Latest news with #MetropolitanTransportationCommission
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area cyclists lose weekday access on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
Hopes for a permanent bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge have dimmed after a state commission approved a plan that will sharply restrict weekday access for cyclists and pedestrians. On Thursday, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted to allow Caltrans to convert the bridge's westbound shoulder into a breakdown lane during peak weekday hours, effectively ending the possibility of full-time bike and pedestrian access. Starting this fall, the 10-foot-wide path — currently open 24/7 and separated from traffic by a movable barrier — will close weekly from Sunday at 11 p.m. through Thursday at 2 p.m. It will reopen for active use from Thursday afternoon through Sunday night. The move follows a proposal from Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which argued that repurposing the shoulder for cars during high-traffic hours could ease congestion. Transportation officials pointed to data showing the bridge carries more than 21,000 vehicles per day during commute hours, while weekday bike usage averages just 140 trips. Preliminary findings from the Westbound Improvement Project suggest the change could reduce commute times by up to 19 minutes. A three-year pilot will evaluate traffic impacts, safety, and effects on surrounding communities before a long-term plan is finalized. The project also includes a part-time high-occupancy vehicle lane and a free shuttle for cyclists and pedestrians during weekday closures. Since the path opened in 2019, it has logged more than 400,000 bike crossings and 60,000 pedestrian trips. To help preserve access, $10 million in Regional Measure 3 funds will go toward active transportation projects in Richmond, including an extension of the Richmond Wellness Trail and upgrades along Harbour Way.
San Francisco Chronicle
03-08-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
SFO braces for nearly 1 million travelers during Fourth of July travel surge
Nearly a million travelers were expected to pass through San Francisco International Airport from Wednesday morning through the Fourth of July weekend, which could mean large swarms at security lines — and a frenetic scramble as people rush to their gates. This rush of people flying to far-flung places is just one illustration of what some experts are calling a national summer travel boom, which may boost the economy while also crowding airports and clogging roads. The trick, tourism insiders say, is to follow a timeworn adage: Plan ahead. With 975,000 passengers expected at SFO — a 4% increase from last year — officials have strongly encouraged people to arrive two hours early for domestic flights, and three hours ahead for international boardings, said spokesperson Doug Yakel. Those who don't carry a Real ID should allow extra time for a potentially more intricate screening process. Fortunately, SFO has no scheduled runway closures, and forecasters expect fair weather conditions. For Bay Area residents driving to Tahoe or Los Angeles, traffic tends to build up near the inter-regional gateways. Examples include Pacheco Pass, which cleaves through the mountains separating Santa Clara County from the Central Valley, or the Altamont Pass between Tracy and Livermore, which feeds motorists from the East Bay to Interstate 5. Traditionally, drivers headed from the East Bay to Tahoe or Sacramento have always dreaded another choke point on Interstate 80, between Davis and Vacaville. Flanked by outlet stores, that stretch of freeway picks up local and regional traffic and has long been notorious for slowdowns. But this year, I-80 road trippers can expect a reprieve. Caltrans has added additional capacity in the form of new carpool lanes between Fairfield and Vacaville, which will be converted to express lanes later this year. The additional lanes have effectively loosened a valve for anyone driving from the Bay Area to Tahoe, Reno, Redding, Sacramento or parts of Gold Country. With Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year, people might expect a surge of traffic on Thursday afternoon and evening. 'There's some truth to that,' said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Still, over years of studying travel patterns, Goodwin said he's learned an important axiom about the Bay Area. 'We leave home over a wide period of time,' he said. 'But we all come back at the same time: 5 p.m. on Sunday.' His advice, for people who want to avoid an epic Sunday afternoon traffic jam, is to head out as early as possible.
CNBC
01-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Bay Area commuters get free rides Tuesday morning due to Clipper card outage
Commuters in and around San Francisco rode into work for free on Tuesday morning due to an outage in the Clipper card system, which is used to handle payments for train, bus and ferry rides. "ATTENTION: The Clipper system is experiencing an outage on all operators this morning," the Bay Area Clipper account wrote in a post on X. "Please be prepared to pay your fare with another form of payment if required by your transit agency." Many buses were waving commuters on without asking for payment, and at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train stations, the faregates were open, allowing travelers to walk through for free. Clipper is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which manages transportation for the nine-county Bay Area. The service is used by hundreds of thousands of tech workers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The MTC website said there were 1.35 million unique Clipper cards — physical and digital — used in May, the highest monthly toll for the year and the most since December 2019, before the pandemic. A fact sheet from the MTC says Clipper is used by 800,000 transit riders a day across the region. BART, in particular, has undergone dramatic changes in recent years, most notably installing fare gates starting in late 2023, with full deployment expected to be completed by the end of this year. In the first five months of the year, average BART station exits totaled between 170,000 and 182,000 a month, according to its website. Those numbers are way down from the pre-pandemic days of 2019, when averages were generally above 400,000 a month. The MTC has plans to roll out an updated system called Clipper 2.0, which it says will be a "customer-focused, cost-effective fare collection system" with a "flexible platform for future fare structures." Features include use across the various mobile operating systems, updated communication and "expanded retail, online and mobile sales." The update, however, has been routinely delayed, leading to tense confrontations at recent Clipper executive board meetings.
CBS News
01-07-2025
- CBS News
Clipper Card system outage impacting transit systems throughout Bay Area
Bay Area transportation officials announced Tuesday that the Clipper Card system is experiencing outages, impacting commuters throughout the region. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which operates the system, confirmed on social media that the system is out on all transit operators as of 7:15 a.m. ATTENTION: The Clipper system is experiencing an outage on all operators this morning. Please be prepared to pay your fare with another form of payment if required by your transit agency. — Bay Area Clipper (@BayAreaClipper) July 1, 2025 At the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco, the fare gates were opened as commuters were unable to use their cards. Officials with Caltrain and Muni reported similar issues. Clipper Card officials did not provide an estimate on when the system would be restored. Tuesday's outage comes as several transit agencies, including AC Transit, Caltrain, Muni and the San Francisco Bay Ferry, were implementing fare increases. This is a breaking news update. More details to come.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
'Obsolete' toll booths to be removed from 7 Bay Area state-owned bridges
The Brief Open Road Tolling is coming to all seven of the Bay Area's state-owned toll bridges. This means the existing toll booths will have to be removed from these bridges. Up first is the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge. Work should be completed by early 2026. OAKLAND, Calif. - The removal of the toll booths for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is slated to happen at the end of May, officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission - Bay Area Toll Authority say. What we know John Goodwin, assistant director of communications for MTC-Bay Area Toll Authority, on Friday said the plan is for "now-obsolete" toll booths for all seven of the Bay Area's state-owned toll bridges to be removed, as the spans will convert to open-road tolling over the next three to four years, he said. This will help prevent traffic from bottle-necking. "The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge simply will be the first. The construction timeline is not set just yet," said Goodwin. Officials say the open-road tolling system will streamline the driver experience once the toll booths are removed. As for the first bridge to undergo the toll-booth removal, Goodwin says it's unlikely anything, including excavations, foundation work, and gantry erection, will be visible to passing motorists until this summer. The schedule calls for the work to be completed on the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge by early 2026. MTC- Bay Area Toll Authority shared conceptual renderings of what the open-road tolling could potentially look like. Instead of toll booths, an overhead structure called a gantry, equipped with technology to process tolls, will go up. Since there will be no toll booths, drivers won't have to stop and cars will flow freely. SEE ALSO:Bay Area bridges due for collapse risk assessment in the event of ship strike: NTSB report According to MTC, implementation of open-road tolling has also been shown in other regions to improve traffic flow and reduce vehicle emissions. Goodwin says the 'go-live' targets for other bridges include Antioch and Carquinez in 2027; Benicia-Martinez, Dumbarton and San Mateo-Hayward in the first half of 2028; and the Bay Bridge in late 2028.
