TRANSDEF Opposes Alameda County Transportation Tax

The Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, TRANSDEF, announced its opposition to the proposed 2014 Alameda County Transportation Sales Tax, which will be Measure BB on the ballot in November. The measure would lock in funding for the next thirty years, precisely the critical time when humanity needs to severely reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), if we are to preserve a climate hospitable to life as we know it.

Alameda County, like other transportation agencies, finds it more comfortable and less controversial to continue doing what it has always done: focus its efforts on a network of roads and highways that predominantly serve single-occupant vehicles. While the current proposal has funding for transit and bike facilities, the underlying focus hasn’t changed at all. The County’s Transportation Plan predicts a 46% increase in Vehicle Miles Travelled in 2035, with a slight increase if the tax measure passes. (A later ACTIA document adjusted that figure downwards to “only” a 26% increase, but that drop had little or nothing to do with the tax. Most of that adjustment had to do with correcting the assumptions for modeling.) Single-occupant driving is barely affected by the Transportation Plan and tax.

Until TRANSDEF sees a serious effort to make carpooling, transit and biking the predominant ways to get around, we will oppose such measures.

The Bay Area should be acting as a leader in protecting the climate. This sales tax, and San Francisco’s transportation bond, are complete failures in leadership. TRANSDEF signed the Ballot Arguments opposed to Measure BB:

Argument Opposed

Rebuttal