Bill Helps Save Muni and BART

Keeping Muni and BART running reliably, and improving their speed and efficiency, are absolutely essential to the future of San Francisco and the entire Bay Area. That is why I authored Senate Bill 63, the Connect Bay Area Act, which will be on the ballot in November.

The law authorizes a regional funding measure to prevent service cuts and provide transit systems with sustainable funding to provide safe, clean and reliable service across the Bay Area for years to come. It also requires BART and Muni to improve the financial efficiency of their systems to receive funding.

Many of you may have seen the recent press coverage of the dire threats facing BART and Muni. I began sounding the alarm on our public transit funding crisis more than three years ago, and it’s no exaggeration to say that if we fail to meet this challenge, BART could cease to exist as we know it. That would be a disaster for many reasons, not least among them that traffic would skyrocket as more and more people are forced into cars – as they are every time BART or Muni experiences a major outage.

Without a sustainable source of funding, budget challenges will force transit agencies to make severe service cuts. BART could be forced to reduce service by 65-85%, meaning trains once an hour, no weekend service, and entire station closures and line shutdowns. Muni could face a 50% reduction in frequency on lines, no regular service after 9 p.m., and the elimination of Muni fare subsidies for low-income riders, seniors and youth.

Cuts of that scale would be disastrous for San Franciscans. And these projections are the best care scenario if the ballot measure fails. The worst case is that these cuts send ridership downward which would lead to further cuts and ultimately imperil the entire system. This scenario is known as the transit death spiral.

I’ve been on the war path to prevent this scenario for the past three years, and we’ve successfully put off the financial collapse twice with emergency state funds. I’ve made this fight my top priority for the past few years because the stakes for our community are so high.

A loss of public transportation would not only negatively impact users but also cause ripple effects for everyone in the Bay Area. Commute times could increase by up to 10 hours per week for key routes connecting the East Bay to San Francisco, and traffic on the Bay Bridge could increase 72%. In San Francisco alone, the 13,000 students who ride Muni could lose their route to school, and our air quality would tank with millions of additional gallons of gas burned.

Without high quality public transit, fewer customers and employees could access businesses, fewer fans could attend concerts and sporting events and thousands of low-income people could lose their only transportation option. The cuts could reduce revenue for businesses big and small. We also know that there are 800,000 jobs within a 15-minute walk to a BART station, so a loss of public transit could negatively impact the job market.

Public transportation in the Bay Area has long been underfunded compared to other jurisdictions, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated funding issues for transit agencies here and across the country. For example, our high levels of ridership meant BART could pay for 70% of its operating costs with fares alone before the pandemic, which was four times higher than the national average and by far the highest in the country. By 2024, that number had fallen to 29%, creating the financial crisis we see today.

Connect Bay Area is not a blank check for BART and Muni. I crafted it to require transportation agencies to make changes to improve their financial efficacy in order to receive funding. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will be required to conduct an independent third-party financial efficiency review of BART, Muni, AC Transit and Caltrain to identify cost-saving measures for those operators.

MTC has already begun implementing financial efficiency accountability measures. Phase I of the review that identifies improvements to service that transit agencies can make using existing resources has started. After the assessment, the operators will be required to submit implementation plans to MTC detailing cost-efficiency measures they plan to put in place.

I’m grateful to see this incredible coalition from across the Bay Area come together to ensure our transit systems are financially stable and able to provide improved service for our residents. The risks to our essential transit systems are real, and we have a long road ahead to securing this long-term funding and stabilizing our transit systems. I’m confident that in spite of these challenges, with partnership from leaders across the region we can ensure our public transportation systems will not only survive but thrive to become bigger and better than ever.

Scott Wiener represents San Francisco and northern San Mateo County in the California State Senate. He chairs the Senate Budget Committee and is a member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. He previously chaired the Senate Housing Committee and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. He can be reached at 415-557-1300.