Seamless Bay Area hosts 7 workshops with over 250 riders providing feedback on the Bay Area’s “Connected Network Plan”
The Bay Area is finalizing its multi-decade plan for the future of public transportation. For the first time in history the region’s long-range plan focused on creating a network with improved service frequency, filling in missing link connections, and improvements to make the system better coordinated and affordable.
This common-sense revolution was called a “Connected Network Plan” in the region’s Transit Transformation Action Plan, approved in 2021 to regrow transit ridership with a more rider-friendly, coordinated and accessible system.
To better ensure the plan met the needs of people who use transit, Seamless Bay Area and 20 partner organizations hosted seven community workshops throughout the region to get peoples’ feedback. 260 Bay Area residents attended these workshops and a number of shared themes emerged. Participants consistently cited improvements such as increasing transit frequency, faster trip times including better transfers, filling gaps in the regional transit network, more affordable and convenient payment options, safer and cleaner waiting areas, longer hours of service, more shelters and benches at bus stops, better non-English language support, and more.
We worked with 20 organizations across the Bay Area to host these workshops and get feedback from their members.
We hosted these workshops to complement MTC’s outreach activities, which were more high-level and did not provide riders with an easy way to see and comment on the changes proposed in their area. We used MTC’s materials, but zoomed in each part of the region, and expanded and highlighted specific proposed changes in each county, which had been included in MTC’s materials in appendix tables in small print.
Transit 2050+ required for federal and state funding
The long-range transit plan is called Transit 2050+ and is part of PlanBayArea 2050+ the region’s overall long-range plan. The plan is important because projects must be included in the plan to be eligible for federal and state funding. Under federal law, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) are required to submit a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) every 5 years. These plans must “address a minimum of 20-year horizon and include long- and short-range strategies/actions that lead to the development of an integrated multimodal transportation system that facilitates the safe and efficient movement of people and goods in addressing current and future transportation demand” (California Transportation Commission, 2024 Regional Transportation Plan Guidelines).
Furthermore, California law requires the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and other metropolitan planning organizations to link transportation, housing, and land use planning in their RTPs in an effort to support the State’s climate goals (see the Sustainable Communities Strategy).
Details of Transit 2050+
The first draft of the plan was released in July and included maps with desired frequency improvements and transit priority projects throughout the region.
The plan identifies improvements to service frequency, new rail and bus connections, and region-wide seamless transit improvements.
Results from the Workshops
Each of the seven workshops began with a presentation to give participants more context about the importance of Transit 2050+, how Bay Area public transit is organized, and the specific elements of the plan. Afterwards, attendees broke into small groups for discussion. This was an opportunity for people to share stories about their transit experience and what kind of improvements are important for them.
A community workshop at Educare California at Silicon Valley in San Jose with Latinos United for a New America. This workshop was presented in both Spanish and English.
Participants greatly valued and prioritized frequency improvements on local transit.
At our Oakland workshop we partnered with the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI). Many of their members who attended were elderly Cambodian immigrants and refugees. They said more frequent service is really important, especially because many of them don't use real-time information. More service during the middle of the day would be especially helpful because that is when they go to doctor’s appointments, group support, and grocery shopping. Without the bus, they feel very socially isolated.
A community workshop at the First Congregational Church of Oakland. This workshop was presented in both Khmer and English. We partnered with the Center for Empowering Refugees & Immigrants, Transbay Coalition, East Bay Housing Organizations, Genesis, East Bay Transit Riders Union, and Traffic Violence Rapid Response.
Rosalind is a high school student who rides VTA. She said more students would take transit if there were more buses in the afternoon so they don’t have to wait so long.
“I use the bus and the train for my work and I always spend a lot of time at the train station waiting for the bus, then it is delayed for more than 30 minutes and I have to keep waiting or take another bus because that one never arrived,” said Evelyn Garcia, who lives in San Mateo County.
Many attendees wanted to see greater hours of service earlier in the morning, later in the evening, and on weekends.
At a workshop in Belle Haven, many people work or know people who work non-traditional hours and require transit at all times of the day. For instance, Sonja lives in East Oakland and is an immigrant from Southeast Asia. She said BART should run longer hours since many people need to start work before or after BART is running. In the South Bay, Teresa from San Jose wishes VTA routes 26 and 42 would have night time service.
“Bus lines could benefit from increased frequency, particularly later at night when it sometimes feels unsafe as a rider to just wait and wait and wait. That is what often puts people into Lyfts and Ubers instead of taking Muni,” said Erin, who lives in San Francisco.
A community workshop at the Belle Haven Community Campus. This workshop was entirely in Spanish, with about 50 attendees. This event was a collaboration between Belle Haven Empowered, Climate Resilient Communities, Menlo Together, Belle Haven Climate Change Community Team, El Comite, and Seamless Bay Area.
Many people wanted faster trip times, including improvements to help buses avoid getting stuck in traffic, and reducing transfer wait times.
Jody lives in Novato and commutes to Vallejo. She says the drive on Interstate 87 is “gnarly” and backs up with traffic. She’s not sure how the bus will move faster unless there is a dedicated lane. In the long-term, she thinks it’s better to invest in trains, like SMART to Vallejo, so folks aren’t stuck in traffic.
Two people who live or work in the North Bay said they had to buy cars because taking public transit was too difficult. Diana bought her first car because her transit commute would take two hours. “I was on Clipper and a hybrid electric bike but I can’t do that now.” She said she would commute with public transit if it took less than an hour.
When Eleanor moved to the North Bay a couple of years ago, she also had to purchase a car. "When you’re looking and it’s going to take an hour to drive versus two and a half hours to take transit, it’s just not competitive at all.”
Tiff lives in San Francisco and doesn’t own a car. She relies on BART to visit friends and go to the airport. “Once I tried to go into an office we have in Palo Alto and it took two hours one way. I swear I was not going to do that again.”
A number of respondents wanted to fill in “missing links”, such as improved connections between North and East Bay, between San Mateo and Alameda County, and between Alameda and Contra Costa County. Also, multiple respondents wanted better first-last mile connections to rail, ferry, and express bus service.
“We have all these wonderful major routes, but we have no connecting service,” said Jim. “I live in Danville and we have a bus that comes through the town once an hour, and takes you 45 minutes to get to BART in Walnut Creek. So much of Danville and San Ramon doesn’t have a bus service to take it from eastern Contra Costa county to the BART system. None of this works unless we develop a complete network.”
Michelle lives in Richmond and wishes she could get to her son’s house on public transit. “If I take BART to Antioch, well I still have to depend on my son to pick me up so that he can take me further on to where he lives. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Some kind of connection going to Vallejo and Concord and Antioch would also be good.”
The lack of service across the San Mateo and Dubarton Bridge was a major issue for many people. Sydnie, a game designer and Oakland resident, said she spent 3 hours taking transit to her Redwood City office. “The prediction was two and a half hours. In reality it took about three. Bus to BART to Caltrain to a shuttle and a fair amount of walking.”
“I spent almost two years looking for jobs and a lot of them were on the Peninsula and it’s like oh this would be a real pain in the ass if I got this job but I need a job,” said Andrea, a resident in Contra Costa County. “I would say definitely the San Mateo bridge frequency needs to be improved so that people have more options to get across the Bay.”
Matt lives and works in San Mateo County, but the lack of public transit service over the San Mateo Bridge pops up as an issue for his co-workers too. “There are just a lot of folks that commute between the Hayward, Fremont, and Union City area to Redwood City and northern Santa Clara areas. I think there’s a big opportunity there,” he said.
In the North Bay, several people want better bus frequencies between Marin and Contra Costa Counties on Golden Gate Transit Bus 580.
Responding to the “Transit Transformation” themes, riders wanted improvements to fares and payment, and to customer experience.
Many respondents mentioned daily/monthly passes, family fares, and the ability to pay with debit/credit card as improvement opportunities.
A community workshop at the Serramonte Main Branch of the Daly City Public Library. This workshop was entirely in Spanish, with about 25 attendees. This event was a collaboration between Youth Leadership Institute San Mateo, Rise South City, and Seamless Bay Area.
And many workshop participants - especially people who depend most on transit - wanted improvements to safety and cleanliness of buses and bus stops, including better lighting, shelters and benches.
“I wait a long time for the bus to arrive,” said Yolanda, a San Jose resident and member of Latinos United for a New America (LUNA). “They should put more benches at bus stops because people wait 30 minutes or more for the buses.”
“It would be great to make the bus stops adequate so that people can wait, with benches, lights, and protection from the rain and sun,” said Mary.
“My husband bought the day pass and when he boarded another bus, they did not accept it because it was a different [transit agency],” says Rosa. “It would be great if all of the bus passes would work for all the buses.”
Better language support was mentioned by people whose primary language is other than English.
Several Khmer speaking residents in the East Bay said their community doesn't know how to use Clipper Cards because it is not in their language. “Some of us can’t read so it is challenging.”
Conclusion and next steps
The feedback from the workshops supports the region’s strategy to improve service frequency throughout the day, bus speed and reliability, network connections, integrated, affordable fares, and overall better rider experience. These comments were just a snippet of those we got from the workshops. Read the full report with all the comments here. The feedback supported some changes that MTC made in the draft it is finalizing, which includes more transit priority improvements in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa County and the North Bay.
We hope that in the future the region’s feedback process includes materials that make it easy for riders to zoom in and comment on how the plan addresses their needs.
Preliminary results of the Network Performance Assessment showing the outcomes of the planned network on transit ridership, housing, and climate goals, and are anticipated to be released in early 2025. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when new materials are made available and how you can participate to ensure the plan meets the needs of you and your community.