VTA Capital Program Committee meeting - October 28, 2021

By now, you've heard of the latest cost estimates of the second phase of the BART extension into San Jose and Santa Clara. As of October 2021, the extension is expected to now cost up to $9.1 BILLION - nearly 44% more than the original cost. And we have not yet begun groundbreaking yet.

"The Valley Transportation Authority [VTA], which is building the extension, estimated in 2019 that the total cost would be $4.7 billion and would be completed by 2026. The VTA’s latest total project cost estimate stands at $6.9 billion, and the completion date has been pushed back to 2030.

Yet last week local and federal officials were squabbling over the ultimate cost of the project.

The Federal Transit Authority now projects the price tag to balloon to as much as $9.1 billion. And the agency put its money where its mouth is. Federal officials on Monday awarded the project with $2.3 billion, or 25% percent of the final project cost, whichever is less."

Here's video of the October 28, 2021 VTA "Capital Programming Committee" where Board members and staff discuss the BART project.
In some instances, staff members get the costs completely wrong. You'll see who said what, in the comments.

* 3:45 Public comment
* 16:17 Start of presentation of VTA's Strategic Capital Investment Program (SCIP)
* 20:49 Bernice Alaniz informs what's going on with BART Silicon Valley Phase II extension
* 24:12 Roland Lebrun gives public comment on the presentation
* 26:00 San Jose Mayor Liccardo's questions on the presentation
* 28:00 Bernice Alaniz provides her answer to Mayor Liccardo's question
* 29:30 Mayor Liccardo "With regards to station design..."
* 31:00 Bernice Alaniz: "I'll have to check with the engineering team..."
* 32:14 VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot gives her take on the presentation
* 34:25 Raul Peralez wants the entire mess to go to the full board (thank you Raul!!!)

Kudos go to VTA Board member (and San Jose City Councilmember) Raul Peralez for requesting to bring this matter up to the VTA Board of Directors for further public discussion.

Thank you to member Roland Lebrun for bringing this video to our attention. Enjoy and learn from the video, everyone!

Final note: our group is NOT affiliated with VTA or any public transit agency in any way. This video is being posted as a public service.