By Bakari Height
February 4 is Rosa Parks’ birthday. It is also Transit Equity Day. These days are tied together because Rosa Parks is an iconic figure among many of the civil rights era who chose the tactic of refusing to give up her seat on the bus. And transit advocates, like myself, want to make the connection to this act of resistance to highlight the rights of all people to high-quality public transportation powered by clean and renewable energy and organized labor.
But for far too long, policymakers in Washington have prioritized highways and cars over public transit. This has devastating impacts not only for the climate crisis but on the budgets of local transit agencies and communities across the nation.
A new piece of legislation introduced last month by Congressman Hank Johnson from the Atlanta area would change that. The bill titled, “Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act” will provide high-quality transit to communities across the country.
The fact of the matter is the COVID pandemic and recovery forever changed how our communities function, work, socialize, and commute. It also dramatically showed that public transit is essential to our communities, local economies, and the lives of millions of people across the country. Essential workers depend on and operate transit, small businesses depend on transit, and historically marginalized communities depend on transit. Transit is a key component of economic recovery and a more environmentally sustainable society, and it’s a road to equity for disconnected communities—rural, urban, and suburban.
The recently introduced legislation would create a new formula grant program available to all transit agencies to increase service frequency and dependability so that people don’t have to wait so long for the bus, to provide additional hours of service so that those who don’t work white-collar hours can still get to their jobs; and to add new, frequent service to underserved communities.
For decades, the federal government has supported the cost of operating aviation through air traffic control and the cost of shipping through investment in ports and the management of locks and dams in the inland waterways. These are essential services for the movement of goods and people. Operating high-quality transit is just as essential to get people to employment and to give businesses access to talent and customers. And it is time for Washington to treat it as such.
While Congress has taken vital steps in recent years to fund transit capital projects like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the fact of the matter is that the lack of congressional action on operations funding, which this latest bill would provide, has led to critical funding shortfalls at numerous transit agencies and has left many in fiscal trouble.
This new legislation will help fix that.
The truth of the matter is that in communities throughout the country transit is a driver of economic growth, jobs, and opportunity for many residents. Nationally, tens of millions of people in the U.S.—from small rural towns to major urban centers—rely on public transit to get to work every day, generating trillions of dollars in economic activity. Every dollar invested in transit offers a 5-to-1 return, and every $1 billion invested in public transit produces 50,000 jobs. Transit agencies are often among the largest employers in their cities.
We also know the climate crisis is not coming; it is here now. And it’s getting worse by the day. We’ve seen it all around us on a near daily basis. It is impacting our economy and nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Investing in public transit is one of the top ways we can help address the climate crisis on the scale that is needed.
In other words, an investment in transit by policymakers would be a win-win. A win economically and a win in our efforts to address the climate crisis.
And it is far past time for Washington to ensure that public transit does not just recover from COVID but expands to create more-sustainable and -prosperous communities.
We need to honor Rosa Parks not just through words, but through action. And that is what this bill will do.
