Transportation (News)

Speak out at the Peoples’ Hearing!

ACCE Riders for Transit Justice is organizing a People’s Hearing to allow bus riders and their allies to speak directly to AC Transit, MTC and Alameda CTC board members – the ones who determine AC’s funding -, and lay-out proposals for:

1) Restoring lost AC service, 2) Funding a FREE Eco bus pass for middle and high school students, and 3) Allowing transfers to be used multiple times (rather than just once).

When: Thursday, April 21st at 6 p.m.

Where: 160 14th Street, Oakland (at Madison) in the Community Room.

For more information, contact Jason at 714-745-6243 or josajima@calorganize.org

To learn more about AC Transit's proposed fare policy or get involved with the free youth Eco bus pass and the multi-use bus transfer campaigns open the document attached.

By Will Reisman

While much has been made about the devastating service cuts being considered by Caltrain, an even worse scenario could befall the rail operator’s sister agency, SamTrans.

Depending on its funding contribution to Caltrain, SamTrans could run out of cash within three years, forcing the agency to cease operations entirely. Even if the transit agency slashes its current annual allocation to Caltrain by two-thirds — a potential death knell for the rail operator — SamTrans would still become bankrupt by 2015, according to the agency’s latest financial models.

“This is how serious our situation is,” said Mark Simon, a spokesman for the agency. “We are looking at the very real possibility of having to cease operations.”

By the Morning Mix, KPFA

East Bay Transit Activists, Listener call-ins, East Bay Bike Party, Film: “Jashn-e-Azadi” AC Transit is planning to raise the bus fares again. With gas prices up and wallets tight, some bus riders don’t think this is a good idea. We also discuss the 25 year regional dividing of the transportation tax money which is going on now. Guests: Lindsey Imai of Urban Habitat (http://www.urbanhabitat.org) and Alia Theltz of ACCE Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (formerly ACORN, http://www.calorganize.org), KPFA listeners talk about the effect of the ongoing economic meltdown on their lives and in their community. Sam The Shaolin B-Boy joins an East Bay Bike Party. Here are the sights and sounds. http://eastbaybikeparty.wordpress.com/ Filmmaker, Sanjay Kak, talks about "Jashn-e-Azadi" (How We Celebrate Freedom), his film about Kasmir, arguably the most militarized country in the world (http://www.kashmirfilm.wordpress.com). Hosted by Adrienne Lauby & Leah Gardner.

It’s True!  We have FREE fast passes for youth!  

Community groups are celebrating an incredible victory--FREE MUNI fast passes for low-income youth!

Thanks to, the MORE Public Transit Coalition, POWER, Chinese Progressive Association, Jamestown Community Center, the SRO Collaborative, Urban Habitat, the San Francisco Youth Commission, the MTA, Supervisor David Campos and more, low-income SFUSD students will ride MUNI free for the remainder of the school year!

Come down to 16th Street BART and fill out your BRIEF application to get your free fast pass!  All you need is your student ID number and your household income...no, really, THAT'S ALL!  Bus passes will be distributed through the schools, but you must APPLY to receive it.
(The deadline for the application is the Tuesday, March the 15th)

Don't miss out...and spread the word!

THURSDAY, MARCH 10
16th Street BART station
3p.m.-6 p.m.

OR

Bring/Send to:

MTA / SFUSD Discount Pass Program
135 Van Ness, Room 112
San Francisco, CA 94102

You can also download the application form below.  

By Yashira Cividanes and Hiram Rivera. Photos by Jason Masten. 

When budget cuts threatened the program that provides transportation for New York City schoolchildren, Urban Youth Collaborative organized students to fight back.

Without the student MetroCard program, which provides free public transportation to and from school, New York City K–12 students living in zones where the schools are severely overcrowded and under-resourced would not be able to travel to schools that offer them better opportunities to succeed and go to college. Dropout rates are already staggering: Only 36 percent of students who enter high school in the Bronx graduate. In addition, cutting the student MetroCard program would result in an increase in crime rates among youth because they would have to resort to jumping the turnstiles. Cutting the MetroCards would lead to an even more segregated New York City (which is already one of the most segregated cities in the country) because students wouldn’t be able to leave their own boroughs.

For more than half a century, the city and state of New York have provided free fares to students who needed to travel to and from school. In 1994, Mayor Rudy Giualiani said that the city would stop paying its share of the cost because it should be the MTA’s sole responsibility. This forced the MTA to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in 1995 that made the funding of student fares a three-way responsibility: the city, the state, and the MTA would each pay $45 million.