Sierra Club celebrates Transit Equity Day in honor of Rosa Parks' birthday

rosa parks 1993

February is Black History Month, a tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled against adversity and made invaluable contributions to our society and culture. At the top of the month, Transit Equity Day is celebrated on February 4th, in honor of civil rights activist Rosa Parks’ birthday. Transit equity focuses on providing everyone with the same access to affordable and reliable transportation, and ensuring that transportation decisions include meaningful input from the communities they serve.

Given that transportation is the number one source of harmful emissions in the commonwealth, creating new transit routes and increasing frequency on existing routes in cities and towns is a clear-cut way to take cars off our clogged roadways and reduce residents’ respiratory and cardiac illnesses that are exacerbated by tailpipe emissions.

It is not an easy task to fund something that not everyone uses. But if you think about it, we all benefit from transit whether or not we ride the bus or train ourselves, because we all depend on others who depend on transit, from health care workers to grocery employees, teachers and others who provide the services we need. Decision makers hear plenty from road-focused constituents and lobbyists; they also need to hear from you. Whether your locality needs more frequent or expanded bus or train service, brand new bus service, or accessible bus rapid transit, tell your local decision makers to invest in better transit.