Jackson: Time to develop a new regional transit plan based on a modern, post-pandemic reality
Bill Jackson of the Frontier Republicans & Friends says we need a new plan for Bay Area transit, sized for today's ridership, not pre-pandemic assumptions.
The new plan for Bay Area transit should require binding cost and compensation reforms, tie service levels to real ridership, and set concrete benchmarks for cost-saving technology--automated trains, on-demand shuttles, predictive maintenance.
And it should move fast: transit plans typically take years and rest on utopian assumptions that never pan out. A tight, one-year deadline would force realistic choices instead.
Then, return to voters in 2028 with a smaller, smarter measure.
Maintaining Bay Area transit will take more money than agencies currently have. But voters should be asked for modest, targeted funds--paired with real cost reductions (automated trains, fewer massive capital projects) sized to today's ridership, not yesterday's.
The priority: protect bus service for the low-income residents who depend on transit most.--Bill Jackson, Founder, Frontier Republicans & Friends
Joshi: The transit sales tax won’t improve health outcomes
“The question on the November ballot (enabled by SB 63) isn't whether clean air matters. It’s whether handing VTA another half-percent of sales tax will buy any.” Consider:
Empty VTA buses are ambulatory smog factories
“The environmental claim is the weakest part of the case. 'Every full bus removes dozens of cars' is a fine argument for a full bus. It is not an argument for this system in its current form. The argument that buses beat cars on tire and brake particulates is true only at load factors VTA no longer achieves.”--Athan Joshi, Los Altos Institution Research Fellow, Opp Now contributing editor, and Los Altos High School Senior
Read the whole op/ed here.
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