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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) cut off 305,000 bus line hours or 4.5 percent of the total bus system this past June. That’s a total of 12% of the bus system that has been eliminated since 2008. The MTA’s CEO Art Leahy reasoned that the cuts were justified because “Metro buses today overall are running less than half full.” In an attempt to defend their actions, the MTA has promised many train systems to replace these cuts in bus service. The Bus Riders Union (BRU) organized a number of protests to try to stave off the cuts. In 1996, the BRU campaigned against the MTA’s policies of what they called “transit racism.” The two groups finally agreed to sign a Title IV federal consent decree which required the MTA to lower prices of its monthly and the weekly passes; put more buses on the streets; specify times and destinations for stops; and create bus services to connect low-income people to job and medical sites. After the decree expired in 2006, the MTA has been continuously peeling away bus line hours. Nearly 92% of bus ridership consists of people of color whose median household income is about $12,000. The latest cuts to bus service are likely impacting low-income communities of color disproportionately.

GUEST: Esperanza Martinez, a lead organizer with the Bus Riders Union

Details of the Bus Riders Union event:

What: Transit Justice Town Hall on MTA Cuts to Bus Service Lifelines
When: Saturday, August 20, 9:30AM-1PM
Where: Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Boulevard @ Catalina, Koreatown, LA.

Find out more about the Bus Riders Union at www.busridersunion.org or at 213-387-2800.