Transportation

as a

Civil Right

Guillermo Mayer, Public Advocates

Bob Allen, Urban Habitat

www.publicadvocates.org

www.urbanhabitat.org

Transportation: A Cornerstone of Civil Rights

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Transportation: A Cornerstone of Civil Rights

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

Foundation of Civil Rights

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

Civil Rights and EJ

President Clinton’s Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice requires that federal agencies (and subrecipients):

“make achieving environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies and activities on minority populations and low-income populations in the United States…”

Civil Rights and Transportation

• Low income communities and minority communities are protected against:

1) Intentional Discrimination

2) Discriminatory IMPACTS

• LIC and Minority Communities have a right to a voice in transportation decisions.

Transportation JusticeFundamental Questions:

• What are the benefits and burdens of transportation investments?

(highways, transit, facilities, ports, airports)

• Who benefits?

• Who is burdened?

• Are the benefits and burdens equitably shared?

Transit Investments = ACCESS to Opportunity

Transit Beneficiaries

Dimensions of Transit Equity:Availability

Reliability

Affordability

Safety

Language & Physical Access

Amenities

Environmental Impacts

Case Study: Los Angeles

Labor/Community Strategy Center

v.

Los Angeles MTA

Public Transit Ridership 1994

Bus 버스

Autobús

94%Rail/Suburban Trains

6%

Racial Composition on the Bus, 1994

19%

81%

WhiteBlack, Latino, API

60% of bus riders have incomes below $12,000 60% of bus riders are women

Racial Composition on Rail & Suburban Trains, 1994

48%

52%

Black, Latino, API, Indigenous

White

MTA $3 BillionBudget Distribution 1994

70%30%

BusRail/Suburban Trains

1996: BRU + MTA Sign a Consent

Decreea legal contract

that obligates MTA to improve the bus system by reducing

overcrowding, maintaining low fares, and adding new service

Over $2.5 billion redistributed to low-income Black, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander and white bus riders•1,800 new replacement buses, more than 560 additional buses (no diesel, all clean fuel)

•Largest Clean Fuel Fleet in the country

•Over $1 million annual bus service hours added

•Saved Monthly Pass, added Bi-Weekly and Weekly Pass (1st in the country), & 75-cent Night Fare

Case Study: Bay Area

MTC’s Transit Expansion Program ($13.5 billion total)MTC’s Transit Expansion Program ($13.5 billion total)

Rail94.0%

Ferry1.3%

Bus4.7%