Feb 23, 2007

BART agrees to end pact with SamTrans

Changes expected on Peninsula rail line

By Denis Cuff / Contra Costa Times

BART's board of directors agreed Thursday to take full control of the rail extension to San Francisco Airport by scuttling a 17-year joint operating agreement with a San Mateo County transit agency.

BART officials said the move will position them to boost service and ridership on the 9-mile line that runs from the airport to the Daily City station. Since the line opened in 2003, BART and SamTrans in San Mateo County have clashed over a power-sharing agreement that effectively gave each agency a veto over service decisions.

SamTrans operators grumbled the pact saddled them with operating losses of $10 million or more annually.

BART officials complained that to save money, SamTrans pushed to reduce train sizes and frequencies rather than increase them.

Now the marriage is ending, with BART getting custody of the baby.

"It's a divorce of unwilling partners," said Joel Keller, a BART board member from Antioch. "This is a reasonable settlement."

Keller voted for the split spelled out in a series of accords approved on 5-2 and 7-0 votes.

The SamTrans board already has signed off the deal.

For its part, BART now gets to call the shots on fares and schedules.

"We want to look at some options for service improvements that we think will increase ridership," said Thomas Margro, BART general manger.

More passengers will move the rail line closer to breaking even, he predicted.

Before considering any service changes, BART will poll riders about what they want.

Under the new accord, BART must cover rail line operating losses, but it gets some help.

BART will get $32 million from SamTrans's share of the state Proposition 1B money, and $24 million from the Metropolitan Transit Commission's share of the same state proposition, which was passed by California voters last year.

BART also gets a 2 percent slice of a San Mateo County half-cent sales tax.

The accord also says that if the airport extension makes money some day, the first $145 million in profits will be set aside for building a rail extension to Warm Springs in Alameda County.

Tom Radulovich, a BART board member from San Francisco, objected, saying any profits should be invested in the existing rail system, not a new line.

BART and SamTrans signed the original joint operating agreement in 1990 when planners predicted the rail extension would make money.

That hasn't happened, and ridership is about half the predictions of 60,000 daily passengers.

Contact reporter Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267 or dcuffcctimes.com.

Story Filed By The CONTRA COSTA NEWSPAPERS