By Arianna Smith
Managing Editor
Transit California
California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA): California Doubles Down on Efforts to Reduce Climate Emissions from Transportation Sector
California has announced the release of the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) 2.0., building on the successes of CAPTI 1.0 and identifying 14 new key actions to further reduce harmful emissions released into our environment. CAPTI 2.0 confronts longstanding inequities, prioritizing benefits for all Californians — including the most vulnerable communities — while ensuring the state remains on track to meet its ambitious climate goals.
“We have a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the worst-case scenarios of climate change – and we must act quickly and purposefully,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California will persist in its investment of mobility options that are sustainable, convenient, seamless and affordable while also connecting our communities throughout the state.”
Since its release in July 2021, CAPTI has guided billions of discretionary transportation dollars toward investments that aggressively combat and adapt to climate change. All 34 original CAPTI actions were completed in just three years, well ahead of schedule. As a result, key state transportation programs now generate just one-fifth of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to emission levels prior to this administration.
“For three straight years, implementation of CAPTI actions has shown that with intentional action through our infrastructure investments, we can make huge strides in tackling transportation emissions,” said California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. "Under the leadership of Governor Gavin Newsom, and with the partnership of community stakeholders, we reaffirm our commitment to a cleaner, more sustainable transportation system with CAPTI 2.0."
The launch of CAPTI 2.0 introduces 14 new key actions to further reduce emissions and promote sustainable transportation, including:
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Commitment to working towards Vehicle Miles Traveled/Greenhouse Gas (VMT/GHG) neutrality in key state transportation programs.
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Creation of a central delivery team to coordinate zero-emission freight investments.
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A new Caltrans policy to minimize housing displacement as a result of highway projects.
CAPTI 2.0 also supports the implementation of a Caltrans Transit Policy as called for in SB960 (2024) to prioritize the movement of transit on the state highway system.
CAPTI 2.0 follows 12 months of extensive public engagement, incorporating input from hundreds of local and regional agencies, transportation industry coalitions and environmental advocacy groups. With this plan, California reaffirms its leadership in climate-friendly, equitable transportation policy for all Californians.
CAPTI 2.0 can be found here on the CalSTA website.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC): Contra Costa County Representative Sue Noack Elected MTC Chair; Stephanie Moulton-Peters, Marin County Supervisor, named Vice Chair
Pleasant Hill Mayor Sue Noack, who has served for the past two years as the Contra Costa County cities’ representative on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has assumed the helm of the regional board, with her Commission colleagues unanimously electing her to serve as Chair for the two-year term running through February 2027.
Noack originally was elected to the Pleasant Hill City Council in 2014. She also served as Mayor in 2016 and 2021 and recently was elected for her third council term. Noack, who has served as Vice Chair of MTC’s Regional Network Management Committee, graduated from Bucknell University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. She worked for several banking institutions and simultaneously earned her MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania.
MTC today also elected Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters to serve as Vice Chair for the next two years. Moulton-Peters has represented District 3 on the Marin County Board of Supervisors since January 2021 and was elected by her colleagues to serve as Board President for 2023. Before her 2020 election to the Board of Supervisors, Moulton-Peters served for 12 years as a member of the Mill Valley City Council and served as the city’s Mayor in 2010, 2014 and 2018. She is currently a board member for the Transportation Authority of Marin and the Marin Transit District and is a former member of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART) Board of Directors.
In addition to the new Chair and Vice Chair, several other MTC seats changed hands in recent weeks:
Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga replaced Cindy Chavez as the Santa Clara County Representative. Abe-Koga joined MTC in December 2020, previously serving as a Mountain View City Council member and representing the cities of Santa Clara County.
Palo Alto City Councilmember Patrick Burt replaced Abe-Koga as the cities of Santa Clara County representative.
Alameda Mayor Marilynn Ezzy Aschraft replaced former Union City Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci as the cities of Alameda County representative.
Contra Costa County Supervisor Candace Andersen is representing Contra Costa County, taking over for longtime Supervisor Federal Glover.
Alicia John-Baptiste, San Francisco's Infrastructure, Climate and Mobility chief, replaced former Commission Vice Chair Nick Josefowitz as the San Francisco Mayor’s appointee.
Napa County Supervisor Amber Manfree replaced former Commission Chair Alfredo Pedroza as the Napa County representative.
San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar now serves as the City and County of San Francisco representative, replacing Hillary Ronen.
Solano County Supervisor and Solano Transportation Authority Chair Mitch Mashburn replaced Jim Spering, who stepped down from the Commission in January after 38 years as Solano County‘s representative on the Commission.
Napa County Supervisor and ABAG Executive Board President Belia Ramos replaced Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt as the ABAG Representative. Rabbitt continues to serve as a Sonoma County Supervisor and as Immediate Past President of the ABAG Executive Board.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
LA Metro Kicks Off 2025 with Continued Ridership Growth
January year-over-year ridership climbs 5%; weekend ridership continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels
L.A. Metro celebrated its 26th consecutive month of year-over-year ridership growth in January with 25,358,363 boardings. The combined bus and rail ridership reached 82.9% of its 2019 pre-pandemic ridership level. Metro’s average weekday boardings reached 80.7% of 2019 pre-pandemic levels and on the weekends, ridership attained 93.1% of its pre-pandemic level.
Bus Ridership
The Metro bus system saw 20,041,153 trips taken in January, marking a 5.6% ridership increase compared to January 2024. Weekday bus ridership saw an average of 729,709 daily boardings, marking a 5.6% year-over-year increase. Weekends saw an average of 502,735 trips on Saturdays, and an average of 395,323 trips on Sundays. Saturday bus ridership in January marked an 8.0% increase and Sunday bus ridership increased 3.3% year-over-year. Both average Saturday and Sunday ridership exceeded pre-pandemic ridership for January 2019, up 2.2% and 1.5% respectively.
Ridership on the Bus Rapid Transit J Line, which runs on dedicated bus lanes on the 10 and 110 freeways from El Monte to San Pedro, rose 6.2% compared to January 2024.
Rail Ridership
In January, Metro rail boardings grew 2.9% over January 2024 to 5,317,210. Weekday rail boardings grew by 2.7% year-over-year. Saturday and Sunday rail ridership in January 2025 grew 6.2% and 1.4% respectively year-over-year.
The E Line ridership grew 16.8 percent, led by Saturday and Sunday boardings, which were up 25.8 and 16.4 percent higher respectively in January 2025 compared to January 2024. Weekdays in January were up 15.7% year over year.
Effects of Wildfires
The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County in January caused several Metro bus lines to be cancelled or rerouted. Metro Bus Line 134 was cancelled for more than a month and has been partially restored following the Palisades Fire and subsequent mudslides. Line 602 is now running a modified route after having been cancelled for a number of weeks. In Altadena, Lines 660 and 662 are running modified routes due to the Eaton Fire. This month, in response to the LA Wildfires, the Metro board approved extending Metro’s LIFE program, which provides free rides and reduced fares to low-income customers, to those affected by the wildfires. The LIFE team was present at numerous Wildfire Relief events where they were able to assist 2,089 new riders with transit relief.
Information on Metro’s reduced fare programs, including discounts for low-income persons and families, seniors, persons with disabilities and students, can be found at: metro.net/riding/fares/.
Public Safety on Metro
Metro continues its ongoing work to improve public safety with a three-point plan:
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Continue to partner with the County, the Cities and Regional Agencies to address societal issues such as homelessness, untreated mental illness, drug addiction.
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA): Adopting the Biking and Rolling Plan: A Safer, More Connected San Francisco
For the first time in 16 years, San Francisco has a new Biking and Rolling Plan. The SFMTA Board of Directors formally adopted the plan at a recent meeting. This marks a major step forward in creating safer, better-connected and more accessible streets for all.
Since the city’s last bike plan in 2009, the way people move has changed significantly. The old plan didn’t reflect the needs of many families. It didn’t do enough to support people riding e-bikes for deliveries, or people using scooters and mobility devices. This new plan fills those gaps. It ensures that biking and rolling are safe, viable options for more people across San Francisco.
With the adoption of the Biking and Rolling plan we have a guide to ensure everyone has real choices in how they travel—whether biking, rolling, walking, taking Muni or driving.
What the plan does and doesn’t do
The Biking and Rolling Plan is a long-term roadmap to expanding a safe, all-ages-and-abilities bikeway network. The plan also aims to improve connections to transit, schools, jobs and essential services. It also ensures that our planning process is equitable and transparent for future bikeway projects.
The plan does not:
Instead, it provides a transparent framework for future decisions about where bikeways should go while ensuring ongoing community input.
How community feedback shaped the plan
The plan was shaped by extensive community engagement, particularly in historically underserved neighborhoods. Over two years, we worked with PODER/Bicis del Pueblo, Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, the New Community Leadership Foundation, and SoMa Pilipinas. Our partners led workshops, bike rides, town halls and interactive events to identify community priorities. They used their findings to create community action plans.
We also incorporated feedback from merchant associations, technical and policy working groups and local outreach efforts. This input informed the plan and the North Star network map that helps guide future improvements.
Why having a plan matters
San Franciscans want safer, more accessible and more efficient streets. This plan helps make that a reality.
San Francisco’s streets cannot expand as our city grows. But we can still make it easier for people to get around by planning for more travel options. This will reduce congestion and improve our entire transportation system for everyone.
Who benefits and how?
When more people bike and roll, everyone benefits:
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Drivers benefit, too. When more people choose to bike and roll, there are fewer cars on the road, easing congestion for people driving.
What’s next?
With the plan now formally adopted, we will focus on early projects that:
Each project will go through community engagement and SFMTA Board approval. This will ensure that public input continues to shape how San Francisco’s streets evolve.
How we measure success
The Biking and Rolling Plan provides more ways to get around the city while improving safety, accessibility and connectivity.
We can track our progress towards these goals through the Safe Streets Evaluation Program. It measures the impact of quick-build and capital safety projects on:
Our five-year evaluation program has shown that:
With the new plan, our goal is to make bikeways safer, more convenient and more accessible. As bikeway projects roll out, we expect to see more people choosing to bike and roll in ways that work for them.
Bay Area Rapid Transit: Fewer riders witnessing fare evasion as BART rapidly advances installation of Next Generation Fare Gates
Decline in fare evasion sightings comes as riders flock to Clipper START discount program
There’s been a big decline in the number of riders who say they’ve witnessed fare evasion on BART. For the latest Quarterly Performance Report, BART asked riders, “did they see anyone enter or exit the station without paying their fare today?” Only 17% of those questioned said they had, which is a drop of nearly 1/3 from the same period just a year ago when 25% of respondents said they had witnessed fare evasion.
In the last 12 months, BART has installed Next Generation Fare Gates at more than 20 stations across the system. More stations are getting new gates every month. In just the last few days installation work began at Concord, El Cerrito Plaza, Glen Park, and San Leandro stations.
“The decline in fare evasion sightings is the latest indication that Next Generation Fare Gates are transforming the rider experience,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “We know it’s not possible to stop 100% of fare evasion, but we are seeing that these state-of-the-art, durable gates are proving themselves to be more resistant to fare evaders and are deterring unwanted activity on BART.”
As more stations receive new gates, BART’s crime rate has dropped. Overall crime on BART was down 17% last year even as BART served 2.6 million more trips than it did in 2023.
As fewer riders are seeing fare evasion, participation in the Clipper START discount program is skyrocketing. Clipper START trips on BART for the latest quarter more than doubled to 363,238 from only 150,282 a year ago. That’s a 141% increase. Clipper START provides a 50% discount on Bay Area transit to eligible riders who have an annual household income of 200% of the federal poverty level or less.
BART has heavily promoted enrollment in Clipper START throughout the process of installing new fare gates. BART is on track to have Next Generation Fare Gates at all 50 stations by the end of this year.
Orange County Transportation Authority Board Reappoints Tam T. Nguyen as Public Member to Help Guide Transportation Policy
Nguyen, a respected business and community leader, continues his service on the Board to enhance mobility in Orange County’s transportation system
The Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors has reappointed Orange County small-business owner Tam T. Nguyen to serve as one of two public members on the board. Nguyen, a Fountain Valley resident, has served in this role since 2021, and his reappointment will extend his tenure through 2029. Nguyen served as the OCTA Board Chair in 2024.
“I am truly honored and grateful for the opportunity to continue serving the residents of Orange County as a public member on the OCTA Board for another four years,” Nguyen said. “OCTA makes a positive impact on the lives of everyone in our communities by improving mobility, increasing accessibility, and being responsible stewards of public funds. I look forward to the privilege of working alongside my fellow board members to continue building a transportation system that supports economic growth and sustainability.”
Nguyen has been a strong advocate for small business and community engagement in transportation planning. In addition to his role as a public member, he has been an integral part of OCTA’s Diverse Community Leaders Group since its inception more than a decade ago, ensuring that the agency’s projects reflect the needs of all Orange County residents.
Nguyen is widely recognized for his leadership in business, philanthropy, and education. He is the co-owner of Advance Beauty College, a second-generation family-owned business founded in 1987.
His contributions to education extend beyond his business. Nguyen teaches business management at California State University, Fullerton and has served as past President of the university’s alumni association and past Chair of the Board of Governors Philanthropic Foundation. Nguyen currently serves as a Board member for Genesis Bank, Orange County Community Foundation, MemorialCare Orange County Hospitals and Small Business Diversity Network.
Nguyen will continue to work with the board to help guide transportation policy and programs for a balanced and sustainable transportation future for Orange County’s 3.2 million residents. Those decisions are guided in large part by Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements approved by voters in 1990 and overwhelmingly renewed by voters in 2006.
Nguyen, who was 1 year old when he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam, has deep roots in Orange County's Little Saigon Vietnamese American community. He and his wife, Christine, have three children.
The OCTA Board consists of 18 members, including all five county supervisors, 10 elected city council members representing all regions of the county, and two public members. A non-voting Caltrans representative also serves on the Board.
The other appointed public member is businessman Michael Hennessey, whose current term lasts until October 2027. Public members serve four-year terms and are eligible for reappointment to additional terms.