OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – March 11: People ride BART from the West Oakland BART Station in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, March 11, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
SACRAMENTO — Bay Area transit’s post-pandemic ridership crisis is taking center stage in one of California’s biggest budget fights this year: whether the state will bail out embattled public transit systems such as BART, Caltrain, AC Transit and San Francisco’s Muni despite a looming budget shortfall.
The battle ramped up Monday with a hearing before the Senate and Assembly transportation committees and a growing realization that the Bay Area desperately needs help from its neighbor to