Overview

 

About the Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Created by the state Legislature in 1970 (California Government Code § 66500 et seq.), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The Commission’s work is guided by a 19-member policy board. Fourteen commissioners are appointed directly by local elected officials (each of the five most populous counties has two representatives, with the board of supervisors selecting one representative, and the mayors of the cities within that county appointing another; the four remaining counties appoint one commissioner to represent both the cities and the board of supervisors). In addition, two members represent regional agencies — the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Finally, three nonvoting members have been appointed to represent federal and state transportation agencies and the federal housing department. Carrying out the Commission’s directives is a staff of some 130 persons headquartered at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter in Oakland, Calif.

Planning for the Next Generation

MTC functions as both the regional transportation planning agency — a state designation – and, for federal purposes, as the region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO). As such, it is responsible for regularly updating the Regional Transportation Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for the development of mass transit, highway, airport, seaport, railroad, bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The Commission also screens requests from local agencies for state and federal grants for transportation projects to determine their compatibility with the plan. Adopted in February 2005, the most recent edition of this long-range plan, known as Transportation 2030, charts a new course for the agency, particularly with regard to promoting “smart growth” development patterns.

MTC also has played a major role in building regional consensus on where and when to expand the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system and other major transit systems. A historic agreement forged by MTC with local officials as well as state and federal legislators in the late 1980s set forth a $4.1 billion program to extend a total of six rail lines in the Bay Area, adding 40 miles to the region's rail transit network and linking BART to San Francisco International Airport. In 2001 MTC laid out the next phase of major regional public transit investments in Resolution 3434. This new agreement features additional rail investment as well as a significant expansion of bus rapid transit and ferry service.

Financing and Monitoring Roles Expand

Over the years, state and federal laws have given MTC an increasingly important role in financing Bay Area transportation improvements. At the federal level, the 1991 Intermodal  Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and its successor,  the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, empowered MPOs like MTC to determine the mix of transportation projects best suited to meet their region's needs. MPOs’  role in transportation financing was reaffirmed by Congress in 2005 with the passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA). To help set priorities for the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing each year to the Bay Area from flexible federal funding programs, MTC convened the Bay Area Partnership, which is made up of some three dozen transportation and environmental agencies with a stake in the region’s future. 

Using these federal dollars, MTC has established several innovative grant programs that are changing the Bay Area landscape, one project at a time. MTC’s Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Program provides planning and capital grants for small-scale transportation projects that enhance community vitality and promote walking, bicycling and public transit use. The associated Housing Incentive Program (HIP) promotes the building of compact housing in the vicinity of public transit hubs. And the Commission’s Low Income Flexible Transportation (LIFT) Program funds new or expanded services for getting low-income residents to and from work, school and other essential destinations.

MTC also administers state moneys, including those provided by the Transportation Development Act.  Legislation passed in 1997 gives MTC and other regional transportation planning agencies increased decision-making authority over the selection of state highway projects and allocation of transit expansion funds for the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Also in 1997, the state Legislature transferred to MTC responsibility for administering the base $1 toll from the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges. A new entity, the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) was created for this purpose. BATA also oversees the Regional Measure 2 Traffic Relief Plan, which is funded by a voter-approved $1 toll hike that went into effect on the region’s state-owned toll bridges on July 1, 2004. With the passage of Assembly Bill 144 in 2005, BATA assumed responsibility for administering all toll revenue from the region’s state-owned toll bridges. AB 144 also established a Toll Bridge Project Oversight Committee — consisting of BATA’s executive director, the director of the state Department of Transportation, and the executive director of the California Transportation Commission — to manage the state Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program, which includes construction of a new east span for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

With the authority over the Bay Area's transportation purse strings has come responsibility for overseeing the efficiency and effectiveness of the region's transportation system. MTC monitors transit operators' budgets, conducts performance audits and adopts a yearly productivity/transit coordination improvement program to ensure that the region’s numerous bus, rail and ferry systems are in synch in terms of their routes, fares, transfer policies, schedules, passenger information and facilities.

MTC devotes considerable energy to advocacy efforts in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to ensure an adequate flow of funding for the maintenance and expansion of the Bay Area’s transportation network.

Taming Traffic and Smoothing Regional Travel

In recent years, MTC has added to its activities "hands-on" projects to squeeze more efficiency out of the existing regional transportation network. A pioneering, computer-based pavement management system (known as StreetSaver™) developed by MTC staff is helping Bay Area cities and counties better maintain their local streets and roads. As the Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE), MTC — in partnership with the California Highway Patrol and California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans — oversees the maintenance and operation of call boxes along Bay Area freeways. MTC/SAFE also teams up with these two sister agencies to administer the Freeway Service Patrol, a roving tow truck service designed to quickly clear incidents from the region's most congested roadways.

A pioneer in new transportation technologies (referred to as intelligent transportation systems), MTC sponsors a number of high-tech programs to smooth commutes and take the kinks out of intersystem travel. The 511 Traveler Information System provides real-time traffic conditions via the phone and a companion Web site located at 511.org. The system relies on an elaborate data-gathering network that MTC and Caltrans have been installing along area freeways in recent years. The 511 Traveler Information System also serves transit riders, linking callers with the phone centers at every Bay Area transit agency and offering personalized transit trip planning via the Web. MTC has been testing a universal smart card for paying transit fares – known as TransLink® — on select transit systems and routes, and has paved the way for regionwide deployment of the smart card, beginning with AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit in 2006. And, acting in its role as BATA, MTC oversees the FasTrak® electronic toll collection system, which speeds motorists’ passage across all eight bridges in the region.

Serving a Diverse Region

The region MTC serves is unique in that there are eight primary public transit systems as well as numerous other local transit operators, which together carry roughly 500 million passengers per year. The region’s varied geography has given rise to a diverse range of public transit modes: antique cable cars and historic streetcars; high-speed ferries; diesel commuter rail and electric-powered rapid transit rail; diesel and natural gas buses; and electric trolley buses. The combined annual operating budget of the transit agencies is over $1.6 billion, placing this region among the top transit centers in the nation. In addition, there are numerous specialized services for elderly and disabled travelers (referred to as paratransit service), nearly 20,000 miles of local streets and roads, 1,400 miles of highway, six public ports and three major commercial airports. The Bay Region embraces the nine counties that touch San Francisco Bay (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma) and includes 101 municipalities. Approximately 7 million people reside within its 7,000 square miles.

For more information, contact the MTC Public Information Office by telephone: 510/817-5787 (TDD/TTY:  510/817-5769) or by e-mail at info@mtc.ca.gov.