The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has proposed a new plan for regional transportation that would spend sales tax dollars to add hundreds of miles of high-speed transit lines throughout the county. While details are still forthcoming, critics oppose the shift in priorities because it would delay highway improvement and expansion projects that voters were promised when they approved the 2004 TransNet sales tax. Proponents of the proposal say the region needs SANDAG’s bold new vision to meet state-mandated emissions standards. Here three elected officials share their perspective on the issue.
A balanced transportation system is critical to meet 21st-century needs. Let’s be realistic; freeways and roads are the backbone of our transportation system and essential to our economy. A common-sense approach to a future transportation system includes a functioning road network.
In 2004, San Diegans voted to extend a half-cent sales tax for 40 years starting in 2008. In exchange, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) promised to relieve traffic congestion by making critical improvements to the 78, 67, 94, 125, 805 and 52 highways, and to many other major San Diego county highways, and also to build mass transit projects. However, buried in the fine print is a clause that allows the SANDAG board to scrap the promised projects for new projects not listed in the ballot measure.
SANDAG staff claims “times have changed” and funding should be shifted away from highway improvements and placed into more public transit projects. We have to agree, times have changed, but not in the way the “transit only” advocates believe — even after spending over two-thirds of the transportation dollars in the last decade on mass transit projects, ridership has declined. We all see it; trolleys and buses run empty on a daily basis, with only 3.5% of our population using public transit.
Related: Listen to a Q&A interview with Hasan Ikhrata on SANDAG's transit plan
The Union-Tribune recently ran a front-page story about decreasing transit ridership. “Ridership on the Green Line, which runs from downtown San Diego to the Santee Town Center, fell from 1.1 million trips in March 2015 to 900,000 trips in March 2019,” it noted. “Ridership on the Orange Line, which runs from the downtown courthouse to El Cajon, fell from 871,000 trips in March 2015 to 700,000 trips in March 2019.”
The goal of the new multibillion-dollar transportation plan is to increase public transit ridership from the current 3.5% to 10% of the population. SANDAG’s goal leaves 90% of San Diegans in their cars on highways, that will not be improved. SANDAG’s leaders have made it clear they’re out of touch with the over 90% of San Diegans that need to use vehicles as their primary means of transportation.
SANDAG’s transportation vision strips the promised HOV lanes on the 78, the 52, and the second HOV lane on the I-5 north to the 78. These are not highway expansions; these are carpool lanes promoting ridesharing, reducing emissions and relieving congestion. The new vision also eliminates highly needed fire evacuation lanes on the 67. Each were promised in the 2004 tax extension.
The answer is a balanced system. We agree public transportation works well in certain areas, we agree we need to have clean air and need to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets. But we also believe that we need to keep our promises to the voters. Many of our residents need their cars not only now, but in the future. Think of a working family with children that needs to get to school, to the doctor, to the grocery store, to soccer games and to jobs.
We’ve heard from SANDAG we need to be more like Manhattan, or Paris, where mass transit is the main mode of transportation.
To put it in perspective, Paris is home to 2.1 million people who live within 40 square miles. Carlsbad is home to 115,000 people who live in 39 square miles. There is a direct correlation between densely urbanized areas and public transit ridership. Carlsbad would need over 18 times its current population to be similar to Paris.
San Diego County is massive — more than 4,500 square miles. It would be irresponsible to think that communities that depend on roads like Fallbrook, Alpine, Santee and Valley Center could efficiently be served by mass transit.
Cars are not evil. It’s the emissions that we need to reduce, and emissions are at their worst when cars sit idle in traffic. We need to promote technologies like smart roads, zero-emission cars and autonomous vehicles.
SANDAG’s solutions are congestion and fees. SANDAG officials believe if they can bring traffic to a standstill and charge every driver that uses a highway or road, we will give up our cars. Right now, San Diegans are being taxed many times over for road projects, including a portion of the vehicle license registration fee, the gas tax and the Transnet ordinance extension of a local sales tax. They should not be made to pay more to get much needed improvements through congestion pricing.
We are only 11 years into a 40-year tax. If all of the highway dollars are “bait and switched” to mass transit, the taxpayers, at least 90% of them driving cars, are still on the hook for the next 29 years, paying taxes on projects they will never get. We will not acquiesce to making SANDAG the house of broken promises.
Desmond is a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors; Jacob is chair of the board; Minto is mayor of Santee.
