Bay Bridge Fast Forward Program.

Existing law creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a local area planning agency for the 9-county San Francisco Bay area with comprehensive regional transportation planning and other related responsibilities. Existing law creates various transit districts located in the San Francisco Bay area, with specified powers and duties relative to providing public transit services. This bill would require the commission, Department of Transportation, and certain transit entities to jointly identify, plan, and deliver a comprehensive set of operational, transit, and infrastructure investments for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge corridor, which would be known collectively as the Bay Bridge Fast Forward Program. The bill would require the commission, department, and certain transit operators, on or before January 1, 2022, to jointly submit to the Legislature a comprehensive plan to improve bus and very high occupancy vehicle speed and travel time reliability along the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge corridor. The bill would authorize the commission and department, on and after January 1, 2024, if a specified travel speed reliability performance target for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge corridor has not been met for a consecutive 6-month period, to, as a year-long pilot program, designate a lane on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge exclusively for use by buses and very high occupancy vehicles during specified time periods, and would require the commission, department, and certain transit operators to jointly submit to the Legislature a report on the pilot program's efficiency. The bill would require the department to obtain federal approval or waivers, as necessary, to implement these provisions. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge corridor. By imposing new requirements on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.