October 10, 1998

By SAM DIAZ Mercury News Staff Writer

Users of public transit walked out of a meeting Friday with a promise that bus and rail systems in the Bay Area will get the money they need to meet demand and keep their fleets and other hardware up to date as transportation planning moves into the 21st century.

A subcommittee of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission went one step further with its promise. Members also called for a review of the spending habits of the major mass-transit agencies to make sure riders are getting the most efficient service for their money.

"It's not just about more funding," committee member Angelo Siracusa said. "It's about transit planning."

The committee met Friday to vote on the 20-year, $88 billion Regional Transportation Plan, a spending blueprint of transportation projects in the nine-county Bay Area.

In the draft plan submitted in August for public review, four public transit agencies - the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Caltrain, AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit - faced a shortfall that totaled $376 million.

Stuart Cohen, executive director of-the Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum (a project of TALC as of 2003), formed a coalition with other transit advocates and lobbied for full funding for transit, giving it priority over highway projects.

"The transit shortfalls are for the nuts and bolts of the (transit) systems," Cohen told the committee. "The vast, majority of the shortfalls affect the renovations of buses, the replacement of buses."

He reminded the NRFC committee Friday that the transportation plan was working under a "fix-it-first" philosophy, concentrating on repairs to existing systems.

"Highway projects are all expansion projects one way or another," he, told the committee.

Initially, the transit coalition -- which included support from groups like the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund -- had suggested elimination of six highway projects to offset $200 million of the $375 million shortfall. They included the proposed $99.8 million Hayward Bypass Freeway and $111 million in improvements to the Bayfront Expressway in Menlo Park.

But members of the committee scrapped Cohen's suggested list, choosing instead to go back to the individual counties for their input on which projects should be sacrificed or pared back.

Cohen, who said his main goal was to obtain the transit funding, said he had no problem with the counties and the MTC locating the money to cover the shortfalls. "We were just. trying to get MTC to clearly state a policy of maintaining transit over prioritizing new highways," he said.

Because the plan needs to be finalized and approved before other projects in it can be funded, the MTC probably will give the OK to the committee plan as written - including the shortfalls - at its Oct. 28 meeting. The transit shortfalls are expected to be filled when the plan is revised next spring.

MTC was already preparing to revise the plan because the project @ for Santa Clara County had not reflected funds from Measures A and B, the 1996 transportation sales tax. The sales tax was still under review by the courts when the draft transportation plan was written. The tax has since been upheld by the state Supreme Court and now needs to be included in the regional plan.

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission will vote on the Regional Transportation Plan at 10 a.m. Oct. 28 in the MTC Auditorium, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. Copies of the plan are available at most public libraries or online (www.mtc.dst.ca.us).