North Bay Transportation Management
Association (NBTMA) was the first TMA funded by a Cal Trans grant in
Northern California. Its mission was to find and implement traffic
reductions solutions. Shortly after its inception I was moved from
a Board position to directing the organization.
Cal Trans and I engaged in some verbal
and reportorial sparring
which centered around my belief that increasing corporate ride
sharing was good but not the answer to traffic reduction.
The answer to reducing freeway congestion centered on land use.
How we use our land for development (mixed use, pedestrian pocket,
transit oriented) and hinge transit around it determines how much
traffic reduction is produced.
My voluminous reports and discussions
with Cal Trans moved them not enough. As the years have tumbled by
I believe my position was right. Stupid land use has exacerbated
traffic, our dependency on imported oil has increased and the quality of
family life has suffered with wasteful commutes and expensive housing.
NBTMA did: increase company ride sharing,
initiated with a bus donation from the Santa Rosa Airporter a Novato
Jitney -- "GO NUTS -- (Novato Urban Transit System) and
educated the community through various outreach and writing
programs. Its most significant program prior to its grant expiring
was the successful North Bay Land Use and Traffic Reduction Conference
held at he Petaluma Community Center in 1990.
This section documents the land use
education conference and some of NBTMA's outreach programs
used to try to educate the region on the importance of smartly using
land in order to reduce traffic and help the human and physical
environment.
