Bay Area voters to decide on transit funding measures amid systemwide delays

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Voters across five Bay Area counties will soon get the chance to weigh in on transit funding.

Regional ballot measures would help bail out long suffering local transportation agencies, most of which have budget deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"We've got a lot of work to do," said Jeff Cretan.

Cretan is a spokesperson for the campaign supporting the measures.

He says while recent polling shows the majority of people plan on voting yes come November, his group plans on making a final blitz before election day.

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"What worries me is what happens if this measure fails. If we lose transit at the levels we could see happen, it would be devastating for the Bay Area," he said.

But not everyone is on board.

"I believe that the voters should reject this measure," said Debora Allen.

Allen is a former BART board director.

She says agencies like BART have made poor financial decisions for years.

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Allen worries authorities will continue asking the public for more money.

A bold ask, she says, given the series of meltdowns that have plagued local transit in recent years.

"There are a lot of promises being made for accountability and transparency out there among the pro transit crowd that just simply aren't true," said Allen.

With voters heading to the polls in just a few weeks, we wanted to know what commuters at a San Francisco BART station think about these ballot measures.

Some, like David Coleman, tell us while he supports the measures in theory he wants to see agencies like BART do more.

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"If people would pay their fare then we wouldn't have these problems," said Coleman.

Others though are more decided.

Encouraged by recent progress in customer experience.

"I definitely see the improvements that have happened with BART over the years. It's definitely a lot better than it used to be," said Paige Carrington.

Voters will head to the polls to decide on the funding measures on Nov. 3.