On August 20, 2021 the Peninsula Rail Program Executive Steering Committee’s staff (IPMT) submitted 6 cost-cutting recommendations to the ESC. IPMT Report can be seen here. One of the cuts was uniquely ill-advised:
From tables 7.1 and 7.2 on page 73 in the IPMT Report
Subject: Golden Opportunity for Early Link 21 Action
The purpose of this letter is to ask that your two Boards and the Link 21 team become champions of linking the Salesforce Transit Center to Market Street and the Embarcadero Station via a subsurface moving-ramp pedestrian connection.
At the September 9, 2021 BART Board meeting your Link 21 Team made an excellent presentation outlining its progress to date. During the meeting there was much enthusiasm expressed by all concerned for developing a truly integrated rail and bus network such as those commonly found in other advanced countries.
On May 26, 2021, a disgruntled Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) employee went on a shooting rampage at the agency’s main Guadalupe light rail yard, fatally striking nine co-workers with bullets before killing himself. There was and is universal agreement that this senseless slaughter of innocent people was horrifying and that every conceivable effort should be made to provide optimal care to the victims and their families.
But why, as a result, did the Authority shut down VTA light rail service for over three months?
There’s getting things done…..and then there’s talk of getting things done. This article examines the difference between the two.
