Adrienne J. Tissier

Meet MTC's New Leadership 

Amy Rein Worth

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Clipper^SM Customer Service Centers Open

The Clipper Customer Service Center at the Embarcadero BART station. (Photo by Noah Berger)

Making its debut in late February, MTC's new Clipper Customer Service Center at S.F.'s Embarcadero BART/Muni station is a welcome oasis for commuters who are making the switch to the region's all-in-one transit fare card. The level of Clipper service offered here is a step up from other retail outlets such as Walgreens. Not only can you add cash value and passes for participating transit systems -- which as of February number eight -- but also, you can exchange a defective or damaged card on the spot, apply value to Clipper from your workplace transit benefits debit card (or benefits vouchers), and pick up a youth or senior Clipper card valid on most participating systems (for this latter category, you must present I.D. verifying your age). And if you're still carrying around Clipper's predecessor, a green TransLink® card, you can switch it here for the blue-and-white Clipper card. At the same time as retooling and rebranding the transit kiosk at the underground Embarcadero BART/Muni station into an enhanced-service Clipper outlet, MTC retooled the Clipper counter at the Bay Crossings store at the San Francisco Ferry Building. Now transit riders passing through the historic building can access a similar range of Clipper services. In both locations, well-trained staff are on hand to answer your Clipper questions and troubleshoot problems. See hours of operation for both locations.   

Meanwhile, Clipper has been extending its reach to the Peninsula and the South Bay. SamTrans introduced the Clipper fare-payment system to its bus system in December 2010, while Santa Clara County's Valley Transportation Authority introduced Clipper in February 2011. As more transit systems get on board and as participating agencies phase out their paper passes, the use figures for Clipper continue to grow exponentially. The number of active cards in circulation now tops 625,000, with weekday trips using the all-in-one fare card now at 374,000 -- a nearly 500 percent increase over the the use levels for TransLink prior to Clipper's launch.  

For more information on Clipper, go to clippercard.com. We are also offering customer service via Clipper's Facebook page and via Twitter.

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East Span Tower Reaches New Heights

Crews have been at work installing the fourth and final tier of tower legs for the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. With this installation, the tower will stand 480 feet tall. The tower will reach its final height of 525 feet this spring when the four legs are crowned with a cap that will fuse them securely into a single, sturdy tower. Meanwhile, crews are continuing to install deck pieces as they arrive from China.

View of a tower leg as it is hoisted into place. Photo © 2011 Barrie Rokeach

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Our just-published 2010 annual report celebrates a year of launches, lifts and groundbreakings for a series of major projects and programs sponsored and funded by MTC and its partners. And what a year it was, with the groundbreaking for the monumental Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, the launch and skyrocketing growth of the Clipper all-in-one transit fare card, the start of tunneling for the long-awaited Caldecott Tunnel fourth bore, and the lifting of the first deck and tower sections for the signature element of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge -- not to mention a major new $14 million push to bring electric vehicles into the mainstream. The report can be viewed online with our handy, magazine-style reader; hard copies are available (in limited quantity) from the MTC Library -- e-mail your contact info to library@mtc.ca.gov.   

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Deadline for High School Internship Program
 

MTC is seeking high school applicants for 35 summer internship slots in transportation agencies across the nine counties. The purpose of the program is to introduce high school students (finishing the 10th, 11th or 12th grade) to career opportunities in the field of transportation and to provide MTC's transportation partners with assistance. Interns might assist traffic engineers at city and county public works departments or planners at transit agencies, among other jobs. Applicants must be 16 years of age, and the pay rate is $10 per hour. The deadline for applying is March 9, 2011.
 

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OneBayArea.org just got a facelift, and you're invited to check out the new content. Some of the new website features include:

• A new short video in which students share their thoughts on sustainability;
• An expanded section on Plan Bay Area, the integrated land use and transportation plan that our region must complete under California Senate Bill 375;
• A Public Process section to explain the nuts and bolts of Plan Bay Area and to take the mystery out of this complex, multiyear development process;
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Plan Bay Area; and 
• A glossary of acronyms, key terms and jargon (although we try our best to explain things in plain English). 

You can sign up for alerts about web updates at  www.OneBayArea.org -- just click on the little red envelope at the bottom of the home page, and subscribe. We'll soon be posting a list of Plan Bay Area public workshops being held this spring in each of the nine counties. Your participation is essential to planning for a sustainable, prosperous future. 

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Regional Airport Study Workshops Scheduled

The Regional Airport Study is exploring a number of different scenarios for serving future traffic demand at Bay Area airports, including spreading more service to the Oakland and San Jose airports, expanding airline service to alternate airports, accommodating some air passengers on high-speed rail, deploying new air traffic control technologies and putting controls on flights so runways can operate efficiently. In conjunction with the study, MTC is hosting a series of community workshops in March:

Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 7 p.m.
Municipal Services Center, Community Room
33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco

Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 7 p.m.

Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter Auditorium

101 Eighth Street, Oakland

Thursday, March 24, 2011, 7 p.m.

San Jose City Hall, Wings 118 & 119

200 E. Santa Clara Street, San Jose
  

For more information, including access and translation arrangements, visit www.regionalairportstudy.com or e-mail info@regionalairportstudy.com.  

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Follow Us

Now you can follow MTC and and our sister agency, the Bay Area Toll Authority, on Facebook and Twitter.  

See a list of all our social media streams at www.mtc.ca.gov/links -- get on board, and tell your friends and colleagues.

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