Strange Things Are Afoot With AC Transit Board of Directors
I am no fan of BRT, but the more I learn about it, the more I become convinced that not only is it just a poison pill to prevent real transit solutions from happening, but the whole idea of bus rapid transit is starting to seem more and more like what U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Butler called war - a racket.
It seems like everything that comes near BRT is either rotten already, or ends up rotting - from the concrete to the backroom deals. This impression started sinking in more for me when I read about the corruption allegations surrounding Cleveland’s BRT, but I have to admit - I’ve had this feeling almost from the moment I noticed that something was wrong with BRT. Any time a politician is saying “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” in wanting to build something that is ostensibly for the public good, we have to ask ourselves, “What is this person really up to?” When and why and how did they suddenly ‘find God?’
This snippet from a recent article covering the AC Transit Board of Directors is more than a little odd:
Meanwhile, in a complicated action that left board members at times appearing visibly exasperated and confused, the board approved General Manager Rick Fernandez’ recommendation to purchase nine more 60-foot “articulated†Van Hool buses as well as authorizing a contract for a prototype 45-foot “suburban style†bus from Van Hool that could eventually mean the purchase of as many of 40 new buses from the Belgian manufacturer. The “suburban style†45-footers are intended to be used primarily on AC Transit’s cross-bay route between the East Bay and San Francisco.
I don’t understand it, and maybe there’s nothing to it, but I think BRT is rotten to the core, so I wouldn’t be able to act surprised if it turned out that the Berkeley/Oakland/San Leandro BRT scheme was shady and rigged from top to bottom - that it was, is, and will be a colossal waste of taxpayer money.
Let’s hope I’m wrong.
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November 20th, 2008 at 1:48 am
The Van Hool purchases have long been a scandal- what’s new, it’s East Bay politics with huge budgets… that’s kind of SOP by this point.
East Bay Express has long been covering Rick Fernandez’s strange obsession over these buses (and other sultry details) for a while:
The House that AC Bought covers a weird purchase of Rick’s house involving possible sex scandal.
Belgium or Bust covers the dude who AC riders/property owners are paying to hang out in Belgium for years, including his rental car.
Buses from Hell covers the Van Hool’s defaults and malfunctions and general dislike by the public and drivers.
While the low floors of Van Hools could benefit a future BRT, I’d say its a stretch to connect the forever-scandal-plagued AC Transit’s latest scandal with some larger ‘BRT = something fishy always’ you are aiming for in this post.