Regional Transportation Plan 2009 Update

Preliminary RTP Victory!

The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) is the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's 25-year, $100+ billion blueprint for how transportation funding will be spent in the Bay Area -- and a huge opportunity to shape how the Bay Area grows.

Over 100 of TransForm's regional coalition member organizations plus individual advocates collaborated to develop TransForm's Platform for the 2009 update of the RTP.

After more than a year of work, MTC adopted a draft investment plan at their July 2008 meeting. Many advocates joined TransForm in supporting the MTC efficiency program proposal, which strongly reflected the priorities in the TransForm RTP platform, including:

• Doubling funding for MTC's land use program -- the TLC program will grow from $27 million/year to $60 million/year.
• Doubling funding for Lifeline, MTC's program that provides access to mobility for low-income communities from $300 million to $700 million
• Massive growth to the Safe Routes to Transit program -- MTC committed an additional $10 million/year (over and above the current $2 million/year from RM2).
• NEW Safe Routes to School funding, with $10 million/year. See TransForm's Bringing Safe Routes to Scale report.
• NEW funding for a Climate Change Program, which includes the two Safe Routes programs but also a transit efficiency program, public education, and more.
• Fully funding the Regional Bicycle Network, with the exception of the bridges, at $1 billion!

But 40% of the funding for these efficiency programs doesn't exist yet: it's money that MTC anticipates getting over the term of the RTP. So, there's still work to be done to prioritize how the money that exists will be spent and to generate the additional funds that are needed.

Next steps: MTC staff will conduct environmental review on a Draft Investment Plan and anticipates releasing a draft EIR in December 2008, the final plan will be adopted in March 2009.

MTC's Planning Committee will spend the fall and winter working on supportive policies to accompany the investments. TransForm will be actively involved in these discussions, advocating for a variety of policies, for example prioritizing funding for areas that agree to take significant levels of infill development (Priority Development Areas).

While this was a tremendous collaborative effort, a huge thanks go to Greenbelt Alliance, the Sierra Club, Urban Habitat and the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition for their dedicated, intensive involvement with moving the regional coalition's platform forward. Also, kudos to the many MTC commissioners and staff that set ambitious goals in the RTP. These goals included a first ever 10% per capita reduction in vehicle travel (compared to status quo projections of a 10% increase) in order to meet the state's climate goals.

Although TransForm was unsuccessful at having MTC reevaluate a number of committed highway projects and shift those funds to public transit, a number of Commissioners did vote to support the TransForm resolution to do so. MTC staff also committed to a more transparent process in the next RTP for developing the list of "committed" projects.

Stay up to date on TransForm's campaign by signing up for RTP campaign updates. Contact Carli Paine to be added to our RTP list-serve.

Ways for Individuals to Be Involved

Attend pubic meetings and thank Commissioners for their investments as outlined above.

Ways for Organizations to Be Involved

Feature the RTP campaign in your newsletter: Let your members know about the RTP campaign and how it relates to your mission. Contact Carli Paine about including an article in your next newsletter.

Join: Organizations that become a member organization of TransForm's regional coalition add their voices to our partnership and help define our policies and positions. Contact Carli Paine about how your organization can get more involved!

Stay On Top of Your CMA

Each of the nine Bay Area counties has a congestion management agency (CMA) that is supposed to coordinate transportation planning, funding and other activities in a congestion management program.