We've been seeing something like this coming, but apparently BART's plan to use $70M in stimulus funds to build that Oakland Airport tram has just hit another snag. The Federal Transit Administration sent BART a strongly worded letter on January 15th saying they are in danger of losing their $70M earmark if they don't submit, really soon, a new report documenting that the project does not discriminate against low-income Oakland residents. Whatever report BART did file, in order to be in compliance with federal code, was evidently not good enough. Unfortunately if BART loses the money, there's a good chance it will be spent outside the Bay Area — even though there are probably more worthy projects this could be spent on, like, say, building a train to Marin, but today's Marin voters would probably kill that idea just like they did in the 70s. more ›

BART administrators have recommended awarding a $492 million contract for the construction of a tram link between the Coliseum BART station and the Oakland Airport to a joint venture of Flatiron West Inc. and the Parsons Transportation Group. The board was said to be weighing the contract award for this cable-propelled tram at their meeting this morning. more ›

So, this is sort of a math problem: Take a $130 million project; sit it on it and discuss for many years; watch costs rise to about $500 million; receive a $70 million chunk in transportation funds from the federal government; apply for $150 million more in federal transportation loans; figure that you can charge riders $12 round trip on top of their BART fare; decide that in a flagging economy it is better to go into deeper debt and add 13,000 jobs; wait five more years, give or take -- and what do you get? An AirTrain-like solution connecting the Coliseum BART station with Oakland Airport. more ›