SENATE BILL No. 917
Introduced by Senator Becker
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Quirk)
(Coauthors: Senators Dodd and Wiener)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Lee, Levine, Mullin, and Ting) February 3, 2022
An act to amend Section 66502 of, and to add Sections 66513.5, 66516.1, 66516.7, and 66516.8 to, the Government Code, relating to transportation.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 917, as introduced, Becker. Seamless Transit Transformation Act.
Existing law creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as a local area planning agency and not as a part of the executive branch of the state government, to provide comprehensive regional transportation planning for the region comprised of the City and County of San Francisco and the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.
This bill would require the 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, as specified. The bill would require the region’s transit agencies, as defined, to comply with those established integrated fare structure, regional transit mapping and wayfinding system, implementation and maintenance strategy and funding plan, and open data standards, as provided.
Under existing law, moneys in the Transportation Planning and Development Account and Public Transportation Account are
99 continuously appropriated to the Controller for allocation to transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board for purposes of the State Transit Assistance Program. Existing law requires the Controller to allocate those moneys to those entities based on population and qualifying revenue, as specified.
This bill would make any of the region’s transit agencies ineligible for an allocation of those moneys if the commission determines that the transit agency is out of compliance with the integrated fare structure, regional transit mapping and wayfinding system, implementation and maintenance strategy and funding plan, or open data standards described above.
To the extent that this bill would mandate that a transit agency establish a new program or provide a higher level of service as part of an existing program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the line 2 Seamless Transit Transformation Act.
line 3 SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
line 4 (a) Transit connectivity and integration in the nine-county San line 5 Francisco Bay area has been a longstanding challenge. Legislative line 6 efforts to mandate and incentivize coordination between dozens line 7 of disparate transit agencies date back to 1996 and earlier. line 8 (b) Low-income residents, many of whom have experienced line 9 displacement and have long commutes requiring many transfers, line 10 are among the most adversely affected by the fragmentation, line 11 experiencing a significant financial burden from needing to pay 99 SB 917 — 2 —
line 1 multiple separate transit fares or being forced into costly vehicle line 2 ownership.
line 3 (c) As of 2017, only 5 percent of all trips in the San Francisco line 4 Bay area were made using transit. Per-capita transit ridership in line 5 the region decreased 12 percent between 1991 and 2016. “Plan line 6 Bay Area 2050,” prepared by the Metropolitan Transportation line 7 Commission, has identified that to achieve climate, equity, and line 8 economic goals, the share of commuters who travel by transit must line 9 increase from 13 percent in 2015 to at least 20 percent by 2050. line 10 (d) The COVID-19 pandemic has led to further ridership line 11 declines, due to both dramatic shifts in travel patterns and line 12 significant transit service cuts across the region. As the region line 13 emerges from the pandemic, transit ridership is recovering much line 14 more slowly than the economy as a whole; as of November 2021, line 15 transit ridership had recovered to just 40 percent of pre-COVID line 16 levels, while traffic on a majority of bay area bridges exceeded 90 line 17 percent of pre-COVID levels.
line 18 (e) In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in May 2020, the line 19 Metropolitan Transportation Commission convened a 32-member line 20 Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force composed of transit line 21 agency managers, advocates, and elected officials, to coordinate line 22 transit recovery efforts and identify reforms that would position line 23 the bay area’s transit system to emerge from the pandemic stronger line 24 and more connected than before and to help recover and grow line 25 transit ridership.
line 26 (f) In July 2021, the task force unanimously approved the Bay line 27 Area Transit Transformation Action Plan, which included 27 line 28 actions to increase ridership and improve fares and payment, line 29 customer access to information, transit network management, line 30 accessibility, and funding.
line 31 (g) In November 2021, the region’s Fare Integration Task Force, line 32 co-led by Bay Area transit agencies and the Metropolitan line 33 Transportation Commission, unanimously adopted a policy vision line 34 statement supporting the advancement of key fare integration line 35 policies, including deployment of an all-agency transit pass, line 36 reduced cost transfers, and a common fare structure for regional line 37 services.
line 38 (h) Although the Legislature has generally authorized the line 39 Metropolitan Transportation Commission to set rules and line 40 regulations related to transit fare coordination and transit 99 — 3 — SB 917
line 1 connectivity, to ensure that the recommendations emerging from line 2 the Bay Area Transit Transformation Action Plan are implemented line 3 by the region’s transit agencies in a timely manner and for the line 4 benefit of current and future transit riders, this act is necessary. line 5 SEC. 3. Section 66502 of the Government Code is amended line 6 to read:
line 7 66502. (a) There is hereby created, as a local area planning line 8 agency and not as a part of the executive branch of the state line 9 government, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to line 10 provide comprehensive regional transportation planning for the line 11 region comprised of the City and County of San Francisco and the line 12 Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, line 13 Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.
line 14 As used in this title, “region” means the region described in this line 15 section.
line 16 (b) For purposes of this title, the following definitions apply:
line 17 (1) “Commission” means the Metropolitan Transportation line 18 Commission.
line 19 (2) “Region” means the region described in subdivision (a). line 20 (3) “Transit agency” means a public agency that meets all of line 21 the following requirements:
line 22 (A) The public agency provides surface transportation service line 23 to the general public, complementary paratransit service to persons line 24 with disabilities as required pursuant to Section 12143 of Title 42 line 25 of the United States Code, or similar transportation service to line 26 people with disabilities or the elderly.
line 27 (B) The public agency operates the service described in line 28 subparagraph (A) by bus, rail, ferry, or other conveyance on a line 29 fixed route, demand response, or otherwise regularly available line 30 basis.
line 31 (C) The public agency generally charges a fare for the service line 32 described in subparagraph (A).
line 33 SEC. 4. Section 66513.5 is added to the Government Code, to line 34 read:
line 35 66513.5. (a) The commission, in consultation with the region’s line 36 transit agencies, shall develop and adopt a Connected Network line 37 Plan on or before December 31, 2023.
line 38 (b) The Connected Network Plan shall do all of the following:
99 SB 917 — 4 —
line 1 (1) Be consistent with the State Rail Plan required pursuant to line 2 Section 14036 and California Transportation Plan updated pursuant line 3 to Section 65071.
line 4 (2) Identify connected network transit corridors and hubs of line 5 regional significance across the region.
line 6 (3) Identify service-level standards for different parts of the line 7 network to optimize access across the region, particularly for line 8 low-income and transit-dependent populations, corresponding to line 9 different density and land use conditions, including by doing both line 10 of the following:
line 11 (A) Identifying target travel times between key transit hubs, line 12 service frequencies, and operating hours for weekdays, Saturdays, line 13 and Sundays.
line 14 (B) Quantifying access to jobs, housing, and other achievable line 15 opportunities.
line 16 (4) Identify operating and capital funding needs associated with line 17 the Connected Network Plan.
line 18 (5) Identify potential governance, institutional, or legislative line 19 changes that would support the Connected Network Plan. line 20 SEC. 5. Section 66516.1 is added to the Government Code, to line 21 read:
line 22 66516.1. (a) (1) Consistent with Section 66516, on or before line 23 December 31, 2023, the commission shall adopt an integrated line 24 transit fare structure that will become effective on or before July line 25 1, 2024. The integrated transit fare structure shall be developed in line 26 consultation with the regional transit coordinating council line 27 established pursuant to Section 29142.4 of the Public Utilities line 28 Code.
line 29 (2) The commission, in consultation with the region’s transit line 30 agencies, shall annually review the integrated transit fare structure line 31 to determine if updates are necessary.
line 32 (3) Each of the region’s transit agencies shall comply with the line 33 integrated transit fare structure.
line 34 (b) The integrated fare structure shall include all of the line 35 following:
line 36 (1) No-cost local-local and local-regional transfers, regardless line 37 of whether transfers are between the same transit agency or line 38 multiple transit agencies.
99 — 5 — SB 917
line 1 (2) A common fare structure for regional services by which line 2 trips involving one or more regional services are priced line 3 equivalently.
line 4 (3) Common transfer rules for local fares, such as means for line 5 validation.
line 6 (4) Common definitions for adults, youth, seniors, persons with line 7 disabilities, and other categories.
line 8 (5) A multi-agency pass, which may include a cap, that allows line 9 access to all services provided by the region’s transit agencies on line 10 a daily or monthly basis for one set price.
line 11 (6) A simplified system for local transit fares across the region, line 12 whereby the differences in local transit fares are minimized and line 13 intersecting local transit services have the same fares. line 14 (c) On or before October 1 of each year, each of the region’s line 15 transit agencies shall notify the commission of any proposed line 16 change to its fares in order to facilitate the alignment of fare line 17 policies across the region’s transit agencies in the integrated transit line 18 fare structure for the following year. The commission shall line 19 disseminate that information to all of the region’s transit agencies. line 20 (d) Consistent with Section 99314.7 of the Public Utilities Code, line 21 if the commission determines that one of the region’s transit line 22 agencies is out of compliance with the integrated fare structure line 23 described in subdivision (a), then that transit agency shall not be line 24 eligible to receive funds pursuant to Section 99313 or 99314 of line 25 the Public Utilities Code.
line 26 (e) This section does not prohibit a transit agency from offering line 27 free transit.
line 28 SEC. 6. Section 66516.7 is added to the Government Code, to line 29 read:
line 30 66516.7. (a) The Legislature finds and declares both of the line 31 following:
line 32 (1) The lack of a universal regional transit map and common line 33 wayfinding format at transit stops and stations in the region adds line 34 to the fragmented experience transit riders encounter, especially line 35 when planning a trip across multiple transit agencies. line 36 (2) Research has shown that the way transit lines and stations line 37 are displayed on maps strongly influences how travelers use the line 38 system.
line 39 (b) (1) The commission, in consultation with the region’s transit line 40 agencies, shall, on or before July 1, 2024, do both of the following:
99 SB 917 — 6 —
line 1 (A) Develop a comprehensive, standardized regional transit line 2 mapping and wayfinding system, including common branding for line 3 regional transit service and a shared digital mapping platform. line 4 Standards and resources shall be developed to display this line 5 information on print, digital, and interactive media. The system line 6 shall identify the standards that are required and the standards that line 7 allow for customization.
line 8 (B) Develop an implementation and maintenance strategy and line 9 funding plan to deploy the comprehensive, standardized regional line 10 transit mapping and wayfinding system. The commission may line 11 adopt a phased deployment of the system.
line 12 (2) Each of the region’s transit agencies shall implement and line 13 comply with the comprehensive, standardized regional transit line 14 mapping and wayfinding system and implementation and line 15 maintenance strategy and funding plan developed pursuant to this line 16 subdivision.
line 17 (c) Each of the region’s transit agencies shall use only the line 18 comprehensive, standardized regional transit mapping and line 19 wayfinding system by July 1, 2025, unless the commission adopts line 20 a schedule that sets out an alternate deployment timeline. line 21 (d) If the commission determines that one of the region’s transit line 22 agencies is out of compliance with subdivision (b), then that transit line 23 agency shall not be eligible to receive funds pursuant to Section line 24 99313 or 99314 of the Public Utilities Code.
line 25 SEC. 7. Section 66516.8 is added to the Government Code, to line 26 read:
line 27 66516.8. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the line 28 following:
line 29 (1) Studies have shown that travelers view the wait time at a line 30 transit stop as the most inconvenient part of the transit journey line 31 experience.
line 32 (2) Despite best efforts by the region’s transit agencies to adhere line 33 to their published schedules, the conditions on the roadway, line 34 including congestion and other unplanned delays, create line 35 unpredictability for on-time arrivals.
line 36 (3) The development of technology enabling real-time transit line 37 information, including arrival and departure predictions, vehicle line 38 locations, occupancy, and service alerts, has created an opportunity line 39 for the region’s transit agencies to alleviate the wait-time line 40 frustrations and provide riders with other useful trip information. 99 — 7 — SB 917
line 1 (4) Transit riders should have access to consistent and uniform line 2 real-time information across all transit services in the region. line 3 (b) (1) On or before January 1, 2023, the commission shall line 4 establish open data standards, in consultation with the regional line 5 transit coordinating council established pursuant to Section 29142.4 line 6 of the Public Utilities Code, that are aligned with, but may exceed, line 7 any data standards adopted by the state to provide real-time transit line 8 vehicle location, arrival and departure predictions, and service line 9 alerts data to transit riders.
line 10 (2) Each of the region’s transit agencies shall comply with the line 11 standards established pursuant to this subdivision. line 12 (c) The commission shall coordinate the activities of the region’s line 13 transit agencies pursuant to subdivision (b), serve as the region’s line 14 point of contact for data development and dissemination to third line 15 parties, and develop an implementation and funding plan for line 16 deployment of real-time information.
line 17 (d) If the commission determines that one of the region’s transit line 18 agencies is out of compliance with subdivision (b), then that transit line 19 agency shall not be eligible to receive funds pursuant to Section line 20 99313 or 99314 of the Public Utilities Code.
line 21 SEC. 8. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 22 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to line 23 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made line 24 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 25 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
O
99 SB 917 — 8 —