The Stanislaus Council of Government (StanCOG) is the regional transportation planning agency for the Stanislaus Region. There are nine cities in Stanislaus County and the county itself that StanCOG covers. Every year they are required to carry out an unmet transit needs assessment established by the California Transportation Development Act (TDA) before funds are distributed for non-transit purposes, like street and road claims.

StanCOG associate planner, Mike Costa, attended the Riverbank city council meeting on Monday, March 25 and gave a presentation about the needs assessment that they are currently administering.

“We help all of the nine jurisdictions and the county, get the transportation money that they need both from Federal and State level to implement their road projects, transit projects, biking, pedestrian projects, etcetera,” stated Costa.

There are several members on the StanCOG policy board and Riverbank Mayor Richard O’Brien is among them. If there is an unmet transit need then it would need to be analyzed and given to the policy board for further review to see if it is reasonable to meet. An “unmet transit need” cannot duplicate an existing service, explained Costa.

To discover what the transit needs are in the region, StanCOG holds public hearings so that residents can express their concerns and suggest ways to meet those unmet transit needs. One of the hearings was held on Wednesday, March 27 at the Gladys Lemmons Senior Community Center in Oakdale. Though mandated by state law to have at least one public hearing, StanCOG has held four this year.

“Even if the comments that we receive are not determined to be unmet needs or reasonable to meet, we still would like the public to come and provide us with their input and their comments of their transportation services in this area,” said Costa.

If you were unable to attend the public hearings or need more information, visit stancog.org or email mcosta@stancog.org.