Bay Area Bus Riders File Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit: MTC Discriminates Against People of Color.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Charging that the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) maintains a "separate and unequal transit system" that discriminates against poor transit riders of color who use or depend on AC Transit bus service, a coalition of organizations and individuals today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court to order MTC to halt its discriminatory funding practices.

"The Bay Area has two 'separate and unequal' transit systems: an expanding state of the art rail system, Caltrain and BART, for predominantly white, relatively affluent communities and a shrinking bus system, AC Transit, for low-income people of color," explained attorney Bill Lann Lee of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, who is representing the plaintiffs along with Public Advocates, Inc., Communities for a Better Environment, and Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain. Mr. Lee is the former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Justice Department.

"Fifty years after Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, poor people of color in the Bay Area are still fighting for a seat on the bus," added Sylvia Darensburg, an African American single mother of three in Oakland who, like many AC Transit riders, depends completely on the bus service for all her family's transportation needs.

"It's frustrating, and it's unfair," said Darensburg, a 45-year-old medical administrator and Chabot College student. "Service has gotten worse and worse for years. Buses used to run like clockwork. Now, I have to ride two or three buses to get to work, and I've had to turn down jobs I've been offered because I just can't get there. Even something as simple as shopping for fresh groceries on my way home from college classes requires me to take three buses, with long waits in between."

AC Transit serves a population that is nearly 80% people of color; BART and Caltrain, designed to serve white, suburban commuters, have a much higher percentage of white riders. The racial disparity in MTC transportation funding is not accidental, explained Linda Lye, an attorney with Altshuler, Berzon. "As a result of MTC's knowingly discriminatory funding practices, AC Transit riders receive a public subsidy of only $2.78 per trip, BART passengers receive more than double that -- $6.14 -- and Caltrain passengers receive $13.79, nearly five times more than AC Transit riders."

"MTC is about to do it again as we speak," said Richard Marcantonio, a managing attorney with Public Advocates, Inc. "They are planning to distribute over $100 million in federal funds, with $20 million of it going to public transit projects. Caltrain is getting more than $9.2 million for four projects, and BART is getting $6.9 million for three projects. AC Transit is getting nothing."

"Bus projects are more cost-effective than rail," explained Christine Zook, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, a labor union that has many members who use or depend on AC Transit for their transportation needs. "But by channeling the majority of new funding to cost-ineffective rail projects, MTC not only limits the pool of funds available to improve bus service, but starves the existing bus system of operating funds."

MTC's own studies, dating as far back as 1979, concede that BART does not serve "blue-collar employment and inner-city travel needs of minorities." The inequity has only worsened since then. While Caltrain and BART riders have historically enjoyed increasing service, AC Transit riders have suffered service cuts, including cuts to critical evening service, which for many AC Transit riders provides the only means available for commuting to and from work or school.

The federal lawsuit is necessary, plaintiffs say, as MTC has ignored widespread public criticism of its discriminatory practices. "MTC is in violation of federal and state civil rights laws as its funding disparities have a purposeful and unjustified discriminatory impact on communities of color," explained Bill Lann Lee.

"The funding cuts have meant multiple rounds of service reduction, reduced routes and decreased frequency of buses that impact bus riders and particularly transit-dependent passengers," said A.J. Napolis, Northern California Program Director of Communities for a Better Environment. "As a result, riders lose jobs and job opportunities since they can't get to work on time. They can't shop for food or get to medical appointments, and students are frequently late for school, if they can get there at all."

The plaintiffs in Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation Commission are asking the U.S. District Court to declare the MTC in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as well as federal and state civil rights laws. In addition, the lawsuit asks the court to prohibit MTC from making decisions that detract from the equitable funding of services benefiting AC Transit riders. The plaintiffs are not requesting an award of damages.

The plaintiffs are AC Transit riders Sylvia Darensburg, Virginia Martinez and Vivian Hain; Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 192; and Communities for a Better Environment. The defendant is the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

A copy of this press release can be obtained at www.lieffcabraser.com/media_center.htm.