As gasoline prices creep towards $4.00 a gallon and Californians look for
relief, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has the opportunity to give commuters a
break this week in the May Revise to his FY08-09 state budget proposal.
Transportation advocates are primarily focused on the
governor and legislature’s commitment to allocate 50 percent of the so-called
“Spillover,” a fund for public transit that increases when gas prices rise
faster than inflation. With more than 80 percent of other transportation funds
dedicated strictly to roads and highways, the Spillover has become the largest
source of funding for public transit services. Last year the governor and
legislature made a disappointing decision to cut $1.26 billion of public transit
funding from the public transit account in the current year’s budget. At the
same time, they also wrote into law that they would never divert more than 50
percent of the Spillover in the future. Transportation advocates including the
Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) and the California Public Interest
Research Group (CALPIRG) are counting on the Governor to keep the state’s
promise in his May Revise budget he releases tomorrow. At a lobby day for public
transit on May 20th, the advocates will be asking the same of state
legislators.
“Cutting public transit services now makes as little
sense as dropping your health insurance right after you get sick. With high gas
prices and concerns about pollution driving a noticeable increase in transit
ridership, we need our bus and rails lines to accommodate and retain those new
riders,” said Emily Rusch, CALPIRG Advocate.
As recent stories in the media have reported, California’s bus and rail
lines are experiencing a surge in ridership this
spring.
- Sacramento RT light
rail ridership was up 43.3 percent in April 2008, compared to April 2007 (in
part due to Easter holiday in March, but still significant)
- At Los Angeles
Metro, from January to March, average weekday boardings rose 16 percent on the
Red Line rail system, 13 percent on the Blue Line and 17 percent on the Gold
Line. Bus ridership grew 8 percent over the same time
period
- Caltrain set a
record for average weekday ridership in February of 36,993, a 9.3 percent
increase from 2007
- Ridership on both
the ACE and Capitol Corridor trains rose 13.6 percent in the first quarter of
2008 compared with the same quarter last year
A recent survey of transit providers by the California
Transit Association (CTA) revealed additional ridership increases on transit
across the state:
- 4 percent increase
in ridership on AC Transit over the past year
- 11 percent increase
in ridership on Yuba-Sutter Transit over the past year
- 5.5 percent increase
in Union City Transit bus services over the past year
- 5 percent increase
in San Diego MTS ridership over the past year, with some lines’ ridership
increasing by as much as 11 percent
- Santa Clara VTA’s
ridership increased over 9 percent in the past year
- BART has set
numerous ridership records this year, including a 20 percent increase in
ridership to SFO during the winter holidays compared to the previous
year
“It’s clear that more and more Californians are relying
on public transportation. Ridership growth is true across the state—in big city
systems and on smaller local systems,” said Carli Paine, TALC’s Transportation
Program Director. “Our state has the opportunity to support this choice that’s
better for the environment, better for people’s wallets, and a whole lot better
than sitting in traffic.”
Cutting public transportation funding would add to
commuters’ burdens by hurting their public transportation choices. If public
transportation funds are raided we can expect to see additional service cuts and
fare increases up and down the state. Already major transit providers like the
Muni, AC Transit, LA’s Metro, and others have been considering fare increases as
a way to make up losses caused in part by the state’s raid on public transit
operating funds.
Environmentalists agree that funding for public
transportation is a top priority. “When the state funds public transportation,
it moves us toward meeting our AB 32 climate change goals,” said Tim Frank,
Advocate for Sierra Club California
A recent report by Environment California identified
public transit and transit-oriented development as two of seven key strategies
for meeting the state’s commitments to reduce global warming pollution.
“We were disappointed by the current year budget cuts,
but we’re hoping that the Governor and legislature do the right thing, keep
their promise, and give public transit the funding it deserves,” said Carli
Paine.
