The Task Force’s soon-to-be-released report could change policymakers’ long-term vision for California’s public transit systems. Here’s how the Association is working to shape that vision.
By Arianna Smith
Managing Editor
Transit California
As Californians go about getting to and from daily tasks, a group of dedicated transit and transportation experts have been working hard at shaping what could be the future of the industry. The Transit Transformation Task Force, mandated in 2023 as part of SB 125, has been meeting consistently with the goal of finalizing a report due this fall that has the potential to affect how the Legislature and the Governor envision transit service for decades to come.
The Task Force was convened with the goal of providing a viable vision for the future of California transit: a future where transit operators would increase ridership, help the state meet its ambitious targets to reduce emissions that worsen climate change, and avoid the system-threatening spiral of declining public funding and revenues. (For more information about the origins of the Task Force, read Transit California’s 2024 feature).
Since the Task Force’s conception, the Association has played a key role in its development, activities, and deliverables – from advocacy work during the passage of SB 125, to the appointment of 12 Association members to the Task Force (out of a total of 25 positions), to the active participation in its meetings. The Task Force, which falls within the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), has formally met 12 times since its first convening in late 2023. Its final planned meeting is scheduled to take place on September 30, 2025.
In conjunction with the Task Force, the California Transit Association convened an internal Transit Transformation Advisory Committee (TTAC). TTAC is composed entirely of Association transit agency members, some of whom sit on the Task Force, and works closely with the Association’s Executive Committee. Critically, TTAC has made it possible to ensure that Association members on the Task Force bring a coordinated message to meetings.
The Task Force is set to release its final report this upcoming October. CalSTA publicly released a draft of the report’s first several chapters in late July. The initial draft chapters paint a picture of the post-shutdown distress currently experienced by most Association member agencies, but many questions remain unanswered.
What’s in the draft - and how is the Association responding?
“California stands at the threshold of a bold new era in public transportation,” the report opens, “one where transit is not just a service, but a cornerstone of a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous future.” The report later acknowledges that the sector, “is at a pivotal moment—facing real challenges yet holding immense promise.”
The early sections of the report emphasize a range of reasons for decreased ridership: perceived safety; route reliability, frequency, location, and convenience; and comfort and cleanliness. The report further states that these reasons have come about because of complex, serious issues including the homeless and opioid crisis, increased traffic congestion, regulatory and funding disincentives to provide any or more frequent service in more costly areas, agencies’ lack of control over underlying local infrastructure, evolving commute patterns, and fleet reliability.
In the assessment of the Association, the report in its initial form insufficiently emphasizes the funding environment under which transit agencies have long operated: through decades of underinvestment in public transportation by the federal government and State of California (relative to peer countries and states). The Association feels that the report must strongly acknowledge the impacts of successive external shocks to funding streams such as the Great Recession, the “borrowing” of transit funds in the late 2000s, and the pandemic shutdown on delivering core services.
“There is an immediate need to address the fiscal cliff numerous transit operators are facing with new funding,” the report acknowledges. Unfortunately, the report then places a notable amount of responsibility to address that funding shortfall upon the transit agencies themselves: “And to ensure long-term sustainability, California and its transit agencies must adopt a multi-faceted approach that includes increasing short-term funding flexibility, improving cost efficiency, and identifying new revenue sources for the future.”
The Association is fighting to ensure that the report sufficiently emphasizes the fact that increased operating costs are largely the result of economic issues and policy choices over which agencies have little or no control – and which agencies cannot sustain under existing revenue and funding sources. Such costs include state requirements like the Innovative Clean Transit regulation, which directs limited budgets and staff time away from core operations and state of good repair toward more expensive zero-emission technologies that drive up costs and create reliability challenges. Similarly, rising construction costs and timelines for projects that could otherwise improve service delivery increasingly occur due to a variety of state and local laws, administrative requirements and decisions like the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), permitting, betterments, and mitigations, and longstanding land use and housing policies.
Additionally, the Association is working to have the report paint a comprehensive picture of the many obstacles that block already underfunded transit agencies’ attempts to solve identified problems. The report should highlight policies like the Surplus Lands Act, which make mixed development around stations more difficult, and farebox recovery requirements that make it more difficult for agencies to offer discounted or fare free transit programs. The report could also highlight other issues that affect rider declines far more than traffic speed, including housing costs, drivers’ license eligibility changes, and the emergence of private transportation network companies.
Finally, it’s critical to make sure that the report demonstrates Association members’ ongoing work with the state and local governments to improve transit and increase ridership. The Association is urging CalSTA to highlight how transit agencies, transit advocates, and more recently, the state, have pursued and secured legislation to break past these barriers, showing a shared commitment to reform, including SB 288 (Wiener), SB 922 (Wiener), AB 917 (Bloom), and SB 960 (Wiener). Additionally, some transit agencies are achieving greater reliability through the introduction of dedicated transit lanes and new operational technologies.
The conclusion of the initially-released chapters hint at the proposed conclusion of the final report: “By building transit-supportive housing, stabilizing funding, and embracing innovation, California can lead the nation in creating a transportation system that is truly built for the future.”
The Association is actively working to ensure that the report unflinchingly reflects reality: that California transit can only transform into a “system that is truly built for the future” if the state itself invests in its transit agencies through long-term, dedicated, robust funding. This is being done formally through the public commenting process, through TTAC-coordinated comments at the remaining scheduled Task Force meetings, and through close collaboration with CalSTA.
In addition to comments made by the Association on behalf of all member agencies, individual agencies are welcome to send comments about the report to sb125transit@calsta.ca.gov (please cc Association Director Michael Pimentel michael@caltransit.org).
Already, CalSTA has expressed interest in the comments the Association has presented on the draft report. The Association will continue to work with CalSTA to ensure that the final report incorporates meaningful edits to present a more complete picture of the operating and financial landscape impacting public transit.