Biden’s esteem may not save transit
When Joe Biden started his political career, he boarded Amtrak in Washington every day to go home to eat dinner with his children in Delaware, and for nearly half a century, he’s kept riding.
Now the former train commuter is headed to the White House — and the Bay Area’s public transportation agencies are hopeful that having a Democratic transit advocate in the country’s highest office, with the chance of more federal emergency funds, will pull them back from financial ruin. As Bay Area transit agencies worry about potential service cuts and layoffs, and ridership that has not rebounded, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“Transit is imprinted on Joe
Biden’s DNA,” said Bevan Dufty, BART director and former San Francisco supervisor, who started his career on Capitol Hill. “He is going to ensure that, whatever recovery program, transit is going to be a part of it.”
Bay Area public transit officials believe that having a Democratic president and retaining a strong Congressional delegation bodes well for the future, but financial relief may not come quickly or be enough to solve longterm problems. The pandemic has pummeled public transit in the Bay Area, which has some of the strictest and longest lasting shelter-inplace guidelines in the country, and left just a fraction of riders. Because of the high concentration of tech companies, many people started working from home, some permanently. Downtown San Francisco, a hospitality hub before the pandemic, cleared out.
Bus, train and ferry operators have kept going with federal emergency funds, but that money is running out. Agencies that already tightened their belts may have to cut service or staff soon and could face a bleak financial future for years to come.
“We anticipate agencies are marching toward the edge of a fiscal cliff,” said Michael Pimentel, deputy executive director of the California Transit Association.
Public transportation’s saving grace this year was the first emergency federal relief bill, called the Cares Act. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission doled out $ 1.3 billion in April and July to Bay Area agencies based on how much revenue they lost during the pandemic.
BART received the most — $ 377 million — followed by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs Muni, receiving $ 373.7 million; the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, $ 141.6 million; AC Transit, $ 114.2 million; Caltrain, $ 64.6 million; and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, $ 51.6 million.
Because ridership remains drastically lower than before the pandemic, that money will soon be gone. Golden Gate Transit, part of the GGBHTD, will run out of those funds by the end of November; Muni and Caltrain at the end of December; and BART by partway through next year. Local agencies are now desperate for more money to keep staff on the payroll and continue serving the most vulnerable Bay Area residents who depend on public transportation.
Negotiations on a new relief bill didn’t budge before the election, and no one knows if — or when — another will be passed. California and Bay Area officials support the Democrat-crafted HEROES Act, which would have included $ 32 billion for transportation nationwide, with $ 3.1 billion for the state.
Chances of its passage may depend on which party holds control of the Senate after two runoff races in January. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will prioritize talks as the legislative body reconvened this week, and Pimentel predicted relief could come in late 2020 or early 2021.
But some local officials were skeptical of swift or sweeping help, especially given that Democrats in Congress who had pushed for more aid lost some seats. Kate Breen, SFMTA’s government affairs director, summed it up as “on the one hand, optimism; on the other hand, work to do.”
Randy Rentschler, legislative director with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, said the “prudent” action is cutting back now, not waiting for more funds.
“We have to take actions assuming that it may not come,” Rentschler said. “If we get more money in the future, it may allow these transit operators to take just one step or two steps as opposed to what they are facing. We’ve never faced anything like this. Transit operators have never seen a situation as dire as this, ever, as a group.”
Bay Area agencies have already curtailed service and are considering cutting jobs to make ends meet — and may have to do so for the next couple of years as ridership inches back to recovery.
The Golden Gate transit district needs to either lay off staff or raise tolls. Up to 40 Muni bus lines cut at the start of the pandemic could be lost permanently if the agency doesn’t find a new revenue source. BART, facing a budget shortfall by the summer, already reduced hours and doubled wait times between trains and is considering four options of service levels and possible layoffs early next year.
Caltrain officials can breathe easier after the election win of Measure RR, a threecounty sales tax measure that will bring in $ 108 million a year for the train system. But funds won’t roll in until September, and Cares Act money runs out by the end of 2020. If more federal funding doesn’t come, Caltrain may have to furlough staff and borrow against future Measure RR funds, at a cost.
Beyond critical emergency funding, California’s public transportation experts are pushing — and hopeful — for longerterm support for public transportation, urban infrastructure and climate change solutions under the new administration. California has audacious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector and needs to make all buses zeroemission by 2040.
“Public transportation is going to be a key part of how we address climate change,” said Casey Fromson, director of government and community affairs at Caltrain, which is electrifying its rail system. “To really maximize our future, address climate change, create jobs and serve all the essential riders, we’re going to need to continue to have meaningful resources both from the federal and the state government.”
For now, though, money and time are running out for local public transit operators, with more cuts that could hurt workers and riders coming soon.
“We all know the pandemic isn’t over,” SFMTA’s Breen said. “The urgency is more than ever.”