Officials Bid for More State Transit Funding

Facing painful cuts in federal subsidies, California transit officials appealed Monday for legislation to provide more state aid for transit by such means as increasing the gasoline tax and diverting part of the state sales tax.

The proposals, expected to be submitted to the Legislature this session, grew out of a study by the state’s transit operators that predicts a crisis in urban mobility--and in the economies of California’s major cities--unless more public money goes to underwrite bus and rail systems.

“What that means is that unless there is some means for stabilizing dollars at the state level and ensuring a predictable source of revenue, you’re going to start seeing transit (systems) around the state be unable to deliver the service they are currently delivering,” said John Dyer, general manager of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and one of several officials who appeared at a Capitol press conference.

Public bus and rail systems are heavily subsidized. In California, the state subsidies are tied to gasoline prices and consumption. The relatively stable gasoline prices of the last few years and dwindling sales because of more fuel-efficient cars have caused state transit subsidies to drop sharply.

Meanwhile, the Reagan Administration, in order to reduce deficits by getting states to pick up more of the public transit burden, has scaled back its aid and is proposing almost total elimination of mass transit subsidies in its fiscal 1986 budget.

Unless new sources of money are found, California transit officials predict annual shortfalls of $317 million for bus systems and $112 million for rail projects by 1988.

Jerry Haugh, manager of San Mateo’s transit agency and chairman of the California Assn. of Publicly Owned Transit Systems, said nearly $400 million could be raised in California yearly by increasing gasoline taxes by 1 cent a gallon and by dedicating 0.125% of state sales taxes to transit.

State Sen. John Foran (D-San Francisco) recently proposed a 5-cent-a-gallon increase in state gas taxes in a similar effort to finance construction and maintenance of roads and to provide a more stable way of paying for bus service.

Both plans face serious obstacles, including opposition from Gov. George Deukmejian to any tax increase. Last year, the Republican governor rejected a gas tax boost even though it was recommended by his own task force.

Transit officials, however, hope to change Deukmejian’s mind by forging a coalition of powerful interests that believe that California’s economy will be adversely affected by a drop in transit service.

Among those targeted in the study are land developers whose projects depend on access to public transportation and major employers who are finding it increasingly difficult to attract employees willing to battle crowded freeways and city streets.

The study says that 40% of commuter trips into downtown Los Angeles are by public transit and that 53.3% of San Francisco commuters use buses or the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway. Those numbers are expected to increase as California’s population grows by an estimated one-third over the next 15 years.

Transit officials say their only alternative to additional operating subsidies is higher bus fares, a move already being contemplated by several transit agencies, including the RTD.