Steve Heminger is Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). MTC is the regional transportation planning and finance agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. It allocates more than $1 billion per year in funding for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the Bay Area’s surface transportation network.
Since 1998, MTC has served as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) responsible for administering all toll revenue from the seven state-owned bridges. BATA has a “AA” credit rating and has issued over $9 billion in toll revenue bonds to finance bridge, highway, and transit construction projects over the next several years. MTC also functions as the region’s Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE) and operates a fleet of 80 tow trucks and 2,600 roadside call boxes to assist motorists in trouble. In addition, MTC manages the FasTrak electronic toll collection system, the Clipper universal fare card program for public transit and the popular 511 traveler information telephone number and web site.
Mr. Heminger was appointed by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, which helped chart the future course for the federal transportation program. As chairman of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, Mr. Heminger also oversaw construction of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge — the largest transportation project in California history. In addition, he is Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Mineta Transportation Institute and a member of the Executive Committee for the Transportation Research Board.
Mr. Heminger received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University.