Car-Obsessed California Seeks to Follow New York's Lead and Save Public Transit

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Sadaf Zahoor has bucked Californias 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, California, 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 havent returned to even half their previous levels.

The transit agencies have asked Democrats who control Californias government to rescue them, much like Democrats in New York recently did with a $227 billion spending plan. The request is proving to be a much tougher sell in the nations most populous state, where majestic mountain highways and seas of suburban single-family homes have made it far more automobile-reliant than much of the Northeast.