How and why did the commutes get so long? How did the Bay Area become the first or second most congested region in the country? Was this because of a regional problem or a local problem or both? What accounts for the repeated “disconnects” between the regional results of expensive studies laboriously vetted and discussed and what actually gets financed and built? Why did more than $100 billion in state, federal and Bridge toll funds pass through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC’s) hands over the last half century and yet do so little to either reduce congestion or strengthen the Region’s public transit systems? Was the current transportation malaise inevitable? Could it have been avoided? What steps can be taken to make things better? Does it make sense to place the Region’s future housing and transportation under a single super-agency controlled by MTC?

Answers to these and related questions will be discussed at a forthcoming BATWG press conference and outlined in detail in the next BATWG Newsletter.  The information to be provided is the result of an exhaustive BATWG analysis as to what went wrong at MTC and how it can be fixed.  For more information contact any of the four individuals listed in the “About” page of the BATWG website: http://www.batwgblog.com

This article was featured in Newsletter Issue 13. Click here to go back to the newsletter.