Connect Bay Area Local Investment Plan

An independent group of citizens has submitted signatures to place a 14-year, 5 county sales tax measure on the November 2026 ballot, which is authorized by Senate Bill 63, the Connect Bay Area Act. If approved by the voters, this measure would implement a regional sales tax of ½ cent in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, and 1 cent in San Francisco to stabilize public transportation funding for Caltrain, BART, Muni and other public transit agencies, and prevent station and service closures across the Bay Area, including in San Mateo County.

Local Investments in San Mateo County 

The measure would provide approximately $50 million in annual, locally controlled funding dedicated to public transit in San Mateo County to be administered by SamTrans, totaling $700 million over the life of the measure. This local funding, also known as “return-to-source" funds, would be entirely for public transit within San Mateo County — no funds could be taken by the State or outside counties. 

A Community-Driven Investment Plan for Local Transit Services 

After several months of robust stakeholder engagement and community input, SamTrans adopted its Connect Bay Area Local Investment Plan, a roadmap for investing return-to-source funds if the measure passes.  

The plan reflects extensive outreach, including presentations and meetings with over 30 city councils and other groups, three meetings each with senior city, county, and agency staff convened as an Agency Advisory Group (AAG) and with other community leaders in a Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG), and a multilingual survey that generated over 1,800 responses.

The Connect Bay Area Local Investment Plan prioritizes funding across four areas: Protect, Enhance, Expand, and Fix.