On paper, the idea of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation
Authority conducting an internal audit to become more efficient
seems like a good idea.
On paper, the idea of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority conducting an internal audit to become more efficient seems like a good idea.
Even with a hefty $511,830 price tag, if the audit improves efficiency by at least that amount, one could argue that it will have been worth it. Recommendations of the Hay Group, the third party examining the VTA’s business practices, are expected in March 2007.
On the other hand, considering the glaring inefficiencies that riddle the VTA, it really shouldn’t cost over a half-million dollars to improve the ailing transit agency.
These are just a few examples of the VTA’s woes:
– Despite steep rate hikes over the last decade (fares, according to the VTA Riders Union, have increased by 59 to 358 percent in that time frame) and chronic service cuts, the VTA only manages to cover 12 percent of its operating expenses through fares, a ratio known as fare box recovery. VTA’s fare box recovery rate is one of the lowest in the industry nationwide.
– In the face of a “Not Recommended” rating for the BART to San Jose extension from the Federal Transit Administration, VTA officials continue to spend money on planning and environmental studies for the project.
– More than two years ago, a Santa Clara County civil grand jury criticized the board structure of the VTA and said board members were too dependent on staff, but no substantive changes have been made to address the grand jury’s criticisms.
So should the VTA have taken more than half a million dollars out of its already tapped general fund to find out how to become more efficient, when these glaring problems haven’t been addressed? It’s more than difficult for any reasonable resident to justify.
It would be wonderful to trust that the audit will be thorough and that its recommendations will be properly implemented, but given the VTA’s history of bad management decisions, unheeded advice and questionable, at best, BART cost and ridership projections, there is no reason to extend that trust.
Real change at the VTA would be astounding. What’s more likely is that this becomes a “good faith” stall tactic and that the VTA rolls merrily along the tracks as a bumbling bureacracy until voters become fed up and demand massive reform.
