Transit megalomania - BART's Oakland Airport Connector

                  BART Rendering of Airport Station

Welcome to the world of acronyms, bizarre public transit funding, bad ideas run amok, and a grab for funds that have dubious relevance to the proposed project. The Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) is a plan to replace what BART calls a “Successful AirBART bus system”  with a driverless, automated people mover. Depending on the consortium selected (there are four contenders), it will either be a rubber-tired elevated system or rail elevated tramway.

This plan would replace a bus service that also serves the Hegenberger corridor with a direct elevated tramway to the Oakland Airport from BART’s Coliseum station. The $3.00 limited stop bus service would be replaced with a 3.2 mile, $6.00 ride on an elevated tramway with no stops, taking at least as long as the shortest bus trip of 12 minutes (16 mph!). However when the Coliseum events are ending, traffic congestion can add another 18 minutes to the existing bus ride.

This was first proposed as a public private partnership, but the three prospective bidders dropped out in 2008, indicating concerns about profitability. Initially it was to have several stops along the corridor to serve the local community in Oakland and only cost $386 million (now serving no local stops and costing $500 + million). Since then we have seen dwindling air service out of Oakland and declining passenger counts due to the current recession. In 2007, according to BART, the shuttle buses carried 1.3 million riders, representing around 9% of airline passengers.

In 2007, according to the Port of Oakland, their airlines carried 14.6 million passengers, as compared to 11.5 million in 2008. Annualizing 6 months results, the airport is on track for 9 million travelers in 2009. That would translate into 814,662 riders for the shuttle service for 2009 as compared to 1.3 million in 2007. If this trend continues, the new and expensive OAC will be serving far less riders and earning far less revenues.

Then there is paying for what BART calls an approximately $500 + million system. Here is the plan:

$89 million from ACTIA –Alameda County Transportation Improvement Agency
        Measure B Funds: ½ cent Sales Tax; could be applied to other projects

$44 million from the Port of Oakland
        $4.50 Seat Tax on Oakland Airport Passengers; could be applied to other projects

$21 million from STIP – State Transportation Improvement Program
        California Funds for Transportation or Transit; could be applied to other projects

$31 million from RM-1 – Regional Measure 1
       1998 Bridge Tolls to Reduce Congestion in Bay Bridge Corridors; could actually be applied to                   reduce congestion in bridge corridors

$78 million from RM-2 – Regional Measure 2
       2004 Bridge Tolls to Reduce Congestion in Bay Bridge Corridors; could actually be applied to                       reduce congestion in bridge corridors

$20 million from SLLP (MTC) State Local Partnership Program
       California Leverage Funds for Projects short on cash; could actually be used for such projects

$50 million from BART Transbay Tube Seismic Upgrade Leftovers
       RM-2 Funds designated for BART Seismic Upgrade and No longer Needed; RM-2 funds could                   actually be applied to reducing congestion in bridge corridors

$70 million from ARRA – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
       MTC designated Use of Funds; could be applied to preserving local transit service currently to                      be cut

$25 million from FTA – Federal Transit Administration Pilot Partnership Program
       US Government Funds; likely lost to the State and local area unless another project is found

Total Committed Funding: $428 million

As it is understood, the shortfall will come from BART, through $123 million in debt financing, costing BART some estimated $9 million a year in interest and principal payments, assuming the full amount is borrowed. Note that in the above funding sources, only the $25 million form the FTA is unavailable for local use. Thus, local projects and Transit preservation would benefit from an available $403 million and BART would save taking on new debt levels, should the OAC be shelved. 

There is a tight time-frame, with proposals due September 22nd, award by January 10, 2010 and completion in 2013.  But there is opposition.  State Senator Don Perata, said in a letter to the MTC back in June, " I am unconvinced an Oakland Airport Connector is the highest and best use of available transit money..."   The Oakland City Council deftly ducked the issue on September 17th, by directing Oakland’s Transit Planning Department to review the information BART presented and provide an analysis for  the October 6 meeting.  Other groups have expressed strong opposition such as oaklandairportconnector.com/take-action/ (Pork to the Airport) and this news commentary from You Tube transformca.org/newsarticle/oakland-airport-connector-catching-flack and TransForm, who along with other groups filed civil actions:  transformca.org/campaign/oac

The proposed OAC would spend up to $550 million so passengers (and their baggage) could walk from Coliseum BART to a new station, pay $6.00 more to be delivered at the airport (there are two terminals and one stop), walk down to street level, cross the street, navigate on foot to the proper terminal and check in. Convenient? No. Expensive? Yes.

And this service will not be used by locals, as it has no stops other than the airport and just like BART to SFO, airport workers will not use the service because it is too expensive. Even if it had a proposed intermediate stop, locals would not ride at a $6.00 fare.

There is an alternative. Try Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), where in part the bus gets a designated lane, has traffic signal over ride capability, makes just a few local stops, and operates frequently. All at the current $3.00 fare.

This project can be completed spending a lot less of the available funds, use new-built buses operating on clean propane/butane (just like the product sold at hardware stores and camper supplies), and have a stop on the inside lane at the airport for each terminal and baggage claim area. Such a project would be incredibly cheaper and more useful, while returning funds to the MTC and other agencies to be disbursed sensibly.

It appears to be an obvious sham for the MTC to approve RM-1 and RM-2 funds for a project that barely has a nexus to any of the bridges. Call it what you will, it appears to be megalomania for sexy (but almost useless) transit construction projects over a more reasoned approach to preserving the transit we have now.