MTC Adopts Coalition's Call for 100% Transit Funding

For months, the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition cried foul over a draft Regional Transportation Plan that would have forced four transit operators to expect deficits of $375 million just for the basic nuts and bolts maintenance of their buses and trains. The Coalition turned out hundreds of community members -- from social justice groups and homeless citizens to local and national environmental groups -- to recommend that six environmentally destructive highway projects be cut to fund these expected transit deficits.

On October 28 commissioners at MTC voted, unanimously, to fully fund the shortfalls.

This signified an amazing shift in regional policy; one commissioner referred to it as a "coup." It was the first time in memory that MTC Commissioners rejected their staff's recommendation. The commissioners agreed with the coalition that public transit has to have a higher priority and voted unanimously to fill this $375 million gap in transit funding!

Instead of cutting the six highway projects recommended by the Coalition, however, the commissioners asked that the counties be involved with deciding which projects to cut. There will also be an effort to see if transit operators can gain some "operational efficiencies." By March of 1999 each Bay Area county will be asked to submit their list. This will be added to the RTP as an amendment next spring. The Coalition will continue to advocate for more sustainable and equitable transportation investments as the counties quickly take up this issue. This means:

• We shouldn't cut transit to pay for transit. Some counties may suggest that some transit expansion or improvement projects, such as Caltrain's Rapid Rail program, are cut to pay for the transit shortfalls.
• Road projects that have significant environmental and social drawbacks should be prioritized for deletion from the RTP.
• MTC has no obligation to fund detrimental projects, such as the Hayward Bypass, that were part of county transportation sales tax measures, but which are severely under-funded.

In addition, the Coalition will ramp up their effort to promote a regional Smart Growth Agenda. Coalition members have already met with initial success in advocating for the three regional agencies to apply for federal funds to initiate a region-wide Smart Growth planning process.

What You Can Do

• Come to the Coalition Symposium and Celebration! Free event, Saturday, December 12, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Sierra Club's National Office -- 85 2nd St. in San Francisco. Great speakers, county strategy sessions, bicycle/pedestrian strategies, and how to move Smart Growth forward! See our page on the symposium.
• Call Stuart Cohen of the Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum at 510-740-3100 to learn more about the coalition's upcoming efforts in your county.

At the same meeting that MTC approved additional funding for transit, they approved new language making bicycle/pedestrian safety and access a key objective in the Regional Transportation Plan. While a victory MTC's strong new language needs to be turned into real bike/ped funding and projects all around the Bay Area.

According to James Corless of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, "Strong language must be seen as a first step, but actual projects will only come to fruition when bike activists make their needs known at the county level." Corless and Patrick Siegman, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, were the primary forces in winning this new language.

"New funding flexibility means there is greater potential to get a wave of projects over the next few years," said Siegman, "if public transit activists collaborate with the new force of bicycle and pedestrian advocates it will represent an incredible force at the local level."

Corless and Siegman will both attend the Dec. 12 symposium to help create a regional bike and pedestrian agenda for the Bay Area.

AC Transit riders were surprised when the district had to cut night and weekend service in 1995 and 1996. By the time the cuts came through, the decisions had been made. Bus riders hadn't been at the table when the funding was decided and had no organized voice at the regional level. Swing-shift workers couldn't get to work; elderly residents were trapped at home for the weekend; many students gave up night classes and hopes for a higher ed degree.

The devastation to people's lives left in the wake of these cuts has prompted The Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum to initiate the Alameda County "Access to Opportunities Project." With generous support from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the project will work to restore night and weekend service in these communities and to increase bicycle and pedestrian safety investments to help people access transit safely.
The project will first develop a transportation needs assessment for residents of low-income communities, then work to substantially increase the participation of these residents in transportation decision-making processes.

"The highway lobby can always cook up reasons to build new highways farther out into the farmlands, but they rarely consider the needs of low-income residents of the urban core", says Jeff Hobson, Project Manager, "We're going to focus instead on improving access for those who are most in need -- access to the basics such as jobs, schools, health care, and food stores."

The Forum will work with social service advocates, transportation professionals, and community groups to collect information and rally public support. The Community Organizer (see the job announcement on the Forum's web page at www.priven.sf.ca.us/forum) will help get more individuals and groups involved in the Coalition's advocacy. Two significant upcoming decisions will be expenditure plans for the Alameda County sales tax reauthorization and for likely regional gas tax ballot measure.

"Just as the Forum's outreach greatly increased participation at the regional level this year, we are going to pack the house at the local level, ensuring the voices of those most in need are heard loud and clear," said Hobson.

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
Layout and production: Aaron Priven