Published Tuesday, November 13, 2001, by Business Wire

BART Board Ratifies Agreement With VTA

OAKLAND, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The BART Board of Directors today
voted to approve an agreement with the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority (VTA) which will serve as the foundation for
building and operating a BART line to San Jose/Santa Clara.

The comprehensive agreement, which defines the rights and
responsibilities of the two parties in constructing and operating the
$3.7 billion project to serve the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit
Corridor, was tentatively reached early last week. The 16-mile
extension will serve Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara with seven
stations.

Additionally, BART will move forward with its long-planned 5.4-mile
Warm Springs extension, which will include one station. The Warm
Springs Extension will be the connecting link between Santa Clara
County and the current BART system, which now terminates in Fremont.
The agreement brings $111 million to the Warm Springs Extension which
is estimated to cost $634 million.

According to BART Board President, Willie B. Kennedy, the agreement
with VTA represents about eight months of hard effort on the part of
the two agencies to work out all of the financial details.

"Primarily, it meets our goals and fits within the framework we
adopted back in the spring of this year," Kennedy said. "It brings
additional service to BART District residents at no additional cost."

Kennedy praised the work of the BART and VTA Boards as well as the
respective staffs of both agencies for bringing the negotiations to a
successful and timely conclusion.

BART Director Tom Blalock, who chairs the Board's Liaison Committee,
said the agreement also meets the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission's requirements for the project to be included in the
Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).

"This is a critical step toward seeking a federal funding commitment
for the project," Blalock said.

BART General Manager Thomas E. Margro said he was very pleased with
the final agreement which calls for VTA to be responsible for funding
the construction of the line, as well as all incremental operating
and maintenance costs on a fully-allocated basis. Additionally, VTA
will be responsible for capital improvements to the new line as well
as to the core system for those impacts directly associated with
operating the San Jose/Santa Clara line.

"I firmly believe historians will mark BART's agreement with the VTA
as a major milestone in the BART system's evolution as a regional
transportation system," Margro said.

Margro noted the 95-mile system now serves four counties and will
grow to 103 miles when the 8.7-mile BART/San Francisco International
Airport line opens, now scheduled for some time late next year.

He said that BART is also working with the Contra Costa County
Congestion Management Agency and Transportation Authority to study
the Highway 4 corridor in Eastern Contra Costa County Corridor and
the Alameda Congestion Management Agency to study the 580 corridor
out to Livermore. These studies are expected to be completed early
next year.