Would you pay more sales tax to keep BART and other transit agencies from cutting service?

Fundraising, advertising and grassroots efforts are underway to persuade voters to approve a November ballot measure that would give Bay Area transit agencies a financial cushion and prevent major service cuts.

Voters are being asked to approve a 14-year regional transportation sales tax of one cent in San Francisco and a half-cent in Alameda, Contra Costa , San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The tax would generate about $980 million annually to help fund BART, Muni, AC Transit, Caltrain, SF Ferry, SamTrans and other Bay Area transit companies that continue to experience a post-COVID-19 pandemic budget deficit.

State Sens. Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguín proposed the Bay Area Transit Funding measure last year. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation in October, and supporters recently submitted more than 305,000 signatures to put it on the ballot. Transportation agencies say the outcome could determine the future of public transportation in the Bay Area. 

For BART,  the stakes are high. The agency’s fiscal year 2027 budget assumes approximately $74 million in revenue from the proposed measure based on estimates from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency responsible for Bay Area public transportation planning and financing. If voters reject the measure and no alternative funding is identified, the agency could implement an Alternative Service Plan in January that includes service cuts, station closures, fare increases, a 40% reduction in system support services and layoffs for about 1,200 employees.

The plan does not name specific stations to be closed, a decision the BART board would make, Chris Filippi, a BART spokesperson, said in a written response to Oakland North.

Connect Bay Area is among the groups campaigning for the measure. 

“We know we have got work to do ahead of us, but there is a really good base of people who are supporting the measure generally, and a strong group that’s ready to get to work to fight for it all the way up to November,” said Jeff Cretan, spokesperson for the group. 

The campaign, which  surpassed its signature-gathering target thanks to the effort of more than 1,000 volunteers, is also backed by numerous business leaders and labor organizations. Cretan said major supporters include technology entities like Salesforce and Meta, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chris Larsen, and unions such as the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The campaign has raised $5.5 million, though the bulk was spent on getting the measure on the ballot.

“You need a lot of volunteers and people to go to community meetings, Democratic clubs, farmers markets, to go wherever voters are and talk to them,” Cretan said. “We are going to fundraise and we are also going to have to do a significant amount of advertising to voters because this is a huge region.”

Transit agencies receiving funding would be subject to financial efficiency reviews conducted by a third-party consultant and supervised by an independent committee established by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Companies would be required to implement efficiency proposals and exhibit compliance to remain eligible for funding. 

“People want to support transit, but they want to know that the agencies are acting efficiently and responsibly with those dollars,” Cretan said.

Opposition to the measure

Contra Costa Taxpayers Association President Marc Joffe said he is “very skeptical” that the measure’s accountability provisions have “any real teeth” to ensure transit agencies use the additional revenue responsibly.  His group is campaigning against the measure and calling on Bay Area transit agencies to figure out how to better spend the billions of dollars they already receive from riders and taxpayers.

The Bay Area has become very expensive, and it’s very hard for middle-income people to make ends meet here,” Joffe said. “So the fight for affordability in the Bay Area starts with voters saying no to these expensive taxes.”

According to Connect Bay Area, without the additional revenue, AC Transit could face about a 37% reduction in service, Muni could reduce service by roughly 30%, including late-night operations, and Caltrain could eliminate weekend service and reduce weekday frequencies. BART could face the deepest reductions, service cuts of as much as 70% and the closures of up to 15 stations.

Wiener did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In a May 26 news release,  he said, “The challenges facing BART and Muni are existential, but failure is not an option here. The Bay Area runs on transit, and we must step up to save it for all our sakes.”

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