Democrats Call On Governor And Legislature To Fund Public Transportation

By Ria Roebuck Joseph | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square California

April 27, 2023

(The Center Square) - A coalition of public transportation leaders and stakeholders led by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) called on Governor Newsom and leaders in the Legislature to prevent a looming statewide crisis in public transportation by providing adequate operational funding to the sector.

“Today I’m joined by transit leaders from around the state. We’re here to call on the legislature and the governor for all of us to work together to address one of the most underappreciated crises facing California today - specifically the transit fiscal cliff we are going to start seeing in the next twelve to twenty-four months if we don’t find funding solutions for California’s transportation systems,” Weiner pointed out in his opening remarks on April 26.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office overview of California’s 2022-23 transportation spending plan shows a 20% ($8 billion) dollar decrease from 2021-22 funding levels.

The governor’s proposed budget aimed to cut transit capital funds by $2 billion. The Senate Democratic Caucus Budget framework rejected the proposed cuts and committed to finding funding solutions. California Transit Association projects that transit will need $1 billion per year for the next five years. Weiner stated, “This is not a problem that is out of our grasp, it is fixable.”

A $5.15 billion budget blueprint funding request for addressing short-term operating shortfalls was unveiled following months-long discussions among environmental advocates, business leaders, transit agencies and advocates, members of legislature and Sacramento.

Weiner revealed that at the height of the pandemic, ridership fell by 90-95% and is not recovering quickly enough adding to the woes of the transit sector. Federal emergency funds are currently sustaining the transit operations, but they are due to end in the next 12 to 24 months. “Without those federal funds we will see systems go belly up,” Weiner said.

If prior year funding allotments are upheld, the impact of the request for additional funding on the General Fund would be limited to $213 million for fiscal year 2023-2024. Additional operational funding would also be sought from other sources to meet transit funding needs more completely.

Weiner warns that the transit systems can find themselves in a death spiral. “When transit systems have fewer riders, it means less revenue, and if that leads to service cuts it means even more riders leaving the systems because they are not reliable enough, and then we see further service cuts.”

Weiner noted that should the transit system unravel, it could have economic implications as workers can’t get to work. It also negatively impacts transit dependent communities and undermines of the state’s climate goals.

Michael Pimentel, Executive Director of California Transit Association listed the pandemic-induced challenges facing transit: slow ridership growth; a widening workforce gap; and impending operating deficits which threaten the ability to provide service and contribute to the state’s environmental objectives.

Executive Director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Jeff Tumlin commented on the climate concerns “In San Francisco about half of our green-house gas emissions come from transportation…of that about 75% is private cars and trucks while less than 1% is public transit. If we care about advancing our fight against climate change, we have to fund public transit through this critical time period.”

The coalition is looking for a state-level solution with flexibility to address local needs.

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