What would happen to the Bay Area economy if BART only ran once an hour and shut down on weekends?
That's the kind of doomsday scenario Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) hope to avert with Senate Bill 63, "the Connect Bay Area Act," introduced Monday morning at an event on the sidewalk above Embarcadero station. If it becomes law, the bill will put a transit-funding sales tax of at least 1/2 cent on the November 2026 ballot.
From a release from Wiener's office about the legislation:
Without a sustainable source of funding, budget challenges exacerbated by the pandemic will force transit agencies across the Bay Area to make major service cuts. BART could be forced to cut 65-85% of service, meaning trains only every 60 minutes, no weekend service, and station closures and line shutdowns. MUNI could face a 50% reduction in frequency on lines, no regular service after 9 p.m., and the elimination of Muni fare subsidies for low-income riders, seniors, and youth. AC Transit and Caltrain would be forced to make similar cuts.
Major cuts to public transportation service would cause ripple effects for everyone in the Bay Area. Without good quality public transit, fewer customers and employees could access businesses, fewer fans could attend concerts and sporting events, and thousands of low income people lose their only transportation option. Commutes could increase by up to 10 hours per
week for key routes connecting the East Bay to San Francisco, and traffic on the Bay Bridge could increase 72%. In San Francisco alone, the 13,000 students who ride MUNI could lose their route to school, and our air quality would tank with millions of additional gallons of gas burned. There are 800,000 jobs within a 15- minute walk to a BART station.
This is not the first time Senator Wiener has tried to get a transit-saving measure before voters. Back in 2024, Wiener and Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) were forced to withdraw SB 1031, the previous "Connect Bay Area Act," when Santa Clara County came out against the measure. This new bill would include San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa with, according to a statement from Wiener's office, "an opportunity for San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to opt in by July 31, 2025."
Bay Area transit systems have subsisted for the past two years thanks to a $1.1 billion infusion of state funding. That money is due to run out in mid-2026, explained the speakers, without a new state funding measure and, it is hoped, this longer-term transit-funding sales tax for the Bay Area.
Several speakers underscored recent accomplishments of the Bay Area's various transit agencies. "Muni service is the best it's been in the 28 years since I started riding," said Wiener. And BART has scored higher than ever on ridership surveys and is rolling out new fare gates to reduce crime added BART deputy manager Michael Jones.
The legislation will take these improvements further, requiring transit operators to implement more network coordination and integration. Rebecca Long with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who was also at the event, told Streetsblog the next generation of Clipper will roll out this year enabling free and reduced transfers from all local buses to BART and other regional systems. "We've directed MTC to speed up the implementation," said MTC Chair Sue Noack, who also spoke at the event. "SB 63 will make all this possible."
More from Wiener's office:
BART, MUNI, Caltrain, and AC Transit will be required to comply with the MTC’s Regional Network Management policies and programs, and MTC will be required to conduct an independent third party financial efficiency
review to identify cost-saving measures for those operators. After the assessment, they will be required to submit implementation plans to MTC detailing cost-efficiency measures they plan to implement.
As Noack cautioned though, getting SB 63 onto the ballot may be the easy part, given inflation and other pressures on voters. "2026 is going to be an uphill battle." But the alternatives are grim.
"We can't let that possible future happen," said Rebecca Saltzman, former BART director and current city council person for El Cerrito, who also spoke at the event.
"Transit agencies are in an existential crisis," said Arreguín. "BART is the nervous system of the Bay Area."
