Dear Coalition Member,

This year, Bay Area transit agencies are starting to face a fiscal cliff. Federal Covid relief funding - that helped keep service running and prevent job cuts in the depths of the pandemic - is starting to run out and Bay Area operators forecast annual budget shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years. Can your organization sign onto a letter calling for urgent transit gap funding from the 2023 state budget?

While riders are returning to transit, they’re not coming back fast enough to avert the fiscal cliff. If we don’t identify short-term funding to keep transit going, that could force service cuts and fare increases that would harm riders who depend on transit, and would take our region further from achieving our climate, equity and access goals.

VPT coalition members are helping to lead a statewide initiative to seek funding to bridge the fiscal gap. This urgent campaign compliments our ongoing work for a regional funding measure to support abundant, affordable, accessible public transportation.  By partnering with Bay Area transit agencies and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to drive this initiative, we are building a stronger, more unified voice that can ensure public transit in the Bay Area transit will survive and thrive. But it won’t be easy in what is expected to be a difficult budget year.

We need your help to demonstrate widespread support for vital transit operations funding: 

1. Can your organization sign this joint letter (attached)?  This letter will show California legislators that constituents demand that they help save public transit. Note that the budget comes out next week and we may need to make minor changes based on that, so please consider this a draft. However, we wanted to get this letter to you as soon as possible so you have adequate time to review. If there are any changes we will let you know. Please send your logo and digital signature to Rebecca Long at rlong@... by noon on Wednesday January 11th.
2. We will need your help during the budget process to communicate to legislators. Please join the upcoming Voices for Public Transportation Coalition meeting on Thursday January 26th at 5pm to learn more about the “Survive and Thrive” fiscal gap transit funding campaign.
3. Would it help your organization to have a presentation and discussion to engage your members? Please let us know by replying to this email and a VPT coalition organizer will come to your group.

Thanks for joining in. With your help we will save Bay Area public transit and pave the way for more equitable, accessible, abundant public transportation.

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