We believe Plan Bay Area is an important step forward in comprehensive regional planning in the Bay Area. While there still remains a gap between our vision of a more concentrated region and the actual tools to achieve it, Plan Bay Area contributes to the best practice of integrating land use planning with transportation funding and decisions.
In particular, we support two innovative policy tools studied in the plan's environmental impact report: an impact fee on development in areas with high amounts of driving, and a “vehicle miles traveled” fee — a replacement for the gas tax that would charge drivers based on how many miles they drive each year. We recommend that these and other ideas be incorporated into the final plan in July and/or in the next iteration of this plan, which will be updated every four years.