AgdaPkt 2011-12-12 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8. D. - Page 5 December 14, 2011 Mr. Thomas J. Umberg California High-Speed Rail Authority Board 770 L Street, Suite 800 Sacramento, CA 95814 Subject: Draft 2012 Business Plan Comments Dear Mr. Umberg: The City of Redwood City is pleased with the progress demonstrated in the Draft 2012 Business Plan; it is a vast improvement over the 2009 plan and we support the direction the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is taking. You are to be commended for the quality and the depth of the business plan, as well as the improved responsiveness to the interests of local stakeholders. In particular, to see that the CHSRA has embraced the "blended approach" increases our confidence in the overall process and in the project. As advocates of this approach, we continue to believe that pursuit of this alternative is critical to garnering community support from Redwood City residents and businesses. We also support the following, as outlined in the draft plan: � Phased implementation — where new segments will be added as the need is identified and as funding becomes available � Advanced investment in local and regional rail — to improve existing infrastructure to facilitate "blended" services � Estimating ranges of ridership and cost — that are more likely to capture the actual ridership levels and costs � Reassessment of public and private funding — which demonstrates how the ICS will be funded with public sources, suggests how the IOS could be publicly funded, and identifies when and how private capital can be expected to contribute to the system In addition to the above, we have the following comments and suggestions for how to improve upon the draft business plan: � Do not assume that revenues increase at the same 3% inflation rate as costs, the more conservative assumption would be that costs increase at a faster rate than revenues. � Illustrate how local funding sources could fill the anticipated funding gap in 2021 and 2022 ($393M and $825M, respectively); it's difficult to comprehend how this gap might be filled with the types of potential sources that were listed (rent, cost- sharing agreements, etc. � Average airfare assumption seems low relative to costs today, when you can get a roundtrip ticket for �$110-$150.