3 mayors brave BART to promote bond measure

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (right) rides BART during commute hour to campaign for Measure RR. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (right) rides BART during commute hour to campaign for Measure RR. Photo: Filipa Ioannou Photo: Filipa Ioannou Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 3 mayors brave BART to promote bond measure 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Three mayors walk into a BART station.

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, which sometimes describes a BART commute. But San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo were playing up BART’s potential Thursday when they got together for a brief ride to show their support for a measure on the Nov. 8 ballot in three counties that would fund the transit system.

“As a 46-year-old, I know that things break down occasionally over time. We’ve got a 44-year-old transit system,” Liccardo quipped outside 12th Street Station in Oakland.

The three were promoting Measure RR, a $3.5 billion bond that will go before voters in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. BART directors say the money would go toward replacing 90 miles of track, repairing water damage, increasing capacity, modernizing control and electrical systems, and making the system safer in the event of an earthquake.

Winning the two-thirds cumulative vote in the three counties is shaping up to be a challenge. State Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, who was elected on a promise to try to ban BART strikes in the aftermath of two work stoppages in 2013, said Measure RR would “reward bad behavior” rather than holding BART accountable for financial mismanagement.

Liccardo said Thursday that an oversight committee will be established to keep an eye on BART’s spending if the measure passes.

BART doesn’t yet extend to San Jose, but Liccardo is clearly looking ahead to the day it will reach his city. A BART extension into Santa Clara County is under construction, and service to San Jose’s Berryessa area is scheduled to begin in fall 2017.

When the doors opened Thursday morning at 12th Street Station on a car still packed with the tail end of rush hour crowds, Liccardo and the other mayors squeezed aboard, tourist-like in their enthusiasm.

“See, we need an expansion,” Schaaf said as she edged her way into the car.

On board, the mayors were a captive audience as riders peppered them with questions. Liccardo listened to one young man’s case for 24-hour service. Lee nodded along as a woman complained about conditions at Powell Street Station.

“It’s so bad. Urine, everything,” she said.

Lee acknowledged the problem but said, “We can’t just clear the station.”

Despite the shortage of kind words for BART, the mayors stayed cheerful on their two-stop ride.

“You’re participating in the political process on your commute!” Schaaf called out.

After getting off at Embarcadero Station in San Francisco, Schaaf and Liccardo tried to pass out fliers promoting the bond measure. They quickly learned that people ignored them unless they began by announcing that they were mayors, and sometimes even that didn’t help.

“Are you voting yes on Measure RR this November?” Schaaf asked a passerby on Market Street.

“I was just on the train with the mayor, so I heard all about it,” the woman replied.

“I’m the mayor!” said Schaaf. “The mayor of Oakland, I mean.”

“Oh! We’re from Boston,” the woman said.

Once their work was done, Lee and Liccardo left on foot, while Schaaf lingered to talk to reporters. None of the three was in any hurry to get back on the train.

Filipa A. Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: fiaonnou@sfchronicle.com