MTC awards funding to modernise Bay Area transit systems

San Francisco’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has allocated US$494 million to help more than 20 Bay Area transit agencies replace or rehabilitate aging buses, ferries, rail cars, tracks and bridges; update safety, control and communications systems; install new fare-collection equipment; maintain services for elderly and disabled passengers; and make other capital improvements. The commitment includes US$447 million of federal transportation funds, supplemented by US$47 million of revenues fr
January 28, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

San Francisco’s 343 Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has allocated US$494 million to help more than 20 Bay Area transit agencies replace or rehabilitate aging buses, ferries, rail cars, tracks and bridges; update safety, control and communications systems; install new fare-collection equipment; maintain services for elderly and disabled passengers; and make other capital improvements. The commitment includes US$447 million of federal transportation funds, supplemented by US$47 million of revenues from the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges.

"Job one for the Commission is what we call 'Fix it First’, which means taking care of the transportation system we already have," explained MTC chair and Santa Clara County supervisor Dave Cortese. "We're also committed to putting federal transportation dollars to work right away. With last month's passage by Congress of the new FAST Act, we finally have some certainty about the level of federal funding coming to the region for the next several years. This allowed us not only to take a big programming action for transit capital priorities in the current fiscal year, but also to begin committing to transit capital investments in upcoming years.”

Among the biggest investments made possible by the new funding are roughly US$50 million for 7357 BART's rail car replacement program; US$17 million to update deteriorating segments of the BART railway; US$97 million to accelerate San Francisco Muni's replacement of dozens of buses and trolley coaches; $36 million for 274 AC Transit to buy 10 new double-deck buses and replace more than 30 of its older 40- and 60-foot buses; and nearly US$17 million to replace two aging San Francisco Bay Ferry vessels. The allocation also reserves about US$52 million for Caltrain's planned replacement of diesel-powered trains with electric vehicles as part of its system electrification and positive train control initiatives.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ticketing wins for Xerox
    June 14, 2013
    Public transport solutions provider Xerox has been successful in winning orders for its ticketing systems, most recently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Chihuahua, Mexico. In Kuala Lumpur, the company will supply its Atlas contactless ticketing system and equipment to public transport operator Mass Rapid Transit Corporation for a new railway line that will cross the urban area of the city. Over the next five years, Xerox’s field teams will deploy the ticketing system, install 300 gate controllers and 200 tick
    Read More
  • Wireless technology aids city-wide traffic management
    October 10, 2012
    An extensive hybrid communications network in the County of Los Angeles is proving the capability and benefits of modern wireless technology for traffic management across wide areas. Wireless communications technology has found a welcoming test bed for use in traffic management systems, in the County of Los Angeles. The county has long running programmes synchronizing and monitoring traffic signals over large areas. In the process, combined with installation of advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), th
    Read More
  • Battery bottleneck: EV roll-out at risk
    June 17, 2019
    In order for the take-up of electric vehicles – a key part of the future mobility mix - to grow, we need batteries. And that might prove tricky, reports Graham Anderson Industry and commodities experts fear that the growth in electric vehicles (EVs) could be much slower than predicted due to bottlenecks in global battery market supply chains. “People seem to think that the switch from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles just means you plug your car in rather than fill it with petrol,” a
    Read More
  • Charging trial tests smartphones for road user charging
    January 26, 2012
    A new project is under way in Minnesota, investigating whether smartphones are technically and publicly acceptable for use in road user charging. Jason Barnes reports. In Minnesota, trials have been launched to determine whether smartphones are technologically viable and acceptable to the public for distance based road user charging (RUC). The Midwestern US state has engaged with Battelle to explore RUC technology options in a project which falls under the auspices of the US Federal Connected Vehicle progra
    Read More

Highlighted Content