Will you honor Rosa Parks’ legacy of fighting transit racism by joining us on Monday, February 4th at 5:00PM at Music City Central to demand quality public transportation for ALL bus riders and good jobs for transit workers?
Bus riders with Music City Riders United and WeGo workers with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1235 will join together to demand funding for protected crosswalks and bus shelters and benches, as well as good-paying jobs for our transit workers.
On February 4th, 64 years ago, Rosa Parks sparked a national movement for racial justice in transportation. But does Nashville, in 2019, treat all riders equally? According to a recent study conducted by WeGo riders, the Bus Route Report Card, we see wealthy and gentrifying neighborhoods get funding for basic public safety measures like protected crosswalks and bus shelters and benches. In predominantly Black and immigrant neighborhoods however, riders are left to wait, standing and with no shelter, for buses that are later and less frequent. Even getting to the bus poses a greater challenge for some riders, who have to risk crossing lanes of busy traffic, since there are no protected crosswalks.
“This is a civil rights issue,” says Angelique Johnson, an MCRU organizer and legally blind bus rider. “When 23 people are killed crossing the street, when my neighborhood of Bordeaux has no protected crosswalks and virtually no shelters, you have to ask, ‘Whose Lives Matter?’”
Working-class black and brown bus riders have waited far too long for equality in public transit. It’s time for Nashville to invest in providing for ALL of our bus riders. Join us in demanding:
- Safe, protected crosswalks, especially in historically-neglected neighborhoods
- Bus shelters and benches
- Good jobs for WeGo workers
