SamTrans

Infobox Bus transit
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parent = San Mateo County Transit District
founded = 1 July 1976
headquarters = 1250 San Carlos Ave.
San Carlos CA
locale = San Francisco Bay Area
service_area = San Mateo County
service_type = bus service, express bus, paratransit
alliance =
routes = 55
destinations =
stops =
hubs =
stations =
lounge =
fleet = 339
ridership = 40,735 (FY 2006)
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ceo =
website = [http://www.samtrans.com/ samtrans.com]

San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County and into portions of San Francisco and Palo Alto. Service is largely concentrated on the Bay side of the San Bruno Mountains, leaving coast-side service south of Pacifica spotty and intermittent. [cite news
url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/05/12/MN55112.DTL
title = SamTrans to Add Shuttle Service Along the Coast New route around Half Moon Bay
publisher = the San Francisco Chronicle
author = Angelica Pence
date = 12 May 2000
accessdate = 2007-01-07 ]

SamTrans is constituted as a special district under California state law. It is governed by a board of nine appointed members; two county Supervisors, one “transportation expert” appointed by the county Board of Supervisors, three city councilpersons appointed by the cities in the county to represent the county's judicial districts, and three citizens appointed by the other six board members (including one from the coastside).

The district was established in 1976 by Pittsburgh resident John Mauro [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07028/757134-147.stm Getting Around: A spin on public transportation from oldies but goodies] ] and consolidated eleven different municipal bus systems serving the county. One year later, SamTrans began operation of mainline bus service to San Francisco.

In addition to fixed route bus and paratransit operations, the district participates in the administration of the San Jose-San Francisco commuter rail line Caltrain and provides funding for the San Mateo County portion of BART system south of Daly City Station. SamTrans also once possessed the authority to alter service levels on this segment of BART which services the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and has done so on several occasions. [cite news
url = http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_5240003
title = BART, SamTrans parting ways
publisher = Inside Bay Area
author = Michael Manekin
date = 15 February 2007
accessdate = 2007-02-18 ] However, in the face of increasing financial disputes, SamTrans and BART decided to end their partnership, giving BART full control over the extension, in early 2007. [cite news
url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/12/BAGV9E6VFG1.DTL
title = BART's directors approve plan to trim service to S.F. airport
publisher = the San Francisco Chronicle
author = Michael Cabanatuan
date = 12 August 2005
accessdate = 2007-01-07 ] SamTrans also provides administrative support for the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, a separate board charged with administering the half cent (US$0.005) sales tax levy funding various highway and transit improvement projects.

Bus service

Currently, SamTrans serves the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, Colma, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, and South San Francisco. Most routes provide connecting service to BART, Caltrain, or both. There is also, regular scheduled service to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco.

Unlike most large transit operators in the Bay Area, SamTrans outsources to private contractors the operation of a number of its routes. The current contract operator for Peninsula mainline, Coastside and paratransit services is MV Transportation.

SamTrans additionally operates special service for a number of Bay Area events such as San Francisco 49ers home football games and the quirky Bay To Breakers footrace in San Francisco.

Route designations

Since SamTrans reorganized its bus routes in August 1999, SamTrans adopted a new route designation system to identify service types, geographical coverage, and connections to rail services.

All express bus routes are designated by a letter and X (e.g. KX, MX, etc).

All local routes have either two or three digits. For three digit routes, the first digit identifies a rail connection:

*1 – Connection to BART stations only (Primarily routes in Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco and San Bruno)
*2 – Connection to Caltrain stations only (Primarily routes south of Millbrae)
*3 – Connection to both BART and Caltrain stations (Only four routes have this designation: Two of them operate along El Camino between Daly City/San Francisco and Palo Alto/Redwood City, one serves within Millbrae and connects to the Millbrae BART/Caltrain station, and another route provides overnight service between Palo Alto and San Francisco as a part of the All Nighter network.)

All two digit routes are identified as community service routes. Most of these routes do not connect with rail and operate only on school days.

The second digit of the three digit routes, as well as the first digit of the two digit routes, identifies the geographical coverage of the route:

*1 – Coastside (Pacifica and Half Moon Bay)
*2 – Daly City and Colma
*3 – Brisbane and South San Francisco
*4 – San Bruno, Millbrae and Burlingame
*5 – San Mateo and Foster City
*6 – Belmont and San Carlos
*7 – Redwood City
*8 – Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and Palo Alto
*9 – Multi-City service

Fares

*† Local fare applies on express bus route CX (which operates within San Mateo County), and KX (for passengers traveling between San Francisco International Airport, and the rest of the San Mateo County).

SamTrans offers bus tokens for adult and youth local fares, US$12.50 and US$8.00 respectively, in packages of ten. Multiple tokens or combinations of tokens and cash are accepted for journeys requiring higher fares. Tokens are promoted as being easier to handle than cash, and also include discounts. For example, a package of youth tokens includes 2 free rides assuming the others are worth $1 each.

In addition, SamTrans typically offers a discount summer pass for youth which is treated like a monthly pass, but good for the entire summer. They typically cost a few dollars more than a normal youth monthly pass. These passes usually do not go on sale until mid-May.

SamTrans does not provide transfers nor day passes. The Federal Transit Administration has recommended SamTrans introduce transfers and/or day passes to increase bus ridership. [cite paper
url = http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/SamTransRevisedReport725061.pdf
title = Opportunities for Improving Ridership: A Report by the Federal Transit Administration Ridership Team
publisher = Federal Transit Administration
format = .PDF
date = April 2006
accessdate = 2007-01-07 ]

BART Plus tickets and Caltrain monthly passes (with two or more zones) are honoured on SamTrans as local fare payment.

Fleet

SamTrans currently has a fleet of 339 buses of various sizes for its fixed route service. Fifty-five are articulated buses made by North American Bus Industries with the 10 m (35 ft) and 12 m (40 ft) buses, some with low flooring, are made by the Gillig Corporation. Each bus is equipped with GPS tracking providing both visual and voice next-stop announcements, and are accessible to passengers in wheelchairs and limited mobility. In addition, most of the fleet has highback seats, with the notable exception of the Gillig low-floor buses. This enables greater fleet flexibility in terms of local and express routes.

ee also

* AC Transit
* San Francisco Municipal Railway
* Caltrain
* Bay Area Rapid Transit
* Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
* Muni Metro
* List of SamTrans bus lines

References

External links

* [http://www.mvtransit.com MV Transportation]
* [http://www.samtrans.com SamTrans] Official site
* [http://www.coastside.org Coastside Opportunity Center]