DECEMBER 15, 2003

The Ashland, Cherryland, and South Hayward communities are finding solutions to transportation problems or, if necessary, inventing them. These communities are involved in a ground-breaking Community-Based Transportation Planning Program developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).

Therese Knudsen, the program manager at MTC, says that the program's goal is to identify ways to fill transportation system gaps in low-income neighborhoods. It also aims to facilitate collaborative decision-making that includes residents, community-based organizations, transit operators, and the couinty Congestion Management Agency. The result should be solutions better suited to community needs and community groups that understand how transportation decisions are made so that they stay involved in the future.

The Community-Based Transportation Planning Program is an outgrowth of two earlier MTC studies that were incorporated into the 2001 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The Lifeline Transportation Network Report identified transit routes critical to the regions low-income communities and recommended community-based planning to find solutions to both distance and timing service gaps on these routes. The Environmental Justice Report outlined new ways for MTC to include low-income and minority communities in transportation planning.

The MTC established the program in October 2002 with the following guidelines:

• Congestion Management Agencies (CMAs) are to serve as lead agencies and oversee project implementation.

• Community stakeholders, such as local citizens groups, seniors groups, neighborhood councils, business groups and faith-based organizations, will playa major role in outreach and in identifying solutions. They may ultimately take the lead in implementing strategies.

• The CMA team and community stakeholders will conduct community outreach with the goal of getting as many residents involved as possible. Outreach can consist of surveys, focus groups, hosting community meetings and attending regularly scheduled meetings of neighborhood groups.

• Based on community input, the CMA project team will prioritize the transportation gaps, then identify gaps that can be addressed through fixed route service and those suited to other strategies.

• The CMA project team will prepare a plan identifying solutions, costs, possible funding sources and stakeholders or other groups committed to plan implementation. (MAs will present the plan to participating community-based organizations for their review before finalizing it.

• The CMA team will present the final plan to MTC It will also forward it to local policy boards and transit policy boards, which will then incorporate the recommendations into their plans.

For the communities of Cherryland, Ashland, and South Hayward the CMA hired a consultant who teamed with several community groups to conduct community outreach efforts. Throughout the fall of 2003 they solicited ideas and handed out surveys at regularly scheduled meetings of community stakeholder organizations. The project team developed preliminary strategies in November. Community open houses were scheduled for December and January to refine the strategies further. They will finalize the plan by February 2004.

For more information contact Therese Knudsen of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (464-7767, tknudsen@mtc.ca.gov) or Diane Stark of the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (836-2560, dstark@accma.ca.gov).

Source: Bay Area Monitor (League of Women Voters)