don't kill AC Transit!

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert]

I am writing to urge you to exempt AC Transit from the ERAF shift you proposed in the May budget revision.  230,000 San Francisco East Bay residents, including myself, rely on AC Transit every day to get to school, work, retail and recreation sites and medical appointments.  Many of us have no other transportation alternatives. AC Transit provides essential service to our East Bay community.

Your proposal places a disproportionate amount of the burden of the statewide ERAF shift (9%) on the shoulders of Bay Area transit riders.  AC Transit has faced severe budget cuts over the past three years and has taken prudent measures to respond to the economic challenges, including significant cuts to service and increased fares.  The additional revenue reductions that you have proposed via an ERAF shift - $20 million for AC Transit - will result in further personnel layoffs and service reductions, decimating critical services by forcing the elimination of routes, many of which are essential for school children, senior citizens, and workers.  As a consequence of your proposal AC Transit would lose 8% of its budget and have to cut the equivalent of all of
its weekend or all of its school service (AC Transit carries 60,000 school children daily).

I urge you to reconsider the burden you have placed on AC Transit and all of us who depend on AC Transit every day, and to continue to exempt transit districts from the ERAF shift.

Sincerely,
Robert

where-I-live