Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

Senate Democratic Caucus Briefing
Washington DC, July 30

As a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, I was invited to join several other transportation officials from around the nation in briefing Democratic members of the U.S. Senate on infrastructure issues.

Kempton Seeks Prompt Action on Doyle Drive
Sacramento, July 31

Caltrans Director Will Kempton has written to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom seeking a “conclusive outcome” by the end of the year to our ongoing discussions on closing the funding shortfall for the $1 billion Doyle Drive replacement project. In his letter, Kempton confirmed that that there is no feasible retrofit strategy other than to replace Doyle Drive and that there are no additional state funds beyond the $405 million already committed from the state highway repair program in 2007. Chair Dodd continues to lead negotiations with the various stakeholders to complete the funding package for this critical safety project.

Bay Area Pursues UPP Fallback
San Francisco, August 8

The Bay Area recipients of the original $159 million Urban Partnership Program (UPP) grant have sought approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to retain up to $145 million in federal funds for a program of improvements that excludes tolling. This fallback request became necessary due to the inability to secure local or legislative approval for congestion tolling in the Doyle Drive corridor. Our proposal includes retaining $47 million for reconstruction of Doyle Drive. We expect a response shortly from U.S. DOT.

Institute of Transportation Engineers
August 17, 2008

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission received the Institute of Transportation Engineers Parking Council Best Practices Award in recognition of its project entitled “Reforming Parking Policies to Support Smart Growth” at ITE 2008 Annual Meeting in Anaheim.

Ed Roberts Campus Groundbreaking
Berkeley, September 4

Former U.S. DOT Secretary Norm Mineta was the keynote speaker at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new headquarters of several disability rights organizations at the Ashby BART station. Recognizing MTC’s major role as a source of project funding for the $50 million facility, Commissioners Bates and Giacopini both participated in the festivities.

I-580 HOV Groundbreaking
Livermore, September 5

In a week for groundbreakings, Vice Chair Haggerty was the master of ceremonies for an event marking the start of construction for the eastbound high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-580 in Livermore. I joined Commissioner Sartipi and several other transportation officials in celebrating the occasion.

Highway Trust Fund Shortfall
Washington DC, September 5

U.S. DOT Secretary Mary Peters announced that the balance in the cash-strapped federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) would reach zero by the end of September, fully a year sooner than had been forecast only a few months ago by the U.S. Treasury Department. The reason for the accelerated shortfall was a combination of less summer driving due to high gasoline prices at the pump as well as larger than expected expenditure levels in state construction programs across the country. The following week, the Congress and President approved legislation to inject $8 billion in General Funds to keep the HTF solvent through the end of the SAFETEA authorization period in September 2009.

SANDAG Board Workshop
San Diego, September 12

My counterpart at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) invited me to appear before his board to present the findings and recommendations of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission.

TransLink® Management Group
Oakland, September 15

At the latest meeting of the interagency group overseeing the TransLink® smart card program, we announced that the contractor had reached the major “revenue ready” milestone for Caltrain on August 12th and for San Francisco Muni on September 5th. Both agencies will now proceed into a so-called “soft launch” with agency employees and select customers testing the card, prior to a “hard launch” for the general public early in 2009. BART is the final agency in this phase of TransLink® implementation, and is currently scheduled to reach “revenue ready” status in Spring 2009. As you recall, TransLink® already is in full revenue service on AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit.

The State Budget Finally Approved and Signed
Sacramento, September 23

The longest budget stalemate in California history concluded at last with an agreement on an FY 2008-09 state-spending blueprint obtained only after Governor Schwarzenegger threatened to veto an earlier legislative compromise.

In the transportation arena, let’s begin with the good news. Proposition 42 funds were left untouched despite earlier warnings that they might be suspended. And a related budget trailer bill codified an agreement over the formula distribution of $1 billion in State Local Partnership Program funds made available by the Proposition 1B infrastructure bond. In our region, BART, AC Transit, the Bay Area Toll Authority, and the seven sales tax counties are expected to receive just under $270 million from this program designed to reward voter-approved self-help measures. In total, almost $4.3 billion of Prop. 1B bond funds were allocated in the budget, including the first allocation of $200 billion for State Local Partnership and $413 billion for Trade Corridor projects, both programs MTC had a major hand in getting finalized and delivered.

In the bad news department, the sales tax on fuel that is the source of monies that funds the “spillover” and the core State Transit Assistance (STA) program grew dramatically from earlier estimates due to high gas prices and were all siphoned off to patch the General Fund shortfall.

Final budget action diverted approximately $1.7 billion from the "spillover" and other funds from transit to the General Fund as follows: $857 million to the General Fund for transportation related G.O. bond debt, $589 million to the General Fund for Home-to-School transportation, $138 million to the Department of Developmental Services for regional center transportation and $83 million to reimburse the General Fund for repayment of a prior loan from Proposition 42 transit funds to the General Fund.

Based on current law the budget diverted $663 million in both "base" and “spillover” STA revenue to the General Fund (based on historic law prior to last year, the funding loss was just over $900 million). Final budget numbers also reflect the Governor's line-item veto that reduced statewide STA funding by an additional $100 million from the figure included by the Legislature to $306 million for FY 2008-09, which is about the same level of funding as last year. Greater protection of STA funds should be a major subject for discussion in fashioning MTC’s 2009 legislative program.

IBTTA Annual Meeting,
Baltimore, September 20-23

I attended a board of directors meeting and moderated a panel discussion on the implications of declining traffic levels at the annual meeting of the International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association.

Map of the Month

The TransLink® for TOD project launched this Summer, will serve as a "proof-of concept" about the viability of future arrangements with cities and developers to share the cost of subsidized transit passes for TOD residents and employees. The program has provided free personalized TransLink® cards with free passes on AC Transit to almost 1,500 residents of select transit oriented developments (TOD) in the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Alameda, San Leandro and Albany. These customers will provide valuable feedback about the program’s impact on transit ridership and the TransLink® technology, as well as provide travel pattern and usage data to support MTC’s ongoing TOD initiatives.

The map analyzes the size of each TOD location in terms of the number of housing units per apartment building or complex, in comparison with an index that measures the walkability and quality of bus transit service for that location. Walkability is from www.walkscore.com and is calculated based on the number of businesses, parks and other destinations within walking distance of a given location. The transit quality rating is based on the combined headways of all nearby AC Transit bus lines, the distance from the location to the nearest bus stop, and the quality of destinations served by the nearby bus lines. The walkability rating and the transit quality rating are combined to give an overall weighted walkability/transit quality index score.

• TransLink® for TOD (PDF)
  

The monthly report on the performance of MTC’s operating programs:

• MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)
  
  

Upcoming Events

September 29 – October 3 — Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, Shanghai

October 22 — MTC Awards Program, Oakland Museum

October 26 – 30 — Rail-Volution 2008, San Francisco

October 28 – 31 — AMPO Annual Meeting, Seattle