Episode 43: Coordinating Better Transit

AC Transit is the largest bus-only transit agency in California, serving the East Bay with local routes, school support and transbay service into San Francisco. AC Transit is a member of the Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force convened by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region’s MPO. As part of that task force and on their own initiative, regional operators have been meeting frequently, collaborating on a Healthy Transit Plan during the pandemic and continuing to focus on schedule coordination, regional hubs and approaches to a regional priority network. AC Transit also coordinates closely with local cities, adjusting transit in response to changing uses of streets, such as for walking or dining or parklets, including a bus-stop parklet in Albany. Robert sees opportunities for quick-build tactical urbanism for transit, such as dedicated transit lanes, so that “we come out of recovery with transit operations being smoother or better.”

During the pandemic AC Transit rolled out new BRT (bus rapid transit) service through east Oakland to downtown Oakland. It is now one of their most popular routes, reflecting transit’s role in providing transportation for essential workers. The podcast conversation gets into funding challenges, discussing the idea of federal support for regional coordination or to stabilize operating revenue. “We’ve shown that the number of people riding transit is contingent upon the amount of service that we can put out there. It sounds like an obvious thing, but if we kept the same amount of service out there and had a steady revenue stream, then we can retain ridership.”