Santa Clara County light rail: Is it worth the cost?

Adrian Brandt

unread,

Dec 1, 1999, 3:00:00 AM12/1/99

to

Published Wednesday, December 1, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News

Light rail: Is it worth the cost? on trolleys' value

New Mountain View line to open soon

by Gary Richards
Mercury News Staff Writer

In two weeks, light-rail trains will begin running to downtown Mountain
View, the first extension of the system since 1991. In four more years,
trolleys will be running to Milpitas, East San Jose and Campbell,
doubling the current 21 miles of track.

Total cost: nearly $1.5 billion to build the entire system, and more
than $50 million a year to operate and maintain it.

Some commuters wonder whether the huge investment has been worth it.
Many felt that turning to mass transit would ease our highway woes. It
hasn't.

While ridership is rising and public subsidies are declining, four out
of five Silicon Valley commuters still drive alone in their cars. And
they're stuck in traffic jams that begin earlier in the day, last longer
at night and stretch for many more miles.

The grade for Santa Clara County's fledging transit system: too early
to tell.

``I'd give it an incomplete,'' said Steve Heminger, deputy executive
director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, based in
Oakland. ``Unlike the BART system, which was more or less all built
at once, Santa Clara (County) because of funding has had to build the
system one leg at a time.

``The extensions into Milpitas and east in San Jose will be even bigger
steps. Then it will go into more residential areas. Then give it a
grade.''

Supporters tend to agree. They cheer the nearly doubling of daily
weekday ridership from 12,569 in 1991 to almost 23,000 today. And they
point out that fare box return -- how much each passenger's ticket price
contributes to the actual cost of a ride -- has improved from a dismal
11 percent in 1991 to 18.2 percent, lowering public subsidies.

40,000 a day projected

When all planned extensions are built, by 2004, ridership could top
40,000 a day. ``I think we'll surpass that real quick,'' said Pete
Cipolla, general manager of the Valley Transportation Authority,
which oversees bus and light-rail operations. ``I think we're real
conservative on the 7,500 new riders we expect on Tasman West (the
Mountain View line).

``And when we go to the east, ridership will skyrocket.''

The value of light rail might not even be questioned if original
ridership estimates had not been wildly optimistic. Backers in the early
'80s claimed the current line from Almaden Valley to Great America would
carry 35,000 to 40,000 people a day by now. A 1987 study lowered that
figure to 18,000 to 20,000 a day, and by that standard, light rail is
performing better than expected.

But the damage had been done. Many critics refuse to believe any
estimates and are convinced the trolleys are a flop. They say the $325
million for the 7.6-mile Mountain View extension has taken money away
from highways.

``It's just too expensive for the people it carries,'' said Omar Chatty,
member of a loose-knit group called People for Efficient Transportation.
``All it's done is replace bus routes at a huge cost. That $325 million
could have gotten eight lanes on 880 at Brokaw Road, or eight lanes on
Highway 101.''

Added Ben Savage, a San Jose-to-Cupertino commuter: ``What has light
rail done for me? Nothing, nothing at all. If they spent money to widen
280, now that would help.''

Critics often miss a key point. Nearly two of every three dollars for
the Tasman West extension comes from Washington and is money earmarked
for transit only.

``If that money doesn't go to Tasman, it goes to a rail project in Los
Angeles, Seattle or New Jersey,'' Heminger said.

The Measure B half-cent sales tax approved by county voters in 1996
allocates nearly $800 million for transit projects, mostly light rail.
This compares with about $550 million set aside for highways,
expressways and city streets.

But the history in Santa Clara County is that roads have come first.

Consider:

A 1984 sales tax measure raised $1.1 billion, and every penny went for
roads. It paid for the building of Highway 85, the widening of Highway
101 and the conversion of Highway 237 to a freeway.

Every freeway and most expressways in the county have been widened in
the past 15 years. By the time current widening projects on highways 87
and 101 and Interstate 880 are completed in four years, more than 300
miles of new lanes will have been built.

Coupled with work on city streets, interchange upgrades and seismic
repairs, nearly three of every four federal and state dollars spent on
transportation in the past two decades in Santa Clara County have gone
to road improvements.

County voters also seem to agree that mass transit deserves a bigger
share. They approved a permanent half-cent sales tax increase in 1976,
creating the current transit agency. And they approved temporary
measures in 1992 and 1996 that gave more money to transit than roads,
although the '92 measure was later ruled invalid.

But even the most ardent supporters admit that light rail is not the
cure for today's commuting woes. Where once it was thought to be an
effective means of easing congestion, the reality is that it will offer
some commuters a way around idling traffic -- but won't put a dent in
the tie-ups on our freeways and expressways.

The region's economic boom is luring thousands more people onto the
roads, many forced by soaring housing costs in Silicon Valley to live
50 miles or more from the office. For them, trains are few and chances
of carpooling small. Adding 21 miles of light rail can't offset added
traffic pouring into the valley.

``It doesn't look like light rail can compete effectively with
driving,'' said Ray Williamson, a Sunnyvale city traffic engineer and
chairman of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. ``Light rail will
do a very good job of serving a certain group of travelers, but it's
unlikely to provide significant traffic relief.

``But we just can't keep building freeways. Unfortunately, mass transit
is very expensive, and we always have to do it a little at a time.''

Added Cipolla, the VTA boss: ``If you built a 21-mile highway, it
wouldn't take many people from one place to another. It wouldn't work
very well. That's what has happened on the Guadalupe (trolley) line. We
have 21 miles of track, which doesn't take us far from one place to
another.''

A look at the future

Come back in four years, Cipolla added. Then you'll be able to hop
aboard Caltrain in San Carlos, transfer to light rail in Mountain
View and ride to Cisco's growing work site near Interstate 880 on the
Milpitas-San Jose border. Or take light rail from the Alum Rock area
and transfer to a train that goes to the BART station in Union City.

``If San Jose wants to be a major city, it has to have better mass
transit,'' said Beth Tran, a light-rail rider. ``. . . Light rail works
fine. I just want it to go more places.''

The trolleys will, and soon. And then we can judge it.

OVER THE YEARS WITH LIGHT RAIL

Light-rail daily ridership is expected to pass the 30,000 mark after the
extension to Mountain View opens this month.

Weekday Fare box Miles
Year ridership return open
1988 1,101 10.6% 8
1989 6,419 11.3% 10
1990 8,083 11.4% 12
1991 12,569 11.0% 21
1997 22,957 15.5% 21
1999* 23,000 18.2% 21
2000** 30,000 NA 28.6

* Ridership before light-rail line from First Street to Great America
closed for construction of western extension.

** Projection after Mountain View extension opens.

(Source: Valley Transportation Authority)

Have a question about the light-rail extension to Mountain View? Contact
Gary Richards at mrroa...@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5335. Or try our
home page: www.mercurycenter.com/columnists/richards

--

Adrian Brandt
(408) 565-7291 / abr...@nortelnetworks.com