The San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) Board of Directors voted Wednesday to join California State Senate Bill 63 (SB 63), a regional transportation funding measure that—if approved by voters in November 2026—would keep transit moving.
"We are thrilled to see that the SamTrans board voted to opt-in to the regional measure that will keep the regional services, BART and Caltrain running, support a more seamless, coordinated, affordable, and accessible system, and improve local SamTrans service," wrote Seamless Bay Area's Adina Levin in an email to Streetsblog.
"San Mateo opting into the measure is a major win for regional connectivity and collaboration, particularly for multi-county transit operators like BART and Caltrain who serve San Mateo," wrote Zack Deutsch-Gross, Policy Director for Transform. "At a time marred by polarization and provincialism, it's exciting to see the Bay Area coming together to address the looming transit fiscal cliff."
As Streetsblog readers are surely aware, SB 63, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Sen. Jesse Arreguín of Berkeley, would authorize the creation of a regional ballot measure to prevent major transit service cuts through a half-cent sales tax in participating counties.
According to a SamTrans statement, in San Mateo County, the proposed tax would raise an estimated $135 million annually by fiscal year 2031. Of that, $32.5 million would directly support Caltrain operations (which are managed by SamTrans) and which are facing an average deficit over the next decade of about $75 million annually.
SB 63 originally included San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties. San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties also had the option to join. Santa Clara's Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board will vote on the measure this evening, August 7. Look for updates to this post.
Advocates are hopeful VTA will join the effort as well. Either way, the work isn't over. "Only by working together regionally can we solve this problem and begin to build the world-class transit system that the Bay Area deserves," wrote the San Francisco Transit Riders' Dylan Fabris.
"To win, every transit-supporting Bay Area resident is going to need to roll up their sleeves and do their part; let's get moving," added the Transbay Coalition's Carter Lavin.
The VTA Board meets at 5:30 p.m. tonight/Thursday, Aug. 7 to decide whether to opt in to SB 63.
