San Diego Association of Governments

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for San Diego County, California. 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 (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.

San Diego Association of Governments
(SANDAG)

Agency overview
Formed	1980
Preceding agency	Comprehensive Planning Organization of San Diego
Jurisdiction	San Diego County
Headquarters	401 B Street, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101
Annual budget	$1.36 billion
Agency executive	Mario Orso, Executive Director
Child agencies	MTS NCTD
Website	sandag.org

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.^[1]

From 2018 to 2023, the director of SANDAG was Hasan Ikhrata, who made transit expansion and roadway pricing a priority.^[2] In 2024, he was replaced by Mario Orso.^[3]

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:^[4]

• Carlsbad
• Chula Vista
• Coronado
• Del Mar
• El Cajon
• Encinitas
• Escondido
• Imperial Beach
• La Mesa
• Lemon Grove
• National City
• Oceanside
• Poway
• City of San Diego
• San Marcos
• Santee
• Solana Beach
• 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:^[4]

• Imperial County
• California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
• Metropolitan Transit System
• North County Transit District
• United States Department of Defense
• Port of San Diego
• San Diego County Water Authority
• San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
• Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association
• Mexico (Consulate General of Mexico)
• Association of Planning Groups

See also

• IE511, neighboring 511 system
• Southern California Association of Governments, the regional planning agency for Greater LA