Too much emphasis on mass transportation, or not enough?

Tuesday, August 14, 2001
By William Brand
Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- In what appears to be a foreshadowing of future transportation funding battles, everyone on all sides of the political spectrum has heaped both praise and criticism of a new plan for the Bay Area.

The Regional Transit Plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is too heavily weighted toward mass transit, says Tom Goff, deputy executive director of the California Alliance For Jobs, a heavy construction industry advocacy group.

On the other side, Jeff Hobson of the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition, which represents more than 80 public interest groups, applauds the emphasis on transit.

The just-issued report is a draft, required every three years by state law. Recommendations in it must be reviewed, then approved by the full commission. A vote is now scheduled for November.

Plans include a system of express buses and money for infrastructure and roadways around high-density "transit villages," contemplated near BART stations. Other ideas include "congestion pricing" -- raising bridge tolls during peak periods, lowering them at other times.

Goff notes the plan now allocates 80 percent of about $7.1 billion in available transportation funds to mass transit projects. "That's overkill," he said.

"We think the people of the Bay Area are going to be very interested in knowing that much money is going into transit," Goff said. "Only 10 percent of Bay Area residents use public transit, and public transit accounts for only 3.4 percent of all passenger miles in the Bay Area."

Most people are just trying to get places and they need decent roads, he said.

Goff said he's pleased the plan contains a number of highway improvements, including the fourth bore for the Caldecott Tunnel and the Foothill Freeway extension in Hayward.

On the other side, Hobson applauded the transit allocations, including the express bus plan.

"When you look at the MTC's plan, you can see that in miles travelled -- congestion is going to increase 252 percent over 25 years," he said.

"The number of miles that people are going to spend driving on freeways is going to go up," he said. "Freeways are going to be horrifically congested."

He said congestion pricing of bridge tolls is already being tried in New York City with success. "It helps encourage people traveling at other than peak times, and it encourages the use of transit," he said.

"We oppose the Foothill Freeway and the new Caldecott bore," he said, calling those proposals answers from the last century that won't work.

The MTC will host a number of outreach meetings and public hearings this fall to give the public a chance to comment before the plan is adopted by the commission in November.

Dates and times of public meetings are posted at http://www.mtc.ca.gov or call (510) 464-7787. Copies of the report are on file at the MTC, 101 8th St., Oakland. Comments may be sent via e-mail to info@mtc.ca.gov.