Aisha Wahab Lambasts BART for Failing to Build ‘Shovel-Ready’ Irvington Station in Fremont

A Bay Area lawmaker issued an open letter to the BART board on Monday, urging the cash-strapped agency to apply now for state funding to pursue a “shovel-ready” station roughly halfway between the Fremont and Warm Springs stations.

“Leaving state dollars on the table while BART faces a fiscal crisis is unacceptable,” state Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont, wrote to the BART board. “Timing is critical. Irvington must be delivered before the Downtown San José extension to avoid significantly higher costs, service disruptions, and impacts to riders. Continued delays also jeopardize nearly 1,000 affordable housing units planned within the surrounding Transit Priority Development Area, undermining regional housing and mobility goals.”

Wahab directed BART to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, which provides grants to modernize California’s intercity, commuter, and urban rail systems, as well as bus and ferry transit systems, to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and congestion.

The Irvington BART Station has been planned since it was studied as part of the Warm Springs extension in 1979, and its construction was approved by the BART board in 1992.

Several agencies gave millions of dollars to fund the design phase of Irvington, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Alameda County Transportation Commission. In 2014, Alameda County voters approved Measure BB, which allocated $120 million toward the station’s construction.

Since then, BART officials have worked with the city of Fremont to update the station’s concept plan, surrounding area plan and environmental review. As of November 2023, the start of construction was pushed back to mid-2026, and the station opening to 2031.

Wahab’s letter listed a variety of ways in which Irvington is an advantageous candidate for the funding, including that environmental clearance is complete, and 14 of 17 relevant properties have been acquired.

Both Wahab and BART Board President Melissa Hernandez are running to fill the Congressional seat vacated by East Bay U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell in his run for governor, but Wahab told KQED she’d be happy to mediate between the city and BART, which have been in negotiations over the proposed station for years.

The public transit agency has been staggering through a financial crisis ever since the COVID-19 pandemic gutted ridership. BART officials have warned of drastic cuts without more state funding, saying they face a $350 million to $400 million annual deficit beginning in the 2027 fiscal year.

The agency balanced its FY26 budget with $35 million in cuts and cost controls, and BART board members have been lobbying in Sacramento for bridge loans while pursuing a November 2026 ballot measure. Should that measure fail with voters, contingency plans to be presented at the next board meeting on Feb. 12 are expected to include a recommendation that the agency close between 10 and 15 stations. Details, including which stations are potentially on the chopping block, will be released to the public at the end of next week.

“The letter caught us off guard,” said Alicia Trost, chief communications officer for BART.

The agency is applying for TIRCP money to rebuild aging infrastructure and power stations responsible for recent service disruptions, and Trost said BART doesn’t want to submit a competing application for Irvington that might endanger the application for funds to support core services.

“These are core things that our riders rely on, in order to keep BART survivable,” she said.

Even if Fremont managed to raise the remaining funds to build Irvington, Trost said the station is not a priority for the agency for the foreseeable future.

“We don’t have the money to staff a 51st BART station,” she said.

She added that the agency is able to operate the Milpitas and Berryessa stations only because of Valley Transportation Agency funding.

The city and the senator agree that Fremont has previously agreed to raise all the money necessary to build Irvington on its own, but the city cannot apply for TIRCP funds as it’s not the relevant transit agency.

“We acknowledge the challenging times for funding Bay Area transit and emphasize the urgent need to invest in both operations and projects that will increase ridership and bring transit closer to jobs and housing,” Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan wrote to KQED in an email. “Building the Irvington BART station is a cost-effective way to add new riders and a commitment to the Alameda County voters. Since the tracks are already in place, this project is much less expensive than extending tracks to new areas.”

Wahab emphasized that the MTC is supportive of Fremont’s bid. The Irvington BART Station was listed as a “near-term priority” for the years 2025-2035 in the MTC’s Plan Bay Area 2050+, approved by that agency’s planning committee a year ago.

Wahab expressed exasperation with the Bay Area’s 27 transit agencies and their collective inability to deliver a public transit system that serves the nine counties as a viable alternative to driving for the bulk of the population, especially in the South Bay.

“We keep seeing the requests for more funding to these agencies, yet less and less accountability to the public, and this [Irvington] is a prime example.”