$590M loan secured to help stave off one year of Bay Area transit service cuts.
The state government will issue a $590 million emergency loan to avert near term disastrous cuts to Bay Area public transit. This emergency loan prevents cuts that would have started in July of this year, but it only covers a year of costs. Big cuts to BART, Muni, Caltrain, and AC Transit will still happen next year unless we pass the Connect Bay Area regional transit funding ballot measure and an additional funding measure in San Francisco.
Seamless Bay Area and our allies across California pushed hard throughout all of 2025 to make this victory possible.
Year-long Battle at the State Legislature
In May 2025, Governor Newsom's budget proposed slashing billions in existing transit funding and clawing back $700 million undistributed funding that transit advocates won in 2023 to keep transit running. Throughout 2025, we pressured elected leaders and the Governor to get a deal done.
By June 2025, state leaders committed to funding transit as part of the budget.
But then in September 2025, we got word that the deal was about to fall through. So with just a few days’ notice, we rallied over 200 people from all around the Bay, as well as dozens of allied organizations and elected leaders, to take emergency action and get the deal back on track.
At the rally, we got word from the Governor that negotiations were back on the table. And on January 30, a deal was reached to provide a $590 million loan.
This victory only happened because tens of thousands of Californians and a coalition of more than 100 partner organizations all took action. Together, we sent in over 5,000 calls and 50,000 letters, organized rallies, dropped banners over freeways, and flyered at bus stops, and did all sorts of other actions. Thanks to everyone who took action to secure this funding to keep transit running!
Over 100 organizations were part of the Fund Transit, Support Our Communities Coalition fighting for transit funding.
Details of the Loan
The loan will be provided no later than July 1, 2026 with money awarded, but not yet allocated, to Bay Area projects through the Transit Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP). According to an MTC press release, “because many transit capital projects have long construction timelines and the TIRCP is continuously replenished, the loan is structured to uphold the state’s commitments to awarded projects while minimizing risk to project schedules.”
Additionally, the loan has a 12-year repayment period, with interest-only payments during the first two-years. The interest rate is tied to the state's Surplus Money Investment Fund to ensure the state is repaid at the same rate it would have earned had the fund remained in state accounts.
This $590 million loan is not the full amount advocates and transit agencies demanded. While it will prevent the vast majority of cuts that were coming this July, agencies project more than $800 million in cumulative deficit in the next fiscal year. Some operators may still have to make some small cuts to tide themselves over until the funds from the regional and local measures come through.
Still, this is a huge victory for the Bay Area and a testament to the power of everyone's organizing to make this happen.
Long-term cuts are preventable.
To prevent cuts after this short-term loan, we need to pass the Connect Bay Area regional transit funding ballot measure and an additional funding measure in San Francisco at the November 2026 election. But that requires a lot of work: we need to collect 200,000 signatures by July to qualify for the ballot, and then win at the ballot box in November. To win this campaign, we need people like you to gather signatures at upcoming events and get involved in this campaign in any way you can.
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