Page 4

March-April 2002

dition, the seven-night-a-week scenario

would have prolonged construction, cost

more, posed more safety risks to workers and

riders, and caused much more disruption to

neighbors living adjacent to the Caltrain line.

We successfully demanded that

Caltrain make provisions for regular substi-

tute bus service, in view of the unpredict-

able, up-to-30-minute train delays riders ex-

perienced during the 1999-2001 Ponderosa

Project. During that period, single-tracking

on weekends was the norm.

An express bus is now planned to run

with stops in San Jose, Palo Alto, Hillsdale,

San Francisco/4th & King, and possibly, the

Transbay Terminal at 1st & Mission. In ad-

dition, there will be special bus service for

Giants games. The service will be operated

using SamTrans buses at first. Then after

the kinks are worked out, Caltrain plans to

contract out the service to private operators

to free up bus capacity for football games

starting in August. The weekend shutdown

is planned to commence this May.

Caltrain is working out the final de-

tails and will be releasing them to the public

some time in March. Caltrain staff have con-

tinued to bring important decisions to the

Caltrain CAC in a timely fashion. We encour-

age you to approach the CAC with your

ideas and concerns. The dates and location

of CAC meetings are listed on the back page.

We're excited also that the Caltrain

board in recent months has appointed some

new, highly competent members of the pub-

lic to the CAC. Relationships that we have

built up over time with key decisionmakers

are reaping dividends. Also we are pleased

that Caltrain has honored our request,

strongly conveyed to SamTrans/Caltrain

CEO Mike Scanlon early in his tenure, to give

the CAC a greater voice in Caltrain decisions.

On Proposition 42...

Concerning funding, BayRail Alliance

recommends a "Yes" vote on Prop. 42 on

March 5, but with some caveats. Along with

our friends at the Surface Transportation

Policy Project, we'd like for California Senate

Bill 1262 (Torlakson) to pass as well. SB 1262

would correct some of the problems of Prop.

42, by requiring distribution of State Trans-

portation Improvement Plan (STIP, generally

used for roads and highways) monies to be

tied with smart land use incentives. Unfor-

tunately, Torlakson reportedly won't push

his bill through until after the March elec-

tion. The bill would apply to STIP monies

whether or not Prop. 42 passes. We're not

entirely happy with Prop. 42, but there is a

clear need for more transit funding. Even if

Prop. 42 passes, the state projects a short-

fall of billions of dollars for transportation

projects during the next 30 years.

On the Santa Clara County Measure B

Caltrain Program...

As of this writing it's too early to know

for sure yet, but it seems that our efforts to

influence Santa Clara County's Caltrain plan

are making headway. I'd like to thank the

many volunteers who attended the meetings,

wrote email, and helped to pass out flyers

alerting riders, especially Roger and Joan

Holland, David Coale, Irvin Dawid, Patrick

Moore, Andy Chow and Francis Wong. We'll

find out in March if the VTA produces a plan

that emphasizes pedestrian access and safety

at stations, especially at California Avenue

and Santa Clara stations, and prioritizes fix-

ing stations so that Caltrain will be able to

run faster and more frequently.

On Helping BayRail...

We can always use some more organi-

zational help with a variety of tasks. In par-

ticular, we invite individuals with member-

ship development or fundraising expertise

to contact us about helping to grow the or-

ganization. We welcome your ideas on these

matters, as well as help with distributing and

mailing our newsletters.

Your contributions of money and time

help us to be in the right place at the right

time. This greatly increases our effectiveness

and chances of success. If you're interested

in volunteering, please contact me by phon-

ing (408) 732-8712 or by email at

okuzumi@silcon.com

[

On the Topic

, from page 1]

ON THE TOPIC...

From the Executive Director

BayRail: Safety 1st at Caltrain Stations

[

VTA

, from page 1]

Coyote Valley station, to be located between

Blossom Hill and Morgan Hill stations, is

postponed for the next few years because

Cisco also has postponed its office devel-

opment in the area.

Due to BayRail's effort, about 30

Caltrain riders showed up to voice their opin-

ions at the meeting in Mountain View. Mar-

garet Okuzumi, BayRail's Executive Director,

said that the revised plan between Palo Alto

and San Jose still did not give priority to

safety-related station improvements, such as

outside boarding platforms and pedestrian

underpasses at California Avenue and Santa

Clara. These stations currently present a

safety hazard due to the narrow central plat-

forms between the tracks. Unsafe stations

also impact train service, especially the

planned Baby Bullet service, because these

stations only allow one train to pass through

the station at a time.

BayRail's concern is magnified by the

economic recession. Last year between June

and September, the sales tax revenue in the

county plunged more than 20% from the same

period in 2000. As the result of the unex-

pected decline, the remaining Measure A/B

projects that have yet to start construction

will have to be reviewed and reprioritized due

to lower funding levels. So far, other than

the parking garage at the Sunnyvale station

and transit center in Gilroy, most of the

Caltrain-related Measure A/B projects are in

the design stage. "Our top priority is to en-

sure that those funds go to making trains

faster and more frequent, and making sta-

tions safer and more pedestrian friendly--not

to other so-called Caltrain improvements,"

Okuzumi said.

In 1999 BayRail Alliance, under its

former name Peninsula Rail 2000, launched a

grassroots effort to revise the previous VTA

Measure A/B plan for Caltrain. At the time,

VTA recommended giving top priority to the

parking garage at Sunnyvale station, con-

sidered by transit advocates to be cost-inef-

fective and unsafe for pedestrians and bicy-

clists. VTA had also planned to fund two

new trains every year until the expiration of

the tax in 2006. This was well below the prom-

ise by the Measure A/B campaign in 1996 to

increase service to 86 daily trains.

After an unsuccessful attempt to per-

suade the VTA board to provide funding for

more trains sooner, Peninsula Rail 2000 and

concerned Caltrain riders appealed to the

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

As a result, in 2000 and 2001, a total of 12

trains were added. However, these efforts

did not succeed in prioritizing other much

needed Caltrain improvements over the

Sunnyvale parking garage.

After the current round of public meet-

ings, VTA plans to submit the revised

Caltrain improvement plan to VTA's Board

of Directors, and then to the Board of Super-

visors for approval in April.