New Dumbarton partnership

“I think it’s a remarkably rich opportunity and if it comes to pass it could become a model and template for others to follow in the Bay Area and across the country,” said Charles Stone, board chair of the San Mateo County Transit District, or SamTrans.

Anthony Harrison, Facebook’s corporate communications director, said the company is trying to alleviate traffic congestion in the Bay Area to make it easier for East Bay residents to commute to Silicon Valley.

The Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study, which was funded by Facebook in 2017 and adopted by the transit district board of directors in 2017, considered a variety of short-, medium- and long-term improvements for the South Bay corridor spanning San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties. In addition to rehabilitating the unused rail bridge for a new train system — which would run from Redwood City to Union City and connect to existing commuter rail services — the study also recommended enhancing bus and shared-ride commute options on the Dumbarton Highway Bridge as well as bicycle and pedestrian connections.

“We can’t possibly come up with enough money locally to do the Dumbarton corridor project in its totality — that’s billions in today’s construction dollars,” Stone said. “We’re going to have to get help elsewhere and I don’t know of any state or federal help out there for this. We’re doing this partnership out of necessity and I can’t be complimentary enough of the companies for stepping up to getting this done.”

The partnership is a first for both Facebook and the transit district, though Dumbarton improvements wouldn’t be the first transportation project to which Facebook has contributed. The company has also supported the Managed Lanes project, which will construct two additional express lanes with tolls on Highway 101 in San Mateo County.

The partnership was announced shortly after the passage of Regional Measure 3, a bridge toll increase for transportation projects across the region, including $130 million toward Dumbarton Corridor improvements.

“Everyone who lives in the Bay Area and every business that operates here has a role to play in traffic problems and we’re happy to have Facebook enlisted in that effort to help fix these problems affecting all of us,” said SamTrans spokesman Dan Lieberman.

In other business, the board unanimously approved SamTrans’ operating and capital budgets for fiscal year 2019 at its meeting. The $159.2 million operating budget includes new bus service connecting the Millbrae Transit Center to the San Francisco International Airport, funding for outreach in connection with the Youth Mobility Plan and the new SamTrans mobile app, which will debut in September. The capital budget totals $7.9 million. The transit agency’s budget reflects substantial cuts to a number of proposed operating and capital projects.

“While these cuts will lower the district’s deficit, they also constrain the district’s ability to provide services to its ridership; increase deferral of certain important maintenance work, and impact the district’s ability to provide fully functional work environments for staff,” according to a press release.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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