While a BART extension to San Jose has been a long term goal for many, the process was jump started in 2000 when Governer Davis pledged $760 million for the project. That was all that San Jose leaders needed to throw together a hasty plan to extend the current 1/2 cent sales tax 30 years and offered a cornicopia of rail transit including BART to San Jose. The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) offered this plan to Santa Clara County voters in November 2000 as Measure A.
Then an interesting thing happened. All of the community transit groups in Santa Clara County came out in opposition to Measure A. The primary reason was that price tag for BART was so high that it would likely kill off all other rail transit projects in the county. That meant that it would be impossible to start any new rail projects without raising taxes until 2036. Measure A also determined that all of the funds from would go to rail projects, there were no funds for new road construction or maintenance.
Then there was the proposed BART route, which avoided the concentration of jobs in north San Jose, avoided going directly to San Jose International Airport, and tunneled beneath existing neighborhoods. By avoiding destinations that people needed to get to, BART must rely on high density growth along its corridor to provide ridership estimates that justify building it.
With the backing San Jose's Mayor and the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group, along lots of flashy mailings and TV and radio spots stating that Measure A would provide traffic relief now, Measure A garnered 3% over the required 67% to pass.
Three years later, the economy has tanked and the cost of BART to San Jose has risen from $3.8 to $4.1 billion. Sales tax receipts have shrunk so much that VTA cannot afford to operate or maintain its existing transit network. $600 million of the states $760 million pledge is gone. To compete for $834 million in federal funding, the BART project is looking at dropping stations or delaying their construction.
VTA is cutting bus service and lines to deal with the current shortfall and now considering dropping all future light rail expansion, leaving most of the rest of the county without rail transit options. Even with these cuts, BART to San Jose may need to be delayed until 2026 to make the project economically feasible. So much for traffic relief now.
But even though the wheels have fallen off, the BART project hasn't derailed. Citing the Measure A vote, VTA and the San Jose Mercury declare that BART is too popular to stop. But Measure A was supposed to fund a rail network, not a single rail system. Measure A was supposed to fund two light rail extensions, dual tracks on Caltrain from San Jose to Gilroy, and BART. Would Measure A have been so popular, if it had stated that the entire proceeds of the 30 years sales tax would go to fund a 16.3 mile extension of BART?
I wonder how many people who voted for BART to San Jose have been forced to leave the region because of job losses. Is BART to San Jose as popular with those who remain, now that we know what it is likely to cost in dollars and lost services?
It is time to reconsider BART to San Jose.
11:04:38 AM 
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