About Us
Who We Are
Vision
Strengthen the region’s unique environment, economy and culture.
Mission
AMBAG provides strategic leadership and services to analyze, plan and implement regional policies for the benefit of the Counties and Cities of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz, balancing local control with regional collaboration.
AMBAG History
The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments was organized in 1968 for the purpose of regional collaboration and problem solving. AMBAG, as it is often referred to, was formed as a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) governed by a twenty-four member Board of Directors comprised of elected officials from each City and County within the region. The AMBAG region includes Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz County. AMBAG serves as both a federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and a Council of Governments (COG). AMBAG performs metropolitan level transportation planning on behalf of the region. Among its many duties, AMBAG manages the region’s transportation demand model and prepares regional housing, population and employment forecast that are utilized in a variety of regional plans.
Membership and participation in AMBAG is voluntary on the part of its members. Funding is primarily from state and federal transportation funds and grants as well as other project specific grants. A small, but critical component of AMBAG funding is derived from annual member dues.