10/31/23: Building better Bay Area transit, an international perspective
With all the spooky and supernatural incidents upon us this Halloween day, don’t turn into a pumpkin yet! Or else you’ll miss these frighteningly spectacular events lined up for November 2nd and 16th on effective transit coordination and governance!
Also read our scarily-good new blog posts on new BART/Caltrain ridership trends, lessons on transit coordination from Sweden, and a recap of our Rider First Awards.
Last chance to RSVP for our webinar on Thursday, November 2 from 12-1pm PST with special guest Thomas Geier, Policy Advisor with the Association of Europe’s Metropolitan Authorities (EMTA), to take an international look at regional transportation governance. Learn about the variety of governance structures across European regions, how they affect service delivery, coordination, the rider experience, funding, and infrastructure development, and potential lessons for the Bay Area as we look to advance a regional funding measure.
Want to see better public transit in the South Bay? Join advocates, transit agency staff, elected officials, academics, and other members of the South Bay civic community to hear about the exciting developments - and current challenges - of public transit transformation in our region, and how we can apply lessons learned from a recent study delegation to Switzerland.
This in-person event will be hosted in San Jose on Thursday, November 16th from 5:30pm - 7:30pm at CreaTV / Open San Jose (38 S 2nd St.)
Panelists:
Theodore Burgwyn, Director, Rail Network and Operations Planning at Caltrain
Cindy Chavez, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, VTA/Caltrain/MTC Board of Directors
Ian Griffiths, Policy Director, Seamless Bay Area
Jay Tyree, Transit Service Planning Manager, VTA
Moderated by Tamara Alvarado, Packard Foundation
Seamless Bay Area is pleased to co-present this event with Stanford University’s Bill Lane Center for the American West, SPUR, and Joint Venture Silicon Valley, with support from the Knight Foundation, Caltrain, VTA, the City of San Jose, and MTC.
New on our blog
Parallel ridership trends - BART and Caltrain
Recent customer surveys of BART and Caltrain riders show similar patterns in trip purposes and station access. Given the similarities, the customer research and ridership growth strategies are an opportunity for increasing functional integration and efficiency. Read more about it here.
Lessons from Sweden: Regional “Public Transport Authorities” are key to success
Sweden, a country of approximately 10 million that is bigger in area than the state of California, has succeeded in significantly increasing public transit ridership over the past several decades thanks in part to strong, empowered regional institutions, called “Public Transport Authorities” (PTAs), which plan and manage coordinated public transportation networks within each of Sweden’s 19 regions. Learn how we can bring these lessons to the Bay Area here.
The Rider First Award party wraps up 2023 Transit Month
We closed out Transit Month with our annual Rider First Awards where we recognized our transit heroes of the year, announced Ride Contest winners (and dispensing 50+ prizes), and heard inspiring speeches from our guests for the night, including Assemblymember Phil Ting. Read more about the festivities here.
