For more information, please call Alex Caputo-Pearl (Department
of Urban Planning) at 213-387-2800.
By Alex Caputo-Pearl
Social movements do not form quickly, or without planning and
organization.
Still, some portrayals of political history suggest that
movements have formed as a result of only one act of defiance or a
single speech.
These historical accounts neglect the long-term, sometimes
lonely, organizing efforts of individuals and political groups that
lay the seeds for movements to blossom when the political climate
becomes conducive to collective action.
For example, in the very conservative 1950s, there was a great
deal of work that built the foundations for the Montgomery Bus
Boycott before it ever got started in 1955. Rosa Parks was a
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People activist
who had struggled against bus ordinances for years before she was
arrested for sitting at the front of the bus.
At the Bus Riders Union (BRU), we have spent four years, in the
midst of the reactionary 1990s, building the initial stages of a
social movement that is based upon confronting the
racially-discriminatory policies of the Los Angeles Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA). On Oct. 5, 1996, we will begin a
new stage in the movement’s growth. From noon to 4 p.m.we will have
a march and rally to raise the political heat on the street as our
civil rights lawsuit against the MTA goes to federal court this
fall.
The participation of UCLA students in this march and rally is
essential, and we encourage you to stand and be counted in
solidarity with our struggle. At the root of the lawsuit is our
struggle against the MTA’s local version of a political theme that
has swept our nation: providing for the needs of the financially
and politically well-situated while scorning those of the poor and
people of color.
Almost 94 percent of the MTA’s customers, or 350,000 daily
users, ride the bus – of these, 81 percent are people of color and
60 percent have family incomes less than $15,000 per year.
Just 6 percent of MTA customers ride rail.
MTA spends less than 35 percent of its funds on the buses.
MTA spends over 65 percent of its funds on rail projects which
primarily benefit (1) politicians who want rail in their districts,
(2) rail contractors and (3) a very small group of suburban,
disproportionately white rail riders.
The average public subsidy for MTA bus riders is $1.17 per
passenger, and on many of the overcrowded all minority lines, the
subsidy is only 34 cents.
The average public subsidy for MTA rail riders is over $10 per
passenger, and on many suburban lines is over $20.
The MTA has tried to raise bus fares, eliminate the monthly bus
pass and cut bus services as part of a quick fix to feed the rail
construction habit.
Since transit-dependent people of color bear the brunt of the
MTA’s fiscal policies, we are suing under Title VI of the 1964
Civil Rights Act, which prohibits governmental agencies that
receive federal funds from distributing any funds in a racially
discriminatory manner. If we are victorious in court, we will seek
a remedy that will massively expand the bus system while stopping
all rail projects.
The Union is committed to fighting for the interests of bus
riders in court, but sees the legal strategy as just one component
within a much more comprehensive progressive movement. This
organizational vision requires that we devise and advocate for a
social and economic agenda that extends far beyond the realm of
public transportation.
First, we demand a 50 cent bus fare (which many of the separate
municipal lines already offer) and a $20 monthly pass. This demand
is critical to bringing family transportation costs for low-wage
workers down from over 15 percent to less than 5 percent of family
income.
Second, we demand a doubling of the MTA’s bus fleet in eight
years through the purchase of 250 new buses per year. Only this
radical expansion of the fleet will allow for the creation of a
viable transportation system for the transit-dependent while also
improving air quality by increasing ridership.
Third, we demand that the MTA purchase clean fuel buses, whether
compressed natural gas, hydrogen fuel cell or electric. We must
experiment with these alternatives in pilot projects, and initiate
a full transformation of the bus fleet to clean fuel when positive
results are forthcoming.
Fourth, we demand that the MTA stop privatizing its bus lines,
retain high-paying union jobs and use its contracting power to
foster economic development in Los Angeles through, for example,
the creation of a bus production system locally. Not all
manufacturers of bus engines have left Southern California. The MTA
should be supporting the remaining firms with contracts and an eye
towards encouraging the growth of spin-off supplier firms that
manufacture other bus components.
Fifth, we are demanding political democracy through our advocacy
for an elected MTA board. Under the present system, the board is
made up of appointees from the mayor’s office and the County Board
of Supervisors, who are virtually unaccountable to the public. The
Bus Riders Union should be permitted to run candidates for the MTA
board, and thus re-shape conceptions of agency accountability
through a process of grassroots policy-making.
We understand fully that all of these demands cannot and will
not be met in court. Only through sustained political, rather than
legal, pressure can our more comprehensive agenda be achieved. It
is for this reason that the march and rally of Oct. 5 are so
important. To apply the political pressure, we have been working to
create a permanent coalition for the expansion of the bus system
that includes progressive forces within the labor movement, the
education community, worker advocacy groups, civil rights groups,
Central American solidarity organizations and student groups. We
need you to create the crucial student presence on Oct. 5!
Where: Assemble in front of the MTA headquarters (1 Gateway
Plaza, at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Vignes behind Union
Station).
When: Saturday, Oct. 5 at noon. We will march to City Hall,
arriving there at 1 p.m. for the rally.
How: We may have a van going from UCLA. If you are interested in
the van, call the number below. Alternatively, you can drive and
park underneath the MTA building or take the bus. Bus lines that go
to the MTA headquarters include 33, 40, 42, 55, 60 and some 400
routes.