Rallies raise profile of transit crisis - tell Governor Newsom and legislature to act by 6/15 deadline

This past Saturday, over 200 protesters in SF and Oakland staged a mock funeral procession for transit agencies mourning the huge loss that’ll occur given no changes in Governor Newsom’s Budget proposal. The action was put together by the Survive and Thrive Coalition of which Seamless Bay Area is a key member. 

Dozens of attendees were garbed in traditional black attire with pallbearers carrying wooden caskets, each with its own model BART, Caltrain, AC Transit, and MUNI vehicles draped in flowers. Protestors in the East Bay convened at the 19th St BART Station in Oakland, grouping up with protestors at the Civic Center BART station before making their way to the SF City Hall steps. 

Their clear message was covered by the media (SF Chronicle, NBC Bay Area, and Oaklandside), echoing the concerns of transit advocates and agencies statewide: we only have a few more days to avoid a real funeral that would affect 72% of transit agencies around the state.

Deadline June 12 - how you can help

The California state budget needs to be voted on by June 15th, and the budget needs to be published by June 12.  Thanks to pressure from all of us, negotiations are ongoing in the state legislature and with the governor. 

Unfortunately, the most recent budget proposals voted on by the legislature do not provide nearly enough funding to meet the need to prevent transit cuts and regrow ridership. This would force transit agencies to choose between preventing service cuts and important capital priorities, and would abandon $6B+ in federal matching funds.

We need to burn up the phone lines in the offices of the state’s top leaders who are negotiating the budget now. Click here for the numbers to call. If you can’t call during office hours (or after you call), click here now to send a letter to California’s top 5 leaders demanding that they save transit by the budget deadline.

And if you want to let more transit riders know about the emergency we face and how to take action, sign up to flyer this week on buses and trains.