26 March 2025

On Friday, March 21, 2025, the California Transportation Commission allocated Monterey-Salinas Transit $25M from the State’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) to help fund construction of the SURF! Busway and Bus Rapid Transit project.

 With this approval, the SURF! project is fully funded with all other federal, state, and local funding authorizations now secure. SURF! is expected to break ground in the coming months to take advantage of the summer construction season.

The SURF!  project includes a six-mile dedicated busway along the publicly owned former rail right-of-way parallel to Highway 1, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and a transit signal prioritization (TSP) system along some segments. The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve transit travel time, and increase transit ridership in the increasingly congested Highway 1 corridor.

The SURF! project is a partnership between MST and the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) with local matching funds coming from Measure X, the transportation investments approved by Monterey County voters in 2016.

State TIRCP discretionary grants provide funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to fund transformative capital improvements that will modernize California’s intercity, commuter, and urban rail systems, and bus and ferry transit systems, to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, vehicle miles traveled, and congestion. The California State Transportation Agency awarded the TIRCP funds to the SURF! project in August 2022.

MST General Manager/CEO, Carl Sedoryk stated, “The MST Board of Directors is committed to connecting communities, creating opportunity, and being kind to our planet, and this project meets all of those objectives and more. For over 5 years, MST and TAMC staff and our team of consultants, federal, state and local elected officials, advocates, and stakeholders have worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome which is an important milestone for us to finally start construction this year.”

“By investing in the SURF! bus rapid transit project, our community residents will have reliable, frequent access to sustainable transportation that connects more essential workers, students, seniors, those living with disabilities, and veterans to important destinations every day,” said Mary Ann Carbone, Chair of the MST Board of Directors.

“The TIRCP was created to fund transformative capital improvements and modernize our transit systems.  The SURF! project does exactly that. The investments we make in SURF! today will not only benefit  our community today , but will be a long lasting benefit  for generations to come,” said Wendy Root Askew, Chair of the TAMC Board of Directors. “This is an important step to help make the transportation system more affordable and open up economic opportunity for all.”

“Working families, students, and essential workers in Monterey County spend too much time, money, and opportunities stuck in traffic and it’s only getting worse,” said Todd Muck, Executive Director for TAMC.  “In 2016, Monterey County voters agreed that transportation investments were needed to keep pace with transportation demand and passed Measure X which provided the seed money to start planning the SURF! project. The Measure X investment in the SURF! project leveraged over $77.8M in federal and state funding. I am proud to work with and support my colleagues at MST to secure this last TIRCP funding needed for the project to start construction.”

 “The “SURF! project brings reliable and frequent public transit to our communities in most need of affordable transportation options. SURF!  will help our economies thrive by ensuring people can safely access jobs, schools, healthcare, stores, and more. With the environmental mitigation measures in place, combined with the use of electric transit buses, the project reduces greenhouse gas emissions while restoring biodiversity along the coastal dunes. It’s a generational investment, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact that this state funding will have on our communities and environment,” said Senator John Laird.

For more information, visit www.mst.org or call Monterey-Salinas Transit toll-free at 1-888-MST-BUS1 (1-888-678-2871). For RealTime bus arrival information, text “Next” and your four-digit bus stop ID (example, “Next 9103”) to 25370, call 1-888-MST-BUS1 with your four-digit bus stop ID, download the free Transit app, or use Google Maps.

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For questions or comments, please contact MST:

Mail: MST, Attn: Marketing Manager, 19 Upper Ragsdale Dr., Suite 200, Monterey, CA 93940

Website: https://mst.org/contact-us/ ● Email: customerservice@mst.org ● Phone: (888) 678-2871

TTY/TDD: 831-393-8111 ● 711 Relay

 888-678-2871 / Free language assistance / Asistencia de Lenguaje Gratuito / Libreng tulong para sa wika