Safe, reliable, clean, and affordable transit is essential.
By Keith Heiberg and Joshua Houdek
NOTE: An earlier version of this piece by Keith Heiberg was published in the Community Voices section of MinnPost: A penny for transit: Safe, reliable, clean and affordable transit is essential.
You’ve probably heard of TED Talks (Technology, Education, Design). But there’s another TED that will get you to work, promote social justice, and save the climate at the same time. Transit Equity Day (TED) is held annually on February 4, the birthday of Rosa Parks. In 1955 she stood up for civil rights by sitting down—on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. After she was arrested, she helped inspire the Black community to boycott the Montgomery buses for over a year. Eventually the United States Supreme Court declared segregated buses unconstitutional.
Here in the Twin Cities, according to Metro Transit Facts, in 2021 some 55% of passengers were Black, Indigenous, or People of Color, and 64% made less than $35K a year. Why does that matter? The total cost of car ownership in 2023 comes to around $940 a month, more than many folks can afford.
Transportation is the largest source of carbon pollution in the state, but we’re not on track to meet current goals to reduce them. Most of this pollution, including harmful air pollution that is linked with asthma and other illnesses, is disproportionately located in low income communities and communities of color.
Our current practice of building ever-wider highways just makes traffic and pollution worse. In a phenomenon known as induced demand more people start driving on the widened highway. “Public transportation can facilitate compact development, conserving land and decreasing travel demand, as well as reducing fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change,” according to the Federal Transportation Administration.
For transit to be practical, it has to run early, late, and often. When I interviewed for a job as a baker, the manager told me I’d have to be there at 3:00 a.m. every day. But the bus lines don’t start running until 5:00 a.m., so I wasn’t eligible. I interviewed for another job, and they told me they wanted me there at 5:00 a.m. So I showed them the bus schedule, and explained that on days I couldn’t ride my bike, I couldn’t get there before 5:40. They said that was acceptable.
Not everyone is so fortunate.
Some folks think that we can pay for transit with the state surplus. But that’s a one-shot deal; for a viable transit system, we need ongoing funding for maintenance and bus drivers.
With the “trifecta” of the Minnesota House, Senate, and Governor’s office in Democrats’ hands, we have a chance to pass the most significant climate legislation in history. Transit equity must be part of this. A one-time surplus does not pay for maintenance or bus drivers a couple years from now. And jobs and our climate can’t wait any longer. We need a one-penny metro-area sales tax for transit - for racial, economic, and climate equity.
Transit equity actions swept the North Star state this year.
Sierra Club, along with Move Minnesota, MN350 and many other partners organized TED two big hearings at the State Capitol (in the House and Senate). Testifiers ranged from national experts in transportation and climate emissions, to transit riders impacted by unheated shelters.
All repeated the mantra: The Legislature and Governor Walz must fully #FundTransitNow.
Further north in the Twin Ports (Duluth, MN and Superior, WI), mayors from both cities declared TED Proclamations. Artist Moira Villiard unveiled three new paintings of Claudette Colvin, Pauli Murray & Rosa Parks. And the Commission on Disabilities, Duluth Public Schools, Family Freedom Center, and Zeitgeist Center for Arts and Community held a mobility event. And Duluth Transit Authority provided free fares for all!
What you can do:
Send a quick message now to Governor Tim Walz asking him to fully #FundTransitNow.
Keith Heiberg volunteers for the Sierra Club North Star Chapter’s Land Use and Transportation Team, and for First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis’s Climate Justice Team.
Joshua Houdek is Senior Program Manager for Land Use and Transportation.