Thoughts from Kansas

Living in the O! urges us to Save Transit at the Local, State & Federal Levels:

I hadn't realized that transit's being attacked by all levels of government this week. Luckily, there are three ways you can take action to stop these attacks.

1. LOCAL - This Wednesday, the AC Transit Board of Directors will be discussing the four plans [for fare increases on Oakland buses] and likely voting to implement one of them. This may be your last chance to speak out against fare hikes - especially the increases for monthly passes. Here's the hearing info:

AC Transit Board of Directors Meeting
2nd Floor Board Room
1600 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 @ 5:00 p.m.

2. STATE - While AC Transit will almost certainly raise fares, the agency's not content to sit by while the Governor takes $1.4 billion away from public transit, including $19 million from AC Transit alone. This just doesn't make sense - at a time when gas prices are rising and commuters are finally realizing it makes sense to take public transit, our state is defunding public transit agencies. AC Transit sent out an email, put out flyers, and is featuring an action alert on their front page. I hope other transit agencies are doing the same. If you care about transit, take 30 seconds to call Governor Schwarzenegger:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
(916) 445-2841 (phone)
(916) 558-3160 (fax)
online comment form

It's simple - just call and say your name and what city you live in. Then, say that you oppose any cuts to public transit funding. Really - it takes 30 seconds so pick up your phone and call now. And if you're too freaked out about calling, send in a fax or make a comment online.

3. FEDERAL - Thanks to OaklandNews, I found out that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is trying to prohibit public transit agencies from offering special bus routes to school. I had to read the article twice because it was just so hard for me to believe. I know the Bush administration FTA hasn't been too friendly to transit, but this is outrageous! Ostensibly, the FTA is trying to protect private school bus companies (in other words, just like with everything else, they want to privatize, privatize, privatize). Congresswoman Barbara Lee is standing up to the FTA about this proposal, and she could use the support of others to urge the FTA to back off from forcing students to walk or forcing parents to shell out even more gas money to drive their kids to school. The Education Report tells us how to chime in:

Want to give the feds feedback on the proposal? You can submit a comment online at: http://www.regulations.gov, or fax it to: 202-493-2251. The proposal is listed under Docket No. FTA-2008-0015.

With public transit ridership ticking up, now is the wrong time to be raising the cost or cutting services. Serious spending on that infrastructure now would pay big dividends down the road.