funding for transit, the adoption of quantifiable performance goals, and the preparation of a social equity analysis to be conducted as part of the 1998 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).
Since January, members of the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition have been talking to MTC staff, commissioners and dozens of organizations about the need for these changes. In response, MTC Executive Director Larry Dahms directly addressed the participants at the May 2 Oakland workshop. Mr. Dahms first mentioned that the three issues were discussed at great length at MTC's two-day workshop for Commissioners, and that staff are now preparing responses. Specifically, Mr. Dahms said MTC will:
Mr. Dahms noted the enthusiastic call at the workshops for funding these shortfalls, but said that nothing is as simple or clear as it seems and that the "devil is in the details."
Most of the 95 people in Oakland were adamant about the need to reduce reliance on automobiles and promote sustainability. A lighter moment occurred when -- after one speaker's call for widening Contra Costa's highway 4 -- MTC's David Tannehill quipped, "you are a brave man for coming here today."
MTC expects the draft RTP to be released June 12 at the Work Program Committee meeting, although delays are possible. Following the release there will be an extensive comment period and outreach meetings in each county.
The Coalition has laid out three important recommendations that were referenced in the previous article. Taken together these recommendations, if adopted, would help chart a course for a more sustainable transportation system, produce information to help ensure we are caring for communities in need, and make some tangible changes in investment patterns. The recommendations are described below in greater detail.
Performance goals
Currently, the Regional Transportation Plan sets out a number of important goals: to improve mobility, promote equity, enhance sensitivity to the environment, support economic vitality, and support community vitality.
But since these goals are not accompanied by specific, quantifiable targets, it is difficult to judge whether they are being met now, or will be met in twenty years after $88 billion in expenditures.
Adopting specific targets could prove valuable for engaging the public, and clarifying the trade-offs of various RTP alternatives. The Coalition promotes the adoption of targets for three indicators of performance:
According to projections in the 1996 RTP, the Bay Area will not come close to meeting these three goals. But improved performance could be achieved through a range of investment choices and policy changes, only some of which fall within the MTC's authority. Changes in zoning ordinances or parking policies, for example, are the domain of local governments. The Coalition maintains, however, that the MTC, through the Regional Transportation Plan, is the appropriate entity to adopt these goals, and identify what changes are needed to achieve them.
Social Equity
The MTC specifies that one objective of the Regional Transportation Plan goal is to "provide for the mobility needs of the transportation disadvantaged, including the youth, elderly, disabled and economically disadvantaged." These groups are singled out because they face the greatest obstacles as our patterns of transportation and land use are increasingly oriented towards cars, not people.
This is no small segment of the population: in 1996, over 2,000,000 Bay Area residents did not have driver's licenses! Many of these individuals are having a harder time accessing jobs, medical care, education and other activities. During the 1980s, 90% of job growth occurred outside of the urban core. Since there is poor transit access to many of these employment centers, inner-city residents without cars have difficulty getting to these jobs.
How are different ethnic and income groups affected by the various RTP alternatives? Are the mobility needs of the "transportation disadvantaged" being met?
It is hard to know the answer to these questions, without an explicit equity analysis. An analysis would provide a valuable learning experience and point to areas of unmet needs or inequitable distribution of benefits. The Coalition strongly supports the preparation of an equity analysis as part of the 1998 Regional Transportation Plan.
Capital Shortfalls
Currently, four of the major transit operators of the region face a significant capital shortfall. Over the next twenty years, they will not have the funds required to maintain the existing transit network; for example, replacing old worn-out buses or seismic retrofitting of rail structures. Some of the capital shortfalls are for expansion projects, primarily BART's Millbrae/SFO extension and Oakland Airport connections. MTC's baseline RTP proposal is to cover 75% of all the major transit capital shortfalls. However, this still would leave a shortfall of $100 million for Caltrain, $50 million for AC Transit, $19 million for Golden Gate Transit, and a whopping $200 million for BART.
Organizations in the Coalition are recommending that MTC cover the full amount of the transit operators' capital shortfall in the 1998 RTP. However, since BART comprises over half of the shortfall and so much of their costs are for controversial expansions, a scenario that leaves BART with a shortfall is also seen as acceptable.
Problems with the Big Picture, Despite Some Advances
The draft 1998 RTP, which will be released in June or July, has some good new additions. MTC is moving forward with plans for $5,000,000 per year to promote transit-oriented, walkable developments around the Bay Area. By providing seed funding for planning and technical assistance, this program will help jump-start dozens of model projects, and MTC staff and commissioners, particularly Chairman Jim Spering, deserve praise for this innovative use of funding. MTC staff will also be revising their project scoring criteria. Coalition members will be recommending ways to change the criteria as to promote sustainable transportation alternatives.
Still, growth in the region is expected to continue at breakneck speed, much of it in outer suburbs that are almost entirely car-dependent. Significant changes in land use, pricing polices, and investment priorities will be needed to curb suburban sprawl, and promote a more sustainable, livable Bay Area. Many organizations were hoping MTC would model such an alternative as part of the 1998 RTP process. It now appears no such alternative will be presented.
What You Can Do
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is the primary agency responsible for the Regional Transportation Plan, as well as much other funding for Bay Area transportation projects and operations. MTC staff and commissioners can be reached at the MTC's Oakland offices. Commissioners can also be reached directly -- call MTC or see their web page (http://www.mtc.dst.ca.us/about_mtc/commtext.htm) for the commissioners' local addresses.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
101 Eighth Street
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 464-7700, Fax (510) 464-7848
http://www.mtc.dst.ca.us/
James P. Spering (Chair), Solano County and Cities James T. Beall, Jr. (Vice Chair), Santa Clara County Keith Axtell, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Jane Baker, Cities of San Mateo County Sharon J. Brown, Cities of Contra Costa County Mark DeSaulnier, Contra Costa County Dorene M. Giacopini, U.S. Department of Transportation Mary Griffin, San Mateo County Elihu Harris, Cities of Alameda County Tom Hsieh, City and County of San Francisco Mary V. King, Alameda County Stephen Kinsey, Marin County Jean McCown, Cities of Santa Clara County Charlotte B. Powers, Association of Bay Area Governments Jon Rubin, San Francisco Mayor's Appointee Angelo J. Siracusa, Bay Conservation and Development Commission Kathryn Winter, Napa County and Cities Sharon Wright, Sonoma County and Cities Harry Yahata, State Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
"Downward Mobility" is the next report that will be published by the Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum. It will look at where job growth is expected to occur over the next twenty years, then compare it to the transit accessibility of these areas.
"The data show that the transit accessibility of most future job growth will be poor to nonexistent," according to the report. "Those without access to a car will be locked out from an ever greater number of employment opportunities. Those with cars will be sitting in ever-worsening congestion, often without any choice but to drive to their workplaces."
For a copy of the report, contact Stuart Cohen at (510) 740-3100.
Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition
Stuart Cohen, Coordinator
Phone: (510) 740-3150
Fax: (510) 740-3131
414 13th St., 5th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
E-mail: stucohen@igc.org
Articles: Stuart Cohen and Aaron Priven
Layout and production: Aaron Priven