America Walks is a nonprofi t nati onal organizati on empowering communiti es to create safe, accessible, and enjoyable walking conditi ons for all.

The very nature of San Bernardino Valley, with its multi tude of citi es and communiti es geographically separated but connected in many ways, lends itself to a transit-walkability collaborati on. Such a

collaborati on strives to solve the challenges faced by geography to the people who live, work, and learn in its communiti es.

At the center of this collaborati on is San Bernardino County Transportati on Authority (SBCTA), responsible for cooperati ve regional transportati on planning for an effi cient multi -modal system for San Bernardino County. SBCTA initi ated a big push for acti ve transportati on and established the San Bernardino County Acti ve Transportati on Network in 2013. The aim was to create a cohesive network to achieve bett er coordinati on for acti ve transportati on partners to collaborate and capitalize on grant opportuniti es, especially from the state.

Omnitrans, established in 1976 by SBCTA to serve as a unifying voice for the valley’s regional transit service, parti cipates as an acti ve member of this new network and also provides specialized services. The Omnitrans board includes members from local agencies and 15 citi es. It serves a populati on of 1.5 million people in San Bernardino, with a reach that extends beyond the valley with transit connecti ons that cross in and out of Los Angeles and Riverside counti es.

Anna Jaiswal, Development Planning Manager for Omnitrans and one of the founding members of the San Bernardino County Acti ve Transporta-ti on Network, says the goal has two criti cal pieces: improving safety for biking and walking through infrastructure, policy changes, and educati on initi ati ves, and improving mode share of transit, biking, and walking. From a volunteer biking pop-up co-op to pushing for Complete Streets, SBCTA, Omnitrans, and other partners including Inland Empire Biking Alliance, and local jurisdicti ons in the San Bernardino valley are working as a team to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety and to expand acti ve, multi -modal transportati on opti ons.

SAN BERNARDINO'S ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK REINFORCES TRANSIT-WALKABILITY COLLABORATION

2014 Walk audit of sbX stati ons with the San Bernardino County Acti ve Transportati on Network members.

OMNITRANS TRANSIT PROVIDER STATS

• Annual Ridership - 11,102,000• Service Area - 456 sq. miles• Service Area Pop - 1.48 million• 35 fi xed bus routes• 3 bus-rapid transit lines • 3 freeway routes

POLITICS MAKE FOR A BUMPY RIDE FOR ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION

Josh Lee, Chief of Planning for SBCTA, recalls that it wasn’t too long ago that acti ve transportati on wasn’t even discussed in San Bernardino County. Although there has been progress, politi cal roadblocks sti ll intercept transit-walkability eff orts.

“We’re defi nitely not San Francisco, Los Angeles, or the coastal counti es… the politi cal climate is sti ll leaned against acti ve transportati on for the most part here,” says Lee.

America Walks is a nonprofit national organization empowering communities to create safe, accessible, and enjoyable walking conditions for all.

Strength in numbers became a strong mantra for Omnitrans in an effort to better serve the entire region. Cultivating mutually beneficial partnerships to tackle those funding challenges and walkability issues paved the way forward for transit-walkability collaborative grant opportunities.

In addition to noting the incomplete networks and walkability of transit stops via walk audits, Omnitrans made a commitment to meeting the needs of its most vulnerable community members. Omnitrans' Special Transportation Services advocates for people with disabilities and offers various programs and resources, including travel training, to help people navigate the bus system.

One of the biggest challenges that Omnitrans and others face in the fight for people-first design is the lack of a more proactive Complete Streets practice. Sidewalks go in when developments go in and so design and planning is dependent on the vision and commitment of the developers. As a result, a lot of Omnitrans’ service area is not very walkable. That’s a problem when 91% of your passengers walk to the bus stop.

For people with disabilities, this issue is especially pressing. That unwalkable last mile is made even more challenging by compliance issues. Without walkable transit stops, public transportation quickly becomes unrealistic as a viable mode.

“There have been Complete Street studies but there’s not really a Complete Streets policy for the county… one of the challenges is to find ways to provide input on designs before things get finalized,” says Jaiswal.

Jaiswal says another challenge is that riders often want more than what Omnitrans can provide. The organization would love to be able to provide the late-night service and higher frequency that community members want, but funding and other capacity is limited. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-frequent story for cities hoping to get community members to ditch their cars.

BANDING TOGETHER FOR FRUITFUL FUNDING & SPECIAL SERVICES

TRANSIT-WALKABIL ITY STEPS FORWARD

• Omnitrans fully embraced partnerships with multi-modal advocacy agencies

• Omnitrans and SBCTA received separate Active Transportation Program grants (federal money from the State), both for pedestrian and bicycle connectivity projects around different transit stops

• Omnitrans partnered with the City of Ontario and received funding for increasing frequency of a bus route, purchase of buses, transit passes, travel training, bus stop accessibility improvements, shelters, and real-time arrival signage

BIKE REPAIR SHOP POPS UP TO STAY

New opportunities often times lead to additional doors being opened. Opening a major transit center in downtown San Bernardino in 2015 sparked a partnership with Inland Empire Biking Alliance to start a pop-up bicycle repair co-op on the site of the center.

“We’ve had quite a few transit passengers who use their bikes and take them on the bus so it’s helped people repair their bikes in a more cost-effective way. Volunteers actually teach them to do the repairs themselves to empower them to maintain their bikes,” says Jaiswal.

America Walks is a nonprofit national organization empowering communities to create safe, accessible, and enjoyable walking conditions for all.

Omnitrans and others launched a collaborative fundraising campaign to hire staff to work the co-op. It opened in 2016 and operates three days a week at the transit center.

Marven Norman, Executive Director at Inland Empire Biking Alliance, sees the big picture benefits of connecting biking with transit in an ac-cessible way.

“People really appreciate the ability to come get their bikes repaired for a reasonable price. There are several other bike shops in the area and they often charge what are really quite high prices for repairs and parts,” says Norman.

The Hubitat bicycle cooperative, a three-times-per-week pop-up shop at Omnitrans’ San Ber-nardino Transit Center, opened in May 2016.

As a result of the growing cohesiveness that Omnitrans and others set in motion, partnerships have created collaborative action, including with cities. Many of the cities served by Omnitrans have initiated plan checks with the transit provider, so they can glean suggestions for bus stop and sidewalk installations with connectivity in mind. On the ground partners like Inland Empire Biking Alliance have also been key in helping to secure additional funding that benefits all road users.

The biggest payday from their partnership came in the form of a 35-million dollar state grant award for the city of Ontario. SBCTA, Omnitrans and several other community partners worked together on the grant application. For Omnitrans, the grant gave them the capacity to offer more frequent service on one bus route, additional funding for buses, as well as ten new bus shelters. Another active transportation program grant that Omnitrans received will allow for walkability improvements to connect to all the stations of a bus-rapid transit line opening in 2023. Construction on the active transportation sidewalk connectivity project will be completed in 2019.

“It’s definitely fruitful in terms of partnerships to bring in resources… it helps serve the transit passengers and the public,” says Jaiswal.

Lee agrees, and says the collaboration doesn’t stop in San Bernardino. The model of the Active Transportion Network has been such a shining example of Transit-Walkability Collaboration that neighboring Riverside

County took note. SBCTA consulted with them on starting one up too.

“The improvements and the aware-ness of active transportation right now, it has totally changed and grown a lot in our state and county. The Active Transportation Network has definitely been a part of that,” says Lee.

“It’s definitely fruitful in terms of partnerships to bring in resources…

it helps serve the transit passengers and the public,” says Jaiswal.

ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION NETWORKING PAYS OFF

Before and after of a bus stop improvement, sidewalk and bus turnout construction, on Fifth Street at Medical Center Drive in San Bernardino.

America Walks is a nonprofi t nati onal organizati on empowering communiti es to create safe, accessible, and enjoyable walking conditi ons for all.

IMPACTFUL IMPOVEMENTS

• The Network secured 35-million dollars via the state’s Acti ve Transportati on Program• SBCTA’s Improvement to Transit Access for Cyclists and Pedestrians project won a

Nati onal American Planning Associati on award• Metrolink stati on improvements• Bus-rapid transit stati on improvements• First mile / last-mile walkability enhancements• Compliance consulti ng with community disability advocacy group • Public outreach and workshops• Bike/ped improvement surveys• County-wide Safe Routes to School program reaching 55 schools• Walk/Bike Audits• 250 million-dollar Redlands Passenger Rail project to be completed in 2021

Before and aft er of a bus stop improvement where there was no sidewalk.

On Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino, across from two faciliti es that serve people with sight impairments and disabiliti es.

Many other projects like this are underway, either led by Omnitrans or partner citi es.

GOALS FOR FUTURE TRANSIT-WALKABILITY COLLABORATION

For Omnitrans, Jaiswal sees the visionary goal as having good coordinati on and communicati on before transportati on projects or roadway projects are developed.

“To have coordinati on between all those partners to make sure the bridge or highway interchange or roadway projects are designed to incorporate acti ve transit — bicycles, pedestrians, bus riders, all road users. That’s the big goal. And we’re defi nitely strengthening the relati onships and working toward that.”

What bett er way to anti cipate invaluable bike/ped input on future projects than with strong data? SBCTA is in the process of developing an open data portal and dashboards for all things acti ve transportati on, which will help bett er identi fy the quanti fi able measures of the Transit-Walkability Collaborati ve eff orts into the future.

Lee agrees, and says the collabo-rati on doesn’t stop in San Ber-nardino. The model of the Acti ve Transporti on Network has been such a shining example of Transit-Walkability Collaborati on that neighboring Riverside County took note. SBCTA consulted with them on starti ng one up too.

“The improvements and the aware-ness of acti ve transportati on right now, it has totally changed and grown a lot in our state and county. The Acti ve Transportati on Network has defi nitely been a part of that,” says Lee.