The Definitive List of Bay Area Transit Agencies
Just how many transit agencies does the Bay Area have? There should be a simple answer, but like everything in Bay Area transportation, it’s complicated.
MTC’s List of Transit Operators
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) maintains a list of 27 Bay Area Transit Operators. See the table below:
MTC’s list is a good start, but it doesn’t capture all the complexity that plagues the transit user (more on that below). What MTC does provide is a list by type of the number of transit agencies -- distinct boards and/or staff -- responsible for providing transit service in a specific geography.
Transit Agencies, Brands and Operators
A quick semantic digression: we at Seamless Bay Area think the term “Transit Operator” is overused. Yes, a Transit Operator can refer to an agency like BART, but it can also refer to a private company like MV Transportation, which many smaller transit agencies use to contract for drivers and vehicles. Thus we propose the following definitions:
Transit Agency: Transit Agencies are public entities that have their own boards and/or funding sources, and therefore they have the role and responsibility to plan transit service. For example, Muni (SFMTA) in a classic Transit Agency. Transit Agencies may be associated with one or more fare structures and brands, and they may have one or more transit operators that provide service.
Transit Brand: Transit Brands are customer-facing identities. For example, Dumbarton Express (see image) is a Transit Brand; it has its own fare structure and Dumbarton Express customer-focused information. Nevertheless, AC Transit, a Transit Agency, plans and administers the Dumbarton Express transit service.
Transit Operators: Transit Operators directly run transit service. For example BART, while a Transit Agency, is also a Transit Operator because BART employees run and operate the BART trains. MV Transportation, a private company, actually operates the service for the Transit Brand Dumbarton Express, so it also counts as a Transit Operator.
An example of how this comes together: the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District (“Golden Gate District”) is a Transit Agency, which provides two Transit Brands: Golden Gate Ferry and Golden Gate Transit. For both Golden Gate Transit and Golden Gate Ferry, the Golden Gate District is the Transit Operator because the Golden Gate District employs the staff and owns the vehicles that provide the transit service.
The 27 “Official” Transit Agencies of the Bay Area
27 Official Transit Agencies
Given the definitions above, we think that MTC’s list is actually a list of Bay Area Transit Agencies. While the Bay Area has more than 30 Transit Brands and even more Transit Operators, officially the Bay Area has 27 Transit Agencies.
One more wrinkle: While we agree with MTC on the number of official Transit Agencies, MTC’s list doesn’t capture unofficial Transit Agencies or other kinds of transportation agencies involved in making decisions that affect transit service.
Unofficial Transit Agencies
From Seamless Bay Area’s perspective, there are several other agencies planning and administering transit service. For instance, Stanford University plans and administers the Marguerite shuttle service, a well known Transit Brand. While Stanford University is far from an official Transit Agency, its Marguerite shuttle service moves more than more than 6,000 riders on an average day, which is more ridership than some of the smaller official Transit Agencies in the region.
Other examples of unofficial Transit Agencies include the Transportation Management Associations (TMA) in the Bay Area. For instance the Mountain View TMA plans and administers the MVgo Shuttle, and the Emeryville TMA plans and administers the popular Emery Go-Round Shuttle.
Of course then there are for-profit players in the Bay Area transit world. Tideline is a for-profit passenger ferry service that provides ferry trips between Berkeley and San Francisco. Likewise, the Blue and Gold Fleet provides ferry trips between San Francisco and points in Marin County. (Technically the Blue and Gold Fleet is also the Transit Operator for the San Francisco Bay Ferry Transit Brand. Thus we count the Blue and Gold Fleet in its capacity as an unofficial Transit Agency for the service it operates between San Francisco and Marin County.)
While in theory some of the Bay Area’s large tech companies could be considered unofficial Transit Agencies, we don’t count them because their transit services are not open to the public.
Other Agencies
In addition to the official and unofficial Transit Agencies, the Bay Area has several other types of transportation agencies involved in delivering transit service:
Regional Transportation Planning and Funding Agency: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the 9 county Bay Area planning and funding authority. Besides serving as a conduit for federal, state and local funds, MTC is also the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Bay Area. Thus MTC develops and maintains the region’s long-range transportation plan and list of prioritized capital projects. Unlike many other MPOs, MTC also maintains seven of the eight Bay Area bridges and one of the region’s high occupancy tolling lanes, which makes it a regional tolling authority.
County Planning and Funding Transportation Authorities / Congestion Management Agencies: Each of the 9 Bay Area counties also has a Congestion Management Agency (CMA) that prioritizes and administers some state funds for transportation. Eight of the nine counties also levies a sales tax dedicated to county-level transportation improvements -- only Solano County does not have a transportation sales tax. County sales taxes often have a big impact on transit service because many Transit Agencies rely on county sales tax revenue to fund capital improvements, such as the purchase of new train cars.
Some county transportation authorities are also Transit Agencies. Thus, from the Transportation Planning and Funding Agencies list below, we removed Santa Clara County Transportation Authority and Napa Valley Transportation Authority (VTA and VINE Transit Agencies, respectively) to avoid double-counting.
Municipalities: Each of the Bay Area’s 101 municipalities has jurisdiction over its local streets and roads. Municipalities exercise considerable control over the curb and right-of-way, which can both reward and penalize buses and trains that run on local streets and roads. Some municipalities, Oakland, Menlo Park, Walnut Creek, and Cupertino, also moonlight as unofficial Transit Agencies because they plan and administer shuttle service in their cities. (While it might be debatable to call Cupertino’s pilot shuttle program with Via a transit service, Cupertino brands it as such on their website, so give them the benefit of the doubt here.)
State and Federal Funding Authorities: In addition to having jurisdiction over the state highways and interstate system, Caltrans is a funding agency, which funds transit through providing state sales tax revenue directly to Transit Agencies by formula and administering capital grant programs. Both the Federal Transit Authority and the Federal Highway Administration also provide funding to Transit Agencies and municipalities through capital grant programs.
Other regional entities: Caltrans District 4, the regional office of the California Department of Transportation, has jurisdiction over the state highways and interstates in the Bay Area. For an example of what that means in practice, proposed modifications that would make San Pablo Avenue more transit friendly require the approval of Caltrans District 4 as well as the local municipalities.
Other regional entities involved in transportation planning or transit service delivery include ad hoc regional agencies like the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which developed and now operates the Salesforce Transit Center.
Other state entities: Finally, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has also gotten into the transportation space by licensing businesses to perform certain kinds of transportation services. Not only has the CPUC hs provided licenses to operate to the Transportation Network Companies in California (Lyft, Uber, Via), but also it has provided a license to operate to Tideline, the private ferry company.
Seamless Bay Area’s List of Transit and Transportation Agencies:
We promised a list, and here it is! In five categories, we have identified 151 agencies involved in delivering transit service to the Bay Area.
Official Transit Agencies
Central Contra Costa Transit Authority (CCCTA, commonly known by the brand County Connection)
Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority (ECCTA, commonly known by the brand Tri Delta Transit)
Fairfield and Suisun Transit (FAST)
Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA, commonly known by the brand Wheels)
Napa Valley Transportation Authority (NVTA, commonly known by the brand the VINE)
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA, commonly known by the brand Muni)
Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART)
Solano County Transit (commonly known by the brand SolTrans)
Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA, commonly known by the brand San Francisco Bay Ferry)
Western Contra Costa Transit Authority (commonly known by the brand WestCAT)
Capitol Corridor (operated under the Amtrak brand)
San Joaquins Rail Service (operated under the Amtrak brand)
Unofficial Transit Agencies
Commute.org Shuttles (provided by partnerships with Commute.org, San Mateo County’s Transportation Demand Management Agency)
Emery Go-Round Shuttles (provided by the Emeryville Transportation Management Association)
Marguerite Shuttles (provided by Stanford University)
Mission Bay Shuttles (provided by Mission Bay Transportation Management Association)
MVgo Shuttles (provided by the Mountain View Transportation Management Association)
West Berkeley Shuttle (provided by Berkeley Gateway Transportation Management Association)
Bishop Ranch Shuttle (provided by Bishop Ranch and operated in partnership with County Connection)
Transportation Planning and Funding Agencies
Other Agencies in Involved in Bay Area Transportation
The 101 Cities and Towns of the Bay Area