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The widening project you see happening now (funded by Measure D) only adds the third lane from Milpas to Olive Mill Road. That’s 3.5 miles, leaving 12-plus miles that Measure A hopes to fund. The County is currently at work to figure out when and how those 12-plus miles can be delivered.

Currently, commuters at peak hours have no choice but to hit the road, whether by car or bus, and deal with what befalls them—be it gridlock, accidents, or weather—and the frustration of having no other option. Amtrak’s Surfliner currently arrives from the south at 10:12 a.m., too late for morning commuters, and the afternoon train heads south at 4:31 p.m., too early for most commuters. Efforts to retime these trains have been in process for some time, but for a viable commuter rail service, three trains each way are needed.

HSR (high speed rail) is much in the news, and brings $2.3 billion to California’s table (of the federal government’s $8 billion) for rail infrastructure improvements. The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments has applied for a piece of that. It’s a bit confusing, because HSR money is not exclusively for HSR, but also for upgrading rail corridors specified as HSR—which the coastal corridor is—for the time when they can become HSR. That means such things as new sidings, signals, and switching that will allow trains to move more efficiently. This will certainly help us reach the goal of commuter rail.

Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) was an American historian and philosopher of technology and science, whose observations came before the Highway Trust Fund was broken in 1991 with Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which began to level the transportation playing field. His feelings in the 1960’s went like this: “What kind of half-baked planning has deliberately broken down our efficient many sided transportation network, based on the pedestrian, the railroad, the motorbus, and the private motorcar, in favor of a space wasting, city destroying system of mono-transportation, based on the private motorcar alone?”

Have things gotten better? Not much, mainly due to the entrenched bureaucratic culture which is so strongly biased toward roads. For example: At a recent meeting, attended by county and state officials, of a group that deals with the coastal rail corridor, one state official connected to rail—who was not invited there to talk about cars and highways—spoke about the importance of the Highway Department since only two percent of Californians use rail! Does this sound like someone who would fight for more funding for passenger rail? We think not!

When it comes to Measure A 2008, widening Highway 101 received a full measure of funding ($140 million), and was voted to be a priority by the County Supervisors. On the other hand, commuter rail was cut 80 percent from the rail-study estimate, receiving only $25 million. This leaves the best hope in the near future for commuter rail to the re-timing of a couple of Amtrak trains. And judging by the tone of remarks by the rail official and others at that recent meeting, we shouldn’t hold our breath—but we won’t be silent.

You’ve heard a few words from Mumford, along with our thoughts and observations, so now let us paint you a picture of the future:

The county budget is in trouble, the state budget is in trouble, and we hear daily about the federal budget and its challenges. While the Federal Stimulus Package was to help improve our infrastructure (and SBCAG has applied for a share) it’s been slow in manifesting any of the jobs or projects as advertised. That includes projects required for Measure A’s commuter rail service.

It’s clear that the recession is having an effect on projected funding going forward. A couple of snippets from the staff report for the March 4 meeting of the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee (TTAC), where the Measure A Strategic Plan is being formulated, will give you a sense of the challenges:

* “The paradox of funding the highest priority project costing over $500 million (101 widening) with 22% of annual revenues so as not to interrupt an annual cash flow to local programs receiving 78% of annual revenue required that the . . . team examine seven cash flow scenarios….”

* “In Section 3 of the Investment Plan it states that a guiding principle used to develop Measure A is ‘Reducing traffic congestion, and improving safety on Highway 101 is our highest priority.’”

What’s being overlooked is the fact that the guiding principle “reducing traffic congestion” is not served by focusing an inordinate amount of resources and energy on “finding the money” for one long-term project, namely widening Highway 101.

We would like to see traffic congestion dealt with sooner than later, and it’s becoming clear that widening Highway 101 is not going to accomplish that any time soon. Not only that, but the decades of road construction to widen 101 will create more congestion.

Currently motorists on Highway 101 must traverse the chicane-like road layout south of Milpas, which borders on treacherous and definitely slows traffic.

On the other hand, the rail infrastructure is ready and waiting, and retiming the #799 and #798 Surfliner trains would bring the commuter rail option to the South Coast now.

Commuter rail is being used throughout the nation: Metrolink to the south, RailRunner in Albuquerque, and Tri-Met’s WES outside Portland, Oregon, are examples. Browse the Coastal Rail Now website to see details about these and other commuter rail services around the country.

The use of rail as mitigation for road construction’s added congestion on the 101, especially during commute times, was first suggested by Warren Weber, former head of Caltrans Rail Division. We continue to lobby for this as a way to help fund commuter rail. There is precedent: Rail as mitigation has been used in the Altamont Pass in Northern California to provide an alternative to driving during road construction. Political leadership is needed to go forward with this not out-of-the-box strategy.

It’s important to note that the 35th Assembly District election is coming up in June. This important regional office is currently held by Pedro Nava, a big supporter of commuter rail who has been termed out of office. Since the district covers parts of both Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, it’s vital that candidates are queried about regional transportation and about how important it is for the South Coast Region to have peak-hour train service.

In closing, one and all are invited to join the celebration of Amtrak’s Third Annual National Train Day event at the Santa Barbara Train Station on May 8th. You’ll have the opportunity to ride the Surfliner to Carpinteria, and join celebrants from the Ventura area on the northbound #799 back to Santa Barbara. Departure south will be at 9:20 a.m., with return to Santa Barbara at 10:12 a.m. There’ll be a press conference where you can ask officials from both counties when we can expect to have peak-hour rail service. Wouldn’t it be great to get people to Santa Barbara without their cars? That’s a goal worth pursuing!

Roger Horton is a former Santa Barbara City Councilmember. Dennis Story is the chair of CoastalRailNow.

Link to Larry Nimmer’s video of Central Coast Train Day, which includes the return train ride from Carpinteria

And Below are Photos and Report by Carl Morrison, Carl@TrainWeb.com
You may wonder why this event did not take place May 9 with other Train Day celebrations. At that time, Santa Barbara, CA, was having the Jesusita Fire, and their minds were occupied with the fires with little to celebrate at the time. This event date actually allowed many of us to attend today where we were not able to attend in May, since we were at celebrations in other cities. Most of the TrainWeb.com staff were at the Los Angeles Celebration. The following report and photos were by me, Carl@TrainWeb.com, as I enjoyed a nice trip on the Pacific Surfliner from Fullerton, CA, to Santa Barbara, through Los Angeles.

Train Day Festivities in Santa Barbara

The activities in Santa Barbara started with a ride on a southbound Pacific Surfliner to Carpenteria, detraining, and reboarding the northbound Pacific Surfliner #799, on which I was travelling, back to Santa Barbara. During the ride, and during the festivities, guests were entertained by Master Magician Mark Collier.

Dennis Story, Chair of Coastal Rail Now, had the only prepared information which was in the Press Release provided by KK Holland. He mentioned:

May 9, 2009, Amtrak used National Train Day to highlight the growing popularity of trains as convenient, energy efficient, environmentally sound ways to travel. We’re here today talking to families in attendance about the importance of our work, and using the unprecedented support for passenger trains shown by President Obama to expand our membership.

We are also here today to talk about he importance of regional transportation in addressing the congestion and environmental challenges we face here in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. If we are serious about
giving people choices to get around, addressing congestion, and responding to state environmen tal legislation such as SB 375 and AB 32, we are going to need to work together. We are here today, as elected reporesentatives from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties to rise to that challenge and demonstrate that we have the resolve to address transportation issues on a regional level. We are going to need a solution that can take into account the challenges of the region as a whole, while helping individual communities find solutions to connect residents to the region at large.

People recognize on all levels that addressing transportation is critically important. Whether it’s families dealing with the price of gas or just dealing with the economic pressures facing all of us right now, or the voters of Santa Barbara County approving measure A last fall to take the first steps toward addressing regional tranportation challenges with money
for buses and trains, the need for a more comprehensive solution is obvious.

Certain major funding sources are only available to regional cooperation efforts. If we are to be successful, we will need a multimodal approach with solutions for everyone.

For more information, please visit CRN at CoastalRailNow.org, and ASERT at

CoastalCommuter.org.

Grant House, Councilmember, City of Santa Barbara.

Mr. House read the press release composed by Dennis Story that I have
printed above.

Mayor Marty Blum

City of Santa Barbara

The Mayor mentioned the new railcar west of the station, pictured here:

Restored railcar west of the station.

Kathleen Reddington, Carpenteria Councilmember.

“We need commuter transportation that makes sense so the workforce in Santa
Barbara can commute from Carpenteria.”

Supervisor Salud Carbajal First District Supervisor

Paul Dyson, President of Rail PAC.

Paul had some thoughtful comments: All we need is more rail coaches and
track (sidings). Compared to adding a lane of a freeway, this is not a
costly proposition. There have been no new rail cars built in the last 15
years.

Television, Internet, and Print Media were interviewing speakers all around
the station and on the train.

View all photos at trainweb.org

Video clip from KEYT Channel 3 News coverage of Central Coast
Train Day

Southbound 774 train leaves Santa Barbara at 9:20, and Northbound 799 leaves Oxnard at 9:20

“Central Coast Train Day” plans include elected officials and others catching the 799 Surfliner north from the Ventura area, and picking up elected officials and others from the Santa Barbara area who rode the 774 south to Carpinteria. The trains schedule offers a unique opportunity for event participants to have a quick and easy train ride which will ultimately bring everyone to the Santa Barbara station at 10:12 AM for the Train Day events that will go till noon and begins with a press conference. Activities will go till noon, and includes Master Magician Mark Collier, a train cookie decorating contest, and food catered by Omni-Fresco Catering. See ticketing options below.

Some Ticketing Options

1. By registering at www.santabarbaracarfree.com you’ll receive a discount code good for 20% savings on the Pacific Surfliner to/from all eight SBA county stations. Three day advance reservations are required.

2. Another option would be to purchase 10-trip ticket book which provides up to a 30% discount off the regular fare for travel between OXN and Santa Barbara. Five people can travel round-trip on one ten-trip ticket. The 10-trip tickets need to be purchased at a staffed station like Oxnard or Santa Barbara.

3. Amtrak also offers everyday 10% AAA discount (valid membership card required) and kids ages 2-15 always ride at half price. Kids under 2 are free and seniors age 62+ can request a 15% discount.

FYI, Amtrak will be providing the gift bags to the Train Day attendees that were distributed at our four major NTD events on May 9th. The bag will contain a coupon good for 50% off a companion ticket for travel after Labor Day.

Refunds on train travel are available through Amtrak. There is a 10% fee for returns, but the ticket value can be applied toward future travel at 100% value for up to one year. Please contact AMTRAK at 800-USA-Rail, or online at Amtrak.com

KK Holland, Project Coordinator

ASERT

(310) 980-2192

ASERT@Coast-SantaBarbara.org

Dennis Story, Chair

Coastal Rail Now

(805) 455-2926

DStory@Cox.net

WASHINGTON — Amtrak on Tuesday tapped the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration to lead the national passenger railroad for a year.

Joseph Boardman succeeds Chief Executive Alex Kummant, who resigned Nov. 14 after two years marked by significant growth in ridership and revenue.

Mr. Boardman, 59 years old, has spent his career working on transportation issues at all levels of government. He takes over as president and CEO on Wednesday and will serve for one year, Amtrak’s board of directors announced. A search will begin in the coming months for a permanent replacement.

“He is intimately familiar with Amtrak, its strengths, its weaknesses and the direction it needs to go to build momentum,” Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said. “He can begin to lead the company immediately.”

Mr. Boardman has served as administrator of the FRA since 2005 and represented the Department of Transportation on Amtrak’s board. Before joining the Bush administration, he was commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation beginning in 1997.

“I am keenly aware of the challenges facing us right now,” Mr. Boardman said in a statement. “In my view, a national intercity, interconnected passenger rail service is critically important for the mobility and energy independence of the United States.”

His quick appointment was applauded by passenger rail advocates.

Ross Capon, president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, described Mr. Boardman as a “knowledgeable and hard-nosed leader” who will push for passenger rail funding as part of any federal stimulus package involving infrastructure.
Mr. Boardman takes over Amtrak nearly two months after President George W. Bush signed into law a bill calling for the passenger railroad to receive $13 billion over five years in subsidies. Congress must separately approve the money each year
Amtrak has posted six years of ridership and revenue growth, due in part to high gasoline and airline prices. The railroad carried a record 28.7 million people last year, with each of its routes seeing gains — an 11% increase over the 25.8 million trips taken in fiscal year 2007.

Still, the 37-year-old government-owned corporation has never made money. Amtrak officials point out that passenger rail is subsidized throughout the world.

Copyright © 2008 Associated Press

How 5 other counties got votes studied
By Scott Hadly
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Reading voters’ lips and how they cast their ballots on new taxes don’t always synch, and that disparity may give Ventura County transportation officials hope.

Local voters have twice rejected a county sales tax to pay for fixing roads and improving mass transit.
But despite the dismal economy and an aversion to taxes, voters elsewhere in the state on Nov. 4 approved local transportation sales taxes in at least five counties, garnering the more than two-thirds necessary to pass tax measures.
As officials begin the first stages of what will likely be a two-year effort to pass a similar measure here, they are looking at how voters across the state cast their ballots.

“I was up until 1 a.m. looking at returns,” said Darren Kettle, executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

The bad economy did not preclude support for local sales tax as long as voters knew what they were going to get and had a chance to weigh in on what kind of projects would be funded, said Kettle.

Voters also see the relationship between infrastructure improvements and improvements in the economy, he said.
That takes time and is part of the reason the effort locally has a two-year timeline. It will give transportation officials time to hear from voters and identify their top transportation priorities.

“Transportation is one of the top two or three public policy priorities for people,” Kettle said. “It’s a massive problem. Voters have said it’s so big we need to fix it.”

A half-cent transportation sales tax here would raise about $65 million, and, according to Kettle, help the county compete for state and federal transportation funding. Increasingly, local jurisdictions that can’t match or contribute to state or federal funding for infrastructure projects get put at the end of the line, said Kettle.

Learned from failed effort

In two counties, Santa Barbara and Imperial, the margin of victory on the sales tax was big, hovering around 80 percent.
“We got the fourth-largest majority of any transportation sales tax initiative,” said Greg Hart, of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, which worked to get the measure passed.

At a presentation last week, Hart said backers of their measure learned from a failed effort in 2006 to focus what they were asking voters to support and to involve as many people as possible in deciding how the money would be used.
“That included seeking out active opponents of (the 2006 measure),” Hart said.

The measure raises about $35 million a year for transportation in Santa Barbara County. Hart believes pledging that the money would be directly used to help widen the congested Highway 101 played a role in it passing.

Even in counties where tax measures were shot down – Monterey and Stanislaus – they failed by very slim margins.

It was the third time voters in Monterey rejected a transportation sales tax.

“What’s interesting is that in those sub-regions that are being hit by foreclosures and the bad economy, they still almost pulled this thing out,” Kettle said.

But Kettle also noted that in Santa Barbara County, voters were being asked to support renewal of an existing transportation sales tax measure.

Kettle paid special attention to how neighboring Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties voted.

Both counties have a transportation tax, and voters reaffirmed their support of the taxes, although it took Santa Barbara two tries to pass its renewal.

Worthwhile to ask third time

With Imperial’s recent passage of a local tax, there are now 20 so-called “self-help” counties in the state. They are called that because a local sales tax generates money for roads and mass transportation.

Ventura County voters have twice rejected similar transportation measures, but as state and federal money dries up for transportation, local officials say it’s worthwhile to ask a third time.

According to commission members, the county is the largest in the state without a local transportation sales tax.
In October, members of the Ventura County Transportation Commission approved hiring the firm California Strategies, a Sacramento-based lobbying and consulting firm that has been involved with the successful passage of at least five local transportation measures in the past six years.

The firm has already had some preliminary meetings with local government and business officials.

©2008 Ventura County Star

Published on Sunday, November 16, 2008 by CommonDreams.org

by Harvey Wasserman

Bail out General Motors? The people who murdered our mass transit system?

First let them remake what they destroyed.

GM responded to the 1970s gas crisis by handing over the American market to energy-efficient Toyota and Honda.
GM met the rise of the hybrids with “light trucks.”

GM built a small electric car, leased a pilot fleet to consumers who loved it, and then forcibly confiscated and trashed them all.

GM now wants to market a $40,000 electric Volt that looks like a cross between a Hummer and a Cadillac and will do nothing to meet the Solartopian needs of a green-powered Earth.

For this alone, GM’s managers should never be allowed to make another car, let alone take our tax money to stay in business.
But there is also a trillion-dollar skeleton in GM’s closet.

This is the company that murdered our mass transit system.

The assertion comes from Bradford Snell, a government researcher whose definitive report damning GM has been a vehicular lightening rod since its 1974 debut. Its attackers and defenders are legion. But some facts are irrefutable:

In a 1922 memo that will live in infamy, GM President Alfred P. Sloan established a unit aimed at dumping electrified mass transit in favor of gas-burning cars, trucks and buses.

Just one American family in 10 then owned an automobile. Instead, we loved our 44,000 miles of passenger rail routes managed by 1,200 companies employing 300,000 Americans who ran 15 billion annual trips generating an income of $1 billion. According to Snell, “virtually every city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system.”

But GM lost $65 million in 1921. So Sloan enlisted Standard Oil (now Exxon), Philips Petroleum, glass and rubber companies and an army of financiers and politicians to kill mass transit.

The campaigns varied, as did the economic and technical health of many of the systems themselves. Some now argue that buses would have transcended many of the rail lines anyway. More likely, they would have hybridized and complemented each other.
But with a varied arsenal of political and financial subterfuges, GM helped gut the core of America’s train and trolley systems. It was the murder of our rail systems that made our “love affair” with the car a tragedy of necessity.
In 1949 a complex federal prosecution for related crimes resulted in an anti-trust fine against GM of a whopping $5000. For years thereafter GM continued to bury electric rail systems by “bustituting” gas-fired vehicles.

Then came the interstates. After driving his Allied forces into Berlin on Hitler’s Autobahn, Dwight Eisenhower brought home a passion for America’s biggest public works project. Some 40,000 miles of vital eco-systems were eventually paved under.
In habitat destruction, oil addiction, global warming, outright traffic deaths (some 40,000/year and more), ancillary ailments and wars for oil, the automobile embodies the worst ecological catastrophe in human history.

Should current General Motors management be made to pay for the ancient sins of Alfred Sloan?

Since the 1880s, American corporations have claimed human rights under the law. Tasking one now with human responsibilities could set a great precedent.

GM has certainly proved itself unable to make cars that can compete while healing a global-warmed planet.

So let’s convert the company’s infrastructure to churn out trolley cars, monorails, passenger trains, truly green buses.
FDR forced Detroit to manufacture the tanks, planes and guns that won World War 2 (try buying a 1944 Chevrolet!). Now let a reinvented GM make the “weapons” to win the climate war and energy independence.

It demands re-tooling and re-training. But GM’s special role in history must now evolve into using its infrastructure to restore the mass transit system—and ecological balance—it has helped destroy.

Harvey Wasserman is co-author, with Bob Fitrakis, of four books on election protection which are available at www.freepress.org [1], where this article first appeared. His HARVEY WASSERMAN’s HISTORY OF THE US is at www.harveywasserman.com [2] along with SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030.

Even before $4.00 gas, CoastalRailNow
spent many Saturdays at the SB and Ventura Farmer’s Market sharing with many hundreds of people. At the Ventura market we connected with the commuters who make the daily trek from the Ventura area north to Santa Barbara and Goleta for their jobs. They always asked the same question: Why isn’t there a peak hour rail service as an option to the slow daily grind of driving? And what would it take to make it happen?

In response, hundreds of “Why should everyone be stuck in traffic” postcards were handed out to these commuters, who mailed them to the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG). That simple postcard let the Boards of Supervisors of both counties know their constituents were asking for peak hour rail transportation. Many copies of The Metrolink Story were also distributed at the SB & Ventura Farmer’s Market, wherein is explained how over 400 miles of track in 5 Southern California Counties were rehabilitated and their commuter rail service was put into operation in only 2 years! So the question is – why can’t two counties with 45 miles of track provide a commuter rail service in 2 years? 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? The commuter rail portion (beginning on page 87) of The LOSSAN North Strategic Plan estimates 3-5 years.

The current Amtrak Surfliner service is fine for inter-city travel at off-peak hours, but unfortunately it does not give the 15K to 20K daily north bound commuters a rail option at peak hours. Its’ LA to SLO route was studied by LOSSAN as one of three (3) possible commuter rail solutions, and their results found the Amtrak Surfliner to be the poorest performer of the three scenarios studied. LOSSAN found either the Metrolink/Independent or DMU (diesel-multiple unit) solutions to be much more effective. It’s logical that a commuter train running between Oxnard and Goleta makes more sense than trying to change the schedule of the Amtrak Surfliner between LA and SLO. Anyone who’s ridden the Surfliner has probably experienced delays, and statistics show the longer the trip, the more chance for delays.

Those postcards sent by Ventura & SB area folks to SBCAG surely had an influence on the County’s Measure D ‘06 inclusion of $126M for commuter rail in its expenditure plan. It’s unfortunate the measure did not pass, but the passage of Measure A ‘08, which has $25M in its expenditure plan for commuter rail, breathes new life into the rail option.
Some say that $25M is not enough to get a commuter rail service running. I beg to differ, and can offer concrete examples of new start-up services around the country that have done it on the cheap. There are three (3) examples of new commuter rail services on the CoastalRailNow website, and Nashville’s Music City Star service most closely resembles our scenario, with a start-up cost of $42M. Their route traverses 32 miles, while ours is 45 miles from Oxnard to Goleta.

Nashville’s infrastructure was in need of extensive work, while in our case additional sidings are needed before Union Pacific Railroad would allow more passenger trains to be scheduled. The locomotives and passenger cars are a big expense, and to buy the trainsets new would run $4M for a locomotive and $2.1M for each passenger car. Multiply 3 locomotives, and 15 passenger cars and you’re looking at $43.5M for the Metrolink/Independent solution. The DMU solution would cost $48M.

But there’s another way – by purchasing used rail equipment, which is readily available. Nashville paid $1.00 per passenger car, and $250K for their locomotives. One can usually expect to pay $100K to $150K for a passenger car, but you can easily see the savings. Matching State and Federal funds added to Measure A’s $25M for commuter rail would boost the total to about $45M. That’s without a contribution from Ventura County. The estimate for an Oxnard to Goleta commuter rail service utilizing used equipment and with the needed corridor improvements is approx. $49M.

Commuter rail is a regional issue, and in our case, one which crosses county lines.
Highway 101 crosses county lines, and is paid for by everyone along the way. However, you have to have a car to use it. For those who don’t drive, or choose not to, there’s Vista, the inter-regional bus service, but at peak hours they’re stuck in traffic along with the cars. In the case of rail, the tracks parallel Highway 101, and offer a congestion-free route for commuters, but there is the difficulty of dealing with Union Pacific Railroad (UNP) – a public company in the business of hauling freight. Their representatives continually remind those who ask for increased passenger service on their tracks that they must look out for shareholders interests first. That means freight hauling, where they make their profit. It’s clear that accommodating passenger trains is not of primary importance to UP, but all sides should look at investment in the rail corridor as a win-win. It’s been pointed out that the rail corridor between Oxnard and Goleta has been in need of upgrades for years, and UP should welcome the trade off.

Passenger service used to be part of UP and other rail companies business, but was divested into a quasi-government entity (National Passenger Rail Corporation) in 1971. This passenger rail entity is better known as Amtrak, and has a low cost pricing agreement with freight rail operators throughout the country. There’s been a contentious relationship between Amtrak and the freight rail companies, and as part of the original agreement, Amtrak is not allowed to operate commuter service (although there are exceptions).

If there’s to be passenger rail service, doesn’t it make sense for it to be when people need it – at peak hours? Metrolink is a commuter service, and not part of Amtrak. They purchased most of the right of way they operate on, and the Moorpark to Montalvo segment is owned by UP. They operate under a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) agreement between 5 Southern CA counties known as SCRRA (Southern California Regional Rail Authority). JPA’s are a typical way that regional rail systems are governed, and likely how Santa Barbara and Ventura County would operate a future commuter service.

The passage of Measure A in Santa Barbara County should encourage Ventura County to include commuter rail in any future transportation tax initiative. Together, the two counties could forge a plan for a peak hour rail service scaled to the future demands of the region. This would not only help relieve congestion on Highway 101, but be a move in the right direction for energy conservation and reduction of green house gases. With political will, commuter rail from Oxnard to Goleta could be up and running in 3-4 years, while widening of the 101 to the county line is decades away. While the cost of the rail option in the near term is determinable, the cost estimate of $428M for Highway 101 widening was calculated in ‘05, and could very likely top $1B when completed.

Dennis Story, Chair – CoastalRailNow