SACRAMENTO — There are more than two dozen transit agencies operating across the Bay Area, and State Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-10th Senate District) is proposing to consolidate them into one.
“There is no reason for there to be 27 public transit agencies for just the Bay Area,” Wahab said in a statement. “The poor fiscal outlook demands consolidation. We must prioritize the needs of riders by increasing speed, cost savings, technology, and environmentally-friendly policies.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 3, Wahab introduced Senate Bill 397, which directs the State Transportation Agency to develop a plan to merge the transit agencies across the nine Bay Area counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma.
SB 397 is expected to go before the Senate Transportation Committee during its Jan. 9 hearing. If it passes, it will go to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The bill must be passed by the Senate before Jan. 31.
The Bay Area is also expected to receive a portion of the “$5.1 billion state transit relief funds (to be distributed over four years) provided in the 2023-2024 State budget to stave off the widely reported fiscal cliff,” according to a Thursday press release.
