OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION NO. _______________ C.M.S. INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL MEMBER DAN KALB RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF SENATE BILL 917 (BECKER) THAT WOULD REQUIRE THE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION TO DEVELOP AND ADOPT A CONNECTED NETWORK PLAN, ADOPT AN INTEGRATED TRANSIT FARE STRUCTURE, DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE, STANDARDIZED REGIONAL TRANSIT MAPPING AND WAYFINDING SYSTEM, DEVELOP AN IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE STRATEGY AND FUNDING PLAN AND ESTABLISH OPEN DATA STANDARDS, AND REQUIRE BAY AREA TRANSIT AGENCIES TO COMPLY WITH THESE NEW SYSTEMS AND PLANS. WHEREAS, The act created by SB 917 will be known as the Seamless Transit Transformation Act; and WHEREAS, Transit connectivity and integration in the nine-county San Francisco Bay area has been a longstanding challenge; and WHEREAS, Legislative efforts to mandate and incentivize coordination between dozens of disparate transit agencies date back to 1996 and earlier; and WHEREAS, Low-income residents, many of whom have experienced displacement and have long commutes requiring many transfers, are among the most adversely affected by the fragmentation, experiencing a significant financial burden from needing to pay multiple separate transit fares or being forced into costly vehicle ownership; and WHEREAS, As of 2017, only 5 percent of all trips in the San Francisco Bay area were made using transit; and WHEREAS, Per-capita transit ridership in the region decreased 12 percent between 1991 and 2016; and WHEREAS, “Plan Bay Area 2050,” prepared by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), has identified that to achieve climate, equity, and economic goals, the share of commuters who travel by transit must increase from 13 percent in 2015 to at least 20 percent by 2050; and
2 WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has led to further, hopefully temporary, ridership declines, due to both dramatic shifts in travel patterns and significant transit service cuts across the region; and WHEREAS, As the region emerges from the pandemic, transit ridership is recovering much more slowly than the economy as a whole, and as of November 2021, transit ridership had recovered to just 40 percent of pre-COVID levels, while traffic on a majority of Bay Area bridges exceeded 90 percent of pre-COVID levels; and WHEREAS, In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in May 2020, MTC convened a 32-member Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force composed of transit agency managers, advocates, and elected officials, to coordinate transit recovery efforts and identify reforms that would position the bay area’s transit system to emerge from the pandemic stronger and more connected than before and to help recover and grow transit ridership; and WHEREAS, In July 2021, the task force unanimously approved the Bay Area Transit Transformation Action Plan, which included 27 actions to increase ridership and improve fares and payment, customer access to information, transit network management, accessibility, and funding; and WHEREAS, In November 2021, the region’s Fare Integration Task Force, co-led by Bay Area transit agencies and the MTC, unanimously adopted a policy vision statement supporting the advancement of key fare integration policies, including deployment of an all-agency transit pass, reduced cost transfers, and a common fare structure for regional services; and WHEREAS, the State Legislature has generally authorized the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to set rules and regulations related to transit fare coordination and transit connectivity, to ensure that the recommendations emerging from the Bay Area Transit Transformation Action Plan are implemented by the region’s transit agencies in a timely manner and for the benefit of current and future transit riders, this act is necessary; be it RESOLVED: That the Oakland City Council supports the seamless transit principles embodied in SB 917 and hereby endorses SB 917 and urges the California State Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom to support its enactment into law; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED: That the City Council directs the City Administrator or his designee to distribute this Resolution upon its adoption to Governor Gavin Newsom, State Senator Josh Becker, and state legislators representing the City of Oakland. IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE: AYES - FORTUNATO BAS, GALLO, GIBSON MCELHANEY, KALB, REID, TAYLOR, THAO AND PRESIDENT KAPLAN NOES – 3 ABSENT – ABSTENTION – ATTEST: ASHA REED City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the City of Oakland, California 3150505v1 / CDO - updated 2/23/2022