This year, California jumped from the 5th to the 4th-largest economy globally. Governor Newsom took credit for this because we “invest in people [and] prioritize sustainability.” But that promise isn’t in the draft state budget this year, where he proposed slashing funding for transit and affordable housing.
Investing in people and prioritizing sustainability starts with daily needs like our biggest monthly expenses: transportation and housing. His attack on transit could not have come at a worse time. Our Bay Area transit agencies are in crisis and need emergency funding to keep service on the streets and our economy running.
Bay Area transit agencies, including AC Transit, BART, Muni, and Caltrain, face a combined budget deficit of more than $800 million and will soon have to slash service if we don’t identify funding. For example, BART may have to consider stopping service on two of its five lines and shutting down some stations altogether.
Transit supporters have been sounding the alarm for years. Most recently, State senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) requested $2 billion of emergency funding for transit from the state budget. This would stave off service cuts as transit ridership continues to grow and carry transit agencies through until a Bay Area ballot measure kicks in, if approved by voters in 2026.
The draft budget didn’t include any new funding for transit; it actually threatened existing transit funding, including at least $30 million for AC Transit. Newsom’s budget would impact everyone and especially hurt the working poor and people of color. At least 67 percent of AC Transit’s riders are low-income, and 75 percent identify as people of color. Less transit service means some people will have to drive, which is expensive and clogs our roads. In other words: higher transportation costs, slower traffic, and dirtier air.
But Governor Newsom doesn’t have the final say on the budget; our state legislators do. Which is why people must reach out to their state representatives to ask that they reject Newsom’s cuts to transit and instead invest in our communities’ ability to get around affordably and sustainably.
With a state budget of $322 billion–and fossil fuel companies getting at least $1 billion in free passes to pollute in the state’s “Cap and Invest” program–there is more than enough money to fund transit and all the other community and climate programs we need. We have the tools to make our state healthier and more affordable, but we need our state legislators to prioritize our communities and reject Newsom’s harmful cuts.
Amy Thomson is a transit advocate with the Transbay Coalition.
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