Santa Clara County's largest public transit agency will be audited by the state as one lawmaker looks to change up how it's run.
A state committee voted Wednesday to have the California State Auditor review the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) related to concerns about the agency's governance structure, planning and fiscal management. Assemblymember Marc Berman proposed the audit last year after deciding not to push forward with a reform bill, which would have shifted the composition of VTA's board to include more private citizens rather than elected officials.
"My hope is that this audit will give VTA the objective and professional feedback and direction it needs to undertake substantive governance reform so that the board can provide the high-quality oversight of the agency that riders, VTA staff and Santa Clara County taxpayers deserve," Berman said in a news release.
VTA's 18-member board is comprised of elected officials from Santa Clara County and its cities. Berman has argued the leadership structure is the cause of problems such as poor fare recovery and high operating costs.
"Over the last 20 years, three civil grand jury reports, multiple consultants hired by VTA and a 2008 audit by the state auditor have identified the need for change to VTA's governance structure in order for the board to be best equipped to provide high-quality oversight of the agency," Berman said. "The state auditor is uniquely equipped to look beyond individual interests and provide a cohesive, apolitical set of recommendations for VTA to use to have the important conversation of governance reform."
VTA has been criticized for having a dysfunctional work culture across multiple departments, as well as the poor state of its light rail cars. Operations have also been slow to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, with some passengers left stranded by buses that fail to arrive. The agency also faces fiscal uncertainty through 2031, largely due to a decline in revenue during the pandemic.
The public transit agency is extending BART through downtown San Jose to Santa Clara, and recently defended its ridership estimates after the Federal Transit Administration undercut the projected number of riders expected in 2040. The agency has been called out for its handling of the BART extension, including by business owners that will need to close shop to make way for new stations.
A VTA representative said the agency appreciates the support of the state as it examines options for revising the board's structure.
"We are pleased to know the members of the (California Joint State Audit Committee) understand the excellent work VTA has provided over the years to Santa Clara Valley residents and we look forward to continuously improving upon that good work," spokesperson Stacey Hendler Ross told San Jose Spotlight.
Monica Mallon, a local transit advocate and San Jose Spotlight columnist, said the audit is unlikely to result in meaningful improvements to service.
"I personally used to support governance reform, but over time as I've learned more and more about things, I've realized the real issue is the lack of funding for transit operations," Mallon told San Jose Spotlight. "For a lot of people, it's the service and it's the projects, or the lack of projects or the lack of transit lines. That's the real issue."
This story was originally published by San Jose Spotlight.
Comments
Registered user
Midtown
on Mar 25, 2023 at 7:21 pm
Registered user
on Mar 25, 2023 at 7:21 pm
A picture is worth a thousand words: the photo at the top of this article is of Line 88, which was VTA's only dedicated Palo Alto bus, which was eliminated (except for a handful of one-direction before and after school-trips along a modified route) in 2019 BEFORE the pandemic as part of VTA's "New Transit Service."
VTA was even kind enough to put signs on all of the Line 88 stops saying how the service changes would provide more frequent service and more connections, especially to the new BART stations about to open in San Jose.
When VTA started charging for fares again after the first six months or so of the pandemic, but were not running school-trip buses yet (I think many schools were still closed), they put signs on all of the Line 88 stops (and I think the dedicated school-trip stops as well) saying "Welcome back!"
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Mar 25, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Registered user
on Mar 25, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Article in the SJM that the VTA wants to build a tunnel connection from the Diridion Station to the SJ Airport when there is already a station and stop at the Airport. They want to waste millions of dollars. Google has aleady said that they are slowing on the building of the Google Village at the Diridion Station. Building tunnels is the latest in federally funded efforts to "improve transportation" that never get started, and if started never finished. We have half conceived efforts now all over the state. The state has no money. What ever they are selling is hype.
They need to fix El Camino. They need to forget toll roads on all freeway lanes and big surface streets. Yes - this is all out of control.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Mar 27, 2023 at 10:48 am
Registered user
on Mar 27, 2023 at 10:48 am
"They need to fix El Camino. They need to forget toll roads on all freeway lanes and big surface streets. Yes - this is all out of control."
Yes, it's out of control and the state of El Camino's absurd. Last night we drove to Redwood City for dinner and the difference between El Camino in Santa Clara County and San Mateo County was dramatic with Santa Clara SO much worse than the smooth road in San Mateo.
Maybe our fearless leaders like Berman could actually work on reform sometime this decade and dispense with verbiage like "My hope is that this audit will give VTA the objective and professional feedback and direction it needs to undertake substantive governance reform so that the board can provide the high-quality oversight of the agency that riders, VTA staff and Santa Clara County taxpayers deserve," Berman said in a news release."
Registered user
Community Center
on Mar 27, 2023 at 2:14 pm
Registered user
on Mar 27, 2023 at 2:14 pm
A few factual clarifications.
El Camino is in terrible shape but it is owned and managed by Caltrans rather than VTA or the city. Caltrans has committed to repaving this year. Our state representatives Berman and Becker are the best resource to try to make sure Caltrans lives up to their overdue promise.
The op-ed in the Mercury last week made a bunch of goofy, false assertions. VTA has no plan to build a tunnel or other connector from Mineta Airport to Diridon Station although the City of San Jose has been exploring a public/private partnership on a similar connection. A connection to the Santa Clara Station might be a good idea if the City of Santa Clara wished to pursue it but the op-ed author has his facts wrong and the Mercury did the public a disservice by printing basic inaccuracies.
VTA is open to additional improvements to it's governance beyond the series of changes that they have made in the last three years. Also, board is comprised of 12 voting members. It appears that they have been confused by the fact that there are also five alternates and one ex official non-voting member.Assembly member Berman and the press might want to get that fact clear as a starting point to discussions.