Transit officials say federal stimulus money should float the agency for another three years, but some question marks remain
Sharp declines in transit use triggered by COVID-19 appear to be reversing course as the Omicron variant wanes and San Diegans slowly return to offices, schools and other in-person settings.
Average weekday ridership was down more than 70 percent when COVID restrictions first began in 2020. It has climbed in the first week of February to within 33 percent of pre-COVID levels, according to MTS data. That’s about where transit use had rebounded to last fall, before the most recent wave of the virus sent cases soaring.
At the start of the pandemic, officials were concerned that the loss in ticket sales would require major service cuts. Fare-box revenue in 2021 was about half of the roughly $99 million MTS has generated annually in years past. Ana Rodriguez, who until recently commuted from Chula Vista to Coronado to work at a restaurant, said she’s noticed the bus has been less reliable in recent months.
SANDAG now says that funding, which amounts to about $30 million a year, will only be available through the end of 2030, rather than 2048 as originally envisioned.That’s frustrated some MTS board members, especially since SANDAG has proposed an ambitious $160 billion blueprint for modernizing the region’s transit system. The plan is largely contingent on voters approving several sales-tax increases, the first of which could be in front of voters this November.
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