Public transit agencies eye service cuts as pandemic aid runs out

Among the trillions of dollars approved by Congress to keep the economy afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic were about $70 billion for the country’s public transit systems.

That money kept transit agencies alive as they lost most of their riders (and the fares that they pay). But now, most agencies are finally using up the last of those federal funds. And while ridership has improved, in many places, it’s still not back to pre-pandemic levels. That’s leading some agencies — big and small — to consider service cuts, which could strand some riders and hurt transit agencies in the long run.

On the small side is Green Mountain Transit, which runs buses in and around Burlington, Vermont. That’s where a few dozen people filed into the pews of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in downtown on a recent evening to hear about a slate of proposed service cuts.

GMT general manager Clayton Clark delivered the bad news: “The reason why we’re here tonight is because in fiscal year ‘26, which will start in about nine months, we have about a $2 million gap,” he told the crowd.

Some $17.8 million in total federal aid kept GMT from cutting routes the past few years, but that money is nearly gone, Clark said. So to close that expected budget gap, Clark said the agency will start by cutting routes that don’t have many riders. But even those less popular routes are important to some passengers — like Burlington resident Patrick Mulligan, who spoke at the meeting.

“I do not own a vehicle, but I work in Williston, OK, so I take two buses in the morning and two buses in the afternoon,” he said. One of those buses is on the chopping block, but Mulligan admitted he’s usually one of the only people on it.

“I understand if you want to cut that out, but you have to give us an alternative,” he said. “I mean, summertime, I can ride my bike up to the transit center. February, March — when we’re in the dead of winter — that’s going to be a little tough.”

Green Mountain Transit serves a few thousand people a day, according to Clark. But many larger transit agencies around the country are facing the same post-pandemic problem.

“Their ridership has not yet come back to pre-pandemic levels, and yet they’re providing service at the same level as they did pre-pandemic,” said Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute.

As agencies finally run out of federal pandemic aid, this situation is unsustainable, Freemark noted. Agencies from BART in the Bay Area to SEPTA in Philadelphia are — like GMT in Vermont — considering service cuts.

“The problem is, when a transit agency goes and cuts service, it ends up reducing the attractiveness of the buses and trains that its riders take advantage of,” Freemark said.

This becomes a vicious cycle. “Fewer riders take advantage of those services, and the agency ends up collecting even fewer revenues,” he said. “And so the cycle then repeats.”

Operating a good transit system that people want to ride means providing lots of reliable, frequent service, according to Brian Taylor, a professor of urban planning and public policy at UCLA.

“You need to have a network of service that reasonably covers an entire urban area,” he said — which means parts of that network will have lots of riders and make money, but other parts won’t.

“But those who are there need to get to destinations, to get to work on time, to get to the doctor, to get to things that they need to get to,” Taylor said.

For the last four years, federal aid helped keep those money-losing lines operating. But typically, federal money for transit is reserved mostly for capital expenses, like buying new buses and trains, said T.J. Doyle at the American Public Transportation Association. The federal government is now reverting to that norm, so many agencies are looking elsewhere for operating funds.

“There’s no real silver bullet to this, but I do think systems and agencies are trying anything they can,” Doyle said. Minnesota, for example, passed a sales tax last year to fund transit. Nashville has one on the ballot this November.

In Vermont, Green Mountain Transit has asked the state legislature for more funding, said general manager Clayton Clark.

“What we heard from them at the time was that there’s a lot of competing needs for limited state resources, and that GMT should really learn to live within its budget,” he said.

The agency will try again in the next legislative session in January, he added. But in the meantime, they’re creating a new potential revenue source: an affiliated nonprofit organization. The agency’s board approved articles of incorporation for the nonprofit on Sept. 17.

“We wanted to be able to apply for additional grants that are available only to nonprofits and to take advantage of some of the things that nonprofits are able to do,” Clark explained.

The nonprofit could take in direct donations from foundations, individuals, anyone who wants to help fund the buses. Clark expects the nonprofit to be up and running in three to four months, just as the planned service cuts start to ramp up.