The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is concerned about the Santa
Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors
proposal involving $550 million in bonding
EDITOR:
The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is concerned about the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors proposal involving $550 million in bonding against 2000 Measure A funding to be used for preliminary engineering for the San Jose BART extension, as well as to keep the South Bay’s bus and light rail service running by deferring proposed service cuts until November 2004.
SCVTARU is gravely concerned that the VTA is using this opportunity to continue to push for the San Jose BART extension at the expense of the South Bay’s bus and light rail service. Of the proposed $550 million bond against 2000 Measure A, $252 million will be used to purchase the BART extension’s right-of-way and preliminary engineering, and $92 million will be used as interest costs.
However, $80 million will go toward deferring proposed bus and light rail service cuts until November 2004. The bonding plan proposed by the VTA Board goes against the VTA’s ad-hoc Financial Stability Committee recommendation that no Measure A funding is to be spent for capital projects until funding to operate and maintain such projects was identified – a position SCVTARU fully agrees with.
Worse, the bonding plan, if passed by the VTA Board of Directors as proposed, places VTA on a road where the only capital project is the San Jose BART extension while local bus and light rail services – and ridership – are reduced to zero.
Overall, the $92 million in interest payments in the bond proposal, combined with $700 million in bond financing, as well as the need to find $48 million to $73 million in operating funds for the San Jose BART extension, raises the final cost of the extension to just over $5 billion – years before groundbreaking ceremonies for the BART extension are to take place.
To that end, SCVTARU agrees with the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors that any and all bonding against 2000 Measure A must go only to preserving the VTA’s bus and light rail service from further reductions.
We strongly urge the VTA’s Board of Directors to use common sense and bond against 2000 Measure A funding to preserve the county’s bus and light rail service only, and wait until stable funding for the BART Extension to San Jose is identified first before issuing bonds for that project.
Eugene Bradley,
Founder, Santa Clara VTA Riders Union
www.vtaridersunion.org/
