Editor,
Every day, Bay Area riders face a patchwork transit system — separate fares, long waits between transfers and agencies that rarely coordinate schedules. John Horgan’s recent column, “BART marriage was a long time coming” offers a useful history, but it’s the future I worry about. San Mateo County depends on both Caltrain and BART, yet, both face looming financial crises. Neither agency created this problem — like many systems worldwide, their fare revenue was gutted by a once-in-a-century pandemic, followed by a slow recovery in ridership. If either agency fails, the ripple effects on congestion, jobs and housing across our county would be immediate and severe. The lesson from this pandemic-era shock is clear: We need to knit the Bay Area’s dozens of transit operators into one unified network, with well-timed transfers, shared stations and simple fare-capping that works across agencies. That means securing stable, long-term funding for agencies like BART and Caltrain, while consolidating redundant bureaucracies so more resources go to service, not overhead. Our leaders must act now to protect and strengthen the systems we have, rather than score points at their expense, because without them, the Bay Area doesn’t move.
(3) comments
What else can you expect with a conglomeration of governments, unions and politicians running it?
As investigative reporting and whistleblower accounts have shown the monetary problems at SamTrans, Caltrain, VTA, Muni, BART, etc. are self-made through mismanagement.
These are some of the best funded transit agencies in the world, but no metropolitan area has 27 like the Bay Area.
That means 27 HQs, 27 x CEOs, 27 x chief lawyers, 27 x administration overhead, ... you get the grift.
If BART, Caltrain, SamTrans, VTA, etc. had ridership issue, why would they
- buy more HQ?
- SamTrans bought a new HQ and kept the old one.
- BART bought two new HQs
- VTA bought a new HQ
- Caltrain moved to a new HQ
- SamTrans doesn't just invest in BEV, they decided to invest into the even less green Hydrogen Powered Vehicles. On top of diesel buses, they want to run three competing types.
- Caltrain got a $80M experimental train from Switzerland, which would have paid for 6 well established E-Train sets made in Folsom.
- BART board members called out BART's staff for incompetence, greed and failure to reduce cost overhead
On top of that we have SamTrans/Caltrain board members David Canepa who together with Gina Papan (both MTC) have kept public transit money away from his own agencies. Clearly Canepa/Papan think San Mateo public transit agencies are fine.
Thanks for your letter, Mr. Mautner, but if transit union folks continue to operate at 100% all this time, even during COVID with ridership at less than 50%, why would you think they’d do anything to consolidate and potentially lose union jobs? They’d rather hit up the public to shore up their ever-increasing salaries, pensions, and benefits. Our only recourse is to starve the transit unions by voting NO on every proposed tax or assessment or fee fir transit. Otherwise, you can save this letter and send it in for publication every year. To no avail.
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