It was created in 1970 by the State of California, with support from the Bay Area Council, to coordinate transportation services in the Bay Area's nine counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.

The library, which is open to the public, has a collection covering transportation and planning issues for the Bay Area.

The MTC received $372 million in grants from the state and federal government and sales tax.

In July 2016, the ABAG board approved the consolidation of its staff under MTC, combining the work of the Bay Area's two primary regional planning agencies.

[5] The current Chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza[6]