AC Transit Plans Service Cuts and New Parcel Tax to Plug Budget Deficit
By Serene Fang
Plagued with a projected five-year budget deficit, AC Transit plans to cut
service even as the agency wants voters to approve a new parcel tax on the November
ballot.
AC Transit's Measure AA proposes an annual $24 tax on residential and commercial
property parcels for five years in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The measure
is expected to generate $7.5 million a year to help plug a budget hole estimated
at $30 million in 2003. The measure requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
At the same time, the agency will move ahead on a plan to combine, reduce, and
eliminate bus routes throughout the transit district, while making smaller increases
to service along key urban corridors like San Pablo Avenue. In an October 3
planning memo, AC Transit proposed to enact service cuts by spring 2003 that
will lead to $5 million in annual savings. The plan will be presented to the
public near the end of the year.
Coming on the tail of a September fare hike, Measure AA is one of several attempts
by AC Transit to generate more revenue. Bay Area transit agencies are supported
largely through fuel and sales taxes. Revenues from both sources have declined
in recent years because of greater fuel-efficiency of cars, and the economy's
current slump.
"Even though this type of taxation for transportation is not ideal from
an academic perspective…(It) is a short term solution to the recent lapse
in sales tax revenues, which has left AC Transit hard-pressed to meet its ongoing
operational needs," said Amber Crabbe, of the Institute for Transportation
Studies at U.C. Berkeley.
Measure AA is supported by local transportation advocacy organizations including,
Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition, Alameda Transit Advocates, and
the Bus Riders Union.
"Even though it isn't an ideal situation, it's still the least we can do
to help out an agency in trouble," said Michael J. Krueger of Alameda Transit
Advocates.
Both the Alameda and Contra Costa County Taxpayers Associations have recommended
a vote against Measure AA. "We didn't feel that AC Transit had sufficiently
justified the tax. Basically, they said 'Gee, we're short, so we're going to
raise the tax for the next five years. They don't really propose what they're
going to do after the five years expires," said John I. Wolfe Jr., executive
vice president of the Contra Costa County Taxpayers Association.
"We never like to impose more taxes on folks. On the other hand, we provide
an essential service," said Chris Peeples, AC Transit board president.
But Peeples does not rule out renewing the tax in 2008. "It will depend
on the status of the sales tax. If we're back in a boom economy, that revenue
may be enough. It also depends on internal transit politics in the Bay Area,"
he said, referring to competition AC Transit faces from transportation agencies
like BART, which also has a tax measure on the upcoming ballot competing for
the voters' largesse.
There are two cities that definitely won't be contributing any increased tax
revenue for bus service in November. The cities of Fremont and Newark have been
in a dispute with AC Transit since the early 1990s and are not included in Measure
AA. Transportation officials in Newark and Fremont contend that over the past
decade, their cities have contributed tens of millions of dollars more than
the value of services provided, though they grant this is not the case currently.
"It would be very difficult to imagine that Measure AA would get the level
of community support needed to pass, not only from the electorate but also from
the city council," said Dennis Jones, Newark public works director, though
he will be watching the measure carefully.
"AC Transit could be falling on some very hard times in the future if the
measure doesn't pass," said Jones, "Their expected parcel revenue
isn't very much money, but our issues will become much more difficult to solve
if they don't have those funds to spend."
The most drastic cuts to service are proposed for Piedmont, Montclair, and the
Hiller Highlands, said Ward Three AC Transit Director Alice Creason who is concerned
about the impact of service cuts on seniors and the disabled.
"When I look at this plan, I don't see much for East Oakland. I see service
taken out of the hill areas. I don't think you should totally eliminate these
areas just because they're lightly used…If this information was to get
out, this tax measure wouldn't pass because there's nothing in it for these
communities."
Lines 2, 3, and 4 are among those proposed to be eliminated. All three routes
serve one Piedmont Hills neighborhood. The lines use half-size buses to wend
quietly up the neighborhood's broad, leafy avenues, past multi-million dollar
homes and acres of verdant landscaping. Oakland Raiders general manager Al Davis
lives in the neighborhood, as does former Forty-Niner Bubba Parris who helps
coach football at nearby Piedmont High. Most residents here do not ride the
bus, but some say they would vote for the parcel tax anyway.
"I would vote for it [Measure AA] even if there were cuts, or no service
around here whatsoever," said Piedmont resident Brian Bisconti, as he watched
his son play on the jungle gym at Piedmont Park. "We don't use AC Transit
at all, but I would assume that it's a reasonably well-run organization, and
a public service."
Sitting nearby, Piedmont resident Brian Frasier agrees. "I'd vote for it.
$24 bucks a year - it's nothing. My personal attitude towards public transportation
is that it's a necessity. I don't use it, but a lot of people do."
So who rides Lines 2, 3, and 4? Driver Lou Beauchamp, who works all three lines
says, "mostly domestic workers, babysitters, nannies, housecleaners, cooks,
gardeners…It's probably an important line for the people who work in the
homes up here."