Bay Area voters support transportation improvements if wealthy people and corporations pay for them: poll

A new poll shows many Bay Area voters want better public transportation and roads if wealthy residents and businesses pay for them. But proposed legislation related to the study and aimed at improving traffic and roads has already caused pushback at the Valley Transportation Authority, which serves Santa Clara County.

Nearly 6 in 10 poll respondents support a future Bay Area-wide increase in income taxes for high-income earners for an affordable and tailored bus, rail and ferry network, as well as road and pedestrian and transportation improvements. responded that they supported the voting measure. bicycle infrastructure.

“Voters are very dissatisfied with the Bay Area's transportation situation,” said Matt, a partner at Impact Research, who conducted the poll on behalf of Seamless Bay Area, a nonprofit that advocates for a unified Bay Area transportation system.・Mr. Hogan says. The Beneficial State Foundation is dedicated to advancing financial justice in the banking industry. “This applies to both public transport and roads and highways.”

The push to improve public transportation comes as the region's transit agencies struggle to recover from a significant drop in ridership brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and widespread shifts to remote work. It is being done.

In a poll of 600 likely voters, 57% of respondents said they would like to see the region's myriad transit systems consolidated, public transit services, as long as strong auditing and oversight is in place. He said he would support a ballot measure in 2026 to raise revenue to improve roads and infrastructure. And that funding came from a 1% tax on people making more than $300,000 a year, or households making more than $500,000 a year.

Hogan said last week in a presentation on a poll conducted in January that respondents favored funding the project by increasing payroll taxes for employers with annual revenue of $4 million or more, excluding companies with fewer than 50 employees. He also expressed great support for providing such services.

However, the poll results also revealed a wide gap in opinion. “We're seeing pretty strong opposition among Republicans,” Hogan said. Almost half of all respondents also wanted local authorities to focus on improving roads and highways, and just under 40% wanted them to focus on improving transportation.

The poll was intended to guide voters in nine Bay Area counties to cast their votes. A bill introduced in January by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would be the first step in that process. SB 925 seeks permission from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area's umbrella transportation authority, to seek funding for transportation and road improvements through local voting.

Supporters of the funding measure say it would connect service between the Bay Area's 27 transit agencies, make travel across the region as quick and smooth as possible, increase usage, reduce vehicle emissions and improve transportation I would like to reduce the amount. As the UC Berkeley Transportation Research Institute noted in August regarding the region's post-pandemic road conditions, “freeways are congested again.”

“Bay Area residents, businesses and visitors need safe, frequent, reliable and seamless transportation service, smooth roads free of dangerous potholes, and safe roads for pedestrians and cyclists,” Wiener said in a news release. “We want a world-class transportation system with access.”

Weiner's bill includes details on how the money would be raised, what improvements would be paid for, how a streamlined transportation system would be managed, and how spending would be overseen. Not included.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to support the bill and submitted a wish list of ballot initiatives. The agency hopes to raise $1 billion to $2 billion annually through this funding measure, through methods that include sales taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes, parcel taxes, vehicle registration surcharges, and local vehicle mileage taxes. There is.

Hogan said voters strongly rejected increases in sales and property taxes in surveys.

The funding measure also gives MTC the authority to set policies for all 27 Bay Area transit agencies and remove funding from non-compliant transit operators, including on fare payments, integration between services, and scheduling. I would like to be able to withhold it.

Wiener city spokesman Eric Mebst said Friday that senators will release a revised version of the plan with more details on March 18. Jim Lawson, VTA's director of external relations, said this week that Wiener's staff told him the senator was “thinking about what's next.” ” MTC proposal.

MTC has already faced pushback from the VTA board and San Jose politicians.

“I have great concerns about giving the MTC more power,” San Jose City Council member and VTA board member Deb Davis said at Thursday’s VTA board meeting. He said: “Giving more powers through the local transport network seems to me like less local services, not more local services.”

Lawson said Bay Area-wide traffic coordination would “provide little benefit to VTA,” in part because 70% of all transit and other trips within Santa Clara County remain within the county. . Lawson and Davis also expressed concern that the county would be burdened with too much funding.