Transportation

Our goal: Give people better ways to get where they need to go.

SPUR’s transportation agenda:

• Make our streets safe and inviting for pedestrians.
• Complete our bicycle networks.
• Increase capacity and speed on key bus and light-rail lines.
• Increase rail service in the region’s urban core.
• Build out the state’s plan for high-speed rail.
• Integrate the region’s many transit operators to make a seamless experience for riders.
• Control transit costs.
• Use pricing to manage traffic congestion.

Read more from SPUR’s Agenda for Change

The Bay Area

  • SPUR Report

    Caltrain Corridor Vision Plan

    The Caltrain Corridor — the string of cities stretching between San Jose and San Francisco — is home to the world’s innovation economy. But its transportation system is falling short. How can we keep Silicon Valley moving?

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  • White Paper

    Designing a Second Transbay Rail Crossing

    Since the BART Transbay Tube opened in 1974, the Bay Area has grown from 4.3 million to 7.6 million people, yet we have added no new capacity for crossing the Bay. It's time to start planning a second transbay rail crossing.

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  • SPUR Report

    Seamless Transit

    Bay Area transit riders contend with more than two dozen different operators. By integrating our many transit services so they function more like one easy-to-use network, we can increase ridership and make better planning decisions.

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  • SPUR Report

    A Better Future for Bay Area Transit

    Capital and operating deficits are putting the viability of Bay Area transit at risk. MTC has launched the Transit Sustainability Project to identify policy solutions. SPUR recommends nine strategies to reach the project’s goals.

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  • SPUR Report

    Saving Caltrain for the Long Term

    Caltrain is one of the most important transit systems in the Bay Area, and yet recurring budget shortfalls and a complex three-county governing structure have made its future uncertain. SPUR looks at long-term solutions.

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San Francisco

  • SPUR Report

    Reversing Muni's Downward Spiral

    Muni faces an urgent financial crisis. SPUR proposes to boost revenues by increasing the speed of boarding, reducing waits at lights, improving transit stop spacing and favoring primary transit corridors.

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  • SPUR Report

    Taking Down a Freeway to Reconnect a Neighborhood

    Highway 280 and the Caltrain railyards create barriers between SoMa, Potrero Hill and Mission Bay. But San Francisco has the opportunity to advance bold new ideas that can enhance the transportation system and the public realm.

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  • White Paper

    Connecting San Francisco's Northeast Neighborhoods

    North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf and northern Chinatown have high densities of residents, workers and tourists — yet no major plans to increase transit. How can transit better serve these neighborhoods?

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San Jose

  • SPUR Report

    Freedom to Move

    Santa Clara County grew up around the car. Now traffic is stalling economic growth, social equity and quality of life. How can we get the South Bay, its people and its economy moving in a more sustainable way?

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  • White Paper

    Improving Access for Santana Row and Valley Fair

    Two major San Jose destinations — Santana Row and Valley Fair — are both planning to expand. SPUR offers 20 ideas for improving access and circulation for this already-congested area.

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Oakland

  • SPUR Report

    A Downtown for Everyone

    Downtown Oakland, one of the most transit-accessible places in the Bay Area, is poised to take on a more important role in the region. But the future is not guaranteed. How can downtown grow while providing benefits to all?

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Advanced Search

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Updates and Events

Driving Change

White Paper December 18, 2019
The Fair Value Commuting Demonstration project addresses a challenge that has plagued cities for decades: Too many people drive alone to work, creating traffic, wasting time and productivity, and degrading air quality and safety. Four Silicon Valley cities tested a package of strategies and technologies to tackle the issue. SPUR provided independent research to help assess the results and determine next steps.

To Achieve Seamless Transit, We Must Change What and How We Build

News December 18, 2019
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has made some big improvements to its methodology for assessing transportation proposals and deciding which ones to recommend for funding. What’s more, the improved tool provides a useful diagnostic for how project funding and planning in the Bay Area needs to change. SPUR offers three key observations on what this new perspective means for the next generation of transportation investments.

SPUR Comments on proposed spatial layout for Diridon Station

Policy Letter December 4, 2019
SPUR weighs in on the proposed spatial layout for Diridon Station at the City of San Jose City Council meeting. SPUR supports the staff recommendation on: elevated station platforms, creating two concourses with four entrances, the revised concept for the northern segment that shifts the stations platform south, maintaining the existing corridor to the South and not creating a rail viaduct structure over I-28-/87 interchange.

SPUR Support Letter for DISC Spatial Layout Recommendation

Policy Letter November 21, 2019
SPUR weighs in on the proposed spatial layout for the San Jose Diridon Station. SPUR supports the staff recommendation on: elevated station platforms, creating two concourses with four entrances, the revised concept for the northern segment that shifts the stations platform south, and maintaining the existing corridor to the South and not creating a rail viaduct structure over the I-28-/87 interchange.

Don’t Dismiss Transportation Pilot Projects: We Need More Wild Ideas

News November 15, 2019
When cities and transit agencies pilot new kinds of services, the early ridership numbers are not always strong, leading many to dismiss the new ideas — and the agencies for trying them. But this skepticism undermines the purpose of pilots: to test new ways to get people out of their cars. Rather than pooh-poohing pilots, we should embrace them as a chance to learn.

How California Can Stop Sprawl, Reduce Emissions and Strengthen Regional Economies — All at the Same Time

News October 28, 2019
California can address many of its issues at once by adding new jobs and housing around passenger rail stations. In September, SPUR partnered with Governor Newsom's Regions Rise Together initiative to hold a half-day workshop for California cities with rail stations. Together we asked: How can the state help cities spur compact growth and economic development near rail?

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