3A Public Hearing 2010 0517 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Livermore, Kathleen From: Steven Keller [sckeller@berkeley.edu] Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 8:48 AM To: Livermore, Kathleen Subject: Yes! Let's Study BRT! April 12, 2010 Dear City Council Member: I?m writing to ask that you please support the continued efforts to find a viable, full-build ?Locally Preferred Alternative? (LPA) for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in the East Bay. As an Emeryville resident, a UC Berkeley employee, and someone who hasn?t driven to work in over 13 years, I personally know how important viable transit options are. It is time to stop making the auto, especially the single occupant vehicle, our first transit priority. If we hope to reduce our carbon footprint, control the amount of auto traffic on our streets and highways, and give ourselves better transit options, we have to start building and implementing the infrastructure for future and better transit options. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, ?lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.? It is my personal feeling that those who primarily use their cars for transportation are those who oppose BRT. The recent defeat of measure KK in Berkeley should clearly show the broad public support of BRT, or at the very least, a desire for better transit options than currently exist, including the RAPID BUS that now runs along Telegraph and San Pablo Aves. To address any anticipated impacts, we need to understand the project in detail, (block-by- block). An LPA is necessary to help us understand what specific issues need to be addressed before we can go forward with BRT. We also need an LPA in place so that, if the city approves of BRT in the future, funding can be sought out quickly, and directed toward the project (e.g. the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds of 2009 that went to the Oakland Airport Connector). As part of a BRT system, dedicated lanes would be able to keep transit vehicles out of traffic, making transit service fast, frequent, and, perhaps most importantly, reliable. BRT stations would create safer, more comfortable places to wait for transit, while proof-of- payment systems and level, all-door boarding could all work together to make existing transit ? and a future BRT system a viable alternative to driving. However, we need to see if BRT would create too much congestion on the corridor, would displace critical parking, or cause ?cut-through? traffic into neighborhoods that parallel the route, (though according to lane Jacobs in Dark Age Ahead, this often is not the case). The only way to know for sure is to do a closer study through developing and studying a full-build LPA. Please take a leadership role and do everything you can to help develop an LPA so that we can more thoroughly study how BRT could help the entire Bay Area. For more info on how critical, and important an issue this is, I'd ask that you take the time to review the report from the USPIRG found by following the link below. 1