A Brief History of Transit in California © 2015 California Transit Association All Rights Reserved. Ten student papers are reprinted with the permission of the students and the students retain the copyrights to their articles included in this publication. Table of Contents Introduction . 5 Chapter 1: California and National Transit History . 7 Chapter 2: The Role of Federal Government in Transit . 25 1 2 Chapter 3: California State Funding for Transit . 37 4 Chapter 4: Linkages Between Urban Development and Transit . 47 5 Chapter 5: The Growing Importance of Social and Environmental Considerations in Providing Transit Service . 53 6 Chapter 6: Institutional Arrangements for Transit Provision . 59 3 7 Chapter 7: The Next Fifty Years: What Transit Might Look Like in the Future . 63 Appendix A: Timeline . 69 Appendix B: Student Papers . 77 Proposition 13 and AC Transit: No Going Back By Michael Alston . 79 Walk-and-Ride: Improving the Pedestrian Experience to Transit By Carline Au . 93 So Many Agencies, So Little Coordination: A Brief History of the Evolution of Public Transit Agencies and the Beginnings of a Regional Network in the Bay Area By Sara K . Barz . 101 Recent Trends in Transit Worker Wages and Benefits By Cheng Ding . 109 Recent History of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in California: The Success in Los Angeles and the Struggle in the Bay Area By David Kan . 117 Ridesharing: A Revisit to American Jitneys a Century Later By Janice Park . 133 Big Transit in Little Berkeley: Bay Area Rail Transit History, As Told By Two Berkeley Intersections By Samuel Siegel . 141 The Rapid Transit Solutions That Never Were: A Historical Look at Rail Rapid Transit Proposals in Los Angeles By Adam Stocker . 155 External Influences to Public Transit Ridership for San Francisco County Residents By Kagure Wamunyu . 167 The San Diego Trolley: The Little Light Rail That Could By David Weinzimmer . 173 Photo Credits . 193 4 PREFACE n 2015, the California Transit Association marked the 50th anniversary of its founding. I While it’s certainly a cause for celebration, we’ve all along regarded the occasion as an opportunity to build on half a century of success in order to shape the next 50 years of achievements on behalf of public transit in California. But the anniversary is also a natural opportunity to look back, to commemorate significant events, to honor past leaders and accomplishments while recounting the history of transit in California and how our communities have changed for the better as transit has evolved. In short, to understand where we’re going, it’s important to know where we’ve come from. 5 This book represents one component in the Appendix B represent independent papers written by Association’s initiative to celebrate the past while ten of Deakin’s students. These papers include some forging the future. It begins with a brief overview of provocative takes on the state of transit in California the development of public transportation from its and represent solely the views of the student-authors. 17th-century beginnings to the present day, along the The Association exercised no editorial control over way progressing from a predominantly private-sector the content of these papers. enterprise to the indispensable publicly provided service we know today. Subsequent chapters drill Since its 1965 founding as the California down into specific factors that have impacted Association for Publicly Owned Transit Systems, transit’s development, from the evolving role of state the Association has served as the leading voice for and federal governments as sources of both funding public transit in California, guided by the belief that and regulatory oversight to the influence on transit’s with better public transit comes better quality of life mission spurred by late 20th-century social and for riders and non-riders alike. We encourage you to environmental considerations. The section concludes explore this publication to learn about the events of with some thought-provoking speculations about our past that have laid the foundation for what is yet to trends that could shape public transit over the next come. We also invite you to visit our commemorative 50 years. website at caltransit.org/50-years/ to learn more about the people, places, events and institutions that Two additional sections provide further have fostered the last 50 years of transit history. insight into transit’s history and how the past has molded the present and portends the future. Our many thanks go out to Professor Deakin Appendix A features a timeline of key trends and and her students, Association staff for whom this events over the last five-plus decades, beginning project has become a labor of love, and the members just prior to the Association’s founding when public of the 2013-15 Executive Committee who embraced takeover of private transit operations was just getting and approved the project, not just as a means to pay started, and covering through the 2015 introduction due respect to the past, but also to lay the foundation of California’s integrated transportation vision for for the next 50 years of public transportation in the the first half of the 21st century. Appendix B presents Golden State. a series of individual case studies, examining challenges faced and accomplishments realized by transit agencies in California, with perspectives ranging from retrospective to visionary. Joshua W. Shaw This publication is the product of a Executive Director collaboration between the Association and Elizabeth California Transit Association Deakin, Professor of City & Regional Planning and Urban Design at the University of California, Berkeley. To facilitate the project, Deakin devoted a semester’s worth of in-class curriculum to study Donna DeMartino the history of transit in California and penned GM/CEO, San Joaquin Regional Transit District Chapters 1 through 7. The elements comprising Chair, California Transit Association, 2013-2015 6 CHAPTER 1 California and National Transit History Overview Overview alifornia has a long and varied history of transit. Streetcars, cable cars, ferries, buses, C rail systems, shuttles, jitneys, paratransit, and company buses have offered services to the state’s cities and suburbs, and in rural areas as well. Transit services have been provided by private operators, local governments, special districts, state agencies, and partnerships comprising these entities. Services have been deployed by developers seeking to open up new real estate markets, by private for-profit companies, by public agencies hoping to reduce congestion and reinforce city centers, by social service agencies wishing to serve the poor and the disabled, by employers aiming to expand their labor pools, and by individuals seeking a way to make a living. Funding for the services has come from user fees, private resources, and public tax dollars — federal, state, and local. This chapter presents a brief history of California’s transit services, creating a timeline of major events that have shaped transit’s performance and the services offered, and documenting the experiences of particular transit agencies. While early years are discussed briefly, the focus is on the five decades since the mid-1960s, when the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now the Federal Transit Administration) was established and the California Transit Association was established. 1 Any book on California’s transportation history must be selective. For one thing, California transportation history is intertwined with larger national and international trends and technological changes. Even California-specific topics, such as state and local funding approaches for 7 transit, are complex topics that could easily justify a The following chapters explore six other key book-length treatment. Since the goal here is more issues — the role of federal government in transit; modest — to provide an overview — criteria have California funding for transit; linkages between urban been established to sort out what to report. The development and transit; the growing importance of criteria for inclusion are: trends that have shaped social and environmental considerations in providing and are shaping transit markets, legislation that has transit service; institutional arrangements for transit affected the expectations for transit service and its provision; and future scenarios for transit. evaluation, technologies that have shaped how transit is delivered, and events that marked a new direction An additional ten papers prepared by for transit either in California or nationwide. Of students at the University of California, Berkeley necessity, many locally important events are omitted. provide further readings on California transit history. The papers (comprising Appendix B) investigate the The paper draws upon the academic and proliferation of public transit agencies in California, professional literature, websites, available histories especially in the San Francisco Bay Area; the impact of transit systems, and archival data on legislation, of Proposition 13, the property tax limitation events, and institutional and technological changes measure that revolutionized government funding in that have shaped transit. To help prioritize this California beginning in the late 1970s; labor costs information, the views on key events and factors as a transit issue; ridesharing and its relationship affecting transit were solicited from more than to transit; the increased attention to walking as a 40 national and state transit experts;