By Bud Colligan, Reb Rebele and Bill Simpkins
As we traverse this challenging coronavirus health and economic crisis globally and here in our own community, it’s imperative we recognize the importance of allocating resources to essentials –the “must haves”– food security, healthcare, shelter/housing, education and appropriate transportation. The economic landscape is changing dramatically and previous assumptions about resources and budgets will need to be reexamined carefully in the weeks and months ahead. Common sense must prevail. The time for fantasy projects is over, including the rail project, on which the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has been wasting money for 30 years.
Even before the full scope of the pandemic unfolded, the March 3 defeat of Measure I in Sonoma and Marin counties was a clear warning to the RTC and all Santa Cruz County voters. Measure I, put on the ballot by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) Board of Directors, proposed extending their current sales tax for 30 years in order to maintain financial solvency for the 3-year-old SMART train.
Voters in Marin and Sonoma counties decisively rejected the sales tax extension measure on March 3. Why? In short, because they have been sold a bill of goods for too long by a transportation agency that withheld accurate information from the public, failed to deliver much of its plan, and then asked for more money to squander. Sound familiar? Paradoxically, the SMART train has consistently been touted by our local RTC and train supporters as a model for the $1.3 billion train they want to foist on Santa Cruz County.
Sonoma and Marin counties have 2.8 times the population of Santa Cruz County. A quarter cent sales tax for SMART was approved by voters of Marin and Sonoma counties in November 2008. The train didn’t begin passenger revenue service until August 25, 2017, nearly a decade later. The original plan was to build 70 miles of train track and an accompanying trail for bikers and pedestrians. To date, just 45 miles of track and 16 miles of trail have been built (and the trail has mostly been built by other entities, not SMART).
What else has gone wrong? For starters, SMART is running a deficit and financing current operations out of its reserves. The train has not alleviated traffic congestion on Hwy 101. In fact, it’s made traffic worse in downtown San Rafael. Cars are stacked up at the rail crossing in Marin’s largest city, idling and increasing fossil fuel emissions. Ridership has actually decreased in SMART’s second year of operation.
But what made citizens really angry, and rightfully so, was the fact that SMART officials purposefully withheld cost-benefit analyses and ridership numbers from the public. Some numbers were only made available upon multiple public records requests. Turns out, each round-trip rider is costing taxpayers more than $100, making it the least cost-effective commuter rail system in the country. Add the fact that the average rider on SMART has an annual income of $97,000—hardly the low income, social equity constituent touted by train proponents–and it’s no wonder the measure for additional funding failed to pass.
If a train cannot succeed in Marin and Sonoma, it certainly cannot succeed here. Meanwhile, Santa Cruz roads are badly deteriorating, the streets are lethally dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians, and the rail corridor remains an empty, unused eyesore eight years after its acquisition.
This coronavirus will be affecting us for several years to come. And scientists warn there will be others. We are already paying $50 million per year for METRO. Let’s modernize METRO and Lift Line and make them more effective in moving people in our community. And let’s double down on personalized and flexible transportation models operating on our rail corridor. We have all noticed that bike riding and walking has dramatically increased in the last two months! A protected and beautiful east-west corridor where social distancing can occur would be an incredible, healthy community asset.
Will the public continue to pay for the tracks to nowhere as more evidence piles up that a train will never work in Santa Cruz County? The time to decide is now–before millions of dollars more are wasted. The studies have been done, the public is informed, it’s time to put it to a vote. Ask our County Board of Supervisors to put it on the ballot now!
Bud Colligan and Bill Simpkins are Live Oak residents, Reb Rebele is a Dominican Oaks resident.
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Guest Commentary | SMART train defeat: Will Santa Cruz listen? - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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