The People Against Transit Cuts

Bay Area transit teeters on a precipice. As transit agencies slowly recover from pandemic-induced low ridership, they are facing fiscal cliffs, like insufficient funding, that threaten the buses and trains that move 247 million Bay Area residents a year.

If the funding cliff isn’t addressed by 2027, experts say BART would cut 65-80% of its trains, while hundreds of bus lines stop running around cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose.

A bailout is in the works, but far from a done deal. After years of negotiations and compromises, a critical mass of local politicians, transit riders, and unions has rallied around State Senate Bill 63. The new bill would not directly send more state money to transit, but would allow ballot measures to create a sales tax district of three core Bay Area counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco — while allowing voters in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to join later. 

“If passed, it would help raise hundreds of millions of dollars more for transit funding,” said rider and Transbay Coalition organizer Carter Lavin.

Despite facing a $14.9 million budget deficit, Santa Clara County initially refused to support the measure. A movement of workers and riders, who staged rallies and crowded out public hearings, pushed County officials to ‘opt-in’ to the bill, a week before the deadline.

“Public transit is on the line,” said Lawrence D., a rider, at a rally in support of Santa Clara County backing the bill. “We need this measure. People can’t afford to get a car, let alone afford to get gas.” 

Lawrence depended on VTA, the South Bay’s largest transit agency, when he was a student at San Jose State, but a move to Hollister has forced him to drive due to insufficient transit. “We need to make sure that everybody has access to a bus, light rail, or anything to make sure they can get to places on time because today, you can’t,” he said.

San Francisco's Muni bus and rail system is playing out an early preview of the cuts coming for the rest of the Bay. Muni made limited service cuts this summer to chip away at a $322 million budget deficit. 

Riders and community groups responded by organizing a “Muni Now, Muni Forever“ coalition, which plans rallies and public pressure to beat steeper cuts proposed for next year. Such cuts could see the cancellation of all night buses, which are lifelines for late night workers.

Cuts across the Bay would hit transit systems already barely functional, despite serving the country's fourth largest metro economy. Frequent delays, infrequent service, gaps between agencies, and inequitable coverage hinder the ability of thousands of seniors, youth, and working people to ride. 

Over the past five years, a transit riders movement has grown across the Bay to steer the system differently. 

Noor Rizvi, a young rider and Transbay Coalition activist, started to organize and attend public meetings for the East Bay's AC Transit, after management began work on a “Realign” package of schedule changes, route terminations, and stop closures.

“It was service cuts wrapped in a bow and presented to riders as a positive thing,” Rizvi said. “I was just in awe of how all these public meeting rooms were filled. There were people standing up against the wall, all AC Transit drivers fed up with how they were being treated.”

AC Transit, the East Bay’s largest local transit provider, has faced recent worker and rider campaigns to fix its merciless schedules, which forces drivers to skip essential breaks while causing delays for riders.

“They were and still are overworked, underpaid, and under tremendous stress. But seeing how passionately and emotionally they talked in those meetings, directly up to the faces of the board meetings, it was incredible,” Rizvi said.

Without adequate funding, workers elsewhere could suffer the same conditions. Following service cuts in San Francisco, Muni bus drivers are being ordered to ask permission for bathroom breaks; a restriction of basic human needs in order to keep time. 

The new bill is the measure furthest along to keep Bay Area transit afloat. But its reliance on local sales taxes has come under fire by the People’s Transit Alliance (PTA), an organization of AC Transit workers and riders, backed by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America (which is a fiscal sponsor of Current). PTA was instrumental in challenging AC Transit scheduling problems and winning hazard pay for workers during the pandemic. 

“Regardless of your income, everyone is taxed the same (in the new bill),”  said PTA co-chair Amy Thomson. Along with a BART union leader and some environmental groups, Thomson and PTA pushed instead for a gross receipts tax that would “raise more money and get you way more service” by taxing the largest corporations. 

Especially since federal corporate tax cuts seem to be on the way, Thomson, Lavin and other activists believe big local CEOs could easily absorb a new tax to save transit. 

With the bulk of politicians and rider activists moving to back the sales tax route, steps towards a corporate tax have stalled for now. But even to win that compromise, it will take a growing rider and worker movement to keep BART trains and buses from flying off the cliff.