The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is the

metropolitan planning organization A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorit ...

(MPO) for

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

. It is an association of local county governments, with policy makers consisting of mayors, councilmembers, and county supervisors, and also has capital planning and fare setting powers for the county's transit systems, the

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is a public transit service provider for San Diego County, California. The agency operates a transit system that includes the San Diego MTS bus system, San Diego Trolley, and Rapid (San Diego), Rap ...

(MTS) and the North County Transit District (NCTD), some of which was assumed by the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (became MTS in 1986). SANDAG, along with the Southern California Association of Governments, are the only metropolitan planning agencies in Southern California.

Governance

The board was previously governed with the representation of one board member from every city in San Diego County, with each member holding two votes in two systems. The approval of a project required the majority tally vote representing all cities and board members and the majority of represented members weighted by population. After the passage of SANDAG's reform bill in 2017, any four representatives representing a majority of the county's population can overrule the tally vote. From 2018 to 2023, the director of SANDAG was Hasan Ikhrata, who made transit expansion and roadway pricing a priority. In 2024, he was replaced by Mario Orso.

Programs

Fare payment systems

The Compass Card was launched by SANDAG in May of 2009 to integrate the fare payment systems of San Diego MTS and North County Transit District into one system, meant to reduce the number of fare transactions at customer service centers. The Compass Card was replaced by Pronto in September 2021.

Members

Primary Members

As of July 2024, all 18 incorporated cities of San Diego County as well as the county government itself are members of SANDAG. Those include: * Carlsbad * Chula Vista *

Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) Coronado is a Spanish surname derived from the village of Cornado, near A Coruña, Galicia. People with the name * Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred t ...

* Del Mar * El Cajon *

Encinitas Encinitas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. Located in Southern California, it is approximately north of San Di ...

* Escondido * Imperial Beach * La Mesa * Lemon Grove * National City * Oceanside * Poway * City of San Diego * San Marcos * Santee *

Solana Beach Solana Beach (''Solana'', Spanish for "sunny side") is a beach city in San Diego County, California, on the South Coast. Its population was at 12,940 at the 2020 U.S. census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 census. History The area was first set ...

* Vista * County of San Diego

Advisory Members

Additionally, 11 other agencies/governments that border San Diego County or are relevant to the region also participate in the Association as advisory members. Those include: * Imperial County *

California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

(Caltrans) * Metropolitan Transit System * North County Transit District *

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

* Port of San Diego *

San Diego County Water Authority The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) is a wholesale supplier of water to the roughly western third of San Diego County, California, United States. The Water Authority was formed in 1944 by the California State Legislature. SDCWA serves 22 ...

* San Diego County Regional Airport Authority * Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association *

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

(Consulate General of Mexico) * Association of Planning Groups

References

External links

SANDAG
· San Diego Association of Governments

March 2006 Assessment of SANDAG's Role in San Diego from the Legislative Analyst's Office Councils of governments Government of San Diego County, California Local government in California Metropolitan planning organizations {{California-stub