Bay Area voters will have the opportunity to shape BART’s future in the upcoming general election.
Of the nine directors who set BART policy and budget, five seats are up for re-election, and of those five seats, four incumbent directors are resigning.
Only director Melissa Hernandez wants to keep her current seat. She was appointed five months ago after her predecessor resigned. The new directors will have to make some tough decisions as BART faces a historic budget deficit.
The uncertainties about the future of the transit agency worry longtime passengers like Marianna Gibbs. She and her daughter rely on BART for work and school.
“It’s my primary mode [of transportation]. I have a car, but I use BART,” Gibbs said.
BART relies on one-time federal money to keep the trains running. Once that money runs out in 2026, BART will face a $385 million shortfall.
“That could lead to drastic service cuts, things like station closures, much longer wait times between trains and even complete line closures, for example this weekend,” said BART spokesman Jim Allison.
BART management and elected officials will need to establish policies to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” of 2026.
“There is an enormous amount of waste and financial mismanagement at BART,” said outgoing BART Director Debora Allen.
Allen is often the voice of dissent and the minority voice on the board. She believed that a balanced solution would involve cuts and new tax dollars.
“This has always been a bloated agency. There’s a tremendous amount of money going into consulting contracts and into nonprofits,” Allen said. “The management structure itself is incredibly inefficient.”
Allen said BART should also negotiate concessions from unions instead of handing out wage increases.
“Labor is 75% of the operating budget. If you want to cut costs and become more efficient and reduce costs, you have to address labor,” Allen said.
But Allen admitted this is a pipe dream as five of the eight candidates running for open seats are backed by unions.
“Looking at the lineup, I don’t think there will be much change because most of the directors replacing the five are the ones hand-selected by the existing directors,” Allen said.
“Director Allen has not really been able to do more in her role than criticize and criticize the agency,” said outgoing director and board chair Bevan Dufty.
Dufty disagreed with Allen. He believes there are checks and balances to prevent waste.
“I think it’s ridiculous to say we’re inflating our budget. I think we’re a well-run institution. We just had a bond rating of AA+. I really have confidence in our staff and our people,” he said. Dufty.
He said the previous financing model, where the operating budget relies mainly on riders, is outdated in the post-pandemic work-from-home world.
He believed the best options might be a regional or local tax measure to fund BART long-term.
“If BART is not robust, we will see gridlock,” Dufty said.
That’s something no one wants to experience, not even Gibbs. Although she admitted she was tired of taxes, she and many people rely on a strong BART system.
“If they have to keep the trains as consistent as they are, it will be worth it,” Gibbs said.
Of the five board seats up for re-election, two contests have one candidate running unopposed. They are in Districts 1 and 3. And of the three remaining races, political experts said only Districts 7 and 9 have competitive races. Dana Lang and Victor Flores are running in District 7. Edward Wright and Joe Sangirardi are running in District 9.
