For those who are interested in reviving Dumbarton Rail, Â Dumbarton Policy Advisory Committee is meeting on Friday, May 29th, at 2:30 pm in East Palo Alto, and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee is meeting this week, Wednesday May 20, 7pm. Â Â Both meetings are at the East Palo Alto Government Center at 2415 University Avenue in East Palo Alto.
Since the last Policy Advisory meeting, there have been a few rays of hope and some discouraging news – more support will be needed to get the project moving again.
On the bright side, there is continuing interest as part of Menlo Park’s planning update for the area near Facebook and the Belle Haven neighborhood, to have a transit connection between downtown Redwood City and Menlo Park utilizing the rail right of way. Â Facebook, which has strict trip and parking limits from the city and wants efficient commutes for its workers, is supportive of exploring the West Bay segment as a first step.
In news that is not as bad as it could be, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority board did not take any action (yet)to further de-fund and halt the project. The options presented to the board did include planning for transportation solutions along the Dumbarton corridor in San Mateo County.
Dumbarton options for SMCTA
In bad news, Alameda County Transportation Commission Chair Scott Haggerty wrote a letter to the Mayor of Fremont alleging that Alameda County Measure BB’s funding for the Dumbarton corridor disallows spending ballot measure funding on any rail projects. Here’s the text below – if you read this as a voter, would you think that Dumbarton corridor improvements were not allowed to include rail?
Alameda County Measure BB Dumbarton language
There is $49 million in funding from the SMCTA, and it would require $500,000 to complete an environmental report that would allow the project to move forward.
So, if you are interested in reviving Dumbarton rail, here are several things you can do:
1) Come to the Policy Advisory Committee or Citizens’ Advisory Committee meeting and say you want the program kept alive, with an incremental approach that does not distract from Caltrain modernization. If you can’t attend the meeting, send a note to Policy Advisory Chair Carol Dutra-Vernaci CarolD@ci.union-city.ca.us and send a copy to friends@friendsofcaltrain.com
2) Send a note to Plan Bay Area urging the regional plan to include Dumbarton Rail in the longterm 2040 regional update. Right now only bus service is included. Â This comment should be sent by email to info@planbayarea.org, and send a copy to friends@friendsofcaltrain.com
The 2014 ACTC expenditure plan only mentions express bus for the Dumbarton Corridor. While the ACTC could disregard the language in the measure (they’ve done it before), that seems unlikely in this case.
Note that the 2012 measure did allow for rail service, but it was changed to bus in the 2014 text — thanks in part to your “friends” at Transform (see page 4).
Curiously, the measure does provide $75 million for the Union City “intermodal” station — even though it will never get ACE or Caltrain service.
It is pretty clear that there’s no consensus on rail in the East Bay. People like Scott Haggerty want all the money on Livermore BART. The Oakland based folks want more money for buses, and Fremont doesn’t give a shit as they pretty much will get what they want (BART). Union City and Newark are low in the pecking order.
I know there are some East Bay advocates who honestly believe that buses belong on the Dumbarton Corridor.
On the other hand buses don’t work in the West Bay. There’s no space or right of way for any kind of dedicated bus facilities through East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto. However there’s a publicly owned rail right of way.