Pete HahnloserThe California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) has approved $343 million in funding for public transportation, marking the second installment from the transit recovery package in the 2023-24 state budget. With an initial $1.9 billion in funding announced in July, a total of $2.2 billion has been allocated of the $5.1 billion total, with the remainder scheduled to be released annually through the 2027-28 fiscal year.
Under 2023’s Senate Bill 125, regional transportation planning agencies can use these funds for both transit operations and capital improvements. Planned uses so far include:
- The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission will use more than $16 million from its first-year disbursement to develop new transit priority infrastructure in the busiest corridors, restore transit services and expand targeted services, resulting in an estimated 252,000 service hours.
- The El Dorado County Transportation Commission plans to use more than $10 million, its full allocation, to purchase new zero-emission vehicles and launch a new micro transit service.
- The Council of San Benito County Governments is dedicating its nearly $4 million to build a central transit hub aimed at enhancing regional connectivity; redevelop a bus storage yard, maintenance facility and dispatch center; and purchase six new zero-emission buses to replace diesel ones. The council is also looking into restoring transit services to pre-pandemic levels and launching an express bus pilot program.
The transit recovery package includes accountability measures designed to stabilize transit systems and restructure their long-term operations to better meet public needs. To facilitate this, CalSTA has established the Transit Transformation Task Force to create policy recommendations aimed at increasing transit ridership, improving the rider experience and addressing long-term operational requirements.
A full list of approved projects is available on CatSTA’s website.
Photo by Corey Agopian on Unsplash
