Caltrain sales tax effort fails

The failure to advance the eighth-cent sales tax also complicates Caltrain’s ambitious plans to expand service to BARTlike levels in the next 20 years.

“Obviously we’re very disappointed,” said Seamus Murphy, Caltrain’s chief communications officer. “Unfortunately, instead of growing service, there is now an imminent risk that Caltrain will need to shut down. That risk could have been avoided.

“The ball was in the San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s court, and they dropped it,” Murphy continued. “For the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, keeping Caltrain operating is not a priority.”

To be placed on the November ballot in the three counties served by Caltrain, the sales tax needed approval by the boards of supervisors and transit boards in each of those counties in addition to the Caltrain board.

San Mateo County signed off on the measure in April and, to keep it alive, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors had to introduce a resolution in support of it during a meeting Tuesday. Dozens of people spoke in support of the measure during the public comment portion of the meeting, but the board never introduced the resolution, contrary to expectations, Murphy said.

“Just Friday of last week staff in San Francisco let us know this item would be introduced and to have it pulled out from under the rug like this is disappointing,” Murphy said.

But Dave Pine, chair of the Caltrain board and a member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, wasn’t surprised by Tuesday’s no vote.

Caltrain board members from San Francisco and Santa Clara counties have long called for significant changes to Caltrain’s governance that would give their respective counties more control over the railroad. They specifically want to separate Caltrain from the San Mateo County Transit District and to give San Francisco and Santa Clara counties more say over the hiring and firing of Caltrain’s executive director.

Pine said recent conversations with San Francisco officials made it clear they wanted to see governance changes immediately and before supporting the sales tax.

“It became apparent over the last couple of days that certain numbers of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors would not be introducing the measure without some type of fundamental governance changes immediately,” Pine said. “We offered to engage in a process whereby the Caltrain board would recommend a preferred governance approach by September of next year but that wasn’t enough.”

Pine added changing Caltrain’s governance entails “very complex issues with incredible financial considerations that could not be dealt with in just a matter of days or weeks.”

A call to San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, the city’s representative on the Caltrain board, was not returned.

Recent polling found that nearly two-thirds of voters in the three counties Caltrain serves would support the eighth-cent sales tax measure. The measure was also broadly supported by equity groups, businesses, transit advocates, labor unions, environmentalists and recently the full Caltrain state legislative delegation, Murphy said.

With ridership down more than 90% since the onset of the pandemic, the railroad is being kept afloat by federal relief funds. Murphy said the relief money can sustain Caltrain through the end of the year, but only if ridership increases to an average of 30% of normal. If it doesn’t, then cuts will be necessary.

“As the Bay Area’s most fare-dependent agency and the only system without dedicated funding, it’s not clear whether Caltrain will be able to survive extended ridership loss without new revenue,” he said. “Riders say they will return to the system, but without this revenue measure there may not be a system to return to.”

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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