The book Just Transportation is about justice in the transportation system for people of color, the working class, the poor, women, the elderly, and the disabled. Just Transportation clearly illustrates that the struggle for just transportation is not over. Two of the most historic movements surrounding just transportation are the Freedom Riders and Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat to a white man on the bus. Although those are two historical moments for Black folks, the fight for just transportation goes farther back to after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1^st, 1863. Even with the freeing of slaves, they were not truly free, forced to ride in rail carts in the back or standing up.

Freedom riders of the 1960s challenged transportation “laws” in place during the time period. They challenged interstate traveling even if it resulted in their death. Rosa Park’s refusal to give her seat is also a significant catalyst in history, for she challenged the racist Jim Crow laws in place.

Though landmark decisions such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 were made, the scars and strains of racism are still profoundly embedded in America’s society today, even with a historic shift on November 4^th, 2008.

As stated in the book, unjust transportation policies keep poor people and minorities separate and apart from reaching their full potential. I agree that public transit too often does not link urban job seekers with suburban jobs. It’s no secret that urban job seekers want the white collar, upstanding jobs just like suburban job seekers. We too want a livable wage job. Since transportation isn’t connected, urban folks lose out on opportunities.

It’s not rocket science to find out that transportation affects every aspect of our lives and daily routine. Mobility directly influences where we live, work, play, shop, go to school, and attend medical appointments. The role transportation plays in shaping human interaction and human settlement patterns should be taken into consideration when deciding just transportation policies.

Grassroots community groups across the country have come together to put an end to transportation discrimination. Freeway construction, transit services and investments and facility siting are issues these groups are combating. A Los Angeles-based community organization, the Bus Riders Union, understands that just transportation can only be realized if poor people and people of color receive their fair share of transit services and investments. It is important to view transportation as an environmental, civil rights, and social justice issue. In order to end transportation discrimination, a link needs to be made between unequal treatment on buses and trains with violations of constitutionally guaranteed civil rights.

Well luckily the Bus Riders Union of Los Angeles was able to make that link. In doing so they sued the MTA in 1994. They filed a class action civil rights suit. The plaintiffs of the suit were the Labor/Community Strategy Center, Bus Riders Union, the Korean Immigrant Workers’ Advocates, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference all represented by NAACP Legal Defense. The plaintiffs challenged the use of federal funds in building an expensive rail system and challenged the allocation of public funds in Los Angeles’ two-tiered (bus vs. rail) public transit system.

Some statistics: 90% of Los Angeles transit riders use the bus system (hmmm) the bulk of the dollars were being expended to build a rail system. There were questions of expenditures of  over $700 million on the newly opened Green Line. ( “the line to nowhere” LITERALLY). Fares Decrease- Ridership Increase; Fares Increase- Ridership Decrease (funny ratio)

After some years of court battling, an out of court settlement was reached (not surprised). The Consent Decree of 1996, which expired in 2006 sadly and was not renewed, was reached. In the Decree, monthly passes were kept, biweekly and weekly passes were implemented at reasonable prices, and the MTA promised to keep fares low, purchase 102 new buses over the next 2 years, use CNG fuel, expand bus service to new areas, and implement the Rapid bus service.

Well this seems like a great victory, (it is), but the fight continues with the 2007 fare increases and the continual allocation of funds to an unneeded rail system. Funds are needed more than ever to be put into the bus system. We need to be able to have just transportation as a human and civil right. According to Just Transportation, “a socially just and ecologically sustainable transportation has the potential to increase job and income opportunities, create environmentally safe communities, decrease fossil fuel energy consumption and improve overall social, economic and environmental quality of life.” Of course I agree. A final quote from Just Transportation: “transportation programs that continue to support suburban commuter needs and development at the expense of the urban core contributes to patterns of institutional racism, class bias in urban poor, working poor, and people of color communities.”

Give just transportation for education not long waits on the block where correctional handcuffs await young Tyrone.

Robbery !

I am still reading my book titled Highway Robbery.  I have read now chapters three and four. Chapter three talks about transportation issues in Atlanta. Chapter three mainly focus on a group called MARTA, which stands for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (or as the authors would say, Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta).  MARTA services and responds to many lower income people of color.

In Chapter four, the authors talk about the details of how the construction of highways , parks, playgrounds, and housing will contribute to the shape of New York. It also talks about a guy named Robert Moses – how he was elected by no one but controlled everything like the parks and housing in New York. He also oversaw the construction of building new things that would have shaped the face of the modern New York. He was the symbol for the word wrong.  But finally the city of New York got rid of Mr. Moses and boy were they happy.

The reason I am still reading this book is because I enjoy learning new things. I also find it interesting that the same problems we face in California many others are facing all around the world. This transportation racism has to end, and we must try to help the activists who are trying to fight it, such as the BRU.

Metro Local Bus in the San Fernando Valley

Tomorrow morning, public transportation advocacy organizations around the country will be demonstrating in favor of increased federal funding for transit operations. From the Transit Riders for Public Transportation’s press release:

On Wednesday, July 22, the Bus Riders Union will be part of a national day of action by the Transit Riders for Public Transportation national campaign to call on Congress to restore federal funding for transit operations that includes transit advocates, civil rights and environmental justice organizations throughout the country. Advocates including Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area, New York and Portland will be calling on their congressional representatives.

The BRU will be at the northeast corner of Wilshire and Western leading a mass education drive highlighting the connection between the need for transit operation funding is related to the service cuts threatening millions of transit riders across the country including bus riders in Los Angeles. With giant banners, call booths and petitions the BRU will be encouraging scores of residents and bus riders to call the Southern California Congressmembers and President Obama to support a greater share for operations funding . The goal of the nationwide coordinated events is to influence the debate over the authorization of the $500 billion Federal Surface Transportation Authorization Act (FSTAA) slated to dedicate roughly 80% of the funding to highways, freeways and roads, while providing only 20% to mass transit. Advocates and transit riders will hold press conferences, rallies, phone-banking drives, and street theater encouraging thousands to call on their congressional representatives to dedicate at least 50 percent of all transit funds in the bill to operate transit systems in response to the crisis across the country.

Nationwide Transit Crisis

Across the United States, major cities and regions are facing massive cuts in transit services, raising fares and implementing regressive measures to make up for declining tax revenues and government support. These cuts hit the most vulnerable communities, predominately low-income and people of color, escalating already-existing economic burdens. The numbers are stark. New York Metro raised fares early this year, while Oakland’s bus operator, AC Transit, announced proposed cuts in service ranging from 15-30% despite a fare increase that went into affect earlier this month. Los Angeles MTA has proposed fare increases for the next 30 years along with the elimination of 120,000 hours of bus service. Portland’s TriMet implemented service cuts in May that eliminated weeknight transit service.

Supporting H.R. 2746 as First Immediate Action

As a major first step towards restoring federal support for transit operations, advocates will urge constituents and bus riders in various congressional districts to call on their Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor the H.R. 2746 (Rep. Carnahan – MO). The marker bill would allow transit agencies in urbanized areas of over 1 million to use up to 30% of their federal transit capital funds for operations, and grant even more flexibility for smaller urbanized areas. In contrast, the FSTA currently allows only 5% of federal transit capital funds to be used for operation in large urbanized areas.

New Opportunities to Improve the Environment

The U.S. must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% over the next twenty years if it is to meet the goal of achieving a 90% cut in emissions by 2050. Congress has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create first class transit systems and dramatically curb emissions with the passage the FSTAA. As a first step, the bill must preserve the integrity of our current transit systems and provide the funding to operate them at full capacity.

The TRPT campaign calls on the Obama Administration and Congress to break with the last two decades of favoring toxic highway expansion by making massive investments in a clean-fuel, world-class transportation systems that meet both the needs of transit riders and international emissions-reduction targets.

When I read the the July 10th, New York Times, there was a story that attracted my attention and curiosity,  I was astonished and pleased to hear about Bogota, Colombia’s newest battle against the threat of traffic congestion and climate change. That battle is called TransMilenio, a new system that is composed of high occupancy articulated buses. They have been designed to carry B.R.T. (Bus Rapid Transit) commuters along the most busiest and most condensed road corridors in Bogota in efforts to get people out of their cars and onto a sustainable mass transit system. A system, that has been one of the most successful ways to reducing the amount of carbon emission from cars, and other polluting vehicles. Since Bogota and many other high populated cities in the world such as London, Paris, Brisbane, Toronto, Curitiba, New York, have adopted this type of high occupancy transportation. I say kudos to the rest of the world in trying to reduce the use of auto and reducing the fossil fuels that plague our atmosphere, when will Los Angeles adopt this idea and bring it to existence?

Many cities in the U.S experience the largest traffic gridlock in the nation, a story from Forbe’s July 7, 2009 article talked about America’s Congested Cities, it comes to know surprise that Los Angeles is in first place. But a city who claims to be green is still behind in implementing a stable and reliable source of high density public transportation, since the 1950′s Los Angeles has been one of the most biggest havens for the automobile, thanks to the GM corporation for buying out the entire Electric Red Cars that roamed all over Los Angeles County and Beyond. The city has became a place where it is necessary to have a car, and if you don’t you are out of luck, but Los Angeles has tried to become a city where the auto is not needed. The way this has been done was by implementing what would now be a 3rd class transit system called Metro. This will be a short detailed journey on where this whole business of Car vs Transit, and Bus vs Rail.

In the late 1980′s, the LACTC (Los Angeles County Transportation Commission began plans on reviving the old Red Car corridors, their first phase was to revive the Long Beach to Los Angeles. With a budget of 877,000,000 the Metro Blue Line opened in July of 1990, its purpose as the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission said was to reduce the traffic congestion on high populated freeways that go to and from the port cities, but even then it still wasn’t the solution to Los Angeles’s high auto use.  So the LACTC decided to merge with the RTD (Rapid Transit District), and become the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authorities) in 1993, that same year the new Metro Red Line subway that operates from Union Station to Wilshire/Western and later to North Hollywood was open, efforts for the subway corridor at the time were to reduce the traffic congestion along one of the most heaviest Los Angeles corridors, Wilshire BLVD and the interstate 101 through the southeast section of the San Fernando Valley. It was a start to the reduction of the auto, but MTA would still hit an obstacle, one that that would create a huge gap in M.T.A’s transit budget.

In an effort to gain revenue and help the Cold War aerospace industries, the MTA constructed one of the most budget crunching and wasteful transit corridors in the country, the Metro Green Line, spanning from the western part of Norwalk, all the way towards the inland coastal region of Manhattan/ Redondo beaches. The line opened in 1995 at a construction cost of 718 million dollars, but had no purpose four years after the war ended,  except acting as an intercity Airport tram. In the later years MTA would become a new image for the world of public transit, because of efforts from many grassroots organizations the MTA would adopt new clean fueled buses due to the consent decree made by the federal courts after the Bus Rider’s Union won the 1994 transit civil rights case. But that wouldn’t be the end to MTA’s goal for a total rail system. In 2003, MTA who would soon be known as Metro opened the Pasadena-Los Angeles Metro Gold Line at a cost of . But it turned to out the line would not make Metro nearly enough revenue from the new line opening. Turns out that the line only receives enough passengers during morning and evening rush hours, making it the second budget crunching rail line in the city of Los Angeles.

In the present, Los Angeles still faces the same problems of traffic and congestion, but my question to the LACMTA is have you really studied the most highest traveled car driven corridors in the county? this is how Bogota, Colombia was able to design their system of bus rapid transit, you have only decided to build rail lines that semi parallel the busiest traffic corridors in the city, whether it is the 710, 101, 105 0r 405, and soon they will find their way to relieve the traffic down the Santa Monica Freeway, the Metro Expo Line. The LACMTA has yet to solve the issue of the growing traffic congestion in the city. Sure you created the Harbor Transitway along the 110 freeway, the El Monte Busway along the 10 freeway, and the San Fernando Valley Orange Line. That is well and good I can see that you are making an effort in relieving Los Angeles from the use of auto, but have you studied the other freeways that could use the B.R.T. idea, freeways such as the westbound 10 heading in both directions in the West Los Angeles area, have you studied the heavy flow of traffic along the 405 freeway, it can sometimes take more than an hour to get from West Los Angeles to the South Bay cities. I know the idea of Bus Rapid transit can be done in Los Angeles, its being implemented on one of the busiest streets in the city, Wilshire BLVD. It can be the start to many new B.R.Ts in the city, it can span county wide, it can reduce the way car drivers commute, it can reduce pollution and save money. If Bogota, Colombia can implement a dedicated B.R.T and bus lane system to move faster. Support the use of the Bus Rapid Transit in Los Angeles and help get the use of auto reduced and moderated.

Robbery !

So I have been reading this book titled, Highway Robbery, by Robert Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O. Torres. This book has made me realize that transportation racism started way back during the civil rights movement, and has still continued today. One example of it during the civil rights movement was the Plessy vs. Feguson case . The book mainly focuses on people of color, and their struggles with transportation equity. Transportation equity is made with the goals of the larger environmental justice and civil rights movements. The book also defines transportation equity as a basic right. While reading chapter 1 I realized that the civil rights struggle really has a effect on transportation. Chapter 2 is written by the activist Eric Mann; it mainly talks about the legal victory by  LCSC and the BRU over the MTA, and some other groundbreaking cases. The BRU mainly consist of blacks and Latinos, Asian, and Pacific Islander. They are fighting against the unequal transit racism. This book is really interesting and full of great facts. I now have realized that this was a problem along time ago, but it took me reading this book to find out. We as environmental justice fighters are in it for the long run , we are or should be long distance runners and and not just sprinters. We must FINISH THE RACE!!!!!!!