Mass transit takes a back seat

We argue in an editorial in today's Fresno Bee that California needs a variety of transportation options to handle its ever-growing population. Unfortunately at budget time, our lawmakers look to transit tio take the first cuts when money is tight.

Here's part of that editorial:

Politically speaking, transit in California is the equivalent of the little kid who always gets picked on by the schoolyard bully. This year at state budget time, the bully -- let's call him Arnold -- had no trouble stealing transit's lunch money. Some $1.3 billion in gas taxes that had been slated to go to local bus and rail operators was diverted to help paper over the state's deficit instead.

The top leaders in the Legislature, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata from Oakland and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez from Los Angeles, both represent densely populated urban areas. Each has tens of thousands of constituents who depend on transit.

Buses and trains in their communities are overflowing. Both leaders opposed transit cuts initially but, in the end, both voted for them.

Newspapers wrote editorials bemoaning transit cuts, but it didn't matter. Transit's pockets were easy to pick, and they were.

It is clear that transit riders are woefully overmatched in the fierce competition for shrinking state dollars. Transit leaders have not made a persuasive case to the Legislature that their customers matter.