Orange County Transit Advocates rally brings awareness to OCTA bus cuts
Submitted by Steven on 4 June, 2009 - 10:46pm
The Transit Advocates held a rally in Santa Ana this past Thursday night.
Students from Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Santa Ana College, and UC Irvine helped conduct a peaceful rally that attracted more than 40 people, which is a pretty decent outcome for Orange County. The crowd included a lawyer, UC Irvine's CALPIRG transit committee president, social advocates, members from the Latino community, the disabilities community, Serena Maria Daniels and staff from the Orange County Register, a reporter for UC Irvine's New University newspaper, and Joel Zlotnik, in charge of media relations at OCTA.
The rally was both emotional and informative: members of the Transit Advocates (such as Roy Shahbazian below) outlined details of the service cuts (many of which this blog has covered — so I won't rehash the details).
If you missed the rally, the main point was handed out in this flyer I designed below. I've also uploaded more photos of the Orange County Bus Cuts Rally here. Here's the text of the flyer:
ATTEND OCTA’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING.
Monday, June 8, 2009 – 9:00 am
OCTA Headquarters, 1st Floor, Rm. 154, 600 S. Main St., Orange, CA
This is where the directors decide what to do with your bus service. Attend this meeting to tell them and Orange County that we demand better transit service.
CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR.
The only way to stop the cuts: restore transit funding! Most legislators voted to eliminate funds to keep your bus running — and they don’t know the severe impact they had on transit. Tell them how the cuts affect you and demand they restore funding.
Speaking points to legislators:
• Budget cuts impact bus riders. Bus service is being reduced by almost 40%!
• Bus service is a lifeline transportation for people with no alternatives — riders will lose their jobs and healthcare.
• We have bus capital funding, but we need bus operations funding.
• Ask them to explore ways to restore operations funding, or ask feds to make capital funding flexible on a temporary emergency basis.
Not sure who your state legislators are?
• Call (714) 567-7600, the OC Registrar of Voters
• Visit www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
UPDATE: Serena just posted her article on the rally against Orange County's bus cuts, with photographs, online. It includes a photograph of funny-looking me.
Passengers rally against bus cuts
Organizers gather in downtown Santa Ana to speak out against proposed service cuts.
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA – About two dozen students, activists and bus riders gathered on a Santa Ana street corner Thursday evening to rally against bus service cuts that will amount to about 100,000 hours of service later this year.
The Orange County Transportation Authority has been mulling over how to cut operating hours, eliminate sections of routes and reducing the frequency of some routes, prompting more than 120 bus riders to speak out at recent community meetings and at a public hearing, all in an effort to make their needs heard. (read the original article here)
Comments
Transit Funding
I work for the St Louis Metro, and we've had the same problems. Earlier this year, we had to cut a large part of our bus routes due to budget cuts. Thankfully the Missouri Governor plans to sign a bill granting the Metro $12 million to maintain operations. We, as the OC system, have already had funding for capital, but that doesn't bring routes back. Thanks to the pending legislation, we can bring back 30% of the cut routes. If you want more ideas on how to obtain funding, visit the transit blog I write for:
http://www.nextstopstl.org
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