• Our federal, state, and regional governments have never significantly funded transit operations. Whereas highways and roads get billions each year, transit agencies in the Bay Area have always had to struggle to serve the community with limited funds. Our transit agencies are amazing at doing more with less – for example, BART is one of the best transit agencies in the country in terms of dollars spent per rider served– but that means that whatever savings can be made by improving efficiency are not enough to keep service running. The only way to make significant budget cuts is to make significant service cuts. 

    The situation is particularly acute for BART and Caltrain, which had some of the highest "farebox recovery ratios” of US transit agencies. Most other transit agencies get the majority of operating funds from local, regional, and state funding sources – not fares.

    Muni's budget deficit is due to lower parking revenues from San Francisco's general fund, in addition to reduced Muni fare revenues.

    AC Transit's budget deficit is being driven by lower sales tax and diesel tax revenues.

  • If no action is taken BART, Caltrain, Muni, AC Transit, and others will face upwards of $900 million in cumulative annual budget shortfalls beginning in FY2027. Other transit agencies like SamTrans and VTA are expecting deficits in upcoming years.

  • Authorizing legislation allows a 14-year sales tax to be placed on the ballot in the five participating counties. The default rate is a half-cent with the exception of San Francisco, where it will be one-cent to provide additional support for Muni.

  • Recent polls (conducted by MTC, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties) have shown that more than 50% of Bay Area voters support new funding for public transit. Voters say it’s important that any funding effort prevent service cuts, support vulnerable groups who rely on transit, improve the rider-experience, and ensure transparency and accountability of public funds.

  • Early research estimates the 5-county measure would raise $1 billion annually. 

    This would mean more funding to not only save transit, but expand service for VTA, SamTrans, and other agencies. 

  • The basics of good transit are frequent, fast, convenient, well-coordinated service. The measure provides funding to prevent service cuts and a set of policies to improve the rider ridership by making public transit faster, more affordable, and convenient. These include:

    • Free/reduced priced transfers when taking trips between agencies and a standard low-income discount program that are both predicted to increase ridership.

    • Integrated mapping and wayfinding signs across the region to make navigating transit stations easier.

    • Transit priority infrastructure investments to make transit that runs on streets and roads faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective.

    • Funding to coordinate paratransit and accessible transportation to make an extremely cumbersome system more user-friendly for people with disabilities and older adults.

    The measure will raise $46 million annually for transit transformation initiatives.

  • Under the California Constitution and state law, authorizing legislation at the state level is needed to create a new tax district, followed by voter approval. 

    No current taxing district encompasses all 5-counties in the regional measure, so the state legislature passed authorizing legislation, Senate Bill 63 (Wiener and Arreguín), this year. 

    A signature gathering effort is necessary because if a government agency were to put the measure on the ballot, two-thirds of voters would need to vote yes. This two-thirds threshold is required by the California Constitution for "special taxes” imposed for specific purposes.

    Unfortunately, support for a 2026 transit regional measure has never exceeded this two-thirds threshold. But thankfully, a measure can pass with 50% + 1 voter approval if the measure is placed on the ballot by a citizens’ signature gathering effort. This means collecting over 200,000 signatures before July 2026.