2018

Getting DTX Underway

admin 2018

Gerald Cauthen. Published in the SF Examiner (6/28/2018)

The Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG) and many San Francisco transit advocacy groups have long supported the Caltrain Downtown Extension project (DTX). DTX will create a high quality north-south alternative to driving into San Francisco. It was defined in November 1999 by 69.9 percent of the voters of San Francisco as the No. 1 transportation capital improvement priority.

DTXTrains Yet for the last 40 months the multi-agency Rail Alignment and Benefits (RAB) study has unnecessarily delayed and obstructed DTX. And the disruption is continuing. The May 29, 2018 RAB release continues to place extra costs and other obstacles in front of DTX. Here are some ways of accelerating the process:
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The Case for the BART – Livermore Express Bus Alternative

admin 2018, Transit Systems

The Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG) is an all volunteer organization dedicated to rebalancing the Bay Area’s transportation network. Our program is based upon the conviction that even a 15% to 25% shift from automotive to nonautomotive means of travel would do wondrous things for the Region.

On a number of occasions BATWG has expressed its support for the BART/Livermore Express Bus Alternative. While it is recognized that there are advantages to extending BART eastward, the fact remains that the very modest resulting increase in BART ridership (11,900 a day) would have no discernible effect on I-580 traffic and come nowhere close to justifying a $1.6 billion capital cost followed by a $22.8 million a year increase in BART’s annual operating costs.    Continue reading →

BART Board Rejects Overpriced BART/Livermore Extension

admin 2018, Transit Systems

The following Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG) report responds to BART’s analysis of the various ways of improving access to the BART system from Livermore and the rest of eastern Alameda County:

BARTIn 1963 the voters of the three original BART Counties; namely Alameda, San Francisco and Contra Costa, formed the BART District and have been paying taxes into the system ever since.

At the BART Board hearing on May 24, 2018 a number of Livermore residents voiced their strong desire for BART to be extended 5 miles from the existing East Dublin BART station to Isabel Avenue in Livermore at a cost of $1.635 billion.  And that would be fine, if money were no object.  But money is an object.  In fact it’s in short supply and the existing BART system has many maintenance and improvement needs that go unmet for the lack of funding.  Continue reading →

Regional Measure 3 Would Slip a $3 + Bridge Toll Hike Past the Voters

admin 2018, Regional and Local Governments

Dick Spotswood, Marin Independent Journal, May 27, 2018 How to vote on Regional Measure 3 is an easy call. That’s the proposition on the June 5 ballot to raise tolls on all seven Caltrans-operated Bay Area bridges by $3. The independently managed Golden Gate Bridge isn’t affected by the measure.

If you trust the Metropolitan Transportation Commission – the indirectly appointed regional agency behind the proposition – to spend the money wisely, then vote yes. If not, vote no. It’s as simple as that.

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Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG): An Open Letter to Silicon Valley

admin 2018, Transit Systems

Bay Area hi-technology companies are being panned in the New York Times and elsewhere for failing to apply their high tech and management skills to benefit the areas in the proximity of their campuses. Nowhere is this more evident than in the traffic agonies surrounding Silicon Valley. In fact, Southbay and Peninsula cities are now talking of imposing payroll and gross receipt taxes on hi-tech companies to help pay for public sector efforts to alleviate Southbay transportation problems…..the very same problems that the public sector has failed to address effectively for decades.
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TAOSF Examines San Francisco’s Basic Transportation Problems

admin 2018, Regional and Local Governments

ABOUT TAOSF

The Transportation Alliance of San Francisco (TAOSF) was  founded on  April  8, 2017.  The group is committed to the idea that to bring about needed transportation improvements it will be necessary to make fundamental changes in the way traffic congestion is handled in San Francisco and in how public transit services are dispensed in San Francisco.  There have been some improvements in some areas but much more needs to be done and the taxpayers and transit riding public of San Francisco deserve better than they’re currently receiving.

The TAOSF program (below) is reflective of much deliberation as well as feedback from numerous groups, Muni riders and other interested San Franciscans.  It was put together during the Summer and early Fall of 2017 and since updated several times.

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