SF Board of Supervisors rejects proposed Caltrain Sales Tax--Voice your Opinion

On Wednesday, the SF Board of Supervisors rejected a sales tax that Caltrain had proposed to put on the ballot in November. The ballot was intended to raise ~$108 million annually to improve service and help save Caltrain from having to potentially close down due to the financial damage of the COVID-19 crisis.

The history of this is complicated but Caltrain has no dedicated funding service. It relies on farebox recovery and contributions from SF, San Mateo County, and Santa Clara County. All three counties' board of supervisors, the transit agency boards, and the Caltrain board had to approve this sales tax. With this vote, the measure is effectively killed and will possibly destroy Caltrain itself.

If you have strong feelings about this issue one way or the other, please contact our Supervsior, Shamann Walton shamann.walton@sfgov.org

If you are interested in learning more please visit: https://www.kqed.org/news/11829125/dispute-over-caltrain-management-threatens-to-derail-planned-tax-measure or https://greencaltrain.com.

Caltrain cars at San Jose's Diridon Station, December 2016. (Dan Brekke/KQED)