California Transit Association Fall Conference & Expo 2026

The event takes place at The Portola Hotel & Spa and Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, California.

Transit agency leaders, operations professionals, industry partners, and vendors from across California attend.

Leon Panetta, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, former CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, and co-founder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, delivers the keynote.

Yes. October 27 includes pre-conference training on zero-emission bus deployment and hydrogen fuel cell technologies for transit, hosted by The Center for Transportation and the Environment.

Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is the nearest option, approximately 10 minutes from the venue. Larger regional airports include San Jose (75 miles), San Francisco (110 miles), and Oakland (105 miles). Groome Transportation offers daily shared shuttle service from San Francisco and San Jose.

Accenture is the Presenting Sponsor for the 2026 edition.

Attendees at transit association conferences usually wear business casual, with suits or blazers for keynote and awards sessions and polos for operations staff. Monterey in late October can be cool and breezy near the coast, so a light jacket is sensible.

It is most useful for transit agency leaders and operations staff in California who want policy and peer exchange, since this is the 61st annual edition, is hosted with Monterey-Salinas Transit and features Leon Panetta as keynote. The pre-conference sessions on Zero-Emission Bus 101 and Hydrogen for Transit add practical fleet-transition content, while vendors outside California or agencies elsewhere will find it more state-focused than a national transit show.