BART Proposes Parcel Tax To Pay For New Cars
OAKLAND (KCBS) – BART officials plan to take a proposed parcel tax to the voters in November of 2012 to help pay for a new fleet of cars.
The price tag is expected to reach $3-4 billion to replace the fleet, including purchasing about a thousand new cars, to help with the expected increase in passenger load in the next 20 years.
KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports:
The transit agency doesn't have the necessary funds and help from the federal government is expected to be limited.
BART spokesman Linton Johnson said that replacing the fleet is cheaper than maintaining the old cars.
"We're still driving the train cars from when BART was first built," he said. "We need to replace and upgrade this fleet."
But Ken Hambrick, the chairman of the Alliance of Contra Costa Taxpayers, said he doesn't think a parcel tax will fly with voters.
"California is the highest-taxed state in the country in almost every category," said Hambrick. "So it's time that this has to stop."
The proposed tax would require a two-thirds voter approval in the three BART counties that have votes: Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco.
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