Mid-County Post |
METRO Joins Lawsuit to Reverse Governor's Last-Minute Budget Cuts |
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Local Transit Chief Says New Round of Funding Shortfalls Will Devastate Fleet |
September 26 , 2007 By Michael Thomas
At a time when more people are riding local buses, California lawmakers have passed a budget that slashes capital funding for public transit by $1.3 billion, and transit agencies are not taking the blow sitting down. The California Transit Association, representing bus and light rail systems statewide, including Santa Cruz METRO, has filed a lawsuit seeking the restoration of the funds. If the lawsuit fails, METRO will be forced to delay a long-planned overhaul of the Pacific Avenue station. Even more troubling, the replacement of old diesel coaches with compressed natural gas buses will grind to a halt. State law will force METRO to retire diesel buses by 2012, so the lack of money for replacements will essentially slash the fleet at a time when ridership is gradually increasing. On an average day in the 2006-07 fiscal year, 18,772 people boarded buses in Santa Cruz County, for an annual total of nearly 5.5 million rides. That was up from an average of 17,723 daily rides the previous year. "Overall, a 6 percent increase in ridership is something to be happy about, and the Highway 17 bus is leading the way," explained METRO Transit Planner Ian McFadden. "People are catching on to the idea that there's a better way to get to San Jose than driving yourself." Total ridership on the Highway 17 Express was up by some 15 percent —factoring for 37 strike days in 2005 —compared to the entire 2005-06 fiscal year. "That service has increased to standing room only," said METRO board member and Scotts Valley Councilmember Dene Bustichi. "The people that actually use transit are using it more and needing transit more than ever before." Wireless internet is being installed on the Highway 17 Express buses in the coming months, potentially making the route even more popular with commuters. Amid those encouraging statistics, transit officials are particularly disheartened by the state's decision to focus on funding highway construction at the expense of upgrading mass transit systems. "I can't believe the state would look at the transit community and say 'Take this old equipment and use it,' during a time when we are under pressure to reduce emissions," said METRO General Manager Les White. Cut will Halt Bus Purchases METRO was expecting $5.4 million from the State Transit Assistance program in the coming year, but will see that slashed to $2.4 million. Of the remaining funds, METRO has already allocated $2,380,000 for the completion of a new maintenance building, so the cut leaves virtually no money to purchase new buses. "We have buses right now that are turning 1 million miles and need to be replaced but they won't be," White said. Mechanics at the District's repair facility on Golf Course Drive say they spend increasing amounts of time repairing the older buses. A new compressed natural gas (CNG) bus, outfitted for the road, carries a price tag of about $400,000. The retired diesel buses, which can't be redeployed virtually anywhere in America due to emission standards, usually sell at auction for about $5,000. The district has only a few years to modernized the fleet by converting buses to low-emission vehicles or face having to park a third of the fleet, resulting in unimaginable cuts to local service. METRO's current fleet includes 113 fixed-route buses and 34 vans, which are used for Paracruz transport for the elderly and disabled. During a peak hour, the district can roll out about 83 buses and 30 vans at one time. About 50 of the existing buses run on compressed natural gas, and 13 more CNG buses have been ordered. State law requires that all diesel units be replaced with CNG coaches by 2012. Any diesel coaches that METRO still has on hand will have to be parked. That means that without additional capital funds, the district's fleet could be reduced to 63 buses, with a peak-hour rollout of about 55, compared to 83 buses today. An equivalent cut to service would be inevitable without a new infusion of cash. The system's Paracruz service, which provides van rides for the elderly and disabled, would see a similar reduction, with the current rollout of 30 vans reduced to 17 or 18. New Multi-Use Complex Takes another Blow The lost state funding could also sink plans to build a new multi-use transit complex on Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. The bus terminal portion of the project will cost $12 million to build. White expected a third of that to come from the same funding source that's now been slashed. Nevertheless, some new money will be available for construction. When voters passed a $19.9 billion transportation bond last year, most of the money was directed towards road construction. But the bond measure also included $600 million for transit investments. White hopes to secure $27 million of that for the final building in the Metrobase operations facility. Metro board member and county supervisor Jan Beautz thinks the facility is too important to delay. "We really need to finish up Metrobase," she said. "That will free up operating money because we won't have to be paying all these rents all over the place." Transportation advocates are amazed that the state would gut capital funding for transit a year after passing a law calling for widespread reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. "It's not the right priority system," said Paul Elerick of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation. "If you want to get on top of cutting down on cars and improving global warming, you need to encourage transit instead of cutting it back." "I'm really glad Metro is suing," said Micah Posner of PeoplePower. "The governor and the legislature went against the spirit of what people want," he added, referring to strong voter support for last year's transportation bond measure. Funding Shift Could Last for Years According to White, Santa Cruz Assemblymember John Laird, who chairs the budget committee, went to bat to fight cuts to transit. Laird briefly pared the $1.3 billion fund shift down to $551 million. "We told him that on a short term basis, that would be a manageable number," White said. "We didn't like it. We didn't think it was legal." However, that version of the budget failed to win the two-thirds vote of support it needed from both the Senate and Assembly. Laird described the transit cuts this year as a victim of the state's unusually high standard for passing a budget. "We are the only state that has a two-thirds budget vote [requirement] and a governor's line item veto," Laird said. When party leaders from both houses met to try and break the budget impasse, the full transit cut was put back in. The governor then slashed an additional $700 million from the budget with his line item pen. That included more cuts to transportation. In the end, our local transit system lost another $700,000 in capital funding for the coming year. Laird says that Democratic lawmakers were dragged "kicking and screaming" through the cuts to transit. "I am not giving up," Laird said. "I know exactly what this means to transit districts around the state." METRO Says Lawmakers Move Illegal In future years, the funding cuts to transit may continue, and White thinks Metro could lose $15 million in capital funds over the next five years. Specifically, a last-minute amendment to the budget called for shifting half of all future gas tax money to the state's general fund, where it could be used on program not related to transportation. The Transit Association's lawsuit attacks the legality of that shift as well. In 1990, state voters approved using gas and diesel taxes only for mass transit and transportation planning. But the state has employed a flexible interpretation of transportation to direct funds to things such as school buses. "School buses are not mass transit," said Josh Shaw, director of the Sacramento-based California Transit Association. "Nearly 100 percent of the money has been shifted to non-mass transportation uses." The $1.3 billion removed from transit this year will go towards things that the state normally pays for out of its general fund. More than a billion dollars will be used to pay down debts from transportation bonds and other loans. Transportation for the disabled will get $129 million and $99 million will go towards operating school buses. The governor believes that selecting transportation-related expenses in the general fund makes the transfers legal, but transit advocates argue that it's merely a shell game that subverts voters' intentions. Nevertheless, some doubt that the lawsuit will prevail. "I don't hold out a lot of hope on it," Bustichi said. Instead, he painted a much darker future. "We are going to be dealing with severe cuts in service," he predicted.
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Capitol Office: State Capitol -- P.O. Box 942849 -- Sacramento, CA 94249-0027
-- Phone: (916) 319-2027 -- Fax: (916) 319-2127 District Office: Santa Cruz County District Office -- 701 Ocean Street, Suite 318-B -- Santa Cruz, California 95060 -- Phone: (831) 425-1503 -- Fax: (831) 425-2570 District Office: Monterey County/Santa Clara County District Office -- 99 Pacific Street, Suite 555D -- Monterey, CA 93940 -- Phone: 831-649-2832 -- Fax: 831-649-2935 |
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| Assemblymember.Laird@assembly.ca.gov |