8/15/23: Knowledge (about public transit) is power (to effect change)

We have some excellent events lined up with Bay Area and international transit experts to get you knowledgeable about the state of the region’s transit transformation and best practices to get people onto buses, trains, and ferries. 

Key decisions about Bay Area rail service are being made in the coming months –  electrified Caltrain service is expected to come online in 2024 and plans to connect the Bay Area’s transit network are afoot.  The pandemic triggered lasting change in commuting patterns, and a steep decline in ridership for services that previously depended heavily on white collar commuters.

Learn from experts about ideas to regrow ridership, transform and modernize Bay Area rail to achieve a world-class transit system. 

September 11th, 6pm - What can California learn from Sweden’s world class public transit?

Join us to learn from Swedish transportation leaders what factors have made their public transit network one of the most successful in the world. This in-person event will be held at the Bay Area Metro Center (375 Beale St, San Francisco) on Monday, September 11th from 6-7pm. 

Sweden has significantly increased public transit use over the past two decades, and has approximately four times the rate of transit use in the Bay Area. Greenhouse gas emissions of transportation have been reduced by 23% between 2005 and 2019. Now, responding to the pandemic, Sweden is looking into how to reimagine public transit for the future, and grow transit use even more. Transit leaders from Sweden's three largest regions, visiting California as part of a study delegation on emerging mobility, will share some of the lessons from successful Swedish public transit, and how the country is approaching the opportunity of new forms of transportation to support public mobility goals. RSVP here.

September is Transit Month

Taking transit to the beach and a winery? How about joining others for transit-accessible hikes, transit ride-alongs, rallies, bike rides, and to meet the new BART Anime Mascots? Did I mention the beloved Ride Contest is taking place again? (and p.s. this year's new-and-improved version has more features than ever before). This is just a sneak peak of what we have in store for this year’s Transit Month! 

Thanks to the dozens of people and organizations across the Bay Area planning events, we anticipate this year's Transit Month events to be more regionally diverse and creative than ever before! Stay tuned for more information near the end of August. 

Transit Master Class: Learning from Switzerland

That’s the title of the piece StreetsBlog SF penned on our recent ‘Lessons from Switzerland for the Bay Area and US Public Transit’ Webinar. We posted the webinar recording on our Youtube in case you weren’t able to make the event. 

Our panel of representatives from BART, WETA, MTC, SPUR, and Seamless Bay Area recount the key insights they gained from their transit study tour of Switzerland’s internationally-renowned transit system – with integrated fares, schedules, and planning yielding some of the one of the highest ridership rates in the world. 

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Kaleo Mark