CA: California's new $2 billion pitch to save public transit: The international sports fans are coming

Bay Area legislators asked the state Wednesday for $2 billion to shore up public transit, fearing bus and rail systems will sputter at a high-stakes moment — just when international sports fans descend on San Francisco and Los Angeles.

With the Super Bowl and World Cup hitting the Bay Area in 2026, and Los Angeles preparing to host the Olympics two years later, elected leaders want to showcase their cities on a global stage. Robust transportation is a big part of it, said state Sen. Jesse Arreguín, a Democrat from Berkeley.

"Millions of spectators will need to use public transit to get to game events and other tourist destinations," Arreguín and Assemblymember Mark González, D- Los Angeles, wrote in a letter requesting the $2 billion budget set-aside.

"Completing new rail and bus lines and making first- and last-mile connections are needed to help spectators move safely, reliably, and comfortably," the letter continued, noting that cities sought federal funds to jump-start these projects, but aren't guaranteed that money.

The $2 billion would be a stop-gap to stave off disaster, spread over two years and split between Northern and Southern California.

At this point, officials do not know how the funds would be divided. Some would go toward capital projects in the Los Angeles area, where the Olympics are set to take place in 2028. Another portion would serve as life support for Bay Area transit agencies that have lost ridership in the era of remote work. Federal and state funds that helped ameliorate the devastation of COVID are mostly set to run out next year.

Chief among the struggling agencies is BART, which could face evisceration — including station closures and hourlong waits for trains — without a new source of funding. Such service cuts would upend everyday commutes and cause chaos when sports fans swarm San Francisco for Super Bowl events in February. Caltrain is also at risk of reductions that could potentially impact a key link to Levi's Stadium, where World Cup games will take place.

"What we've seen from the leadership of the cities who are hosting these games is a firm commitment to go car-free — to encourage folks to take sustainable modes of transportation to the games, and avoid what is otherwise going to be gridlock and insurmountable congestion," said Michael Pimentel, executive director of the nonprofit California Transit Association. He pointed out that new infrastructure built for the games would ultimately benefit regular commuters.

"The games help us accelerate, in theory, some of the improvements that otherwise might take generations," Pimentel said.

Leaders who have rallied behind Arreguín's budget request call it a first step in what will likely be a long and delicate triage process. With some Bay Area agencies scaling back routes and deferring maintenance, it's clear that public transit needs money now. Yet, it also needs an ongoing spigot in the future. Officials may also seek funds from California's cap-and-trade program while building support for what many hope is a long-term solution: a 2026 tax measure for transit.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, who chairs the Senate's budget committee, has tried to convey the gravity of the situation.

"If these systems start to unravel, we will see massive increases in traffic congestion as commuters shift to cars," Wiener said in an interview with the Chronicle. "We'll see more pollution. Our climate goals will become impossible. And it will be incredibly harmful economically."

Wiener led a coalition that secured $1 billion from the budget for transit operations in 2023, $400 million of which went to the Bay Area. Those funds created a bulwark to keep transit from hitting a fiscal cliff. The new $2 billion appropriation, if granted, would be a "short-term bridge," Wiener said.

He and others aim to prevent the worst possible scenario: service cuts that make transit less reliable, which repels riders and leads to more cuts. Once that death spiral is in motion, it's hard to pull back, Wiener said, even if money comes in later.

So far, agencies have avoided catastrophe, largely with emergency bailouts. But the problems could start before a tax measure lands on the ballot — and before the big sporting events begin.

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