Earlier this year, the blog provided a sneak peek at the long-awaited first new BART rail cars rolling into service around the Bay Area – and, with them, the promise of smoother, quieter, more comfortable and more spacious train rides for commute-weary Bay Area residents. In that post, we went into some detail on MTC’s essential role in funding and supporting BART’s $4.2 billion “Fleet of the Future” project to purchase and deploy 1,081 new rail cars. 

But it’s worth stepping back a bit from the funding mechanics to get a better understanding of the difficult realities that make these new rail cars and other related modernization projects so essential: BART is the region’s backbone for Transbay traffic but the system is way past its intended capacity, it is operating on 45-year old equipment, its geographic footprint is growing, and projected regional housing and job growth patterns suggest future demand will only increase. 

Earlier this month, staff from BART presented to MTC's Programming and Allocations Committee and provided an overview of, and update on, the expansion and modernization projects that BART is undertaking to increase capacity and meet future demand. Read More

The latest U.S. Census data from the 2016 County Business Patterns series shows continued overall growth for the nine-county Bay Area in employment as well as the number of business establishments. While the news is mostly good, the data also reveals some soft spots, and further highlights some of the disparities that have developed between different parts of the Bay Area, as well as between different industries.

In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into the latest data to look at:  

• Bay Area Employment, or the number of employees as of the First Quarter of a given year, and
• Bay Area Business Establishments. 

This data will be broken down by County, Bay Area Subregion, and Industry Sector. Data will be presented from 2005, 2015 and 2016. Tables will be followed by discussion and comments. For more information on the County Business Patterns annual release, visit the data series page the U.S. Census website. Read More

Caltrans today will open a long-awaited third eastbound lane on Interstate 580 to accommodate peak period traffic from San Rafael to Richmond. The opening of the lane marks a major milestone in the multi-year, $53 million project to convert the right shoulder to carry afternoon traffic from Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in San Rafael to a newly-expanded Richmond Parkway/Point Richmond exit in Richmond.  Read More

For many years in planning and transportation circles, parking was a subject taken for granted – like the air we breathe or the water we drink. It was so much a part of the built environment, so necessary for modern mobility, and – frankly – so esoteric that it didn’t warrant much consideration beyond the fact there should be plenty of it, and it shouldn’t cost too much either.

This started to change in 2005 when UCLA professor Donald Shoup synthesized decades of at-the-time lonely research on the subject in his book, The High Cost of Free Parking. As summarized in the above video from Vox, the book showed how parking has been misunderstood and mismanaged, resulting in city parking policies that increase housing costs and encourage sprawl; subsidize cars and car-owners at the expense of those who cannot afford or do not want to buy a car; and make the urban environment less walkable, less beautiful and less productive.

Now, Shoup has released a new book, Parking and the City, as follow-up. Read More

In "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," the great modernist poet Wallace Stevens explores what it means to know something, to show how different perspectives can be isolated while still pointing to some general (if elusive) subject.

I was of three minds,   

Like a tree   

In which there are three blackbirds.   

Every day in the Bay Area, we are bombarded with story after story about the housing market and our regional housing crisis. There are on-the-ground anecdotes and sophisticated research reports, micro assessments and macro assessments, and complex analyses of local, statewide, national and global trends. How does it all fit together? Does it fit together?

In the spirit of providing a multiplicity of perspectives, this post offers (maybe not quite thirteen) snapshots, news items, opinions and analysis looking at housing, from the granularity of a single California city to metropolises across the great round world. Read More

Last week the Bay Area celebrated a major milestone with the announcement of $17.9 million in funding for the first round of wetland restoration projects supported by the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, the local agency responsible for allocating funds raised by Measure AA.

The measure, which was passed in June 2016 by 70 percent of voters in the nine Bay Area counties, is the first regional parcel tax in California’s history. It is expected to generate $500 million in funds over the next 20 years, or approximately $25 million annually, to fund shoreline and habitat restoration, public access and recreation opportunities, and other amenities across San Francisco Bay.

Keep reading on to find out more about the projects receiving wetlands restoration funding, and to learn more about the work of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) – which is hosted by ABAG and staffed by MTC – in protecting and restoring the Bay as well as the rivers and streams that feed it. Read More

Last month Congress approved a $1.3 trillion appropriations bill to fund the government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. In a departure from previous years, the budget included major boosts in funding for both defense and non-defense discretionary programs and also significantly increased investment in federal housing and transportation programs.

This post will provide summaries of major housing, transportation and other relevant provisions from the final FY 2018 spending bill; a chart comparing FY 2017 and FY 2018 funding levels; and analysis of California and/or Bay Area impacts for select housing and transportation programs. Continue reading on for more details. Read More

On June 5th, voters in all nine Bay Area counties will decide on a package of congestion relief projects known as Regional Measure 3 (RM 3). If approved by a combined majority of all voters, this suite of transit, highway and bike/pedestrian improvements would be financed by an increase in tolls on the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges.

Today’s video gives a brief history of the past two regional measures that were passed in the Bay Area – Regional Measure 1 in 1988 and Regional Measure 2 in 2004 –  before discussing some of projects planned for the toll funds if RM 3 passes this year.

Watch the video and continue reading for more details on these projects. You can also review the complete expenditure plan and learn more on the RM 3 information page on MTC’s website. Read More