At last week’s Menlo Park City Council Rail Subcommittee meeting, the city’s transportation manager Nicole Nagaya said that the city would be holding a workshop in September to explore opportunities to revive transit service on the Dumbarton corridor, starting with the West Bay segment from Menlo Park to Redwood City.  A date for the workshop has not yet been set.

Transit service would connect the growing housing and jobs center in downtown Redwood City with the area in Menlo Park hosting Facebook, and more planned office and housing.  The workshop would explore what sort of transportation to provide on the corridor – from a bicycle and pedestrian trail, to bus rapid transit, to light or heavy rail.

Dumbarton Rail crossing Middlefield Rd in North Fair Oaks between Redwood City and Menlo Park

In order for the public sector to participate in the project, there would need to be a public body sponsoring the project.  The Dumbarton Rail Policy Committee disbanded several weeks ago, faced with the news that Alameda County would not contribute money to the full project to cross the Bay, and even the San Mateo County Transportation Authority would not provide staff support (although the SFMTA board has not yet voted, and it’s not clear that they knowingly decided to defund the much more modest West Bay project.)