Published Friday, November 19, 2004, in the San Jose Mercury News

Comment

Beyond the BART myth
Efficient alternatives cost far less than $250 million per mile

By Margaret Okuzumi

To hear some tell it, Santa Clara County transportation will collapse
if voters don't approve yet another sales tax in November 2006 to
extend BART to San Jose. Some talk as if sinking $4 billion or more
into BART will solve all of our transit woes.

Not so, say the Federal Transit Administration, the Santa Clara
County grand jury and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
(VTA) Policy Advisory Committee. They have all advised VTA to scale
back or suspend the project. Pro-transit and environmental groups
such as the Sierra Club, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition,
and BayRail Alliance agree: The BART project spells disaster.

The latest VTA financial projections show that even if voters
approved a new tax for BART in 2006, money will be tight. But if we
drop BART, we can start building a larger network of rapid transit
today, even without another new tax.

We've already seen how the BART-to-Millbrae extension has failed to
deliver projected ridership, while it has delivered costs much
higher than expected. If we want to bring appealing, convenient and
cost-effective public transit to Santa Clara County, we need to lose
our BART myopia and consider more sensible investments. Many rail
projects cost a lot less than BART, can be built much sooner, and
would better meet our transportation needs.

For example:

* A $100 million capital investment in Caltrain has made the rush-
hour train commute between San Jose and San Francisco competitive
with the car. Additional investment to electrify and upgrade Caltrain
would transform it into an even faster rapid-transit service, while
BART -- with its lack of express service -- will forever be slower.

* The Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) rail line, originating in
Stockton, already transports riders between Pleasanton, Fremont,
Santa Clara and San Jose faster than BART ever could. Relatively
small investments would increase ACE's frequency and speed.

* VTA could also boost the popular Amtrak Capitol Corridor train
service, which currently carries riders between San Jose and
Sacramento with stops in Fremont, Hayward and Oakland.

* A Union City-San Jose commuter rail line would be compatible with
the existing Caltrain network, and could connect commuters as far
away as Santa Cruz and Gilroy directly to Milpitas and Fremont. For
about 5 percent of what BART is supposed to cost, we could have a new
rail line that traverses the entire eastern half of the county from
north to south.

* With Dumbarton rail, riders from Union City and Newark would enjoy
a scenic commute across the bay to Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain
View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and San Jose -- starting at less than
1 percent of BART's cost. While initial service will consist of just
a few trains during peak hours, it could readily become a rapid
Transbay Bullet with additional investment.

* High-speed rail to San Jose from Los Angeles over the Altamont
Pass, with a stop at the Mineta San Jose Airport, would be a vast
improvement over BART. While high-speed rail isn't cheap, it's a
bargain at $45 million per mile compared with BART's $250 million
per-mile cost. It would carry more riders than the BART extension
and cost Santa Clara County residents less, while providing superior
speed and amenities.

What can we do with the $4 billion we already have from the voter-
approved 2000 Measure A? A lot, if VTA stops chasing BART.

For world-class transit in Santa Clara County, join environmental
and transit groups in demanding that VTA look beyond the BART myth.
Together we can build a brighter future for public transit, instead
of funding transit woes with a new sales tax.


Margaret Okuzumi is executive director of BayRail Alliance
<http://www.bayrailalliance.org>. She wrote this article for the
Mercury News.