Supervisor Preston and Transit Advocates Call on Governor Newsom and State Legislators to Prioritize Public Transit Funding in the Upcoming State Budget

SAN FRANCISCO — Earlier today, Supervisor Preston introduced a Resolution at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors calling on Governor Newsom and the state legislature to provide much-needed transportation funding to the Bay Area’s struggling public transportation systems. The introduction of the Resolution comes ahead of the Governor’s May revision to his January budget which included a $2 billion cut to public transit funding and no operations funding to address the fiscal cliff facing transit agencies.

“Without significant public transportation funding from the state, our local transportation systems risk a death spiral of service cuts and diminishing ridership during a climate emergency,” said Supervisor Preston, a 29-year Muni rider. “We need to treat this moment like the emergency it is, and demand that our state leaders invest in public transportation before it’s too late.”

Transit agencies need “bridge funding” for operations in the state budget to allow for more time to develop long-term and sustainable funding models, which could include an ask to Bay Area voters to approve a measure (or measures) that help fund public transit, as well as other funding sources. Many Bay Area transit agencies, including Muni, are rapidly approaching a fiscal cliff. Based on current ridership, service levels, and cost trends, Bay Area transit agencies, including BART, Muni and Caltrain forecast annual budget shortfalls in the tens of millions of dollars in FY 2023-24, growing to hundreds of millions of dollars beginning in FY 2024-25 and thereafter.

“If the Governor and the State legislature want to truly prioritize equity, the environment, and supporting San Francisco’s economic recovery, then they should not only ensure that our local transit agencies have enough funding to prevent service cuts and enough funding to support increased service to draw riders back to public transit to thrive,” said Jaime Viloria, Transit Advocate and Board member at Transit Riders. “For our economy and climate future, we need all hands on deck.”

The economic recovery of downtown San Francisco also depends on a thriving transit system, particularly as the city continues to have a struggling downtown economic recovery from the pandemic. Multi-year operations funding from the state could support the city’s downtown economic recovery, and also protect public transit from looming cuts to critical transit service that thousands of San Franciscans rely upon. Funding would also help protect and expand service for low-income neighborhoods, as well as essential evening service that saw severe cuts during the pandemic.

"We can’t afford to lose public transit. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on Muni every single day to get to their jobs, to school, to the grocery store, and to the senior center," said Jeff Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. "If we care about equity, if we care about the environment, if we care about supporting the San Francisco Bay Area’s economic recovery, we’ve got to make sure our transit agencies stay solvent."

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