Governor Schwarzenegger Proposes Transit Cuts and Says Nothing About Gasoline Prices

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

California is undergoing a profound change. The land where the car was assumed to be dominant always had a higher amount of transit ridership than folks realized - LA's bus system is one of the nation's busiest - but with gas prices blowing right past $4 and headed for $5, Californians are flocking to transit - buses, light rail, subways, Amtrak, you name it.

And how does Arnold Schwarzenegger, avowed friend of the little guy, always looking out to protect Californians from taxes that might lighten their wallets, react?

By proposing a $1.4 billion cut to public transit. This is nothing short of madness. Rising ridership is limited by available buses and train cars, while soaring fuel prices put stress on transit agency budgets. MUNI's Nathaniel Ford puts it well:

"Even with California's massive deficit, scaling back the state's support for public transportation makes no sense environmentally or economically," said Nathaniel Ford, who runs the San Francisco Municipal Railway.

"Every dollar spent on transit helps clean the air by getting people out of their cars. And with gas prices continuing to escalate, we should be doing everything we can to encourage, not discourage, transit use."

Arnold likes to tell Californians he looks out for their jobs and their wallets, but how on earth is does starving public transit of funds and shackling Californians to their cars and to rising gas prices do anything at all to help grow the economy and keep money in voters' pockets? The Vehicle License Fee that Arnold cut costs the state $6 billion a year in order to save drivers an average of $150 - which they'll spend on higher gas prices in the space of a month. He still hasn't restored the $5.8 billion he has diverted from transportation funds over the five years he has been in office.

Congressional Republicans have voted $14 billion for Amtrak - so why is Arnold instead attacking mass transit alternatives in California? Surely it doesn't have anything to do with massive contributions he has received from big oil companies.