The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) decided last Wednesday how the $495 million in transportation funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will be spent in the San Francisco Bay Area. The MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
Almost all $5.1 million allocated for “bike/ped” projects are sidewalk and crosswalk improvements that benefit pedestrians but do little to benefit cyclists. $185,000 will go to the city of Woodside for “bike facility overlays” on Cañada Road, which I think means repaving the Class II bike lanes on Cañada.
There are many surface streets badly in need of repair throughout the Bay Area that will be rehabilitated from $122 million in ARRA funding. These street repairs will directly benefit cyclists. Let your cities know where the potholes are that need filling!
Bay Area transit agencies Here’s a breakdown on how much funding Bay Area transit agencies will receive from the ARRA stimulus package.
- BART will receive $65.4 million for maintenance, upgrades and station construction projects.
- Caltrain gets $10.4 million for maintenance, including a $200,000 line item specifically for more bike racks for the Bikes On Board program.
- Golden Gate Ferry will receive $9.4 million to refurbish ferry boats.
- San Francisco MTA gets $67.2 million for light rail vehicle repairs and upgrades, subway upgrades, bus refurbishment, equipment purchase, and facility maintenance.
- SamTrans (San Mateo County Transportation) gets $7.8 million to purchase up to 137 new buses and perform preventative maintenance. Let’s hope they find the operating funding to pay drivers for those new buses!
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will have $47.5 million to spend on 107 new hybrid buses and “bus stop enhancements.”
- ACE (the Altamont Commuter Express train service between Stockton and San Jose) will have $3 million to overhaul their locomotives.
- Central Contra Costa County Transit Authority (CCTA) will receive $4.3 million for preventive maintenance.
- $4 million is allocated to Tri Delta Transit in Eastern Contra Costa County for preventative maintenance, “support vehicle” replacement with hybrid cars, and $1 million for IT system upgrades (yay for my industry!)
- The city of Fairfield: $3.1 million for bus and equipment purchases.
- $3 million for Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority for maintenance and rehab projects and a new bus wash facility.
- Napa County Transportation will spend $2.8 million on new buses and a park and ride parking lot.
- Santa Rosa CityBus: $4.3 million hybrid bus purchase, maintenance and enhancements.
- Sonoma County Transit will receive $2 million for maintenance and a new CNG bus.
- Union City will buy two buses with their $300,000.
- Vacaville: $2.2 million for a new bus and the “Vacaville Intermodal Station.”
- $7.7 million for the City of Vallejo on maintenance, ferry terminal ADA work, ferry engine overhauls, and facility upgrades and maintenance.
- Western Contra Costa County Area Transit (WestCAT) will receive $800,000 for maintenance.