Why does a state legislator want to merge all 27 of the Bay Area’s transit agencies together?
For state Sen. Aisha Wahab, the 27 agencies that oversee public transportation in the Bay Area are too many cooks in the transit kitchen.
The state legislator, who represents parts of Santa Clara and Alameda counties, introduced Senate Bill 926 last week, which asks the California State Transportation Agency to create a plan to consolidate transit agencies in the nine-county Bay Area. The legislation was first introduced as a “gut-and-amend bill,” which modifies an already approved piece of legislation, in early January, but Wahab pulled it to give agencies more time to weigh in before the end-of-the-month deadline.
The idea of consolidating transit agencies in an effort to create more seamless services for riders isn’t a new one. As recently as last year, several members of BART’s board of directors floated the idea, and in 2021, Caltrain’s leadership considered a merger with BART. But none of the previously proposed plans have come to fruition.
Wahab said she wants to “force the conversation” now — especially in light of Gov. Gavin Newsom signing off last year on a $5.1 billion transit bailout for a struggling sector. She said the current model is inequitable, and that many agencies aren’t addressing gaps in the system.
“When we have a vision for what public transit looks like in the Bay Area, we have to look more from a regional scale as well as a more localized scale,” she said. “It has to be two parts, and how can we connect more properly, efficiently, faster with technology, with safety in mind, with climate challenges in mind, and much more.”