Bay Area Region

By Mercy Albaran

On December 6, an important step was taken in the battle to keep neighborhoods, with good transit, affordable to the low-income residents who depend on the bus and BART to get to work, school and other places they go to daily.   

The Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) Board voted on a final set of One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) Scoring Criteria.  Responding to the recommendations of Urban Habitat and members of the Equitable Transit Oriented Development Coalition (see list below), the Board increased the possible points earned for affordable housing and anti-displacement to 9 (from 3).  They also increased the points for projects that improve access to frequent transit to 6 (from 3). 

By Mario Navarro

For the first time in its history, San Francisco youth will be able to travel to and from school, work, after-school programs and other activities throughout the city for free.

A vote by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency board (SFMTA) on Wednesday to approve the Free Muni for Low-Income Youth means that the cost of public transit no longer will be a barrier to opportunity for young people in San Francisco.

For the past two years, youth and transit advocates tirelessly fought to transform the free Muni program from an idea into a reality.

B1’s incredibly narrow loss is bittersweet for us at Urban Habitat, who had worked incredibly hard to make sure it would improve transit for Alameda County’s low-income and working-class residents.

Measure B1 included many important benefits to the county’s transportation system and, particularly its most vulnerable residents — in the form of funds for restoring AC Transit service, improving paratransit for the elderly and disabled, new bike lanes and sidewalks, and seed funding for a countywide Free Student Bus Pass program. These are all funds badly needed to put Alameda County on a path toward more sustainable and equitable transportation modes.

The funds in B1 would have enabled AC Transit to add back bus lines that had been cut, expand evening and weekend service, and make buses run more frequently and more on-time. Without B1, AC Transit may need to cut further from its already skeletal service, and it will definitely try to push another fare hike on its already-taxed riders.

We're in the home stretch in San Francisco with the Free MUNI for All Youth campaign. On Tuesday, April 3, MTA's board will take up proposals for Youth Transit:

1) Status Quo: Keep a Reduced fare pass for Youth - now $21 but has risen in cost 100% in two years ($10 - $21)
2) Fee For All Youth - OUR Proposal and Ask for next Tuesday
3) Reduced fare/passes for All from current costs
4) Free for All Low Income (free/reduced lunch) - this is the proposal MTA leadership supports

Join us on November 14th! Strengthen the Fight for Transportation Justice

WHAT: FTA Listening Session on Title VI and Environmental Justice
WHERE: Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703 (at Ashby BART station)
WHEN: Monday, November 14, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00 PM

To RSVP Click Here

Dear Civil Rights and EJ allies,

On Monday, November 14th, Obama Administration officials will be in California to hear community input on how to strengthen civil rights and Environmental Justice rules in public transportation.  These rules have been used successfully to challenge discrimination.

In 2010, Oakland activists successfully diverted $70 million from BART’s costly Oakland Airport Connector to preserve existing transit service. Bus riders in Los Angeles have used these protections to trigger a federal investigation of LA Metro’s elimination of nearly 1 million hours of bus service.

Rising fares have made it too expensive for low-income families to ride the bus. Cuts to transit service have isolated millions of people from jobs, schools and health care. Communities of color continue to receive an unequal share of funding to improve mass transit service.

This madness must stop! We need stronger civil and environmental justice protections to put an end to these discriminatory decisions. FTA's general information about proposed changes

Join Us for FTA Listening Session: Nov 14th

Help strengthen the fight for transportation justice!
Monday, November 14, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703 (at Ashby BART station)

San Francisco’s young people are a few steps closer to having free access to MUNI.

On Oct. 18, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) “to work collaboratively with community groups to design, secure funding for and launch a program with a clear timeline that provides access to MUNI free-of-charge for San Francisco youth.”

After listening to 90 minutes of public testimony, including comments from a several supervisors, the SFMTA agreed to step up for the Free Youth Pass.

Today, Tuesday, September 20th, is a major day of action for Transporation Justice in the Bay and around the country and we're asking the Transportation Justice Working Group to join us for one or both of the following actions:

Free MUNI for Youth Campaign Press Event and Action
Join us (Sup. David Campos and other BoS members, SF Unified School District, POWER, Chinatown CDC and other CBOs)  as we have our public launch of our campaign to win a Free 3 Year Pilot Transit Pass for SF Youth!

When: Tuesday September 20th from 12  - 12:30
Where: Steps of City Hall in San Francisco
What: We'll hold a press event with youth, allies and elected officials highlighting the urgent need for equal access to schools, jobs, after-school programs followed by attending the SF MTA board meeting to show MUNI the broad support this campaign has.

If you can attend please let me know. Also, because it's a school day (and we don't want to take kids out of the classroom) we'll have some youth who have recently graduated from school attending and some pre-school kids but it would great if we had more to show the media our future transit riders!