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Bus drivers have abandoned plans for a one-day walkout after cash-strapped AC Transit temporarily restored some of the service cuts they had scheduled for December. 

AC Transit’s Board of Directors voted 4-3 Wednesday to return $2.5 million to this year’s operating budget, effectively delaying cuts on several lines through June while the transit agency explores ways to bolster revenues. 

Transit planners have not released the full list of service restorations, but officials say that major Oakland and Richmond Routes 47, 68, 72 will be spared and Routes 57 and 50 will avoid service reductions. Berkeley Transbay Route HX is still scheduled for elimination this December. 

In July, AC Transit announced the elimination of 34 bus lines and the alteration of 37 other routes to help plug a $50 million budget deficit. The cuts trimmed about $13 million from the deficit and were met with fierce opposition from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, whose members feared heavy driver layoffs and the loss of service to poor and minority neighborhoods. 

The union threatened to stage a one-day walkout, which transit officials warned would further drive riders from local bus service.  

The $2.5 million slated to keep the busses rolling until June had been allotted to AC Transit’s reserve fund, which budget cuts had wrung dry in recent years. To keep the restored service over the long haul, the transit agency, with union approval, is considering a plan to float bonds tied to the employees’ pension funds. 

The plan would pump money invested by bondholders into the pension fund. Money AC Transit would have been obligated to devote to the pension fund would then be used to keep service intact. The pension fund would invest the money and AC Transit would be responsible for paying interest to bondholders. If the pension fund received high yields on its investments—as it has historically—AC Transit could pay less into the pension fund and continue to pay to operate the bus lines slated to be saved. 

The employees’ pension would not be at risk under the plan. If the pension did not make a healthy profit on its investments, AC Transit would still be obligated to make up the difference. In 2003 AC Transit paid $17 million to the pension fund. 

Several counties, including Marin and Contra Costa, use this type of financing according to AC Transit Deputy General Manager Jim Gleich. If the plan falls through, Gleich said the agency would only lose the $2.5 million allocated to continue service through June. 

Three directors worried that the bond plan was too vague.  

“It was haphazardly put together. I wanted more information before I agreed to it.” said Ward 2 Director Greg Harper, who felt the agency rushed the plan before the board to prevent a union walkout.  

The union was set to receive strike sanction from the Alameda Council of Labor last Friday—which it received—and a strike could have been called for any day. 

Service restorations will not affect expected bus driver layoffs this December. On Wednesday the board doubled monthly health benefits for drivers who retire at 60 with the hope of persuading older drivers to retire early. 

Still, Gleich did not expect enough drivers to take the package to spare some younger drivers their jobs. “Even with the delay [in service cuts] there will probably still be people laid off,” he said. 

ATU Local 192 President Christine Zook said the union was continuing to work with transit officials to secure more service restorations before the December service cuts go into effect.