Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials have agreed to provide a $590 million loan to Bay Area transit agencies, including BART and San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, offering temporary relief to systems that have been teetering on the edge of severe service cuts.
The loan is significantly smaller than the $750 million infusion local lawmakers said the governor had pledged last year — a promise he later backtracked on, sending transit officials and advocates scrambling to revive the deal. Even with the new funding, agencies receiving the loan face a combined projected deficit of more than $800 million in the next fiscal year.
“California is following through in our support for Bay Area transit and the riders who rely on it every day,” Newsom said in a statement. “Public transit is essential to our economy and to communities across California, and through continued partnership with regional and local agencies, we are delivering a more stable and reliable system — now and for the future.”…