On Friday April 22, the VTA board held a study session on the proposed 2016 transportation ballot measure. Â The board members supported a spending package that was very similar to the staff proposal, with $1.5 Billion proposed to connect BART to San Jose and Santa Clara, $1Billion for Caltrain improvements, including capacity improvements and grade separations, and $500Million for transit operations (largely bus service), an increase from $450M in the staff report. Â The final decision is expected in June.
According to preliminary analysis from the VTA Next Network project, the transit operations funding could leave VTA vulnerable to bus service cuts if the agency wants to follow through on its goal to increase ridership.  According Next Network analysis, without any additional funding, VTA could provide a stronger frequent network, at the cost of reducing local “coverage routes” which do not have high ridership but provide lifeline service to elderly, disabled, and very low-income users.
According to VTA staff, it would take an additional ~$13 million per year, or $390+Â Million over 30 years, to be able to provide the same ridership increase without cutting lifeline services. Â VTA will be hosting meetings on the Next Network in the coming weeks, including on Tuesday, May 17 at Mountain View Community Center at 201 Rengstorff at 6pm, and one on Wednesday May 18, at Palo Alto Rinconada Library at 1213 Newell Road at 6pm.
Why is VTA still proposing a duplicate line between San Jose Diridon and Santa Clara? The developments in Santa Clara is not and will not be dense enough to justify BART along side Caltrain. Since there’s no other rail projects in this tax proposal besides Caltrain funding and BART, there will be no people mover connection in Santa Clara (even if there’s funding for the people mover it would be smarter to connect at San Jose Diridon). There seems to be a result of some backroom deals and nobody has to guts to challenge that deal. I don’t think it is worth half a billion dollars to save somebody from walking over from BART to Caltrain or the bus to get to Santa Clara University.
This is the least inspired transportation tax plan this year. Los Angeles and Seattle are proposing more bolder visions. This plans has no big ideas at all. The BART component is based off a 18-year old plan and VTA’s past effort of deceiving voters (by suggesting that past plans would fully fund the line). Besides Caltrain funding, the rest goes to the roads. While things like expanding the expressway system increase capacity (but the wrong kind that is), the rest goes to basic road maintenance, which in most jurisdictions they use other kinds of funding for. It seems like the road maintenance component is a product of wanting to raise taxes for BART but don’t want most of the funding going to BART. Without any vision for expanding transit, they might as well use those funds to repave streets.
I don’t think it is the right year for the tax on the ballot. If we are to put one on the ballot, there needs to be big vision that is aggressive enough to meet the development and environmental goals. We need to re-evaluate old plans to see if they’re still good, and open up for new plans as transportation technologies evolve.
Another issue the public should ask is about the timing of the funds. The problem with the line between San Jose and Santa Clara is that if VTA chooses to prioritize BART over other projects, it will take the critical funds away from other priorities including Caltrain. VTA has a history of delaying projects such as Caltrain electrification due to the lack of funds. (they claimed that they are committed to Caltrain, but timing of the funding delayed the project and increase the risk of these projects not going foward.) If the San Jose and Santa Clara is considered a separate phase to be implemented at a later date, if not cancelled entirely, it would bump up the schedule for other projects and reduce their risk of not getting the funds.
Having the BART terminate in Santa Clara rather than in San Jose was more a decision from BART. The reason is that with the added trains they want a service facility at the end of the Silicon Valley line. There is no room in San Jose for this, but there is space beside the existing CalTrain station in Santa Clara. Having this service facility will reduce operational expenses. The goal is not really to handle passengers, it is to service trains. I haven’t attended all of the Santa Clara BART community meetings, but I know that BART was asked to provide the numbers so people could evaluate the trade-off between the operational savings and the cost of the BART line between SJ and Santa Clara.
More the reason to cut or delay the Santa Clara portion. First, VTA does have a choice in the rail yard location other than Santa Clara. Second, there’s no need for a station there even if the yard is there. The station entails a lot of facilities that are not associated with the yard (like platforms, parking, transit center, tail tracks). The yard could be built smaller without the station, and there’s no need to run every train in and out of a yard (reducing operating costs) compared having to run every mostly empty train in and out of Santa Clara.
That’s $200 – $300 million that could accelerate more urgently needed Caltrain upgrades including grade separations. VTA could say that everything would eventually funded, but that unneeded portion will take critical early money away from other projects. A simple deferral sends a strong message that this is not all about BART, BART, BART.
That is the explanation I always hear re: the Santa Clara BART station and it is utterly unconvincing. If BART needs the Newhall yard, it does not follow that they need a station too, and the associated expense and operating costs. Moreover, if BART ever decides to expand again, the Santa Clara station would not work. If they end the line at Diridon, they could expand south to Valley Medical and Santana Row. With the Santa Clara station, the only option is to take over the Caltrain line, which I suspect is the real purpose of the station.