Published Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News 
   
                                 EDITORIAL
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                      The opinion of the Mercury News
                                      
MTC's approval of BART is crucial

   Including a BART-to-San Jose link in the Bay Area's regional
   transportation plan should be a slam-dunk decision. The reasons are
   well argued below in a column by Carl Guardino and Jude Barry, who've
   had plenty of practice, having orchestrated the successful campaign
   for last fall's mass transit ballot measure that will pay for much of
   the project.
   
   The only hangup may be the agreement reached last month by the Valley
   Transportation Authority, which will build the line in Santa Clara
   County, and the BART board. Current projections show VTA able to pay
   for operation of the new line only until 2014. VTA agreed that if it
   has not identified an additional source of revenue by 2009, then it
   will dip into its current pool of operating money to maintain BART
   service.
   
   Much of that money now goes toward buses. Critics fear that the
   transit system most benefiting the poor will be sacrificed to pay for
   BART. They are expected to argue against the project when the
   Metropolitan Transportation Commission takes up the regional plan a
   week from today.
   
   This is a legitimate concern, but it can be met. The transportation
   commission's staff has recommended language in the plan to protect bus
   service, and VTA has agreed to it.
   
   Projecting funding out 20 years or more, as this project requires, is
   always a roll of the dice. Who knows how twists and turns in the local
   economy might affect revenue sources? Who knows what new sources, from
   ballot measures or elsewhere, might turn up?
   
   The South Bay needs it all -- a BART line into downtown San Jose, new
   light-rail lines and an improved, not weakened, bus service. Nobody
   has all the answers right this minute, but it's clear that the BART
   line will be a major advance for the region's mass transit system. The
   Metropolitan Transportation Commission should make it a priority.