Transit agencies looking for a bailout; tax considered

A Bay Area agency today (Dec. 9) will consider signing off on a half-cent sales tax measure to fund public transportation agencies that have seen their ridership numbers fall off a cliff.

The measure would go on the ballot in four counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and San Mateo — while five other counties would decide whether to join in over the next two months, according to a report by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, or MTC.

Santa Clara County is considering its own, separate measure in November 2026, the MTC report said.

A four-county sales tax would bring in $540 million per year, with 90% going to offset fare losses at BART, Caltrain, AC Transit and Muni. The remaining 10% would going to projects that improve public transportation, the MTC report said.

MTC is made up of 21 elected officials from around the Bay Area who have been working on a transportation measure since the spring.

A parcel tax combined with a sales tax is also on the table. The parcel tax would be for nine cents per building square foot. It would last for 30 years and bringing in $1.3 to $1.5 billion per year paired with the half-cent sales tax, the MTC report said.

Legislature would decide next

Commissioners will vote this afternoon whether to send the MTC report to the state Legislature and to ask for the authority put a measure on the ballot. The exact structure would depend on polling. 

MTC’s local representatives are Mountain View Councilwoman Margaret Abe-Koga, San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa and Millbrae Vice Mayor Gina Papan.

Papan said San Mateo County needs to have flexibility in how its share is spent.

“We’re not going to have, you know, three counties telling a fourth county, ‘This is it, all the money is going in one direction here,’” Papan said at a meeting with the Transportation Revenue Measure Select Committee on Oct. 21.

Canepa voted against the measure at the same meeting, on the losing side of an 11-3 vote recommending a tax.

Canepa said he wanted to see polling data and narrow down the options first.

Canepa: It’s not baked

“In terms of specifics, it’s just really not there yet. It’s not baked,” he said.

San Mateo County and Santa Clara County both have their own half-cent sales taxes already approved by voters. San Mateo County’s tax expires in 2033, and Santa Clara County’s tax expires in 2036.

“There is a concern that if voters approve a new sales tax to address the region’s transit operating needs, they may be unwilling to support a renewal of existing transportation sales tax measures,” the MTC report said. “The Committee also heard concerns from some advocates and members of the public that sales taxes are a regressive tax” — which hurts the poor more than the rich.

The tax would bring in $1 billion per year if all nine counties opt in, the MTC report said.

After nine years, the tax revenue could be spent on more kinds of projects including road repairs. It would expire after 15 years, the MTC report said.

MTC is trying to address a loss in fare revenue that started in March 2020 when offices closed because of Covid.

Bay Area ridership dropped by 85% and is still at 69% of what it was before the pandemic, according to the National Transit Database.

A second try

MTC is the same agency that tried to put a $20 billion housing bond on this year’s ballot. 

Taxpayer advocates sued over the ballot language, which under-stated the amount of money the bond would require to be spent annually by $241 million. 

The lawsuit mixed with doubtful polling led commissioners to remove the housing bond measure at the last minute in August.

MTC also passed Regional Measure 3 in 2018 to raise tolls by $3 on seven Bay Area bridges.

The measure brings in $60 million a year for BART, ferry service, a train to San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center and an upgrade to the fare system using Clipper cards.