ENNext Stop: Funding Transit
How Sacramento funds the transit system it depends on.
SacRT buses, light rail, paratransit, and other services operate every day of the year. Keeping them moving requires operators and mechanics, safety personnel, vehicles, tracks, stations, technology, maintenance, and ongoing investment.
Fares alone do not cover the cost of operating and maintaining SacRT’s system.
Riders pay a fare; however, the fare only covers about 7% of the cost to operate service. The rest comes from public funding, including local, state, and federal dollars.
Without a predictable source of local funding, SacRT must piece together resources from fares, existing local transportation funding, state and federal grants, and other sources. This affects the stability of SacRT’s operating budget.
Sacramento Faces A Funding Challenge Other Major California Cities Don't
Sacramento is the largest city in California without a dedicated local funding source for public transit.
Agencies like BART, LA Metro, and TriMet in Portland all have one, which lets them plan in decades. SacRT plans in budget cycles.
SacRT receives only one-fifth of a cent from the existing local sales tax. The vast majority of the remaining revenue is divided among roads, highways, and other transportation needs throughout Sacramento County.
This means SacRT does not have the same kind of predictable, dedicated local revenue available to many other major transit systems.
This affects both the resources available here at home and SacRT’s ability to compete for additional funding from outside the region.
Local Funding Helps Bring Outside Dollars to Sacramento
Many state and federal capital grants require transit agencies to provide local matching funds.
Having local dollars available can determine whether SacRT can compete for significantly more state and federal funding. Without the required local match, those outside dollars may go to transit projects in other regions instead.
SacRT has successfully competed for hundreds of millions of dollars in grants. Those funds have helped pay for major capital projects such as new vehicles, stations, technology, and infrastructure.
Local investment can help Sacramento bring additional state and federal transportation dollars back to the region.
$800+ Million
Secured in grants over the last decade.
$2 Billion
Capital investments currently underway.
Local match
Required for many competitive state and federal grants.
Capital funding and operating funding are different.
Capital grants are generally awarded for specific long-term projects and cannot simply be redirected to cover everyday operating costs.
Operating funding pays for the day-to-day work of keeping transit running, including operators, mechanics, safety personnel, maintenance, and other ongoing service needs.
This means SacRT can successfully compete for major capital grants while still facing a long-term challenge in how it funds, operates, and maintains the system year after year.
What The Funding Pays For
Funding supports both the service people rely on today, and the system Sacramento will need tomorrow.
It pays for the things required to keep today’s system operating:
- Safety and security: Personnel, cameras, monitoring, technology, and partnerships.
- Vehicles and infrastructure: Buses, trains, tracks, stations, stops, signals, and communications.
- Maintenance and state of good repair: Repairing and replacing what Sacramento already owns.
- People: Operators, mechanics, and the employees who keep service running.
- Accessibility and affordability: Service and fare programs that help people who depend on transit remain connected.
What This Means For The Future
SacRT has been able to maintain service and make significant improvements despite limited local funding and its funding structure.
Competitive grants can help Sacramento make major investments in vehicles, infrastructure, and technology. But grants are awarded for specific purposes and do not provide a predictable source of funding for everything required to operate and maintain transit year after year.
Without a sustainable local funding solution, it becomes more difficult to maintain today’s service, continue improving safety, keep aging buses and trains in good condition, update critical infrastructure, and compete for outside investment.
The challenge isn’t only funding what’s next. It’s protecting what Sacramento has already invested in while preparing the transit system for what comes next.