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Transportation

• LA Bus Riders Union
• Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation Commission

LA Bus Riders Union

On June 18, 2007 Public Advocates filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Labor/Community Strategy Center v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority on behalf of the LA Bus Riders Union, which represents hundreds of thousands of low-income and minority Los Angeles bus riders. With our co-counsel at the firm of Howrey LLP, we are appealing a lower court decision not to extend a previously issued Consent Decree and hold LA MTA in contempt for failing to make required improvements to bus service.

Read the Appellants’ Opening Brief    Read the Appellant's Reply Brief    More about LA BRU    

Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation Commission

On April 19, 2005, Public Advocates and a coalition including bus riders, labor, and civil rights advocates filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission on behalf of AC Transit bus riders of color. The suit alleges that MTC violates federal and state civil rights laws by channeling funds in favor of BART and Caltrain commuters while denying equitable funding to AC Transit bus riders of color.

Developments

• The Court has scheduled closing arguments for December 9, 2008 at 1 p.m.
• On October 22, 2008, Plaintiffs rested their case.
• On October 1, 2008, Plaintiffs began presenting their case to the Court.
• On April 1, 2008, Plaintiffs filed a motion asking the Court to rule that MTC's practice of failing to fund transit operating shortfalls has a discriminatory impact on minority bus riders.
• The Court certified the case as a class action on December 10, 2007.
• The Court set the case for an October 1, 2008 trial date.
• We filed our Second Amended Complaint on November 1, 2007.

Background

MTC's discriminatory behavior is starkly reflected in the level of public subsidies it provides to transit users. BART and Caltrain passengers, who are disproportionately white and affluent, receive a per passenger subsidy of $6.14 and $13.79, respectively, for each trip they make. AC Transit riders on the other hand, 80% of whom are people of color and 60% of whom are transit dependent, receive a public subsidy of only $2.78. This race and subsidy chart depicts a graphic representation of the disparity.

The litigation seeks equity in the funding and services available for low-income transit-dependent riders of AC Transit. Plaintiffs include three individual AC Transit bus riders: Sylvia Darensburg of East Oakland, Vivian Hain of East Oakland, and Virginia Martinez of Richmond. Additional plaintiffs are Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192. Representing plaintiffs with Public Advocates are Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein; CBE; and Altshuler Berzon Nussbaum & Demain.

Copies of Plaintiffs' court documents can be obtained through the link below. For additional information, please contact Richard Marcantonio at rmarcantonio@publicadvocates.org, or Guillermo Mayer at gmayer@publicadvocates.org.

Court documents

Reports and Articles

"From the Back of the Bus to the End of the Line: The Discriminatory Funding of Public Transit in California" (American Bar Association Journal, Human Righs, Summer 2007, Volume 34, No. 3)

Public Advocates and Partners Issue Report: MTC, Where are Our Buses? (Dec. 2006)

"Bay Area Transit: Separate and Unequal" (Race, Poverty & the Environment, Dec. 2005)

Supporting Documents

Attorney General Comments on MTC's Notice of Preparation for Draft Environmental Impact Report (October 2008)

Letter by Bay Area Elected Officials Urging Equitable Funding from MTC (March 2007)

Resolution by Richmond City Council in Support of Equitable Funding for AC Transit Riders (November 2005)

Resolution by Oakland City Council in Support of Equitable Funding for AC Transit Riders (November 2005)

Letter by Bay Area Elected Officials Urging Equitable Funding from MTC (September 2005)

Resolution by Berkeley City Council in Support of Equity for AC Transit Bus Riders (July 2005)

Urban Habitat and the Transportation Justice Working Group asked MTC to conduct an analysis of the equity of its funding decisions, and critiqued MTC's inadequate analysis. Read the proposal and the critique.