A ballot measure before voters in three counties in California on Nov. 3 would ensure Caltrain has more than $100 million per year in dedicated funding, a necessary step, advocates say, during a time when ridership shares are down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Measure RR is needed, officials said, in order to not only ramp service back up when the coronavirus crisis comes to an end, but to accommodate an anticipated more than doubling of ridership by 2040 and a move to electrification.
Caltrain is the seventh-largest commuter and passenger rail service in the country, said Seamus Murphy, chief communications officer for SamTrans, Caltrain and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, shuttling 65,000 riders per week through San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in California.
Murphy said in a webinar hosted by ENO Transportation on Oct. 28 that the area Caltrain serves expects to add 1.2 million people by the year 2040, increasing the ridership on the rail system to 200,000 per week.
In addition, the trains are currently diesel powered in a system that is moving to electrification, he said.
But with dwindling resources, the transit system needs a dedicated funding source, Murphy said.
Currently, the operating and capital costs are paid through a combination of rider fares, and funds from member agencies the transit system serves: San Mateo County Transit District (SMCTD), Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and City and County of San Francisco (CCSF).
“If one of those funding agencies decides to cut funding levels, the others do as well,” Murphy said.
In an effort to create a dedicated funding source, the transit system approached the legislature to pass SB797, which authorized the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board to implement a new sales tax of up to 0.125 percent in all three counties served by Caltrain. The measure has been approved by all three counties, as well.
Now, that measure goes before the voters.
The measure would raise $108 million in revenue per year for 30 years to support Caltrain operations from San Francisco to Gilroy, as well as expand service and increase capacity through electrification of the system. Additionally, the measure would support capital expenditures to expand service during peak hours from 5 trains per hour per direction to 8 trains per hour per direction. Lastly, the measure would leverage other local, regional, state and federal investments to advance capital projects necessary to meet Caltrain Business Plan’s 2040 Service Vision which would include an expansion project in San Francisco, expansion of electrified train service to Gilroy and grade separations throughout the Caltrain rail corridor.
Adina Levin, executive director of Friends of Caltrain, said the measure has virtually no opposition, but there have been individual voters who have asked whether the measure is needed while ridership is so low.
Murphy said that while the pandemic has caused the transit system to see a 95 percent drop in ridership, there are signs the riders are beginning to come back. Surveys to Caltrain riders found that only one percent of riders said they would not be returning to the train system and that 55 percent said they would return to riding as much, if not more, than they were riding pre-pandemic.
CARES Act funding has kept the rail system going so far, Murphy said, but they anticipated that would only last until the end of the year. Additionally, demobilization and shut down options would cost millions, as would remobilization efforts once those systems have been closed down.
“We’re expanding Caltrain now to meet the needs of the future,” he said.
The ballot measure needs two-thirds of combined votes of all three counties.
Current polling shows enthusiasm for the measure has not waned much since last year. In March 2019, polling showed that 63.5 percent of voters were in favor of Measure RR with 2.0 undecided. Polling in June of this year found that 65.6 percent of voters would vote yes, with 3.9 percent undecided.
Levin said there was a strong coalition of support for the measure that would help the transit system to address additional issues like fare equity and environmental concerns. The measure would develop and implement programs that would expand access to Caltrain services for passengers of all income levels by establishing an affordability program based on Caltrain’s Means Based Fare Pilot Program.