California Public Transit May Receive Massive Cuts

Public transit in Contra Costa County and San Ramon Valley faces steep cuts that would hinder operation because the budget in Sacramento is completely out of control.

Public bus riders in Contra Costa County and San Ramon Valley could face deep service cutbacks and higher fares because of a threatened state diversion of transit funds, County Connection managers said.

The bus system would lose $2.9 million in state gas-tax funds — the equivalent cost of operating its buses 20 percent of the time — under a proposal under consideration by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget writers to deal with the state’s budget crisis, according to transit officials.

“I consider this a serious threat to our service,” said Rick Ramacier, the County Connection general manager. “If the worse case plays out, they will be suspending $2.9 million of our funds, on top of the reduced sales tax we get due to the sluggish economy, and the $1 million a year higher costs we face because of rising fuel costs.”

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), wants to take this idea and expand it nationally. He says it would provide “relief” despite the fact that it would do nothing to reduce the price at the pump. Instead, he claims it would provide a “psychological” effect.

Repealing the gas tax diverts money from public transportation which is actually providing real relief to working Americans by allowing them to save money on gas by riding public transit to work.

Take me, for example, last year. Living in San Ramon without a car was incredibly difficult and limited my employment options, yet it was the only living arrangement I could muster. Riding the bus for 40 minutes to Walnut Creek BART was the only way to get to work in downtown Oakland.

Needless to say, this is yet another brilliant idea from the Schwarzenegger administration.

“With public transit ridership way up and gas prices rising, this is the wrong time to transfer funding away from public transit,” Ramacier said.

Allow me to echo David Dayen — we need high speed rail in California immediately.

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October 6, 2008