Report to the Commission: June 28, 2017

Transportation Task Force

June 5, San Francisco

I attended the first meeting of a city task force convened by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Aaron Peskin to explore potential local transportation funding measures for the 2018 ballot.

NARC Conference

June 6, Monterey

I joined CARB Board Member Dan Sperling on a panel presentation about California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the annual meeting of the National Association of Regional Councils.  Commissioner Pierce also attended the meeting and was elected to NARC’s Board of Directors at the end of the meeting.

WTS Awards Ceremony

June 7, Oakland

Commissioners Pierce and Worth led a strong MTC contingent at the annual awards ceremony for the Bay Area chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).  We also scored three different awards for national Rosa Parks Award winner Catalina Alvarado, former MTC Chair Adrienne Tissier, and our 511 program.

Trump Proposes Regulatory Relief

June 9, Washington DC

As part of his “infrastructure week”, President Trump journeyed to the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters and made remarks on the need to speed up the delivery of infrastructure projects.  

Gas Tax Poll Released

June 9, Berkeley

As you know, there is an effort underway to qualify a referendum measure for the 2018 ballot that would repeal the various fuel and vehicle taxes imposed by the Legislature in Senate Bill (SB) 1.  Earlier this month, the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley released the results of a statewide public opinion poll which found that opponents of the new gas tax law outnumber supporters by 58% to 35%.  Interestingly, the only region in the state where a majority of voters did not oppose the measure was the San Francisco Bay Area. 

TNCs Today

June 13, San Francisco

Our colleagues at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority have released a fascinating report about the rise of transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft in San Francisco.  Among the results are that TNCs account for a whopping 15% of vehicle trips within San Francisco on a typical workday, and that the number of TNCs on the street vastly outnumbers the city’s taxi fleet on every day of the week and at all hours of the day.  A copy of the full report can be found here.

Regional Economic Forum

June 15, Mountain View

I participated on the transportation panel at this annual event hosted by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Transportation Finance Summit

June 16, San Francisco

Following a keynote address by Senator Jim Beall about SB 1, I joined a panel discussion on future prospects for transportation funding sponsored by the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI).  The following day I traveled to San Jose for the twice-yearly meeting of MTI’s board of trustees.

TRB Executive Committee

June 21-22, Washington DC

I attended the executive committee meeting of the Transportation Research Board, where our major discussion topic was the “Smart Cities” initiative begun under the Obama Administration.

Beale Street Condominium Meeting

June 27, San Francisco

The three public agency members of the 375 Beale Street Condominium Corporation – MTC, ABAG, and the Air District – held our first official meeting yesterday now that the various real estate transactions associated with purchase of space at Beale Street and sale of space at Oak Street have been completed.  By the way, BATA and BAHA are now $50 million richer as a result of those transactions.

Ford GoBike Launch

June 28, San Francisco

Just prior to the June Commission meeting today, we successfully launched the first wave of our 7,000-vehicle expansion of the Bay Area’s bikeshare program.  Launch events will be held in San Jose and the East Bay in July.

ABAG Staff Consolidation – Update

I’m very pleased to report that 56 of 57 ABAG employees who were offered a new job at MTC accepted the position.  One employee opted to retire from public service.  Even before all the acceptances were in, I held our first all-hands meeting of the consolidated staff.  We barely fit in the large Yerba Buena conference room on the ground floor.  We start work together officially on July 5.  On that date, the two agencies will have a new web portal address: www.bayareametro.gov.  In the fall, we will convert staff email addresses to the same domain name, as in: sheminger@bayareametro.gov.  Stay tuned for more changes in the months ahead.