Plan Bay Area 2050

Overview

Overview

A nighttime view of the Bay including the Bay Bridge and Transamerica building

Photo: Germán Poo-Caamaño, flickr

Introduction

Plan Bay Area is a long range plan that establishes the nine-county Bay Area region’s vision for land use and transportation. It demonstrates how the transportation network and land use development can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create more complete, livable, and sustainable communities with sufficient affordable housing, more transportation choices, and easier access to vital services and amenities, such as public transit, shopping, schools, parks, recreation, and health care.

The Transportation Authority coordinates San Francisco’s input to Plan Bay Area, including our list of specific transportation projects and programs to be included in the plan’s transportation investment strategy. Inclusion of projects and programs in Plan Bay Area is a prerequisite for receiving state and federal transportation grants, as well as a requirement for securing a project’s federal environmental document approval.

Background

In July 2017, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments adopted Plan Bay Area 2040 which set ambitious transportation and land use goals for the region, including:

Reduce per-capita greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks by 15%
Increase non-auto mode share by 10%
Reduce vehicle operating and maintenance costs due to pavement conditions by 100%
Reduce per-rider transit delay due to aged infrastructure by 100%
Decrease the share of lower-income residents' household income consumed by transportation and housing by 10%

In Plan Bay Area 2040, many San Francisco projects were called out as high performers in meeting those goals, including Caltrain Modernization and Extension to San Francisco’s Salesforce Transit Center, Congestion Pricing on Treasure Island and in Downtown San Francisco, Geary Bus Rapid Transit, and BART Metro.

Plan Bay Area 2050

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments are currently working on the update to Plan Bay Area 2040, known as Plan Bay Area 2050. The plan is scheduled for adoption in October 2021.