Metropolitan Transportation Commission of California was created by the state Legislature in 1970 (California Government Code § 66500 et seq.), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Over the years, the agency’s scope has grown, and it is now three agencies in one, functioning as MTC as well as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) and the Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE). MTC advocates in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to ensure an adequate flow of funding for the maintenance and expansion of the Bay Area’s transportation network, and over the years, state and federal laws have given MTC an increasingly important role in financing Bay Area transportation improvements. At the federal level, the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and its successor, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), empowered MPOs like MTC to determine the mix of transportation projects best suited to meet their region’s needs. MPOs’ role in transportation financing was reaffirmed by Congress in 2005 with the passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA). An update known as MAP 21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century) was enacted in 2012.
