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| Santa Clara VTA | Riders Union |
We received a reply from VTA's General Manager, Peter Cipolla, regarding our plan to resolve VTA's fiscal crisis. The unedited text of that reply can be found below.
The original, unedited letter that our founder, Eugene Bradley, sent to Mr. Cipolla as well as to VTA Staff, the VTA Board of Directors, and VTA's Chief Financial Officer Scott Buhrer, can be found here.
November 27, 2002
Mr. Eugene Bradley
Founder, Santa Clara VTA Riders Union
P.O. Box 390069
Mountain View, CA 94039-0069
Dear Mr. Bradley,
Thank you for taking the time to review and comment on VTA’s presentation and proposals to our Board of Directors regarding our current financial challenges.
Your report, "Transit Medicine" demonstrates a thoughtful approach and critical review of the documents presented to our Board at the November 08, 2002 Workshop.
Many of your short-term solutions actually coincide with recommendations VTA has also put forward, such as efforts to promote the advantages of riding mass transit as an alternative means of travel, both business and recreational. Our Marketing Department’s strategic plan includes the spectrum of communications media to help deliver the message to the people of the Bay Area. We currently have advertising on the radio, in print media, on VTA bus exteriors, bus stop shelters and light rail station posters. We also try to reach potential new riders through direct mailing and VIA’s website. Except for the use of television, which is prohibitively expensive, VTA does a great deal to advertise and promote the many advantages of public transportation.
We also believe in modeling the behavior we are promoting which is why many VTA employees use our system on a regular, if not daily, basis. Carpooling or riding the Light Rail line is a common practice for VTA management staff whenever there are meetings along the First Street corridor. The VTA car fleet has been reduced nearly 40%, from 15 cars in 2001 to 9 cars at present. These specially assigned vehicles are largely used for emergency or quick response requirements and/or visiting construction sites where transit does not yet exist.
A process for reviewing and evaluating whether to delay some of our capital projects is ongoing and can certainly lessen the impact of the current fiscal shortfall, and you are accurate to note that doing so will have a slower draw down on our Enterprise Fund.
These and other actions proposed by VTA can be taken immediately and some do offer significant financial relief which is why we are implementing many of them. None of these efforts however, affect the longer—range plan and cost of building and operating BART to San Jose.
When we begin to address those kinds of dollars, no short-term options will come close to meeting the funding requirements. Projects such as BART, Downtown East Valley and Highway improvements are enormous in scope and complexity and can only succeed with a host of long terms fiscal strategies and resources supported by the taxpayers and implemented by those we have elected to lead the way.
Various kinds of fees and assessments are being looked at and must be evaluated for their impact, compared with many other options and alternatives. VTA staff will continue to explore our options and with the aid of experts in our industry we will continue to provide the best data available to ensure that our policymakers have all the information necessary to make the most responsible decisions possible.
Again, thank you for your interest and offering of solutions to this formidable challenge. I have every confidence that VTA and VTA’s Board of Directors will do everything in their powers of control and influence to maintain VTA as a viable Transportation Agency serving the transportation needs of the Santa Clara Valley.
Sincerely,
Peter M. Cipolla
General Manager
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