The timing is rather ironic. Next Tuesday, Feb. 24, will be the 30th anniversary of the heralded opening of the BART station in Colma.
That was followed by spacious new stops in South San Francisco, San Bruno and Millbrae. All were (are) part of BART’s grand plan to create a rail route to San Francisco International Airport which is technically on San Francisco property.
Now, all four of those San Mateo County depots could be in jeopardy of being shut down if voters don’t approve a planned sales tax increase at the polls.
The county BART quartet is regarded as under-utilized by BART’s authorities. In other words, they are a financial burden for the stressed public transit system during tough times.
BART on the Peninsula, though, has never had a monopoly on rail service. The system, really, is something of a Johnny-come-lately.
The Southern Pacific Railroad and now its successor, Caltrain, have provided a reliable commuter rail link between San Jose and San Francisco for more than 150 years.
Even if regional taxpayers vote thumbs-down on the sales tax increase in November, Caltrain is expected to continue running its electrified trains, albeit in a significantly limited fashion.
Perhaps more than a third of the Caltrain stations could be shuttered, according to its spokesman, Dan Lieberman. What’s more, weekend service could be eliminated and weekday trains might run hourly, not on the half-hour as they do now, and end their runs at 9 p.m. All of that is potential bad news, of course.
Still, unlike BART’s much more draconian scenario, Caltrain would retain some of its depots and continue to provide a scaled-back schedule.
So, in essence, even a worst-case situation would not mean the end of any and all rail transit here. At least that’s one conclusion we can draw from official rail reports and plans.
FAST TRAINS ENVISIONED TOO: On a related local note, a high-speed rail setup is also envisioned for the Caltrain corridor, which has been electrified, in part, with funds earmarked for HSR.
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Although the prospects for the addition of high-speed rail along this same north-south route remain iffy at best due to persistent cost-overruns and related funding issues today, there is still a chance (a small one to be sure) that, at some point in the distant future, fast trains could be present on the Peninsula.
They would zip from the Central Valley into Silicon Valley and then on to San Francisco via the Caltrain right-of-way and, for the most part, they would utilize that same trackage, with new passing tracks added at several key points along the way.
Those extra tracks would be located in Millbrae, from Hayward Park to Hillsdale in San Mateo and in Redwood City, according to Caltrain’s Lieberman.
A PENINSULA TRAVELOGUE: The recent passing of the actor, Bud Cort, was a reminder of one of his early cinematic roles. It came in a movie which had a distinct San Mateo County flavor.
Major portions of the 1971 cult classic, “Harold and Maude,” were filmed here more than a half-century ago. The film, a sometimes uncomfortable and disturbing depiction of the complicated relationship between a young Harold (Cort) and an elderly Maude (Ruth Gordon), is based on a morbid fascination with death.
In some very real ways, many of the locations for the interactions between the characters in this dark comedy turned out to be a sort of travelogue centered on the Peninsula.
Local scenes included: A Hillsborough mansion; the county’s government center in Redwood City; the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno; Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma; the old Dumbarton Bridge east of Menlo Park; a rail siding near Oyster Point in South San Francisco; and Mori Point in Pacifica.
A SURREAL SCENE AT SERRA: Last Saturday’s 2 p.m. West Catholic Athletic League prep basketball game at Serra High School in San Mateo was a bare bones affair.
A rescheduled makeup contest with heavily-favored Riordan of San Francisco, the contest, originally set for the evening of Feb. 3, had been postponed due to a tuberculosis outbreak at Riordan.
The Serra scoreboard did not function. The score was displayed on cards handled by a youngster in a corner of the 70-year-old gymnasium. Admission was free. There was no heat. Fans might have numbered 150, if that. Only a handful of students showed up. Cheering sections were MIA. There were no bands.
The rather surreal scene was a far cry from the usual raucous, SRO hoops atmosphere at the all-male WCAL school. Riordan won.
(3) comments
San Mateo Democrats can decide how much money they want to spend on
A) Caltrain to reduce congestion, air pollution, GHG emissions
B) more highway expansions, which increase congestion, air pollution and GHG emissions.
As we have seen with people like David Canepa, Rico E. Medina, the Papans, or Jeff Gee .... they will be pushing for more highway congestion so they can ask for money to fix highway congestion. Diane Papan will be asking for more GHG emissions so she can ask for more money to prepare for sea level rising. The people that promise to fix things around here always seem to be the people that created the problem in the first place.
John - there is a concerted campaign in the regional news media that is providing us with heart wrenching stories about the impact of BART shutting down certain depots/stations. In SF there would be an impact on real estate values, in the East Bay, crime will accelerate and thousands would be inconvenienced. As a writer, perhaps you could influence the Board and ask if they could take steps to reduce their operating costs. Once they have shown fiscal responsibility, which has been severely lacking, voters may be more inclined to vote for a tax increase. Until then, I will do all I can to fight against feeding this monster that has outlived its usefulness in its current form.
Thanks for your column today, Mr. Horgan. BART and Caltrain have resorted to their doomsday scare tactics because they’re afraid that instead of operating at 100% capacity, rain or shine, Covid or not, they’ll finally need to take some fiscal responsibility. I’d recommend everyone vote NO on any tax proposals to support transportation. If you have voter remorse (which I highly doubt) don’t worry because whether this measure fools voters and is passed or not, you’ll still see more tax proposals in the upcoming years. Unless the bleeding is stopped by voting NO on every tax increase, those ever-increasing 100% capacity union salaries, pensions, and benefits must be paid even if ridership is at 50%.
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