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Roadshow: Bicyclist vs. car: Young girl on bike was right Q I notice that light rail won’t connect with the Berryessa BART station. Any plans for extending light rail from South San Jose to the Alum Rock station? Or, extending down Highway 85 to Mountain View?

Larry Shoemaker

San Jose

A Construction will begin next year on extending light rail from the Alum Rock station to Eastridge. Trains will run primarily in the center of Capitol Expressway with elevated tracks crossing Capitol Avenue, Story Road and Tully Road and stations at Story, Ocala and Eastridge.

However, there is no funding at this time to extend light rail from Eastridge to South San Jose.

Light rail down the Highway 85 median hasn’t been ruled out. But it’s a long shot. Double carpool lanes between Highway 87 and Interstate 280 remain a likely alternative.

Speaking of funding …

Q I think the Measure B half-cent sales tax we are going to vote on in a couple of weeks for transportation is a line of crap and just another way of giving the clowns at the Valley Transportation Authority the go-ahead to continue to put more money into their pockets and raise their incomes at voter expense.

What happened to all the other taxes that haven’t really shown the public anything but higher incomes for board members.

Rick Sinn

A Hold on, Rick-the-Cynic. I’ve gotten several similar comments and need to set the record straight. Santa Clara County was the first in the state to pass these measures to pay for state projects. Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and San Francisco are among two dozen others to pass their own taxes that now raise more than $3 billion a year across California.

The money can be spent only on projects included in the ballot measure.

Here’s a list of transportation taxes approved by Santa Clara County voters and where some of that the money has gone:

1984: A 10-year tax that built the southern section of Highway 85, converted Highway 237 from a four-lane city street into a six-lane freeway and widened Highway 101 from San Jose to San Mateo County.

1996: A nine-year measure to repave county expressways and complete the 85-101 and 237-880 interchanges.

2000: A 30-year tax bringing BART to San Jose, extending light rail — such as the line to Eastridge — and other transit upgrades.

2016: If approved by a two-thirds vote this Nov. 8, this 30-year measure would raise $6.3 billion for countywide pavement repairs, extending BART from Berryessa to Santa Clara, Caltrain overpasses, interchange fixes, expressway upgrades and more bus service.

And one more thing. VTA board members aren’t getting rich. They get paid $100 per day for meetings that often run four to five hours, up to a maximum of $500 per month. If there are several meetings in one day as often happens, it’s capped at $100.

Now, back to Rick-the-Cynic.

Q If the VTA were to put running on time as a priority they would actually get an increase in ridership and more money. Why invest in an agency that you do not use? The only thing you can depend on about them is being late.

Rick Sinn

A What the VTA calls service reliability performance for bus and light rail was 99.6 percent last year.

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Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com or 408-920-5335.