Published Saturday, April 6, 2002, in the San Jose Mercury News

Caltrain trips will cost a little more
Other agencies consider changes to offset budget woes

By Aaron Davis
Mercury News

An extra dime here, a dollar there -- the cost of riding just about
every bus and rail car in the Bay Area will soon rise as county
transit agencies from Alameda to Santa Clara rush to cover a combined
$86 million in deficits triggered by the cooled economy.

Ticket prices will rise so much along public transportation routes
that officials worry the new fares might drive commuters back onto
freeways, reversing years of progress in getting cars off congested
roads. In other cases, the hardest hit will be those who are
struggling most.

"It will be cheaper to drive," said Toby Wolterbeek, whose daily
Caltrain commute from his home in San Francisco to his job as a
catering chef at Stanford University could jump from $4 to $6 a
day. "This is not good news."

Caltrain approved a 10 percent fare increase this week -- its first
in four years. AC Transit, the San Mateo County Transit District and
the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will vote on similar
fare increases within a month. San Francisco's Municipal Railway
system -- its buses, streetcars and cable cars -- won't see higher
fares, but the frequency of some routes south of Market Street have
been cut to offset a $14 million deficit.

More cuts in bus and light-rail service could follow in San Jose,
Mountain View and Sunnyvale, where the VTA faces a $44 million
shortfall. For now, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District will not
increase fares, but there's no promises, officials warn.

"Nobody likes this, we don't like this, but we have no choice," said
Jayme Maltbie, spokeswoman for Caltrain, where ridership dropped in
October for the first time in more than two years. "Not so many
people are going to work. Who needs to commute?"

Caltrain, like other agencies, has been hit with a one-two punch:
Ridership has dropped, and so has sales tax revenue. Under voter-
approved referendums, the bulk of transit budgets in the Bay Area
come from sales tax.

"It's a bad system. It's bad policy," said Margaret Okuzumi,
executive director of BayRail Alliance, a pro-rail consumer
group. "Making transportation dependent on sales tax, instead of a
more stable form, puts transportation out of sync with what riders
need."

That appears to be the case for Nancy Davenport of Menlo Park, who
takes Caltrain and some SamTrans routes every day between her jobs --
one in Palo Alto, the other in Redwood City.

"If I was making more money at either job, I wouldn't care," said
Davenport, 37, whose afternoon Caltrain trip will jump from $2 to
$3. "But a dollar does make a difference in my budget right now."

Part of the shortfalls that transit agencies face stems from sweeping
expansion plans under way throughout the Bay Area.

At the same meeting where Caltrain's directors approved a fare
increase this week, they also awarded a contract to begin
construction on the so-called "baby bullet" train that will cut in
half the travel time between San Francisco and San Jose. Construction
will begin this spring, closing down Caltrain routes on weekends for
the next 22 months.

Although Caltrain's weekend service reductions are not related to the
economy, they compound the problem of reduced travel options for
those who depend on public transportation. Caltrain says it will
substitute weekend bus routes for the train closings.

"The service cuts are what we're most concerned about," BayRail's
Okuzumi said. "My group is not opposing fare hikes, we understand
everyone is facing these sudden decreases, and something must be
done. But if there's no bus, there's no bus."

Jaimie Levin, spokesman for the East Bay's AC Transit bus system,
said transit agencies' budget woes simply mirror the nation's slumped
economy. "Our revenue is down, our ridership is down, everything is
off," he said. AC Transit projects an $18 million deficit.

And a full recovery isn't expected any time soon. "The deficits will
run into next year," said Dina Braun, spokeswoman for the VTA, where
80 percent of the agency's revenue comes from sales taxes. Before
discussing fare increases, she said, the agency cut administrative
costs by 15 percent and postponed any new hiring.

"This is the last thing we want to do," she said.

Riders, however, say they hope the first thing the agencies do when
the good times return is lower the fares.


Contact Aaron Davis at acdavis@... or (650) 688-7590.