BART quietly dropped a Phase 2 budget packet today that reads like a warning label for the entire system: a plan to trim roughly $264 million from the agency's eligible operating budget and potentially eliminate about 1,170 full-time equivalents. The figures, shared in a table and attached transcript, sketch deep cuts across operations, transportation, maintenance and train shops, and outline impacts to multiple bargaining units. For now, agency staff are stressing that the numbers are targets that still need risk and feasibility review, not a list of immediate station closures or service cuts.
Spreadsheet Spells Out $264 Million Target And 1,170 Positions
The Phase 2 summary table, released publicly by BART, proposes taking $264 million out of an $833 million pool of eligible operating dollars and trimming about 1,170 of roughly 3,743 eligible positions. The packet breaks out the proposed hit by department: a $162 million target in operations that translates to about 829 FTEs, roughly $78 million in transportation tied to 419 FTEs, about $47 million in rolling stock and shops tied to 229 FTEs, and roughly $34 million in maintenance connected to about 170 FTEs. Police are listed at about $33 million and 126 FTEs.
https://t.co/Z877t7dCSu pic.twitter.com/csKs7PEJtv
— BART (@SFBART) February 6, 2026
The material also lays out estimated impacts by bargaining unit, naming ATU, SEIU, AFSCME, BPOA and others, and flags certain areas that are excluded from the eligible pool, including paratransit, workers' compensation and liability insurance. In other words, the spreadsheet is essentially a map of where BART believes it can legally and practically look for savings, not a final list of who will actually get a pink slip.
Why BART Is Even Talking About Cuts This Big
BART and regional transportation reporters have been warning for months that the agency's federal pandemic relief funds are drying up and a much larger structural budget gap is coming right behind them. Local coverage has highlighted a roughly $300-400 million annual shortfall beginning in the next fiscal cycle, a hole big enough that management is under pressure to scope out both deeper cuts and new revenue ideas.
The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that the agency is already warning that, without fresh money or major savings, service could ultimately be on the chopping block. Against that backdrop, the Phase 2 staffing and budget targets read less like an accounting exercise and more like the early outline of how BART might try to dodge that worst-case scenario.
Board Timeline, Budget Vote And What Has To Happen First
According to BART, the Phase 2 figures are still preliminary and will go through the public budget process, including discussion and revision at the board level. The agency's published budget calendar points to a June vote on a two-year spending plan, with these proposed cuts treated as one piece of a larger puzzle.
Agency materials say the projected FY26 gap was largely closed with a mix of one-time funds and cost controls, but they also warn that larger deficits are still on the horizon, which is why staff are modeling steeper reductions now. Any actual layoffs, reassignments or service changes would require more feasibility work, negotiations with affected unions and formal board action before anything takes effect.
What Riders And Workers Should Watch Next
At this stage, BART has not announced specific service reductions tied to the Phase 2 targets, and staff continue to describe the spreadsheet as a planning and modeling document rather than a final roadmap. Riders worried about train frequency or station access will want to keep an eye on upcoming BART board agendas and public budget hearings, where any proposed service shifts would have to surface.
Employees and union leaders, meanwhile, are bracing for more detail in the form of official notices and meet-and-confer sessions as staff refine the proposals. We will update this story as agency officials or bargaining representatives release new information.
