EARTH DAY: It’s Time to Make Better Transportation Decisions
Earth Day is a time when we consider how decisions we make this year, and next, will impact the future happiness and health of the people we love, and all people on the planet. One crucial part of this is how we move ourselves and goods from place to place. Earth Day is more than a time for reflection — it is a call to action.
Transit Stories: Taylor Jaffee
Catskill Mountainkeeper – Livingston Manor, NY I grew up in Livingston Manor, NY on Snowdance Farm. Livingston Manor is in a rural part of the Catskills in Sullivan County, so when my parents moved our family upstate from New York City after the 9/11 attacks, they assumed that most people in the region were farming […]
More Than 100 Transit and Environmental Groups Demand Congress Keep Promise Of The Infrastructure Bill And Fully Fund Transit In This Year’s Appropriations
Today, more than 100 transit and environmental groups sent a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees demanding that they keep the promise of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and fully fund transit throughout the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations process. The letter, which was organized by the National Campaign […]
Transit Stories: Flordelis Medina
Helena, Montana I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines on May 1, 1938. I was always interested in healing people, and decided to pursue, and eventually graduated, with a medical degree from Santo Tomas, a Catholic University in Manila. After medical school, I married my husband who was a music teacher. In 1967, we […]
Transit Stories: Barbara Manson
Bike Durhman – Durham, North Carolina I want to tell you about my brother Bradlee. We grew up together in Dallas, Texas, where he was the oldest of my five siblings. He attended trade school, worked for the State of Texas for many years before retiring recently. He was once given an award by the […]
Transit Stories: Abby Griffith
Portland, Oregon: OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon I was born in Ethiopia. I moved to the US in 2008 when I was 14 years old. I am blind and was adopted by a family that lives in Richfield, Washington, a very rural area. In Richfield, where I grew up, there is no way to get around […]
Report: Good Transit Requires Well Paid Union Workers
In the last two decades, starting wages for our nation’s bus operators have fallen seriously behind the cost of living. Along with a host of unsatisfactory working conditions, the result has been a historic, and in many cases dire, volume of vacancies for frontline transit operations jobs. This state of affairs has resulted in less-frequent, less-reliable service for riders and, in an increasing number of cases, devastating service cuts. This report presents bus operator wages as compared with Area Median Income in 30 cities across the U.S. Before it is too late, our decision makers must do everything in their power to make sure frontline transit workers are paid a living wage and that local transit agencies can sustain their critical workforce.
Report: 3 Ways to make bus driving a better job
From New Jersey to Denver to Los Angeles, transit agencies across the US are experiencing an alarming bus operator shortage. Driving a bus was once considered a stable path to the middle class, but the profession is now having difficulty with recruitment and retention. Bus operator positions now turn over more than any other at transit agencies.
Transit Stories: Karen Mack
Los Angeles, CA: Move LA I am a native Los Angelino and grew up in Compton. I was a lifeguard when I was in my teens in Watts. Spending time in the Watts neighborhood really had an impact on me in terms of my social justice learning and has guided my journey into community work. […]
Transit Stories: Jenelle Harriff
Rochester, NY: Reconnect Rochester I grew up in Webster, just outside Rochester, and started riding the bus when I was sixteen. My first job was as an intern at the Board of Elections, and I later attended Monroe Community College (MCC) downtown and in Henrietta. I lived in the Neighborhood of the Arts, so I […]
