California must compromise on speed to get more commuters in train seats

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I don’t like to pick fights.

I realize that’s an odd thing for a politician to say. It’s especially odd in the context of the back-and-forth now consuming the debates over high-speed rail.

Too many people misunderstand high-speed rail funding as a fight between the Central Valley and Los Angeles. It’s not either-or.

Too many people think the choice is either to double down on the slow-to-develop Valley section or to give up entirely. Those are both bad choices.

Creative assemblymembers have seen another path. Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Jim Frazier and Assemblymembers Laura Friedman and Tom Daly have developed an idea that gives the Central Valley the jobs and rail it needs, while getting millions of people who voted for high-speed rail (and who fund it) out of cars and into train seats.

Without spending any new money.

This is not a pipe dream. Winning consensus is an area where I have a track record.

I did it as a freshman assemblymember when I coaxed competing water interests to talk and support a bond that helped Valley agriculture and urban interests.

We need to do the same thing here.

Our Central Valley wants this project for jobs and transportation and deserves it. California needs it to connect our state through its spine.

But 171 high-speed miles in a nearly 900-mile-long state won’t do that.

What will is an upgrade to that line and its connections so that we can offer a fast, convenient one-seat ride all the way from Bakersfield to the Bay Area or Sacramento.

That will be available much sooner if we don’t spend all our dollars on the Tesla version of valley rail right now.

Do the math. I think you’ll find that a 171-mile electric high-speed rail line would not shave much time off a trip to the Bay Area, if any, because passengers would have to transfer to a non-electric line in the middle.

I think we’ve all had enough bad experiences with bad airport connections to realize that riding on a single train – faster than what we have, but not full high-speed – is the more attractive option.

Instantly, it would make the Valley a more attractive place to live and build homes, because people can easily get to job centers for work and still afford a home.

That housing development and associated commerce to serve it promise far more in the way of long-term employment than bringing people in to electrify the line right now.

If we quickly give people that one-seat convenient alternative to sitting in freeway traffic, it will change the mindset about rail. They won’t merely understand the importance of high-speed rail.

They’ll be clamoring for it.

“Linking the state’s metro areas through the spine of the Valley would indeed be transformative,” said The Fresno Bee’s editorial board in an editorial on Nov. 13.

That’s what this plan gives. That’s not what you get with a partial line that isn’t where the people are.

Which brings me to the last point: a focus on serving people.

By changing our priority to one-seat convenience, we will save money.

Those savings can serve rail improvements anywhere. In the LA region, millions of people already crave an efficient way to get to work and we could provide that.

More happy people in LA and Orange County trains will lead to support for connecting the whole state and electrifying the whole route.

The Assembly plan is a compromise, but it is one that brings a better future closer to today - in the Central Valley, and in our population centers.

Call it high-speed policy to help Californians.

I don’t like to pick fights, but helping Californians is one thing I am willing to fight for.

This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 11:58 AM with the headline "California must compromise on speed to get more commuters in train seats."