BART trains should ride better and look better after voters in three counties favored a $3.5 billion bond measure to upgrade the public transit agency’s 44-year-old system.
Even on Election Night, when BART had major delays because of an equipment problem in San Leandro, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed Measure RR with 81 percent of the vote, and Contra Costa County voters passed it with 60 percent.
As of Wednesday, Measure RR had 71 percent of the vote amongst Alameda County voters, but Oakland Magazine reported that the registrar still has a record 230,000 to 270,000 absentee ballots to count.
Registrar Tim Dupuis is legally required to receive absentee ballots until Nov. 14 — so long as they were postmarked by Nov. 8. At present, the county’s voter turnout is at about 44 percent, but Dupuis believes the total turnout will climb to between 70 and 75 percent once all the ballots have been counted, according to the magazine.
All three counties use the train service and the measure needed a combined two-thirds votes.
The bond means that property taxes will increase by an average of $35 to $55 a year to help overhaul the system.
