Legislators demand systemic solutions for transit fiscal crisis
In recent weeks, transportation policy and budget committees in the California legislature have held several hearings focused on the fiscal cliff facing public transportation in the state. 72% of agencies - serving 80% of the state’s current transit riders - will be facing budget shortfalls in the next several years as federal Covid relief funding runs out.
Assemblymember Phil Ting (left) and Assemblymember Laura Friedman (right) at the March 15th Budget Subcommittee hearing.
At the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on March 15, Committee Chair Phil Ting expressed concerns about the lack of a clear plan for putting transit on a long term path toward financial stability, and about the need for transformation to adapt its service to changed post-pandemic needs.
Assemblymember Damon Connolly, representing Marin and Sonoma Counties, noted the Bay Area’s strategies to advance seamless transit with coordinated fares, schedules, wayfinding and network planning as strong strategies to regrow ridership. The Bay Area’s Transformation Action Plan was developed by a Blue Ribbon Task Force in 2020-21 with the goal of making service more rider-friendly, coordinated and accessible in order to grow ridership.
Assemblymember Laura Friedman, who chairs the Transportation Committee, said that she wanted to see increased coordination to foster ridership regrowth, and reconsideration of service patterns for current travel needs. Friedman also raised concerns about the state’s reliance on farebox recovery as a requirement for funding, which can often result in agencies cutting service and increasing fares.
Senator Catherine Blakespear at the March 14th Committee hearing.
At a Senate Joint hearing of Budget and Transportation Committees on March 14 focused on the use of funds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Senator Catherine Blakespear, representing San Diego, expressed support for operations funding, and concern about measuring and tracking progress toward goals to reduce emissions and shift transportation modes from driving.
Regarding the need for structural changes to put transit on a sound footing going forward, Senator Aisha Wahab, representing Alameda and Santa Clara counties, highlighted the challenge of providing competitive and fast travel times across 27 transit agencies. At the Joint Senate and Assembly Transportation Committee hearing on Feb 27, she called for a consolidation study to look at improving efficiency and service, which was seconded by Senator Dave Cortese of Santa Clara County, a former MTC Commissioner and VTA Board member.
At the Assembly budget committee hearing, staff from the Department of Finance and Legislative Analyst’s office noted that the State of California historically has provided funding for transit capital but much less for operations. Recent analysis from SPUR shows that California spends much less on transit operations than other major metropolitan areas.
Assembly Member Friedman’s bill, AB761, would help to address this disparity by setting up a statewide transit transformation task force, similar to the Bay Area’s Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force, to consider options for structural changes to the way transit is funded in California, along with other strategies including service coordination and fare coordination, and other potential institutional changes needed to support ridership regrowth. This bill would be highly complementary to providing short-term funding from the budget, by requiring consideration of structural changes to transit funding and performance metrics at the same time as the legislature helps prevent destructive cuts.
Seamless Bay Area supports a two-part solution to addressing transit’s fiscal crisis, including near-term multi-year temporary funding, and long term new permanent funding. Both near- and long-term funding should be connected with key policy requirements that can support ridership regrowth and progress toward the state’s climate goals.
In the near term, the state should support the expansion programs, such as the fare integration pilot in the Bay Area, that are showing success at building ridership. The BayPass all agency transit pass pilot is showing a 40% ridership increase for users who newly have access to all agencies rather than a single agency. That’s a strong example of a ridership regrowth strategy the Bay Area is starting and should be funded to continue. Showing work toward service restructuring and ridership regrowth are good conditions for funding.
In the long term, Seamless supports changing state formulas to facilitate state support of operating funding, connecting funding reforms to governance changes that can deliver more effective, regionally coordinated networks with new funding. AB 761 is an important bill that will look more deeply into funding and reforms that can improve transit over the long term. In addition, we believe that funding from regional measures in the Bay Area should be connected to policies and governance that can deliver a seamless system.
State legislators are correct to be calling for a plan for long-term transformation of public transit; they should support AB 761, consolidation studies, and, for the Bay Area at a minimum, the establishment of a network manager as an essential part of a future permanent funding source.
However, long-term transformation will take time, and there is very much an urgent need for immediate one-time funds to avoid service cuts. The best path to transit transformation is for the state to authorize one-time funding to ‘extend’ our runway to continue running transit service and continue initiatives to restructure service and regrow ridership. In parallel, we must prioritize the transformational reforms and new funding that can put transit on a more sustainable and successful path to growth over the long term.