Transbay Blog
Transit Funding
Tussle over SB 375 target for Southern California resolved, but funding challenges remain
On September 23, 2010, the State Air Resources Board (ARB) assigned greenhouse gas reduction targets to California’s regional metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), moving Senate Bill 375 forward into its implementation phase and setting in motion the first regional planning cycle required under the legislation. ARB adopted final targets that express each metropolitan region’s goal as … Continue reading
Proposition 26, and its implications for transportation funding (Part 1)
Ever since voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978, California has been playing a game of cat and mouse. Government would enact a charge, and someone would claim it was unconstitutional. Courts, realizing that in spite of Prop 13 the government still needs money to function, would read Prop 13 narrowly, allowing new categories of government charges to pass through with a … Continue reading
About Face: Governor Signs Gas Tax Swap Legislation, After All
Although Governor Schwarzenegger indicated last week that he planned to veto the the Legislature’s modification of his gas tax swap budget proposal, the Governor did an about face tonight and signed AB X8 6 and AB X8 9 into law. AB X8 6 and AB X8 9 form the pair of budget bills (explained in … Continue reading
Governor Will Veto Gas Tax Swap Legislation
Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated he will veto the legislative measures that would have executed the gas tax swap mechanism, while restoring some of the funding that transit agencies lost when the State zeroed out State Transit Assistance (STA) funds. Agencies throughout California had previously relied on STA to fund transit operations. The Legislature made a … Continue reading
California Legislature Passes Legislation to Restore STA Funding
Actually encouraging news … from Sacramento? Could it be? Dare we hope? The State Legislature, as part of the ongoing state budget effort, has passed a pair of bills, AB X8 6 and AB X8 9, which would establish a tax swap and restore State Transit Assistance (STA) funding, a critical source of money that … Continue reading
Obama FY 2011 Budget Includes Transit Funding for the Bay Area
The Obama Administration has released its proposed budget for FY 2011. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s portion of the budget, which accounts for $78.8 billion, mostly perpetuates the status quo approach to transportation spending. In particular, it includes requests for FHWA ($42.1 billion), FAA ($16.5 billion), FTA ($10.8 billion), the National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance … Continue reading
An Open Letter to the Green Governor
To Governor Schwarzenegger: It’s quite clearly the case, Green Governor, that we need to fix California’s transit systems, which are broke and breaking. Under-served areas had critical lifeline service put to the chopping block, but climate change demands that we reduce vehicle miles traveled statewide. Killing the gas sales tax and raising the excise tax … Continue reading
Whither East Bay BRT?
Courtesy of AC Transit. The AC Transit Board of Directors held a meeting to confront head-on the risk that the agency’s current financial crisis poses to its planned 17-mile bus rapid transit (BRT) project, which would extend from downtown Berkeley to San Leandro, via Telegraph Avenue, downtown Oakland, and East 14th Street. The State has … Continue reading
FTA and TIFIA Funds for AC Transit, Central Subway, and Transbay
This week, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced various grants, including money that will be coming to the Bay Area. One pot of money in the ARRA federal stimulus bill that we have not yet discussed here are the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) grants. Not to be confused with the … Continue reading
“Stranded at the Station”
Transportation for America and the Transportation Equity Network have released a new joint report, Stranded at the Station, that is only a few dozen pages (including colorful pictures) and well worth your time to read. The report, which builds on T4America’s well-circulated maps that compile transit budget crunches from around the nation, clarifies the perverse … Continue reading
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