T4A Rally: Don’t “X-Out” Public Transit

Media Advisory

Los Angeles Transit Supporters Tell Congress: Don’t X Out Public Transportation with Local Rally

National rally day set for September 20, 2011

Public transit riders, advocates and employees are joining together in 25 cities across the country forDon’t X Out Public Transportation Day on September 20, 2011 to call on Congress to support public transit by opposing proposed cuts of more than one third to federal transportation funding.   Currently, there is a proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives to drastically cut highway and public transportation funding.  In Los Angeles, the Bus Riders Union and Transit Riders for Public Transportation (TRPT) will bring together transit riders, transit and environmental advocates, and community organizations to participate in this national rally day to send a message to Congress that this level of funding cuts is unacceptable and will have a drastic impact on the millions of Americans who rely on public transit every day.

What:                   Don’t X Out Public Transportation Rally

Press Conference with testimony by workers, transit riders and bike and ped advocates followed by a rally and street theater illustrating the human costs of transit cuts

When:                  Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 9:30 am

Where:                The northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue

Why:                     Transit funding is already in crisis. Nationally, over 84% of transit agencies are already cutting transit lifelines or raising fares despite increases in ridership. Students, the elderly, swing shift workers, transit workers and millions of transit riders across the country are seeing their transit lifelines cut.  Los Angeles alone has lost almost 1 million hours from bus service in the past three years, leaving thousands stranded.  If Congress imposes an additional 37% cut to mass transit funding, the impacts on L.A. will be severe, as well as on the entire country’s ability to create and sustain jobs, further hampering efforts to stimulate the national economy.

For more information and to learn about local events in communities across the country visit

www.supporttransit.org.

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Don’t X Out Public Transportation Day is the combined effort of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Los Angeles Bus Riders Union, National Association of Public Transportation Advocates in Action (NAPTA), Reconnecting America, Transit Riders for Public Transportation, Transportation for America (T4), the Transportation Equity Network, Transportation Workers Union (TWU), Urban Habitat and transit systems and advocates across the country. This national rally day and call to action highlights the severe effects a 35 percent cut to federal transit funding would have and the need for increased investment in public transportation.