Where Are Our Buses? Press Release

Oakland, CA , December 2006- Advocacy groups Public Advocates, Urban Habitat, and Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) today issued a report, MTC, Where Are Our Buses? The report details community demands that the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) end funding policies by which it maintains “separate and unequal” transit systems.The release of the report coincides with the 50th anniversary of the end of the year-long campaign to win integrated bus service in Montgomery, Ala.

That campaign combined a bus boycott with civilrights litigation, Browder v. Gayle, that reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court’sdecision on November 13, 1956, struck down the policy of forcing black riders to the back of the us. But local officials refused to comply with the Court’s ruling until the order physically reachedMontgomery five weeks later, on December 20. The African-American community, led by Dr. King and others, called an end to their boycott of Montgomery’s buses the next day.

Today’s report highlights parallels between the civil rights struggle in Montgomery and today’s efforts to win an equitable share of public transit funding for East Bay bus riders, 80 percent ofwhom are people of color. At issue is the disparity in funding MTC provides for AC Transit bus riders in the East Bay compared to Bart and Caltrain users. The report details both the sizeable funding disparities per passenger, and the resulting disparities in transit service as BART and Caltrain services have more than doubled, while AC Transit service has contracted by 30%. MTC’s funding decisions impact the daily lives of tens of thousands of low-income families and youth. Like 90% of AC Transit riders, Sylvia Darensburg, lead plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuitagainst MTC, does not own a car, and depends entirely on public transit to reach essential destinations. Cuts in service affect her ability to work, go to school, and buy groceries for her family.

The report discusses a range of grassroots and legal strategies that bear comparison with the civil rights efforts in  Montgomery fifty years ago. It describes the class action lawsuit that Darensburg, CBE and others brought in federal court, claiming that public dollars subsidize the trips of BART and Caltrain commuters, who are disproportionately white, at three to five times higher levels than the trips of AC Transit’s mostly minority ridership.The report also notes recent actions by community members to hold MTC accountable outside thecourts, such as the MTC Minority Citizens’ Advisory Committee’s (MCAC) efforts to persuadeMTC to adopt and implement an Environmental Justice policy to identify and remedy funding inequities. MTC has so far refused to adopt and implement key parts of MCAC’s policy proposal.

“Unlike the Montgomery officials who delayed until the last possible moment, MTC has an opportunity to take the initiative and rectify the disparities,” said AJ Napolis of Urban Habitat. “At stake is not only the access of low-income bus riders and their families to economic and educational opportunities, but the vitality of our communities.” Napolis cited a 1998 study by a branch of theNational Academy of Sciences which concluded that $4.8 million in cuts to AC Transit service cost low-income communities $48.1 million in lost income and added travel cost—a ten-to-one ratio.

“This report discloses inequitable behavior on the part of MTC and informs community residents and the general public about how people can take action to demand equal treatment,” added CarlaPerez, CBE’s Northern California program director.

“Transportation has always been at the heart of civil rights,” says Richard A. Marcantonio, managing attorney, Public Advocates, and co-counsel in the Darensburg v. MTC case. “Plessy v. Ferguson,which upheld the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, was a transportation case. Rosa Parks sparked the modern civil rights movement while riding a bus. East Bay bus riders of color are continuing thislegacy by demanding equal treatment from MTC.”

Public Advocates challenges the systemic causes of poverty and discrimination by promoting civil rights through advocacy, litigation, and partnership with low-income communities, people of color,and immigrants. See www.publicadvocates.org for more information.

Urban Habitat builds power in low-income communities and communities of color by combining education, advocacy, research and coalition building to advance environmental, economic and socialjustice in the Bay Area. See  www.urbanhabitat.org for more information.

Communities for a Better Environment builds power in urban communities directly affected by pollution to take control of decisions that affect their health and quality of life by providing organizing, and legal, technical, and scientific resources. See www.cbecal.org for more information.

MTC, Where Are Our Buses? is available online and on the web site of Public Advocates at www.publicadvocates.org or by calling 415-431-7430.