“That is a question we’ve had for the 35 years I have been in Congress,” said Pelosi on Friday. “Is it bricks and mortar, or is it operating cost?”
Under crystal blue skies and a postcard backdrop of one of the world’s most iconic bridges, heavy hitters from the White House and Capitol Hill continued a victory lap for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill on Monday, touting a $400 million seismic upgrade of the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the legislation’s biggest single awards.
But even as Washington promises massive flows of new infrastructure spending for transportation projects across the country, a more urgent question brought on by post-pandemic economic headwinds has surfaced: Is there enough money to keep the country’s trains and buses running? National leaders, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, offered no commitments at Monday’s event when asked about whether the Biden administration or Congress should help ailing public transit agencies weather a near-term fiscal crisis. Budget shortfalls couldin the coming years and transit funding is shaping up to be a key battle in Sacramento. “That is a question we’ve had for the 35 years I have been in Congress. Is it bricks and mortar, or is it operating cost?” said Pelosi in one of her first local appearances since stepping down as Democratic leader. Without the “bricks and mortar,” Pelosi added, “We don’t even have anything to talk about.” She did not say if Congress should back a transit funding package.transit agencies, including BART, Caltrain, and Muni. Daily commuters have ditched the office for remote work, leaving agencies scrambling to make up fare revenues losses that were filled only temporarily by pandemic relief money. Without new taxpayer subsidies, bus and ferry service could be slashed and BART could cancel multiple lines after 2025, according toSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 23: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi at a press event near the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, in San Francisco, Calif. Officials announced a $400 million federal grant to upgrade and retrofit the iconic Golden Gate Bridge to ensure it can withstand the impacts of a major earthquake. At Monday’s event, Buttigieg cited funding for zero-emissions buses as a way to save agencies money on fuel, but he did not offer any support for operations funding that local agencies say is desperately needed. “A lot of that is going into capital. It’s also going to capital that will save transit agencies on their day-to-day expenses,” he said. Obtaining funding for transit operations from Congress would upend a decades-long history of how transit money is doled out. Washington typically funds mega projects but provides scant money for the cost of keeping buses arriving on time and trains pulling into the station. It’s a sore spot for advocates. The disparity in capital and operations funding is getting worse, they say, as transit agencies, encouraged by the infrastructure bill, pursue
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