Guest Opinion: Caltrain board needs shot of reality Guest Opinion: Caltrain board needs shot of reality (April 13, 2005)

By Steve Schmidt

San Mateo County is a county that has waited too long for what rightly belongs to it.

San Francisco and Santa Clara counties owe us $43 million for the 1992 right-of-way purchase of the Caltrain tracks. The Joint Powers Board (JPB) that operates the Caltrain system has taken no steps to seek repayment and balance its books.

Even the San Francisco Giants have snubbed the JPB by paying nothing for Caltrain service designed specifically for them, even though they avoided building expensive parking lots because of their stadium's proximity to the Caltrain terminal.

Shockingly, there has never been a dedicated source of operating funds from the member agencies of the JPB that could eliminate the perpetual crises of threatened Caltrain station closures, service cutbacks and fare increases such as we are now experiencing.

One of the JPB members, Samtrans, subsidizes BART operations at $10 million a year and a few years ago gave BART $72 million to cover a capital shortfall for an extension from San Francisco to the airport via Millbrae. Similarly, the VTA of Santa Clara County commits millions of dollars to the $200 million a mile BART to San Jose extension at the expense of its obligations to Caltrain, light rail and bus service.

The Caltrain Joint Powers Board met April 7 in the midst of a budget emergency. The crowd in attendance filled two rooms and many had to stand. During the presentation of the measures proposed to reduce the $13.5 million current operating shortfall, a staff member referred to the JPB as a "virtual transit agency."

A slip of the tongue? Maybe not. The truth of the matter is that the JPB has been operating for 13 years on handshake deals, unsecured loans and wishful thinking under the tightly-held leadership of career politicians who have little interest in public transportation.

This current operating shortfall didn't just show up today. The problem has been with us since the beginning of this caretaker organization and it needs to be fixed before our rail commute service is ruined by these virtual transit experts who are continuously distracted by personal ambition and competing interests.

It's time for the legislature or the voters to create a real transit district with a charter, taxing authority and democratically elected members that will serve the needs of the Bay Area residents who use Caltrain. Steve Schmidt is a former mayor and member of the Menlo Park City Council and a former member of the Joint Powers and Samtrans boards.

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