Agencies OK new Caltrain governance

Caltrain’s long-standing governance issue has concluded, with all three member agencies approving a memorandum of understanding to repay money to SamTrans and provide more board oversight for San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.

“The governance agreement should enable more cooperation and collaboration among the partner agencies, which will benefit Caltrain in the long run,” said San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, also a member of the Caltrain Board of Directors.

The memorandum of understanding will see Caltrain establish a separate executive director position for Caltrain, chief of staff, director of government and community affairs, director of budgets and financial analysis, director of real estate and director of grants and funds management. The San Mateo County Transit District, better known as SamTrans, will remain the managing agency for Caltrain and be repaid $19.8 million for a 1991 right-of-way agreement to be the managing agency of Caltrain. The three counties agreed in 1991 to pool their money to purchase the then privately owned rail system with SamTrans as the member agency. SamTrans gets an additional $15.2 million within a year to account for the payment delay. SamTrans will also give up certain interests, including the right to a tenant-in-common interest in the right-of-way in San Mateo County, the right to convert its investment into an equity interest, and the right to approve certain real property transactions along the right-of-way, according to Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman.

“The governance agreement secured funds owed to SamTrans for the original purchase of the rail corridor, a debt that has lingered for 30 years,” Pine said by email. “The resolution of this long outstanding issue is a real win for SamTrans.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission will pay $19.6 million for the 2008 payment, and San Francisco will pay $200,000. MTC is a Bay Area regional agency responsible for transportation financing and coordination created by the state in 1970. San Francisco will pay $6,080,000, and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will pay $9,120,000 for the payment delay. The payment must be within 12 months of the final agreement, or the agreement will be void.

“These were monies owed to SamTrans for a very long time, and the fact that we are finally getting them back is wonderful,” said Caltrain and SamTrans board member Charles Stone, also a Belmont councilmember. “I’m also grateful to folks in Santa Clara and San Francisco counties for working collaboratively over the last six months or so, especially, to try and get us across the finish line.”

SamTrans, as the managing agency, has ultimate oversight in hiring and firing staff, a concern for the two other counties. San Francisco and Santa Clara counties pushed for changes to the three-county train system’s governance structure to ensure more equality in decision making, staffing and authority. San Mateo County representatives have fought to avoid broad changes that left it with diminished influence and uncompensated for being the managing agency. The Caltrain board has nine members, with three each from San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.

The VTA voted unanimously to accept the proposal at its Aug. 4 meeting, with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and San Francisco Board of Supervisors voting yes in July. The SamTrans Board voted to accept the MOU June 21. The agreement process that satisfied all parties took over a year. Stone said the governance discussion took away time from other issues, with Caltrain moving forward to returning riders to transit and completing its electrification project. Stone said Caltrain must look at service patterns and ways to increase ridership.

“We certainly get our event traffic, but I would love to capture riders that just want to get from San Mateo to Palo Alto, or just want to get from Santa Clara to Redwood City,” Stone said.

Caltrain and SamTrans Director Jeff Gee, also a Redwood City councilmember, said by email the agreement allows Caltrain to move on and focus on its 2040 service plan, corridorwide grade separation efforts and station improvements.

“The agreement resolved several outstanding issues that have lingered for decades,” Gee said. “SamTrans has a $500 million plus capital program to convert the current [bus] fleet to an all-electric fleet. The funding that will be made available provides SamTrans to help make this initiative and other important efforts achievable.

“With all of our partners in agreement, we are again a united Caltrain,” Caltrain board Chair Steve Heminger said in a press release. “We will now turn our full attention to delivering quality rail service to the people of the Bay Area and electrifying the corridor to provide the modern, green Caltrain that the Bay Area deserves.”

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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