Blue Ribbon Task Force Wraps Work on Transit Issues

The Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force convened by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) recently wrapped up its work by approving 27 near-term actions to be taken by MTC, transit agencies, county transportation agencies and others in the coming months to improve the Bay Area’s public transportation network. Approval of this set of actions marks the culmination of a 14-month effort that began in May 2020 when the task force accepted a three-stage mission to help the Bay Area transit network adjust to new conditions created by the pandemic.

These stages included assisting in the distribution of federal coronavirus relief funds and guiding transit agencies’ recovery planning as well as developing a Transit Transformation action plan. The 32-member task force was chaired by MTC commissioner and Solano County supervisor Jim Spering and included several other local elected officials as well as social advocates.

“We spent over a year deep in collaborative dialogue and a respectful search for consensus,” said Spering.

The specific actions unanimously approved by the Task Force are organized around the themes of fare-payment coordination and integration, customer information, transit priority on roadways to increase bus speeds and reliability, bus and rail network management reform, connected network planning, data collection and coordination, accessibility, and funding.