About the Campaign

Even before the COVID-10 pandemic, the Bay Area lacked enough transit service to meet the needs of transit riders or California’s climate goals. The primary cause is not enough dedicated funding for transit operations and the pandemic exacerbated the problem, especially for agencies dependent on fare revenues. Currently many Bay Area transit agencies are operating at service levels lower than 2019 and without additional funding by 2027 will have to cut service drastically.

The Voices for Public Transportation coalition has been working since 2018 for a regional measure to fund transit operations. Our key demands are equitable and transportation funding levels from a progressive revenue source to projects and services that are climate positive. We are advocating at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)—the transportation planning, financing, and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area— and the California legislature to make sure there is legislation to authorize a regional ballot measure that meets the needs of transit riders and workers.

Resources

• Voices for Public Transportation Vision & Principles
• Voices for Public Transportation Platform
• Labor and Community Principles for Bay Area Transit Funding—August 2024
• Voices for Public Transportation – SB 63 Recommended Amendments—June 2, 2025
• Economic Analysis on Regional Gross Receipts Tax, Conducted by Blue Sky Consulting Group—June 23, 2025
• What is the Gross Receipts Tax?—July 28, 2025

Media

• 94.1 KPFA: Senate Approves $9 Billion Cuts to Public Media Funding; Plus, Waste Workers Strike Against Republic Services Continues; And, Dual Proposals for Funding Bay Area Public Transit—July 17, 2025
• Bay Area Forward Press Release: New Economic Study Finds Gross Receipts Tax on Top 2% of Big Businesses Will Prevent Collapse of Bay Area Public Transit Agencies—July 2, 2025
• KQED: Proposed Transit Tax Should Be Paid by Businesses, Not People, Progressive Group Says—June 19, 2025
• East Bay Times: Plan to raise $500 million in annual sales taxes for beleaguered Bay Area transit advances in Legislature—June 4, 2025
• Press Release: Bay Area Forward, a New Transit Alliance, Launches to Advocate Big Business Pay Their Fair Share to Fund Transportation—June 3, 2025
• Politico California Playbook PM: The coming labor-business fight over Bay Area transit—June 2, 2025

Campaign Partners

Transform

Urban Habitat

Voices for Public Transportation Coalition

Labor Organizations:

• Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) California Conference Board & ATU Locals 192, 265 1555, 1575, and 1605
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021
• Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO (TWU) and TWU Locals 250a & 200
• International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART), Smart-Transportation Division, and Sheet Metal Workers Local 104
• American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Joint Council 7
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 6
• Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, Marine Division of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union
• United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4811
• Oakland Education Association (OEA)