Bay Area-wide leadership group opposes regional transit sales tax levy

Tax and transit experts from the region's five counties are rejecting this November's ballot initiative that aims to bail out the underperforming and grossly mismanaged transit agencies like VTA, BART, and SF Muni. Instead, The Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit calls for long-overdue fiscal and operational reform at the transit agencies.

Maybe it was the hopelessly late and wildly over budget BART-to-San Jose extension.

Perhaps it was accelerating operating costs for all agencies, even as ridership tanks.

Or it could be that people simply want their city's sales tax rate to stay below the dangerous 10% threshold.

Whatever the reason, the proposed SF Bay Area-wide $14 billion+ bailout has prompted business and community leaders from Brentwood to Gilroy to blow the whistle on the ongoing fiscal wreck that is local Bay Area transit management.

"This transit bailout is an unnecessary effort to squeeze even more from overtaxed local residents to feed the Bay Area’s Transit Industrial Complex," said Marc Joffe, President of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association which formed the opposition committee.

Joffe noted that all regional transit agencies run eye-popping losses and that ridership is down sharply since 2019. Notably, transit is used rarely--or not at all--by most Bay Area residents (55%).

"These agencies need tough love, not another handout with little accountability," Joffe said.

To support their opposition, the group points out the following:

Operational shortfalls for the transit agencies could be addressed by redirecting funds from the absurd California High Speed Rail project, from the unnecessary BART to San Jose extension, and from other misbegotten projects.
The tax will indirectly fund boondoggle local expansion projects, such as the Caltrain extension to Salesforce Transit Center and BART-to-San Jose.
VTA is widely considered the worst-performing transit agency in the country;
AC Transit has not published its 2025 audited financials, more than 12 months after fiscal year end;
SF Muni paid operators $41 million of overtime in 2024 alone;
BART had ten employees with total compensation (including benefits) exceeding $500,000 in 2024.

The group notes that the Bay Area is one of the highest-taxed regions in the country, and the bailout, if passed, would push the cumulative sales tax rate to 10.5% in San Jose, 10.75% in Richmond and to 11.25% in Oakland and Hayward.

The group also points out that proponents' main "sky is falling" argument--that rejection of the bill would lead to widespread service cutbacks--simply masks chronic mismanagement. Joffe says that obvious cost-cutting maneuvers, such as eliminating redundancies, unnecessary expansions, redirecting cap-and-trade monies, and negotiating less extravagant labor contracts, could easily save status quo service.

Joffe says: "Everybody knows we need transit in the Bay Area--but not at the current exorbitant run-rate. Our message to transit agencies is simple: Fix it first, before you ask for more funding."

Read KQED coverage of Transit Tax opposition

Bay Area-wide leadership group opposes regional transit sales tax levy

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