ϴTransportation Policy Area Header

Transportation

We believe: Walking, biking, and taking transit should be the safest
and best ways to get around for people of all ages and abilities.

Our Goal


• Reduce emissions from transportation.

• Reduce driving.

• Build complete communities around transit.

• Make Bay Area transit work for the 21st century.

• Eliminate traffic deaths.

a bus traveling unimpeded in a transit-only lane

ϴReport

Making Roads Work for Transit

Transit delays and unreliability can make riding the bus a nonstarter for those who have other ways to get around. Giving transit vehicles priority on Bay Area roads can deliver the speed and reliability improvements needed to get more people on buses and out of cars.
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cyclist riding on a road with separated bike lanes

Policy Brief

Accelerating Sustainable Transportation in California

To fight climate pollution, California will need to build out the infrastructure to make walking, biking and riding transit the default ways to get around. ϴmakes the case to extend state legislation that is making it faster to build commonsense sustainable transportation projects.
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A mostly empty parking lot viewed from above

ϴReport

The Bay Area Parking Census

For decades, parking in the Bay Area has been both ubiquitous and uncounted. ϴand the Mineta Transportation Institute have produced the San Francisco Bay Area Parking Census, the most detailed assessment of parking infrastructure ever produced for the region.
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Updates and Events

ϴUrges Governor to Endorse Legislature's Transit Budget

Advocacy Letter
Our organizations strongly encourage you to support the Legislature’s transit budget, which includes restoring $2 billion to TIRCP from the General Fund and a new, 3-year $1.1 billion appropriation to a Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program from various sources, including the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the General Fund, and the Public Transportation Account.
muni bus in front of salesforce park

The World Is Coming to San Francisco. Will Public Transit Be Ready?

News /
World political and business leaders are coming to San Francisco later this year for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit. The Bay Area will use the event to highlight its innovation leadership. Ironically, the region’s claims to environmental leadership and the pursuit of equity will be undercut by a public transit system in freefall — unless the state acts quickly to use readily available and more-than-sufficient funding to help transit agencies step back from a fiscal cliff.
vta in san jose

New Transit-Oriented Communities Policy Encourages Equitable and Sustainable Development

News /
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Transit Oriented Communities Policy, passed in 2022, aims to simultaneously address the climate crisis, the Bay Area’s unaffordability, and racial and economic inequities. ϴreports on the policy’s main components and answers some critical questions, such as how local jurisdictions are being incentivized to comply with the policy and how residents can follow and become involved in its implementation.
rockridge bart

It’s Time for California to Step Up for Public Transit: Here’s How to Help

News /
California transit agencies are facing a $6 billion fiscal cliff. Millions of Californians rely on public transit for access to jobs and school — and the state’s climate, equity, health, and housing goals depend on it. We’re calling for a multiyear commitment to keep transit alive. Here’s what you can do to help.

ϴsupports expanded funding for Electric Bicycle Incentive Program

Advocacy Letter
ϴsupports an additional funding commitment of $50M to the California Air Resources Board for its Electric Bicycle Incentive Project.Modeled after similar programs across the country, this program will award at-point-of-purchase vouchers to low-income Californians to reduce the costs of purchasing an electric bicycle. The size of the voucher will further increase if the applicant’s income is below the 225% federal poverty limit or if they are purchasing a cargo or an adaptive bicycle.
laura tolkoff headshot

How Updating CEQA Can Keep Sustainable Transportation Projects on Track: Q&A with Laura Tolkoff

News /
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is intended to protect people and places from the environmental impacts of new development and infrastructure. But it has not been designed to protect against a rapidly warming climate, and ironically, it has sometimes been used to block projects aimed at doing so. ϴTransportation Policy Director Laura Tolkoff recently testified before a state committee on possible reforms to the law.
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