Save public transit from devastating cuts that would damage the economy, hurt the climate, and deepen inequality

California state legislators

Public transportation agencies in California are rapidly running out of money. Starting this upcoming budget year transit agencies are starting to run out of federal Covid relief funds that kept service running during the depths of the pandemic. Meanwhile transit ridership has been recovering at a steady but gradual pace.

Deep cuts to transit service due to lack of operations funding risk triggering a death spiral. With less service, even fewer people would use transit, deepening the fiscal crisis. Deep service cuts would be devastating to meeting regional and state strategies to reduce climate emissions and support housing near transit.

You can help prevent this dire outcome and save public transit.

Sign this position to support state funding needed to bridge the “fiscal gap”, to maintain and improve transit service until ridership fully recovers.  

See the Survive and Thrive campaign website for more information:

To: California state legislators
From: [Your Name]

​Dear Bay Area transit leaders and legislators,

Please take action to help prevent major transit service cuts to Bay Area transit.

Bay Area Public transit agencies - especially BART, Muni, and Caltrain - are rapidly running out of money due to the impacts of Covid.

The pandemic reduced transit agencies revenues from fares - and while transit use is rebounding steadily, transit agencies predict that without additional funding for transit operations, they may be forced to make drastic service cuts within 1-2 years.

For example, BART estimated that, without additional funding, in order to balance its budget and save 20-40% in costs, it would have to cut service hours by 65-85%. For riders, this would mean trains that run every 30-60 minutes instead of currently running every 10-15 minutes, and shutting down the system early every evening by 9pm instead of midnight.

Deep cuts to transit service such as this would be devastating for Bay Area residents and businesses - especially low income riders and essential workers who rely on transit most - and could trigger a transit ‘death spiral’ of more service cuts, and even fewer riders.

Deep service cuts also severely set back the state’s progress in reducing climate emissions from transportation - the state’s largest source of emissions - and undermine state progress in building more housing near transit.

Please work together to identify operations funding in the upcoming state budget to save public transit in the Bay Area and California from devastating service cuts. Saving the transit system in the near term will be critical to laying the groundwork for the Bay Area to identify more stable and permanent regional sources of funding for frequent, rider-friendly, well-coordinated, accessible public transportation.