There are two state propositions on the November ballot that if passed, would cripple our ability to improve transit, curb pollutions, and reduce our dependence on oil:

NO on Proposition 23 – Sierra Club is mounting a local campaign to stop Prop 23.

From Transform:

Texas oil companies and other major polluters are spending millions of dollars to push this ballot proposition, deceptively titled the “CA Jobs Initiative,” which will actually gut California clean energy and air pollution standards and destroy hundreds of thousands of new and future good-paying clean and green jobs…

Prop 23 is designed to kill California’s world-renowned innovative approaches to cleaning the air, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and spurring the growth of the new green economy…

Green energy and clean tech represent the one area of our economy that has continued to grow rapidly during the recession. Prop 23 would keep us dependent on fossil fuels, force us to pay more for dirty energy, foul our air and water, harm public health, and kill California’s best hopes for a healthy, successful future. Vote “NO” on Prop 23.

NO on Proposition 26: http://transformca.org/campaign/legislation/propositions

From Transform:

Prop 26 would amend the California Constitution so that nearly all regulatory fees would be redefined as taxes and therefore require approval by a 2/3 vote of the legislature or by a costly local election also requiring a supermajority.  A 2/3 vote is virtually impossible in today’s political climate.  If Prop 26 passes, environmental, consumer and public health safeguards would be severely weakened and the problems facing our communities would be dramatically further exacerbated.  The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office has found that Prop 26 could end up adding billions of dollars in additional costs each year to our state and local budgets…

Prop 26 is an extremely dangerous initiative.  Its passage would wreak havoc with our ability to maintain the most basic and critical programs: public health services, toxics mitigation and clean-up, alcohol and tobacco harm reduction campaigns, food safety, and much more.  California faces numerous challenges these next years, from jobs to education, energy and infrastructure, water, housing and climate change.  Prop 26 would prevent us from having the capacity to successfully meet these challenges.

YES on Vehicle Registration Fee Measures

BayRail is recommending YES on Measure M in San Mateo County. Measure M is a Vehicle Registration Fee program to provide needed funding to repair potholes and maintain local transit. Ballot argument: http://smartvoter.org/2010/11/02/ca/sm/meas/M/

Transform is also recommending YES on other Vehicle Registration Fee measures in other Bay Area counties. Measures in other counties provide funding (at various levels) for road maintenance and transit services.

TransForm endorses each of these measures and supported the passage of SB 83 last year which gave counties across the state the ability to levy a $10 vehicle registration fee (VRF) to fund transportation with voter approval.  TransForm has long supported user fees, such as VRFs, as ways to pay for transportation.  In this case, vehicle owners are being asked to pay for use of and impacts on the transportation system (as opposed to paying sales taxes  etc.)

• Alameda County, Measure F
• Contra Costa County, Measure O
• Marin County, Measure B
• San Francisco County, Measure AA
• Santa Clara County, Measure B
• Sonoma County, Measure W

At the next Thursday’s Caltrain JPB meeting (agenda), the board will vote on a package of service cuts and fare increases to address the $2.3 million budget gap.

Meeting date and time: Thursday, October 7, 2010  at 10:00 a.m.
Location: Bacciocco Auditorium, 2nd floor, 1250 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos CA 94070 (1 block from San Carlos Station)

Caltrain staff is recommending:

• Suspend four limited midday trains 236, 237, 256 and 257 (these are Northbound and Southbound trains that leave San Francisco and San Jose respectively at approximately 9:40 and 2:40)
• Increase the Full Fare zone charge by $0.25 and corresponding changes to
  related fare media
• Increase GO Pass pricing to from $140 to $155

Fare increases and service cuts will be implemented in January 2011. The staff is no longer considering cutting early morning and evening service. Eliminating early morning and night trips will leave riders with virtually no transit option and create a service gap of more than an hour at night.

In addition, the staff is recommending a number of fare changes to accommodate the transition from paper passes to Clipper:

• Allow a charge for the purchase of a Clipper fare card as established by the Metropolitan
  Transportation Commission
• Discontinue the Monthly Pass grace period
• Discontinue use of  8-ride Ticket by more than one passenger
• Redefine youth to 17 years old and younger
• Allow the purchase of a monthly Parking Permit with a single 8-ride Ticket

Once approved, these changes are scheduled to take effect next month. Caltrain is also planning to close ticket offices at San Francisco and San Jose stations.

In response to a number of customer comments (like this) regarding weekend service, staff is proposing to provide weekend Baby Bullet service on a 3 month trial basis.  While the schedule and station stops have yet to be determined, two round trips would be provided initially.

A meeting of the Transit Sustainability Project steering committee was held yesterday in Oakland. The committee consists of general managers of major transit agencies, as well as representatives from business, labor, and environmental groups. The role of the committee to review and discuss the ongoing study of the finance and service efficiency of the Bay Area transit agencies, in response to the sharp reduction of tax revenues due to the economic crisis.

• Staff presentation to the committee (PDF)

One of the first tasks of the study is to evaluate the cost and performance trend of the major transit agencies in the Bay Area. Generally over the last 10 years, transit costs have increased 50% in addition to inflation, service and ridership only increased by 15% and 7% respectively. Overall, Bay Area transit riders and taxpayers have been paying more for less service.

However when breaking down the number between modes and agencies, the numbers show a dramatic difference. Both BART and Caltrain have a higher growth in service and ridership than the growth in operating cost. Caltrain has highest growth in ridership (55%) between 1997 and 2008. On the other hand, bus service provided by the top agencies only increased slightly during that 10 year period, while cost grew by 27% on top of inflation and ridership dropped by 8%.

Some thoughts:

While the statistics show that bus operations are dragging the cost up and productivity down, buses are still the main workhorse in transit and do not require significant capital costs. Buses also have a relatively lower operating cost per vehicle than rail.

The facts basically show that Caltrain ridership and productivity have improved, rather than worsened, compared to other Bay Area transit agencies. Caltrain’s current budget crisis is not caused by Caltrain’s operation, but rather by SamTrans’ inability to subsidize Caltrain.

Caltrain not only has bucked the worsening service and productivity trend, it has done so without a single service extension to new areas. BART and the light rail systems have shown an increase of service during the past 10 years primarily due to opening of new extensions. In case of the light rail systems, service has been added by 74% while ridership only grew by 40%.

Additional studies are needed to find out why bus productively has declined significantly. Possible factors include increased traffic congestion, increased by dwell time, poor service planning and integration, replacement of more productive routes with rail, etc. While rail in the Bay Area has attracted most of the political and community support, bus is an important element because it travels to many more places that rail lines don’t go, and serves more of the population that would have no other means of accessing employment, shopping, education, and medical services.

Based on rider feedback, Caltrain is now saying that they are unlikely to cut weekend or Gilroy service. But the daily schedule is still at risk – Caltrain is considering cutting early morning, mid-day, and late night service. Yet cutting service makes the train less convenient, which drives down ridership and revenues. So it is not an effective way of balancing the budget. Other options Caltrain is considering include raising the price per zone by 25 cents, increasing the Go Pass price, and discontinuing the use of 8-ride passes by multiple riders (due to mandatory transition to Clipper Card).

At meetings held by Caltrain to get feedback on proposed service cuts, riders had different ideas about what could be done instead of cutting service to meet a budget gap. Riders had a wealth of suggestions to increase ridership and improve efficiency. Riders proposed suggestions about to run baby bullet trains on the weekends, increase bike capacity, promote commuter passes, take advantage of social campaigns such as Drive Less Challenge, promote the environmental benefits of the train, and more. Riders also had suggestions for decreasing costs without cutting service, including construction efficiencies, negotiating the terms in the upcoming labor contract.

According to the San Mateo County Times, more than 350 people have e-mailed comments to the agency so far, and more than 200 riders attended community meetings held in four cities Thursday August 19.

At an upcoming meeting at 10am on September 2, the Joint Powers Board will review rider suggestions and Caltrain staff recommendations. Let them know that cutting service is not the way to go, and keep sharing ideas for increasing ridership and saving money. Come to the meeting if you can, and keep sending your suggestions to Caltrain, at changes@caltrain.com.

The meeting is at Caltrain/Samtrans headquarters, 2nd Floor Auditorium, 1250 San Carlos Ave near the San Carlos train station.

Yesterday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Muni will restore 61 percent of the service it cut in May by September 4. The SFMTA was able to put together about $15 million in funding from Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, plus savings from scaling back non-driving time operator hours. The goal is complete restoration of service within a year, according to Newsom’s public statement.

The Muni announcement is a positive sign that with commitment and effort, the Bay Area can keep public transit infrastructure running in economically difficult times. Another potential lesson for Caltrain supporters is the operating efficiencies that Muni was able to find. This fall, Caltrain’s operating contract with Amtrak is up for rebidding, and there may be opportunities for savings as part of a new contract.

For more details about the Muni funding restoration, see coverage in Streetsblog and the San Francisco Chronicle/