9/15/24: Discover History via Transit this Weds + volunteer opportunities
Important decisions about a 2026 regional transit funding measure are being made RIGHT NOW and we need you to speak up, volunteer, and advocate for better transit in your community. Also, read on to learn about Transit Month events, activities in preparation for the November 2024 election, and more happening this September.
September 18th, 6-7:30pm – Discover East Bay History via Transit
To celebrate Transit Month, join us for a tour of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, one of the most significant historical sites in the East Bay and known as the “Birthplace of Oakland.” This six-acre park is the focal point and last vestige of the 45,000-acre Rancho San Antonio, estimated to be the most valuable Spanish land grant ever made in California.
Our visit will be guided by Vanessa Armenta, Director of Field Trips and Tours at the Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. Armenta is a Bay Area native and is a professional archaeologist that has spent most of her career consulting with various Native communities, exploring how to improve procedures and methods when handling sites and ancestral belongings. She is passionate about increasing diversity within archaeology and history, and her scholarship explores underrepresented communities in American history. Vanessa has also published work that examines gender, culture, and society during the Californio period.
To help support the park, the tour costs $5 per person. Free for kids 10 and under.
Volunteer Opportunities throughout September
We have three upcoming opportunities.
Candidate Questionnaire for the November Election
Over the next several days, we need help identifying and finding contact information for all the candidates running for city council, mayor, county supervisor, state assembly, state senate, and congress in all 9 Bay Area counties!
Our goal is to get as many candidates as possible to fill out a transit + street safety questionnaire to get them thinking more deeply about transportation issues and educating voters about where politicians stand on transportation issues.
This project will mainly require putting in the time to search online. So the more people who can help, even 15-30 minutes, the better!
Transit Rider Story Project
Do you have social media, graphics, and/or video skills and want to share the stories of transit riders? Then we need your help! Our community partners across the Bay Area are hosting workshop events to educate residents about MTC’s Transit 2050+ planning effort and get local feedback. At these events, we will be collecting stories from transit riders about their current needs and how a vastly improved transit system would impact their life. But we need folks with video skills to help record and edit clips, and social media folks to help spread these videos.
Caltrain Scavenger Hunt
Caltrain will be launching its fully electric train schedule the weekend of September 21st and 22nd. There will be a whole host of events that weekend, and we are organizing a Scavenger Hunt for people where they can win prizes by visiting the most "points of interest" along the corridor. We need locals to help us identify their favorite spots along the corridor as examples, such as art, statues, murals, restaurants, bars, museums, cultural institutions, and more!
Bay Area transit needs to be much better, but it’s at risk of becoming much worse due to funding shortfalls. Right now, our elected officials are making important decisions about the size and scope of a 2026 regional transportation ballot measure that could transform Bay Area transit.
Please sign this petition telling your elected officials that you support a ballot measure that fully prevents service cuts, improves service frequency and reliability, expands transit to more communities, creates a better coordinated transit network for the whole nine-county Bay Area and raises funds through progressive revenue sources. All Bay Area residents deserve a fast, affordable, better integrated, and accessible public transit network. A nine-county ballot initiative with robust funding is the best way to achieve this vision.
September 17, 2-3pm – Carbon & Congestion Reduction: What are we advocating for and solutions we can take (virtual)
Seamless Bay Area’s Executive Director Adina Levin will be a featured panelist and will speak about the solutions and advocacy battles ahead to improve public transit and reduce the carbon footprint in our communities.
New on our blog:
Caltrain and BART riders use multiple agencies, seek regional funding and coordination
At board meetings in the last week, Bay Area transit agencies continue to grapple with the challenges around regional transit funding and solutions being proposed in a regional process with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, legislators, and other stakeholders. Riders are clearly expressing preferences for full funding and an improved, coordinated multi-agency system.
At its recent August meeting, the statewide transit transformation task force recommended transit priority policies and funding, and discussed opportunities for workforce development and reforming a major funding program. We were heartened to see the strong support and hear many public comments in support of transit priority and other recommendations. However, the concerns of members including representatives of a major business organization and highway lobby group opposed or abstained on various items, foreshadowing challenges in getting strong recommendations implemented and the importance of building support.