BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 946|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 946
Author: Stone (D), et al.
Amended: 6/26/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 11-0, 6/25/13
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Pavley, Roth, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/23/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz: transit
bus-only corridors
SOURCE : Monterey-Salinas Transit District
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit
District (MSTD) and Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District
(SCMTD), in consultation with the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and the California Highway Patrol (CHP), to designate
certain highway shoulders as transit bus-only corridors.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
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1. Authorizes Caltrans to construct exclusive or preferential
lanes for buses only, or for buses and other high-occupancy
vehicles, or to permit exclusive or preferential use of
designated lanes on existing highways that are part of the
state highway system.
2. Creates MSTD and SCMTD and prescribes the duties and
responsibilities of each.
3. Requires motorists to drive on the right side of the roadway,
with specified exceptions such as when the motorist is
legally passing another vehicle.
4. Prohibits motorists from passing on the right, except in
specified circumstances if conditions enable the motorist to
pass safely, such as when the vehicle overtaken is about to
make a left turn.
5. Prohibits a motorist from passing on the right if it requires
driving off the paved or main-traveled portion of the
roadway.
6. Allows a bicycle to travel on a shoulder of a roadway.
This bill:
1. Authorizes MSTD and SCMTD, subject to approval by Caltrans
and the CHP, to designate shoulders of certain highways and
freeways within those transit districts as transit bus-only
corridors (commonly referred to as bus-on-shoulder programs).
2. Requires MSTD and SCMTD to each determine jointly with
Caltrans and the CHP appropriate segments for bus-on-shoulder
programs based on factors such as right-of-way availability
and capacity, peak congestion hours, and the most heavily
congested areas.
3. Requires MSTD and SCMTD to each work with Caltrans and the
CHP, in a transparent manner that includes opportunity for
public comment, to develop guidelines to ensure driver and
vehicle safety, as well as integrity of the infrastructure.
4. Requires Caltrans, MSTD, and SCMTD to monitor the state of
repair of highway shoulders used in the bus-on-shoulder
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program, including repairs attributable to the operation of
transit buses on the shoulders.
5. Provides that MSTD and SCMTD shall be responsible for all
costs attributable to the bus-on-shoulder program, including
costs related repairs attributed to the operation of transit
buses on shoulders.
6. Authorizes the bus-on-shoulder program to commence operation
as soon as MSTD, SCMTD, Caltrans, and the CHP have agreed
upon guidelines.
7. Authorizes operation of a transit bus on the shoulder of a
state highway in conjunction with a bus-on-shoulder program
within the areas served by MSTD and SCMTD.
Background
Bus-on-shoulder programs . A comprehensive 2006 study by the
Transit Cooperative Research Program, sponsored by the Federal
Transit Administration, found that bus-on-shoulder programs had
been working successfully for more than a decade in various
parts of the United States. The study notes that these programs
work because they minimize congestion-related interruptions of
bus schedules, improve travel times for buses versus cars, are
low cost and easy to implement, do not require new
rights-of-way, and are not visually obtrusive. The study also
found that these programs are popular with bus passengers and
have not drawn significant complaints from motorists.
In 2005, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)
received a Caltrans grant to evaluate the feasibility of
converting freeway shoulder lanes to transit-only lanes. SANDAG
implemented a pilot project, in partnership with the San Diego
Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), Caltrans, and the CHP,
beginning in December 2005. The project, which is still in
effect, utilizes the freeway shoulder on the MTS Express Route
960 on portions of State Route 52 and Interstate 805 as a
transit-only lane during morning and evening rush hours when
freeway speeds drop below 35 miles per hour. SANDAG considers
the program so successful that it is identifying additional
routes for bus-on-shoulder programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
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Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/13)
Monterey-Salinas Transit District (co-source)
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (co-source)
California Transit Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states that Highway
1, the primary traffic corridor through Monterey and Santa Cruz
Counties, suffers significant congestion during daily work
commute times. By enabling transit buses to utilize highway
shoulders, this bill will help ease that congestion. The
sponsors of this bill note that bus-on-shoulder programs are a
low-cost strategy to improve transit system reliability and
service, as well as an effective method to help relieve traffic
congestion and thus improve air quality.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/23/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John
A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Holden, Jones, Waldron, Vacancy,
Vacancy
JA:d 8/9/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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