Action Alert: Urge MTC commissioners to support Regional Network Manager options that put riders first

Slide from prior BRTF Ad Hoc meeting demonstrating the importance of an institutions authorities matching its mandates.

Slide from prior BRTF Ad Hoc meeting demonstrating the importance of an institutions authorities matching its mandates.

The upcoming Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force Meeting on Monday, June 28th at 1pm is an extremely important milestone that will shape the future of Bay Area transit coordination.

Riders who support a seamless transit system are urged to write BRTF members by this Sunday, June 27th at 5pm, as well as speak up at the meeting, and ask them to include “New Regional Network Manager” options in a future business case.

The Task Force is expected to be presented with a range of options for Bay Area Regional Network Management (RNM) structures to study further in a future business case. Per the below table (shared at an Ad Hoc BRTF member workshop), several options will be presented for the Task Force to weigh in on and confirm whether to move forward into a future business case.  They are likely to include:

  • Status Quo / Informal Collaboration

  • Formalized Collaboration

  • Reimagine MTC (as the Regional Network Manager)

  • New Regional Network Manager

Table of conceptual Regional Network Manager options under consideration for a future business case analysis - from Jul. 15 Ad Hoc BRTF Member workshop.

Table of conceptual Regional Network Manager options under consideration for a future business case analysis - from Jul. 15 Ad Hoc BRTF Member workshop.

Seamless Bay Area strongly supports ensuring that the family of “New Regional Network Manager” options gets assessed in a future business case. This family of options corresponds to Options B and C in our report Governing Transit Seamlessly: Options for a Bay Area Network Manager that propose a merger of two or more of our existing transit agencies to become the region’s network manager. Options within the “New RNM” family would include the possibility of a merged regional transit provider (built off of a merger of BART and Caltrain) taking on the role of the Network Manager, as well as the possibility of a merger of all 27 transit agencies into a single authority.  We believe either of these options would lead to the best possible outcomes of integrated service, fares, better decision-making, cheaper and faster project construction, and an overall improved transit network in our region.

Options for a Network Manager included in Seamless Bay Area’s report Governing Transit Seamlessly - Options B and C are only possible if a future business case studies “New Regional Network Manager” options.

Options for a Network Manager included in Seamless Bay Area’s report Governing Transit Seamlessly - Options B and C are only possible if a future business case studies “New Regional Network Manager” options.

While it is not our preferred option, Seamless Bay Area also supports the exploration of the family of a “Reimagined MTC” network manager within a future business case, which corresponds to Option A our report. 

Transit agency general managers on the task force, by contrast, are rallying behind Option 1, “Formalized Collaboration”, which corresponds to Option D in our report, which is essentially an enhanced version of the region’s current Clipper Executive Board. This pathway does not advance institutional change that creates a clear network manager. Instead, it relies on transit agency general managers sitting on a combined board to make decisions; but each would still ultimately accountable to each separate transit agency board to make important decisions. 

This model has proven to be fragile over time. For example, there have been multiple bi-directional or multi-party transfer agreements that have gotten established and unwound over time as individual agency interests change.

This option of continued voluntary collaboration - which transit agencies have been promoting since the beginning of the Blue Ribbon Task Force - relies on the voluntary agreement of 27 transit agencies to do anything collectively. The model has led to few positive results in the past, and doesn’t address any of the fundamental problems Seamless Bay Area had identified with the current system. It performs poorly on Seamless Bay Area’s effectiveness criteria identified in our Network Manager options report - particularly in providing ‘clear accountability to policymakers and the public for the overall transit experience.’ While it’s the easiest option to put in place, it’s highly unlikely to result in meaningful, lasting change that leads to a seamless transit system for riders.

The best possible outcome of Monday’s meeting would be the recommendation by the Task Force members to support studying “New Regional Network Manager” options within the Business Case. The Business Case is expected to begin in August 2021 with completion by Spring 2022 - hopefully in time for its recommendations to be included in 2022 legislation. 

Riders and Task Force members ought to express skepticism that ‘formalized collaboration’ can lead to the transformative change that Bay Area transit so desperately needs to deliver seamless fares, schedules, capital project planning, and service delivery. Seamless Bay Area knows of no region in the world that has achieved the outcomes of seamless transit integration without a strong regional network manager.

TAKE ACTION NOW:  Write the Blue Ribbon Task Force by 5pm on Sunday, June 27th and express your support for including New Regional Network Manager options within a future business case.

You can help by sending an email to info@bayareametro.gov, and copying one or more Task Force members (listed at the end of this post).  Include the following in your email:

  • Where you’re from and the transit agencies you regularly use; 

  • How fragmented transit affects you or your community.

  • That you strongly support integrated fares, service, and customer experience that will make transit easier to use.

  • That the Bay Area should pursue network manager options that are proven to work in other regions, and that lead to the best possible outcomes for riders

  • That a business case for a network manager should study “New Regional Network Manager” options, including a network manager led by an agency that unifies two or more of the Bay Area’s existing transit agencies.

Copy one or more of the following BRTF members on your email to info@bayareametro.gov.

*Marin and Alameda don’t have representatives on the BRTF, so emails should go to the BRTF chair and MTC chairs instead.

You may also wish to speak up at the meeting and make a public comment.


Ian Griffiths