Public transit companies across the Bay Area are facing serious service cutbacks if they are unable to acquire additional funding. Companies such as BART, SFMTA, and Caltrain are suffering from record high budget deficits as temporary funding from the pandemic begins to run out. Due to low ridership during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, these agencies are finally facing the effects of the low income.
Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART is one of the main systems of public transportation across the Bay Area. Currently, BART is facing an estimated $350 million deficit and cannot keep relying on emergency government funding to bail them out from making serious budget cuts. While passenger fares, parking revenue, advertising, and other funding sources used to make up around 70% of funding for BART pre-pandemic, current rates are closer to only 30% and are not predicted to increase fast enough to stop the crisis.
Due to the current crisis, BART is proposing resolutions in multiple areas such as service cuts, station closures, fare increases, and laying off around 1,200 employees. Many riders across the Bay Area are mostly focused on the repercussions of the potential service cuts. BART has currently stated that cutting between 65% and 85% of their services would only save around 20% to 40%, not enough to resolve the current crisis. As of right now, BART has also proposed to cut around 10 stations by January 2027 and five more by July. These cuts in service and cleanliness and safety efforts also pose issues, as they could further reduce ridership, exacerbating the deficit.
San Francisco’s transportation system SFMTA, or Muni, is also facing a major crisis with a similar budget deficit of around $307 million. Muni has proposed funding saving measures such as halving service to some Muni routes and eliminating others, ending free Muni for youth, and eliminating cable cars. SFMTA that these are only worst case scenarios and that any major changes would have to be vetted through a public process. Muni has cited decreased fare compliance, from 88% to 80% since the pandemic, as one issue that they are working on resolving to help with funding.
While the looming cuts to public transit may seem frightening, there are some larger solutions proposed to help bring in extra funding to these agencies. One such solution is a ballot measure that citizens will be able to vote on this November. SB63, or Connect Bay Area, is a measure that proposes a 14-year regional transportation sales tax that could provide up to $980 million annually to sustain and improve transit. The tax would be only 0.5% in each county except San Francisco, where the rate would be 1% and could be a solution for these funding crises. The funding from this measure would go towards preventing major service cuts, improving the transit rider experience, and making other transportation improvements. Specifically, this measure states that about one-third of the revenue is guaranteed for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), SamTrans, Contra Costa Transportation Authority, and Alameda County Transportation Commission, helping protect smaller transit agencies.
SB63 provides funding to specific areas of transportation with 63% of the money raised going to the operation of buses, trains, and ferries, 5% for funding improvements to the rider experience, and up to 0.22% for measure administration costs. This measure also establishes more strict oversight on funding with provisions like an Independent Oversight Committee, Maintenance of Effort, Additional County-Level Transit Agency Accountability, and a Phase 2 Financial Efficiency Review to keep agencies accountable. SB63 is an important provision to help secure the futures of our public transportation infrastructure and ensure that those reliant on these systems have a safe, clean, and affordable way to navigate the Bay Area.