Let the MTC Know: the OAC is not OK

As I hope you've heard, BART and the MTC are in some deep federal trouble as a result of their handling of the Oakland Airport Connector.

In short: BART mismanaged their planning of the project, changing it extensively over the years without adequately reviewing the changes. The MTC gave a large chunk of the federal stimulus money it received to the project, because the MTC totally hearts BART. Some local transit advocacy groups complained to the feds. The feds took a look at the project and were all like, 'Woah, we can't give money to a project that hasn't been thoroughly vetted under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,' and told BART and the MTC to meet the Title VI requirements by March 5th or give up the money.

BART has pledged to meet the March 5th deadline and proceed with the OAC as planned. But the MTC is really the agency with the right to the money. They could choose to stand with BART and risk losing the money if the feds aren't happy after the deadline. Or they could re-appropriate the money to other regional transit projects so agencies like Muni and AC Transit don't have to make some seriously awful service cuts.

What do you think they should do?

Tell the MTC Commissioners themselves:

Wednesday, January 27

9:00am

MTC Headquarters

101 Eighth Street, Oakland

More info from Rebecca Saltzman after the jump

Transit Race!

What a wonderful idea! The Bay Area could certainly use an event like this.

Transit People, "an all-volunteer Los Angeles non-profit that conducts educational, one day trips for school groups using the public transit system," is organizing a race from a starting point to a secret location. The catch is that you need to rely on your encyclopedic knowledge of public transit to get there!

I freaking love this idea.

On race day: at 10:00 a.m. sharp (okay, maybe a few minutes later), your team leader will receive a phone call announcing the race destination. Your team then must figure out the best transit route to get there.

Imagine something like the MTC using an event like this to sign folks up for Translink, maybe with the prize being a Translink card pre-loaded with a couple hundred bucks.