At the first BART Board of Directors meeting since voters approved a regional sales tax to prevent service cuts at major Bay Area transit agencies, Director Mark Foley wore a hat and sweatshirt emblazoned with the logo for Survivor.
“The Bay Area has spoken, and we survived,” Foley said Thursday, adopting a catchphrase from the reality television show to reflect the gravity of the moment.
The approval of RTM in the Nov. 4 midterm elections infuses approximately $330 million annually into BART’s budget — sourced from a sales tax in five Bay Area counties over the next 14 years. The new funding prompted a collective sigh of relief at the agency, but board members acknowledged BART still faces a future where costs are projected to rise beyond its revenue…