MTC
This will not be a revolution against freeways, as some may have hoped, but a revolution marked by new express lanes totaling 550 miles, beginning with a new stretch of 14 miles on I-580 through Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore in the East Bay.
San Jose Mercury News
Commuters working in New York City and Washington, D.C. will now enjoy transit tickets and passes purchased using pre-tax income.
Planetizen
The Bay Area is one of the few metro regions in the U.S. with a separate MPO and COG, but that could change after voting members of both the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments agreed to a merger study.
Contra Costa Times
The potential to address the housing and transportation issues of the Bay Area by a single regional agency will be addressed this week.
San Jose Mercury News
Is gentrification the inevitable result of land use planning that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by favoring infill development over auto-dependent sprawl? The Urban Displacement Project looks at the unintended effects of Plan Bay Area.
Marin Independent Journal
After a Senate committee slashed the Small Starts grant program, the new Marin-Sonoma "SMART" train may not be extended from San Rafael to the Larkspur ferry landing, a critical link enabling rail commuters to take the ferry to San Francisco.
Marin Independent Journal
The new 23 miles of I-680 express lanes between San Ramon and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County will begin construction this month, the first of over 500 miles to be built and operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Pleasanton Weekly
On June 29, the California Strategic Growth Council awarded $121.9 million in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds to help build 28 affordable housing developments on major transit lines. Funding originates from proceeds of the cap-and-trade market.
PR Newswire
Bay Area Bike Share will grow from 700 to 7,000 bikes by 2017 after the expansion proposal was approved by a unanimous vote of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. It is a regional, not a city program, though most usage is in San Francisco.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
The Northwestern Pacific RR served Marin and Sonoma counties and the North Coast in the 1890s. The route of the new SMART train, while not as long, will run in the same right-of-way, starting next year. One new train was on display in San Rafael.
Marin Independent Journal
Palo Alto may be one of America's most bike-friendly small cities, but when it comes to bikeshare, it's been a flop. It's not alone—ridership has been low in Mountain View and Redwood City as well.
Palo Alto Online
The regional system would expand to the the East Bay cities of Berkeley, Oakland and Emeryville. Bikes would be added in San Jose and San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco's Department of Environment will soon begin enforcing the city's mandatory commuter benefits program for the first time since the law's inception in 2009. Fines up to $500 may be levied for noncompliance after warning notices are sent.
San Francisco Examiner
A group that coined the term, "stack and pack" to deride density and its role in reducing carbon emissions lost in court when the judge rejected their argument that only technological improvements in cars and fuels were necessary to reduce emissions.
San Francisco Chronicle
Two down, two to go. Rarely has a regional transportation/land use plan been sued by so many diverse groups. Environmentalists settled with Bay Area regional planning agencies with assurances that the 2017 plan will better account for GHG reductions.
Contra Costa Times
The Bay Area already has express lanes - but these 23 miles in Contra Costa County on I-680 will be the first built and operated by the new Bay Area Infrastructure Financing Authority, a division of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).
Contra Costa Times
Southern California's powerful regional planning association is one of the many public agencies across the United States that sees the future of road funding in a new technology called a 'black box'.
Los Angeles Times
Plan Bay Area must be doing something right as it seems to be antagonizing those on both ends of the planning spectrum. First, a libertarian group sues because of "densification", and now environmentalists sue because not enough funds go for transit.
KQED News
Dwarfed by its city counterparts, the Bay Area's 1,000 bikes will cover a larger region (5 cities in 3 counties) with fewer bikes, many placed at key transit nodes. It also distinguishes itself by being a 'pilot program' with multiple public owners.
Environment News Service
The group, Bay Area Citizens, worried about loss of property values and quality of life, will be represented by the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation, which will use CEQA as the basis of the lawsuit against regional agencies MTC and ABAG.
San Francisco Chronicle
