by Carter Lavin
Co-Founder, Transbay Coalition
People throughout the Bay Area – especially people of color and lower income families – take a million transit trips every day! Transit connects people to work, school, errands, friends, family, and even protests like the upcoming No Kings 3.
Yet, as you have probably heard, the Bay’s underfunded transit system is on the verge of financial collapse. The situation is so dire that even The New York Times has taken notice:
“BART’s…ridership cratered during the pandemic and remains less than half of what it once was. And the very future of the familiar white and blue trains, which have zipped around the Bay Area since 1972, is in doubt.”
Public transit cuts would devastate our community, leave people stranded, clog our roads, increase competition for parking and increase climate changing and asthma-inducing air pollution. [Note: The number of people using public transportation remains as high as ever; the decline in ridership is due to a decrease in the average number of trips per week that a person takes.]
Time and again, our federal government funds war rather than public transit, public education, and public healthcare. Chronic underfunding has pushed public transit systems throughout the Bay to the brink.
We should not and cannot let this happen. That’s why Indivisible East Bay is joining a coalition of regional groups in an effort to save and improve our transit — by supporting the effort to get the Connect Bay Area transit funding measure on this November’s ballot. The coalition includes Indivisible SF, San Jose 50501, Indivisible ReSisters, numerous unions, climate groups, disability and racial justice organizations, and democratic clubs from around the Bay.
The situation is critical. As explained in The San Francisco Standard:
“If Bay Area voters don’t pass a regional sales tax to fund BART in November, the agency will reduce service, cut its Red and Green lines, and close 15 of its 50 stations starting next July.”
But to get this measure on the ballot in November — and save and improve our transit — we need to get 200,000 signatures from registered voters before June.
We need your help! So come on out and get trained up to gather signatures. You’ll find links to four nearby upcoming signature gathering events on our Events Calendar — including one on No Kings Day on 3/28. Sign the petition yourself and then help us collect signatures!
Together we can keep our community connected, keep our air clean, and reduce demand for oil. See you in the streets.
