Community Groups Hold AC Board to It’s Promise: Youth, Senior and Disabled Monthly Passes Will Not Be Raised

Yes on Measure VV Rally October 2008 On Wednesday March 11th, dozens of East Bay bus riders, community leaders, and transit advocates waited through a four-hour AC Transit meeting to urge the Board to keep its promise to voters that the price for discounted monthly passes for youth, seniors and the disabled would stay at their current cost for at least 2 years if Measure VV passed. VV was overwhelmingly approved last November.

In spite of the Board’s pledge, AC’s staff had proposed that the AC Transit Board back-out on its promise and nearly double the youth monthly pass from $15/month to $28/month and the senior/disabled monthly pass from $20/month to $28/month to help cover AC’s growing budget shortfall.

After over an hour long debate by the Board about just how bad AC Transit’s finances are (the deficit over the next two years could be anywhere between $35 million and $60 million), the Board unanimously rejected the staff recommendation to raise the youth, senior and disabled monthly discounted passes, citing the promise they had made to voters and bus riders last Fall. They also recognized that raising these passes would create incredible hardship for the riders least able to afford any increase at this time and that it would raise very little additional revenue for AC. (And because of the budget situation, the Board did vote to raise the adult cash fare from $1.75 to $2.00 and the youth/sr/disabled cash fare from $.85 to $1.00.)

Many of the groups represented at the meeting played a critical role in passing Measure VV campaign, a parcel tax that brings in $14 million annually to support AC’s service. These included: Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), Californians for Justice, Genesis, LIFETIME, St. Mary’s Center, United Seniors of Oakland and Alameda County, and Urban Habitat. Others, unable to make Wednesday’s evening meeting, made calls, like Kids First Oakland, PLAN and WYSE.

To see a CBS video report on the meeting, go to: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/03/12/BASH16DONK.DTL&o=0

WHAT’S NEXT?
Yes on Measure VV Rally October 2008
The worst is not over at AC Transit. AC Transit’s finances are in shambles – primarily due to unequal and insufficient funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Governor taking all of the state transit funding to balance the state budget, as well as a flagging economy that has reduced sales tax revenues substantially.

Over the next year or two, AC Transit will be forced to cut costs in other places. This will inevitably include cuts in service. The question is, how much will be cut and from where will it be cut? Be on the look-out for updates on how you can have input on where the cuts will occur.

A PLAN of ACTION to AVOID Fare Hikes and Service Cuts in the Future

AC’s budget problems are chronic and won’t go away unless we work to find long-term solutions. We can do this if the community and AC work together. We’ve shown we can be successful when we partner, like in the passage of Measure VV and last month, at MTC, when we were able to increase AC’s share of Federal Stimulus funds from $18 million to $25 million.

Genesis, Urban Habitat, and other members of our growing transportation justice coalition are committed to working with AC Transit to find additional, stable revenue sources to not just avoid future fare hikes and cuts and service, but to increase AC’s service, restoring the 30% of service that has been lost over the past 30 years and to make youth bus passes free for low-income students.

We will be reaching out the AC Transit’s Board and staff, asking them to work with us on an ACTION PLAN to:

* Identify and win new stable funding sources for the district;
* Increase ridership and public support for AC Transit as a public good; and
* Ensure that AC becomes more affordable and provides better service for those most dependent on it – like youth, seniors, the disabled and low-income working families.
Yes on Measure VV Rally October 2008
Stay tuned! We will be in touch about how this plan is shaping up and how you can get involved. If you are interested in helping, please contact Lindsay Imai at Urban Habitat at 510-844-1191 x305 or Lindsay(at)urbanhabitat.org.

We also have monthly transportation justice meetings, the first Tuesday of every month from 3-5pm at Urban Habitat’s offices (436 14th Street, Suite 1205, Oakland at the corner of Broadway). All are welcome.