Transportation Climate Action Initiative

First-in-the-Nation Regional Grants Program Will Fight Climate Change by Funding Innovative Strategies to Reduce Driving  

Give Your Ideas for Strategies Below!

After more than two years of advocacy by TransForm and partners, the Bay Area's 2009 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) included one of our top recommendations: the creation of a regional Transportation Climate Action Campaign grants program. 

On December 16, 2009, MTC allocated $80 million to this program for the next three years. 

MTC's Transportation Climate Action Campaign will include funding for:

  • Safe Routes to Schools programs across the Bay Area
  • Grants for innovative programs that address parking policy, trip reduction, and transportation projects that are part of local governments' climate action plans
  • "SFgo", a pilot project that would implement strategies that prioritize transit over other vehicles
  • Education and outreach to business, cities, schools and directly to the public to encourage walking, biking, and taking public transportation
  • An intensive evaluation program looking at the climate impact and co-benefits of these types of programs

We are excited to share that this funding is already helping bring Bus Rapid Transit service to life on Van Ness in San Francisco!

Investing in these types of efforts is imperative so we can quickly understand what is effective at reducing vehicle travel and therefore fighting climate change.  By 2012 we will be looking to take successful approaches to scale in order to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions as required by California's new law, SB 375.

While the program does not fund Safe Routes to Transit, as we'd hoped, it will evaluate the program which will help us make the case for additional funding in 2012.

This kind of program will demonstrate that we can curb global warming and improve our quality of life at the same time.

The Bay Area is showing the nation what is possible in terms of transportation funding!

Read more about TransForm's work to shape the Bay Area's Regional Transportation Plan.

Interested in applying for funding? MTC is developing guidelines for the program, but we'll be sure to share an update once they've released a call for projects! You can learn more about the program's parameters and eligibility by reading MTC's staff report. 

Contact Carli Paine, TransForm's Transportation Program Director, with any questions about our work to get the Transportation Climate Initiative funded. 

Post your ideas for innovative ways to reduce driving (thereby fighting climate change) below.

Comments

At UC San Diego they've

by Marta Lindsey - 01/06/2010 - 12:22
At UC San Diego they've given out free transit passes and Zipcar memberships to students and staff -- that with other incentives has led to a dramatic reduction in people driving alone to campus from 66 to 46% in just eight years. Because of this success, they've put off any plans for more parking garages!

We really need a

by Sara - 01/06/2010 - 15:13
We really need a pedestrian/bike path on the west span of the SF Bay Bridge. Connect the shores of the bay and many people will feel more comfortable taking their bikes over the bridge knowing that they can return under their own power, without having to rely on BART, which unfortunately shuts down at midnight, or infrequent and overcrowded bus service.

We need video conferencing

by Betsy Cawn - 01/12/2010 - 12:05
We need video conferencing technology in our rural agencies and senior centers, schools, and public forums (especially governing bodies) that individuals can join in with using their home computers. Especially in the local senior centers, where resource assistance funding is meager, the ability for a non-driving senior and their caregivers to contact aid agencies using two-way video conferencing would facilitate preventive care and primary aid (such as food stamps or adult protective services' elder abuse intervention). Public meeting access for participation in Area Agency on Aging and Public Health Department meetings, from satellite locations such as senior centers, would greatly support public participation in preservation and development of needed programs created in the early 1960s, under the title of the Older Americans Act. Likewise, local participation in the California Senior Legislature and other local self-governance processes (long-term health care planning and related tax legislation) is negligible because of transportation constraints (exacerbated by low/fixed incomes) of many eligible senior citizens. Rural agencies on aging such as ours include member organizations as far apart as 130 miles. Time, distance, and transportation capacity prevents many of the willing volunteers from supporting the community-based systems of care advocated by the California Department of Aging. Surely, greenhouse gas emissions would be significantly reduced if communications facilities were installed and made easily to use in rural communities. Just a thought.

In late 2009, Petaluma

by Joe Rye/Allen Tacy - 01/12/2010 - 16:26
In late 2009, Petaluma Transit targeted our middle and high school market segment by launching a Holiday Pass program, whereby all secondary school students in the Petaluma City School District were distributed a free “Holiday Pass”. This unlimited ride flash pass was good from December 19, 2009 thru January 5, 2010. The pass was designed for students, and distributed through students, but anyone was allowed to board with a Holiday Pass. The Holiday Pass was deemed successful, with ridership on weekdays during the winter break only down about 25%, compared to past winter breaks that have seem student ridership plummet. Many compliments have been received on the promotion, and it has further strengthened PT’s partnership with the school district and our student riders. Petaluma Transit offered an entire month of free transit service to the community in October of 2008. This was right at the end of the historic highs in gas prices, so ridership was already solid, particularly in the adult market, prior to the promotion. The free October 2008 produced a record 17,622 boardings, a 25% increase from the previous month! This 25% increase was almost entirely due to students. And that in calendar year 2009, after the free pass promotion expired, student ridership was some 40% above that for the previous year.

The proposed

by John Scheuerman - 01/16/2010 - 08:38
The proposed Emeryville-Berkeley-Oakland Tram (EBOT) is a modern streetcar system (see ‘Portland Modern Streetcar’ YouTube video) that connects communities and provides ‘last mile’ connections to MacArthur BART, future Telegraph BRT, San Pablo AC Transit routes, and the Emeryville Amtrak station. The EBOT would be a public / private partnership based on the Emery-Go-Round model. Numerous shuttle bus services (Emery-Go-Round, Kaiser, West Berkeley, Summit) could be consolidated into one modern streetcar route. The efficiency gained would allow shorter headways and decreased travel times. The EBOT would run on low traffic volume streets or dedicated rights of way wherever possible. Proposed stops include: Pill Hill, Kaiser (Broadway/MacArthur), 40th/Broadway, 40th/Webster, MacArthur BART, 40th/Market, Adeline/Yerba Buena, 40th/Emery, Pixar/Emeryville City Hall, Novartis/Bay Street, Emeryville Amtrak, Hollis/62nd, Hollis/65th, North Emeryville Greenway, Berkeley Bowl West, Bayer Berkeley Campus, West Berkeley Office Park, 65th/Overland. A new bridge at Ashby Avenue would provide improved bike/pedestrian connections from the Emeryville Greenway to the 9th Street Bicycle Boulevard. The EBOT will support livable, equitable, sustainable, and prosperous communities.

Anybody want to cooperate

by Knut Bøe - 01/18/2010 - 02:13
Anybody want to cooperate with a Norwegian (me), on developing TrafficLogistics, = a concept giving free of way to trade and industry vehicles, buses, etc during rush hours, BUT ordinary comuters must use bus and train during the rush hours, no choice, no payment to get into the city with your car (in the rush hours). See?! my blog address: http://trafikklogistikk.com, and email: knut@trafikklogistikk.com Have a nice day! Knut

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