Upfront: Riders on the storm
SMART gets a lift on bike coalition handle bars...

By Peter Seidman
Pacific Sun, April 8, 2010

Bicycle advocates say they're ready and able to help the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District close a $155 million projected shortfall for the rail project planned to run between Marin and Sonoma counties.

But that willingness doesn't mean cycling advocates are ready to let the transportation agency raid bicycle funding. Representatives of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC), Transportation Alternatives for Marin and the Sonoma County Bike Coalition delivered a letter to the SMART board urging the agency to think new thoughts. "We understand that due to global economic conditions, SMART is currently projected to have (the $155 million) funding gap," the letter states, "and that the agency is weighing options for how to proceed with the promise to voters of delivering a train and pathway. Our organizations understand the seriousness of this financial situation and are writing to offer our assistance and recommendations."

Along with the offer of assistance, these groups have underscored their desire to protect money aimed at promoting bike and pedestrian transportation, which they say should not be put at risk because of the rail project's budget shortfall.

Bike advocates have supported and promoted the rail project since its inception. The idea of using a public right of way along the rail line to create a bicycle and pedestrian pathway that would stretch along the route of the train system from Cloverdale to Larkspur played a significant role in the passage of Measure Q in 2008, says Deb Hubsmith, outreach coordinator of MCBC.

Train system proponents in the two counties put sales tax measures on the ballot in 1990, 1998 and 2006--voters rejected all of them. Anti-tax attitudes as well as bad blood between the two counties were responsible in large part for the failures.

But the idea of creating transit-oriented development focusing on a multimodal approach gained increasing attention in the North Bay.

The goal centers on promoting affordable housing near commercial and transit centers. Transportation advocates and affordable housing proponents championed a commuter rail line between the two counties as a way to introduce a new paradigm into the North Bay through a rail system that eventually could tie into the nation's rail system. And as part of the multimodal approach, bicycle transportation would be included. When voters approved the 20-year, quarter-cent sales tax in 2008, the stage was set. Then came the economic collapse, which reduced the amount of tax revenue SMART could expect to receive, as well as a decline in its bond revenue.

SMART's funding assumptions from the outset were the problem, say the Sonoma County Taxpayers Association and others in Sonoma and Marin counties who are anti-tax advocates. The Sonoma organization sent a letter to SMART that echoes similar sentiments raised by SMART critics. "The current financial shortfall facing the SMART board raises questions regarding the credibility of the financial assumptions underlying the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district 2009 Measure Q Strategic Plan. The plan spans 20 years. Less than one year into the plan, the financial assumptions for the first year missed the mark by a substantial margin."

The Sonoma anti-tax organization is recommending that SMART "engage an outside professional consulting firm to complete an independent evaluation of the plan."

But SMART officials point out that the plan had already undergone independent scrutiny in 2006 and again in 2008. Maybe SMART should have taken into account that "recessions happen," but few could have predicted the breadth and depth of the 2008 financial debacle and its effect on SMART financing, say SMART officials, who underscore the fact that, despite the budget shortfall, the rail project is proceeding while the agency looks for new sources of funding.

In their letter to the SMART board, bicycle advocates reiterated a pledge to help SMART plug the shortfall using funding sources that are just now coming around the bend. "The Measure Q cost estimate for the pathway was $91 million, which represents 17 percent of the total capital costs for the $540 million train and pathway proposal which was approved by voters," the bicycle advocates' letter states. "To continue as a valued partner with SMART, our organizations pledge to help SMART raise a proportional amount, approximately 17 percent ($26 million), of the $155 million cost overrun through bicycle and pedestrian funding sources. While this funding will take away from the myriad of other bicycle and pedestrian capital needs in Marin and Sonoma counties, we feel that through our long-term partnership, it is appropriate for us to help with the pathway's proportionate amount of the SMART shortfall."

While those opposed to SMART on philosophical and other grounds debate the cause of the shortfall, the bicycle advocates say they just may have some ideas that could add a new ingredient to the funding recipe. People who say federal funding to plug the shortfall is an unlikely prospect "just are not following what is happening in Washington," says Hubsmith. "We are advocating for SMART to get ahead of the curve, finish the (federal environmental assessment) and get ready for the big federal dollars that are going to come down for rail and for multimodal projects."

In her role as outreach coordinator for MCBC, Hubsmith travels extensively, including to Washington, D.C., where she is "seeing the changes happening under the Obama administration." There's a new way of thinking about transportation in Washington, she says, and it's so new that local agencies are just now getting an inkling of what might be possible under a new administration at the federal Department of Transportation. "It is coming," says Hubsmith.

By completing studies to satisfy National Environmental Policy mandates, SMART can set itself up to qualify for TIGER grants. The federal government has billions of dollars in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants, part of which are included in the economic stimulus package. Multimodal projects, including bike and pedestrian projects, are faring well in qualifying for grant money. The program signifies a new direction at the federal level that could mean a big benefit for the North Bay and for the idea of multimodal transit-oriented development. Hubsmith recently returned from Washington, where she and fellow MCBC staffers David Hoffman and Andy Peri attended the 10th annual National Bike Summit.

Bicycle advocates have become a potent political force. The approximately 1,500 members of MCBC are connected to other bike coalitions in the Bay Area, the state and in states across the country. The Marin contingent that went to the summit joined other attendees in visiting 425 congressional offices to lobby for bike-related projects. On the day before the big lobbying push, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 4722, the Active Community Transportation Act. The legislation, if enacted, would create a $2 billion fund available to communities to build bicycle and pedestrian networks.

HR 4722 is the next stage in the $25 million Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, which has funded many transportation projects in Marin. The success of the program here, along with similar results in other test communities across the country, has led to an expansion of a program aimed at promoting multimodal transportation.

How big is the change in attitude in Washington? Really big, says Hubsmith. When DOT Secretary Ray LaHood spoke to bike advocates, elected officials and others at the bike summit, he said, "You have a full partner with Ray LaHood." Shortly after that event, on March 15, he promised a new policy on recommendations and regulations for bike and pedestrian transportation. "It is simply the strongest statement of support for prioritizing bicycling and walking ever to come from a sitting secretary of transportation," says Hubsmith. "They are basically declaring the end of the highway era in terms of highway expansion. Now is the time to build the railways and the bikeways."

It's understandable that some will view the secretary's declarations skeptically, but the possibilities for multimodal transit have never been stronger, including possibilities in the North Bay. In announcing one round of TIGER grants, LaHood said the range of projects-awarded funds demonstrates "the truly multimodal nature of American transportation."

All that is why bike advocates are suggesting that SMART and rail advocates look for funding opportunities embedded in the new federal policies. But the bike advocates also are mindful of protecting their own core sources of funding. Marin County conducted a needs assessment for bike and pedestrian projects and identified a total of about $200 million in needed projects. "The maximum we want to go toward the bike and pedestrian pathway is $26 million," says Hubsmith. "We don't want SMART to just mine all the potential money that's out there for bike and pedestrian" projects in Marin and Sonoma counties. "We are kind of putting a stake in the ground and saying we are willing to help up to this point ($26 million)."

But, adds Hubsmith, the bicycle community also is ready and willing to help SMART identify new sources of government funding in the new multimodal transportation paradigm.

When news of the finding shortfall started making the rounds, did SMART officials think about carving out a portion of the bike and pedestrian path to help fill the financial gap? No, say SMART officials and bike advocates alike. Hubsmith reiterates that the bike and pedestrian path played an important role in the passage of Measure Q. The multimodal vision, of a bike and pedestrian path parallel to a train line, along with transit oriented development, drew many voters.

SMART officials underscore the importance of the bike and pedestrian path. "It has always been considered an integral part of the project," says Chris Coursey, SMART community outreach and education manager. "We don't talk about the bike path as being something separate. We have talked about the possibilities of finding other sources of funding for the bike path, but we are not talking about delaying or cutting the bike path in order to have more money for the rail project. That's not part of the conversation."

Hubsmith has been asked to testify at a hearing Sen. Barbara Boxer will hold April 14 for the next transportation authorization bill. Hubsmith's testimony will focus on safety, and she will present information about MCBC's successful Safe Routes to Schools program. She also will present information about the pilot Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program and the general commitment in Marin to bike transportation.

Over the last 10 years, says Hubsmith, bike transportation has increased 118 percent in Marin. During that same time period, collisions between bikes and cars have decreased about 40 percent. "It shows that as you get more people biking, it actually improves safety."