SPUR Transportation Policy Area Header

Transportation

Our goal: Make walking, biking, taking transit and carpooling the default options for getting around

SPUR’s Five-Year Priorities:


Improve the region’s transit network, and the institutions that run it, so that all people have fast, reliable access to their city and region.

Make it faster, easier, more dignified and less expensive to get around without a car.

Leverage transportation investments to build great neighborhoods and connect people to opportunity.

 

​​ Read our policy agenda

SPUR Report

A Regional Transit Coordinator for the Bay Area

The Bay Area’s two dozen different transit services would be easier for riders to use if they functioned like a single network. This type of coordination is complex, but that’s not why it hasn’t been done. The real reason is that it’s not anyone’s responsibility.

SPUR Report

More for Less

Around the world, building major transit projects is notoriously difficult. Yet the Bay Area has an especially poor track record: Major projects here take decades from start to finish, and our project costs rank among the highest in the world. SPUR offers policy proposals that will save time, save money and add up to a reliable, integrated and frequent network that works better for everyone.

SPUR Report

Value Driven

Roads and parking are expensive to build, but they’re mostly free for drivers to use as much as they’d like. This kind of free access imposes serious costs on others: traffic, climate change, air pollution, and heart and lung disease. SPUR’s new report Value Driven shines a light on the invisible costs of driving and offers five pioneering strategies to address them.

SPUR Report

The Future of Transportation

Will the rise of new mobility services like Uber and bike sharing help reduce car use, climate emissions and demand for parking? Or will they lead to greater inequality and yet more reliance on cars? SPUR proposes how private services can work together with public transportation to function as a seamless network and provide access for people of all incomes, races, ages and abilities.

SPUR Report

Seamless Transit

The Bay Area’s prosperity is threatened by fragmentation in the public transit system: Riders and decision-makers contend with more than two dozen transit operators. Despite significant spending on building and maintaining transit, overall ridership has not been growing in our region. How can we get more benefit from our transit investments?

SPUR Report

Caltrain Corridor Vision Plan

The Caltrain Corridor, home of the Silicon Valley innovation economy, holds much of the Bay Area’s promise and opportunity, but its transportation system is breaking down. Along this corridor — which includes Hwy 101 and Caltrain rail service from San Francisco to San Jose — the typical methods of getting around have become untenable.

Updates and Events


SPUR supports AB2206 to make California's parking cash-out law work

Advocacy Letter
SPUR is sponsoring AB2206, authored by Assemblymember Alex Lee, which clarifies California's parking cash-out law. This law requires that for employees who choose to give-up their parking space and commute without driving a vehicle, qualifying employers must offer the cash equivalent of any parking subsidy that the employer is offering.

SPUR supports San José's Move San José Plan and Transit First Policy

Advocacy Letter
On August 9th, San José's City Council approved Move San José, a citywide transportation plan that sets forth transportation policies focusing on achieving the City’s safety, equity, and climate goals. The city's Transit First Policy was also approved, ensuring that the city directs efforts toward making transit safer and more useful.

SPUR and partners urge state agencies to seek funding for transit operations

Advocacy Letter
The state’s ambitious goals for reducing transportation emissions are severely threatened by a lack of operations funding for public transit, which could force transit agencies to make major service cuts within 2-3 years. Service cuts would seriously undermine the state's state's ability to reduce vehicle miles traveled and transportation emissions.

Envisioning a Brighter Future for BART in San José

News /
SPUR is a long-time supporter of BART Phase II, which will bring BART service into downtown San José. The project gets many things right, but we think it can do more to reach its goal of making transit the first and best choice for more people and more types of trips. As VTA convenes a collaborative task force to explore and evaluate how to improve passenger experience and station access, we share our goals for BART Phase II and how we hope they can be translated into the project design.