UC Berkeley alumnus, city of Berkeley Planning Commissioner and community advocate Alfred Twu is running for the AC Transit Board of Directors on a platform to bring more coordination and reliability to the Bay Area’s public transportation.

As an architect and bus-rider themselves, Twu’s district-at-large campaign combines their political, technical and personal experiences managing transit systems to enhance traffic safety, address unreliability and push greener methods of transportation.

“Transportation and housing policy are the most important tools we have in Berkeley to reduce the impacts of climate change, lower rents, gas prices, and the cost of living, and improve public safety,” Twu said in an email. “We need a transit director who knows the big picture and has the experience leading the community towards the changes that can get us to a better future.”

To improve traffic safety, Twu’s platform pushes for redesigning streets and intersections, improving transit operations and enhancing the safety of routes to and from bus stops. Additionally, Twu aims to better coordinate bus schedules with BART departures, expand the Clipper BayPass program to the public and roll out more hydrogen and battery buses on the road.

In light of reduced ridership throughout the pandemic and the exhaustion of federal aid money, the AC Transit system faces an “upcoming fiscal cliff,” according to Twu. Twu plans to fill such funding gaps through the combination of state funds and regional ballot measures.

“I have already been organizing advocates and elected leaders in the Bay Area to lay the groundwork for state legislation for this,” Twu said in the email.

Improving the reliability of public transit is another cornerstone of Twu’s platform. According to Twu, trends show approximately 8% of trips were canceled throughout this year.

While Twu said many are pushing to restore transit lines canceled in 2020, they are instead focused on increasing the reliability of existing lines before adding more frequent trips.

To improve the precedent set by the AC Transit Board of Directors, Twu said they strive to challenge the “business as usual approach” and instead offer solutions tailored to the “uncharted territory” created by the pandemic.

Twu has been endorsed by the East Bay Transit Riders Union, Cal Berkeley Democrats, the Alameda County Democratic Party, six of eight Berkeley City Councilmembers and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, among others.

“I’m running to bring more coordination between AC Transit, BART, and the Bay Area’s 20+ other transit agencies,” Twu said in the email. “The future is one where people are using transit for all types of trips, especially the activities still happening in person such as healthcare, education, shopping, and where service is good enough that many won’t have to own a car at all.”