SBCAG Finds No Unmet Transit Needs in Santa Barbara County for 2026-27

The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) board adopted the 2026 Transit Needs Assessment during its meeting on May 21, 2026, noting that there were no unmet transit needs in the region.

Officials, however, stressed that public feedback continues to play a critical role in shaping future transit services.

The annual process is designed to identify if there are any unmet transit needs within the region and how funds can be utilized to address those needs.

After reviewing public comments and conducting its analysis, SBCAG staff concluded that there were no unmet transit needs that were considered “reasonable to meet” for the fiscal year 2026-27.

Since there were no unmet needs, local agencies were allowed to use the transit portion of their Transportation Development Act (TDA) funding for non-transit purposes, such as roads and streets.

Public Participation Critical for Assessment

Despite the findings, SBCAG noted that community participation is a central part of the assessment process.

SBCAG conducted a broad public outreach campaign, which included public hearings in Santa Barbara and Buellton, while Lompoc and Santa Maria held their own hearings.

Staff also gathered input through classified advertisements, emails, and social media. They coordinated with schools, nonprofits, transit agencies, and social service agencies to reach the community.

In addition to the public hearings, staff received comments through online forms.

SBCAG received 95 comments after gathering input from all channels, eventually identifying 14 potentially unmet transit needs that were formally analyzed in a report.

Although the formal assessment process happens once annually, staff noted that the public can continue to submit comments via email throughout the year. These comments will be included in the following annual report.

Criteria for Funds

To determine if an unmet transit need is “reasonable to meet” and requires funding, staff analyzed them using five criteria that were adopted in October 2025. These are:

• Consistency with regional transportation priorities: The need must be included in the Regional Transportation Plan and specific transit plans.
• Safety: The proposed service or improvement must be able to be implemented safely.
• Performance standards: The need’s implementation should not result in the system failing to meet its established performance standards.
• Funding limits: The need must not cause an agency to incur expenses that exceed its maximum TDA allocation.
• Fairbox ratio: The proposed service must be able to reach its required fairbox ratio.

If a transit need is found to be “reasonable to meet,” local agencies must prioritize fixing the issue before using certain transportation funds for anything else.