Unmet Transit Needs Assessment

SJCOG determines the amount of public transportation funds available for allocation within the cities of Escalon, Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon, Stockton, and Tracy, and the County of San Joaquin. Prior to disbursing these Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds, SJCOG must identify any unmet public transit needs that may exist in San Joaquin County. The Unmet Transit Needs (UTN) assessment is developed to ensure that all unmet transit needs that are "reasonable to meet" are met before funds are expended for non-transit uses, such as streets and roads. 

SJCOG, in partnership with local and regional transit providers, held hearings to collect public comments on Unmet Transit Needs for Fall 2021. All comments were considered part of FY 2022-23 UTN assessment.

SJCOG staff received public comments and took those into consideration to finalize the draft UTN report. On June 23, 2022, the SJCOG Board voted on a resolution of the findings within the final FY 2022-2023 Unmet Transit Needs Assessment Report.

FY 2023-24 UTN Assessment

SJCOG staff released a notice of public hearing on FY 2023-24 Unmet Transit Needs on Sept. 21, 2022. You may also find the notice published in the following newspapers:

  • Manteca-Ripon Bulletin
  • Escalon Times
  • Tracy Press
  • Lodi Sentinel
  • The Record
  • Latino Times

See the information below to learn how to attend a public hearing and take our survey. 

Unmet Transit Needs comments are welcomed year round! Comments can be submitted to utn@sjcog.org.

  1. What is an Unmet Transit Need?
  2. Archived Files

"Unmet Transit Needs" are those trips required - but not currently provided and not scheduled to be provided within San Joaquin County - for residents who use or would use public transportation to meet their life expectation.  View our UTN Fact Sheet!


The “Reasonable To Meet” standard is based on several criteria that analyze how 

accommodating that transit need will affect the rest of the transit system that it relates to. If it passes the criteria then it is found reasonable to meet and changes will be made to accommodate the need.


The process is done annually and entails a comprehensive public outreach program and a series of workshops throughout the county to obtain comments on unmet transit needs that may be reasonable to meet. Once the comments are received, the Social Services Transportation Advisory Committee analyzes them to determine if there are any transit needs that meet the adopted definitions of "reasonable to meet" and "unmet transit need" and makes a recommendation of findings to the SJCOG Board. If the Board determines there are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet, the affected jurisdiction must satisfy the needs before any TDA funds are expended for non-transit purposes. 
 
Watch our UTN video today to learn more about the process!