The BART Board of Directors breathed a collective sigh of relief Thursday following last week’s election results, in which voters appear to have saved Bay Area transit, at least for the foreseeable future.
At their regular meeting Thursday, the board heard a budget update from staff that factors in funding from the Regional Transit Measure, or RTM, a 14-year, half-cent sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and a one-cent sales tax in San Francisco.
As of the latest count from Monday, the measure was headed toward passage with 63 percent of the vote, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
BART board directors thanked voters, campaign organizers and their own staff in the wake of the apparent victory, which will deliver $980 million a year in new funds to BART, Muni, Caltrain, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, the San Francisco Bay Ferry, Golden Gate Transit and other transportation agencies operating in the five counties.
If RTM failed, BART predicted that it would have to close 10 BART stations with the lowest ridership as early as January 2027.
“I think today is definitely a day that all of us can be grateful for RTM and the funding that’s coming our way and we will honor that and be good stewards going forward,” said director Matt Rinn.
New funding brings pressure for reform
Other directors also expressed a desire for the transit agency to fix its ongoing budget deficit, which RTM has shrunk from an estimated $275 million in fiscal year 2027 — a budget that assumes $88.5 million in borrowed funds — to $28 million, $39 million, $38 million and $19 million over the subsequent four years.
Director Mark Foley said the 14-year lifespan of the RTM funding provides a window of opportunity for BART to rethink how it produces and spends revenues.
“The Bay Area has spoken and we survived, but that support comes with expectations — change, transparency, accountability and ultimately financial self-sufficiency,” Foley said. “We cannot mistake victory for permission to continue doing business as usual.”
He said the days of depending on daily commuter traffic to support BART budgets have been fading since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when employers all over the country transitioned to a remote-work model — a trend that continues to devastate transit agencies’ income streams.
Foley suggested BART explore new revenue possibilities, like dynamic pricing for fares and parking and keeping the system open until 2:30 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and New Year’s Eve.
Director Robert Raburn said the agency has been in a dire fiscal situation since passenger revenue plummeted from $559 million in 2019 to $308 million today.
“That defines the situation that we face,” Raburn said, echoing other directors’ comments that BART needs to develop a new business model going forward. “We were pushed up against the wall by the pandemic and the loss of ridership revenue.”
Director Liz Ames said BART needs to dramatically increase those ridership numbers but also still needs help from the state to thrive.
“I would like to say to the governor, that we do need some kind of subsidy for transit,” Ames said. “We shouldn’t have to go to the voters to beg for the funding for sales tax increases — well, not beg.”
BART’s preliminary budget for fiscal years 2028 and 2029 is due in March of next year, with final passage scheduled for June 2027.
