[Carfreeliving] Bay Area Bus Riders File Lawsuit against MTC

[Dave Snyder]

Bay Area Bus Riders File Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit: MTC 
Discriminates Against People of Color

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2005--Charging that the Bay 
Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) maintains a 
"separate and unequal transit system" that discriminates against poor 
transit riders of color who use or depend on AC Transit bus service, 
a coalition of organizations and individuals today filed a federal 
civil rights lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court to order MTC to 
halt its discriminatory funding practices.

"The Bay Area has two 'separate and unequal' transit systems: an 
expanding state of the art rail system, Caltrain and BART, for 
predominantly white, relatively affluent communities and a shrinking 
bus system, AC Transit, for low-income people of color," explained 
attorney Bill Lann Lee of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, 
who is representing the plaintiffs along with Public Advocates, Inc., 
Communities for a Better Environment, and Altshuler, Berzon, 
Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain. Mr. Lee is the former Assistant Attorney 
General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Justice Department.

"Fifty years after Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 
poor people of color in the Bay Area are still fighting for a seat on 
the bus," added Sylvia Darensburg, an African American single mother 
of three in Oakland who, like many AC Transit riders, depends 
completely on the bus service for all her family's transportation 
needs.

"It's frustrating, and it's unfair," said Darensburg, a 45-year-old 
medical administrator and Chabot College student. "Service has gotten 
worse and worse for years. Buses used to run like clockwork. Now, I 
have to ride two or three buses to get to work, and I've had to turn 
down jobs I've been offered because I just can't get there. Even 
something as simple as shopping for fresh groceries on my way home 
from college classes requires me to take three buses, with long waits 
in between."

AC Transit serves a population that is nearly 80% people of color; 
BART and Caltrain, designed to serve white, suburban commuters, have 
a much higher percentage of white riders. The racial disparity in MTC 
transportation funding is not accidental, explained Linda Lye, an 
attorney with Altshuler, Berzon. "As a result of MTC's knowingly 
discriminatory funding practices, AC Transit riders receive a public 
subsidy of only $2.78 per trip, BART passengers receive more than 
double that -- $6.14 -- and Caltrain passengers receive $13.79, 
nearly five times more than AC Transit riders."

"MTC is about to do it again as we speak," said Richard Marcantonio, 
a managing attorney with Public Advocates, Inc. "They are planning to 
distribute over $100 million in federal funds, with $20 million of it 
going to public transit projects. Caltrain is getting more than $9.2 
million for four projects, and BART is getting $6.9 million for three 
projects. AC Transit is getting nothing."

"Bus projects are more cost-effective than rail," explained Christine 
Zook, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, a labor union 
that has many members who use or depend on AC Transit for their 
transportation needs. "But by channeling the majority of new funding 
to cost-ineffective rail projects, MTC not only limits the pool of 
funds available to improve bus service, but starves the existing bus 
system of operating funds."

MTC's own studies, dating as far back as 1979, concede that BART does 
not serve "blue-collar employment and inner-city travel needs of 
minorities." The inequity has only worsened since then. While 
Caltrain and BART riders have historically enjoyed increasing 
service, AC Transit riders have suffered service cuts, including cuts 
to critical evening service, which for many AC Transit riders 
provides the only means available for commuting to and from work or 
school.

The federal lawsuit is necessary, plaintiffs say, as MTC has ignored 
widespread public criticism of its discriminatory practices. "MTC is 
in violation of federal and state civil rights laws as its funding 
disparities have a purposeful and unjustified discriminatory impact 
on communities of color," explained Bill Lann Lee.

"The funding cuts have meant multiple rounds of service reduction, 
reduced routes and decreased frequency of buses that impact bus 
riders and particularly transit-dependent passengers," said A.J. 
Napolis, Northern California Program Director of Communities for a 
Better Environment. "As a result, riders lose jobs and job 
opportunities since they can't get to work on time. They can't shop 
for food or get to medical appointments, and students are frequently 
late for school, if they can get there at all."

The plaintiffs in Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation 
Commission are asking the U.S. District Court to declare the MTC in 
violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as 
well as federal and state civil rights laws. In addition, the lawsuit 
asks the court to prohibit MTC from making decisions that detract 
from the equitable funding of services benefiting AC Transit riders. 
The plaintiffs are not requesting an award of damages.

The plaintiffs are AC Transit riders Sylvia Darensburg, Virginia 
Martinez and Vivian Hain; Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 192; and 
Communities for a Better Environment. The defendant is the 
Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

A copy of this press release can be obtained at 
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/media_center.htm.
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