SANTA CLARA VTA RIDERS UNION P. O. Box 390069 Mountain View, CA 94039-0069 http://www.vtaridersunion.org/ NEWS RELEASE TO: Editor, News Assignment Desk, Transportation Reporter * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * Press Contacts (in alphabetical order): Eugene Bradley 24 hr. cell/pager (408)888-2208 email: eegenebradley@yahoo.com SCVTARU: LATEST VTA FARE INCREASE RISKS FURTHER LOSS OF CASUAL TRANSIT RIDERS VTA Must Seek Stable Operations Funding for South Bay Transit SUNNYVALE, CA (July 31, 2003) – The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union (SCVTARU – http://www.vtaridersunion.org/), a transit advocacy and watchdog group in the South Bay, today expresses concern over the latest fare hikes that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will impose on August 1. SCVTARU urges the VTA to obtain a court order authorizing use of 2000 Measure A (a.k.a. “BART Tax”) funding to stabilize its operations budget and to prevent 21% service cuts in January 2004. SCVTARU also urges the VTA to bite the bullet and report on how much money can be saved by phasing in or delaying construction of the BART extension into San Jose. While VTA claims the fare increases are minimal, some transit riders in the South Bay will see their fares increased by as much as 50%. For example, an adult monthly pass will go from $45.00 to $52.50 – a 17% increase. The fare for a single adult express ride will increase from $2.25 to $3.00 - a 33% increase. And the fare for a youth day pass will go from $2.50 to $3.75 – a 50% increase! Approved by the VTA's Board of Directors at their June 5 Board meeting, this marks the second such increase in as many years. Within that time, the adult base fare has increased from $1.25 to $1.50 – a 20% increase. The adult day pass has increased 50%, from $3.00 in 2002 to $4.50 as of August 1. The fare hikes will only address a portion of VTA's $50 million deficit for this fiscal year, and serve as the most regressive taxes we know of. It hits low-to-moderate wage families, seniors, and youth the hardest, especially in areas such as East San Jose, Gilroy, and Palo Alto. Make no mistake; A FARE INCREASE IS A TAX INCREASE. A recent San Jose Mercury News opinion piece by San Jose City Councilman (and VTA Board alternate) Ken Yeager stated that VTA's transit ridership is amongst the lowest in the nation. With gasoline prices finally stabilizing, additional room on the highways due to layoffs in the South Bay, and the exodus of residents away from California, VTA's fare hike on August 1 will send more casual transit riders back to their automobiles, which will further lower ridership, further increase pollution in our air, and further degrade of the quality of life in Silicon Valley. The root causes of VTA's fiscal crisis needs to be addressed and formal solutions to them must be implemented as soon as possible. For far too long, VTA has depended on local sales taxes to keep buses and trains rolling in the South Bay. Reduction of sales tax revenue due to the recession has played a role in reductions of transit service by 15% since voters approved Measure A – the “BART Tax” - in November 2000, as well as two fare increases. Stable revenue streams such as parking fees and transit impact fees imposed on development away from transit services must be made part of the VTA's financial stability plan. The VTA's ad-hoc Financial Stability Committee must come to a full consensus and end the practice of depending on unstable sales tax revenue to fund the South Bay's transit service as quickly as possible. Another factor in VTA's fiscal crisis no one has discussed yet is escalating costs associated with the BART extension to San Jose. SCVTARU recently learned of a report - “Transportation Injustice,” published by the Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) – that says the BART extension to San Jose is nearly $2 BILLION over the $3.8 billion budget the VTA and the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group (SVMG) estimated for the extension. The cost overruns with the San Jose BART extension are the main reason why the VTA faces a $6 billion budget shortfall over the next 20 to 25 years. Let us make this a win-win situation for everyone involved with mass transit in the South Bay. We urge the VTA to investigate and implement stable revenue streams without delay and we request that further service reductions nor fare increases be implemented until more stable operating revenue is identified. ### About the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union -------------------------------------- Founded in October 2000 by Eugene Bradley, the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is a grassroots-based organization dedicated to ensuring that elected officials improve and implement cost-effective, frequent, and reliable mass transit in Santa Clara County. Our web site is at www.vtaridersunion.org. We are based in Sunnyvale, CA. Our organization has absolutely no affiliation with, nor is endorsed by, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in any way whatsoever.