Transit’s ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Many of you rely on buses, trains and/or ferries to get to school, work and other destinations. But the crucial services they provide are in jeopardy because the agencies running them are facing a “fiscal cliff,” – a situation in which declining fare revenue and the end of pandemic funding from the federal government could result in significant operational cuts. In addition, our Bay Area operators rely on fare box revenue to fund operations more than transit agencies in other regions such as Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Without outside assistance, the harm of reducing hours or frequency will be felt largely by lower-income Californians, who rely on public transit because they cannot afford a car, and commuters, including students. In fact, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency has already indicated service cuts could begin as early as this summer, cutting one line a month for the next 20 months to head off a deficit. They’re also planning to extend parking meter hours to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, as well as adding Sundays, to generate revenue.

Transit agencies across nine counties in the Bay Area have asked for an additional allocation of $2.5 billion in state funding to cover them for several years. Even though the state faces a $32 billion deficit, as chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, I support helping out Muni, BART, SamTrans and others, but I don’t want to hand over a blank check without major improvements, greater accountability and a plan towards fiscal stability.

I will be urging the transit operators to have a greater focus on you, the riders, in hopes to see more of you riding transit to work, shop and get around town. Too many people have told me they don’t want to ride transit because they don’t feel safe, or seats are not clean. Our operators need to improve safety and cleanliness.

Our region needs to help save public transit as well. While our state may be able to provide some temporary help, ultimately, our region will have to step up to permanently support our transit operators. We will need to support a revenue measure to support our operators should it come up in 2024 or 2026.

We have a few more weeks to craft a state budget amid a deficit year. Public transportation is crucial to a strong economy and for meeting our climate goals. I’ll do everything possible to make sure we avoid the fiscal cliff, so that individuals without cars and commuters aren’t left struggling with service cutbacks. But, at the same time, agencies must have a plan to sustain themselves, while also ensuring systems are safe and reliable.

Phil Ting represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the west side of San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma and Daly City as well as part of South San Francisco.