Transportation Justice Overview

Our Strategy 

Urban Habitat links transportation justice efforts at the local, regional, state, and national levels. This coordinated strategy is necessary to ensure that local and regional victories are not erased by budget crises at higher political scales—such as when the state of California moved to eliminate STA transit operation support, negating most of the gains we had secured at the ballot box in our 2008 victory on the local Measure V V campaign. We use three broad approaches to push for equitable distribution of transportation benefits:

• Reframing the Debate
We bring a race and class analysis to forefront of the debate over transportation investments, and make sure that equity considerations are at the heart of the transportation movement.

• Equalizing Investments
We analyze transportation investments and projects and work to win a greater share of funding for the basic transit service that low-income people and people of color rely on every day.

• Building the Base
By increasing the capacity of communities that have historically lacked political and economic power, we build a transportation movement that centers the experience of those that depend on transit.

What's at Stake?

As the Bay Area’s nine counties continue to grow, transportation challenges are becoming more extreme. Services and jobs are increasingly following the more affluent communities to the suburbs, and low-income residents living in the urban centers are being forced to make more trips and travel further distances to reach employment opportunities and other vital services.

Big business, highway, and suburban lobbyists have historically influenced the region’s transportation decision-making processes. Advocates working to protect the public’s interests have tended to represent traditional environmental priorities such as bicycle and pedestrian safety, open space, traffic congestion and air pollution. Missing from the table have been low-income communities and communities of color, the people most impacted by the region’s transportation planning and resource allocation decisions. As a result, the Bay Area’s regional development priorities have not included a connected, affordable, and reliable transportation network that meets the needs of its low-income residents. Bus services and projects for low-income people are consistently devalued and under-resourced as various interest groups compete over limited resources. During financial crises, the competition becomes more intense, and more often than not, low-income communities find themselves on the losing end.

Program Vision

Urban Habitat believes that an affordable, reliable, and connected public transit system is one of the fundamental building blocks of a healthy region. Urban Habitat’s Transportation Program works to transform the transportation movement by infusing leadership from the communities that have historically lacked political and economic power in the region. Our vision of transportation justice is based on the following key elements:

• Equitable distribution of transportation benefits throughout the region;
• Accountable decision-makers; and
• Effective leadership from low-income communities and communities of color in transportation decision-making processes.

Program Goals

• Advance a regional transportation justice agenda that links local transportation advocacy and organizing efforts to the broader movements for social, economic and environmental justice.
• Secure stable funding for well-connected, affordable and reliable public transit services that meet the needs of the region’s low-income communities of color.
• Support the development, implementation and enforcement of federal, state, regional and local policies that address the mobility needs of the Bay Area’s low-income communities and communities of color.
• Increase the capacity of the most impacted communities to effectively participate in the transportation decision-making processes that affect their lives.
• Create more effective partnerships and alternative problem-solving strategies by working in multi-sector coalitions with community-based organizations, government agencies, labor, policy makers, and other key stakeholders.