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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

Regional Rail/Bus Expansion Plan in the Works

CalTrainsAmong the candidates are phased improvements for the Caltrain line.
With the BART extension to San Francisco International Airport due to open next year, two East Bay BART extensions already in revenue service and the second half of Santa Clara County's Tasman light-rail line under construction, Bay Area transportation officials and lawmakers are asking, "What's next?"

In an effort to answer that question, MTC in April 2001 adopted a Regional Transit Expansion Policy. The new initiative follows in the footsteps of Resolution 1876, the Regional Rail Agreement developed by MTC in 1988. That earlier pact allowed the Bay Area to speak with one voice in Washington and obtain $930 million in fiercely competitive federal "New Starts" funds for the BART extension to SFO and the Tasman West light-rail extension. The 1988 funding package also paved the way for the BART extensions to Dublin/Pleasanton and Pittsburg/Bay Point in the East Bay, both of which were completed in the late 1990s.

AC Transit busAC Transit already operates a fleet of express buses.
While Resolution 1876 focused exclusively on rail, its successor broadens the scope of the regional consensus-building exercise to also include express/rapid bus transit. "We're envisioning a fleet of state-of-the-art coaches that could close gaps in the region's transit network, take some of the load off freeways and local arterials, and capitalize on the region's web of carpool lanes," said Therese W. McMillan, MTC's deputy director for policy.

The first wave of roughly 100 buses is already funded, and will travel along 18 new or expanded routes identified by MTC in July 2001.

MTC solicited candidate projects for the new transit expansion program from around the region this past spring and summer. The Regional Transit Expansion Policy: Initial Assessment -- published in conjunction with the release of the Draft 2001 Regional Transportation Plan -- evaluates proposed projects against several criteria adopted by the Commission this past spring.

At $3.9 billion, the BART extension from Fremont to San Jose is the priciest item on the list of candidate projects. Other big-ticket proposals include a new Transbay Terminal in San Francisco ($1 billion), S.F. Muni's Central Subway ($592 million), Caltrain electrification ($452 million) and the tBART/eBART program to extend BART's reach with diesel trains ($565 million).

MTC is inviting project sponsors and the public to comment on the Regional Transit Expansion Policy: Initial Assessment during the outreach for the Draft 2001 Regional Transportation Plan. The Initial Assessment can be requested from MTC Public Information at 510.817.5757 or info@mtc.ca.gov, or viewed online at: www.mtc.ca.gov/planning/rtp/rtep.htm.

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