Action Alert: Support the Bay Area Seamless Transit Act right now

Building support from organizations across the Bay Area will be critical to getting all Bay Area legislators to support AB 2057 and put our region on track to build a seamless transit system. We need organizations from across the region to submit support letters in the month of April via the State Assembly portal.

With reforms to governance and funding, the Bay Area can have a world-class, reliable, seamless transit system that makes it easy to get around for everyone.

This was true before COVID-19 -- but the importance of a regionally coordinated transit system has become even clearer in recent weeks. With more cuts to Bay Area transit service being announced each day, the importance of regional transit coordination is greater than ever to ensure essential workers can get to their jobs.

We can rebuild our transit system stronger than before. As we discussed in a recent post, rebuilding stronger will require both funding, and the governance reforms introduced through AB 2057, the Bay Area Seamless Transit Act.

By reforming the Bay Area’s fragmented, 27-agency governance structure so it can operate as a seamless network, AB 2057 will refocus our transit system on making it as easy as possible to get from A to B, anywhere in the region, with integrated service, coordinated fares, and wayfinding. These structural reforms are needed now more than ever for the Bay Area rebuild stronger and make our region safer and better prepared for the next emergency.

While AB 2057 is already supported by over a dozen groups and 6 Assemblymembers, it still faces significant obstacles and we will need your support to overcome them.  

We need the support of all 17 Bay Area Assemblymembers to ensure the bill moves forward. The map shows the legislators who support AB 2057 and who are yet to take a position. 

• Orange districts are our highest priority - they are districts where the Assemblymember both sits on the Assembly Transportation Committee and hasn’t yet taken a position on AB 2057. These include Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Jim Frazier, Marc Berman, Kansen Chu, and Tim Grayson.

• Yellow districts are also high priority - they are other districts where Asssemblymembmers haven’t yet announced a position on AB 2057. These include Assemblymembers Jim Wood, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Bill Quirk, Mark Stone, Evan Low, and Ash Kalra.

• Assemblymembers representing areas in green have already come out in support of AB 2057. They include Assemblymembers David Chiu (author) and bill co-sponsors Buffy Wicks, Kevin Mullin, Phil Ting, Rob Bonta, and Marc Levine.

Help us pass AB 2057 and rebuild a stronger, more resilient transit system.

Please take following steps right now:

1. Most important: If you are a member of an organization, community group, or small business, please submit an official letter of support (see this sample) for AB 2057 on behalf of your organization on letterhead via the California Legislature’s Position Letter Portal. Only groups that submit letters will known to Assembly Transportation Committee reviews that will review the legislation. Letters must be in by the end of April.

2. Individuals can also submit supportive comments via the California Legislature’s Position Letter Portal.

3. If you haven’t already, please sign the Seamless Transit Principles. We will be mailing this petition in to key legislators in the coming weeks to show the broad Bay Area support for seamless transit.