OAC just won't die

It's the project that just won't die. The Bay Citizen is reporting that BART managed to spend $31 million in two weeks (or underestimate how much they'd already spent), for a total of $95 million, and all they have to show for it is a ceremonial ground-breaking.

That was after BART board member Robert Raburn announced he thought the project could be stopped, which was no surprise given that two of the biggest supporters are no longer with BART, and the costs continues to rise even though no actual construction has been done. Now he's quoted in SFGate's Matier and Ross column, saying "It doesn't look like we are going to be putting the brakes on this project". Gah!!

Supporters claim it will produce jobs for Oakland (not many) and raise the profile of the Oakland Airport (but not in good way). For $500+ million, they want to build a people mover. Not an extension of BART like the one to SFO. Don't throw good money after bad -- just kill the OAC project, and spend 1/2 the money improving the existing BART system and setting up a BRT line to the airport.

update: good post over at Systemic Failure.

Sick. Transit. Gloria! (Copa) Mundial.

No, not Sic transit gloria mundi ("Thus passes the glory of the world"), but the much more mundane: I'm sick with a cold. K had a great experience with transit. Alas, very little of that experience was in Oakland.

I was planning to volunteer at Oaklavia on Sunday, but that didn't happen because I was having a hard time sitting, never mind walking or biking about the streets of Uptown and Downtown. By all accounts (In Oakland, Oaklander Online, Oakland North, SFGate) it was a huge success -- great weather, lots of people having fun. I'm sorry I couldn't volunteer or even participate.

About the only upside (besides the cats approving of my inactivity, though not so much of the sneezing and coughing) is that I've been able to watch more World Cup matches. We don't have cable, so thank goodness for the Univision coverage. I like their announcers better in general anyways, even if I can't understand everything they say.

Yesterday K headed up to Seattle for a few days on business. I dropped her off at Rockridge BART and she headed over to SFO for her flight. She's staying in the Fremont district of Seattle, north of downtown and west of Lake Union. In a great example of how transit should work, she took light rail from SeaTac to downtown, then hopped on a bus that let her off a few blocks from her destination. Total cost less than $5, elapsed time door-to-door of 1 hour, 15 minutes. A cab would have cost $55. Driving time (i.e., not including walking to the cab stand, or walking to the parking garage and driving out nor including parking at the destination) is about 30 minutes (longer during commute times). And no slower than spit $5 people-movers just to get to the light rail.

The 'gloria!' is the beautiful summer weather we've settled into here in Oakland, last week's all-too-brief visit to Monterey to celebrate our 10th anniversary, and the fact I'm finally starting to get over this $%&#! cold.

take action on the Oakland Airport Connector

As I blogged about last week, the FTA is withholding funds from BART's boondoggle project otherwise known as the Oakland Airport Connector. This is because "BART failed to conduct an equity analysis for service and fare changes for the Project." They have until March 5th to try to complete a study, and if they don't or it doesn't meet with the FTA's approval, $70 million in ARRA funds will be distributed to another region.

The FTA's letter (PDF file) encourages the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to reallocate the funds to other transit here in the Bay Area, noting it is unlikely BART will be able to meet the deadline. This money could help BART, AC Transit and other transit agencies avoid service cuts and fare increases by giving money for needed maintenance.

(If you haven't been following the story, BART is not proposing an extension to Oakland Airport like the one to SFO. What they're proposing is a $492 million people mover, that will move slower than traffic for much of the journey. For comparison, the new station in Dublin is being built for about $80-$90 million. So for much less money, BART could build a new station at 98th Ave. and implement a bus rapid transit system (BRT), thereby improving service for airport riders and local residents.)

What you can do: On Wednesday, January 27th, the MTC will decide whether to gamble on a half-billion dollar airport tram for the elite by continuing to pursue funding for the project, thus risking the loss of $70 million in desperately needed stimulus funds or they can act in the interest of Bay Area Commuters and low-income families and moving the funds to save jobs and transit service for hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents.

Attend the Rally for Justice and Jobs on Wednesday and tell MTC to stand up for commuters, low-income families and Bay Area jobs by putting $70 million to Bay Area Transit, not a rinky-dink people mover to the airport that will cost nearly 1/2 billion dollars total.

Rally for Justice and Jobs Info:
Wednesday, January 27
9:00am
MTC Headquarters
101 Eighth Street, Oakland
RSVP: Will@UrbanHabitat.org

If you can't attend:
Send a letter to MTC telling them not to risk $70 million in jobs creating stimulus funds on a risky OAC project that has been found out of compliance by the FTA. Tell commissioners to save jobs and transit now, by sending an email here (If it's possible, please write your own message, it makes a bigger impact. It can be as short as one or two sentences!):

http://act.transformca.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1628

More reading:

• StreetsblogSF
• InOakland blog
• A Better Oakland
• 21st Century Urban Solutions
• Stop, Drop and Roll
• Pedestrianist
• The N-Judah Chronicles
• FutureOakland
• Transbay Blog
  

FTA says no to funds for Oakland Airport Connector

I'm delighted to write that the FTA has said no to funds for BART's proposed Oakland Airport Connector because "BART failed to conduct an equity analysis for service and fare changes for the Project." TransForm, Public Advocates, Urban Habitat, and Genesis filed the initial Title VI civil rights complaint that led to this. According to a comment by Wynn at Living in the O,

Not only did BART and MTC fail to make sure the required analysis was done, but they falsely certified to the feds and the state that it WAS done.

So the good news is that BART is unlikely to get federal funds to sink into the boondoggle. The bad news is that if they fart around, some of those funds could be lost to Bay Area transit. You can help by encouraging the MTC to reallocate the $70 million in ARRA funds to Bay Area transit at large. That will be a big step in avoiding service cuts and fare increases by BART, AC Transit, and other agencies. Go to TransForm's website to send a note to the MTC, and encourage others to do so, too.

More reading:

• Living in the O
• TransBay Blog
  
• SF Gate
• Oakland Tribune

BART under civil rights investigation

I figured the OAC was a done deal after the city council inexplicably went along with BART's plans, but according to Living in the O, BART is under a civil rights investigation by the Federal Transit Administration. In part, this is because BART's EIR (Environmental Impact Report) is based on 2002 data, the OAC including multiple intermediate stops (the OAC plans currently have none), and a $2 fare (the OAC plans currently call for a $6 fare vs. $3 for the current AirBART). The cost for implementing the OAC will also likely be borne in part by higher BART fares and/or reduced service.

I've noted before that BART could build a new station at 98th to better serve the residents of East Oakland and implement TransForm's proposed RapidBART bus plan with intermediate stops for a good deal less than the OAC's $500 million (and climbing) price tag. This won't necessarily stop it, but it's a huge step in getting others to take a look at some alternatives.

stop BART's Oakland Airport Connector

Becks at Living in the O and others have links to a petition to stop BART's current plans for the Oakland Airport Connector. Calling it a boondoggle is an understatement, to the tune of $500 million (or more -- the price keeps going up.) The latest, as Becks reports, is that the planned speed for BART's OAC will be even slower -- slower than the speed limit for cars and busses. It will cost a ton of money, and the projected ridership won't begin to cover the costs, even at $6 a ride (vs. $3 for the current AirBART.) Better alternatives, like a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to replace the existing AirBART have been proposed, but BART seems hell-bent on spending the money. Read more about it on the TransForm website, and make your voice heard!

transit

Sigh. Once upon a time, not that long ago, the East Bay had a light rail system that worked, in the form of the Key Route. By 1948 the streetcars were gone, replaced by buses.

Its intra-city capability was augmented by BART beginning in the 70s. BART is good for getting from city to city, but not so good for getting around within a city unless both your start and destination are near a station. Synchronizing with other systems seems non-existent, which makes getting anywhere take forever. Then there's the whole Oakland Airport Connector debacle, when there are cheaper alternatives available that will get the job done for a small fraction of the price, with more flexibility to boot.

Cars, even hybrids (we've got a 2002 Prius) aren't a good long-term solution in their current form, but one potential good bit of news for the East Bay economy is that the NUMMI plant in Fremont might be used to produce Priuses. Particularly good news since one of the vehicles it current produces is a Pontiac, and the Pontiac line is going away as part of GM's bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, the new light rail system in Phoenix, AZ has 60% higher ridership than projected in its first year. (I doubt the BART OAC will have that good fortune, since air travel from Oakland is down, and the OAC goes one place.) Would light rail be the complete solution to the East Bay's transit problems? Hardly, but it'd be a good place to start. I wish the Key Route was still around. Regardless, the key for any transit system is good route planning.

My next form of transit (besides walking when I can) will probably be an electric bike from Pacific E-Bike. I test rode one the other week, and they're pretty amazing.