Support for transit workers is part of Transit Equity Days

The Labor Network for Sustainability started Transit Equity Day in 2018. Original organizers included transit riders and members of the transit workers union. Transit equity includes sufficient public support and funding for a public transit system that works well for everyone, from riders to workers.

The Transit Equity Day Principles are clear. Transit Equity Days in La Crosse are meant to highlight these issues and find how we can work together to improve them. La Crosse Area Transit Advocates agrees with these principles.

TRANSIT EQUITY DAY PRINCIPLES

Public Transit provides basic mobility for many in our communities. It is also essential urban infrastructure–just like roads, bridges, tunnels and utilities–that is crucial to the economic, social and environmental well-being of all our regions. Everyone has a right to a public mass transit system that includes:

1. Safe, reliable, environmentally-sustainable and affordable transit that is accessible
to all, regardless of income, national origin, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or ability. 

2. An affordable public transit system that reliably connects people in all communities
to the places we need to travel: home, work, school, places of worship, shopping, health, and recreation, in as efficient, and timely a manner as possible. We must ensure that all communities have access to transit, and not leave any community behind. Regional transportation plans must include public transit in rural, less densely populated communities as well, accounting for the special challenges they may present.

3. Living wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and union rights for transit workers, including those who manufacture transit equipment, and access to family-sustaining transit jobs and training opportunities for people from underserved communities.

4. A just transition for workers and communities who are dependent on our current
automobile and highway-centered transportation system, to ensure that no one is left behind as we transition to a more public, accessible, and cleaner transit-based system. 

5. Rapid transition of our transit and school bus systems to electric, non-polluting buses powered by electricity from renewables.

6. Safe, healthy and livable neighborhoods that are connected by public transportation
and by bicycle pathways and sidewalks, and that are planned to expand safe access to transit and reduce single occupancy vehicle miles traveled.

7. Dedicated and sustainable public funding for public transit.

Please join us in supporting transit workers, agencies, and riders during Transit Equity Days by participating in the discussions about what a truly equitable transportation system means and requires.