Although the collapse of one of the region's largest freeway interchanges threatened commuters with hours of traffic and overflowing trains this morning, Bay Area transit operators made getting to work and school relatively painless.
“Today, more than ever, we can proudly say that public transit keeps us moving. Unfortunately, the very same services that saved the day today are in jeopardy due to deep cuts to public transit in Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal,” said Carli Paine, Transportation Program Director for the Transportation and Land Use Coalition.
“We already know public transit helps to ease traffic congestion and reduces pollution, and today proves that public transit also provides important services in times of emergencies. We cannot afford to lose transit services to budget cuts,” said Emily Rusch, Advocate with CALPIRG.
Although the Governor provided $2.5 million in emergency transit funding today, the Governor has proposed cutting over $1.1 billion from public transit in the state budget for next year. Specific concerns with the current budget proposal for public transit include:
Governor Schwarzenegger’s January proposal would cut the State Transit Assistance program, the only state program that assists with operating costs, by 70 percent from last year. Only $185 million in state funds would be available to help cover operations.
Governor Schwarzenegger’s January proposal would use $600 million from Prop 1B bonds to replace redirected transit funds, rather than using Prop 1B to supplement the transit agencies’ budgets, as voters clearly intended when they passed the bond measure. The Governor’s proposed cuts threaten to put many expansion projects on hold.
Governor Schwarzenegger’s January proposal would make many of the transit funding cuts permanent. For example, he proposes permanently redirecting what’s known as the “spillover,” a funding pot for public transit operations that increases when gas prices are high. By proposing to redirect those funds, the Governor refuses to recognize that when gas prices are high the costs of providing public transit increases, and the demand for more services many systems also experience a jump in riders when it costs more to commute by car.
