BART Board President Tom Radulovich Responds issued the following statement on the passage of Measure RR:

"We are grateful for all the Bay Area voters who doubled down on their commitment to transit and to BART, approving the $3.5 billion infrastructure bond designed to keep our system safe and reliable.

More than two-thirds of voters said they want a better BART system and are willing to help pay for it. Strong majorities in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties voted yes for a Better BART. 

Thank you, Bay Area, for affirming the need to replace this 44-year-old train system’s worn rail, train control equipment, leaking tunnels, and power transmission infrastructure. The investments we make say a lot about the future we want to create. By reinvesting in BART, Bay Area voters said yes to a regional future that’s more equitable, sustainable, inclusive, connected, and prosperous.

I’d like to thank my colleagues on the BART Board and BART staff for working together to craft a system renewal expenditure plan grounded in the hard facts of our aging system. My colleagues and staff also deserve special thanks for their education and outreach efforts; over the past two years, BART Board Members and staff visited 314 community groups to inform them about BART’s aging infrastructure and our plans to make the system safer and more reliable.

These engagements with the Bay Area community were essential to shaping our plan, and forged a broad consensus about the importance of rebuilding BART and allowing BART to fulfill a growing regional need for quality public transit. I also want to thank all those individuals and organizations around the region who advocated for this bond measure, and who supported it through the last nine months. Without you it would not have passed, and the Bay Area owes you their gratitude.

I want our riders to know that important elements of BART system renewal will be visible beginning next year. The first of a new fleet of train cars will begin rolling off the assembly line, after four years of design, construction, and testing. As the new trains will be added to the old fleet, and passengers will soon begin to feel some overcrowding relief.

To sustain our progress, we will immediately begin the process of appointing an independent oversight committee and implementing the System Renewal Plan investments funded by the bond. We will work closely with members of this Committee to ensure every dollar the voters entrusted to us is accounted for and spent in accordance with the plan.

BART has kept the $1B Earthquake Safety Program, funded by voters in 2004, on schedule and under budget. We will do the same with these system renewal projects."