Abstract
Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to inflict severe and lasting damage to public transit systems in California. Some experts feared that agencies would lay off workers; shutter lines for months, if not permanently; strand essential workers who depend on transit; and even go bankrupt. However, thanks to federal financial relief from three stimulus bills and stronger-than-expected bounce-back of tax revenues from state and local sources, transit agencies in 2022 have avoided that abyss — but still face an uncertain financial future. Meanwhile, operational challenges and, increasingly, workforce issues have hampered returns to regular service, potentially affecting transit budgets.To explore the financial effects of the pandemic on California transit and agencies’ responses to it, we conducted a detailed survey of transit agency staff in late fall 2021 and early winter 2022. We received responses from 44 agencies, though not all agencies responded to all questions. We included a number of questions previously asked of California transit agencies in early fall 2020 in Speroni, Taylor, and Hwang (forthcoming), in order to compare two very different points in the pandemic.
