Caltrain and SamTrans leadership made no qualms about opposing a recent transportation bill, authored by state senators Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont, that would push for transit agency consolidation and strengthen the authority of the regional transportation financing agency.
With the passage of Senate Bill 1031, introduced last month, Bay Area residents from across the region’s nine counties would likely vote on a ballot measure providing at least $750 million annually to transit agencies throughout the region.
But during a meeting Thursday, April 4, the Caltrain Board of Directors took issue with other parts of the bill, particularly efforts to potentially consolidate transit agencies across the region. While Wahab has previously stated she is open to different consolidation approaches, she has also made it clear that merging at least some of the region’s 27 transit agencies is important.
There was also opposition on the Caltrain board to the bill’s proposed strengthening of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s authority, a regional financing and coordination body across the Bay Area — as well as ambiguity around what Caltrain’s funding allocation from the transportation ballot measure would be.
“This whole process erodes, ironically, the trust and confidence that would be necessary to consider expanding MTC’s influence with local transit agencies,” said Ray Mueller, Caltrain and SamTrans Board Member, and also a San Mateo County supervisor. “There’s no real promise to carrot significant revenue for most of the transit agencies, so you have a bill that feels like it’s being used as leverage for consolidation and to increase power with the promise of revenue with no real promise of revenue.”
Friction between the rail agency and MTC is not new, with the former especially concerned about potential mergers between Caltrain and BART, stating Peninsula taxpayers — whose contributions to the BART system are currently a fraction of what several other counties pay — shouldn’t be on the hook for bailing out the agency, which is facing a steep fiscal cliff.
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But during the SamTrans Board of Directors meeting Wednesday, April 3, SamTrans Board Member David Canepa, also a San Mateo County supervisor, said that, while the bill has challenges, it could still help improve BART’s operational and financial health.
“As we know, this agency and other agencies are run rather well. The issue is that there are some agencies aren’t run very well, and that’s BART in particular,” Canepa said. “The reason I’m supportive of the language relative to MTC is that we really need to hold those operators accountable, and the way you’re able to do that is obviously through funding.”
Both boards voted to oppose the legislation unless it had substantial amendments, including the removal of consolidation requirements, expansion of MTC authority and a clearer understanding of funding allocations from the ballot measure.
This article needs editing. The quoted text implies this bill is already law. In fact, it is still in committee in the Senate. See https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1031
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This article needs editing. The quoted text implies this bill is already law. In fact, it is still in committee in the Senate. See https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1031
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