Metrolink/SanBag A Different Opinion on the Meeting Results

Is it a Wait and See or A NO?

SANBAG Commuter Rail Committee derails GT

http://www.highlandnews.net/articles/2007/03/29/news/06sanbag.txt

By Michael Sorba, Community News Staff Writer


SANBAG's (San Bernardino Association of Governments) Commuter Rail Committee, the subcommittee in charge of making recommendations for commuter rail projects to the SANBAG Board of Directors, decided not to participate in the development and operation of a new Metrolink station on the Inland Empire/Orange County line.

During their March 22, meeting at the Santa Fe Depot in San Bernardino, committee members decided the agency's money is already stretched too thin to support the proposed Metrolink station in the Highgrove area.

“You are looking at a room full of mass-transit enthusiasts, “ San Bernardino Mayor and committee member Pat Morris said. “But we do not have the funding to support a commitment like this.”

Morris' comments were directed toward Grand Terrace Mayor Pro Tem and committee member Lee Ann Garcia. She advocated for the station along with a fellow Grand Terrace City Council member and a Grand Terrace resident who provided public testimony.

The arguments were not enough, however, to sway the rest of the committee away from SANBAG staff's recommendation to decline participation in the project. As Morris put it, “Staff's recommendation is very compelling.”

According to the Committee's staff report, the forecast of ridership does not warrant SANBAG's participation, the ability to increase the number of trains operating between San Bernardino and Riverside is totally dependent on a renegotiating with Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and there is not funding immediately available for the project.

Also, the Riverside County Transportation Commission decided to decline participation in the project, further influencing the committee's decision.