BART will receive more than $100 million in federal coronavirus relief funding following the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s first allocation of funding for transit on Wednesday.
The transit agency will receive $103.7 million, $55 million of which will be used to close BART’s budget deficit for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ends on June 30.
The rest of the funding will be used to cover part of BART’s expected deficit for the following fiscal year, which the agency’s budget officials have pegged at $254 million before accounting for federal relief.
“These funds provide short-term relief, preventing lay-offs and providing funds to keep our current service levels for our current ridership which is heavily transit dependent,” BART General Manager Bob Powers said in a statement.
The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 included $14 billion for the country’s transit agencies, which have struggled as the pandemic gutted ridership revenue.
According to the MTC, the Bay Area should receive roughly $975 million in total from the relief bill.
The commission will then disperse that funding to individual transit agencies.
The first tranche of funding went to Bay Area transit agencies that received less than they should have from last March’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act due to revenue loss forecasts that proved to be too bullish.
Bart could balance its budget real fast if it cut service to meet demand.
Two car trans, 30 min apart, run 7 AM to 10 PM, stop all new construction, cut staff, cut expenses, and, cut all free rides. Cancel the contract on the new cars that don’t work anyhow and tell the board to work for free.
See?
Simple.
Cellophane, now that’s a smart idea…. which means it would never be incorporated by BART. BART has always been a mess. If you look at the underground system in the U.K., that is how BART should be modeled. But no, we basically have over priced porta-potties on train tracks .
Neat.
Almost enough for one paycheck around, starting at the top.
I hate unions. Thank god all those lazy folks will still get their pensions. In the meantime I’ve worked for free for 4 months to keep my restaurant afloat. My wife is out of work, and my friends/colleagues have been laid off and get nothing. Sweet. Screw you bart. I hope it goes under and the tracks crumble.
DaveT~ What’s the name of you restaurant and where is it?
Wow
Bart and politicians be stealing everything
And providing nothing
Voters must be proud of the corruption they have created
What. Fading. Property. Tax. Not. Enough. ? Looking. For. Hand. Puts. Now. ! WTH
I used to commute to the city from Walnut Creek for many years.
I was only late for work, once.
Only complaint I had on my last BART trip about three or four years ago were the poor habits of the people who were riding it. And it wasn’t during commute time.
How do you change people?
And why are some of the people who regularly write comments here so crabby?
Oh, can’t change people. Got it.
I have always admired people brave enough to build their own business. The risk for them is if the business fails, it likely takes their personal assets with it. If I were experiencing a similar economic devastation, I would be crabby also. Especially when an outfit like BART now provides a much smaller service yet gets paid the same.
So the Feds borrow money from China to cover the shortfall in revenue due to the virus from China, allowing us to continue to buy upgraded phones and TVs
from China. Nice going commies You win.
Ah….the democrat utopia of bailouts and handouts. All those dead Blue cities like Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco just to begin with ask for and will receive an open slush fund thanks to the tax payers. BART will continue as before with filthy trains, fare evasion, and poor service since they accountable to no one.
Isn’t $300,000.00 plus health care, plus retirement year enough for these creeps? You know whats coming.
Pay cuts for ALL employees making this kind of money. Pigs at the trough giving THEMSELVES raises while we lose our businesses, homes, education for our children. Excess taxing for their gain!!!
Might as well make a big pile and take gasoline and a match to it. The end result will be the same.
BART should have gone out of business ten years ago. Its now just sucking the blood out of the taxpayers with empty parking lots and overpriced Tweed-style construction projects.
A once great transit agency has turned into a scam.
The waste and corruption will not stop in this state , it’s going to get worse . The media never holds democrat politicians responsible for their actions . They make excuses for them and the liberal California voter will blindly follow every word and keep voting for whatever they are told . Until we change the leaders in charge of this state there will be higher taxes , more waste and corruption like bart . Limit your time watching the news to 20mins a day and see how much better you will feel . You will start to see the real world out side .
.
BAILOUT!
.
I will observe once again that BART is like a low-class cruise ship, without the buffet and bar. Since I am leaving California I will not have to ever get on that taxpayer funded Ponzi scheme again. Good luck getting rid of this parasite.
Where is this utopian state, or country you are moving?
Inquiring minds would like to know.
Don’t worry, I won’t follow.
California native. 🙂
Jealous that you are leaving but wishing nothing but happiness & the best to you and family!!!
So divide that amount by the population of California, and they in effect forced every single person in the state to buy a $2.60 BART ticket even if they live in San Diego. They must be rolling on the floor laughing. I would be.