City, Regional Leaders Discuss Future of Public Transit for the San Ramon Valley

The key to a cleaner, more efficient tomorrow: Get more people to use public transportation.

The problem lies in how to push people away from the single-driver commute they're used to and toward shared vehicles, trains, buses and bicycles, agreed transportation officials who met at the San Ramon Valley Transportation Summit 2010 this morning to talk about how to cut down on commuting in the San Ramon Valley.

"In San Ramon Valley and throughout the Bay Area, traffic congestion is a major issue," said San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson. "Addressing that is a priority. And we have to remember that we don't work in a cocoon – this is a regional issue."

San Ramon was recently named one of the most commuter-friendly cities in the country by the National Center for Transit Research. But still, 34 percent of its commuting population drives alone, according to the center. And in a climate of tightening emissions regulations, local, state and national leaders are promoting public transportation as an affordable and eco-friendly alternative to cars.

A common thread in the morning's discussion, held at the San Ramon Community Center, was how to get commuters out of their cars and into buses, vanpools or trains, and ultimately how to plan communities where people live near their jobs.

"I think people are beginning to understand that they don't want to live far from where they work," said Sal Castaneda, a traffic reporter for KTVU channel 2 news, and one of a few speakers at the three-hour meeting. "We have to do a better job as a region to make public transportation more attractive."

The event was a mixer as much as it was an informational workshop. A few-dozen attendees showed up at the San Ramon Community Center to hear from lobbyists, city officials and other transportation experts about the shortcomings of and possible fixes to local public transportation.

"It's the built environment that's the challenge," summed up Randy Rentscheler, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Council, the agency that doles out government transportation funds and comes up with long-term plans for public transit in the San Ramon Valley and its surrounding counties.

As legislation forces California cities and transportation regions to cut down on carbon emissions, it's up to leaders from local to national levels to dream up ways to meet those goals. The hard part, Rentscheler said, is figuring out firstly how to do that, and secondly how to pay for it considering that sales tax revenue – which largely funds public transit – has slipped downward.

Rentscheler said that many of the fixes the public wants for the area's transportation network are probably decades away. A connection between Bay Area Rapid Transit and the Oakland Airport? Not likely in your children's lifetimes, he said. And it's unlikely that the Interstates 580 and 680 interchange will get modernized anytime soon, he added.

"Unless there's a huge gas tax increase ... or unless the public gets really serious about transportation, you're not going to see it fixed," he said bluntly.

Still, as regional officials struggle to draft a long-term public transit plan, a few spokespeople from public agencies and private companies encouraged employers and commuters to look into the various incentives available today. Bicyclists, bus-riders, carpoolers and train passengers can earn rebates, gift cards, tax write-offs and other benefits from using public transportation.

In San Ramon, anyone who starts a new vanpool can qualify for a bonus, said Darlene Amaral, a transportation analyst for the city. And folks who use a vanpool for more than three months can get half of the cost reimbursed, according to 511 Ride share.

To learn more about the various refunds, discounts and other perks available to area commuters, call San Ramon's transportation department at 973-2650.