Bay Area

What’s New

Good Projects, Bad Projects: Results of the Project Performance Analysis
TransForming the Bay Area Blog, By Stuart Cohen & Jeff Hobson — February 16th
We’re getting close to decision time: which projects to include in or exclude from Plan Bay Area (the Regional Transportation Plan & Sustainable Communities Strategy). That’s why TransForm just sent MTC a letter to draw Commissioners’ attention to three projects we recommend should be excluded from the RTP plus a host of “slam dunk” projects we feel should definitely be included.
Read more

Round Two of OneBayArea Grants: One step forward, two steps back
Cross-posted from Greenbelt Alliance – January 12, 2012
Just last week the Metropolitan Transportation Commission released a second draft of the OneBayArea grant proposal. Unfortunately, it seems like for every step the Commission took in the right direction, it took two more in the wrong direction. And a few pretty big details are so problematic that the OneBayArea grant is starting to look like a step backwards from the status quo and will actually take us farther from achieving our Plan Bay Area goals, not closer.
Read more

Regional Overview

• The Bay Area region includes 101 cities, nine counties, and more than 7 million residents, and is expected to grow to 9 million residents by 2035.
• A successful Sustainable Communities Strategy in the Bay Area will provide a range of important benefits including reduced traffic congestion and air pollution and a better balance between location of jobs and homes.
• A number of agencies are involved in transportation and land use planning in the Bay Area, and have joined together, along with nonprofit organizations and other stakeholders, as OneBayArea to work on the Sustainable Communities Strategy.

When will the first Sustainable Communities Strategy be adopted? Other key dates in the process?
• The Bay Area’s first SCS (“Plan Bay Area”) will be adopted as part of the 2013 Regional Transportation Plan. Download the timeline for plan development here.
• The OneBayArea agencies have released an Initial Vision Scenario (March 2011) and Alternative Scenarios Report (August 2011) which can be found here.
• Workshops were held this winter to gather public input – if you missed the workshops, you can participate in a virtual workshop here. You can also sign up for email alerts at onebayarea.org

Which agency develops the Sustainable Communities Strategy?
• Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission, in conjunction with the Association of Bay Area Governments.

What are the SB 375 GHG reduction targets?
• 2020: 7% per capita reduction from 2005 level
• 2035:15% per capita reduction from 2005 level

To get involved and learn more, see the websites of partner groups listed below. Contact ClimatePlan for help getting connected.

Quick Fact

In the San Francisco Bay Area, a recent study found that when people both live and work within a half a mile of a transit station, they are ten times more likely to take transit. Approximately 42 percent who live and work near transit take the bus or train, whereas just 4 percent of others ride transit to work.

Regional Resources

Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area
A Policy Platform for the Bay Area’s 2012 RTP/SCS
TransForm, a leading advocacy organization in the Bay Area, has developed a policy platform for the Bay Area’s 2013 Regional Transportation Plan. “Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area” was developed in consultation with a number of other organizations, and includes a set of policy recommendations to influence the transportation investments in the RTP. For more information, and to sign on to endorse the platform, go to TransForm’s website. You can also download a summary of the platform here.

Vision California: Bay Area Regional Results
By Calthorpe Associates, October 2010
This analysis assesses the economic, energy, health, and land impacts of different ways to accommodate the Bay Area’s expected growth. Scenarios were developed to reflect a range of land use choices, from a business-as-usual future based on past trends to more compact options, including those represented by the regional FOCUS plan.
Download the Regional Results Summary

Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area: Policy Platform for the 2013 Bay Area Regional Transportation Plan
By TransForm, 2011
For fourteen years, organizations from across the Bay Area have come together with one voice to advocate for a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) that supports exceptional, affordable public transit and healthy, walkable communities. This platform of Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area is a product of this coalition and collaboration, representing the views of dozens of non-governmental organizations throughout the Bay Area.
Download the platform
Download the summary

One Bay Area
The Bay Area’s regional agencies, together with their partners at local governments, nonprofit organizations, business and community groups, and with interested Bay Area residents, are working together as One Bay Area to develop the Sustainable Communities Strategy.
Link to One Bay Area website

Bay Area Affordable Housing Survey Report
By the Non-Profit Housing Association, January 2010
This poll assessed how the current economic crisis is affecting our Bay Area neighbors. Its findings demonstrate popular support in the Bay Area for building more affordable homes.
Download the poll report

Grow Smart Bay Area
By Greenbelt Alliance
This program provides a vision for how the Bay Area can grow sustainably.
Visit the website

Click here for ClimatePlan’s compete Resource Library.

What They’re Saying

“We see [SB 375] as providing real community benefits. We have a problem in our community with air quality, so this is a significant benefit for us. It will also give us more energy security and independence, and most importantly it will give us a more livable community.” — Mayor Janet Abelson – El Cerrito

Bay Area

What’s New

Regional Overview

Quick Fact

Regional Resources

What They’re Saying

Partners in the Region

ClimatePlan