BART Board Holds Weekend Meeting To Discuss Agency's Financial Challenges
WALNUT CREEK (KCBS)— The Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors met Friday and Saturday at the Renaissance Club Sport Hotel in Walnut Creek to discuss the major funding challenges facing BART.
The focus of the two-day brainstorming session was to come up with ideas for raising more money.
Spokesman Jim Allison said everything was on the table in their discussions of potential capital funding opportunities in the rare weekend meeting.
KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:
"The new General Manager Grace Crunican decided to take some board members and some executive staff out of the board room atmosphere and get to a more relaxed setting," Allison said.
Some of the possibilities include voter-approved funding through bonds, parcel taxes and county sales tax measures as BART struggles in a climate where it's increasingly tough to shake money loose from the government.
Allison alluded to the "aging system" and said that at 40-years-old, new rail cars would be needed among other creative solutions.
There's even talk of creating a discounted fare for frequent riders before the next scheduled increase in July as BART works to boost the number of people using the system.
No action was taken by the board in this most recent session.
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