Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority CEO says federal funding freeze jeopardized 20% of budget
STANISLAUS COUNTY – President Trump's recent executive order to pause federal funding brought uncertainty to the Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority, or STAN-RTA.
A federal judge's temporary injunction blocked that pause after 22 states and the District of Columbia challenged a memo from the White House budget office.
Adam Barth, CEO of STAN-RTA, said the recent attempt to freeze federal funding and reimbursements jeopardized 20 percent of the company's overall budget.
"It was possible they were going to hold the funding and not reimburse us. So if that continued, which it hasn't, then we would have had to really look at our service and probably cut services if we needed to account for that funding gap," Barth said.
Twenty percent of their overall budget is just about $7 million.
Barth said if the federal funding is paused, they'll have to cut the frequency of their buses.
"We may just cut how often the routes go. So some routes go every 15 minutes or every half an hour, then make it cut back to every half an hour, and for those 15-minute routes, turn every hour or hour. So it just makes it less convenient for folks to get around, having to wait longer for a bus to get there," Barth said.
Since 2019, STAN-RTA ridership has increased by 20 percent, going from 2.4 million annual riders to 2.9 million. Barth said he expects those numbers to increase.
"We're seeing lots of people on the bus. So that just shows that as you make the bus system more convenient to use with buses that come often, you can be more free with your time," Barth said.
