Caltrain, so battered by financial losses that it may have to pull the plug on service, has found a protector in San Francisco.
Supervisor Matt Haney is attempting to save the Peninsula rail line after two of his colleagues tried to scuttle a sales tax measure to keep it running. Watching the outcry that followed, Haney said he intends to resurrect the tax proposal Tuesday and at least give it a chance.
If the 1/8 cent tax is placed on the ballot and passes in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, it would pump $100 million a year into Caltrain, which lost 95% of its riders when COVID-19 engulfed the region. Without the funding, the railway could be forced to shut down, officials said.
“It’s hugely important that we sustain the regional rail system and expand it,” Haney said Thursday — two days after stepping into a battle that spilled from City Hall over to Twitter, and seemed to escalate quickly. Officials in San Mateo shot back at their San Francisco counterparts, accusing them of endangering a commuter rail to win a parochial dispute.
But even getting it on the ballot has proved complicated. The measure requires approval from four transportation boards and three county boards of supervisors, and so far only San Mateo County has signed off. San Francisco Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Shamann Walton left the tax proposal for dead this week by declining to introduce it at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Both supervisors have grievances with the governance structure of Caltrain, the transit line that runs from SoMa to Gilroy, with stops throughout Silicon Valley. Walton and Peskin say its leadership is skewed to favor San Mateo County, since the San Mateo County Transit District manages and operates the rail system for a three-county Joint Powers Board.
Separately, Peskin and some of his colleagues objected to the sales tax because it’s regressive and disproportionately impacts low-income residents, supporting a rail system that carries affluent commuters to tech companies. Others, however, pointed out that Caltrain serves a variety of people, that part of the sales tax money would have paid for fare discounts for low-income riders, and that the consequences of halting the train and packing more drivers onto Highway 101 would be devastating.
For people who don’t drive, losing a train system could mean a long, sluggish bus commute, said transit activist Monica Mallon. A recent graduate of San Jose State University, she often took the train from the South Bay campus to San Francisco to attend meetings of various transportation agencies.
“I’ve taken the bus all the way from San Jose when I was short on money, and it took almost half a day,” Mallon said. “The buses really get stuck in traffic.”
The rail system, which relied on fares to cover 70% of its operating costs, hemorrhaged about $9 million a month once shelter-in-place orders took effect, even as rail officials continue a $2 billion project to switch from diesel to electric rail cars. Many view the sales tax as a potential lifeline and say that without it, they would have to ask Muni and the Valley Transportation Authority for more money.
Muni, which expects to shed $568 million in revenue over four years, already kicks in $15.6 million a year to support Caltrain’s capital costs and operations.
In desperation, Caltrain board chair Dave Pine, who is also a San Mateo County supervisor, took to social media Tuesday night to decry San Francisco’s resistance.
“Regrettably, the (San Francisco) Board of Supervisors has just declined to introduce the lifeline Caltrain tax measure, effectively killing this effort,” he tweeted. “Caltrain will now face a more uncertain future.”
The fight that erupted online pitted counties against one another but also became ideological, as environmentalists and transit enthusiasts criticized the politicians for prioritizing local control over seamless regional transportation. The posturing began almost immediately: Peskin’s challenger in November, upstart politician Danny Sauter, said that he “won’t take away your Caltrain like other supervisors will.”
Regrettably, the SF Board of Supervisors has just declined to introduce the lifeline @Caltrain tax measure, effectively killing this effort. Caltrain will now face a more uncertain future. | @seamlessbayarea @svtransitusers @SFTRU @rescuemuni @TransForm_Alert @SVLeadershipGrp
— Dave Pine (@SupDavePine) July 15, 2020
Haney at first chided Caltrain’s staff and elected officials, tweeting Thursday morning that they had “hastily decided to move the tax with no outreach” to supervisors other than Peskin and Walton. He accused them, moreover, of orchestrating an attack against San Francisco on Twitter.
I won't take away your @Caltrain like other Supervisors will, but I might shut down your street sometimes so the kids can play. pic.twitter.com/UKOgxryeGq
— Danny Sauter for Supervisor 李爾德 (@DannySauter) July 15, 2020
By the afternoon, he’d become more of a peacemaker, saying he will work with state leaders and San Mateo County officials to resolve conflicts. He’s pursuing small reforms, such as hiring an independent general counsel for Caltrain who wouldn’t work for SamTrans. Walton, who sits on the Caltrain board, also wants sway in the hiring and firing of the agency’s CEO. Under the current power structure, SamTrans oversees that process.
Caltrain leadership hasn't handled this well. There should've been more progress on governance. They hastily decided to move the tax, w no outreach to other Sups until this week, then attack SF on Twitter. This isn’t how to build consensus for a measure of this scope & importance
— Matt Haney (@MattHaneySF) July 16, 2020
David Bragdon, head of the New York City-based think tank TransitCenter, sees the governance of Caltrain as “inherently unstable.” Officials who managed to find consensus in times of prosperity were suddenly at each other’s throats in a moment of scarcity, he said, each trying to guard his or her own interests.
To meet the August deadline for ballot measures, Haney will have to introduce the tax measure at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, then call a special meeting of either the board or the budget committee. Both options require support from a majority of the board, and possibly agreement from the board president and budget chair.
Even if Haney’s colleagues accede to the special meetings, it’s unclear whether they would vote to put the one-eighth cent sales tax before voters. If they do approve it, the tax still has to go before two government bodies in Santa Clara county — and then to the voters.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
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