House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said San Francisco Bay Area transit providers would receive an additional $525 million in transit funding from the American Rescue Plan.
In a Thursday statement, Pelosi said the funding will be used to strengthen critical Bay Area transportation systems until ridership returns to normal levels allowing transit operations to continue getting children to school and workers to their jobs.
“Thanks to President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg, more than half-a-billion dollars in new federal funding from Democrats’ American Rescue Plan is headed to the Bay Area: helping us preserve essential, affordable public transportation access for Californians and save transit worker jobs,” Speaker Pelosi said. “The past two years have posed unprecedented challenges for our region’s public transit systems and those who rely upon them, which is why the Democratic Congress secured historic investments to help keep our infrastructure systems working safe and strong, now and in the future.”
The funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration and is drawn from the $2.2 billion in American Rescue Plan FTA Additional Assistance grant program supplementing previous transit assistance for American communities. These new investments will fund operation costs, strengthen sanitation efforts to combat COVID-19, and help avoid layoffs and furloughs. The funds are in addition to the $1.84 billion the Bay Area received from the American Rescue Plan for transit funding.
Funding includes $270 million for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART); $115 million for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni); and $75 million for Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.