Analysis: BART, other CA transit systems in fiscally “dire situations”

CalMatters reports on the post-Covid public transportation quandary: Ridership is plummeting, federal funding is running out, and quality continues to go down as revenue thins. Yet, whether additional funds (and the associated extra burden on taxpayers) would improve the situation remains doubtful.

Transit agencies rely on a mix of funding sources — federal grants, state funding, revenue from local taxes and passenger fares.

The agencies that rely more heavily on fares are the ones in the most dire situations. That includes Bay Area Rapid Transit, San Francisco’s MUNI and Los Angeles Metro.

BART ridership dropped from more than 118 million in fiscal year 2019 to about 35 million in 2022, according to the agency. In 2019, BART’s passenger fares and parking revenues totaled $520 million, funding 66% of its operations. That number dropped to 12% in 2021, and rebounded slightly last year to 21%, with passenger fares and parking totaling $147 million.

The agency received $1.6 billion through three rounds of emergency federal aid. Initial funding was limited to spending specifically on COVID-19 measures, such as emergency protective gear for employees and covering administrative leaves, but later grants allowed spending on operations. And while that funding has helped restore service to pre-pandemic levels, the system still encounters delays and cancellations, in part due to an ongoing labor shortage.

This article originally appeared in CalMatters. Read the whole thing here.

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