Local funds would still pay for more than half of BART to San Jose.

Published Friday, December 9, 2005, in the San Jose Business Journal

BART extension fund request withdrawn

By Timothy Roberts and Andrew F. Hamm

The Valley Transportation Authority has withdrawn its request for
federal funds for the extension of BART from Fremont to San Jose
and Santa Clara.

The VTA is acting now to avoid a complete rejection by the FTA,
which is the gate keeper for the federal portion of the costs of
building the 16-mile, $4.2 billion project.

The VTA had been counting on $834 million in federal funds, although
initially it was seeking far less than that.

"We are temporarily withdrawing our request for funding for the BART
extension," said Communication Director Jayme Kunz. "We want to take
some time to address several concerns."

She said a statement would be forthcoming later on Friday.

John McLemore, who serves on the VTA board, called the decision to
withdraw the request "an earthquake; It will really shake people
up." But he said the VTA would come back with another request in a
year or two after working out differences with the FTA.

"It is a tactical retreat," he said.

The decision to withdraw the request came as the FTA continued to
question the desirability of the project. Withdrawing the request
may prevent the FTA from issuing a final rejection.

Most of the cost of the BART project would be paid for by Santa
Clara County taxpayers who voted in 2000 to extend a 1/2-cent sales
tax for 30 years to raise $2.6 billion. The VTA may ask the voters
to approve a second 1/4-cent sales tax to cover a drop in sales tax
revenues.

The VTA also is hoping the state will eventually pay $649 million
of the cost. It is asking for $100 million in the short term.
Diane Eidam, executive director of the California Transportation
Commission, said that funding and other transit and road requests
are on hold at least until the governor presents his budget in
January.

The federal funding has been at issue because the FTA has been
skeptical about the number of riders that the BART extension will
draw. Another issue has been the cost, driven up by the expense of
building a long underground section. The prospects looked even
bleaker this summer when the FTA announced higher standards for
evaluating ridership. But in August, U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-San
Jose, added wording to a transportation bill that allowed the BART
extension and an extension San Francisco's Muni system to circumvent
those new rules.

John Flaherty, chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Noman Mineta, said he expects the VTA to resubmit a request for
federal funds after it comes up with a new model to be used in
projecting ridership.

"The FTA will work closely with VTA as it tries to meet the funding
requirements," Flaherty said.

He said federal transportation officials are encouraged by the new
leadership at the VTA, in particular Michael Burns, who was
appointed general manager in August.

"It's a professional approach, a commitment to work with the FTA and
Congress in a collaborative fashion, and it shows Michael's vast
experience in this area," Flaherty said. "This is a time out, but
ultimately I would agree with Michael Burn's vision that this
project is going to be built sometime."