(The Center Square) \u2013 As lawmakers grapple with the declining health of downtown neighborhoods in California’s big cities, urban planning and public transit officials spoke about what the state can do to turn things around.<\/p>\n
During an informational hearing held by the Assembly Select Committee on Downtown Recovery, officials and urban planners said legislators can do more to ensure California’s downtowns recover from years of an economic slump, aided in large part by continued financial support for public transit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we formed this committee in 2024, we formed it around a pretty simple question at the time that is still very relevant today in 2026,\u201d Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco and chair of the committee, said at the outset of the meeting. \u201cWhat can we as state policymakers do to help California\u2019s downtown come back stronger after the pandemic? You can\u2019t really answer that question clearly without talking about public transit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millions of Californians relied on buses, trains and subways to get to work downtown, Haney said. Downtowns have struggled to bounce back since.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen COVID hit, offices emptied, downtown foot traffic collapsed, and transit systems also lost a large share of the riders they depended on,\u201d Haney added. \u201cFive years later, we know that our downtowns are changing. People are coming back to work, many are still relying on public transit, but some are not necessarily coming back five days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Numbers published by the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a> show that population declines occurred in large metropolitan areas across the country, with the biggest declines hitting San Francisco, Daly City, Redwood City, San Mateo, Cupertino and South San Francisco more than any other city in California between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021. While population declines slowed or reversed for many cities since that time, the effects of the initial population loss in the first two years of the pandemic cleared out downtowns, affecting urban transit systems.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bay Area really runs on transit, and the backbone of the Bay Area transit system is BART,\u201d Edward Wright, vice president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors, testified at the hearing. \u201cBART allows people to access a large pool of economic activities, but also, of course, community, culture, jobs and housing.\u201d<\/p>\n The average Bay Area worker spends roughly $34 a day at businesses located in downtown San Francisco, translating to $1 million a day, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also know that recovery for San Franciscans downtown is not possible without robust, well-funded, reliable public transit services,\u201d Wright testified.<\/p>\n The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the governmental agency that oversees public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area, operated during fiscal year 2025-26 on a $349.6 million budget, with $68.1 million coming from the state, according to a draft<\/a> of the operating and capital budget.<\/p>\n