New York, NY – July 8 (Metro)

NYC Transit is quietly extending subway car inspection cycles, a veteran subway car inspector revealed to Metro yesterday.

Subway cars that once were inspected every 10,000 miles will now be checked every 11,000 miles, confirmed a subway spokesperson.

New York, NY – July 1 (Drum Major Institute blog)

This week New York City straphangers felt the impact of the MTA service cuts— longer commutes, crowded trains and platforms, dirtier buses and trains, and a generally worse commuting experience. Not only are these cuts negatively impacting the quality of life for millions of riders, but they also undermine economic development and job creation.

Queens, NY – July 1 (Queens Chronicle)

For many Queens commuters, doomsday has arrived. The substantial bus and subway service cuts approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board in March on Monday morning hit riders like a gust of winter wind on the M-train platform. And the elevated M is just one of dozens of lines and routes across the city affected by the cuts designed to help close an $800 million budget gap.

Providence, RI – June 30 (Providence Journal)

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority plans service reductions affecting more than 15,000 riders per year to help cover an estimated budget deficit of $3.7 million.

San Francisco, CA – June 29 (SF Appeal)

A crowd of bus drivers, riders, union leaders and members rallied near the doors of the Federal building earlier today in order to show their support for legislation they believe will turn around the Bay Area's public transportation crisis.

St. Louis, MO – June 26 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch blog)

Expect to see some more buses on the streets beginning Monday. And if you ride MetroLink, rush-hour trains will pull into the station with more frequency than they have for the past 15 months.

New York, NY – June 25 (Associated Press)

It's the end of the line for some commuters using the country's largest public transportation system as the city's transit agency grapples with an $800 million budget gap by cutting bus and subway service.

New York, NY – June 24 (Streetsblog)

MTA service cuts are here. With reductions taking effect on Sunday, tomorrow marks the last day of operation for weekday-only services like the V and W trains, and many express buses. And even as transit supporters mourn current losses, more cuts loom on the horizon.

New York, NY – June 23 (Huffington Post)

In a few days, New York City is going to lose two subway lines and dozens of bus routes. With the city's transit agency facing a $400 million budget deficit, there are more cuts to come.

Nobody likes transit cuts. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Americans want more public transportation, not less. In a poll by our partners Transportation for America, 82 percent of voters said "the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved transportation system, such as rail and buses." Seventy-nine percent of rural voters said the same.

New York, NY – July 8 (Metro)

NYC Transit is quietly extending subway car inspection cycles, a veteran subway car inspector revealed to Metro yesterday.

Subway cars that once were inspected every 10,000 miles will now be checked every 11,000 miles, confirmed a subway spokesperson.

But realistically, trains will end up being inspected every 12,000 miles, said the inspector.

Brakes and air conditioning units will most likely be the first to go, says the car inspector, who has 20 years on the job.

If they’re not checked regularly, the filters on car’s air-conditioning units become clogged — enjoy traveling on those trains in 103-degree weather.

The brake shoes, which stop the trains, and the current collectors, which connect the train to the electrified third rail, also wear out.

“If a brake line blows out, the train stalls. You’ll have longer waits and possibly get stuck,” said the inspector.

At worst, the train could crash or derail.

New subway cars break down less often, and therefore need less maintenance, said the spokesperson.

But if they’re not properly maintained, new cars can turn into old cars very soon, warned the inspector.

“Inspections are important,” said MTA board member Andrew Albert. “You cut maintenance and there are going to be repercussions.”

New York, NY – July 1 (Drum Major Institute blog)

This week New York City straphangers felt the impact of the MTA service cuts— longer commutes, crowded trains and platforms, dirtier buses and trains, and a generally worse commuting experience. Not only are these cuts negatively impacting the quality of life for millions of riders, but they also undermine economic development and job creation.

New Yorkers might be able to cope with this new commuting nightmare if the sacrifice led to the transit system’s financial stability. But even after $93 million in savings because of the service cuts, the MTA is looking at an operating budget hole of over $400 million in 2011. And the gap seems to widen monthly. Two weeks ago the Wall Street Journal reported that tax revenue for transit was coming in $135 million less than expected.

The long-term budget picture looks even worse. The MTA’s five-year capital budget, which is used to replace old trains and buses, repair tracks and stations, and build system expansions, is under-funded by $10 billion. Without the necessary funding, the transit system will fall into disrepair and riders will fall into dismay.

So, the service cuts stink, and they don’t even begin to get us out of this mess. And unless state lawmakers make a serious effort to address the root cause of the MTA’s budget, namely chronic disinvestment, the situation will only get worse.

Lawmakers in Albany have not contributed any money directly to fund the MTA’s capital program in nearly 20 years, forcing the transit authority to rely on borrowing instead. This borrowing puts pressure on the fare box, as the money to pay back past borrowing is taken out of the MTA’s operating budget. In 2010 the MTA will pay nearly $2 billion in debt service. That’s a little less than half of the $4.3 billion the MTA collected in fares in 2009.

For whatever reason, lawmakers in Albany have consistently shortchanged the region’s mass transit system, which is arguably one of the state’s greatest assets and is unarguably the backbone of the nation’s biggest metropolitan economy. When Albany killed congestion pricing in 2008, they also killed a reliable revenue source for mass transit that would have allowed the MTA to begin paying down its $25.5 billion debt. More recently Albany flat out stole $143 million in tax revenue that was “dedicated” to transit.

The result: instead of planning new transit lines that would create jobs, drive growth, and create new economic opportunities for New Yorkers, we are fighting to preserve the system we have.

Queens, NY – July 1 (Queens Chronicle)

For many Queens commuters, doomsday has arrived.

The substantial bus and subway service cuts approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board in March on Monday morning hit riders like a gust of winter wind on the M-train platform.

And the elevated M is just one of dozens of lines and routes across the city affected by the cuts designed to help close an $800 million budget gap.

According to the MTA, the M, which is now orange instead of brown, has been discontinued in lower Manhattan and Bay Parkway, Brooklyn. It will now travel from Forest Hills-71st Avenue to Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue via 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

The M replaced weekday V-train service, which along with the W has been discontinued, much to the chagrin of Astoria residents, including City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), who last Friday morning held a mock funeral for both lines.

W-train service has been replaced by the N, Q and R lines in Manhattan and Queens. Long Island City-Court Square features a new G-train terminal. The G no longer operates along Queens Boulevard.

According to the Straphangers Campaign, approximately 570 bus stops across the city have been eliminated.

Straphangers spokeswoman Cate Contino called the bus cuts “the worst reductions by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in decades.”

Rallies by elected officials and union and community leaders to save buses or stave off cuts to service apparently were not enough to save lines like the Q14, Q74, Q75, Q79 and Q89. The Q24, Q26, Q30, Q31, Q42, Q48 and Q76 have been slashed in some way.

Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) blasted the MTA for clipping the Q79.

“Northeast Queens provides one of the largest tax bases in New York City, but we continue to be virtually ignored by the MTA,” Halloran said. “It is sadly ironic that at the same time we are told to use public transit, the MTA continues to take our public transit options away.”

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056 President Daneek Miller admonished the MTA for not exploring other funding options at their disposal, including federal stimulus money.

Miller and ATU membership also are concerned with driver layoffs that are part of hundreds of job cutbacks across the MTA.

“Considering, in particular here in Queens, in communities that depend on public transportation, it’s deplorable that [the MTA] uses these people as pawns to undermine the union,” he said. “That’s the next fight — that these people end up with the service they deserve.”

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz noted the cuts are a sign of economic times.

“We’ve been clear from day one, when these changes were first proposed, that we were facing a significant budget deficit that would have an impact on passengers,” Ortiz said.

Providence, RI – June 30 (Providence Journal)

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority plans service reductions affecting more than 15,000 riders per year to help cover an estimated budget deficit of $3.7 million.

The cutbacks would take effect Aug. 28 and could affect as many as 18,000 riders, depending on how they are counted. They would primarily affect weekend and holiday service.

The cuts would come on top of a fare increase the authority board proposed in May. Fares would increase about 14 percent, taking the base fare from $1.75 to $2 and raising $1.3 million.

The service cuts, affecting 25 bus routes, may only be the beginning, according to Mark Therrien, RIPTA’s assistant general manager for planning. Therrien said he’s preparing three- and five-year plans for more reductions in case the authority can’t find revenue to replace what it gets from its fading key revenue source, the state gasoline tax.

The authority has suffered largely because income from the gasoline tax is declining while the authority’s expenses rise. For years, RIPTA has gone through a cycle of revenue disappointments, plans for service cutbacks, a public outcry and a last-minute allocation of money by the governor and General Assembly.

“We did our best” to avoid the new cost-saving move, authority Board Chairman John Rupp said.

The authority’s biggest expenses are wages and benefits for bus drivers and mechanics and diesel fuel. Fluctuating fuel prices have repeatedly upset its budget plans. The board is now in negotiations with its unions.

Therrien said the routes chosen for cuts are primarily those with low ridership.

But even though some carry only about 10 passengers per hour, he said, cutting them will have a significant impact. Ten passengers per hour, he said, probably means that twice that number are actually using that bus line on different days.

The result, he said, will be “a lot of people losing bus service.”

Therrien said the authority wants to keep service that gets people to work. Twelve routes will lose service on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and others on Memorial Day and Labor Day, too.

He called that “a slow death cut,” and predicted that if the state doesn’t come up with another revenue source for RIPTA, service on other holidays will eventually be eliminated, too.

Therrien said that the plans don’t shorten any bus lines. Instead, the plan removes days of service, or hours of service.

The authority’s statistics resist summarization. It says that 2,868 riders per day would be affected by some of the cuts, and that another 15,625 riders would be affected per year, plus a number of trolley riders.

An employee’s major medical emergency also cost the self-insured transit authority approximately $1 million, throwing its budget out of balance again.

Hearings will be held Tuesday, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 7:45 p.m., at the Newport Public Library; and from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Warwick City Hall.

On Wednesday, hearings will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at the Barrington Public Library and Narragansett Town Hall.

On Thursday, the sessions will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at the Feinstein Providence campus of the University of Rhode Island on Washington Street.

San Francisco, CA – June 29 (SF Appeal)

A crowd of bus drivers, riders, union leaders and members rallied near the doors of the Federal building earlier today in order to show their support for legislation they believe will turn around the Bay Area's public transportation crisis.

The rally was part of a nationwide tour organized by the Transportation Workers Union (TWU), the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and Reverend Jesse Jackson in order publicize two pieces of legislation (HR-2746 and S-3189) that some (but not all) believe is the answer to public transportation woes around the country. The purpose of the San Francisco rally was to attract the attention of Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein.

"This won't just benefit San Francisco," said Judith Garcia, a San Francisco resident and Muni rider at the rally. "It will benefit all communities. We need public transportation."

Currently the federal money transportation agencies receive can only be used on capitol expenses, such as buying buses. The proposed House bill will allow transportation agencies to spend a portion of the federal money they receive on operating costs, such as hiring more drivers to keep bus lines in service. The Senate bill, also known as the Public Transportation Preservation Act, would provide a $2 billion grant to give hurting public transit agencies temporary relief.

The city's emergency broadcast system sounded off -- as it does every Tuesday at noon -- just as the rally began.

"Like all good transit systems, we run on time," said SF Labor Council Director Tim Paulson as he promptly kicked off the speakers.

Leaders of the ATU, the TWU, the SF Transit Riders Union, and various civil rights groups all gave a go at informing and pumping up the crowd, which was mostly made of transit union members and community advocates.

Hoots, hollers, and chants of "Ride on!", "Fund our transit, fund it now!", and the more tongue twisting call, "Public Transportation Preservation Act!", sounded off between the Federal and State buildings on Golden Gate and into the clear blue sky.

"We're not here for a feel good rally," said TWU International Vice President Harry Lombardo. "We're here to send a message."

The main attraction and most sought after guest of the hour-long rally, energetic Reverend Jesse Jackson, was disappointingly nowhere to be found. According to Paulson, Mr. Jackson is currently in Africa.

While BART currently has a surplus of funds, the SFMTA (including Muni) currently faces a $45.1 million deficit. This deficit has lead to service cuts, fired drivers, and a increase in the cost of riders' month long passes, which has many saying enough is enough.

If the House bill, which allows federal money to be used on day to day expenses, goes through, ATU President Jeff Rosenberg predicts that about $40 million could be harnessed for Bay Area transit companies operating costs. He added that the money would "get split up between BART, Muni, AC Transit, among others."

David Snyder of the Transit Riders Union and Forrest Schmidt of the Answer Coalition both pointed out that much of the transit deficit heat has been directed at the drivers, who recently rejected a series of concessions expected to save Muni $19 million over the next two years. Snyder, however, said during his speech that the money that could be saved by adjusting transit operators salary would hardly put a dent in the current deficit.

"Yes I do think the bill is a good answer [to the deficit]," said Forrest Schmidt after the rally. "It's more solid than the demonization campaign against drivers."

The San Francisco rally was the fifth stop on the nationwide Save Our Ride tour. This Thursday the campaign will be taken to Sacramento. Other stops included Atlanta, Birmingham, Detroit, and Cleveland.

St. Louis, MO – June 26 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch blog)

Expect to see some more buses on the streets beginning Monday. And if you ride MetroLink, rush-hour trains will pull into the station with more frequency than they have for the past 15 months.

Metro, the region's largest transit agency, will begin rebuilding a public transportation network that has been dealt some significant setbacks. The first phase of this service restoration kicks off Monday, when bus service is restored or expanded to 20 routes and MetroLink trains go from four an hour to five during peak periods.

Actually, you can double that frequency to a train every six minutes between Forest Park and Fairview Heights, where the two main light-rail lines overlap.

Beginning Aug. 30, service should be closer to what it was in March 2009, when Metro slashed service to balance the agency budget. MetroLink won't run at full rush-hour strength for a few years because Metro is rehabbing the Eads Bridge and that work will limit the number of trains that can use the span at any given time.

"We are coming back. You can count on it," said Ray Friem, Metro's chief operating officer. "It is going to be the same level of reliability you had before."

Why now?

Metro, like other U.S. transit agencies, cannot cover the cost of operations through passenger fares alone. Not even close. That means the agency relies on outside funding sources to keep its buses, light-rail and Call-A-Ride vans running. In the 1990s, the federal government stopped funding larger transit operations.

So Metro — actually, the Bi-State Development Agency — turned to other sources. Metro gets much of its funding from sales taxes collected in St. Louis and St. Louis County. Metro East operations are funded by contract with the St. Clair County Transit District.

But those sources have not kept pace with the agency's costs. The situation went from bad to worse when the agency opened the extension from Forest Park to Shrewsbury in 2006 without a new source of money to keep it running. Worse still, the Shrewsbury line opened three months late and more than $100 million over budget.

St. Louis County voters rejected a tax increase in November 2008.

A few months later, Metro suspended bus service to 2,300 of the 9,000 Metro bus stops and shelters in the Missouri half of the region. Service was partially restored with a one-time shot of federal stimulus money and $3.8 million over two years from the Federal Transit Administration.
But following a campaign that stressed the link between public transportation and jobs, St. Louis County voters this year approved Proposition A, which added a half-cent to the transit sales tax to fund ongoing transit operations and expansion.

Proposition A, in turn, triggered collection of a sales tax that was passed by voters but never collected in the city of St. Louis.

Friem said Metro is taking some of the information it has gathered over the past year or so and using it to restructure several bus routes.

Operators and mechanics had to be hired and trained. There are now enough people on board to put about one-third of the restored service in place. Significantly more transit service will be restored by the end of August.

"In terms of hours and service, the August increase will be about twice the impact of this," Friem said.

The second phase will coincide with Labor Day "and the traditional return to work for vacationers and the return to school for students," Metro said in a news release.

Until then, Monday's launch of restored service should make it easier to make connections on public transportation, Friem said.

Metro officials and elected leaders will be on hand Monday to welcome passengers back. They will hand out wrapped cookies at MetroLink stations and bus transfer centers.

Other wrinkles include expanding the reach of the Downtown Circulator bus to serve other venues, such as the City Museum. Those buses are being wrapped to resemble trolleys — and the cost is being picked up by the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, Metro officials said last week.

For more information about Metro's service plan, go to www.metrostlouis.org and click on "Metro Transit Restoration."

New York, NY – June 25 (Associated Press)

It's the end of the line for some commuters using the country's largest public transportation system as the city's transit agency grapples with an $800 million budget gap by cutting bus and subway service.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is slashing service lines this weekend, rerouting and reducing remaining services and adding frustration to the lives of millions of travelers.

The train that advertising agency worker Danielle Dorter currently takes to her job in Manhattan is being rerouted, forcing her to find another way to commute.

"What am I going to do, walk from Brooklyn to my office?" she asked.

Two Brooklyn lawmakers said they plan to file a lawsuit against the MTA, claiming the bus cuts are discriminatory and "unfairly and adversely impact the senior citizens and disabled residents" in their districts. State Sen. Martin Golden and Councilman Vincent Gentile scheduled a Friday press conference to announce the lawsuit.

The MTA's cuts reach across the city. Two subway lines that run between Manhattan and Queens, the V and W, were scheduled to make their final runs Friday night. By Monday morning, the M line will be rerouted to cover some of the V stations in lower Manhattan.

Subways will run less often, especially at night and on the weekend. Three million people are expected to have to wait for trains for up to two extra minutes, saving the MTA more than $8 million. Service on the G line, from Brooklyn to Queens, will be shortened, which the MTA says will save $1.5 million.

The city's bus lines also are taking a hit, with 37 of 244 routes eliminated and others facing service reductions at night and on weekends. Train and bus service also has been reduced in New York's suburbs.

The agency says the cuts will save $93 million, with the two subway line cuts saving $7.4 million annually. In recent weeks, signs of the impending change became more noticeable - blacked out symbols for the soon-to-be-cut lines at subway entrances, and the symbol for the M train changing from brown to orange, the color of the V line.

Posters and brochures have gone up at subway and bus stops to warn commuters of the cuts, but some were still unaware. Told about the changes, they were resigned.

"I haven't heard, but it doesn't surprise me," said Juan Recaman, a freelance editor from Manhattan, as he rode a W train this week.

MTA Chairman Jay Walder said the agency is doing its best to make the change as smoothly as possible.

"Some amount of confusion is probably inevitable to come, but I think we're working hard to try to minimize it," he said.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who represents Queens, blamed the cuts on poor management by the MTA and less money being provided to the agency by the state government in Albany.

"We now face longer commutes, more crowded commutes and more transfers," he said. "All because the MTA is unable to run a business and because Albany took away funding from the MTA."

The cuts to the bus routes on Sunday will affect more than just the commuters - hundreds of bus operators and mechanics will be fired.

Transport Workers Union President John Samuelson said he would not accept the MTA's latest offer, which would save those jobs and possibly rehire employees already laid off, because there was no promise that there wouldn't be layoffs in the future.

The MTA also is trying to reduce overtime costs and to offer buyouts or lay off administrative workers.

The agency is scheduled to release an updated budget for 2010 and its budget for 2011 in July. The agency had originally said it would raise fares in 2011 by 7.5 percent, but that figure may change. The current one-way bus or subway fare is $2.25.

The MTA's deficit grew this month when it agreed to continue to offer free student MetroCard transit passes, even though the agency didn't receive enough money from the state to cover the program's costs.

The MTA's board in December approved an $11 billion budget that included plans to cut service and leave children without MetroCards for free and discounted rides to public schools. Residents complained at public hearings, and about 1,000 high school students marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in protest.

New York, NY – June 24 (Streetsblog)

MTA service cuts are here. With reductions taking effect on Sunday, tomorrow marks the last day of operation for weekday-only services like the V and W trains, and many express buses. And even as transit supporters mourn current losses, more cuts loom on the horizon.

Riders on the V and W, and the M6, M18, M27, M30, B23, B37, B39, B51, B71, B75, B77, Q74, Q75, Q79, Q89, Bx14, Bx25, Barretto Park Pool Shuttle, S60 and S67 buses will be taking new routes to work starting next week, but tomorrow, some will be seeing off their old commute in style. Street theater funerals are planned for both subway lines; details are here for those who want to attend.

The dozens more routes where service will be less frequent or skip nights and weekends (all listed here) won't get such send-offs, but they do represent tens of thousands more New Yorkers who will find it harder to get to where they need to go.

Even so, the MTA budget remains unbalanced. Real estate tax revenues have come in $105 million short, Crain's reported yesterday. Plus there's another $144 million hole in the budget as of last week, when the agency agreed to continue providing students with free and discounted MetroCards without extra help from the city or state. Now other working-class transit riders have to bear that burden.

With revenues still in flux, it's too early to say whether tomorrow's transit funerals will be just the first, or if another round of service cuts is coming down the track. The MTA says it will look to close its deficit with buyouts and layoffs, a crackdown on overtime costs, and possibly a larger-than-expected fare increase, according to Crain's.

As always, remember: It didn't have to be this way.

New York, NY & National – June 23 (Huffington Post)

In a few days, New York City is going to lose two subway lines and dozens of bus routes. With the city's transit agency facing a $400 million budget deficit, there are more cuts to come.

Nobody likes transit cuts. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Americans want more public transportation, not less. In a poll by our partners Transportation for America, 82 percent of voters said "the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved transportation system, such as rail and buses." Seventy-nine percent of rural voters said the same.

But if cuts are an inconvenience for Americans who have transportation options, they can be a disaster for Americans who don't: low-income people, people of color, older Americans, and Americans with disabilities who rely on public transportation to get to work, school, church, and access medical care.

To get a sense of just how unequal the impacts of the current transit cuts are, listen to Dr. Robert Bullard, the father of the environmental justice movement:

Nationally, only seven percent of white households do not own a car, compared to 24 percent of African American households, 17 percent of Latino households, and 13 percent of Asian American households. African Americans are almost six times as likely as whites to use transit to get around. In urban areas, African Americans and Latinos comprise over 54 percent of transit users (62 percent of bus riders, 35 percent of subway riders, and 29 percent of commuter rail riders).

And just so New York doesn't get all the attention, here are a few snapshots of how transportation inequity works around the country--and what TEN and its allies are doing about it:

• Washington, DC: Twenty-five percent of train riders are people of color, versus 50% of bus riders. Only one in 50 rail riders does not own a car, versus one in five for bus riders. The income for rail riders is also about 40% higher than bus riders. In spite of all this, bus riders are facing fare hikes twice that of rail riders. TEN member PRISCM's fight against this inequity made the front page of the Washington Post.
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN: The original plan for a new light rail train on the Twin Cities' Central Corridor line would have skipped over minority communities--in fact, they would have been worse off after construction. This inequity sparked three lawsuits and two federal civil-rights complaints, including by TEN member ISAIAH. Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff took action, and now three extra stops will be added to the line in low-income and minority communities.
• Chicago: The Chicago Transit Authority (more than 60% Black and Latino ridership) is wrestling with one of the worst budget crises in the nation, constantly facing cuts, layoffs, and fare hikes, while the suburban Metra train (more than 70% white ridership) has flourished. Civil rights leaders filed a federal Title VI lawsuit in January alleging this was the result of systematic inequities in state and regional funding practices.
• San Francisco Bay Area: Eighty percent of the bus riders on the local AC Transit line are people of color, while local train riders are disproportionately white (46% of BART riders and 60% of Caltrain riders). Yet bus passengers receive a subsidy of public funds of $2.78 per trip, while BART riders receive more than double that --$6.14--and Caltrain passengers receive an incredible $13.79. On the bright side, a civil rights complaint by TEN member GENESIS and others recently halted stimulus funding for a boondoggle airport train project, and will result in $70M being redirected to transit operations and other projects to preserve jobs and transit service.
• Los Angeles: The Claremont Progressive breaks it down: "Bus riders are 58% Latino, 22% black, 8% Asian American/Pacific Islander, and 12% white, while the largely suburban Metrolink rail riders are about 50% white. More than 75% of bus riders in Los Angeles have annual incomes of $12,000-$20,000 a year, while Metrolink riders surveyed in 2000 had averaged $61,100. Adjusted for inflation, this figure jumps to $77,000. However, it is bus, not Metrolink, fares that are being increased to raise funds for rail expansion." TEN member LA Bus Riders Union has fought bus fare hikes and service cuts fiercely, most recently with a hunger strike.

We know that 84% of U.S. transit agencies are facing service cuts, fare hikes, or both. We're fighting them around the country. What's happening in your community?