Election Day: Bay Area voters back Regional Transit Measure RTM, a 14-year sales tax for BART, Muni and other transit, in unofficial results

L2Who’s affected

Who's affected: Riders and residents of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The measure "imposes an additional 1% sales tax in San Francisco and a 0.5% sales tax in Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties for a 14-year period" (Mission Local (Kelly Waldron; published 1:08 a.m. ET, Nov. 4)). "It would raise close to $1 billion a year for local agencies including BART, Muni, Caltrain, San Francisco Bay Ferry and AC Transit." (Mission Local). USA Today: the new taxes will fund "BART, Muni, Caltrain, AC Transit, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, San Francisco Bay Ferry, and Golden Gate Transit". By county, MTC's preliminary yes share: San Francisco 77.6, Alameda 64.9, San Mateo 59.6, Contra Costa 56.0, Santa Clara 53.8 ("Last updated 11 p.m., November 3"). Mission Local: "In San Francisco, the measure won more than 77% of the early votes."

L3Why it’s quiet

Why it stayed quiet: It is a regional ballot measure on a night when national coverage centers on House and Senate control. Our O-Score check found 2 of 13 major U.S. outlets with a story on the result as of about 2:20 a.m. ET: USA Today's California desk and CBS San Francisco (on cbsnews.com).

L4Deeper impact

Deeper impact: "If RTM had not passed, BART warned that it might have to close more than a dozen stations, cut service hours by 70% and stop operating evening train service." (Mission Local). KQED's published argument for the measure says that without it, agencies "will be forced to make catastrophic service cuts, including eliminating two BART lines". KQED's published argument against says "Bay Area transit agencies already receive around $6 billion a year in taxes, tolls and government grants". Opponents listed by KQED include "Debora Allen, former BART director", the "Contra Costa Taxpayers Association" and the "San Francisco Taxpayers Association".

L5Full context

Full context: "The Public Transit Revenue Measure District was established by Senate Bill 63 (2025)" (MTC). MTC says "proponents of the Connect Bay Area Transit Initiative submitted sufficient valid signatures for the measure to qualify for placement on the ballot", and that the measure "requires approval by a simple majority (more than 50%) of all votes cast on the measure across the five counties within the District". Mission Local: "the pandemic closures and a shift to remote work emptied San Francisco’s downtown and decreased transit ridership around the Bay Area". "Proponents of Prop. RTM raised over $7.5 million from contributors including Salesforce, Meta and Genentech." (Mission Local). “Oh my God. I’m so happy,” said volunteer Manav Patel (Mission Local). San Francisco's separate Proposition H, a Muni parcel tax, "was leading with 72% of the vote as the first round of votes was counted tonight" (Mission Local). How we report results: every figure is unofficial and credited to its source with its time; we have not mixed MTC's 61.5% with USA Today's earlier 61.3%.

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