East Bay

AC Transit delays its BRT vote, awaiting a reversal from Berkeley

Posted by Eric ⋅ 10 June 2010 ⋅ 5 Comments

The past few months have been unbelievably busy, so I never got a chance to write a post covering the discussions that have taken place in the past several weeks in the East Bay, regarding the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) of AC Transit’s bus rapid transit project. I trust that many or most readers have … Continue reading →

AC Transit prepares for its next round of service cuts

Posted by Eric ⋅ 28 April 2010 ⋅ 4 Comments

Even while AC Transit moves forward to piece together needed approvals for the locally preferred alternative of its planned bus rapid transit route — last week, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved the LPA, and the Berkeley City Council is expected to issue its decision this week — the agency is already gearing up for … Continue reading →

Court Invalidates the Pleasanton Housing Cap

Posted by Eric ⋅ 16 March 2010 ⋅ 9 Comments

In 1996, the City of Pleasanton adopted Measure GG, which set a strict housing cap. Under Measure GG, no more than 29,000 units could be built within the city. Although it took awhile, fourteen years later, Pleasanton’s housing cap has finally been ruled to be illegal. Judge Frank Roesch, of Alameda County Superior Court, issued … Continue reading →

Is the Oakland Airport Connector Dead?

Posted by Eric ⋅ 22 February 2010 ⋅ 8 Comments

Last week brought the great news that FTA refused to disburse $70 million of ARRA federal stimulus dollars to the BART Oakland Airport Connector. The natural follow-up question is one I have now been asked numerous times by friends and blog readers: is the Connector dead? Have we at last melted the Wicked Witch of the West? … Continue reading →

FTA Rejects Federal Stimulus Funding for BART Oakland Airport Connector

Posted by Eric ⋅ 12 February 2010 ⋅ 24 Comments

The big news from the day: even though BART and FTA have been working the past couple weeks on a plan to correct the Title VI deficiencies in BART’s Oakland Airport Connector project, today Peter Rogoff sent a letter (PDF) to BART and MTC announcing that BART’s corrective action plan for the OAC has been … Continue reading →

Obama FY 2011 Budget Includes Transit Funding for the Bay Area

Posted by Eric ⋅ 2 February 2010 ⋅ 2 Comments

The Obama Administration has released its proposed budget for FY 2011. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s portion of the budget, which accounts for $78.8 billion, mostly perpetuates the status quo approach to transportation spending. In particular, it includes requests for FHWA ($42.1 billion), FAA ($16.5 billion), FTA ($10.8 billion), the National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance … Continue reading →

OAC Judgment Day is Postponed, But Draws Near

Posted by Eric ⋅ 28 January 2010 ⋅ 6 Comments

Groundhog Day came a couple days early this year. Yesterday, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission faced yet another contentious meeting regarding the BART Oakland Airport Connector. And the Commission faced a remarkably similar question to that which it faced almost one year ago. This time, though, the stakes were higher. Last year, BART promised to MTC … Continue reading →

FTA Holds Back on BART OAC Funding

Posted by Eric ⋅ 21 January 2010 ⋅ 3 Comments

After months of disheartening news in 2009 in which agency after agency rubber-stamped BART’s ill-conceived Oakland Airport Connector project, it was welcome news to learn that the Federal Transit Administration decided to withhold $70 million of ARRA stimulus funding, which BART needs to build the OAC. This announcement comes just a few months after Public … Continue reading →

Gearing Up for Livermore and Altamont (Part 1)

Posted by Eric ⋅ 10 November 2009 ⋅ 31 Comments

Residents of Livermore are fond of reminding us every so often that there is an outstanding “debt” to their city. They remind us that they have been paying BART taxes since the district’s beginning, and and that they have been waiting patiently for decades for the construction of their long-promised and past overdue BART extension. … Continue reading →

Upcoming Meetings in San Leandro

Posted by Eric ⋅ 22 October 2009 ⋅ 1 Comment

The exact fate, scope, and timing of AC Transit’s bus rapid transit project is now up in the air, since AC Transit announced it would like to divert some of the project’s funding toward operations. Nonetheless, the planning work that has been underway for BRT still continues — so that the project can be built … Continue reading →