Implementing transit-supportive roadway treatments improves transit speed and reliability. Examples include level boarding, transit signal prioritization and queue jumps, bus only lanes, and signage.
Continued investments in transit will improve travel time, reliability, convenience to make it an attractive option for daily travel. This can encourage more users to shift from Single Occupancy Vehicle, which reduces VMT.
For more details, see CAPCOA, T-27. Implement Transit-Supportive Roadway Treatments, pg. 193-196 and CALTRANS VMT Mitigation Program, Transit service improvement, pg. 30-32 for VMT reduction quantification.
Transit-priority improvements should focus on corridors with high ridership potential in disadvantaged communities. Measures such as bus-only lanes and signal priority reduce travel time for transit users, many of whom lack access to a car. Careful community engagement is needed to avoid unintended displacement due to improved access and infrastructure investment.
Requires initial funding for roadway, signal, and transit infrastructure improvements, with ongoing funding for operations and maintenance. Potential funding sources include the Federal Transit Administration’s Buses and Bus Facilities and Low or No Emission Bus programs, the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (Caltrans), Solutions for Congested Corridors Program (California Transportation Commission), Surface Transportation Block Grant and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality programs, Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (California Department of Housing and Community Development), and local transportation sales tax or local roadway funding sources.
StanCOG’s 2026 RTP/SCS specifically identifies transit signal priority as part of the planned SR 99 Standiford Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project. StanCOG’s broader RTP also identifies transit signal priority and queue jumps as strategies for improving transit travel-time reliability. This makes the RTP/SCS itself a particularly relevant local example of how transit-supportive roadway treatments can be incorporated into Stanislaus County transportation investments.
The City of Oakland’s MacArthur Smart City Corridor project is upgrading traffic signal and communications infrastructure along approximately 13 miles of roadway to improve AC Transit bus speeds and on-time performance. The project includes transit signal priority and queue-jump lanes at selected locations, providing a useful California example of combining transit-priority treatments with broader intelligent transportation system improvements.
