AB 364: Street furniture data: statewide integrated data platform.
- Session Year: 2023-2024
- House: Assembly
- Latest Version Date: 2023-04-11
Current Status:
Failed
(2023-06-19: In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.)
Introduced
In Committee
First Chamber
In Committee
Second Chamber
Enacted
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to develop, in cooperation with local and regional transportation entities, the full potential of all resources and opportunities that are now, and may become, available to the state and to regional and local agencies for meeting Californias transportation needs. Existing law authorizes the department to do any act necessary, convenient, or proper for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or use of all highways that are under its jurisdiction, possession, or control.
This bill would require the department to develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data, as provided. The bill would define street furniture as objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians, including, but not limited to, bus shelters, trash receptacles, benches, or public toilets. The bill would require the department to develop the guidelines, in collaboration with specified state and local agencies, and submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2025, and every 3 years thereafter, describing those guidelines. To the extent this imposes duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the department to designate the departments Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program Technical Advisory Council, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of the initial and subsequent guidelines, and review the reports related to those guidelines, as provided.
The bill also would require the department, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, to use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on a specified schedule. The bill would require the department to, among other things, publicize those data sharing protocols to allow trip planner applications to use the street data furniture, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data, and make available existing street furniture data held by state agencies on the platform. The bill would require the statewide integrated data platform to, at a minimum, integrate existing data from multiple autonomous databases managed by state, local, and academic entities, and integrate specified datasets, as provided. To the extent this imposes duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to develop, in cooperation with local and regional transportation entities, the full potential of all resources and opportunities that are now, and may become, available to the state and to regional and local agencies for meeting Californias transportation needs. Existing law authorizes the department to do any act necessary, convenient, or proper for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or use of all highways that are under its jurisdiction, possession, or control.
This bill would require the department to develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data. data, as provided. The bill would define street furniture as objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians, including, but not limited to, bus shelters, trash receptacles, benches, or public toilets. The bill would require the department to develop the guidelines, in collaboration with specified state and local agencies, and submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2025, and every 3 years thereafter, describing those guidelines. To the extent this imposes duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the department to designate the departments Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of subsequent guidelines, as provided.
The bill also would require the department, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, to use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on a specified schedule. The bill would require the department to, among other things, publicize those data sharing protocols to allow trip planner applications to use the street data furniture, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data, and make available existing street furniture data held by state agencies on the platform. The bill would require the statewide integrated data platform to, at a minimum, integrate existing data information from multiple autonomous databases managed by state, local, and academic entities, and integrate specified datasets, as provided. To the extent this imposes duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to develop, in cooperation with local and regional transportation entities, the full potential of all resources and opportunities that are now, and may become, available to the state and to regional and local agencies for meeting Californias transportation needs. Existing law authorizes the department to do any act necessary, convenient, or proper for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or use of all highways that are under its jurisdiction, possession, or control.
This bill would require the department to develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data. The bill would define street furniture as objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians, including, but not limited to, bus shelters, trash receptacles, benches, or public toilets. The bill would require the department to develop the guidelines, in collaboration with specified state and local agencies, and submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2025, and every 3 years thereafter, describing those guidelines. To the extent this imposes duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the department to designate the departments Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of subsequent guidelines, as provided.
The bill also would require the department, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, to use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on a specified schedule. The bill would require the department to, among other things, publicize those data sharing protocols to allow trip planner applications to use the street data furniture, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data, and make available existing data held by state agencies on the platform. The bill would require the statewide integrated data platform to, at a minimum, integrate existing data information from multiple autonomous databases managed by state, local, and academic entities, and integrate specified datasets, as provided. To the extent this imposes duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Lack of shade is an issue of equity and climate justice in disadvantaged communities, in communities of color, and for low-income transit riders, as they are disproportionately exposed to rain, sun, and excessive heat caused by rising temperatures, exacerbated by the heat-island effects of pavement, and borne out by the scarcity of shade in cities and counties throughout California.
(b)A study published in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine found that the rates for emergency department visits for heat-related causes increased by 67 percent for African Americans, 63 percent for Hispanics, 53 percent for Asian Americans, and 27 percent for White people from 2005 to 2015. Additional data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows Indigenous people had the highest rates of heat-related death, followed by Black people, between 2004 and 2018.
(c)Extreme heat is touching every corner of the state. From 1980 to 2000, there were an average of six annual extreme heat days in Los Angeles. By 2050, that number is predicted to be 22 days. In 2020, emergency room visits increased by 10 times the normal number during record-breaking heat as high as 121 degrees in the County of Los Angeles. Californias 2021 heat wave broke records across the state, with Sacramento topping out at 109 degrees and the Coachella Valley having its hottest year ever with temperatures reaching 123 degrees.
(d)The urban heat effect and climate change means that urban areas are much hotter than surrounding areas and will continue to become hotter, leading to more smog, wildfires, poor air quality, respiratory illness, heart-related illness, and hospital visits.
(e)Roofs and pavements can be 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the air and in urban areas like Los Angeles, where 40 percent of the total land area is covered in asphalt and only 21 percent is covered by trees, air temperatures are up to 19 degrees Fahrenheit hotter.
(f)An EnviroMetro study survey asked participants what improvements they would like to see at bus stops and the greatest majority (72 percent) indicated shaded structures at stops and a place to sit down as the greatest need. However, analysis conducted by Investing in Place found that less than 25 percent of bus stops in the City of Los Angeles are covered or shaded.
(g)Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces beneath them by 25 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
(h)Bus shelters can also provide for the safety, convenience, accessibility, and comfort of bus riders. Emergency call buttons, lighting, and real-time bus schedules are some examples of critical safety features.
(i)For safety and health-related reasons, transit riders seek routes that least expose them to environmental hazards such as extreme heat. There is clear value in transit agencies seeking to provide riders with routes that protect riders, particularly vulnerable populations such as older adults, from the effects of extreme heat. Some transit agencies already provide a similar service to customers who cycle or walk as part of their journey, by providing digital and printed maps, wayfinding directions at bus stops, and other resources that show available bike paths or walking routes.
(j)Knowing where shaded street furniture exists is a critical piece of how transit agencies can communicate to riders where they can best choose the safest, most protected route from extreme heat.
SEC. 2.Section 14112 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 14111, to read:14112.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Local agency means a transportation commission or agency, a city transportation agency, including a charter city transportation agency, a county transportation agency, or a county.
(2)Street furniture means objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians. Street furniture includes, but is not limited to, a bus shelter, trash receptacle, bench, or public toilet.
(b)The department shall develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data. These guidelines shall require that street furniture data not include personal information, as that term is defined in subdivision (v) of Section 1798.140 of the Civil Code. Notwithstanding Section 10231.5, the department shall develop and submit to the Legislature, by January 1, 2025, and every three years thereafter, a report describing these guidelines. A report required by this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.
(c)The department shall develop the report and guidelines on street furniture data in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission, state-created transportation entities, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, the Office of Planning and Research, and the State Department of Public Health.
(d)The department shall designate the departments Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program Technical Advisory Council, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of the initial and subsequent guidelines guidelines, and review the reports related to those guidelines described in subdivision (b), through a public process to ensure that the initial and subsequent guidelines address accessibility, equity, and sustainability goals aligned with the department. The committee designated entity shall review and suggest revisions to the guidelines at least every three years after completing the first review.
SEC. 3.Section 14113 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 14112, to read:14113.(a)For purposes of this section, street furniture has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 14112.
(b)(1)The department, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, shall use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on the following schedule:
(A)By January 1, 2025, the department shall do both of the following:
(i)Publicize the guidelines described in subdivision (b) of Section 14112 to integrate street furniture data into the GTFS system to allow trip planner applications to use the street furniture data, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data.
(ii)Publish a strategic plan for data management to guide the implementation for the trip planner applications functionality described in clause (i).
(B)(i)By September 1, 2025, the department shall make available existing street furniture data held by state agencies on the platform.
(ii)The department shall, on a quarterly basis, add street furniture data not available as of September 1, 2025, that becomes available at a later date.
(2)A state agency may disseminate, manage, or publish street furniture data separately from the platform.
(c)The statewide integrated data platform described in subdivision (b) shall, at a minimum, do both of the following:
(1)Integrate existing data from multiple autonomous databases managed by metropolitan planning organizations, state-created transportation agencies, municipal bus operators, counties, cities, and academic entities, using consistent, standardized, and accessible formats.
(2)Integrate the following datasets, as available:
(A)Any street furniture data available to the department or provided to trip planning services, private mapping services, or companies with public contracts to install and maintain street furniture.
(B)Data on accessibility of street furniture that complies with the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.).
(C)Data on ridership, where available.
(D)Data on shade and tree cover, where available.
(d)As used in this section, the term data shall not include personal information, as that term is defined in subdivision (v) of Section 1798.140 of the Civil Code.
SEC. 4.If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Lack of shade is an issue of equity and climate justice in disadvantaged communities, in communities of color, and for low-income transit riders, as they are disproportionately exposed to rain, sun, and excessive heat caused by rising temperatures, exacerbated by the heat-island effects of pavement, and borne out by the scarcity of shade in cities and counties throughout California.
(b)A study published in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine found that the rates for emergency department visits for heat-related causes increased by 67 percent for African Americans, 63 percent for Hispanics, 53 percent for Asian Americans, and 27 percent for White people from 2005 to 2015. Additional data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows Indigenous people had the highest rates of heat-related death, followed by Black people, between 2004 and 2018.
(c)Extreme heat is touching every corner of the state. From 1980 to 2000, there were an average of six annual extreme heat days in Los Angeles. By 2050, that number is predicted to be 22 days. In 2020, emergency room visits increased by 10 times the normal number during record-breaking heat as high as 121 degrees in the County of Los Angeles. Californias 2021 heat wave broke records across the state, with Sacramento topping out at 109 degrees and the Coachella Valley having its hottest year ever with temperatures reaching 123 degrees.
(d)The urban heat effect and climate change means that urban areas are much hotter than surrounding areas and will continue to become hotter, leading to more smog, wildfires, poor air quality, respiratory illness, heart-related illness, and hospital visits.
(e)Roofs and pavements can be 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the air and in urban areas like Los Angeles, where 40 percent of the total land area is covered in asphalt and only 21 percent is covered by trees, air temperatures are up to 19 degrees Fahrenheit hotter.
(f)An EnviroMetro study survey asked participants what improvements they would like to see at bus stops and the greatest majority (72 percent) indicated shaded structures at stops and a place to sit down as the greatest need. However, analysis conducted by Investing in Place found that less than 25 percent of bus stops in the City of Los Angeles are covered or shaded.
(g)Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces beneath them by 25 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
(h)Bus shelters can also provide for the safety, convenience, accessibility, and comfort of bus riders. Emergency call buttons, lighting, and real-time bus schedules are some examples of critical safety features.
(i)For safety and health-related reasons, transit riders seek routes that least expose them to environmental hazards such as extreme heat. There is clear value in transit agencies seeking to provide riders with routes that protect riders, particularly vulnerable populations such as older adults, from the effects of extreme heat. Some transit agencies already provide a similar service to customers who cycle or walk as part of their journey, by providing digital and printed maps, wayfinding directions at bus stops, and other resources that show available bike paths or walking routes.
(j)Knowing where shaded street furniture exists is a critical piece of how transit agencies can communicate to riders where they can best choose the safest, most protected route from extreme heat.
SEC. 2.Section 14112 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 14111, to read:14112.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Local agency means a transportation commission or agency, a city transportation agency, including a charter city transportation agency, a county transportation agency, or a county.
(2)Street furniture means objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians. Street furniture includes, but is not limited to, a bus shelter, trash receptacle, bench, or public toilet.
(b)The department shall develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data. These guidelines shall require that street furniture data not include personal information, as that term is defined in subdivision (v) of Section 1798.140 of the Civil Code. Notwithstanding Section 10231.5, the department shall develop and submit to the Legislature, by January 1, 2025, and every three years thereafter, a report describing these guidelines. A report required by this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.
(c)The department shall develop the report and guidelines on street furniture data in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission, state-created transportation entities, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, the Office of Planning and Research, and the State Department of Public Health.
(d)The department shall designate the departments Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of subsequent guidelines through a public process to ensure that subsequent guidelines address accessibility, equity, and sustainability goals aligned with the department. The committee shall review and suggest revisions to the guidelines at least every three years after completing the first review.
SEC. 3.Section 14113 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 14112, to read:14113.(a)For purposes of this section, street furniture has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 14112.
(b)(1)The department, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, shall use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on the following schedule:
(A)By January 1, 2025, the department shall do both of the following:
(i)Publicize the guidelines described in subdivision (b) of Section 14112 to integrate street furniture data into the GTFS system to allow trip planner applications to use the street furniture data, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data.
(ii)Publish a strategic plan for data management to guide the implementation for the trip planner applications functionality described in clause (i).
(B)(i)By September 1, 2025, the department shall make available existing street furniture data held by state agencies on the platform.
(ii)The department shall, on a quarterly basis, add information street furniture data not available as of September 1, 2025, that becomes available at a later date.
(2)A state agency may disseminate, manage, or publish street furniture data separately from the platform.
(c)The statewide integrated data platform described in subdivision (b) shall, at a minimum, do both of the following:
(1)Integrate existing data information from multiple autonomous databases managed by metropolitan planning organizations, state-created transportation agencies, municipal bus operators, counties, cities, and academic entities, using consistent, standardized, and accessible formats.
(2)Integrate the following datasets, as available:
(A)Any street furniture data available to the department or provided to trip planning services, private mapping services, or companies with public contracts to install and maintain street furniture.
(B)Data on accessibility of street furniture that complies with the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.).
(C)Data on ridership, where available.
(D)Data on shade and tree cover, where available.
(d)As used in this section, the term data shall not include personal information, as that term is defined in subdivision (v) of Section 1798.140 of the Civil Code.
SEC. 4.If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)Lack of shade is an issue of equity and climate justice in disadvantaged communities, in communities of color, and for low-income transit riders, as they are disproportionately exposed to rain, sun, and excessive heat caused by rising temperatures, exacerbated by the heat-island effects of pavement, and borne out by the scarcity of shade in cities and counties throughout California.
(b)A study published in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine found that the rates for emergency department visits for heat-related causes increased by 67 percent for African Americans, 63 percent for Hispanics, 53 percent for Asian Americans, and 27 percent for White people from 2005 to 2015. Additional data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows Indigenous people had the highest rates of heat-related death, followed by Black people, between 2004 and 2018.
(c)Extreme heat is touching every corner of the state. From 1980 to 2000, there were an average of six annual extreme heat days in Los Angeles. By 2050, that number is predicted to be 22 days. In 2020, emergency room visits increased by 10 times the normal number during record-breaking heat as high as 121 degrees in the County of Los Angeles. Californias 2021 heat wave broke records across the state, with Sacramento topping out at 109 degrees and the Coachella Valley having its hottest year ever with temperatures reaching 123 degrees.
(d)The urban heat effect and climate change means that urban areas are much hotter than surrounding areas and will continue to become hotter, leading to more smog, wildfires, poor air quality, respiratory illness, heart-related illness, and hospital visits.
(e)Roofs and pavements can be 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the air and in urban areas like Los Angeles, where 40 percent of the total land area is covered in asphalt and only 21 percent is covered by trees, air temperatures are up to 19 degrees Fahrenheit hotter.
(f)An EnviroMetro study survey asked participants what improvements they would like to see at bus stops and the greatest majority (72 percent) indicated shaded structures at stops and a place to sit down as the greatest need. However, analysis conducted by Investing in Place found that less than 25 percent of bus stops in the City of Los Angeles are covered or shaded.
(g)Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces beneath them by 25 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
(h)Bus shelters can also provide for the safety, convenience, accessibility, and comfort of bus riders. Emergency call buttons, lighting, and real-time bus schedules are some examples of critical safety features.
(i)For safety and health-related reasons, transit riders seek routes that least expose them to environmental hazards such as extreme heat. There is clear value in transit agencies seeking to provide riders with routes that protect riders, particularly vulnerable populations such as older adults, from the effects of extreme heat. Some transit agencies already provide a similar service to customers who cycle or walk as part of their journey, by providing digital and printed maps, wayfinding directions at bus stops, and other resources that show available bike paths or walking routes.
(j)Knowing where shaded street furniture exists is a critical piece of how transit agencies can communicate to riders where they can best choose the safest, most protected route from extreme heat.
SEC. 2.Section 14112 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 14111, to read:14112.(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)Local agency means a transportation commission or agency, a city transportation agency, including a charter city transportation agency, a county transportation agency, or a county.
(2)Street furniture means objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians. Street furniture includes, but is not limited to, a bus shelter, trash receptacle, bench, or public toilet.
(b)The department shall develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data. Notwithstanding Section 10231.5, the department shall develop and submit to the Legislature, by January 1, 2025, and every three years thereafter, a report describing these guidelines. A report required by this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.
(c)The department shall develop the report and guidelines on street furniture data in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission, state-created transportation entities, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, the Office of Planning and Research, and the State Department of Public Health.
(d)The department shall designate the departments Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of subsequent guidelines through a public process to ensure that subsequent guidelines address accessibility, equity, and sustainability goals aligned with the department. The committee shall review and suggest revisions to the guidelines at least every three years after completing the first review.
SEC. 3.Section 14113 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 14112, to read:14113.(a)For purposes of this section, street furniture has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 14112.
(b)(1)The department, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, shall use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on the following schedule:
(A)By January 1, 2025, the department shall do both of the following:
(i)Publicize the guidelines described in subdivision (b) of Section 14112 to integrate street furniture data into the GTFS system to allow trip planner applications to use the street furniture data, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data.
(ii)Publish a strategic plan for data management to guide the implementation for the trip planner applications functionality described in clause (i).
(B)(i)By September 1, 2025, the department shall make available existing data held by state agencies on the platform.
(ii)The department shall, on a quarterly basis, add information not available as of September 1, 2025, that becomes available at a later date.
(2)A state agency may disseminate, manage, or publish data separately from the platform.
(c)The statewide integrated data platform described in subdivision (b) shall, at a minimum, do both of the following:
(1)Integrate existing data information from multiple autonomous databases managed by metropolitan planning organizations, state-created transportation agencies, municipal bus operators, counties, cities, and academic entities, using consistent, standardized, and accessible formats.
(2)Integrate the following datasets, as available:
(A)Any data available to the department or provided to trip planning services, private mapping services, or companies with public contracts to install and maintain street furniture.
(B)Data on accessibility of street furniture that complies with the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.).
(C)Data on ridership, where available.
(D)Data on shade and tree cover, where available.
SEC. 4.If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
|
Date
|
Status
|
|---|---|
| Jun 19, 2023 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and JUD. |
| Jun 1, 2023 | In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. |
| May 31, 2023 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 2003.) |
| May 18, 2023 | From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 18). |
| May 18, 2023 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| May 10, 2023 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. |
| Apr 26, 2023 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Apr 12, 2023 | Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. |
| Apr 11, 2023 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended. |
| Apr 7, 2023 | Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. |
| Apr 6, 2023 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended. |
| Mar 14, 2023 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (March 13). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. |
| Feb 17, 2023 | Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and P. & C.P. |
| Feb 2, 2023 | From printer. May be heard in committee March 4. |
| Feb 1, 2023 | Read first time. To print. |
|
Date
|
Description
|
Location
|
Votes
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 2023 | AB 364 Bryan Assembly Third Reading | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| May 18, 2023 | Do pass. | Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Apr 25, 2023 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar | Assembly Standing Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection |
Passed |
|
| Mar 13, 2023 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] | Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation |
Passed |
This list shows positions taken on this bill by organizations on the date displayed, which is linked to the original source.
Positions by individuals are not included.
|
Organization
|
Position
|
Date
|
|---|---|---|
| 40 Acre Conservation League | ** Support | |
| AARP | ** Support | |
| Aging and Disability Transportation Network | ** Support | |
| Climate Resolve | ** Support | |
| ClimatePlan | ** Support | |
| Coalition For Clean Air | ** Support | |
| Move LA | ** Support | |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | ** Support | |
| Pacoima Beautiful | ** Support | |
| PolicyLink | ** Support | |
| Streets for All | ** Support | |
| Transform | ** Support | |
| Youth vs. Apocalypse | ** Support |
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
ATR Bill Id:AB 364
Author:(Bryan)
As Amended Ver:April 11, 2023
Majority vote
SUMMARY
Requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data and requires Caltrans, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research (OPR), to use the California Minimum General Transit feed Specification (GTFS) guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform.
Major Provisions
- Requires Caltrans to develop a report to the Legislature on the guidelines by January 1, 2025 and every three years thereafter.
- Requires Caltrans to develop the report and guidelines on street furniture data in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission (CTC), state-created transportation entities, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, OPR and the State Department of Public Health.
- Defines "street furniture" to mean objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians. Street furniture includes, but is not limited to, a bus shelter, trash receptacle, bench, or public toilet.
COMMENTS
This bill requires Caltrans to develop guidelines standardizing the collection of data from local governments on street furniture and then integrate that information into the California Minimum GTFS guidelines. The stated intent of the bill is to provide transit riders with better data on where they can find bus stops with shaded structures to avoid the heat. According to an analysis conducted by the Los Angeles Times, around 3,900 deaths occurred in California between 2010 and 2019 as a result of extreme heat (This number is far higher than the state's official estimate of 599 deaths due to heat exposure).
Caltrans division of Rail and Mass Transportation in 2020 established the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP) to improve the experience and cost-effectiveness of public transit for riders and operators through three actions: (1) installing an open loop contactless payment system that uses tap to pay enabled mobile devices, bank cards, or prepaid cards, to enable seamless travel across transit providers in order to make payment more convenient, (2) automating pricing flexibility, and (3) developing a platform for transit operators to share static and eventually real-time route information by establishing the California Minimum GTFS guidelines.
According to Caltrans, "The purpose of the California Transit Data Guidelines is to communicate the specific criteria by which Caltrans determines whether GTFS schedule and real time data produced by transit providers and vendors meets the qualitative needs of riders (and therefore trip-planning applications that deliver this data to riders), transit providers, and regulators. The guidelines provide producers with a reference document for the characteristics of high-quality GTFS feeds. All transit providers and GTFS-producing vendors within the State of California are expected to work toward meeting the Guidelines in full."
GTFS was first created in 2006 through a public-private partnership between the transit agency in Portland, Oregon and Google and is the global standard for describing transit schedules and operations for use by trip-planning applications. GTFS is used by thousands of agencies worldwide and is the most common data standard produced by U.S. transit agencies.
The most common ways for transit riders to see the data is through a consumer-facing application such as Google or Apple Maps, a transit provider's signage, or through commercial displays. Caltrans provides guidelines to transit agencies in order to best service the public by providing accurate, complete, and up to-date transit information.
An article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health titled Heat-Moderating Effects of Bus Stop Shelters and Tree Shade on Public Transport Ridership, explored the effects of heat on transit ridership in Austin, Texas. The research found that "in exploring the temperature–ridership relationship, our finding that warm season temperatures exhibited a significant, yet modest, negative association with bus ridership corroborated results from previous studies. This finding suggests the need to adapt bus transit systems to protect against ridership losses induced by temperature increases during the warm season. Yet, the two climate change adaptation strategies investigated in this study—bus stop shelters and trees—exhibited insignificant or modest associations with ridership on high-temperature days, which may be attributed to the transit dependency of transit users."
According to the Author
"California's 2021 heat wave broke records across the state, with some places like Coachella Valley reaching a scorching 123 degrees. Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces beneath them by 25 – 40 degrees, but a recent UCLA study revealed that in Los Angeles alone, only 26% of bus stops have shade structures. When surveyed, 72% of participants indicated shade structures as the greatest need for improvement at bus stops.
As our state gets hotter, our transit riders are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and ignoring their health and safety becomes an issue of climate injustice. Most riders are low-income and households making less than $50,000 a year are four times more likely to rely on transit than higher income households. The state does not track or make available to the public which bus stops provide shade structures among other street furniture, hamstringing our ability to protect vulnerable riders with safety investments."
Arguments in Support
According to MoveLA, the sponsors of the bill, "Street furniture is a public asset–similar to libraries and parks–used by seniors as a rest stop, bus riders to protect themselves from the elements while waiting for the bus, and families seeking a cool spot during heat waves. Just like transit routes, this data should be easily accessible to the public via mapping programs and apps. AB 364 would ensure that this data is available to everyone whilst also identifying opportunities, through the Caltrans Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, to address inequitable access to climate-resilient street furniture."
Arguments in Opposition
No opposition on file.
FISCAL COMMENTS
According to Assembly Appropriations Committee, "When this analysis was finalized, Caltrans had not provided the committee an estimate of its costs to implement the bill. However, it is reasonable to assume Caltrans will realize significant costs to implement the bill, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (special fund)."
VOTES
ASM TRANSPORTATION: 15-0-0
YES: Friedman, Joe Patterson, Berman, Juan Carrillo, Davies, Gipson, Hart, Jackson, Kalra, Lowenthal, Stephanie Nguyen, Sanchez, Wallis, Ward, Wicks
ASM PRIVACY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION: 11-0-0
YES: Gabriel, Joe Patterson, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Essayli, Vince Fong, Irwin, Lowenthal, Papan, Wicks, Wilson
ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 15-0-1
YES: Holden, Megan Dahle, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Dixon, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Mathis, Papan, Pellerin, Sanchez, Weber, Ortega
ABS, ABST OR NV: Robert Rivas
UPDATED
VERSION: April 11, 2023
CONSULTANT: David Sforza / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0000580
Date of Hearing: May 10, 2023
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Chris Holden, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 364
Author:(Bryan) – As Amended Ver:April 11, 2023
Policy Committee: | Transportation | Vote: | 15 - 0 |
Privacy and Consumer Protection | 11 - 0 | ||
|
|
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop guidelines for sharing data regarding “street furniture” and to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on an integrated platform, so that transit customers may plan trips based on the data.
Specifically, this bill requires Caltrans:
- Develop guidelines for sharing of data regarding street furniture—bus shelters, trash receptacles and public toilets, for example—and submit a report to the Legislature, to be updated every three years, describing those guidelines.
- In developing the street furniture data sharing guidelines, collaborate with the California Transportation Commission (CTC) and other state transportation agencies, the Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the Department of Public Health, local agencies and metropolitan transportation organizations (MTOs).
- Designate the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program Technical Advisory Council (Advisory Council), or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to advise on development of the guidelines.
The bill also requires Caltrans, in consultation with OPR, to use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification Guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on an integrated platform, to allow trip planner applications to use the data so that transit customers may plan trips based on the data.
The bill explicitly states that “data,” as used in this bill, does not include “personal information” as that term is defined in existing law (the California Consumer Privacy Act).
FISCAL EFFECT:
When this analysis was finalized, Caltrans had not provided the committee an estimate of its costs to implement the bill. However, it is reasonable to assume Caltrans will realize significant costs to implement the bill, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (special fund).
COMMENTS:
- Purpose. The author, noting the prevalence and peril of extreme heat, intends this bill to enable sharing of data that allows transit riders to identify bus stops that have amenities, such as shade structures and toilets, so they may plan their transit trips in a way that is safe and convenient.
Move LA—a coalition that advocates for public transit funding in the Los Angeles region and the sponsor of this bill—asserts that street furniture is “a public asset used by seniors as a rest stop, bus riders to protect themselves from the elements while waiting for the bus, and families seeking a cool spot during heat waves” and that associated data “should be easily accessible to the public via mapping programs and apps.”
- Background. Currently, the state has no centralized, open-source platform of street furniture. However, the state does have such a platform for use by transit operators to make available to transit riders scheduling and real-time system information, such as arrival times and vehicle locations. This platform relies on data produced and reported according to specified standards.
General Transit Feed Specification. According to gtfs.org—which describes itself as the central documentation platform for the General Transit Feed Specification (GTSF)—GTFS is “a data specification that allows public transit agencies to publish their transit data in a format that can be consumed by a wide variety of software applications.” In the early 2000s, TriMet (the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon) and Google worked to format TriMet’s transit data into an easily maintainable and consumable format that could be imported into Google Maps. Today, the GTFS data format is used by thousands of public transport providers to provide scheduling and real-time system information to public transit riders.
California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification Guidelines. The California State Transportation Agency and partners began an initiative to facilitate easy and accessible travel planning and payments across California. The effort is known as the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP).
In 2020, Cal-ITP developed the California Minimum GTFS Guidelines. According to Cal-ITP’s website, calitp.org, guidelines “provide a consistent minimum expectation to ensure that the transit network is understandable and accessible for people with all levels of ability.” Cal-ITP asserts that it expects every transit provider and GTFS-producing vendor in the state to work toward meeting the guidelines.
- Prior Legislation. AB 1975 (Nazarian), of the 2021-22 Legislative Session, would have required cities and counties to report to the Legislature the number of bus shelters within the city or county. The bill was held on this committee’s suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by: Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
Date of Hearing: April 25, 2023
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PRIVACY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
Jesse Gabriel, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 364 (
Author:Bryan) – As Amended Ver:April 11, 2023
Proposed Consent
SUBJECT: Street furniture data: statewide integrated data platform
SYNOPSIS
This bill provides a policy response to the dangers that extreme heat poses to public transit riders and pedestrians. It would require Caltrans to update guidelines for public transit data sharing to include information about street furniture, such as bus shelters and benches. It would further require that that this data be aggregated and shared on a platform for public and private use. This platform would allow this data to be used by public transit agencies, in conjunction with ridership data, to place future street furniture installations, and by private companies to make trip planning applications more usable for transit riders.
The measure has been referred to this Committee because it contemplates extensive data sharing among public and private entities. Recent amendments meaningfully increase the bill’s protections for data privacy in three ways. First, the bill now distinguishes quite specifically between uses of the terms “street furniture data” and “data” more generally. Second, the bill now makes clear that any use of the term “data” excludes “personal information,” as that term is defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act. This amendment is meant to ensure that information about an individual, or that could be linked to an individual, such as their home address or geolocation, is not shared on the platform. Third, the bill would require Caltrans, in developing the guidelines, to require that street furniture data not include personal information.
This bill is sponsored by Move LA and supported by eleven other nonprofits organizations and coalitions, including AARP California and Coalition for Clean Air. It has no opposition on file.
This bill was previously heard by the Assembly Transportation Committee, where it passed on a 15-0 vote.
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop guidelines establishing a standard format for data regarding street furniture, such as bus shelters and benches. Directs Caltrans to create a platform for sharing this data among private and public entities in order to make it easier for transit riders to access street furniture, including via trip planning software applications. Specifically, this bill:
- Defines “street furniture” to mean objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians, including, but not limited to, bus shelters, trash receptacles, benches, and public toilets.
- Defines “local agency” to mean a transportation commission or agency; a city transportation agency, including a charter city transportation agency; a county transportation agency; or a county.
- Requires Caltrans to develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data.
- Specifies that the guidelines must require that street furniture data not include “personal information,” as that term is defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
- Requires Caltrans to develop and submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2025, and every three years thereafter, describing the guidelines.
- Requires Caltrans to develop the report and guidelines in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission, state-created transportation entities, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, the Office of Planning and Research, and the California Department of Public Health.
- Further requires Caltrans to designate an entity with expertise and experience in equity to advise on the development of the guidelines and the report, through a public process, in order to ensure that the initial and subsequent guidelines address accessibility, equity, and sustainability goals that are aligned with those of Caltrans.
- Requires Caltrans, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, to use the California Minimum General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on the following schedule:
- By January 1, 2025, publicize the guidelines in order to integrate street furniture data into the GTFS system to allow trip planner applications to use this data, and thereby allow transit customers to plan trips based on the data.
- By January 1, 2025, publish a strategic plan for data management to guide implementation by trip planner applications.
- By September 1, 2025, make available existing street furniture data held by state agencies on the platform.
- On a quarterly basis thereafter, add to the platform any street furniture data that becomes available after September 1, 2025.
- Requires the platform to, at minimum, do the following:
- Integrate existing data from multiple autonomous databases managed by metropolitan planning organizations, state-created transportation agencies, municipal bus operators, counties, cities, and academic entities, using consistent, standardized, and accessible formats.
- Integrate the following datasets, as available:
- Any street furniture data available to Caltrans or provided to trip planning services, private mapping services, or companies with public contracts to install and maintain street furniture.
- Data on accessibility of street furniture that complies with the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Data on ridership, where available.
- Data on shade and tree cover, where available.
- Clarifies that a state agency may disseminate, manage, or publish street furniture data separately from the platform.
- Clarifies that the term “data,” as used in 8) – 10), does not include “personal information,” as that term is defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
- Makes uncodified findings and declarations in support of the foregoing.
EXISTING LAW:
- Establishes Caltrans within the Transportation Agency. (Gov. Code § 14001.)
- Declares that Caltrans’s powers and duties include, but are not limited to, developing, in cooperation with local and regional transportation entities, the full potential of all resources and opportunities that are now, and may become, available to the state and to regional and local agencies for meeting California’s transportation needs. (Gov. Code § 14030.)
- Provides, pursuant to the California Constitution, that all people have inalienable rights, including the right to pursue and obtain privacy. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.)
- Establishes the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). (Civ. Code §§ 1798.100-1798.199.100.)
- Defines “personal information” under the CCPA as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal information includes such information as:
- Name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, IP address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other identifier.
- Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
- Biometric information.
- Internet activity information, including browsing history and search history.
- Geolocation data.
- Professional or employment-related information. (Civ. Code § 1798.140(v).)
FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS:
1) Need for this bill. Recent extreme heat events in California have killed thousands of people, and caused serious heat-related illness in many thousands more. According to the Los Angeles Times:
Between 2010 and 2019, the hottest decade on record, California’s official data from death certificates attributed 599 deaths to heat exposure. But a Times analysis found that the true toll is probably six times higher. An examination of mortality data from this period shows that thousands more people died on extremely hot days than would have been typical during milder weather. All told, the analysis estimates that extreme heat caused about 3,900 deaths.
[…] Like other effects of climate change, [extreme heat’s] harms fall most heavily on the poor, the infirm, the very young and the elderly. State data also show that Black Californians are more likely than those of any other race to die from heat, and people over the age of 65 are especially at risk. (Phillips, et al., Extreme heat is one of the deadliest consequences of climate change, Los Angeles Times (Oct. 7, 2021), available at https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-extreme-heat-deaths-show-climate-change-risks/.)
This bill provides a policy response to the dangers that extreme heat poses to public transit riders and pedestrians. It requires that Caltrans update guidelines for public transit data sharing to include information about street furniture, such as bus shelters and benches. It would further require that this data be aggregated and shared on a platform for public and private use. This platform would allow this data to be used, e.g., by public transit agencies, in conjunction with ridership data, to place future street furniture installations, and by private companies to make more-usable trip planning applications.
Ensuring this data is publicly available and easier to access is particularly important given that public transit riders disproportionately, and increasingly, belong to populations, as noted above, most vulnerable to extreme heat events. (See, e.g., Bay Area Rapid Transit, BART overall rider satisfaction up 16 percentage points in latest survey (Jan 28, 2021), available at https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2021/news20210128 [finding that the demographics of riders significantly shifted during the pandemic to include more riders with household incomes below $50,000 and without vehicles].)
However, it is also important that individuals’ personal information remain protected in the course of the data sharing that this bill contemplates—the topic of this analysis.
2) Author’s statement. According to the author:
California’s 2021 heat wave broke records across the state, with some places like Coachella Valley reaching a scorching 123 degrees. Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces beneath them by 25-40 degrees, but a recent UCLA study revealed that in Los Angeles alone, only 26% of bus stops have shade structures. When surveyed, 72% of participants indicated shade structures as the greatest need for improvement at bus stops.
As our state gets hotter, our transit riders are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and ignoring their health and safety becomes an issue of climate injustice. Most riders are low-income and households making less than $50,000 a year are four times more likely to rely on transit than higher income households. The state does not track or make available to the public which bus stops provide shade structures among other street furniture, hamstringing our ability to protect vulnerable riders with safety investments.
This bill would require reporting of street furniture at bus stops to Caltrans and for Caltrans and the Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee to review this data and publicize guidelines for data sharing, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture upon that review. This data will be made available to the General Transit Feed Specification so that it may be disseminated among trip planning apps.
3) Background re: terminology. In order to understand how this bill would make data about street furniture more easily available to the public, it is first necessary to understand two terms: “General Transit Feed Specification” (GTFS) and “California Minimum GTFS Guidelines.”
GTFS is a globally-recognized data specification “that allows public transit agencies to publish their transit data in a format that can be consumed by a wide variety of software applications. Today, the GTFS data format is used by thousands of public transport providers.” (General Transit Feed Specification, GTFS: Making Public Transit Data Universally Accessible, available at https://gtfs.org/.) GTFS emerged in 2006 through a collaboration between TriMet, the public transit agency responsible for bus, light rail, and commuter rail service in Portland, Oregon, and Google. Google Maps was the first widely-used application to utilize GTFS to allow users to easily integrate public transit into their trip planning, by providing information, e.g., about pick-up and drop-off locations, and timetables. “GTFS data is now being used by a variety of third-party software applications for many different purposes, including trip planning, timetable creation, mobile data, data visualization, accessibility, analysis tools for planning, and real-time information systems.” (General Transit Feed Specification, Background, available at https://gtfs.org/background/.)
The California Minimum GTFS Guidelines were first developed by the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP) in 2020. Version 2.0, the current version, was finalized on August 31, 2021 and is available at https://dot.ca.gov/cal-itp/california-minimum-general-transit-feed-specification-gtfs-guidelines-v2_0. The California Minimum GTFS Guidelines were developed “to ensure that data for transit providers in California meets the needs of travelers, as well as those who plan, manage, and operate the transportation network, including fare payment and other services contracted by providers. The California Minimum GTFS Guidelines provide a consistent minimum expectation to ensure that the transit network is understandable and accessible for people with all levels of ability.” (Ibid.) Critically, “All transit providers and GTFS-producing vendors within the State of California are expected to work toward meeting the Guidelines in full.” (Ibid.)
The Assembly Transportation Committee’s analysis of this bill explains that “there currently is not a national standard related to data collection of trash cans, toilets, tree shade, or bus shelters[,]” i.e., of street furniture data.
4) What this bill would do. At its core, the bill would require Caltrans to do the following, in collaboration with other state and local governmental entities:
- Develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of software platforms and tools that include street furniture data. Fulfilling this requirement would presumably require integrating street furniture data into the California Minimum GTFS Guidelines, although the bill does not mandate this outcome. The guidelines would be made public by January 1, 2025, with the aim of integrating them into GTFS.
- Create a platform that utilizes the guidelines and integrates street furniture data from state and local governments’ datasets, data on ridership, and data on shade and tree cover. Data from the platform would then be available for use by trip planning software applications (and thereby allow transit customers to plan trips based, in part, on street furniture data).
5) What data privacy protections does this bill incorporate? Amendments to this bill developed with input from Committee staff, and taken on April 6, 2023, significantly increase the bill’s data privacy protections. These amendments are of three kinds, described below.
As initially introduced, the bill’s use of the terms “data” and “street furniture data” was arguably inconsistent with its purposes. This inconsistency would have arguably led to the bill being excessively broad in scope. For example, one provision initially read: “By September 1, 2025, the department shall make available existing data held by state agencies on the platform.” Taken literally, this provision would have meant that all existing data, on any topic, held by state agencies would have to be made available on the platform. In response, bill amendments added the phrase “street furniture” to several uses of the term “data” in the bill. The bill text should now clearly distinguish when the term “data” refers to street furniture data, and when it refers to other categories of data, such as “data on ridership” and “data on shade and tree cover.”
The second April 6 amendment specified that the term “data,” as used in the bill, does not include “personal information,” as defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Personal information means information that could be used to identify, or to link data from other sources to specific individuals or households. The purpose of this bill is to encourage data sharing between public and private entities in order to facilitate integration of street furniture data into trip planning applications. However, these agencies and entities have access to tremendous amounts of data about individuals, potentially including their street addresses, the forms of payment they use, their geolocation, and any disabilities that might affect their use of public transit. This amendment is meant to ensure that such personal information is never shared on the platform.
To further this end, the third amendment requires Caltrans to ensure, when developing the guidelines, to define street furniture data so as not to include CCPA personal information. Both the coordination between public and private entities and the accompanying software development required to implement the platform will be based on the guidelines. It is hoped that setting forth this requirement in the guidelines themselves increases the chances that implementation does not inadvertently cause personal information to be shared on the platform.
With these amendments, it appears that this bill strikes an appropriate balance between two vital goals: making street furniture data more widely available and easily accessible to transit riders, and protecting their individual privacy.
6) Related legislation. AB 1975 (Nazarian, 2022) would have required cities and counties to report to the Legislature the number of bus shelters within the city or county. That bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The bill’s supporters explain some of the bill’s benefits:
Street furniture is a public asset—similar to libraries and parks—used by seniors as a rest stop, bus riders to protect themselves from the elements while waiting for the bus, and families seeking a cool spot during heat waves. Just like transit routes, this data should be easily accessible to the public via mapping programs and apps. [...] Lack of shade is an issue of equity and climate justice in disadvantaged communities. Communities of color and low-income riders are disproportionately exposed to rain, sun, and excessive heat caused by rising temperatures. These conditions are exacerbated by the heat-island effect of pavement and borne out by the scarcity of shade in cities and counties throughout California. [...] For low-income workers, seniors, and people with disabilities who rely on bus transit as their primary mode of transportation, not having shade is potentially fatal. Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces by 25 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Move LA (sponsor)
40 Acre Conservation League
AARP
Aging and Disability Transportation Network
Climate Resolve
ClimatePlan
Coalition for Clean Air
Natural Resources Defense Council
Pacoima Beautiful
Policylink
Streets for All
Transform
Youth Vs. Apocalypse
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: Jith Meganathan / P. & C.P. / (916) 319-2200
Date of Hearing: March 13, 2023
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Laura Friedman, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 364 (
Author:Bryan) – As Introduced Ver:February 1, 2023
SUBJECT: Street furniture data: statewide integrated data platform
SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop guidelines for data sharing, documentation, public access, quality control, and promotion of open-source and accessible platforms and decision support tools related to street furniture data and requires Caltrans, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research (OPR), to use the California Minimum General Transit feed Specification (GTFS) guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform. Specifically, this bill:
- Requires Caltrans to develop a report to the Legislature on the guidelines by January 1, 2025 and every three years thereafter.
- Requires Caltrans to develop the report and guidelines on street furniture data in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission (CTC), state-created transportation entities, local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, OPR and the State Department of Public Health.
- Defines “street furniture” to mean objects and pieces of equipment installed along a street or road to provide amenities for pedestrians. Street furniture includes, but is not limited to, a bus shelter, trash receptacle, bench, or public toilet.
- Requires Caltrans to designate the department’s Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, or another entity with expertise and experience working on equity, to review the initial report and advise on the development of subsequent guidelines through a public process to ensure subsequent guidelines address accessibility, equity, and sustainability goals aligned with the department.
- Requires Caltrans, in consultation with OPR, to update the California Minimum GTFS guidelines to integrate statewide and publicly accessible street furniture data on a statewide integrated data platform on the following schedule:
- By January 1, 2025, publicize the guidelines to integrate street furniture data into the GTFS system to allow trip planner applications to use the street furniture data, thereby allowing transit customers to plan trips based on the data.
- By September 1, 2025, make available existing data help by state agencies to the platform, and on a quarterly basis, add information that becomes available.
- Requires the statewide integrated data platform to integrate existing data information from multiple autonomous databases managed by metropolitan planning organizations, state-created transportation agencies, municipal bus operators, counties, cities, and academic entities, using consistent, standardized, and accessible formats. The platform is also required to integrate the following datasets, as available:
- Any data available to the department or provided to trip planning services, private mapping services, or companies with public contracts to install and maintain street furniture.
- Data on accessibility of street furniture that complies with the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Data on ridership, where available.
- Data on shade and tree cover, where available.
EXISTING LAW:
- The Transportation Development Act (TDA) of 1971, provides funding for transit and non-transit related purposes that comply with regional transportation plans. It serves to improve existing public transportation services and encourage regional transportation coordination. (Public Utilities Code (PUC) 99200)
- Authorizes Caltrans to adopt rules and regulations consistent with TDA. (PUC 99421)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: This bill requires Caltrans to develop guidelines standardizing the collection of data from local governments on street furniture and then integrate that information into the California Minimum GTFS guidelines. The stated intent of the bill is to provide transit riders with better data on where they can find bus stops with shaded structures to avoid the heat. According to an analysis conducted by the Los Angeles Times, around 3,900 deaths occurred in California between 2010 and 2019 as a result of extreme heat (This number is far higher than the state’s official estimate of 599 deaths due to heat exposure).
Caltrans division of Rail and Mass Transportation in 2020 established the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP) to improve the experience and cost-effectiveness of public transit for riders and operators through three actions: (1) installing an open loop contactless payment system that uses tap to pay enabled mobile devices, bank cards, or prepaid cards, to enable seamless travel across transit providers in order to make payment more convenient, (2) automating pricing flexibility, and (3) developing a platform for transit operators to share static and eventually real-time route information by establishing the California Minimum GTFS guidelines.
According to Caltrans, “The purpose of the California Transit Data Guidelines is to communicate the specific criteria by which Caltrans determines whether GTFS schedule and real time data produced by transit providers and vendors meets the qualitative needs of riders (and therefore trip-planning applications that deliver this data to riders), transit providers, and regulators. The guidelines provide producers with a reference document for the characteristics of high-quality GTFS feeds. All transit providers and GTFS-producing vendors within the State of California are expected to work toward meeting the Guidelines in full.”
GTFS was first created in 2006 through a public-private partnership between the transit agency in Portland, Oregon and Google and is the global standard for describing transit schedules and operations for use by trip-planning applications. GTFS is used by thousands of agencies worldwide and is the most common data standard produced by U.S. transit agencies.
The most common ways for transit riders to see the data is through a consumer-facing application such as Google or Apple Maps, a transit provider’s signage, or through commercial displays. Caltrans provides guidelines to transit agencies in order to best service the public by providing accurate, complete, and up to-date transit information.
According to the author, “California’s 2021 heat wave broke records across the state, with some places like Coachella Valley reaching a scorching 123 degrees. Shade structures can lower the temperature of surfaces beneath them by 25 – 40 degrees, but a recent UCLA study revealed that in Los Angeles alone, only 26% of bus stops have shade structures. When surveyed, 72% of participants indicated shade structures as the greatest need for improvement at bus stops.
As our state gets hotter, our transit riders are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and ignoring their health and safety becomes an issue of climate injustice. Most riders are low-income and households making less than $50,000 a year are four times more likely to rely on transit than higher income households. The state does not track or make available to the public which bus stops provide shade structures among other street furniture, hamstringing our ability to protect vulnerable riders with safety investments.”
An article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health titled Heat-Moderating Effects of Bus Stop Shelters and Tree Shade on Public Transport Ridership, explored the effects of heat on transit ridership in Austin, Texas. The research found that “in exploring the temperature–ridership relationship, our finding that warm season temperatures exhibited a significant, yet modest, negative association with bus ridership corroborated results from previous studies. This finding suggests the need to adapt bus transit systems to protect against ridership losses induced by temperature increases during the warm season. Yet, the two climate change adaptation strategies investigated in this study—bus stop shelters and trees—exhibited insignificant or modest associations with ridership on high-temperature days, which may be attributed to the transit dependency of transit users.”
According to MoveLA, the sponsors of the bill, “Street furniture is a public asset–similar to libraries and parks–used by seniors as a rest stop, bus riders to protect themselves from the elements while waiting for the bus, and families seeking a cool spot during heat waves. Just like transit routes, this data should be easily accessible to the public via mapping programs and apps. AB 364 would ensure that this data is available to everyone whilst also identifying opportunities, through the Caltrans Interagency Transportation Equity Advisory Committee, to address inequitable access to climate-resilient street furniture.”
Committee concerns: The purpose of GTFS is to provide transit riders with real time updates on when transit buses will arrive. The California Minimum GTFS guidelines were created by Caltrans standardize this data to make it useful and easy for the consumer. While having Google maps or other mapping technology provide information on where a bus stop with shelter, a toilet, or trash may be helpful, unlike GTFS, there currently is not a national standard related to data collection of trash cans, toilets, tree shade, or bus shelters.
The Legislature may want to consider if adding street furniture data to the minimum GTFS standards, in addition to real time transit location and arrival updates, may discourage transit agencies from participating in or working with Caltrans on adopting GTFS standards for real time data. More often than not, cities, not transit agencies, are often responsible for building street furniture and transit agencies may not have the necessary information to meet the new GTFS minimum guidelines as required by the bill. This may have negative consequences for the population this bill is attempting to help. In contrast, having the real time transit update could help riders mitigate the impact of extreme heat by permitting them to more accurately arrive at the bus stop when the bus is going to arrive, decreasing the amount of time they must wait in the heat.
This bill also requires the input of numerous government agencies and committees that are currently not involved in creating the GTFS guidelines. Many of the divisions Caltrans that this bill seeks to codify have generally been created through the regulatory process and have never been codified and have a different purpose than the one outlined in this bill. For example, this bill codifies the Interagency Equity Advisory Committee as a division of Caltrans and asks them to review Caltrans guidelines on street furniture. The Interagency Equity Advisory Committee is not housed under Caltrans and was created by CTC as a partnership between CTC, Caltrans and the California Transportation Agency. The purpose of the committee is to assist in state transportation planning guidelines, funding programs, and transportation programs for the purposes of providing quantitative and qualitative metrics for evaluating equity benefits and outcomes on transportation projects. The committee membership was approved in October of 2022 and has yet to take any action as of the writing of this analysis. This bill would instead redirect the committee to help Caltrans develop computer data standards for trash cans and bus shelters every three years.
Should this bill continue through the process, the author may wish to consider limiting the number of agencies involved in the guidelines process and if the Interagency Equity Advisory Committee is an appropriate body to review data guidelines.
Double Referral: Should this bill pass this committee it will be referred to the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee.
Previous Legislation:
AB 1975 (Nazarian of 2022) would have required cities and counties to submit a report that identifies the number of bus shelters within the city or county. That bill was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Move LA (sponsor)
AARP California
Aging and Disability Transportation Network
ClimatePlan
Climate Resolve
Coalition for Clean Air
Pacoima Beautiful
PolicyLink
Streets for All
Transform
Youth vs. Apocalypse
40 Acre Conservation League
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: David Sforza / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
Discussed in Hearing
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Bill Author
Bill Co-Author(s):