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Bay Area Transit Agencies Receive First Wave of Federal Support

Commission Chair Lauds Pelosi’s Leadership
Contact
John Goodwin, MTC (415) 778-5262
Randy Rentschler, MTC (415) 778-6780

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) today approved the allocation of more than $780 million of federal funds to cash-strapped Bay Area transit agencies through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law last month. The allocation formula, developed through a partnership between MTC and transit agency staff, represents the first of two distributions of the roughly $1.3 billion in CARES Act funding for which Bay Area transit agencies are eligible.

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deserves enormous thanks for her leadership in ensuring that Congress included support for public transit in the CARES Act,” said MTC Chair and Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who also serves as a director of the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) and of the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, which operates the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) rail service. “These extraordinary times have seen extraordinary cooperation and the Bay Area’s transit operators have come together with MTC to meet the moment.”

This first wave of funding allows CARES Act money to be distributed quickly and fairly to help Bay Area transit agencies meet the immediate crisis while retaining flexibility for a second phase that will allow the region to adapt to changing conditions in the months ahead

Haggerty added, “These funds will help save a lot of jobs for the bus drivers, train operators, mechanics, dispatchers, cleaners and others who are making it possible for other essential workers to get to and from their jobs all around the Bay Area; and will help our transit agencies recover their footing when this public health emergency finally is behind us.”

MTC is expected to take action later this year to distribute the region’s remaining CARES Act funding once transit agencies have had time to assess the full scope of revenue losses caused by the ongoing emergency, and have developed new demand forecasts and recovery strategies. 

Allocations for the first distribution of CARES Act dollars:

Agency Funding
AC Transit
$80,366,395
Altamont Commuter Express
2,680,453
BART
251,637,050
Caltrain
49,292,725
County Connection
7,067,680
City of Dixon
305,302
Fairfield-Suisun Transit
2,002,985
Golden Gate Transit & Ferry
30,163,006
Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority / Wheels
3,501,369
Marin Transit
5,438,809
Napa Valley Transportation Authority / The VINE
2,701,734
Petaluma Transit
498,342
Rio Vista Delta Breeze
119,328
San Francisco Muni
197,190,672
SamTrans
28,519,037
Santa Rosa City Bus
2,493,979
Solano County Transit
2,590,800
Sonoma County Transit
3,014,482
SMART
10,375,471
Tri-Delta Transit
3,891,364
Union City Transit
922,560
Vacaville CityCoach
488,659
VTA
73,023,596
WestCAT
2,218,204
WETA/S.F. Bay Ferry
12,529,212
TOTAL
$780,841,629

MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

We Salute Bay Area Heroes