Call to Action: Tell AC Transit Board NO Fare Hikes & Service Cuts til they Rein in Costs
A quick and urgent ‘call to action‘ from our friends at the Transbay Coalition.
The AC Transit Board will discuss its budget on April 8/today and is gearing up to CUT SERVICE AND RAISE FARES – all without having taken basic initial cost saving measures.
Call in to urge the AC Transit board to direct staff to identify ways to move toward a more balanced budget that do not involve raising fares and cutting service.
Before the AC Transit Board tells riders to pay more for worse service, they need to do their part to ensure that AC Transit is economizing in ways that do not hurt riders and set ridership further on a downward spiral.
The AC Transit Board Budget Task Force just spent months identifying ways to get toward a balanced budget without raising fares and cutting service – but the staff report the Board is considering on Wednesday does not include any such cost-cutting measures.
To be clear – AC Transit faces a yearly budget deficit of tens of millions of dollars and no amount of penny pinching will fix that. The only path to long term financial health for the agency is for the Bay Area to get the signatures needed to put the Connect Bay Area transit funding measure on the ballot and then to vote it through this fall.
However, in these dire times we all need to be doing our part to save and improve transit throughout the Bay. Hundreds of people throughout the Bay are doing their part by gathering signatures to get the transit funding measure on the ballot for transit, and AC Transit leadership needs to step up, and implement basic efficiency improvements that save money without sacrificing service or raising fares.
Please call in to Wednesday’s AC Transit Board meeting and help them get the message: NO fare hikes & service cuts til they rein in costs.
Sincerely,
Carter Lavin
Co-Founder
Transbay Coalition
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