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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


Op-Ed: How California Can Build Sustainable Public Transportation

News /
Over 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, mostly from people driving alone. Our roads, planet and health can’t take much more. As our population continues to grow, we need to create more sustainable ways to get around.

SPUR comments on BART Phase II station designs and refinements

Advocacy Letter
SPUR is deeply invested in the success of BART Phase II, and worked collaboratively with VTA and the City of San Jose over the course of 2022 to develop new ideas for the station entrances and station designs to improve rider experience, maximize the number of people within walking distance, and connect to the city in purpose and design.

Taking a Big Step Toward a More Coordinated Transit Network in the Bay Area

News /
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area transit agencies are on the cusp of establishing the region’s first network manager. What does this development mean for regional transit and what happens next? SPUR has three ideas for getting the new organization off to a good start.

To Learn and Serve: An Exit Interview With Departing MTC Director Therese McMillan

News /
At the end of January, Therese McMillan, the executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments, will retire after a three-decade career in transportation planning. SPUR President and CEO Alicia John-Baptiste spoke with her about how the agencies have evolved over time, what she learned working at the federal level, and how she grew into her role as a leader in transportation equity.