Published Wednesday, November 14, 2001, in the San Francisco Chronicle

BART OKs extension deal for South Bay
Santa Clara County agency must pay all costs for project

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

BART directors cleared the way last night for trains to San Jose,
approving an agreement with the Santa Clara County Transportation
Authority that requires the South Bay agency to pay all expected
costs of the extension.

After more than two hours of discussion, the BART board approved the
deal by a 7-2 vote, with directors Roy Nakadegawa of Berkeley and Tom
Radulovich of San Francisco opposed.

The majority of BART directors said the agreement would protect both
the existing BART system and the taxpayers who paid to build and run
it.

"This agreement will add 16-1/2 miles to the BART system, and (BART
taxpayers) won't have to pay a penny -- other than their fares to
ride it," said director Joel Keller of Pittsburg.

With the approval, the South Bay BART extension becomes the
centerpiece -- along with the Muni Metro subway to San Francisco's
Chinatown -- of a regional rail expansion package that Bay Area
transportation officials will submit for federal funding.

South Bay transportation officials have already raised 80 percent of
the $3.7 billion cost of taking BART south from Warm Springs in
Fremont through Milpitas and San Jose, ending in Santa Clara.

Last November, Santa Clara County voters overwhelmingly approved a
half-cent sales-tax measure that raised $6 billion for a variety of
transportation projects, including more than $2 billion for BART. The
state has chipped in $614 million for the extension, and officials
hope to get $834 million in federal money.

The deal between BART and the transportation authority, which runs
Santa Clara County's bus and light-rail systems and coordinates sales
tax-funded transportation projects, calls for the South Bay agency to
assume full financial responsibility for construction of the
extension.

The agency will also pay $48 million a year to BART to cover the
costs of operating the extension. And the authority will also pay the
cost of any effects the extension has on the existing BART system,
such as requirements for a new new train control system, additional
rail cars or more fare gates at stations where ridership increases.

But the deal lacks something demanded by some residents of BART's
district -- a requirement that Santa Clara County pay for extensions
to Antioch and Livermore.

"My heartburn is brought about by a perception in (my) district that
this agreement allows Santa Clara County, which has not paid into the
BART district for 30 years, to go ahead of eastern Contra Costa
County, which has paid into the BART district," said Keller.

E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com