BART General Manager: What's next after voters approve sales tax lifeline

Oakland, Calif. - Voters in five Bay Area counties overwhelmingly approved a new sales tax to provide a financial lifeline to public transit, and BART’s top official says the service cuts the agency had warned about will not happen.

The regional transit measure passed with 61% voting yes and 39% voting no. The sales tax will go up half a percent in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and a full percent in the city of San Francisco. The tax is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for SF Muni, AC Transit, Caltrain and BART.

"I’m grateful and I’m humbled and excited to move forward," said BART General Manager Bob Powers.

Powers said about 60% of the revenue will go to the transit operators. Another 30% to 35% will return to the five counties, which will decide how to spend it. Roughly 5% will fund regional programs such as means-based fare programs. He said BART’s share will be about $300 million a year.

Powers said the agency can now keep up its current service, including sworn officers and ambassadors on trains. He said BART is 95% on time and crime is down 40%.

"It doesn’t solve all of our financial challenges that we have in the future, but what it does do is put us in a position to navigate those on our own without looking for help from the voters," Powers said.

Powers said the measure takes the reduced service and the closing of stations and line segments off the table.

"BART is in control of its own destiny moving forward," he said.

Asked how BART can become more financially stable as workers no longer commute five days a week, Powers said the agency must keep improving the rider experience.

"It’s got to be safe. It’s got to be clean, it’s gotta be reliable," he said, adding that BART must also be connected to the region’s other transit agencies.

Some 39% of voters opposed the measure. Critics asked why the agencies could not make cuts and become more efficient instead of raising the sales tax. Powers said lawmakers and others weighed many options, including what would pass with voters and how much revenue was needed, and he said the package voters approved "was certainly the right package."

He said the measure includes performance and accountability metrics, with the state Legislature holding agencies accountable and an oversight committee reviewing operational efficiencies and cost-cutting. He said BART will also look for other revenue, including its transit-oriented development program and advertising.

Asked about BART’s biggest costs, Powers said labor is the largest.

"Labor is the biggest component, for sure," he said. The second biggest is the agency’s energy budget, the power to run its trains."