Last night, members of the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) met at UC Berkeley for a public information session on (strengthening) public transit civil rights rules.
During that meeting, FTA staff noted it was the best community turnout seen on public transit civil rights rules amongst its meetings nationwide. The last such meeting will be in Atlanta on November 17.
One FTA official at the meeting challenged regional agencies like the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) to engage “environmental justice” populations (minorities and the poor) in making public transit decisions. FTA officials also mentioned that historically low-income and minority people have been negatively affected by transit projects. FTA officials also mentioned that agencies like VTA must include the public and use public input in their transit service decision making.
This is definitely something I will get our group to strongly consider adopting, to help fight future VTA service cuts and fare hikes. More information on what FTA is doing is here.
Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users