Published Wednesday, November 7, 2001, in the San Francisco Chronicle

BART extension to South Bay -- a tentative pact
Transit agencies still must ratify agreement

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will
announce a tentative deal today to take the regional rapid transit
system south from Fremont to San Jose and Santa Clara, officials said.

The agreement calls for the South Bay transit agency to pay $48
million a year to BART to cover the cost of running trains and
maintaining the system, and to cover much of the cost of building the
extension.

If ratified by the boards of both transit agencies as well as county
and regional transportation authorities, the deal would make a South
Bay BART extension the Bay Area's top priority for federal transit
funding.

"I'm very pleased with this," said James Beall, chairman of the Santa
Clara County Board of Supervisors and a longtime member of the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region's transportation
funding and planning agency. "I think this agreement will secure the
$834 million we need for BART to San Jose."

That amount is the gap between the estimated $3.8 billion cost of
building the extension and what the state and Santa Clara County
taxpayers have already committed to the project. If officials can
come up with the money, the extension could open as early as 2006.

Since last November, when Santa Clara County voters passed a half-
cent sales tax to pay for the bulk of a BART extension passing
through Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara, officials from BART and
the Valley Transportation Authority have bickered over how the
extension should be built and financed -- and whether Santa Clara
County should have to pay a buy-in fee to join the 29-year-old BART
system.

Negotiations began in April and have been contentious. Last month,
BART staff told the system's directors that the two agencies were
still far apart.

Officials with BART and the Valley Transportation Authority declined
to discuss details of the agreement, to be unveiled at a press
conference this morning at the Fremont BART station. However,
according to a summary presented to directors of the South Bay
agency, it calls for that agency to:

-- Pay BART $48 million a year to cover operations and maintenance
costs.

-- Cover all costs of design and construction of the extension, and
pay for acquiring the right of way.

-- Pay for all necessary modifications to the existing BART system
caused by the extension. These include a new train control system and
additional fare gates at stations where ridership increases.

-- Cover costs to the existing BART system caused by the extension.

-- Pay a proportionate share of BART's overhead expenses.

-- Contribute a proportionate share of the cost for BART's systemwide
rehabilitation and renovation programs.

Under the agreement, the Valley Transportation Authority would own
the extension, but BART would have control over its tracks, stations,
trains and structures and would operate the system. During design and
construction, a board with BART and Valley Transportation Authority
members would oversee the extension.

The South Bay agency runs Santa Clara County's buses and light-rail
system, and has some oversight over highway spending.

E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com.