Transit Agency Leaders Pick Vendors for New, Improved Signs

Bay Area transit is one stop closer to a simpler, improved look and feel.

The Regional Mapping and Wayfinding Project is working to make Bay Area transit simpler, easier to use and more accessible.

The Regional Network Management (RNM) Committee  today approved two vendors that will help the Bay Area transition to a new, unified design for maps and signs at nine transit hubs around the region, as well as a selection of bus stops in Solano and Sonoma counties. The vendors will help fully retrofit signs and maps at the nine pilot site transit hubs. Pilot sites include the test locations at El Cerrito del Norte and Santa Rosa, plus Millbrae, Palo Alto, Powell, Dublin/Pleasanton, Larkspur Ferry & SMART station, Vallejo Transit Center & Ferry and Suisun-Fairfield station. These sites were chosen for their complexity and high potential for new wayfinding to improve customer navigation. 

San Francisco-based LC General Engineering and Construction Inc. will oversee design, permitting, fabrication and installation of new signs at the pilot sites. WSP USA Inc. will monitor construction, structural engineering review and cost estimation. Both firms will work with Applied Wayfinding Inc., the project’s wayfinding consultant.

The Regional Mapping and Wayfinding Project is part of the Transit Regional Network Management initiative. Its goals include:

• Improve transit accessibility by reducing barriers to information and navigation
• Grow and sustain ridership by making transit more visible and easier to understand
• Improve transit agency operational efficiency through shared designs for maps, signs and navigation materials

The project’s next steps will be to set the pilot delivery schedule and continue sign planning at the pilot sites in preparation for their implementation by the vendors approved today. 

The RNM Committee includes members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as well as executives from BART, AC Transit and the California State Transportation Agency.

MTC is the regional transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.