Over 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, mostly from people driving alone. Our roads, planet and health can’t take much more. As our population continues to grow, we need to create more sustainable ways to get around.

California needs a lot more housing in its temperate cities. Enough to bring down rents, to house the homeless and to accommodate the climate refugees of the future — people who will have been driven from their homes by wildfire, flooding or intolerable heat. This means neighborhoods have to change, too. Not drastically or overnight, but persistently: more duplexes and fourplex intermixed with single-family homes, more apartments in commercial corridors and larger buildings in high-demand locations near transit.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area transit agencies are on the cusp of establishing the region’s first network manager. What does this development mean for regional transit and what happens next? SPUR has three ideas for getting the new organization off to a good start.

The Howard Terminal Ballpark Project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the City of Oakland. In addition to keeping the A’s from moving, it could help the city realize benefits ranging from well-paying jobs and affordable housing to infrastructure and environmental improvements. But if not well-managed, the project could displace residents in adjacent West Oakland and Chinatown and create congestion, safety risks, and potential disruptions for the Port of Oakland. SPUR is advocating for ways to ensure the project reaches its potential.

At the end of January, Therese McMillan, the executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments, will retire after a three-decade career in transportation planning. SPUR President and CEO Alicia John-Baptiste spoke with her about how the agencies have evolved over time, what she learned working at the federal level, and how she grew into her role as a leader in transportation equity.