By JEFF McMURRAY and ADAM BEAMSadaf Zahoor sits in a Bay Area Rapid Transit train Wednesday, June 7, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. Zahoor has used public transit her whole life and relies on it to get to work. Sadaf Zahoor sits in a Bay Area Rapid Transit train Wednesday, June 7, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. Zahoor has used public transit her whole life and relies on it to get to work.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sadaf Zahoor has bucked California’s car culture by never owning one, yet she and other residents who rely on public transit worry its bleak financial outlook could soon leave them standing at empty train stations and bus stops. The agencies running the public transit systems, particularly in San Francisco and Oakland, where Zahoor lives, have been living off billions of dollars in federal aid that will soon expire.
Ridership plummeted by as much as 94% during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a gaping budget deficit. Fare box revenues have rebounded a bit, but with more people working from home, some systems haven’t returned to even half their previous levels. The transit agencies have asked Democrats who control California’s government to rescue them, much like