The Driver's Room

The Dispatch

In a letter to "The Dispatch", Joseph P. Thompson of Gilroy blasts the
inaccurate reporting of VTA's true deficit spending and the inaccurate
comparison between the cost of driving an automobile vs. the cost of
riding a transit bus. Here is his letter:

VTA's operating deficit is truly staggering

Thursday, March 18, 2004

DEAR EDITOR:

Your Feb. 23 report about VTA increasing bus fares repeats previous
incorrect reports about the size of VTA's operating deficit. Ignoring
all capital and fixed costs, VTA's annual operating loss is about $277
million (operating expenses less fares paid by riders).

However, if we required transit agencies to apply generally accepted accounting
principles , then we would have to add the billions of taxpayers' dollars used to pay VTA's other costs, too. When will you report that?

If farebox recovery rate has dropped below the legal limit (15
percent of operating costs) prescribed by Section 99268.12 of the
Public Utilities Code, then when will our elected leaders sue VTA to
recover the illegal subsidies? We don't let passenger carriers violate
the law, do we?

Even if they are managed by our elected
leaders, they still have to obey the law - right? Nobody is above the
law - right? So, why are our leaders ignoring the illegal activity
right under their noses?

Since the accounting scandals at
Worldcom, and others, why do we tolerate 'off-book' accounting
practices at VTA and our other transit agencies?

Finally, four
nationwide studies reviewed by Greene, Jon Delucchi in "The
Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation: Contributions to Theory,
Method and Measurement" (Springer Publishing Co., 1997), found auto
costs "clustering around 3 to 4 cents per passenger mile." In contrast,
they found public transit costs "significantly higher," "ranging from
40 cents per passenger mile to around $2 per passenger mile." So, why
do you report that "VTA is generally still cheaper than driving"? Your
readers deserve better.

Joseph P. Thompson, Gilroy

Well said. If he is right, then the board is operating illegally and
probably trying to spend as much money as possible as quickly as
possible before they get caught. If they can build major capital
projects such as light rail and BART before anyone notices that they
are not entitled to subsidies, no one will come back and demand that it
all be dismantled.

Instead, the board will be slapped on the wrist and ordered to pay back
the money. They will then declare bankruptcy and restructure their
debts to comfortably accomodate their losses, while the public
continues being forced to subsidize their operations through sales
taxes.

And if worse comes to worse, they will simply subcontract the bus
system and cut back operations to just light rail while protecting
their administrative staff.