CONTACT: Jeff Wagner,
Communications Director - CTA
Phone:  (916) 752-4150

August 25, 2009 

Grisly details of state cuts compiled online

?Aftermath Archive? catalogs consequences of transit funding crisis

Barely a day passes without news of some public transit provider in California having to resort to service cuts, fare increases or other means for coping with reductions, diversions or outright elimination of state funding.

The California Transit Association now provides a one-stop online resource for details of the pain inflicted by the budget crisis. Dubbed the ?Aftermath Archive,? the new website is highlighted by an interactive map with details on the measures being undertaken by transit providers throughout the state.  The archive also includes ?Transit News Watch,? the Association?s weekly compilation of media reports documenting the ramifications of the transit funding crisis, as well as timely articles of interest to transit riders, providers and advocates.

The map is based in part on a similar nationwide project launched earlier this year by the advocacy group Transportation for America, but takes the concept further by providing details of the fare hikes, service cuts, layoffs and other measures being undertaken to counter the critical funding shortfall. Information included is compiled from media reports, independent staff research, and surveys of Association members.

More than $5 billion in state funding dedicated to public transit has been siphoned away this decade to cover other General Fund expenditures, nearly $4 billion of that in the last three years alone.  The Association filed suit over the diversions following the 2007-08 budget agreement, and the Third District Court of Appeal recently adjudged those diversions to be illegal. The Schwarzenegger Administration has appealed that ruling to the State Supreme Court.  Meanwhile, the budget agreement adopted in February (and revised last month) eliminated all allocations to the State Transit Assistance program, the only ongoing source of state funding for day-to-day transit operations since its creation in the early 1970s. According to research conducted on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund, elimination of the STA leaves California as one of only 13 states that provide no funding for public transit operations.

The Aftermath Archive, continually updated as new information becomes available, can be viewed at www.caltransit.org/aftermath.

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Related Links:  CTA Aftermath - Map

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