Your Commute and Public Transit - May 11, 2016
The traffic congestion and the pain it causes our commute has reached unprecedented levels in the bay area in the last few years.The huge imbalance between jobs created and housing units built on this side of the bay is the main culprit.
Traffic congestion is a challenge that will have tremendous impact on our region and county for the next decade and beyond.Viable solutions require significant federal, state and local funds, collaboration between all agencies involved, public and private partnership and change in commuters' behavior by utilizing public transit.
Here in Foster City, along with Councilmember Gary Pollard, I serve on the Transportation Subcommittee and we are working on developing solutions and identifying areas where we can enhance traffic flow and public transportation. Partnering with local employers is another area we will be exploring as well.Regionally, I serve on the Board of Peninsula Traffic Congestion Relief Alliance (Commute.org) which is a public transportation Service in San Mateo County.The Alliance operates a shuttle bus network that supplements SamTrans service and provides the last mile connection to and from public transit stations as well as providing tools and apps connecting carpoolers in an easy and efficient way.
Myriads of congestion relief solutions are being planned or implemented by various state, county local agencies and large employers including improvements on highway 101, electrification of Caltrain, expanded employee shuttle programs, enhanced technology making carpooling easier and efficient, and incentive programs.
In the immediate time, I encourage commuters to utilize the available free shuttles, connect with fellow carpoolers and be part the traffic congestion relief effort.A great resource for available shuttles in Foster City, rideshare matching and how to route a public transportation trip is www.commute.org. Here are some of the shuttles available in Foster City:
1) Hillsdale Caltrain Station/Lincoln Center- Four FREE shuttle service available between 7:00am and 9:00am and six FREE afternoon shuttles between 3:00pm and 7:00pm.More information at the link below.
http://commute.org/shuttle-info-26/rider-alerts-29/foster-city-lincoln-centre-caltrain-45
2) Hillsdale Caltrain Station/Mariner Island- Five FREE shuttle service available between 7:00am and 10:00am and five FREE afternoon shuttles between 3:00pm and 6:00pm.More information at the link below.
http://commute.org/shuttle-info-26/rider-alerts-29/foster-city-mariners-island-caltrain-46
3) Foster City/Millbrae Bart/Hillsdale Caltrain- Several routes starting at 6:20am-9:20am and again several routes in the afternoon starting at 4:00pm till 7:00pm.More information at the link below.
http://commute.org/shuttle-info-26/rider-alerts-29/foster-city-north-bartcaltrain-47
4) AC Transit Transbay to Hayward Bart- Six morning routes from 7:00am till 10:00am and five afternoon routes from 3:00pm till 5:45pm. Return trips schedule and more information available at the link below.
http://www.actransit.org/maps/schedule_results.php?version_id=30&quick_line=M&Go=Go&maps_line=M¤t_schedule=ALL
It is my hope that you find this information helpful and be able to use these services to help alleviate the traffic congestion, I certainly was not aware of the availability of all those routes.Remember to visit www.commute.org for valuable and user friendly commute tools.
I welcome your thoughts and comments. You can reach me at shindi@fostercity.org.
