Every day, tens of thousands of San Diegans rely on buses and trolleys to get to work, school, medical appointments, and more. The transit system is a lifeline that connects our communities.
But now, that lifeline is at risk. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System is approaching a financial crossroads, with once-dependable transit funding from the state of California in jeopardy, which would make a challenging situation even worse.
MTS has seen much success post-pandemic and has significant momentum to bring better balance to the region’s transportation options. The agency is on pace to exceed 80 million trips this year, reaching the #2 spot for fastest post-pandemic ridership recovery among the nation’s largest transit agencies. This means MTS is on track to reach 95% of pre-pandemic ridership levels at the end of June this year, far outpacing the national average of 85%.
Stripping state funding now would jeopardize that progress and threaten an essential service that so many depend on every single day.
So, what’s fueling this transit growth? Better service, better customer experience, and better accessibility for riders. Results from recent MTS passengers’ surveys highlight that transit is a critical link connecting people to better opportunities — more than two-thirds of our riders are using MTS to access jobs and education.
Moreover, record numbers of people are choosing transit for special events and leisure trips, an increase of approximately 50%. Rider satisfaction is also on the rise, with riders five times more likely to say their satisfaction has improved over the past year. And MTS is recognized for its value, with 86% of riders and 83% of non-riders agreeing that MTS provides value to the community.
Despite all these positive ridership trends, MTS faces a major $120 million budget shortfall, projected to hit in July 2028. We’ve been able to stave off this deficit with state and federal assistance and a healthy reserve, but those funds are drying up quickly, and revenue from ridership has not recovered enough to bridge the gap. Combine this with the cost of business going up substantially — offering competitive wages, insurance premiums, energy, goods and materials, and more have all contributed.
This is not an issue for just San Diego. Transit agencies across the state and country are experiencing similar challenges. Currently we can fill the gap with a combination of spending reductions, using non-critical reserves and grant funding from the state of California. But now that grant funding is at risk and could make the fiscal cliff arrive sooner.
Transit agencies across the state were disappointed to see Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest Cap-and-Invest budget makes no mention of continued investment in key programs like the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) and Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP), beginning in Fiscal Year 2025-26. The proposed budget also eliminates several one-time expenditures from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) in public transit, including critical one-time funding approved in 2023 to help transit agencies across the state meet base operational needs and avoid a looming fiscal cliff.
This uncertainty now threatens close to $3 billion total in GGRF funding for public transit between FY 2025-26 and 2028-29, including approximately $2 billion in funding already programmed by the state and regional governments to individual transit projects and services.
If this funding isn’t maintained in the final Cap-and-Invest Plan, it will have far-reaching, and potentially devastating, impacts on MTS’ ability to provide a critical link between San Diego residents and jobs, education, healthcare and more. It threatens initiatives like our ability to meet the state-mandated transition to an all-zero-emission bus fleet by 2040 and sustaining service frequency at 15 minutes all day, every day on the Trolley.
What’s worse is our fiscal cliff would come sooner. Service cuts would have to happen sooner, and it would also hurt our ability to identify new local sources of revenue to modernize transportation funding in the future.
Now is not the time for the state to back-track on transit funding. In fact, it should be doubling down on its investments in transit. Clean air, healthy communities and a thriving economy depend on it.
Sharon Cooney is chief executive officer of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and chair of the California Transit Association.
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