For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Anjuli.Ramos@sierraclub.org
February 4th marks Rosa Parks’ birthday and is commemorated annually as Transit Equity Day, a day that recognizes the civil rights icon (along with many others) and advocates for public transit as a civil right.
“Today we celebrate Transit Equity Day, a day to uplift transit as a civil right as well as a way to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and address the climate crisis. Our transportation sector accounts for about 42% of all greenhouse gas emissions in New Jersey, and one of the best ways to deal with that is by improving our public transportation. Yet NJ Transit still is ranked one of the worst public transit agencies in the nation,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Chapter Director of the Sierra Club. “We need to make sure there is a stable source of funding for NJ Transit, instead of raiding the capital fund for operations and maintenance. Investing in electric trains and buses and expanded service areas will help move us toward a just transportation future.”
“There is research showing that NJ Transit’s service areas have a bias for certain areas. There is more commuter rail in North Jersey than the rest of the state, and there are transit deserts where there isn’t bus service available. We should be striving for equitable and accessible transportation, but we’re far from that,” said Renée Pollard, Environmental & Social Justice Chair, Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter. “Frequent breakdowns and areas with only one or two buses available a day hurts the people of New Jersey. It results in a student missing class or a single mom losing her job because she couldn’t get to work on time.”
“We presented a detailed analysis to the NJ Transit Board of Directors two years ago this month. In our report, we proposed a network of Frequent Service Corridors throughout North Jersey, which are routes where wait times between buses are 15 minutes or less throughout the day. Providing and heavily promoting this service frequency has been shown to dramatically increase ridership in cities across the country,” said Bill Beren, Transportation Chair, Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter. “The response has been disappointing so far. Although NJ Transit has undertaken a study of bus routes in Newark, their recommended route design improvements in one corridor were offset by service cuts in others.”