Caltrain, SamTrans in line for considerable federal funds

Caltrain is projected to receive around $41 million, while SamTrans will receive about $15 million if the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area regional transit agency, approves the July 14 recommendation approval from its Programming and Allocations Committee. MTC is the designated recipient of the federal funds and is responsible for distributing it to Bay Area transit operators, like SamTrans, Caltrain and BART.

The Bay Area will receive $1.68 billion in transit funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, or ARP. MTC allocation funding principles focused on stabilizing and sustaining transit, restoring and advancing equity of service, and making transit safe, reliable, affordable and easy for riders.

MTC staff proposed a Phase 1 distribution of ARP funding of around $912 million, or 60% of ARP funding. In the Phase 1 distribution, BART would receive around $330 million, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency $288 million and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority $55 million. Large operators would receive a total of around $855 million, while small and medium operators would receive $56 million.

Lieberman said SamTrans would use the funding to support ongoing operations and increased services in the fall, like restoring bus services for students. Caltrain suffered greater losses over the pandemic and will use it solely for supporting operations.

Lieberman said the proposed allocation met SamTrans’ expectations and would allow it to continue plans to keep expanding its service levels. Caltrain was hoping for more due to the substantial impact of the pandemic on its finances, but it expects to move forward with its plans to restore service and receive more funds from the next round of allocations. Caltrain has seen a slower return of riders and is looking at a substantial increase in service levels in August to try and bring riders back into the system.

“A greater share of the funds would be helpful in that effort, but we understand that many other agencies are in a similar position, so we will make do with what we have,” Lieberman said by email.

Some of the funding will be included in Caltrain’s fiscal year 2022 budget, while SamTrans had not budgeted the financing yet.

MTC staff will develop Phase 2 funding distribution of the remaining $608 million unallocated ARP funding in the fall and winter, reflecting updated information about the recovery, like ridership patterns. MTC allocated the Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force around $157 million. The Task Force was created in 2020 and will submit a Bay Area Public Transit Transformation Action Plan to MTC by mid-2021 to help reshape the region’s transit system.

Bay Area transit ridership across all operators as of May has been down 71% from pre-pandemic levels. Ridership in 2019 averaged 40 million trips a month, with only 12 million trips in May, MTC staff said.

Several transit district executive directors, including Carter Mau, acting general manager of SamTrans, and Michelle Bouchard, acting executive director of Caltrain, wrote a letter of support for the proposed allocation.

MTC staff said some transit operators had concerns about using incentive funding that didn’t acknowledge operators who kept high service hours through the pandemic and asked for more consideration of revenue loss and service restoration.

Committee member Cindy Chavez, also the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors president, voted against the distribution and expressed concern about the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority providing future light rail service. VTA is dealing with the aftermath of the May mass shooting at its railyard.

“The impact to the Valley Transportation Authority of these actions is really, in my observation, a very downward spiral for our agency, and I’m really concerned about that,” Chavez said.

Several board members spoke about the need to have the flexibility to provide financial assistance to VTA moving forward.

Committee Vice Chair Gina Papan, also Millbrae councilmember, acknowledged VTA and its concerns, noting transit agencies were trying to listen and work together.

“I think we need to really work together moving forward, and funding like this needs to be put to use as quickly as possible,” Papan said.

The resolution passed 4-2, with one abstention and one person absent, and will now go to MTC for approval.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102