Transit layoff plans reversed
Virus relief bill prompts board to rescind cuts
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District voted to reverse a decision to lay off nearly 150 transit workers on Wednesday, but only if the new $900 billion federal coronavirus relief bill is signed into law.
The bridge district board agreed unanimously to rescind its Nov. 13 decision to lay off 146 bus and ferry workers and to cut pay to district administrators and board members by 10% in early January.
“This was the holiday news we were hoping for all along,” said Barbara Pahre, the board president. “What this does is it buys us time, and in that time I think it’s absolutely essential that we continue to look at ways of working with our employees to stretch out the funds as long as they can go,” said Michael Theriault, the vice president.
The board approved the layoffs to cover about half of a looming $48 million deficit caused by nine months of dramatic losses in transit ridership and toll revenues. The layoffs and pay cuts are set to take effect on Jan. 4 unless the stimulus package is approved.
Bay Area transit providers are expected to receive $975 million from the new stimulus package passed by Congress this week. The bill is now on President Donald Trump's desk but it is unclear whether he will sign it. In a video address on Tuesday evening, Trump called the bipartisan bill that took seven months to reach consensus on a “disgrace” and urged Congress to amend it. While Trump has not said that he would veto the bill, he is calling for stimulus checks to be raised from $600 to $2,000 per person.
Congress passed the bill under a veto-proof majority and could reverse Trump's veto, should he decide to go that route.
“Hopefully the president of the United States will sign this and we can start moving forward,” district bus driver Frank Gleason told the board.
The stimulus package would be the first since Congress passed the CARES Act in March. The Bay Area's 27 transit providers received $1.3 billion from the legislation to make up for plummeting ridership, lost tax revenue and toll losses, and to keep employees on the payroll.
The Golden Gate Bridge district received $52 million from the CARES Act but ran out of the funding in November. Bus ridership has dropped to about 75% below normal and ferry ridership to about 96% below normal, according to the district. Toll revenues, which subsidize the majority of the costs to run the district's passenger and ferry service, have dropped to 70% of normal.
While it's unclear how much the bridge district would receive from the new stimulus funds and how long they would last, Denis Mulligan, the district's general manager, said the funding would likely last into the spring and would be a “lifeline to the district as we navigate the long arc of this pandemic.”
While there are hopes the approval of two coronavirus vaccines will improve the public's trust in using transit once again, it's expected to be months before large portions of the population will be vaccinated. Should ridership and toll revenues continue to be low, layoffs at the bridge district might be reconsidered.