Published Tuesday, January 9, 2001, in the San Francisco Chronicle

BART-Oakland Airport Plan Revived
Light-rail link among 3 proposals under study

George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer

A light-rail link between the Coliseum BART Station and Oakland
International Airport, little more than talk for decades, is back on
track as officials expect airport use to double in the coming decade.

What is more, there's now $66 million set aside to help build
the "AirBART" connector, thanks to Alameda County voters' approval of
a half-cent transportation tax measure in November.

Planners from BART, the city of Oakland and the Port of Oakland are
considering three options for the 3-mile route, which would travel
along Hegenberger Road most of the way to the airport:

-- An "automated guideway transit," some 20 feet above ground, on
which cars would ride on rubber tires or steel wheels, or levitate on
magnetic fields.

-- A bus with its own lane.

-- Keeping the current system, a bus shuttle that uses city streets.

There is still a major obstacle to overcome: Officials have
identified only about half of the funds needed to pay for a new
system, which could cost as much as $200 million if the rail option
is chosen.

Critics, meanwhile, say the shuttle bus is quite successful and even
makes money. The cost of a rail line, they say, could be prohibitive
to taxpayers.

In November, Alameda County voters sided with advocates who said a
connector would dramatically reduce travel time between BART and the
airport, accommodate the airport's expected growth and relieve the
load on nearby traffic-choked Interstate-880.

With 81 percent support, voters approved Measure B, the
reauthorization of the county's half-cent sales tax for
transportation, for 20 years. It includes $66 million for the so-
called "people mover."

If the link is built -- planners say it could be up and running as
early as 2007 -- AirBART would be a partnership between BART and the
Port of Oakland and fit nicely into a new terminal planned as part of
a $1 billion Oakland Airport expansion.

The connector is at the top of the Oakland City Council's
transportation priorities list this year not only because growth at
the airport and along Hegenberger Road justify it, members say. It is
long overdue, they say, having been overlooked in the past by the
focus on extending BART to San Francisco International Airport.

"We are due," said City Councilman Dick Spees, who also said the
connector was never listed atop federal or state appropriation wish
lists despite its apparent necessity.

"There were a few of us crying in the wilderness, but we did not get
support," said Spees.

The city is insisting on two stops along the system's route between
the Coliseum station and the airport -- one at Hegenberger and 98th
Avenue and one at the northwest corner of the Hegenberger-I-880 exit.
Spees allowed that the stops would increase the cost, but he believes
they are mandatory given business expansion in the airport
neighborhood.

These are the numbers Spees and other proponents use to make their
case for the people mover:

-- The airport served 4 million air passengers in 1990, about 11
million in 2000, and is projected to serve as many as 22 million in
2010.

-- The Hegenberger-98th Avenue corridor, already congested, will have
to carry the increase in traffic related to airport growth.

"Construction of the terminal makes (the people mover) absolutely
critical at this time," said Kristi McKenney, senior projects
administrator at the port.

"If it is done five years later, in a retrofit, it will always be a
lesser system than if we do it right now."

The Oakland airport has long been considered convenient because of
its lack of congestion, Spees said, but that will change once traffic
stalls.

Only a year ago, for planning purposes, BART and the port considered
the connector to be a $130 million project. They nearly had the money
in the bank before recalculating costs, conservatively, at $200
million.

Steve Gregory, the port's senior strategic planner, said that in
addition to the $66 million, and possibly $73 million, from Measure
B, BART would raise $32 million, and the port is committing $25
million.

That is still $77 million short, or maybe more than $100 million
short, of the cost of a new line if stations add considerably to the
cost.

That's the rub, said Stuart Cohen, chair of the Oakland-based Bay
Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition. If a rail system can be
delivered on time, on budget, "it might work," he said. "But when
overruns happen with rail, we're concerned where the money would come
from. It cannot be on the backs of existing bus riders, and the plans
have to name who is responsible."

The coalition has long favored a "rapid bus option" more than rail.
Such a system, now in place on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles,
uses a bus navigating city streets but street lights are timed to
give it advantages, and other technologies, such as a global
positioning system, are used to track schedules and nudge it along.

The AirBART bus shuttle between the Coliseum and the airport, which
costs $2 per ride and handles about 450,000 riders per year, operates
at an annual cost of $1 million. Last year, it brought in $1.3
million, said BART spokesman Mike Healy.

The shuttle came close to being replaced in 1993, when Oakland was a
finalist in a competition for congressional funding for a "suspended
light rail technology" system, but Congress reneged.

AirBART's roots go back to the mid-1970s when, at a meeting to
discuss possible names, someone suggested it be named "Amelia
AirBART," said Healy.

Wiser heads prevailed, said Healy, when the assembled officials
thought that would be bad omen because aviatrix Amelia Earhart
departed from Oakland in 1937 on her final, tragic trip.

"AirBART worked," said Healy.


Back on Track

A proposed 3-mile transit link between the Coliseum BART Station and
Oakland International Airport would generally follow Hegenberger Road
and Airport Drive. Alameda County voters authorized $66 million for
the project as part of a transportation sales tax measure approved in
November, but the system could cost at least $200 million if a light-
rail option is chosen. A proposed 3-mile transit link between the
Coliseum BART Station and Oakland International Airport would
generally follow Hegenberger Road and Airport Drive. Alameda County
voters authorized $66 million for the project as part of a
transportation sales tax measure approved in November, but the system
could cost at least $200 million if a light-rail option is chosen.

E-mail George Raine at graine@....